General Gardening Discussion

I have barley, wheat and sunflowers popping up at various times its the birds. Great to watch in the winter .

I had a subscription to Amateur Gardener for 2 or 3 years and only stopped it in the end because of the awful puns they use for articles! The mag itself was a mine of information and tips and I really learned a lot.

You could still plant garlic,shallots and broad beans this time of year for croping in spring and early summer.IN kent you could probably grow mixed leaf salad,rocket in containers or soil.Organic stuff includes manure and garden compost,sometimes available cheaply via the local council.Its also...

You have got us all thinking Nathan. There is quite a bit of reading on the subject an it don't look good. Your post took me to this site http://www.snopes.com/toxins/canola.htm I will be rumaging around in my cupboards tomorrow. Peanut butter's off.

To the previous suggestions - consider a golden form of ivy, virginnia creeper and ceanothus.Lovely idea and good luck with it.

To Rich's suggestion consider some of the early flowering bulbs and corns, whilst not bedding they will give some early colour. Iris reticulata flowers in february,then theres the snowdrops, and early flowering crocus - and winter aconite - and will die back soon enough to get the spring bedding...

CongratulationsI remember having the same concerns when I was expecting, I was just about to turn over my veg plot when I found out... my doctor told me not to do anything I wasn't used to doing but if I ran a marathon every week it would be okay to keep doing it. The first 3 months or so...

2 years ago my daughter had a bouquet with bamboo shoots in it. As they had little shoots at the top, we thought we'd try to grow them. I put them in water and all 5 developed roots in the water. They aren't curly, I didn't realise the curly one was adifferent plant, I've been wondering how to...

Hi Liz,See earlier Watering Houseplants with Science threadI'm happy to try and answer any questions that you might have.Best wishes Chris

I would bite the bullet & cut back hard. :eek: It is likely that you would loose it (the larger leaved varieties like 'Yankee Point' can cope better with this treatment); but then you could plant a fresh one in a better position. Ceanothus are not keen on having their roots disturbed.

Sad but we all been there. :(

Your welcome - let us know how they do eh?

Thank you very much.Thats a great helpTim

Laying ground cover matting is definately the way to go if you are starting with empty beds, it's a bit fiddly to lay around estabised plants (especially thorny ones!) but often worth the effort. We use 'phormisol' which we buy (by the metre, off wide rolls) from www.lbsgardendirect.co.uk ...

Good to hear - tis a lovely shrub, and will take hacking back hard to keep in shape if thats whats wanted and will tolerate partial shade. I have one ordinary philadelphus that I just allow to grow thinning occassionally, and one golden form that I keep pruned under a hawthorn tree - and it...

'As green fingered as... a Martian with septicaemia' . Stephen Fry. [ 19. October 2005, 12:55 PM: Message edited by: Tortuosa ]

Hi BluebellI'm new to gardening and could you just clearify one thing for me please:When you said you have planted primroses, primulas etc..Do you leave gaps inbetween the plants for when the bulbs starts to grow? or you just plant the bulbs underneath the primroses etc..hoping they will...

I've had this problem too. I bought some very pretty colchicum this year which I am delighted with, they flower really close to the ground and really do look like their name- Waterlily. They wre more expensive than the singles but each bulb has produced at least 3 flowers, so they look excellent...

Thanks I will be patient (although that is not my strong point) I will let you know how things progressSusan

Hi Nik,That triple came from a packet of double brugmansia seeds I bought this year.I am having trouble getting the plants to set seed this year and only have two pods on about 25 plants.