Daisy Cottage

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

LOL The field is only 3/4 acre - next to our house. I have the greenhouse and raised beds on it, plus fruit trees. There's a gate onto the road so our friend just drives his tractor in and dumps We've spent 5 years renovating the house, so only just getting the garden (jungle) sorted 

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

Ah - yes   I've have too although I planted my beans out last weekend and they didn't like the wind, but hopefully they will come away OK

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

What do you mean by compost it ?? I just have mine delivered by a friend who dumps a tractor/trailer load in our field. I leave it to sit there for at least 6 months before using it (far too much to shift it anywhere near my compost bins One heap is with straw, the other is just pure poo

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

OK - I won't use the cow manure on them They do get a good mulch of leaves in the autumn naturally

Have just mulched a 200 ft hedge with the straw manure (did this last year too) and used it for the veggies, but have so much left, I'll have to use it on another hedge

Thank you

Anemone Wild Swan

Yes - they were small plugs but I planted them into 9cm pots. I'm not sure how big the Hayloft plugs will be, but they say ' big enough to plant out straight awy but better to pot up for a few weeks'

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

We inherited about a dozen, mature rhododendrons/azaleas when we bought our house. They are in a shady area under trees and a very overgrown beech hedge. We have severely pruned the beech hedge now and the rhododendrons are now getting more light and seem to be doing a lot better this year. I have a huge amount of well-rotted horse manure (with and without straw) - any reason not to mulch the rhododendron with it ??

Anemone Wild Swan

I bought a job lot of 75 perennials from T&M last year to fill lots of empty space until I get time to put other things in - virtually all survived (my first time buying plug plants) and the beds are looking very good this year despite the bad weather

I've got some Wild Swan on order from Hayloft which should come next month. I think they come as large plugs. Not cheap - 3 for £18.50, but I've found their plants good previously.

Petrol lawn mower

itsnotmyfault wrote (see)

Bought a Honda.  I heard that the reaason so many Honda cars on the road due to folk beng impressed with their mowers... bah

We bought a Honda about 5 years ago as we were moving to a house with a much bigger garden. A huge mistake - we have had nothing but trouble with the carburettor. Have replaced it, but still won't work properly - seems to be a common problem with them I give up usually and get our old Hayter out (almost 30 years old) - it's not a ;driven' model, but I'd rather use it than the Honda For the rest of the garden that isn't lawn, I use our Westwood ride-on mower. I'd love to use it on the lawn, but there are so many areas it wouldn't reach it isn't worth it.

Concorde pear problem ?

We planted several fruit trees in autumn 2009 (bare root) from a good nursery. All have grown well. In 2011 we had the first fruit - 2 - from the Concorde pear 1/2 standard (we only planted one). These were delicious Last year we had no blossom at all - but it was a bad year so I didn't worry. This year there is only one 'head' of blossom. The tree is approximately 6 feet tall. Is this due to this year's weather/ the tree is still young or is there some other problem ? The other trees (several apples and a plum) all have a reasonable amount of blossom. Thank you

Plant Suggestions please

Thanks for the suggestions - I love Hollyhocks, Lupins and Delphiniums. I really want perennials so that I don't need to have to plant every year. Maybe once the main renovations are finished I might put annuals in, but not at the moment

Rhododendrons and horse muck !

Concorde pear problem ?

Plant Suggestions please

Pepino Melon help

Hedge Ideas

Chillies problem

Shrub suggestions

Cucumber stem rot ?

Strawberries in hanging baskets

Problems with dwarf beans

Fertilisers

How early to put plants in the greenhouse

Growing lettuce in the greenhouse