Fork Handles - Page 92

I will hold on to me 'apenny thanks-

going to earn £10 in a moment for grass cutting-but am not sharing

I have four dahlias - two are looking nice and green and healthy, and two are not! What can I do to perk them up? Don't think they need watering!

No, they probably don't need watering indeed, but they may want feeding as the rain may have leached all the nutrients out of their compost?  Look for beasties in them too, I imagine any port in a storm for many garden pests, the inside of a dahlia may be great hiding place while it muches on the roots & tubers. 

Lottie -patience some of mine are flowering -some of mine are not-if they are in a container than a bit of nourishment will help -in the garden they will cope,

We need sun,sun ,sun oh and some sun.

hear hear!! My son and aughter in law are sweltering in Texas, where they have not had proper rain in their area for 3 years, and the tmperatures can get to 40+, which is not fun either.  Why can't we swap half of our weather for half of theirs - weird old planet this is becoming isn't it.

They are in the garden - but it might be worth giving them a quick feed anyway. No way of knowing if something is munching on the tubers without digging them up!

Sun? What's that then??

I no longer have a hosepipe ban - at long last!

My dahlias are all being eaten! One is flowering really well- daughters' that cost a bargain £5 is full of gorgeous pale yellow flowers & is almost bald of foliage beneath!! All my 'best' ones are growing in pots, the Aldi bargain ones are chewed to death as well, but in the borders. Well just leaves more room for purchases at Tatton show! Must remember that campanulas all get eaten here too.

Am cross today. T'was supposed to be dry- ha. Was raining at 5am & didnt stop for at least 2hrs. No chance to cut the lawn. Couldnt do it yesterday as OH's car in front of garage- grr! Not his fault, but annoying.

Anyway nipped to GC for a squirrel proof seed feeder. Have bought a 'cage' that my existing seed feeder will fit into & hopefully stop the blighters. T'was cheaper than a new feeder. Had a coffee of course.

Oh great now the sun has come out! Think waterproof trousers & wellies are going to be needed to carry on cutting back in the borders. J.

Lottie sun is that being that asks for favours or money

In my expeience the tubers are usually safe -it is what goes on above ground that gets munched-shop bought tubers are slower to flower as they are not so big in the beginning as the stored ones from a previous year-and it is the tuber that drives it on-it all evens out in the end

Lottie, vine weevils love dahlia tubers in my garden.  I always wash off all soil before I overwinter them because they lurk right in the middle of the tuber.

I bought these in pots already grown into small plants by the dahlia expert at the plot, so I didn't overwinter them. The one that has grown from a tuber I bought in Wilkos is doing fine - small but healthy. Hopefully the others will perk up - I think I might have let the pots get too dry before planting them out, but they're getting plenty of moisture now. In fact over the weekend the ground was saturated, but being sandy soil it doesn't stay waterlogged.

Cosmos and cornflowers are doing well despite the battering from the rain. The cornflowers could probably do with some discreet staking.

Then they are probably cuttings raised this year-they will be ok-dahlias are pretty tough once they get through the soft growth stage- when molluscs attack-that could be a film

Thank you experts for the help and advice!

I prefer the term guru-sounds more exotic

For those with BBC HD, Carol Klein's cottage garden is on tonght, Monday, 6.30pm, and for the next 6 weeks.

The program that follows at 7pm is a brilliant program about the ecology of forests (it's a repeat, seen it before).

I shall be mostly watching soapy suds and Blackout

I see that tomorrow's LYG is for a 90year old lady-trying not to be insensitive but -why?

-Cue AT loads of treacle and sycophancy and how she has had a tough life stuff..............

I still havent got round to watching any of those programs.

In desperation I've put 2 of the big dahlia pots into the permanently left open greenhouse. I know snails lurk in there, but rarely slugs. I just hope that they can pick up a bit. Have removed the well & truely chewed ones from the front garden border- well they were cheap, but it's still so disheartening, with the effort involved.

Daughter, having seen the local forecast for the next few days, has finally accepted that fruit picking on friday is not an option. She wants me to show her how to make jam later that day. Raspberry is the easiest & also the yummiest in this house, so we may buy ready picked, or try PYO if not too torrential! After all have picked raspberries in a thunderstorm before now. J.

Another death in the street-now the lady of the old couple I cut the grass for and do the hospital run-he had to rush up there late this morning-she went this afternoon

Oh dear

It is the third one in 3 months- and it is not a big street and one has also gone into a home- I wont recognise anybody soon.

Geoff that sounds sad, I hope you are taking your vitamins.

I hope my dahlias are ok while I am away, they were just starting to flower when I left.

I have spent the day with my sister and her toddler, not much fun when it pained all day and cold too.