Topic: The RAWK Gardening Thread. (All Questions Answered)

[reddebs]

All, I am in need of a good petrol mower with a rear roller for my garden.

I don't want to bankrupt myself.

Any advice?

Can't really go wrong with an atco and like most quality makes, you can get good reconditioned ones at dealers.

[Trada]

The best thing I have done in a long time was start my Wildflower patch it seems to change everyday right now I have about 5 different Poppies suddenly appear can't believe I got excited when I saw a red butterfly on the plants earlier sadly it was gone before I could get a photo before this I have only seen cabbage white like Butterflys

A women was taking picture of the flowers the other day and she told me the garden looked beautiful that's never happened before.

[John C]

Superb Trada, must look great when in bloom.

[Sarge]

The heat and the showers of late the plants will fly up out of the ground.

[Sarge]

I'll post pics of my plants when they bloom.

[reddebs]

The heat and the showers of late the plants will fly up out of the ground.

What heat?  It's like fucking November here, grey, cold and blowing a gale 🤷

[Sarge]

What heat?  It's like fucking November here, grey, cold and blowing a gale 🤷

Its not bad in Dublin, wet and sunny at times.

[reddebs]

Its not bad in Dublin, wet and sunny at times.

All my plants are huddled in a corner scared to come out in case they get ripped to shreds or shrivel in the cold.

End of bleeding May and it's barely hitting 13° with a "fresh" 25 mile an hour breeze.

I've known milder Christmases for Christ's sake.

[Sarge]

My Garden 

Starting to bloom.

https://twitter.com/R_authorSargent/status/1530265517122019331

[reddebs]

My Garden 

Starting to bloom.

https://twitter.com/R_authorSargent/status/1530265517122019331

Fab that mate 👍

[Sarge]

Fab that mate 👍

Cheers Debs, looking forward to it coming into full bloom.

[reddebs]

Cheers Debs, looking forward to it coming into full bloom.

Tell me about it mate, mines the same.

Bits and bobs appearing but just not quite there.  The roses look like they'll be impressive this year, absolutely covered in buds and I've grown loads of stuff from seed that I've no idea if they'll flower or not but most of them seem healthy enough so fingers crossed.

[Sarge]

Trying to keep the fucking slugs and snails away from certain plants will be the end of me

[Slippers]

We needed that rain but I could've done without half the plants being battered to death.

[cormorant]

How's everyone getting on?

Just had my first ever homegrown strawberries with my breakfast. Great way to start the day!!

Peas are coming on strongly, gooseberry and blackberry bushes started and doing ok (should fruit next year). Chilli's progress is glacial. Wildflowers doing fine. Some have flowered already but most are in the bud stage and ready to go (went for more poppies in the seed mix this year). More traditional garden plants in bloom as well with some looking more windswept than others after the last couple of days.

[reddebs]

How's everyone getting on?

Just had my first ever homegrown strawberries with my breakfast. Great way to start the day!!

Peas are coming on strongly, gooseberry and blackberry bushes started and doing ok (should fruit next year). Chilli's progress is glacial. Wildflowers doing fine. Some have flowered already but most are in the bud stage and ready to go (went for more poppies in the seed mix this year). More traditional garden plants in bloom as well with some looking more windswept than others after the last couple of days.

I've just been out to survey the wind damage from the last few days which has pretty much decimated the potatoes, poppies and salvias.

The cultivated strawberry's have plenty on them but they're only about pea size still although the wild ones are looking good.

The roses are looking spectacular this year but I've put a lot into looking after them since last year.

The onions have done really well too and some of them look massive already.

None of the plants I've grown from seed are anywhere near flowering yet but we've just not had enough warm weather to help them along.

My one thing that has been a success though is the escallonia hedge I've planted.  All grown from cuttings last year, we planted them out late March and it already looks like a hedge.  Fingers crossd by next year it'll help protect that part of the garden that gets battered by westerly winds.

[ToneLa]

How's everyone getting on?

Just had my first ever homegrown strawberries with my breakfast. Great way to start the day!!

Peas are coming on strongly, gooseberry and blackberry bushes started and doing ok (should fruit next year). Chilli's progress is glacial. Wildflowers doing fine. Some have flowered already but most are in the bud stage and ready to go (went for more poppies in the seed mix this year). More traditional garden plants in bloom as well with some looking more windswept than others after the last couple of days.

That sounds ace. Chillies are a bit slow but my longhorn is a few inches tall now.

The Peony I got, with blood red leaves, is blooming. Kept him alive all winter, satisfying, he's outside again, losing his petals but he seems to enjoy it most when it is boiling and I lightly mist the bulbs and he blooms again

So... Chilli plant on the washing line as it gets a lot of sun there, slugs can't reach it (I have a dryer, no greenhouse). I'm gonna have a row of them, three or four. Tomato plant ordered. It's satisfying having stuff you pick yourself. Starting late this year so everything after this point with me plugs or young plants not seeds

Japanese Azalea in the front. He's tiny now but he's gonna be big and orange. Starting to plan more for the future, the back garden could be beautiful, so I'm using my bonus to make it so.

