Anyone for Gardening?

daffy2

Alas my green shoot is no more. A sharp frost on Saturday night and a 40 minute drive home meant the screen heater had to be on and I suspect it has been incinerated. It's a measure of how mild it has been and the fact I don't have to drive at night except a weekly short trip to choir practice that it lasted as long as it did.

Airwave!

Our clay garden is trying to imitate a bog, a very wet one! I went down the garden the other day and found myself staring at the sky, I had slipped over in the blink of an eye.

Gardening will commence, soon!

ritwren

There are dozens of little spring bulbs poking up now and some of my Snowdrops are out as well. The rocket I'd sown on a tray in the window are germinated and I'm turning the tray daily so they get an even amount of light.
Today I potted on some Dianthus I'd sown back in September, they've been overdue some fresh soil for a while and are doing great as are the blue Aquilegia I'd sown at the end of the summer as well.
I'm lucky enough to have the back yard covered in with perspex and the boiler is out there so it does'nt go below 10c. I overwinter some Dahlia tubers and Pelargoniums out there as well as some not so hardy perennials. It's a bit crowded.

toady

Very little going on in my garden I'm afraid as I'm not a very good planner - not having done much gardening for a while anyway, I am not into gear as far as thinking ahead for the seasons, also I'm a bit of a fine-weather gardener I'm afraid not really a committed all-round 'proper' one. I have some seeds 'stratifying' outdoors hopefully, & some things I put in in the autumn like ranunculus bulbs but I need to get my thoughts round what to do at this stage. Otherwise I find it's already past time to start certain things off & I miss getting ahead. Hail today so not very encouraging!

If it's not too early to start indoor rocket &c off I will get on with some, are yours staying indoors as a windowsill crop ritwren?

I have 2 coffee seeds potted on now so we'll see if they come to anything. frogmorton must be wanting to get on with her garden plans.

ritwren

toady for now my rocket seedlings will live in the unheated bedroom window. The curtains don't get closed at night so they don't get bothered with condensation or even lower temperatures at night. I'm likely to bring them outside to my covered back yard when they're a bit bigger but intend to eat them as young leaves. I'll sow more at the end of next month so I'll have some on the go all the time.

It's good to plan, even if all the plans can't be carried out for one reason or another. The bulbs that were planted into pots and containers last autumn early winter are now coming up and I can see in my head that I'll have lots of colour which will really help cheer me up on grey days.

I do so understand what you mean about things passing by 'tho and missing the right times to do things, it's happened to me before as well. Good luck with your coffee seeds.

toady

Thanks for reply I will definitely turn my thoughts to what I can be getting on with & see if I can get ahead. There are some things that have definitely not been happy in my utility room windowsill, so maybe it's too cold for them as the furthest away from the central heating, so kitchen or unheated bedroom as you say would probably be better. I think what will catch me out this year is that it seems to have been a short winter so far (don't know why unless it's all the rain rather than having been very cold), last year it seemed to take forever to get to this point ie end Jan beginning of Feb - so I'm a bit out of synch.

Will start off this year's windowsill herbs as so few have mine have lasted well - I know some can be planted all year round for indoors supposedly but I've never tried it in practice - and put some rocket etc in myself. A covered back yard would be lovely, everything that is not in the mini greenhouse is just soggy and waterlogged.

ritwren

Really it's a time of having patience. I'm itching to get sowing but I know that most things would get too leggy because of the lower light levels even if I can keep them frost free and dry.

In the meantime, I'm spending my time washing all the plant pots and trays so there's more chance of keeping seedlings and cuttings healthy and stopping them from damping off if they go into clean pots etc....

I've also been through my seed packets and put them into some kind of order. I'm writing down what plants I want to move and trying to get that done before springtime arrives but not when it's cold and frosty.

I agree, this has been a short winter and not a very cold one at all. We've had maybe 2 or 3 days when there was a visible frost on the car roof.

I'm still waiting on my purple and green basil to germinate. Sown at the same time as the rocket but not a sign of them.

ritwren

After all the dreadful weather we've all had, today was dry with a little bit of sunshine.
I was able to get out to the garden and plant out some Lupin Aquilegia and Primroses that had been growing in pots and were longing for some proper soil to dig their roots into.
Snowdrops are out and beautiful and my 1st little Crocus too.
Has anyone else been able to get outside?

toady

So far, only to rescue my mini greenhouse that was badly listing to port well for'ard I suppose, as it was leaning over rather than to the side. Brought it in to give it a dismantle & clean before re-staking it out in due course. Also to inspect the remains of 2 fence panels that blew in overnight...

I have done as you, and started to go through my seed packets & made a few mental notes & a small start here & there - have put in some basil, green, red, & lime (a bit early according to packet but indoors is probably ok - do find seed packet instructions confusing in some cases, then I do a web search instead & find totally contradictory advice usually :roll: )

thanks for the slight nudge into action, it can often help to read what someone else is doing & it spurs you into getting on yourself.

