[Help] Gardeners Question Time.

[jevs]

First seeds sown on the allotment this weekend. Parsnips, short and long carrots, spring onions and beetroot all in and covered with polycarb sheeting.

 

[BrightonCottager]

Mrs BC bought a whole load of spring bulbs last autumn and didn't plant them. I came across them yesterday and they have started sprouting in the bags. If she / I plant them now, will they come up this year? They 've been stored a dry place over winter. Cheers.

 

[Jack Straw]

Mrs BC bought a whole load of spring bulbs last autumn and didn't plant them. I came across them yesterday and they have started sprouting in the bags. If she / I plant them now, will they come up this year? They 've been stored a dry place over winter. Cheers.

I very much doubt it. Plant them anyway and see what happens. As us gardeners say, "There's two options!".

 

[Jack Straw]

Anemone blanda. This photo doesn't really do them justice. 5 years ago, there were just a few around the base of the Prunus Kursa tree. They're now coming up here there and everywhere (with a bit of help from me booting the seeds around!), not just on this grass, but on some other grass opposite, and all around the garden where somehow, they've made their own way.
Best planted under trees, and if buying bulbs in the autumn, a soaking in water over night before they're planted.
One of my favourite flowers.

 

[Weststander]

First seeds sown on the allotment this weekend. Parsnips, short and long carrots, spring onions and beetroot all in and covered with polycarb sheeting.

I saw volunteers working on the Preston Park Rockery today, guided by a gardener …. was that one of your people @jevs ?

 

[LamieRobertson]

Fortunately me and the customer were on the same wavelength and we both agreed this bit of the grass would be left uncut

 

[Weststander]

Fortunately me and the customer were on the same wavelength and we both agreed this bit of the grass would be left uncut

I still haven’t cut the lawn this year, there’s been next to no growth. Presumably because it was cool, also bugger all rain for a month or more.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I still haven’t cut the lawn this year, there’s been next to no growth. Presumably because it was cool, also bugger all rain for a month or more.

I started beginning of March….just completed second cuts albeit on a reduced client base after turning **…..obviously cuts this time of year are just about tidying the tops …but I’ve seen decent growth in between cuts

 

[Coldeanseagull]

I went to cut the lawn today but realised I'd no petrol for my mower, so I used a bottle of vodka instead. Not doing that again....now the grass is half cut

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

A little teaser for the gardening nerds who like a before and after.

All our plants arrived yesterday. I just piled them up on the new patios while I prep the ground.

These will all go in over the next few days with a bit more compost and some fertiliser to give them a boost.

More pics to follow as the plants go in.

 

[Weststander]

A little teaser for the gardening nerds who like a before and after.

All our plants arrived yesterday. I just piled them up on the new patios while I prep the ground.

These will all go in over the next few days with a bit more compost and some fertiliser to give them a boost.

More pics to follow as the plants go in.

View attachment 200048

Still, that stone wall .

 

[Jack Straw]

A little teaser for the gardening nerds who like a before and after.

All our plants arrived yesterday. I just piled them up on the new patios while I prep the ground.

These will all go in over the next few days with a bit more compost and some fertiliser to give them a boost.

More pics to follow as the plants go in.

View attachment 200048

It's going to look superb. Regular photographic updates, please.

 

[A mex eyecan]

Scary how much plants and shrubs cost now. I’m trying to help my son with some plants for his new, barren, garden. I’ve been taking trimmings off of some of my perennial plants as a starting point but they won’t touch the surface of what he needs. Garden centres and nurseries asking £10 plus for a piddling little plant, wow.

 

[Weststander]

Scary how much plants and shrubs cost now. I’m trying to help my son with some plants for his new, barren, garden. I’ve been taking trimmings off of some of my perennial plants as a starting point but they won’t touch the surface of what he needs. Garden centres and nurseries asking £10 plus for a piddling little plant, wow.

Pays to shop around online including this year. Huge price differences, all from quality nurseries and if prepared to wait a bit sometime until their 'batch' is ready. Going for younger specimens helps obviously. I'd recommend:
Hardy's Cottage Plants
Claire Austen
Beth Chatto
Sometimes Crocus

 

[A mex eyecan]

Pays to shop around online including this year. Huge price differences, all from quality nurseries and if prepared to wait a bit sometime until their 'batch' is ready. Going for younger specimens helps obviously. I'd recommend:
Hardy's Cottage Plants
Claire Austen
Downderry (Lavender)
Sometimes Crocus

Thank you

 

[Jack Straw]

Scary how much plants and shrubs cost now. I’m trying to help my son with some plants for his new, barren, garden. I’ve been taking trimmings off of some of my perennial plants as a starting point but they won’t touch the surface of what he needs. Garden centres and nurseries asking £10 plus for a piddling little plant, wow.

You're absolutely right. In the early '70s when I first started looking around garden centres, shrubs were no more than £ 2.50 ish, although wages were obviously much lower. As you say, £ 10 now, even for what look like no more than rooted cuttings.
It is worth looking regularly at the bargain areas. Only trouble is, what's there maybe not what you want, but usually there will be somewhere in your garden for them.
We're at the very end of the herbaceous splitting season, but it is a very cheap way to go if you know people who can give you some bits.
If you like Bergenias, they can be grown very easily from cuttings. I've planted hundreds at different times of the year, and they always get going.
Maybe one day, we can organise a seed / plant swap morning in Withdean Car Park, followed by some Heineken 0 in the pub!

 

[1066familyman]

Roadside/hedgerows are really something special this time of year!

So far, all in flower, I've spotted...

Primroses
Stitchwort
Cuckoo flower
Wood anemone
Bluebells
Hemp nettle
Celandine.

Early signs of Cleavers and Lords and Ladies, too.

Absolutely marvellous scenes!

Edit: I should add, this is in areas where Alexanders haven't taken over!

 

[Weststander]

Roadside/hedgerows are really something special this time of year!

So far, all in flower, I've spotted...

Primroses
Stitchwort
Cuckoo flower
Wood anemone
Bluebells
Hemp nettle
Celandine.

Early signs of Cleavers and Lords and Ladies, too.

Absolutely marvellous scenes!

Edit: I should add, this is in areas where Alexanders haven't taken over!

Dry, chalky here. In our roadside verge the first Cornflower has flowered and I can see tiny Yellow-Rattle thriving.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Red campion here in Dorset,seems early.
Wild garlic going ....... wild.

 

[Weststander]

Red campion here in Dorset,seems early.
Wild garlic going ....... wild.

I grow Red Campion under the hedgerows I planted. Love it, flowers for ages. White Campion too.