Hobbies and Crafts

A bit of advice would be appreciated please.

We have a very small garden with no room for a veg patch. I usually manage to grow some tomatoes in pots down the side of the house and I've just sown some rocket seeds in a trough. I've got a couple of blueberries in large pots that came with us when we moved here 7 years ago, and a couple of chilean guava plants in big pots. I've also got a variety of herbs grouped in pots.

Now I have a half barrel going spare and am wondering what I could grow in it in the food line. Do you think rhubarb or a gooseberry bush would be OK or do you have any other suggestions? Our garden gets a lot of sun but the area where the half barrel would be is partially shaded.

Any thoughts?

Thank you for your advice, Ann and Vera.
We will try splitting the bulbs then, in the hope that we might get flowers another year.

We have nothing to lose and may be will be lucky.

That's strange about the daffs AnnG as ours have been the best ever this year. Even my OH remarked on how good they were. All the ones in a bed are February Gold and this year for the first time in 5 or 6 years they were in bloom in February and have only just gone over. In fact I've only removed the blooms this week.

Our tulips aren't doing so well this year. The little miniature ones I have in pots have been fine and are just going over but the ones in the flower bed aren't very tall yet and there don't seem to be so many of them this year. They are all one sort and quite a late blooming one so we'll wait and see if they put on a bit of a spurt.

Gwyn, could your pots by the front door be overcrowded? I had a couple of smallish pots of daffs that all came up blind last year so this year I spread them out a bit more in two big pots. In one pot they are all blooming and in the other about half are coming into bloom and half are blind still.

I found this Gwyn
Dig the bulbs when the foliage has yellowed. Separate them into individual bulbs and replant them about 6? apart and about 6? deep. You may replant immediately after lifting, or you may dry the bulbs in the shade, store them in mesh bags, and replant the bulbs in the Fall.

Daughter planted daffodils and tulips last November. They are in pots outside our front door.
The daffodils have really long stems and their double-petal heads are so large that they must be too heavy and they have nearly all leaned over and some bent in half.
We have noticed that many of the daffodils locally, of different varieties all have very long stems this year.
The tulips are a beautiful purple/dark pink colour and very cheering to see.
We were very pleased with them, especially as they were just picked up on an Aldi shopping trip.
They've done very well.

Also by the front door are pots of lush green growth, but no flowers on those bulbs.
Some were new bulbs, (different shop) some from last year.

Can they be encouraged to bloom again by feeding or is it all down to weather / chance?

I was just thinking. Although the Tete a Tete were excellent this year the large daffodils have not been so prolific as usual Some seem not to have flowered at all, it must have been the weather. The tulips are starting to flower now. And the Grape hyacinths have been excellent loads more of them than usual such a lovely splash of colour and I noticed it is the same in all the gardens.

Aawe that is a shame Von, so you need to remember this year then.

I have just put the following quote on Mel's thread on the chat board and thought it should be on here also

"TO PLANT A GARDEN IS TO BELIEVE IN TOMORROW" Audrey Hepburn.

I have some Forsythia in the garden. My problem is that I forget to prune it at the correct time.
Hence we have one that hasn’t bloomed ;-)

It was really popular years back but you don’t see it so much now.

I always think Forsythia is quite an ordinary bush till it starts to flower and those bright green leaves and yellow flowers are glorious. We don’t have any here but at our old place we had two big bushes and I used to pick a few bits and bring it indoors for the flowers to open. Always cheered me up.

I noticed the first of the yellow forsythia flowers starting to open on our tree this morning.

I hope the expected gales don't ruin everyone's spring displays later this week.

Walked locally today and was surprised to see that some of the narcissus buds had fully opened to bright yellow clusters.
There are masses more buds almost ready too. They are going to be a picture soon, especially if we have more lovely sunshine like today.

The first spring bulbs I've seen in flower this season

You've done well Vera.
On my walks locally, I like to look over the wall to see what is growing in local gardens.
It has been very mild and summer flowers are still blooming. There are many roses in bud and lots of geraniums. I've also seen cosmos, aubretia, begonias, African marigolds and love-in-the-mist in the last week.
Bulbs seem to be growing fast too. One garden had leaves about 10 inches tall with many flower buds about to open. I think they are narcissus, if I remember from other years. I'll route that way this week and see how they are doing.

It would be a shame for these threads to wither away so I thought I would post something to nudge this one up. In spite of bad backs and broken foot bones OH and I have more or less got the garden and all the pots ready for winter. I have a biggish pot of those mini irises that bloom early in the year but I was surprised to see that the shoots are showing already and are about an inch high. There is also a viburnum in bloom and I don't think It normally blooms till around January.

Thank you for your reply, Vera.

No, I haven't fed them. I've had them a good few years, so may be they want dividing up and fed to give better results next year.
All the plants, sister's and mine are products of an original plant bought by my mother probably 1960s early 1970s. She was horrified at the price of the single bulb, - half a crown. In time, she gave away many clumps of the divided bulbs to friends, neighbours and family, so we like to nurture our present plants and rekindle the memories.

I can’t really help Gwyn as I’ve never grown Jersey Lilies but I did wonder if you have been feeding them at all. I know some feeds promote leaf growth at the expense of flowers. Also how old are yours? I looked at one site that said they won’t flower if they are very young or very old. Otherwise all I could really see online was to feed them a handful of bonemeal in the spring.

Sorry, not much help, but good luck with them.

Looking for advice please on what to feed to produce flowers.

I have a well-established large pot of Jersey Lily plants.
This year, although there is plenty of healthy lush growth, there is not one flower. My sister in Hampshire tells me that her clumps are particularly good this year and flowering well.
What should I feed mine with and when?. Obviously it's too late for this year and then the plant will die back for the winter, so maybe a feed soon will help with reserves before it goes into that phase?

Anyone looking for garden talk, there is a gardening type thread (tomato growing etc) on the chat board.

After a couple of sunny hot days it is cloudy today although it is still warm. I have just been helping OH move around pots that have accumulated on the patio where we sit in early evenings. Everything, like old bulbs in pots that have finished flowering had been dumped indiscriminately. I moved a few of the smaller pots and directed the moving of others! now I have left him sorting out the larger pots that I daren't move in case I put my back out.
He did water the garden this morning as it was looking dry even though he did it yesterday. After the windy days over the weekend all the roses needed sorting so I dead headed them yesterday and OH cut the lawn to pick up the petals. It all looks lovely again now. although, other than roses and a few clematis not a lot of colour since the forget me nots have gone over and the wild flowers have not grown up enough to flower yet. We do have French marigolds flowering though. Yesterday OH planted out loads of rudbeckia but they won't flower until August.

Very blowy here today. it is blowing all the petals off the roses which is a shame, they were looking so lovely yeaterday. I am pleased that I took photos while it was still calm.