General Gardening Discussion

Liz, lovely pics. We've got a few fuscias surviving too but don't know if the next few days will finish them off.A little frost I don't mind but SNOW - I hate it. Roll on Springtime!

Thankyou so much for your replies, I do feel a little more confident that I may be able to resolve this issue, interesting to hear from PeterS that you are happy with your shed now but I still find it odd that the door doesn't open fully, it would only take another 2-3ins height to resolve the...

I use an old blanket, fleece I find isn't enough on really cold nights, and remove it every day if the temperature is above freezing. Fleece is good for those spring frosts that we get when the temperature drops just for a couple of hours or so.

Sounds like they flowered off the bulb the first year, but weren't able to rebuild that bulb after flowering. Maybe after two years, they will have built up enough to flower in 2006 if the conditions are right.

I once planted a 9cm pot of pampas grass in the top of a 4inch wide x 5ft long drainpipe filled with compost. Over the course of one season it rooted right through into the ground & formed a 'pampas palm tree'. It had a very sturdy stake to hold it up & ivy growing up the 'trunk'. Weirdly...

Saw him on a tv prog recently - can't remember when/where - but it was his last RHS show so might have been a repeat. His display of veg was spectacular, though. Pity I'd not heard of him before. BTW he got a gold, of course!

Now that's annoying. I go away for a few days and when I get back home I find the garden is looking much like I left it.The coleus and daturas are looking fine in my sheltered bed and the American Elephant ears are still fine, but...At the end of the garden there is a bed of coleus grown...

Hi, outside temp here has not risen above 5deg. C since 16th. All looks very pretty and still freezing tonight, though only -3. My outside cyclamen flowers in window box are wilted but leaves are fine. I think the rate at which things thaw has a lot to do with damage, these catch early morning...

Well, they are supposed to be deciduous, so yes it is normal. they may have stayed green over the last few winters becaue of the mildness of the weather.

It came from a friend who now has no where to put it now he has moved. He got it from a garden centre where they said it was hardy, but who knows? He had it outside under a verandah but lived in town whereas we are out in the sticks. Its in a big pot, very difficult to move, and I intend to...

Ok thanks all for that I'm going to move them into a window to get more light and try the rainwater theory - I'll also cut off the pale leaves. Most of them are the larger older leaves however not all.

o i did see on the tv gardening program, a garden with an acute angle as you have .. it was made a feature, using a nice fence, and a garden statue ps be careful with "rockeries"..... in an average urban garden these often tend to be heaps of soil and stones,, which have little merit and...

Its all a bit strange whats happened this year, we seem to have moved into winter all of a sudden. I noticed today that a euphorbia that i have which normally flowers about march, is already opening its flowers, and a rhododendron seems to be breaking its buds. Dont know what effect its going...

Hi acra24 Weren't gardening express having a bit of a reorganisation a few weeks ago...or something like that, I received my 50 free tulips bulbs from them a few weeks ago, they came really quickly Gillx

I knew the feeling three weeks ago Michaelmas Daisy. Now I am luxuriating in early retirement - my garden may even be straight for spring for the first time ever. It is truly amazing to plan things by the weather - rather than cramming the must do's (inside and out) in at the weekend. Now just...

A London window box may be OK planted or stocked now, subject to it getting enough sunlight and indeed warmth from the window. What kind of herbs was he thinking of - cullinary, colour or ????

Hi Rich , One nights' frost and my pot of morning glory and thunbergia looks like your trellis. Good thing is seedlings do too!

o sry. yes geraniums won t overwinter but are easy to keep in the house..... shake soil of roots, spray with bug gun and re pot, water minimum and take cuttings

yes def avoid shade otherwise i d put it where it looks natural... a little path leading to a feature.....also a cold frame will double your plant raising cabability

as a jobbing gardener i am often overfaced with overgrown gardens and no idea how much work is involved at the start........ if it is really bad i suggest you get a good gardener to sort out the worst of it and get advice on plants to plant i use professional hand tools, not the cut price off...