BobTheGardener

Fertilising plum trees

You won't go far wrong with fish, blood and bone sprinked around the roots, but something with more Potash would be better to help fruiting.  Although there are several fertilizers sold especially for fruit trees, the formulation is pretty much the same as potato fertilizer (which is usually much cheaper!)  In general you should look for ones with high K (Potash) with N (Nitrogen) and P (Phosphorous) being lower and about the same as each other, in the NPK ratio on the box. Something with N-P-K of 5-7-12, or 5-5-10.  If in doubt, ask for potato fertilizer!

Tree roots will cover an area about the same diameter as the branches above, so spread the fertilizer evenly over that area - avoid putting it all near the base of the trunk where it will do very little good.

Unhappy Magnolia Grandiflora: frost damage?

That variety really needs a sheltered spot.  If it's in an open position, it will suffer badly from frost and cold winds.  They also don't like early morning sun and should really be staked throughout their life.  In other words, they're a bit fussy!

Recycling things to use in the garden

Miss C wrote (see)

Fruit punnets already have holes punched in so are useful as planting trays or for cut and come again salad leaves in the house.  Plastic take away tubs also get used as plant trays in our house.

I use those too and also sometimes put one on top, sticking a bit of tape long the join on one side, effectively making a mini-propagator.

That's shallot!

Hi Verdun, Yes, the shallot bulbs will send out several shoots each and slowly 'split' with usually 6-8 new bulbs forming in a circle, so I grow them about 8-10 inches apart.  Like onions, they're greedy plants so give them plenty of feed.  I usually trowel a bit of fish, blood and bone into each planting position. Given a reasonable summer, they can produce a really good crop!

Early sowing

The good news is you can bury the stem of both brassicas and tomatoes, planting them up to the first leaves but, IME, it's always better to wait a bit before sowing unless you have a very well lit place which remains between 5C and 15C.  The windowsill in an unheated room is usually about right.  Centrally heated rooms are too warm.  To maximise light, you can place part of a cardboard box covered in tin foil behind them, so the front of the seedlings get light directly from the window and the back of the plants get light reflected from the foil.

It Is Not Spring Yet !!!

Same happened to me in the greenhouse last weekend, Joyce.  I removed the old soil from the borders and then realised I had no feeling left in my fingers.  It's supposed to be a bit warmer in there, too!

Smileys

Leggi wrote (see)

There isn't an option to insert smileys on an iPhone or iPad, you can guess some but it would be useful if the smart technical people would change the settings for us to be able to use the site in full.

Yes, someone should contact Apple and tell them to make their devices work with existing standards!

Grape vine for my band stand....

Good luck, Tilley, and do heed their advice about preparing the planting hole well as effort put in there now will pay huge dividends later.  Vines really, really need to develop a good root system for the first few years, so if any bunches of grapes form in the first couple of years (and certainly the first year), do cut them off, however tempting it is to leave them on!  With new vines, letting them fruit in their first year may exhaust the stored energy in the wood and it will then take much longer to establish (or may even die!) 

feeding

Nettle 'soup' will be high in nitrogen, so use on leafy crops like lettuce and brassicas.  Comfrey will be better as a general feed, especially for fruiting plants like tomatoes as it has a higher potash and phosphate content than liquid feed made only from nettles.  I use comfrey feed on everything though, with great results.  An easy-peasy rule of thumb for dilution is to water it down until it is the colour of weak tea.  I make comfrey liquid in a large covered bucket.  I simply ram it full of leaves which I crush as I put them in, then fill to the top with water.  That makes a strong concentrate after a few weeks but I keep it at the bottom of the garden while rotting (it stinks to high heaven!) and then transfer to 2 litre plastic 'pop' bottles until it is needed.  I've found by experience that it still works just as well after 3 years and probably has an unlimited 'shelf life' when in sealed bottles.

Climbers for east-facing wall

Many clematis will grow fine in shade.  Scroll down this RHS page to "cultivar selection":

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=97

A selection specifically for full shade being sold here:

http://the-plant-directory.co.uk/climbing-plants/clematis/clematis-for-full-shade

Bee spotting

New deliveries

Flower ID

Oh no, lily beetles are back!