soapdragon Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Maybe I am lucky but my OH treat the garden like the washing machine....leaves well alone and claims he knows nothing about it. Just like the Dyson, iron, kettle descaler, floor mop (!!!) I could go on.......................................................................................on the domestic front, if ignorance is bliss then he is ecstatic ! ES always scarifies and mows the lawn although I am in charge of pots, tubs and beds. Our garden is not big though and we've planted that many hamsters over the years that I am beginning to get a little constrained when it comes to 'deep' planting as I'm not sure where we put them anymore - all the memorial stones seem to have got buried or covered themselves! Our main problem is a bay tree, planted as a tiny foot high twig 20 years ago, is now taking over. I really must get the ladder out and have a good hack back in the spring. Anyone want bay leaves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Lol - there is that! When I broke my ankle the house was vacuumed once - by my daughter (and that was only the kitchen where he'd smashed something and it needed cleaning up) then it wasn't done until I was walking round in my moon boot - even then I wasn't supposed to do that so soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 I love raking and mowing the lawn. I have one of those £30 hand mowers and am always happy when I'm raking up the thatch and then mowing all the straggly bits of grass and weed. I never try to do the lawn in one go. Just a bit every day, back and forth. I have one hellebore and I love it to bits. It's something else that makes me happy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted February 6, 2019 Share Posted February 6, 2019 Very pretty Patsylabrador 😊 I have one but it has never done anything - maybe I need to move it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I love Christmas roses - I've bought so many but they all died. Maybe it's time to try again! That's a beautiful one Patsylabby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 I think Hellebore are my favourite winter/ early spring plants. I know they’ll keep blooming until the magnolia, clematis amandine and all the other lovely flowering plants are in bloom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 On 2/6/2019 at 5:19 PM, Luvachicken said: Very pretty Patsylabrador 😊 I have one but it has never done anything - maybe I need to move it. I was feeling really lazy when I planted this one and just plonked it in a gap. For the first few years it was quite puny but always had a few flowers. This year it looks very happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 LOVE, LOVE the avatar. PL. How perfectly, wonderfully gorgeous! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 1 minute ago, soapdragon said: LOVE, LOVE the avatar. PL. How perfectly, wonderfully gorgeous! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Heyyyyyyyy that little cutiepie wasn't there a while ago. Bonny babe!😍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Oooo, he looks edible! Lucky you Jude 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 Congratulations Jude. Lucky people having growth in gardens already. All I've got is snowdrops and lots of spikes of whatever I put in last year and forgot, roll on warmer weather and I'll get sewing (seeds not quilts) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 9, 2019 Author Share Posted February 9, 2019 I want to grow dahlias this year (never had them before due to my hatred of earwigs) - what do people think about seeds vs tubers vs cuttings (which would have to be bought)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I think I’d go for tubers. My problem is the slugs and snails we have here. I can only really grow dahlias in pots where I can keep a better eye out for the slimy menaces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 I have had both - the tubers you get a specific type that you can choose. The seeds are random but pretty - you can always keep the ones you prefer. I did find that by sinking a pot into the growing space instead of planting properly, they were easier to lift in the autumn. My dad never lifted his and they came up every year because he had a sandy soil. Mine always died because of the damp. Beautiful flowers though but I do understand the earwig bit! Same with chrysanthemums. I gather stuffing straw in a flowerpot and then stand that flowerpot upside down is supposed to be nice and cosy for the earwigs - you can then tip the straw out and dispose of the creatures, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted February 9, 2019 Share Posted February 9, 2019 The year before last I spent a fortune on dahlia tubers and never had one flower, slugs and snails ate them all. I had wanted to grow them as I remembered mum and dad growing them when I was a child. Last year I used some wool pellet things and copper rings. Some got eaten but I did have some lovely flowers too. I grew them in pots. I had planned on planting them out into the garden but I was too worried about them being eaten after all my hard work protecting them in their early days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeramaSilly Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 22 hours ago, mullethunter said: I want to grow dahlias this year (never had them before due to my hatred of earwigs) - what do people think about seeds vs tubers vs cuttings (which would have to be bought)? I did well with a dahlia last year. I planted the tuber into a 3 litre pot in March (I think), I then left it in my porch until it was quite well established and planted it out early June with animal friendly slug pellets around it. You need to stake dahlias though otherwise they will just collapse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 10, 2019 Author Share Posted February 10, 2019 Thankyou. Maybe I’ll get a couple of tubers for ones I really like them and try a pack of seeds too. I have loads of slugs and snails too so will try growing them to a fair size in pots and then (maybe) plant them out 🤞🏻 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Chick Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Hello, can I join in please, a thread about gardening sounds great. I'm starting a new garden (all grass at the moment), Im making it up as I go along. Ive got a veg patch area and a bare flower bed I'm hoping to grow cut flowers in and a few pots that I have planted up so will see how they go this year. