What are your thoughts?
I am really loving the new format. I like the way they are focusing not just on huge, uber-wealthy properties but on some small back gardens. I like the mix of stunningly beautiful, expertly-achieved gardens and amateur eccentricity. And I particularly like the focus back on technique, and doing things. It's lovely to see Carol Klein treated by the camera like the expert she is, instead of a gurning idiot pointing out that the top of the plant is called the "leaves" and the bottom is called the "root". I also find myself really warming to Adam Frost.
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247 replies
shovetheholly · 19/09/2016 08:47
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shovetheholly ·
16/10/2016 10:52
ginger - my goodness, a neurological issue sounds difficult - I do hope that you are OK and on the mend. 
This is a whole new area for me. I've been looking into it a bit for my hypothetical green roof - you can get lightweight growing media for these, which are a mix of things like perlite, sand, crushed stuff and organic matter. They come in different grades for weight/depth and there are different kinds of things that you can grow in each, depending on the depth to which you go (this is very confusing to me at the moment!!). I think you could use these on a balcony in lightweight wide and shallow pots and containers (fibreglass??) and grow rock garden plants with less load than traditional compost. I suspect things like alpines would also cope with the exposure better than many other plants.
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bookbook ·
16/10/2016 11:10
Weight is always going to be an issue with a balcony - does it stick out without support ( like a Juliet one) or has it any sides and base? I was being a bit 
about nothing being allowed, and wondered about hooks into the building with the gripple system....its not permanent as far as I am aware. And also finding very lightweight pots too - I don't know how nice they are in reality , but you can buy them made in a sort of polystyrene type stuff which are very lightweight.
I was working in our local Horticultural shop yesterday, and thought of you Lorelei - there, large bags of nearly everything we sell is , or can be, split into smaller bags at no extra charge , so check to see if you have one perhaps. ( Ours is a non profit making charity/society)
gingeroots ·
16/10/2016 11:14
thanks Holly - sort of name checking it to make myself feel better . I was driving and it was very scary indeed . I'm waiting for tests but I'm beginning to think it might be some kind of weird aura migraine without the pain .
Anyhow ...I see a gap in the market for special balcony container soil . See you on Dragon's Den ? or a LETS scheme 
shovetheholly ·
17/10/2016 07:38
ginger - that sounds absolutely terrifying. You poor thing! I really hope they can sort it out soon. I had a friend who suffered something that sounds a bit similar - a sudden headache that was so severe she almost couldn't move - and it turned out to be a stress-induced migraine. It really was extreme. Hope you can get some answers soon and in the meantime
lorelei - I have Gripple a lot at my allotment and garden (my plot neighbours work for them!!). It's all plastic - including the wire - which means that it doesn't clang about quite as much as metal wire might. I think with wind resistance, it might make a difference if something is solid or a bit permeable to the air. I've noticed this with fences where I live, which get very windy in the winter storms - whole panels are liable to rock loudly, break or fall over under the stress, but ones with slats that are more offset, leaving space for the air to move through, seem solid as a rock. So something with gaps in it that allow the wind to whistle through, might possibly work a bit better than a solid panel for noise... ???
On a totally different subject, I enjoyed this week's show. I do like that Frances Tophill - I thought she coped with the very slightly patronising older couple with aplomb. And I do admire a woman who knows her raspberry diseases like that! I like the Nick Bailey segments as well, but I found myself wondering about the health of that fig, acer and those climbers in pots. I always think that if someone has plants in pots that are struggling through neglect, the answer may not be more pots since the same thing is quite likely to happen. He did make that bay tree look gorgeous, though...
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shovetheholly ·
17/10/2016 17:03
I can't help feeling that Monty must be ill. That garden does not look right at all. I hope I am wrong.
I didn't hear that about the peat compost. I try to avoid it where possible, so it's actually a bit of a relief to hear that the non-peat stuff can be just as good (for years they seemed to suggest that it was less good, which made me feel a bit guilty towards my plants for using the peat-free bags). I am very proud of my own garden-made stuff this year - it's rotted down very nicely at the bottom of my dalek. 
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Kr1stina ·
17/10/2016 17:30
I agree, I thought they dry garden looked a terrible mess. I know it's a big garden but they have two full time gardeners plus monty and his wife.
Well done on the compost holly . Does that mean it's time for a composting thread ? It's must be...oh....weeks since we've talked about it
bookbook ·
17/10/2016 19:11
I don't normally leave my bulbs in pots . I tend to re plant in the garden. The only one that does survive are the chinodoxa which are in the same pot as an azalea I have. They come back every year, without me doing much .
(On a side note - hello P1nkP0ppy - I have you to thank for a fabulously easy ice cream recipe - though maybe I shouldn't thank you due to the calories! )
Yes, everywhere in his garden looks as if it has run away from him at the moment. I too hope he is okay - maybe just weary of it all . I know I am like that some years - it all seems a bit much, and out of control....
shovetheholly ·
18/10/2016 07:24
Hello pinkpoppy! Thanks for the heads up about those Sunday morning shows - I've never seen any of them!
I am enjoying Gardens Through Time, though I find the camerawork a bit bizarre. In the Great Dixter one, some shots were really dark, others overexposed, at one moment the presenter was talking to someone at 45 degrees, at the next to the camera. But that couldn't dampen my enthusiasm for the garden itself which I have never visited. I think the main take-home message from the programme was that I can definitely cram in loads more plants and DH is plain wrong to say we are full
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shovetheholly ·
18/10/2016 18:14
Is that the Great Storm of 1987?
If so, this is what it did to one of my favourite areas of woodland. This was really dense before it hit. 
I've' always thought that bulbs in pots fail from a combination of people forgetting to water them in the summer and a lack of nutrients. But that is pure assumption, not science.
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