What Jobs are we doing in the Garden today 2014..

Dyslexics of the world untie

 

@fat controller .. looking good Fc but check whats munching on your leaves,ive had a colonies of caterpillers hatch this week on the some of my brugs and cannas x

 

oooh, my late Aunt Rosie's Cape fuchsia...... Growing on nicely FC,
Jenny

 

This weekend we laid the base for our shed which is being delivered tomorrow. Saturday I de weeded two flower beds which were all nettles and grass when we moved in. I then checked on the plants (dianthus, dwarf dahlias, a transplanted camelia and Lysimachia firecracker)
in one and planted up the other (yellow jasmine, petunias and some violet geraniums).
I've also turned a messy wildflower border next to the garage into a calla/petunia/honeysuckle shrub bed. I'm not sure if the calla will be hardy though ?
We then tackled what was previously bramble land by tying them up against the fence and moving done Kerria japonica which was out of hand. I'm going to make that area a fruit n veg bed next year.
To finish I trimmed the topiary llama (!), took a few geranium cuttings and sowed some foxglove and collected aquilegia seeds.
Very productive weekend, currently obsessed by dahlias and hoping for some success with done 10p tubers bought bargain basement style.
They might not flower this year but thought I'd give them a go.

Any advice on the calla and raking regal pelargonium cuttings welcomed! :-)

 

Calla's are not usually winter hardy so you are likely to lose it if it's left in the ground. I'm growing them for the first time this year in a large pot that I can over winter in the greenhouse.

 

Thank you. It was in a pot but looked really unhealthy so thought I'd give it a go. Was very pot bound so I've split it. No sign whatsoever of flowers, not sure why. Was previously in the pot next to a pond but don't think it flowered there either.

 

Have you fed it at all? I sprinkled some blood, fish and bone around mine. The first flower is just starting to grow even though I wasn't expecting to see any this year.

 

Hmm. Possibly only once with a liquid feed. I'll sprinkle some bonemeal tomorrow, it's highly likely that was the problem! Thank you. I'm just glad I'm going to have a shed because looks like a fair few things will be getting dug up and overwintered!

 

When plants are in pots any nutrients in the soil are flushed out so quickly with on going watering and liquid feed tends to disappear straight through the soil too. A granular feed won't dissolve as quickly.

 

Probably sounds snobbish, but I'm done with my Kerria japonica ... they are (and have been for decades) in every cheap-flier-throwaway-catalogue that lands on my mat ... and although they flower well I just don't find them sufficiently worthwhile.

The definition "Calla" is a bit open-to-interpretation, but my 2p-worth is "Plain leaves, White flowers" = Arum, and hardy; "Mottled leaves, Coloured flowers" = Calla and NOT hardy. Mine are plunged in [the bed in] a pot so I can bring them in easily in the Autumn, but you could just dig them up and store them for the winter. I prefer a pot as they want to re-start really early in the year ...

Cut a piece "long enough", put it immediately into a plastic bag (as you gather more). Preferably early in the morning before the sun is up (more water in the leaves at that time than later in the day). Having said that Pelargoniums root easily, so don't worry about it too much.

Back in the coolth of a potting shed / kitchen etc. use a well draining media - I mix 50:50 Perlite and Multi-purpose compost, something with little/no fertiliser is fine. Vermiculite or sharp sand instead of Perlite is fine. 50:50 Perlite and horticultural gravel will do ... get it moist - so that if you squeeze some into a ball in your fist it is just on the point of water seeping out - but none actually does. I prefer to do this, to get the moisture "just right", at the compost preparation stage rather than to water after putting the cuttings into the pot as I think the act of watering disturbs them.

Cut immediately below a leaf joint with a sharp knife (I use a scalpel; craft knife, Stanley knife are good, professionals always seem to use a sharp penknife and I wonder how they get/keep it sharp enough ), remove the leaves above the cut for 1.5" - 2" of clear stem, and above that should just be 1" to 2" of "top", you don't need a lot of leaf on the "top" (it will demand too much water) - if I have more than I am happy with, and don't want to remove more leaves (too few means that either the plant won't root, or it will root but them take ages to make a viable plant) then I cut the leaves in half so there isn't too much "top". Therefore you need about 3" - 4" for the finished cutting, so take a bit more off the plant than that initially to allow for "trimming" (you'll get used to "how much" such that you don't steal too much from the plants!!)

Make a hole with a pencil (typically around the edge of the pot, but I put them in the middle of a 2L pot too and not sure it makes any difference, but the pundits say "around the edge of the pot" so start there, at least , particularly if you only have a few to do), then press them in (a finger either side of the stem) "properly firmly". Important that the cutting is inserted right to the bottom of the pencil-hole (if you made the hole too deep fill it in and make a new, shallower, hole instead, and then make sure that the compost around it is firm, and no air pockets.

I normally cover my cuttings with a plastic bag (elastic band around the pot) and then there is no need to add more water until they are rooted, but I don't think that Pelargoniums like that, so I would leave the bag off but mist-spray them regularly, and if the pot gets "light" (because it is drying out) I would stand it in a tray with 1" - 2" of water in it, just for a few minutes, until the pot is a bit heavier (don't give too much water, better too little, as the plants have very limited ability to "drink" and rooting cuttings is a race between "Root and Rot")

 

I would stick with the liquid feed. Bonemeal is the wrong ratio of macro nutrients (mostly Phosphorus) and will promote root growth. Plants coming into flower benefit from Potassium/Potash - a Tomato fertiliser is ideal. Granular fertiliser, in a pot, can cause localised high concentrations which can burn the plant / roots (I'm taking regular granular fertiliser that you might put on your veg patch etc., like Growmore. You can also get slow release fertiliser, which looks like hundreds-and-thousands, and that is designed for use in pots, so would be fine)

Mine are not in flower yet, but will be soon, so not too late as yet. Arum / Calla tend to like moist situations when they are growing / flowering, but too much water in Winter [e..g during the "storage phase"] and they will rot.

 

For arguments sake Kristen, I planted mine in a pot late February, they've been fed with blood, fish and bone and the first 'bloom' is about to open, remembering also I live in the north-west.

 

I was deadheading my violas.

Val

 

I have cut the hedge back really hard as it needs to be taken back loads so this is stage one. I have also continued to remove the bramble from it.

I removed the lawn growing over the random slabs in my lawn i say lawn i mean moss. And found part of an old door handle under the lawn.

Then i cleared all the leaves out of my water feature but it still looks horrible so im considering filling it with some soil and planting some bog plants in there so that it wont matter if it gets full with leaves as i dont want to remove it.



What do u think?