FREE BULBS & FLOWERING SHRUBS

Hi my name is Lemar,

Im a student and just getting into gardening. I've stumbled across a great website and magazine. Garden Answers? everyone heard of it?

Anyway this month they are offering FREE mixed allium bulbs and FREE flowering shrubs for EVERY READER.

If interested have a look at this link. It maybe useful !

www.garden-answers.com

 

Hi Lemar.Welcome to this great site.Yes I have heard of the magazine and often buy a copy.Didn't realise they had a website.

You will find that with the free bulb offer you normally have to pay for P&P, but might stil be worth a peep.

Thanks
Kandy

 

Good website! Book marked, may even apply for the bulbs! Cheers Lemar.

 

Useful tip Lemar - ta! Kandyfloss is probably right about P+P, though. Have you tried Amateur Gardening and/ or Garden News? They're weekly, and regularly have free seeds, sometimes bulbs. I've never managed to use all of them in any one year, there are so many! :rolleyes:

 

Hate to dampen any ones enthusiasm, but the quality of the bulbs I have had from these 'free' magazine offers has generally been very poor. Mainly in the size of them I have to say. Often they are less even than the ones you get from Wilkinsons and take a few years of growing on to reach flowering size.
The only plants I have had were some Clematis from one magazine and they were not much better than only just rooted cuttings. They have taken 2 years of careful nurturing to get them to planting out quality.
Free is not always worth the effort.

 

I brought some Iris plants on offer from Ameteur Gardening and they were rubbish.They were on such an old piece of rhizome that they hadn't got a cat in hells chance of doing any good.Didn't complain as it would have cost me more in the phone call than what the plants were worth.Then they had the cheek to ring me up 12 months later to try and flog me some more...I had to put my phone number in case they had difficulty with sending them or supplies.I have never bothered since,though I am sure that other magazine offers are good.

Kandyfloss

 

I have to admit I've never taken up any of the offers, just used the free seeds / bulbs attached to the magazines, and they've always done well. You don't get masses in a pack, but I've always been happy with them. The best recently was a mallow - looking good in my cottage garden. Here are both types, both annuals...

 

Yes, must agree - free plants and bulbs are often something of a "curates egg". I've had good, I've had bad.

I took Am Gard for years but gave up in the end because of the ghastly puns they used for all the headlines. Talk about groan!!

 

All these magazines are nice, but they all seem to keep going up in price.one of them is now �£3.20 I think it is and you never get any free seeds or bulbs.
I would rather keep the money and spend it on more seeds and plants when I have saved up enough.

And I find the articles keep repeating themselves,or the gardens they feature of some of the gardeners are huge,not like my little one
No wonder Alan Titchmarsh is worth �£10squillion

Kandy

 

Agree about the headlines, MD - I just ignore them! I like doing the crosswords - save them up all year and do them over the winter. :D

 

Hey, Dendro, like that pic up there ... why didn't you put that river picture in the comp ... it would have been tops!

Agree with the crossword thing .. I collect them all for rainy / winter weather .... great minds think alike! :D

 

I have GA every month and it does just what it says on the packet for me - answers my gardening questions! Ofcourse, Im just a beginner gardener so am gratefull to have the simple queries answered! Never sent for any of their offers though.

 

My mum had a pile of magazines that she subscribed to and used to keep them all for reference. I had been living abroad and when i moved back i was eagerly reading her magazines for tips to redesign my garden. I found a terrific bargain of a greenhouse, way cheaper than anything else i had been looking at. Got my credit card out about to order and my dad couldnt hide his amusement any longer, the magazines were 6 years old and mum just kept them all for reference. She would just get the relevent month out in the magazine rack to refer to what to do that month. ( so no i didnt get my bargain). Yes, the magazines can be expensive but she has been using hers for years and are still in good condition. Ok the latest trends and types arent in there but many aspects of gardening are still the same.

 

I got a passion flower for 99p from a Garden Answers offer earlier in the year (well free but 99p P&P). I guessed from the price it was not going to be a great size and it was about 4" high when it arrived in June. I planted it into a wee pot and it is now about 3ft high.

I have also just sent away for some clematis through a similar offer, again I expect them to be wee when they arrive but I hope that with a bit of TLC (and if it takes a year before they are ready to be planted out then so be it) then I will get a bargin out of it.

Like Marge I like GA as it answers questions and is not just full of articles about some fancy big garden somewhere.

 

I get grow your own veg magazine, it regularly has free seedz on it and I have regularly grown them with no problems. I rarely send off for the 'free plant' that I see in the occasional gardeners world magazine due to being disappointed by size and amount of tlc they require.

I buy mags coz they have an article of interest or information that as a beginner i would find helpful, not for the freebies. Anything extra is a bonus!!