Subject: Gardens?
Posted by: houston1127
Date: Jun 17 12
Anybody growing anything this year? I'm growing varous peppers, an array of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, spinach, swiss chard, bush beans, beets, onions, and different herbs. What are you growing this year?
Posted by: houston1127
Date: Jun 17 12
Anybody growing anything this year? I'm growing varous peppers, an array of tomatoes, sweet potatoes, irish potatoes, radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, spinach, swiss chard, bush beans, beets, onions, and different herbs. What are you growing this year?
140 replies. On page 2 of 7 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Mixamatosis 
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C30, I understand that beetroot like soil that is quite sandy and there's a type of fuchsia that will grow near the coast. I don't know what the variety is called but I think it's a wild variety rather than a cultivated type. You see it growing in people's gardens round the coastal areas in Ireland but it will also grow inland and even high up in the hills. Reply #21. Jul 24 16, 10:03 AM |
Shiningstar7
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I love flower gardens, to look at and admire. I am not an outdoor person however, I do have 2 houseplants I have taken care of for over 20 years. Reply #22. Jul 25 16, 7:44 PM |
Mommakat
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I love bulbs. When we moved into this house 16 years ago the garden was a riot of bulbs, it was springtime. I went shopping and when I got back there was not a bulb to be seen. My husband had dug the lot up and consigned them to the bin. He said he hated bulbs. When I remonstrated with him I got told the garden was his department, the kitchen was mine. Well now he is gone my garden this year is a riot of bulbs - and next month I expect even a greater show as the later ones come on like the tulips and daffodils. At the moment it is hyacinths and jonquils. When I commented to a family member that he was probably jumping up and down in his urn it was suggested I sprinkle his ashes among them....LOL...what a deliciously evil thought, I didn't though. Reply #23. Jul 25 16, 8:04 PM |
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Do people like or watch gardening programmes? There seem to be quite a few on in England. It's a popular hobby but the oldest gardening programme is a radio programme called "Gardener's Question time". A panel of gardening experts travel around the country visiting a different place each week and take questions from local audiences giving advice on all aspects of gardening such as what's best to grow in their garden conditions or how to solve a problem with a plant. Some people even bring in plants for the panel to identify pests or diseases and advise on solutions. Audience members may sometimes be slightly teased by panel members. Its format has remained the same for decades but it's rather charming. I'm sure lots of people listen who never garden just as lots of people watch cookery programmes who never cook. Reply #24. Jul 26 16, 6:20 AM |
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Sometimes when I need to relax I walk to the nearest garden centre. I find it really peaceful walking round and looking at the beautiful plants imagining whether I might buy them and it gets me some exercise in the fresh air. There's also a cafe there which is nice. If anyone ever visits London I can recommend a visit to Kew Gardens in Richmond. It's an amazing place and there's so much to see you need a whole day at least. Reply #25. Jul 26 16, 6:25 AM |
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Growing marigolds in a garden or allotment keeps the aphids away from other plants. I've just discovered though that what we called marigolds are actually calendula and what we called French marigolds are actually marigolds. The latter are loved by slugs and snails and it's a losing battle trying to keep them from being eaten. However Calendula also does the job and does not get eaten. I'd not been lucky finding any and wondered if they'd gone out of fashion but I spotted some on a council flowerbed and grabbed some seeds from them. I planted the seeds and now they are growing fast. Incidentally I saw a movement in the ivy at the bottom of my garden today and looking closer saw the most enormous frog. They like to eat slugs so I'm hoping it will reduce the slug count in my garden. I've seen a lot of bees and butterflies in the garden this year. I don't use poisons or weedkillers in the garden for the sake of the wildlife and I just don't like the idea of it anyway. Reply #26. Jul 27 16, 2:15 PM |
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What plants or flowers do you have in your garden? What are your favourites and why? Reply #27. Aug 04 16, 1:35 AM |
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My favourites are plants that look interesting to me, are low maintenance and thrive where they are growing. When I first started gardening it was trial and error. I planted what I liked but those plants sometimes didn't like where they were or the treatment they got so they died. The ones that survived I was grateful to. I like Camellias. They have lovely glossy green leaves and grow well in the shade as well as producing beautiful flowers in early Spring when not much else is blooming. I love box. It can be grown as a hedge or in pots and can be shaped. It is tolerant to drought and has a lovely smell in the Summer on hot Sunny days - a kind of warm but old smell - a smell of history. They are often to be found in Tudor gardens. They are expensive to buy but you can grow them from cuttings. For their smell and appearance I love lavendar and roses. Snapdragons grow well in my garden and are fun and give bright splashes of colour. I love the shape and colours of Petunias and they remind me of my childhood as do hydrangeas and calendula, gladioli and dahlias but I can't grow the last two. Gladioli flop over on me and dahlias are ravaged by slugs and snails. I don't want to have to cosset plants too much. I don't have time or patience for that. Honeysuckle is also a favourite. We have the wild version that was in the garden when we arrived. It's no too vigorous though and suffers from being overshadowed by the neighbours' large hedge plants. A passionflower plant I grew died for the same reason. It had beautiful flowers (which the neighbours described as "weird" and lovely fruits). Reply #28. Aug 04 16, 1:51 AM |
