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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

The first rule of potting shed is YOU ALWAYS talk about potting shed. The thread continues.

879 replies

echt · 16/03/2017 20:44

Here goes, and feeling bit cheeky as I didn't post much on the last one.

A fine autumn day here, with much seasonal clearing done. Now I come to think of it, is there ever a non-clearing season? :o

OP posts:
Thread gallery
68
Girliefriendlikesflowers · 20/05/2017 16:29

Hi all mind if I join you? Smile

I am a new but very keen gardener!! I moved into my new build last year but have really cracked on with the garden this year, have made a small nature area at one end complete with a tiny pond and have been busy planting lots of different flowers. I am still struggling to remember all the names of them all Grin

Have had a real problem with a bug called 'leather jackets' horrible little grubs that live in the soil and eat the roots of any small plants and grass, have had a lot of plant casualties because of them Angry have put a treatment down but am still finding a lot of them, is there anything else I could try?

MrsBertBibby · 20/05/2017 17:54

What treatment are you using?

MrsBertBibby · 20/05/2017 17:57

I am delighted as today a helianthemum which my dad too as a cutting off one I have loved since I was a kid, which I have been looking after for 2 years as finally flowered. Bright orange flowers and silvery leaves. My baby!

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 20/05/2017 18:27

Neo something Mrs its a live treatment, a parasitic worm

I'm so impatient with all my plants, I keep looking at them willing them to grow Grin is it normal for plants to grow some years but not flower? My buddleja has grown loads but not flowered Sad

bookbook · 20/05/2017 19:20

your buddleia shoudn't flower until later Girl - its a summer flowering shrub.
Lots of rain here over the last few days, it has really perked things up.

MrsBertBibby · 22/05/2017 11:06

I just opened up a compost heap that I added 2 sacks of horse manure to last summer. It looks amazing! I have just stuck a load on one bed. Loads more to shift!

SeaRabbit · 22/05/2017 14:29

Welcome girliefriend. I can't help as I have (luckily) never had leather jacket trouble. I always forget what I've planted too, so now keep a garden diary, noting what I plant where.

I love helianthemums too mrs Bert.

I spent the weekend tidying up, including the annual task of taking the compost out of one bin, spreading it and moving the full bin over so we can fill the now-empty one.

MrsBertBibby · 22/05/2017 18:19

Girlie I wondered if you were trying nematodes. I've been using the slugs version which seems to have massively reduced numbers. Never had to deal with leather jackets. They're daddy long legs larvae aren't they? Bleurgh.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 22/05/2017 22:31

Mrs yes they are, they are so grim and I am brutal with any I find in the soil (have a pair of scissors handy for dealing with them Blush) I have added the slug version to my Amazon basket so will give it a go.

Noted some whiteness of the leaves of my Nasturtiums tonight, fungus or whitefly? Sprayed them with some bug spray and then immediately felt guilty as don't want to kill any 'good' bugs! Have also added organic bug spray to my Amazon basket, my garden is going to bankrupt me I swear!!

JT05 · 23/05/2017 19:47

I've just found a Melittis plant growing in my garden. I didn't plant it so I'm really pleased. Thank you birds, wind or however it got there!

LIZS · 25/05/2017 16:09

Pleased to report that the sickly rose bush is showing signs of new shoots so hopefully on the mend.

MissDuke · 27/05/2017 11:19

Hi can I join please? New to gardening, have recently moved and inherited a beautiful garden with lots going on and I really don't want to kill anything!

There is a pond with frogs which I am getting cleaned out soon, we intend to stock it with fish (dh insisting on fish, I prefer the current wildlife pond). Have cleared round one side and put stones down to pretty it up a bit so we can sit there and watch the fish.

The other end of the garden has a greenhouse with a massive grapevine and strawberries in which I am desperately trying not to ruin. Behind is an unloved weedy area that will be my veg patch next yr. Have just put a composter there in the corner - hoping to have some for next year to start off the veg patch but not sure if that is overly optimistic!

Also have various flowers, shrubs, trees etc, most remain unidentified for now Grin

Front garden is also big and bordered with lots and lots of beautiful plants. Front is NW facing but gets a surprising amount of sun all day.

I have so far removed lots of ivy from the garage as it was starting to bury into roof and planted roses and a pyracantha there instead. Have also replaced a weedy bed with lots of small shrubs as it is right by the patio where we have dinner so I wanted it to look and smell nice. I am tempted to make a section near the pond a wildflower bed but not really sure where to start.

