Calling all AC Gardeners!

suncatcher

Just reading your thread now. It is funny looking back now. I could have a neighborhood of paddy fields with the help of my hose pipe water cress could have been a good one to grow this year.
Been enjoying eating the lettuce Ive grown. got strawberry plants and my tomatoes to come looking for ward to them. It is better in my back garden don't have to go so far. I send Badger to burrow up the road at the allotment for other tasty home grown.
My hay fever is bad this week and causing blurry eyes so i am squinting at this. will have a quick check around site bye from joanne

frogmorton

Hi Avrielle

Lovely to meet another fellow gardener Your pots sound fabulous. I knwo what you mean about a happy year. i am happy in my garden - it really is so rewarding and for me calming :oops: being a hyper-manic sort of person!!!

Joanne- yes a paddy field full of rice Hope Badger is bringing home nice food for you all from the alotment?

and guess what???

I went to Gardener's World live again this year. YEsterday with the youngest (14) and had a great day. Saw Monty Don's talk on composting again Harlan'smummy - keep your wee-un interested in the garden if you can. Tis a good hobby

Love

Toni xxx

tkachev

My penstemons are budding. We are growing a load of delphiniums from seed which I intended to add to the current bunch already planted out but sadly the old batch have been eaten. How effective is putting egg shells around the base? Never tried it before but don't want to lose the new ones.

e

frogmorton

I dont know Elizabeth, but if the vast majority of slugs live underground.....I dont see how it can help much??

I am trying nemaslug this year. Will let you knwo how it goes as its not cheap :roll:

LOve

Toni xxx

applerose

Managed to plant some petunias and mini sunflowers in the garden today. And I repotted some tomatoes. The ones which I had left outside were doing much better than the ones in the greenhouse so I've moved some more outside.
Mr Blackbird came and asked for his tea so I put out a handful of mealworms, his favourite. After a while, he flew off and his Mrs came and had her tea then she left and he came back. Wonder if they've got a second batch of eggs. Mr B brought 1 almost fully-grown baby in to the garden a couple of weeks ago.
One of my apple trees has loads of baby apples. The other one has 1 apple. I know I have a Golden Delicious and a Brambley but I don't know which is which as the labels have come off.
I have found very fine gravel has kept the slugs off my hosta. I have never been able to grow one before because of them.

suncatcher

Ive done my back in lifting out a lavender bush. I have got a tiny boarder out front and had 5 overgrown lavenders. I had decided to get rid of them and put in smaller plants. The lavenders are out but am unable to finish what i started.
I am moving around but getting out bed and off seats i have to do a little slower and in a different way. Well im off to bed from joanne

frogmorton

Hi Applerose

Mr and Mrs Blackbird eh? and big baby blackbird? Our Mr and Mrs have a second 'litter' l know because they are in the extension loft and we can hear them

Joanne

You be careful :shock: Best to rest a bit if you can and take your anti-inflams and pain killers. Look after yourself now and get well soon.

Love

Toni xxx

tkachev

frogmorton wrote:

I dont know Elizabeth, but if the vast majority of slugs live underground.....I dont see how it can help much??

I am trying nemaslug this year. Will let you knwo how it goes as its not cheap :roll:

LOve

Toni xxx

Thanks Toni.
The old plants cost me a couple of quid each so I wasn't happy to see them disappear so quickly. Obviously the seeds were much cheaper but would be prepared to pay out for something that worked.

Ex

tkachev

suncatcher wrote:

Ive done my back in lifting out a lavender bush. I have got a tiny boarder out front and had 5 overgrown lavenders. I had decided to get rid of them and put in smaller plants. The lavenders are out but am unable to finish what i started.
I am moving around but getting out bed and off seats i have to do a little slower and in a different way. Well im off to bed from joanne

We took our lavender out of the front border too. They get a bit straggly so I am going to replace them with something a bit prettier.
Hope you will recover quickly. I find my back goes if I attempt any gardening and takes a good few days to recover.

E x

applerose

Oh ouch, Joanne. I think it's usually best to keep moving about when you strain your back but don't attempt any lifting. Hope it recovers quickly so you can get the mew plants in.

I've not done anything in the garden today as it has only just stopped raining. My son has a tray of petunias he's dropping off for me tomorrow. Think it might be next week before I get them planted.

suncatcher

Hi my back is still hurting. It will take a few days to recover. I have rested but not too much that i s ease up. I am finding it hard to get off seats and out bed. Thank you for kind concern over my back.
I am not sure yet what to put in the new border. I have time now to think about it. The lavender while it did hide the bins was leggy and wild. I need a slight hight at the back to hide bins look pretty but is easy to care for and grow up more than out over hanging over sides. I am thinking of putting low trellis for them to grow against. At the front low planting.
Any ideas welcome.
I promise guys i will take it easy. Thank you from Joanne

Saphire

Hi to all,
Only joined this website a couple of days ago but pleased to see a gardening thread. I love spending time out in the garden, especially when we get some sun. I am moving home soon and am wanting to take a few plants with me and an olive tree which I planted from small. I had it cut down to approx 4' last autumn and it has sprouted new branches. Has anyone dug up and replanted an olive and been successful in replanting?

