General Gardening Discussion

Thanks very much Fairy Girl, plenty of good advice from everyone.

We have lots of hollyhocks flowering around here at the moment but I don't think that's particularly unusual. We get the same with other biennials like foxgloves. It just seems to happen because they self seed so readily but not always in ideal conditions, so it takes some a while to get to...

That's cool @micearguers !

Sienna Hosta has a good range of miniature varieties.Miniature and Small Hostas

I am able to leave mine in hanging baskets, and in pots on the ground, but if extended rough weather (lots of saturating rain or high winds) is imminent, I might move the baskets to a sheltered area for the duration. I am in an area of the UK with mild weather. Forecasts rarely suggest...

The diameter of the pot depends on how much you want it to “spread”. The depth, I don’t know but I’d say as deep as possible because the roots will fill the pot and it will dry out more quickly if it’s shallow. Likewise plastic would be better than wood.We have three bamboos in the garden, all...

The Gosforth branch closure probably means I'll pay my mortgage off in half the time, it's on my commuting route and I have a totally empty new garden But to echo the others, it's not great. Some one off bargains and a very interesting aquarium/ pond integrated shop (they had Axolotl last...

Just bought a battery hedge trimmer from them in their sale for under £40. Tried it out today. Great buy.

I haven't grown any for a while, but I used to depot the tubers, check these for any soft bits and discard if found, then pop them on a piece of kitchen roll in the airing cupboard to dry out. After that I'd wrap them individually in fresh kitchen roll, put them in a paper bag, and store this...

I prefer to plant bulbs in borders. The soil is free draining here and winters quite mild so it's easier to let them spend winter in the ground and repeat flower the following year, if they want to . A bulb lasagne is a good way to experiment with bulb flowering heights, flowering times and...

He/she is My daughter's had a few close encounters and would love to give them a bear hug.

Am sure they will put in their best effort to reward you for rescuing them.

Look on the bright side. Its a legume, so is rewarding you with fixated nitrogen , which is a bonus.... Its seeds are edible in small quantities but toxic in excess.

My Tropaeolum speciosum was bought and has grown well; however it has never flowered. As for my nemesis take your pick from my brother, a variety of teachers and especially my headmaster who wanted to cane me for my bad writing.

They look very healthy - look forward to seeing some flowers (might be next year, though.) Mine always get rust whenever I try to grow them now. Yours show no sign!

I wasn't criticising @Alpine2 - it was just in case you hadn't noticed. Most people tend to start new threads if they're looking for ideas, and there's been a few quite recently.

And that is the major problem. Its two- fold Land which until now has been rejected for development; flood plain in many cases, is now being built upon. Traditional drainage schemes are being neglected through a mixture of mistaken 'restoration'/rewilding/misappropriation of budgets. Allowing...

This thread was a good read. I’ve got one side of back garden which has permanent shade from fence except for a short time first thing. Always a challenge knowing what to plant, especially when wanting year round interest.

All you can do is keep an eye on them, and hope that the autumn/winter weather will benefit. Ling, which is what you have, is pretty hard to kill [even when being burned on hillsides to rejuvenate it] but it does like plenty of moisture. A pot grown specimen can easily dry out though, and is...