General Gardening Discussion

A bit late now but you can do it for many herbaceous perennials. The idea is to either prolong the flowering season or to produce more but smaller flowers - or both. If it's a large clump you can cut back part of it (usually at the front so you can see the shorter, smaller more numerous...

Thank you @Black Dog . Thought as much. The bees, not that we have that many will already have been on the plant and as you can see it is a fair size to have to cover so I will just do a pot luck and see what I get.

I'd just be inclined to not actually think of it as pruning and more a hedge trimming job.Just cut the top down slightly lower than the finished height you want and cut the sides back, again, slightly harder than you want the finished hedge. Then when you get regrowth you cut back more to the...

Whenever I sow something directly into the soil, I mark the spot with a wooden stick. This is because I tend to forget which places are already occupied.

Agree very much, it's a thrill to get the things sprouting but the plants are somewhat disappointing and crops might not be huge. Fun to try though!

Feed with half strength fertiliser every 10 days or so once the flowers have faded. Unless you want seed then remove the faded flowers, stems and all. Sow any saved seed fresh in standard seed sowing compost covered lightly with grit, Keep them cool and damp,outside somewhere. Other wise...

@portoman They are perfectly normal. Daffodils and tulips are spring flowering bulbs, so they produce leaves in early spring, then flowers and after the flowers have finished the leaves die down for the rest of the year. The bulb has been recharged for next spring. As you have planted in them...

My doorstep delight is Vinca minor variegata with Hellebores. The Vinca flowers in early summer but is decorative all year round, and Hellebores flower most winter if it's mild. Both do well in shade.Hardy Geraniums also flower well in shade, and the flowering period is longer than in full...

If intending to sow seeds direct, it might be better to sow in small pots or modules and plant those out to avoid small seedlings being smothered. Seeds needing to be sown direct could be sown in drills with the seedy topsoil scraped away and replaced with some potting compost.

Kids are soft nowadays, so are their parents! In my early days(the 60's) it was don't eat the worms, ok, don't eat any more. Don't touch the dog poo....no, I don't know why it's white. Go give that woolly bear caterpillar to your sister. I now teach the granddaughter to deeply inhale the...

I don't know if anyone is interested but this is the reply I got from the nursery, a few minutes ago."Good morning,With roots it does take quite a bit of time before any growth starts to show. We generally recommend waiting until at least the end of June.Kind Regards,Sophia"So I...

Rule of thumb: The first year of plant development doesn't count.I planted a lot of different trees and bushes. Some exploded after planting, others did a while year of nothing. This even varies between plants with the same type, shop and conditions. If they don't grow in the second year...

When I say the top third, its as near as possible. Obviously I can't do this for every pot and I should mention in the smaller pots we do completely change the compost and pot.

Thanks for all the help guys. We will take it on board and hope to have better looking plants next year.

Thanks @JWK much appreciated.

Welcome to GC It looks like honeysuckle to me as well. Either leave it or pull it out depending on whether it's a nuisance. You're unlikely to be able to dig it out but pulling it will keep it under control. If it flowers then you can pull/cut it out after it has flowered. It won't affect...

,so pretty.

I always think of hoeing as a vegetable garden thing rather than a job you do much around ornamentals, cant say I've ever picked up the remains of the weeds. The idea is you do it so often that the weeds are only small.

Yeah cut it down to the base.

Well, I've been gardening for almost a decade here in Notts and it has just been the oddest year in a couple of ways, the first being the insanely high number of greenfly/blackfly! I stopped spraying everything with pesticides about 4 years ago and gradually the ladybirds, hoverflies etc. had...