Nothing out yet but lots of bluebell shoots from the further splitting up that was done last year. Certainly a totally different day so glad you could get something planted out.

applerose

Meant to say last Friday, I came home from work and it seemed that from out of nowhere, there were snowdrops in bud and leaves of daffodils all over the lawn. I'd planted them last autumn and forgotten about them. Strange I hadn't noticed them coming up but guess it was because I've been rushing in to the house because of the cold and rain.

Haven't got out in to the garden yet but am getting itchy fingers.

ritwren

Toady I use a couple of old bags of loam and some bricks to help make the GH steady. Hope you did'nt loose anything. Good to hear you've started sowing some Basil etc... they'll do fine on a sunny window for you. I totally agree about the variation on seed packets and advice online r.e. sowing planting pruning etc... Very difficult for new gardeners to know what to do and when.

Applerose it's lovely when plants give you a surprise like that. It's hard to keep a record of what is planted where but I do keep a gardening journal every year and write down when I'm sowing things and what I've bought as well as what I've been up to each week.

My lovely little Iris Harmony are blooming and such a welcome sight especially when we get a bit of sunshine. I've lots more to come, I grow quite a few in pots and set them on my windowledge so I can see them from inside. Snowdrops are still flowering, some of the Crocus have colour and there are little shoots everywhere in the pots I have the tulips in.

I know it's early but I can give them what they need so I've sown a few Dahlia Pom Pom Mix and Yankee Doodle Dandy. They're in pots with plastic bags over them and somewhere warm for them to germinate.

The other day I noticed that my G2 Clematis Hagley Hybrid has lots of buds on it and the Honeysuckle and Roses all have new leaves and shoots on them. Happy days, I know we've a long way to go but I'm thankful for the little signs I can see of life returning to the garden.

Megrose489

Gardening isn't my favourite thing, but I would like to do more this year. My main job is usually weeding, which I don't mind - iPod in and sing along to various songs, quietly. The problem is getting down to borders to do the weeding because of my painful knees. I can just about kneel, but not for long and I usually finish up sitting down and shuffling along to weed each bit. Not elegant, but it works, apart from the twisting! Just wondered if anybody had any tips or ideas I could use. If you can't kneel, how do others manage the garden? Is there any equipment I could buy that would help?

applerose

I used bags of peat and bricks to stop my little greenhouse blowing away but it was the wind that rattled it about so much that it ripped along the seams. We get a lot of wind across our gardens so not sure it's worth getting a cover. I've still got the poles.

I used to keep a record and a map of my garden. When I first moved in, there were only a few small fir trees. Now if I buy a plant, my son says 'Where are you going to put that? There's no room left.' Ha ha.

I noticed lots of leaf buds in the back garden yesterday as I was taking the kitchen waste down to the compost bin.

Sounds as if you have a lot going on Ritwren. Rose, how about one of those long-handled hoes. You could stand up and rub the weeds to destroy them.

toady

I didn't lose anything in my greenhouse, thanks, very little in there at the moment. I will have to weight it better in future - my cover has also got the odd split & I will probably find more when I unravel it & inspect it. I shouldn't like to have as much wind routinely as all that! By the time the poles are going a little rusty here & there (you'd think they'd use aluminium or something wouldn't you) then at a tenner I paid for mine I suppose you have to look on the cheap ones as borderline-disposable.

If I can ever get out to have a good look I'll find out what's coming up, have barely put my nose out of the door since all this weather, it will feel odd to be 'out' at this rate. I need to split up some heuchera - which I should have done in the autumn & resettled them, but soon now will do I believe - & I have a heuchera 'lime marmalade' that I want to put in a pot rather than a border. Hope you can find some room for new acquisitions applerose, lol, it'll be a long while before I have that problem I think.

Has anyone had any experience of Red Amaranth or amaranth greens in general?

Boomer13

Megrose, you can get thick, dense foam kneepads for kneeling. Sometimes garden shops carry them or hardware stores, or off the 'net of course. They help a little but don't prevent you from stiffening up!

I don't have any great ideas. I use something to sit on, do a little and OH moves a longe chair for me so I can lie down periodically. It's a slow process.

Megrose489

Thanks Boomer and Applerose. We do have some knee pads, but they're not very thick. I think I'll have a look and see if I can get some new ones. I also have a frame with a padded seat/kneeler, which Mr Megrose bought for me. You kneel on the kneeler and then use the frame to help you stand up again. Then you can turn the frame and the kneeler becomes a seat. But, because the kneeler is a few inches off the ground, you have to lean forward and down to do any weeding. I'm struggling with a new diagnosis of LPR (laryngopharyngeal reflux) and bending forwards is not a good idea. Maybe I'll just have to admit that it's more sensible to do a little each day. When (if) the weather gets warmer I do tend to go at it like a bull at a gate!
Thanks again.

