who's your nemesis

im just a "novice" gardener so to speak ,just started doing it ,and still have a lot to learn so far my "nemesis" is house plants especially christmas cactuses ,just can't keep them alive and if i do they grow funny or don't flower :o . do any of you have that one plant that you just can't seem to grow or are you all pro's :D .im not so good at the hard work either ,i have a bad back and i think a vitamin deficiency :OUCH:. im only 14 lol

 

Christmas cactus are easy, a sunny window and neglect them. Mine just finished blooming...... since x-mas!! Tomatoes are probably my problem plant at the moment. I just can't seem to get them to grow well in this country..... grrrr!

 

We're not all pro's far from it if you hadn't said your age I did think I was talking to someone much older but unfamiliar with gardening

It don't matter how old you are, you obviously have the same passion we all share Thats why we are all here.

Cactuses die on me too, but I have had sucess with a date I grew from a date stone a couple of years back.

My Nemesis is trying to stop perpetual spinage bolting (going to seed instead of producing decent leaves)

:DOH::DOH::DOH:

 

The bad back is a Nemesis all by itself - take it from someone with years of experience.

I'll gamble there are more people on here with the same problem. We just have to get on with it.

Personally I need a long soak after a couple of hours in the garden and, when the back "Goes", several days R&R.

The trouble is the grass & weeds don't seem to take pity on me. They just keep growing!

 

Hi Ryan,
My nemesis......is the whole of my front garden, I just don't seem to be able to get anything to grow in it. I think I need a complete soil change!

 

i hate dandelion ,i found out a few days ago it's due to the "tap" root very annoying thing it comes up everwhere and just doesn't want to leave . i have problems with grass seeding itself aswell (not the grass from garden probably some wild grasses)

 

lol thanks ziggy i like to think im mature ,and focused although sometimes the "inner" kid gets the better of me .yip im defently unfimilar with gardening :D lol keen to learn though . i think my main problem is watering them ,i had the same trouble with the venus fly trap i just don't how often they need water. and my christmas cactuses didn't take to kindly to a pot change either lol

 

My neighbor has loads of carniverous plants in his greenhouse and from what I can tell he just leaves them standing in water all the time.

 

Chrysanthemums. Every now and then, I buy some, figuring that all the previous times I'd bought some and they died, it was down to the spot I'd put them in, or my care regime, or the slugs, or any number of other things. Then I give them another chance, and guess what? They flower for a week, then the whole plant just drops dead. Horrible things anyway, I only give them a chance because er indoors likes them.

 

Sisyrinchium Striatum for me. I have just the spot for this and have planted two, both of which haven't come up the following year.

 

This is such an interesting thread

Reading Clueless' and Jupes' posts surprised me though because i grow both of their 'problem' plants and they grow like weeds here !!!

The one plant that fails on me repeatedly (3 times, over the years, to be precise) is Syringa.
Syringa vulgaris and i have no relationship at all, they don't thrive, they exist until they can no longer and then just give up.

 

your post surprises me ,we have 2 huge lilacs growing wild in our garden and i can't get them killed off (there too close to a fence). the only resort is weed killer but that's a last ditch attempt :thumb:

 

Mint - yes, I did say mint. Whilst everyone else complains it's a 'thug', 'takes over', 'comes up everywhere', 'can't get rid of it', mine just disappears.

For the first 25 years we were married my Father would dig up huge clumps of his and give them to me - I'd plant it and it would die. I got him to plant it, it still died. I've planted it, variously, in clay soil, acid soil, sandy soil, tubs of compost (home made and bought), watered it, not watered it, fed it, not fed it, it still dies. I've tried growing it from seed without success and I've bought plants of it from the nurseries and garden centres - it still dies.

I'd love to be able to moan about it 'taking over' but after all these years, I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that this is nature's way of telling me just not to bother

 

Oooh, don't get rid of them, that sounds a bit of a bad idea
I'm a tree lover and find it very very sad when folks remove them :(

The lilacs around here are used constantly by birds (aswell as the butterflies loving them), infact my neighbour here had 2 and 2 winters ago the Fieldfares and Redwings flocked there for a few weeks.
She removed them last summer .... consequently, no place for those birds when they arrived in winter :gaagh::gaagh::gaagh:

 

the birds did enjoy the large white one didn't really have a choice though i was out numbered by my neighbour and mother and it was just about knocking down the fence. iv'e plenty of wild flowers though and i aim to attract the wildlife (i know what your probably thinking i failed my aim :D) ,but i still get loads of birds and other wildlife ,and iv'e replaced the tree's (in pots this time, so they wont grow quite as large) as i took 2 cuttings from the big white lilac .
now i just need to finnish of the garden and let everything settle down (as me constantly digging about isn't helping me attract the wildlife lol) but i wont can truly do that until next year