Too late......

I think it's a good idea to look at having shrubs and perennials in the beds. They take a while to develop but mean you don't have the sudden rush at the start of the year to try and get the annuals going. You can plonk (technical gardening term) annuals in as and when you fell like it - usually when some are at give away prices.

It's something you can chat to the others about when you come along next month and we should have something here that may be suitable.

 

I've got some spare tomato plants and maybe a chilli or sweet pepper going spare. I can let you have them on the Shineyland weekend. Plus the Brugsmansia cuttings (from @noisette47) that are really going great guns. I have only just sown my cucumbers and a few other veggies and flowers last weekend so I don't think you are too late for a lot of things. I will have some spare veggie/flower seedlings when I get around to potting them on I'll let you know.

 

I've got tomatoes underway @JWK, and have a couple of brug cuttings as well as a couple of cannas from @noisette47 that have now recovered from their travels and are starting to get going. I've got cucumbers to sow this weekend, and might lob some dahlias and sunflowers in at the same time, so hopefully I won't be without. I was thinking I might get some nasturtiums too, as they go bananas and hopefully that will mean that I am not without - I am possibly panicking unnecessarily. Chillis/peppers I don't have, and was looking to get a couple at shineyland - if you do have spare, I would be grateful, but only on the basis that I make a donation to the charity for them.

A lot of the herbs have come back too, so I will take proper stock this weekend and will have a better idea of where I am.

 

Very successful day! And a few questions too....

Spent a while in the greenhouse earlier, and sowed dahlias, lavatera, giant sunflowers, cucumbers, cucamelons, butternut squash, courgettes, cauliflower, lemon basil, moss curled parsley, lupins and hollyhocks.

Already growing I have more than enough tomatoes (will need moving on next weekend), purple sage, thyme (which is flowering - is this OK?), rosemary, oregano, lemon grass, horseradish (which has bolted - do I need to stop it flowering/cut back?), chives, garlic chives (these have come back with really thick leaves like daffodil leaves - is this normal?), mint (currently going bananas), lemon verbena (very woody stems, but lots of new growth - should I cut this back later in the year?) and flat leaved parsley (which has bolted - do I do anything with it?)

All in all, things aren't looking as bad as I first thought....

 

MOJO, maybe - actual ability remains to be seen

 

Whatever you do, don't put the mint or horseradish in the garden. The mint can be coped with if it starts to gallop away but the horseradish will spread sideways and also go down to Australia!

Anything that bolts you should normally cut off the flowering stem. That should slow it down.

 

I'd stick to that option if you have it. It took us almost 15 years to get rid of it from the garden but I planted it all along the grass verge by the field (ditch between field and verge) and now I can dig some out whenever I wish.

 

No apologies needed @OxfordNick - we don't do the 'this is my thread' thing here, the more the merrier is the way to go

 

@Beckie76 let me know how many you want and I'll put them aside for you. Will 500 do?