Meg

Airwave!

This is a good time of the year for me, everything pops up despite what I don't do! Crocus, snowdrops, daffs, hebe(?)and a few other things that shouldn't be, are all out. The garden is like a wet sponge at present, every step I take is a muddy one. Could be at least another month before its dry enough to work out there?

Try Wilco for knee pads and tape a couple together.

applerose

You beat me to it Airwave. Was just about to suggest 2 together.

I noticed crocuses flowering in my boss's garden today.

toady

I am giving thought to a slightly better planned approach to planting this year.. having seen the sense of bringing on more perennials for borders that have usually just got motley annuals etc, what I am trying to do is grow some things this year that will come into future use. Ie have a go of a range of plants, in pots etc, see what I like & what does well, then I can look to planning better borders & planters next year. For this year I will half & half it with some annuals, some perennials & some herb-y bits & bobs. Well that's the plan on paper. Here are some of my recent purchases - going for a pale greeny & dark purply type colour scheme, I know that's not especially original but it will suit some of what I have already.


Cerinthe major: Lemongrass: Thai Basil: Hollyhock (coffee): Heuchera ('greenfinch'): Astrantia major.

I already have heuchera 'lime marmalade' and 'plum pudding', plenty of lavender, buddleia, and some ranunculus, and purple basil and chives (that have never flowered yet) & will pick up some alliums. Some of these things may not get on well together, and have not exactly been expertly planned for sensible flowering times, but I'm new at this.

This is all well & good on paper we'll see what happens.

mig

Hello everyone ,This is my first time in the gardening forum ,I was just wondering when a pot of indoor hyacinths have finished flowering do I leave them in the compost or take them out ,assuming they will flower again next year ? Mig

applerose

Toady, I did all that when I first moved in here almost 19 years ago. Now I tend to just buy what I like, put it where I want it and hope for the best. I think it will look lovely. I like the colours.

Mig, I have hyacinths growing in the garden. I leave them there during the winter and they always come back again. Not sure about indoor ones. I think they'd be ok to take out or maybe leave in the pots in a cold, dark place. Someone else might know better.

My daffodils are just about ready to flower. I planted 50 of them in the lawn last autumn. Snowdrops are looking good. A few tulip leaves showing and the cyclamen growing like crazy. A garden round the corner has lots and lots of grape hyacinths growing. They look lovely.

toady

Hi all, just a question for anyone passing..

I have got some thai basil and am optimistically hoping to end up with a pot like this :



Cultivation-wise, would that be more than one plant to a pot, or just one well pinched out etc to get a good shape - and if so, would you presumably just pinch out til you get the right shape & then stop pinching so it'll flower? Would it only get to that sort of size/stage after a year or 2?

Your garden is ahead of mine applerose, no daffodils near out yet but plenty of greenery coming now, bluebells grape hyacinths etc. Hope you manage to keep your hyacinths happy til next year dachshund.

Boomer13

Mig, I planted out hyacinths that came to me in a pot. They didn't bloom again that same year, but came up and bloomed faithfully for years after that (even in Canada!).

I like your planting scheme toady, very nice. I have black hollyhocks but they don't seem to be vigorous plants and are always stunted and rusty. I need to fix their soil, I think.

toady

Thank you Boomer that's most kind. None of my plans are at all ambitious, just starting small with an unused border or two, & some containers, for the fun of trying some things out. I suspect I will have similar problems with hollyhocks, but I thought I'd have a go and if I don't have much success I'll replace with a perennial next year. They are lovely though so it would be nice to have some if possible but they aren't the most foolproof plant to go for. Must be such a different & interesting set of conditions to deal with where you are.

ritwren

Toady, your Cerinthe will give you seeds and you can grow them every year, they're easy. I've been growing them for years. Sorry I can't help with the Basil, not something that does well for me although I do grow every year too. I'm trying Hollyhocks for the 1st time this year, you'll be able to get seeds from them too so never have to buy them again.

Mig, give your dying Hyacinth a dose of tomato food to help the bulb get big enough to flower next year. They'll do fine planted out in the garden, remember to bury them a lot deeper than they were while growing indoors in a pot.

My garden has come to life and is full of Daffodils Hyacint and some lovely little native Tulips are blooming now as well, the big ones have buds but only a few are starting to show colour.

The Roses and Buddlea as well as some of the woody Salvia have all been pruned and are putting on loads of new growth. All the Perennials are showing growth although one of the Hosta has yet to make an appearance. I love this time of year, already the garden is starting to look lush.

As to seed and Tuber management, I've tons on the go and the Dahlia tubers have been started into growth too. Every year I wonder where I'm going to put things but find a place to shoe horn them into somehow.

Hope everyone is able to do a little bit today, that's how I do things. A small bit at a time.