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Plants I dislike include: Russian vine - a monstrous thing - also known as "mile a minute". It strangles everything else in the garden and is quite hard to get rid of once it gets going. Useful if you quickly want to cover an eyesore I suppose. Hebes I found boring. They never flowered much for me and just looked the same all the time getting slightly bigger and woodier over time. Hostas are too much trouble. The slugs and snails love them too much. Rhododendrons look beautiful but you need masses of space for them. They will take over and nothing else will grow near or under them. Reply #29. Aug 04 16, 1:59 AM |
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Terrible year for my allotment. There was weeks of rain in the early Summer followed by weeks of hot sun. The pear tree has produced no pears and the plum tree did not produce many plums and the leaves of both trees look diseased. I also have a vine whose leaves look diseased this year though it has produced some grapes. It doesn't help that we are on the edge of the allotments where they meet the woods and trees from the woood overhang part of our plot. It's not the sunniest of plots. Reply #30. Sep 08 16, 5:23 AM |
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My taste in plants isn't fashionable really. It's based a lot on nostalgia for gardens from my childhood. Fashionable taste in city gardens (those that haven't been paved over) is for architectural type plants and even taste in flowers seems to change from year to year. My neighbours have fashionable tastes so I see how it changes over time. Reply #31. Sep 08 16, 5:27 AM |
honeybee4
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Besides flowers everywhere, we are growing tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, beets, potatoes, cantaloupes, honeydews, watermelons, pears, Asian pears, apples, figs, jujubes, nectarines, peaches, navel oranges, blood oranges, mandarin oranges, and tangelos. We pretty much have everything we need including eggs from our chickens. Reply #32. Sep 08 16, 8:54 AM |
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Sounds idyllic, Honeybee. Reply #33. Sep 08 16, 11:04 AM |
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I was reminded by a post on another thread of a small tree in my brother's front garden on the roadside on which he had practised some topiary. Everyone seemed to think it was meant to be the head of Bradley Wiggins because it looked like it had sideboards (sideburns). Bradley Wiggins had just won the Tour De France at the time and was noted for his sideboards because he liked mod fashions of the 1960s. My brother was relieved when Bradley Wiggins eventually shaved off his sideboards. He felt he'd no longer be expected to keep up the topiary. Reply #34. Oct 03 16, 2:51 AM |
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This week I painted our allotment shed. The original paint had come off in places and the wood was rotting in places and needed protecting. After putting would hardener and primer on the exposed wood, I went to buy paint. Paint sold for garden use had bad reviews and advises not to paint over existing paint. Didn't feel like spending hours sanding or stripping rough wood in the cold weather. Looked for other paint but any colours had to be mixed and the least glossy finish was silk which would still need to be sanded next time around. Eventually found some floor paint in a decent colour. The "paint expert" in the shop raised his eyebrows when told what it was for but it has worked a treat and went on in one coat unlike many "garden paints". Saved me so much time in the cold. Reply #35. Oct 22 16, 6:28 AM |
| Mommakat
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Yesterday I bought three more rose bushes....that is another thing my late husband destroyed when we moved into this house. The previous owners had a beautiful rose garden in the back of the house. These he also dug out, all 22 of them. Since he passed away I have bought several and my family have bought them for me also as gifts. I now have 10 lovely ones in the back garden and with the three I just bought have 6 in the front garden. One I bought is a pink named Princess Margaret, one is a deep almost black red named Ingrid Bergman and the third one is a lovely lilac coloured one named Blue Moon. Little by little I am doing it my way......LOL Reply #36. Oct 22 16, 7:11 AM |
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I looked up your roses Mommakat. They are lovely. I've seen images of garden seats with rose bushes behind and the whole background is full of roses but I never manage to get mine to bloom so prolifically. It's my ambition now to increase the number of blooms on my roses as they look so gorgeous when the garden space is full of blooms. Reply #37. Oct 22 16, 3:22 PM |
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Today I bought some double daffodil bulbs and planted them in a circle around the rose bush (Janeen) on my allotment. It was a lovely day for late October. Onions, garlic and Kale are growing now for over Winter. Reply #38. Oct 31 16, 12:13 PM |
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Re my post 26. Calendula I planted then is just beginning to flower now. I wonder if it's too late in the year for it to produce seeds and re-seed itself, which was my aim. Nothing much to do in the garden now. It's too cold and wet. I don't even mow the grass these days as we cut it little by little over time to feed to our pet rabbit. Some roses are still budding but the frost has killed the busy lizzie. Reply #39. Nov 12 16, 5:57 PM |
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I don't think it's as cold here as Winters used to be. My snapdragons are still flowering. I also have a white primula flowering. Normally it's a Spring plant. My calendula are still in flower. It makes a nice change from the normal bleakness of this time of year though technically were are still a few days away from Winter so there's bound to be colder weather to come. Reply #40. Dec 18 16, 7:41 AM |
140 replies. On page 2 of 7 pages. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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