General Gardening Discussion

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 ...

Thank you very much.Thats a great helpTim

Your welcome - let us know how they do eh?

Sad but we all been there. :(

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.

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

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...

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...

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...

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

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.

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...

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.

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

What beautiful flowers!Moved house beg Sept and new flowers keep popping up, just identified one as sedum from your pic.Thanks, will keep looking and hopefully identify some more.Amanda

Ah I see. Thanks for that Pete.

I've not come across root rot problems hans, but then I only have the green australis, dont have any of the coloured leaved varieties. My three are all in excess of 15ft tall and branched, so they have been there a while.

Me I'd just turf it and let the grass grow or (wild idea) sow with a meadow mix and just scythe it after seeding - sand, bark or gravel have their problems - including cats, and spread, concrete - just a tad hard, and rubber slabs - too muc.

excellent, thanks rich

I saved the seeds from my kaffir lily and some grew with flowers the same colour as the parent, but others were a pale pink which I preferred.I imagine they were reverting to type, but it was nice to get two varieties for the price of one.