obelixx

Chillpings

As wood chips decompose they consume nitrogen from teh soil on which they're laid but not in sufficient compost to cause serious depletions if your plants are healthy.  You can compensate, if desired, by scattering pelleted chicken manure round the plants before laying the chippings as a mulch.

moving blackcurrant bush

They're best moved as they go dormant up top so just after leaf fall.  That gives them all winter to get their roots re-established.  

Water the plant well an hour before you wish to dig it up an dtake as much of its root ball and soil as you can but trim off an long straggly roots that will have difficulty fitting into the pot.  Add a bit of bonemeal or root grow to the compost when filling the pot and water well then keep shelterd over the winter and don't let the pot freeze as this will kille the roots and thus the plant.

Dig over your bed when you can and then replant the blackcurrant with all the compost from the pot next spring.  This way you'll reduce damage to the new fibrous and hair roots it will have grown and should have decent crops.   Keep watered for the first year.

A double thats gone single

What variety is it?  Clematis don't revert but many of the large early flowering hybrids with double flowers produce a later second flush of single flowers.

Try feeding it in early spring and at intervals to the first set of flowers with a proper clematis feed or rose or tomato fertiliser as these all promote better flowering.

plant suggestions

Not to mention the ravages of the  ghastly lily beetle which can make them look so unsightly.

Help me identify this flower

It would be easier if we could see the leaves as well.  Can you post a nother photo?

Talkback: Gardening by the moon

Don't be daft!   It isn't gardening by moonlight!

It's gardening according to the phases of the moon.  The simplest is simply the waxing phase for planting things that do their stuff above ground - leaves, flowers and fruit - and the waning for plants whose roots are of interest so taking cuttings and divisions and sowing or planting root veg.

Then there's the more complicated version using the relative position of the moon in the sky from one night to the next.  When it's rising, plant or sow above ground plants.  When it's descending, rooty stuff.

And finally the bio-rythmic version which takes into account the moon's passage through the zodiac - Air signs for flowers, Earth signs for roots, Fire signs for fruits and Water signs for foliage.  This version also has best days for harvesting crops for keeping.

There are also days when it's best just to do garden maintenance and not sow, plant or harvest anything and days when it's best to go out and have fun or read a catalogue.

plant suggestions

There are far too many possibilities to list them all but if you want to stay in the warm gladioli colour range, look at crocosmias, hemerocallis, echinaceas, achilleas and euphorbias - all hardy.

Plant ID

Looks like viburnum opulus to me.

Talkback: Gardening by the moon

We have tides because of the gravitational pull of the moon.  It is also known to affect human behaviour - hence the term lunatics - so why would it not also have an effect on water tables in the earth?

Whether it does affect gardening activities will never be resolved scientifically as there is no commercial interest in any of the big agri firms in doing so.  We thus have to rely on anecdotal evidence form those who practise it over long periods and there is a wealth of old and new literature on the subject dating back to ancient Egyptian texts.

I suspect it's of importance to farmers and peasants with limted resources of machinery, fertiliser, weed killer, water for irrigation and so on who need to maximise their crop fertility but of far less import to those of us who garden in the developed world with plenty of resources.    I would remind you though that our climate is changing, that population pressures, particularly in the south east, make water an increasingly precious and expensive resource.  Unusual floods and droughts around the world mean this year's harvests are poor so fruit, corn and veg will be more expensive to buy and I suspect that one day rather more of us will be embracing old and new methods of making the most of our crops whilst limiting our impact on the planet's resources and ecology.

After all, it's not so many years ago that everyone thought going organic was bonkers and just look at how many of us avoid chemicals on our food crops and flowers for our own sake and for wildlife. 

RHS Wisley - Organised Trips?

If you can't find an organised trip there's always bus and train and then a local service to the gardens:-

515 Kingston to Guildford via Surbiton and Wisley. There is no service on Sundays or Bank Holidays. For details call National Traveline on 0871 200 22 33. Visitors who produce their train or bus ticket on the day of their visit will gain entry for £8.69.

Closest stations are West Byfleet (3 miles) or Woking (4 miles) There are no taxis on standby at West Byfleet. Visitors who produce their train or bus ticket on the day of their visit will gain entry for £8.69.

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?