Anyway enough waffle! Won't get much done today as it is wet but won't complain as the garden needed it!

SeaRabbit · 28/05/2017 16:17

Welcome MissDuke! Your garden sounds lovely (potentially in places). I hope you resist the idea of having just fish in the pond - a wildlife pond seems to be far more useful for a gardener, and more beautiful. Can you have both fish and wildlife?

picklemepopcorn · 02/06/2017 10:21

I'm a bit unmotivated in the garden and everywhere else at the moment.

My hostas are slug riddled. I put them on gravel, and haven't had a problem before. I think the snails and slugs have found a bridge!

My courgette plant disappeared, possible the same snails are to blame.

My apricot has furled leaves and doesn't look at all healthy.

I'm having to water so much...

And I can't be bothered. I'm thinking about ditching all my pots and having a year off.

On a separate note, I've got a huge area of ancient stingy nettles to sort out. It's effectively derelict land. If I dig up lots of nettles and plant Ivy and Mint. And Chinese lanterns, all invasive things, what do you think would win?! In fact, I'm going to start a thread on it.

PetalMePotts · 10/06/2017 07:33

I ordered some Chrysanthemum plugs from Van Meuwan. They were 10 for £2.40. I never order plugs before, they arrived yesterday and seem a real bargain

The first rule of potting shed is YOU ALWAYS talk about potting shed. The thread continues.
Original poster
echt · 17/06/2017 05:27

Can't believe the potting shed thread has dropped off page one Shock

It's a very dry and sunny early winter here in Melbourne, beautiful in the day and damned cold at night, though not enough for frost. The salvia Anthony Parker is still going strong, as is the bougainvillea.

The first rule of potting shed is YOU ALWAYS talk about potting shed. The thread continues.
The first rule of potting shed is YOU ALWAYS talk about potting shed. The thread continues.
OP posts:
PetalMePotts · 17/06/2017 06:20

They look stunning .

bookbook · 17/06/2017 15:07

Afternoon!
Had a rather busy month doing extra babysitting for DD , so the garden has had to look after itself, whilst I have tried to keep on top of my allotment.
Everything is looking pretty good , and basking in sun at the moment DH decide today was a good time to prune the Kolkwitzia , so I have been sat in the shade doing as as many soft wood cuttings as I could . I've not tried on this before, so fingers crossed I get a few to strike.

MirabelleTree · 17/06/2017 17:57

They look really gorgeous Echt. Not very much gardening going on here though did have a bit of a tidy. Just spent a pleasant hour or so in the shade of a friend's garden surrounded by her chicken and bees, admiring her not very tall plum tree covered in mini fruits

MrsBertBibby · 18/06/2017 19:59

I managed some weeding and planting out of seedlings in desperate need of more room. Sweated like a pig while I was at it.

Bastard bindweed is everwhere.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 19/06/2017 19:51

My apple tree has Apple scab Sad am very depressed about this as there doesn't appear to be any real treatment other than removing affected leaves (which I have done.) Have only had the tree a few months.

SeaRabbit · 19/06/2017 20:40

To add to the depressing news, I've been really busy at work and away the last 2 weekends and because I wasn't on top of things some of my roses have really bad blackspot. But then there are so many other flowers looking gorgeous and now my loganberries are ripening too.

JT05 · 19/06/2017 21:05

bert I'm also fighting the bindweed, round the edges. I wish the neighbours would deal with theirs!

RueDeDay · 20/06/2017 07:25

I have finally finished destoning the border! Hate to think how many tons of stone I've removed. Am hoping now to be able to get on top of the ongoing weeding etc... Just have soooooo much space where the leylandii have been removed but I don't have enough money to buy new plants!! I keep telling myself it'll all be good in the end!

MaudAndOtherPoems · 20/06/2017 12:25

Don't worry, Rue. We're about to hit school, church and village fete season and they're often an excellent source of lovely (cheap) plants.

We went away for one night and half the garden now looks as if it's in heat and drought stress. Even a couple of osteospermums - which I thought, being African, would enjoy the heat - look shrivelled and three-quarters dead. My most exciting new plants this year were some cardiocrinums. They barely survived the slug onslaught and now what remains of them is brown and crispy. ::weeps::