BobTheGardener

More plants needed

I agree, Busy-Lizzie - I use Geranium wallichianum 'Buxton's Variety' all around my garden.  It's fast growing, has both pretty leaves and flowers and it makes a great low-growing ground-cover.

New build house, new build lawn - help to start off the right way.

Unfortunately, it's common on new builds for the builders to dispose of their waste (scalpings, broken brick, even bits of wood etc) by dumping it in the gardens and just bulldozing it flat, covering with a couple of inches of topsoil and then laying a lawn on top.  If you are planning on having any flower borders or other planting areas, I would be tempted to get started on those now and digging down to see what is underneath the grass.

Trillium seedlings

Hi Marina,  I've not grown them myself, but the info regarding propagation from seed on the RHS site looks as though it will be very useful.  Seems plenty of patience needed with these:

"Trillium seed has double dormancy. Sown immediately after harvest, the seed will germinate the following spring, after a period of chilling, to produce a root. Another cycle of warmth and chilling is then necessary for a shoot to emerge the second year. After a further two or three years the characteristic three leaves form. Flowering may occur a year or two later."

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=341

TIPS ........

Here's one some might find useful: Make fine grade vermiculite from standard.

My GC had run out of the fine grade vermiculite I use for covering some seeds, so I tried making my own from standard coarse stuff using a food processor (the type with very rapidily spinning blades, often used to blitz pesto etc.)  Pics below:

It took just 2 to 3 seconds!

What eats onion sets?

I think rodents will eat almost anything if they are hungry enough, Derek, and it's been a looong Winter!

FORKERS CLOTHING

Have a look at the workwear section at the screwfix site to see the sort of things available, Fairygirl.  I'm not sure the womens trousers there have kneepads, but I'm sure you could find a pair of the mens which would fit though - waist sizes go from 28" to 48"!

What eats onion sets?

Yep, sounds like mice, rats or blummin squirrels, Leggi.

FORKERS CLOTHING

Yep, my 'gardening boots' like you, Brumbull (I bought steel toecap work boots as they are VAT free ) and a pair of Dickies 'builders' trousers with replaceable padded knee inserts (invaluable!) and lots and lots of pockets.

missing fuchsia

There is an online image of it at gardenworldimages.com, but that's about the only thing google turns up.  What occasionally happens in the plant retail world is that a particular variety is given a different name by a retailer when they sell it, if (for example) they are pricing it at below the minimum that the breeder (and owner of the original name) wants it to be sold at.  Something like that may have happened in this case.  You might therefore find a genetically identical fuchsia currently available but under a different name.  The trouble is there are thousands of fuchsias so finding it by searching the web for images may take some time!  If it was indeed sold under a different name, they might have used something similar (eg there seems to be a variety called crackerjack) which may help to narrow down the search.  Good luck in your quest, PG!

Talkback: House sparrows

What I like about sparrows most is when I see them flitting around my plants, clreaning them of aphids!  For some reason they don't like blackfly though, so still have to keep an eye on the broad beans and dahlias, which the blackfly seem to prefer.  Had a host of around 50 house sparrows in 2011, but a sparrowhawk started to regularly appear and was down to about 20 last year.  The most I've seen visiting my feeders at any one time this winter/spring was about 8, but hopefully numbers will rise agin once the breeding season starts.

ID trumpet flower

Bee spotting

New deliveries

Flower ID

Oh no, lily beetles are back!