obelixx

Hanging baskets and window boxes

Hi Betty.   Is you knee a permanent fixture or to be mended?

I've been out pruning clematis and sedums and such like and pottering with pots of hostas and stuff that OH has brought out of their winter hibernation in the greenhouse.    All very satisfying but the foot is now swollen and sore again so is propped up while I blob on the sofa.    I sowed a few seeds mid week and already have baby tumbler tomatoes shwoing through so opportunities for pricking out are limited as yet.  However,, now th egreenhouse is empty I can get cracking on more sowing.  

Flowers we don't like?

I'm not a fan of cut flowers at all except sweet peas if I grow them. I prefer my flowers live and growing outside.   Also, in the past, kittens and young cats have always seen flowers in vases as toys with ensuing watery accidents.   Much rather have healthy house plants indoors and flowers outside.

Miscanthus

Yes.  You can do it now before the new growth starts so you don't damage the tips of th enew shoots.  If growth is already visible, cut off the old growth just a bit higher.  Secateurs will do for smaller plants but our zebrinus is now well established and very chunky, we use hedge trimmers. 

Seeds are up

I gave in to temptation and sowed two kinds of tomatoes, some sweet pea and nemesia seeds on Wednesday and on Thursday I sowed some kashmiri chilli seeds I got from dried chillies.  Don't know if those will work but nothing ventured, nothing gained.   I also potted up 3 new dahlia tubers.   All are sat on a warm, sunny window sill - when we get sun that is. 

Today I have baby tumbler tomatoes so am very excited.

Everything else will have to wait till it's warm enough - and OH is willing - to empty the greenhouse of all the plants hiding in there for the winter.

fast growing shrubs

As Welshonion says, a fast growing shrub will be a thug that brings its own problems and with the rapid height will also come rapid width requiring lots of maintenance to keep looking good and within bounds.

The trellis panels suggested above would provide instant height and be decorative in themselves without width.   You can then add climbers for colour and even perfume.   There's a wide range of clematis and roses suitable for many aspects and you would have to choose them depending on whether they are to be south, west, east or north facing, exposed to winds and cold and so on.

Reference Index for GW magazine

In the mean time you could cut out all the index pages, note on them which month and year they are for and file them for easy perusal to take you to the article you want.

Ants in compost

You need to keep compost bins moist for the rotting process to begin and continue.

Just watering it will make the ants move.   If you add a small bottle of essential oil of cloves to a 10 litre can of water and water that on after the first wetting, the ants will not come back.  They can't stand the smell.

Starting off Dahlia tubers

If you're buying new, like me, and want to increase your stock rather than pay for lots of tubers, taking cuttings is an excellent option.   

Acer Trees

It's nearly always better to buy small, plant well and watch them grow, whatever the shrub or tree.   If you're new to gardening this is especially so since you have to get the planting hole and after care right to avoid checking, or even killing, a more mature plant.

Find yourself a good garden centre or nursery somewhere nearby where you can look at and compare several specimens and ask about the kind of care and conditions they need.   Acers generally don't like full sun, need shelter from winds and extreme cold and like a neutral to acid soil with good drainage but plenty of moisture.

garden themed cruises

All sorts of companies offer garden touring holidays and now the RHS is launching a new initiative with garden tour holidays.

If I did ever go on one, I'd want someone a bit brighter and livelier than Monty as a guide.  He can be a bit  "sackcloth and ashes" about the grander estates and more extravagant gardens.

Encouraging bats in our gardens

Beechgrove this weekend

Weekend 22 March

Good Morning - 21 March

Choosing chillies

Hanging baskets and window boxes

New shed - any tips?