Patrevlil

Weeding - a forgotten skill? Discuss ....

In a previous house I regularly used to pull out a troublesome weed only to find that when I missed one it grew into a lovely foxglove! Won't make THAT mistake again.

How much can a dahlia take?

I've never grown dahlias before but bought two in pots this year. They've flowered really well (apart from a few munched leaves!) but I'm not sure what to do with them over winter. Can I just leave them as they are in pots in the conservatory or do I have to take them out of the pots to keep them? I would be grateful for any advice.

What's the weather like in your area?

A lovely day yesterday in Lincolnshire. Worked all day in the garden tidying beds and putting down a thick layer of bark (obtained from all the dead wood that we had cut back and put through a shredder) Couldn't believe how warm and sunny the day was, quite a change from today which is overcast and miserable at the moment, maybe it's our turn to have some bad weather.

Nigel

So that's what happened to Nigel! Poor thing. I too missed him. It's lovely to see him at Monty's side in the garden and obviously enjoying himself. Hope he's back soon. My dog Lily (standard Poodle) is always with me in the garden and I have to keep stopping whatever I'm doing to throw the ball for her. She's great company. Somehow, I think that dogs and gardens go together.

clematus problem

I have Bees Jubilee in a pot and it usually flowers really well. However, this year I had no flowers at all and then suddenly it produced two flowers a couple of days ago! I was so pleased that it's still ok. What a crazy year! I also have Miss Bateman in a pot and have had no flowers from that clematis which is usually lovely. Hope it's good next year.

Talkback: Wind

It's always windy here in Lincolnshire! Some of my pots had blown over after the last very windy blast. I find that if I remove the pot feet from all my pots and weigh them down with bricks also move them to as sheltered a site as possible, although they don't look very elegant it usually does the trick. Parts of my garden have "wind tunnels" . I have a clematis in a pot growing through a climbing rose and in the earlier part of the year,after we had a windy spell the clematis got hopelessly tangled up in the rose and I couldn't untangle it. It did flower well but I shall move it in the early part of next year to a less windy spot. The climbing rose will have to flower on its own.

Gardeners World

Who are the loads better than Toby Buckland, Graceland? Alan Titchmarsh of course is great, also Monty. But other than the Gardeners World team ( Joe etc) who else is there? I agree that there aren't enough gardening programmes on TV. Would like some on in the Winter as well.

Talkback: Nature in the garden

Thanks for your sympathy Ron. I too remember myxomatosis and it was awful. I certainly wouldn't wish anything so horrible on the rabbits. I used to have squirrels in my previous garden and I thought they were destructive enough but they weren't a patch on my neighbourhood rabbits! I'd love to grow some vegetables but I know what I'd be letting myself in for. In spite of the havoc they cause it's so cute when you see the babies and I really don't mind when I see them eating the grass if only they'd stick to this!

Ericaceous soil

I used to be fortunate to have acid soil where we lived previously in Essex and I could grow all the ericacous plants that I love. However, here in Lincolnshire I don't have acid soil but I still grow a lot of the plants I like but I put them in pots. I have three Pieris that have been in pots for five years. I renew a good third of the soil in early spring and feed with ericacous feed and they have really done so well. I think that you may be able to replace some of the soil in the ground but in the end I think it might be better to just go with the soil you have and put the plants you want to grow in pots otherwise you are always fighting with nature.

Gardeners World

I agree about Monty Don and the rest of the team but I do think that Toby Buckland was very good too I just think that the format was wrong which wasn't his fault. I used to enjoy a programme he did some years ago with his wife Lisa. It was called Garden Magic. Don't know if anyone else remembers it? I do miss Gardeners World when it's not on it's such a feelgood programme.

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