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 The more the merrier! All trials and tribulations welcome - we learn by our mistakes! Tomorrow I get a delivery by the compost man! Finally getting to grips with things! Today off to Taunton to visit Oak Apple Frames to see what they do - outbuilding here is a wreck and OH had to nail the roof on to stop it blowing off in one of the first storms we had here! Potato day for our nearest place is Williton, near Taunton on Sunday. Meanwhile in the porch: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 11, 2019 Author Share Posted February 11, 2019 9 hours ago, Chick Chick said: will see how they go this year. Looking forward to seeing how everything goes for you 😊 6 hours ago, Valkyrie said: Potato day for our nearest place is Williton I wanted to go to one of those but I can’t find one near me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 All a bit late in the day I'm afraid, but I just wanted to say that those hellebores look divine, my Mum has started cutting back the leaves on hers when the plant is in flower, to show off the blooms a bit. I have had no luck growing those bedding type cyclamen outdoors. As soon as it rains, the petals sink and the whole thing becomes very depressing. So, for the past 10 years or so I have bought 3 or 5 healthy small plants popped them in nice terracotta or other pots and kept them in a cool glass porch over the winter months, watering them sparingly. They have always flowered amazingly if you deadhead and choose ones with many buds in the first place. You can even find delicately scented ones if you sniff carefully! Because they are cheap I then ditch them with a clear conscience once they get to the end of their lives, I don't bother drying the coums and trying to get them going again, because it never works for me. Onto dahlias. I absolutely love dahlias but I am not good at growing them, so perhaps you should do the opposite of me! In the UK I have tried tubers (in clay soil) which gave rise to strong plants but few blooms. Then I tried them in pots, and got weedy plants and even fewer blooms, although I was able to take cuttings (in conservatory), so I got more feeble plants than I started out with. In no case did I feed them, perhaps that is where I went wrong. The best place I ever saw dahlias was in Victoria, Australia, where we drove for a couple of hours to go to a dahlia farm. We paid $3 and wandered up and down rows of fabulousness. I have also seen great dahlias close to my old house at a farm shop, where they were also grown in rows, in the ground, for cutting and selling in the shop. My neighbour here in Portugal also grows them well. I am tempted to think you need to grow them like a crop, a row of runners or something, where you pay some attention to them, and hold them up by poles and strings, rather than informally. I grew dahlias from seed last year, in Portugal, and I have a friend in the UK who swears by them. However, I found the blooms rather puny and ordinary, nothing like a big, fat dahlia should be, in my opinion. BTW I went to a class at Sarah Raven's many years ago and as I lived close by I explained how I couldn't overwinter my tubers (they rotted) and she said she managed to save hers by lots of mulch, which still didn't work for me. I then said I was trying gladioli instead, and she said they were even worse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 😂 oh dear Daphne - that’s a bit of a tale of woe regarding the dahlias. Were the gladioli any better? I have a few of those and they do OK but not great. I have reasonable soil - neither clay nor sandy - so hopefully should be OK on that score. I’ll just try them and see how I get on. I bought two packs of zinnia seeds for 29p each from Lidl and then read that they only do well in really good summers, so I might try them in the greenhouse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Oh that wasn't very helpful response! I thought she was supposed to help you not put you off! My grandmother grew gladdies and she always had a super show. She had this huge old vase that she used to cut them and stand them in and still had plenty in the garden! She lived in the New Forest and her soil was incredibly stony! She used local farm manure on the veg and pony poo on the roses. I don't remember her mulching flowers at all! She also had chrysanths and very tall dahlias - the only one I remember there was a pretty purple one with white edges - huge blooms! Neither did well on my clay but the chrysanths were lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Chick Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Lovely to see people have plants growing already. Some of my bulbs (in the pots) are coming up too early so not sure Im going to get the long lasting flower selection I was hoping for. I was thinking of getting one of Sarah Raven's cut flower collections for my empty bed, are there any other sites anyone could recommend who sell collections too? Im a beginner at growing cut flowers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