Thanks, Saph

tkachev

Shame you are still suffering Joanne. I can only do an incy wincy bit at a time otherwise like you I'm laid up and in pain.
I haven't put anything in its place yet either Joanne. I do have some sedums acre and since the lavender was removed they have grown wild and tall. They are only green at the moment and will flower later in the year so I also need some spring and summer colour and something easy to gro

I'll keep a look out,

Welcome Saphire. Somebody mentioned Olives on a chit chat thread a few weeks back. Not sure if they were growing them or eating them though!

Elizabeth

elnafinn

Hope it stays dry for our allotment BBQ tonight, starting at 6.30 p.m. 8) I shall wear suitable clothing to be on the safe side

Elna x

Greenlily

Hi everyone, I garden a lot. I potter most days doing one thing or another. I call it diversion therapy. Actually i find the garden easier than the kitchen and housework. I wonder why that is :roll: Really i'm a kitchen gardener but I so have flowers and other things which usually get away from me... I have a wonder woman help who also helps me outside and my kids come sometimes and ad a bit or weight for me. Today I planted out leeks and cauli plants and made a net tent for them to keep the nasties off. Also killed the slug which has eaten my carrots. Have resown them.... love to compare notes...

applerose

Welcome Saphire. I'm not sure about your olive tree but it would be worth trying to move it. Maybe make sure you take plenty of the soil with it.

Elnafin, hope your allotment BBQ went well.

Greenlily, how did you make your tents? I've tried using netting and canes but it didn't work too well.

frogmorton

How lovely to see two new gardeners greenlily and sapphire...maybe not new to gardening, but to our gardening thread.

Moving an olive :shock: Sounds scary....I have moved a few trees in my time successfully. This tree is obvioulsy worth taking the risk as it means a lot to you I think?

I would try to prepare the hole first......Really large and WIDER than you think. Soak it and put some compost in to it. THEN dig up the tree. I hope you are moving near enough to do that???

Joanne....have you tried the heat patches you can buy in supermarkets in an orange box???? They warm up on once opened and you stick them on....like a portable hot water bottle so you can start to move about a bit.

Love

Toni xxx

elnafinn

The allotment BBQ was a real laugh and well attended. It was not at our allotments but at another local one and the council have kindly designated an allotted space for BBQ's. There are a few benches, tables and chairs there permanently. A builder is going to build a permanent brick BBQ but as he had not got around to it, he lent us a gas one and others brought them along. The rain kept off until about 9.00 pm and the homemade wine was flowing and the beers too. A great get together of people from both allotment areas.

Today repotted 37 lavender seedlings into bigger pots. More to do as and when I get the time and the weather is favourable.

I love lavender.

Elna x

applerose

Sounds like a great idea, Elna. Glad it went well.

Well today, I spent most of the morning in bed. When I got up, I put on my painting clothes as I was halfway through painting my living room walls and the weather forecast was for rain. There were some papers I decided to take outside for recycling. To my surprise, the sun was shining and it was really warm so I ended up repotting my strawberries, planting some begonias, moving my potted plants around (and I do have quite a lot) and generally tidying up. Two hours later, I remembered I had left the paint tray full of paint in the living room and the furniture was moved to the middle of the room and covered over so I got back to that. My garden has that effect of making me forget what I am supposed to be doing in the house.

valval

got some plants in as it was dry looking bit better but grass needs cutting again with all this rain val

Airwave!

Bearing in mind the weather and our expectations for summer, what is the latest I can plant some lavender? This is for harvesting next year.

Its a grin, honest! 8)

applerose

I was in Boyes today and found some Slug Defence Gel. It was made by Doff and cost £2.99. It doesn't have any harmful chemicals in it. Haven't tried it yet but, hopefully, it will work.

tkachev

suncatcher wrote:

Hi my back is still hurting. It will take a few days to recover. I have rested but not too much that i s ease up. I am finding it hard to get off seats and out bed. Thank you for kind concern over my back.
I am not sure yet what to put in the new border. I have time now to think about it. The lavender while it did hide the bins was leggy and wild. I need a slight hight at the back to hide bins look pretty but is easy to care for and grow up more than out over hanging over sides. I am thinking of putting low trellis for them to grow against. At the front low planting.
Any ideas welcome.
I promise guys i will take it easy. Thank you from Joanne

What about agapanthus? Some are evergreen and they come in various heights even upto 5ft to cover your bins.

Elizabeth

tkachev

applerose wrote:

I was in Boyes today and found some Slug Defence Gel. It was made by Doff and cost £2.99. It doesn't have any harmful chemicals in it. Haven't tried it yet but, hopefully, it will work.

Let us know how you get on with it Applerose. I hope it works well .

Elizabeth

frogmorton

Airwave! wrote:

Bearing in mind the weather and our expectations for summer, what is the latest I can plant some lavender? This is for harvesting next year.

Its a grin, honest! 8)

Are you growing from seed Airwave?? Or actual plants?? I knwo tehy liek warm soil so now is ideal.

LOve

Toni xxx

I used the gel last year around my lettuce pretty well successfully(in fact I used 2 bottles), but not 100% as most slugs live under the soil so might pop up inside the ring of gel. :?