Marinelilium

Allotment Wars- BBC1 Tuesday 22nd January

Did you know they made a film," The thirty nine sprouts

Hehehe, thanks for the giggle Andrew. So much better to have fun than get into all that 'War and Peas' stuff isn't it?

Have you seen The Germinator?

Allotment Wars- BBC1 Tuesday 22nd January

Plantation, Plantation Plantation? Extreme Makeover - Shed Edition? Come Primus with Me? Strictly Come Digging? I'm game for any gardening programme.

Which reminds me you MUST read 'Fifty Sheds Of Grey' by C.T. Grey- a parody that will have you folded.

Thanx for the heads-up Sotongeoff.

Talkback: Growing fruit for birds

PS 20 gauge chicken wire is 25mm aperture which is ok for tits, dunno is and robins. A supermarket basket is ok as long as you BUY one.

Talkback: Growing fruit for birds

I sympathise thetuna. Nesting boxes for birds have different size apertures for each species so check what RSPB site recommends for nest box holes and that should help with mesh size choice.

I had to move seeds and fat balls from the feeder post to the dense, tangled branches of my Salix Caprea x Kilmarnock. The wood pigeons, it seems, cannot weave through the tangle but robins, nuthatches and all the different tit families love the cover. Even blackbirds shimmy through.

Squirrels are still the greediest and most persistent visitor but my dog really loves chasing them off - keeps him amused all afternoon.

Grapes

It inhibits the mildew so use as a preventative or at the earliest signs of mildew tropicalboy.

Feeding with seaweed extract helps the grape resist the mildew just as much as the milk does. My two vines take off for the next county when they get their chicken pellet feed in early March but when they get their seaweed solution in middle of May the leaves lush up.

PS Use the young leaves blanched and steamed then marinaded in lemon and vinegar to wrap meat and rice - delicious!

Riverside Plants

Ooh, agree with all of the above posts. MONTY DON has written an article on his gardening regrets in this month's Gardeners's World Magazine and a willow hedge is one of those regrets.

Few shrubs like soaking wet feet but there are many that like moist, well drained soils. Sambucus, rhododendron, witch hazel, Leucothoe, hydrangeas and Cornus like moist conditions and usually acidic sites.

Grapes

Give mildewed plants the Cleopatra treatment. A diluted spray of milk ( 10% but not more than 30%) to leaves is a brilliant protection but a much less effective remedy. Remove the most diseased leaves (and burn them) but not more than 30% of entire plant's foliage or it will weaken it too much. Spray both sides of the leaves and then feed the roots with a seaweed elixir.

The milk dilution works for grapes, roses, raspberries and dahlias. No one certain why it inhibits the mildew growth but beware the milk promotes a different mould if the concentration is above 30% dilution. It may be a protein or it may be the bacteria in the milk that works.HTH

Blackbirds

Flowering Rose I know where at least one drunken lout of a blackbird is. He is busy stripping my grapevine of immature grapes. His alarm call is driving me to distraction because other blackbirds are trying to get to the bar. I have issued numerous ASBO's (Anti-social Blackbird Orders) which consist of me rushing outside clapping my hands and waving my arms like a thing possessed.

He just flies off across the garden and continues his car alarm squawks at us all from there

Talkback: Growing autumn cyclamen

Sorry, that should read Cedrus Deodara not Odorata (presumptious iPad chooses what it likes best )

Talkback: Growing autumn cyclamen

Cyclamen are such pleasant surprises. They mind their own business all summer and just when you've forgotten them ...up they come in September. I love the way they curl and twist the seeds to the ground.

Mekon look-alikes so true! Hehehe. Maybe I should plant them in an old wok in homage to their favoured vehicles?

Mine live very happily in the needles under a cedrus odorata where little else 'dares'.

Talkback: Growing autumn cyclamen

Cyclamen are such pleasant surprises. They mind their own business all summer and just when you've forgotten them ...up they come in Septem... 

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Good Luck & Sweet dreams. (Your gigantic balls may leave me a little restless though!)