General Gardening Discussion

That worked for me too. I hacked it down to the ankles but never got around to digging it out. It came back perfectly healthy. The benefits of being an idle gardener. PS. Clean your secateurs before you touch another fuchsia or you'll spread it

If you thin out about 1/3 of the oldest stems every few years (cut right back to the ground) then new stems will appear. That way you can keep it fresh. You can prune them back too - they are tough shrubs.

Anytime other than midwinter

Thanks @Pete8

Pruned or not, cytisus are short lived shrubs and very dull for about 50 weeks of the year so I would concentrate your efforts on sorting out the forsythia which flowers a wee mite longer. Take out any branches going the wrong way so that you are left with a manageable set of stumps.They...

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have another hunt around based on those.

Wow... thank you all for the great advice, the removal tips you all have given me are diamond.

I add a few drops of biodegradable washing up liquid, this reduces the surface tension and the larvae cannot hang from the surface as they breath.

Thanks everyone. I've certainly learned something this week!

We regularly get pigeons nesting in our tree and the only issue is the occasional snapped branched and a whole lot of crap. The leaves below the nest get properly boulder dashed and look similar to your picture. It does no harm and probably benefits the tree with some free fertiliser.

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If it's a totally enclosed container, as opposed to one that's open to the ground, it's certainly a bit small for most large shrubs/trees, so bigger will always be better for the health of any plant you choose. The mix it's in will have to be suitable too - a good soil based one, or just soil,...

I'd never attempt to grow one in a pot, for the reason given. You'd need a very, very big container to keep it happy enough to thrive well. If you made a purpose built bed for it, that would be different, but then you'd have to dig it out of the existing site for replanting and that could be...

My runner beans are being decimated. Hardly any plants left from 10 plants put out in the ground a few days ago.

Good way of putting it.

You can certainly lift and store them, but that's also quite difficult as they can be a bit hit and miss if you don't have perfect conditions for that. It's easier to have them in separate pots which you can then protect from the worst weather to prevent waterlogging, and if they're some of...

Hi @DaifraeFife I’ve got 4 clematis growing in pots on my patio and all are doing really well. I took advice from a clematis nursery, they said to plant in a large pot, and to water regularly and feed weekly in the growing season and it’s worked for mine.I’ve got Koreana Amber in the front...

My neighbours are lovely people, but they're not great at looking after plants so they're forever bringing things over to me to have. She bought me a sad rhododendron this weekend, which I assume she had put in normal compost. I did offer her some ericaceous as I had a bag left over from my...

How about Griselinia? It's a light green so will brighten your garden and is also available variegated. It grows fast so will need trimming more often.griselinia hedge images - Search Images (bing.com)