Got a professional coming round
I've lost my parents, don't really have anyone I can ask. I'm happy digging, I can keep stuff alive. Basically gonna find a business that trigger my creativity and imagination because I barely know the names of anything but sometimes your best art is when you're blind and fumbling

I have some ideas but I'd have to dig up the names I've learned. The actual act of planting, care, watering, learning acidity or not, using rainwater not tapwater, I dunno, a lot of that comes naturally to me

The bees are gonna love me

[cormorant]

Find watching YouTube videos pretty useful. Other than that, general intuition plus trial and error help enormously.

Wildflowers really helping attract wildlife even though they're only in a fairly small container. Got visiting birds now that I definitely didn't have a couple of years ago. Last week or so I've got red-tailed bumblebees coming along for a feed as well. Never even knew they existed.

[royhendo]

That's brilliant your strawbs are ready already!

Our wild bit has gone mental over the last few weeks, it's superb. The whole mulch for a year thing then sow the seed on the dead soil worked a treat! The only surprise has been a couple of tatties coming through in the middle of the flowers (we saved up seed from other plants and stuff my in-laws gave us, as well as some root cuttings from other places around the garden). It really feels like a garden all of a sudden and yeah - the instagram and youtube vids are key - the one highest value thing I've seen is how to take cuttings of lavender because from a tray of eight of them, we now have loads of them growing round the new bit (just little for now, but starting to bulk themselves out a bit). Amazing to think 3 years ago you couldn't plant something in that bit of ground and expect it to survive, cos the weeds would just kill it. That even applied to tree seedlings - we got a cherry tree from my brother in law and it got strangled too!

Now it's a blank canvas - it really does work (Charles Dowding is the fella on youtube who was the most useful on preparing the ground and killing the ground elder and other bad stuff off).

Suppose it's a bit mad killing off a wild bit to create a wild bit, but the wild bit is a load of flowers and edible plants now instead of just three or four plants dominating and looking really shit.

[Crosby Nick]

Quick question about our pots...got some violas in there that have bloomed and now withered. Are they done for the summer or if I dead head them will more grow back?

[El_Frank]

Deadhead, cut back anything too messy, keep moist/well-drained, partial shade and they should flower for the rest of the year.

[John C]

Deadhead, cut back anything too messy, keep moist/well-drained, partial shade and they should flower for the rest of the year.

Bit harsh on Nick there mate, he's a novice gardener.

[Crosby Nick]

Bit harsh on Nick there mate, he's a novice gardener.

Novice? How dare you, my roses are blooming John!

[El_Frank]

 
And I forgot to say, make sure you're feeding potted plants regularly as well.

[Red-Soldier]

Great pics there Trada.  Looks like you've got opium poppy, as well as the red native one.  I also spotted borage in there too.  Not a native plant, but it's a fantastic addition to a wildlife friendly garden.  They are bee magnets!

[.adam]

Bought a wisteria from B&M for about £20. Reading online, it says that grafted versions are much better than those grown from seed/cuttings/root stock(?) and that it might not even be worth bothering with the ones grown from the latter as they won't flower.

Thing is, the wisteria I bought looks like it was grown from seed but had plenty of flowers on it when we picked it up (albeit they've dropped off now)

Any suggestions - is it worth bothering with?

Here's a photo if anyone can offer an opinion.

[cormorant]

No idea .adam

Still in the novice/beginner/intermediate stage here and never grown it.

Popped into my local Homebase here today. Loads of rubbish on sale that was obviously well on its way out. Had a good rummage for about 10mins or so as I didn't have anything else on. Found a healthy looking Red Demon chilli plant for £1.12. It's about 6 inches in height, had a couple of straggly leaves that I cut off when I got him home and loads of buds ready to go. Might be worth having a browse if you've got a homebase nearby and some free time.

ToneLa...I refrained from hanging him on my washing line... but that's a top tip if ever I saw one 🤩

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Bought a wisteria from B&M for about £20. Reading online, it says that grafted versions are much better than those grown from seed/cuttings/root stock(?) and that it might not even be worth bothering with the ones grown from the latter as they won't flower.

Thing is, the wisteria I bought looks like it was grown from seed but had plenty of flowers on it when we picked it up (albeit they've dropped off now)

Any suggestions - is it worth bothering with?

Here's a photo if anyone can offer an opinion.

If you remove soil from around the stem you will be able to see if it was grafted or not.

Looks nice and healthy though

[El_Frank]

It looks healthy enough adam, and the fact that it has already flowered suggests it should do again, but they don't flower for long so maybe you've just gone past the flowering stage. If you follow the guides for growing them then I see no reason why you won't get a healthy outcome.

Does anyone have 'hot lips' salvia growing? If not, I highly recommend them. Lovely to look at, amazing scent, and the bees go absolutely crazy for them.

[John C]

Novice? How dare you, my roses are blooming John!

Have you and Sarge got a side gig on that you're keeping me out of 
Must admit, Roses are doing ok this year.

[John C]

Does anyone have 'hot lips' salvia growing? If not, I highly recommend them. Lovely to look at, amazing scent, and the bees go absolutely crazy for them.

Yes mate. I'd never seen or heard of them until about 2 years ago. My cousin gives me loads of cuttings and I have a small plant that is superb.

[El_Frank]

I had a cutting off someone a couple of years back and within one year it had gone from a little stem of several inches to a four foot wide bush with hundreds of flowers on. Easy to look after, grows like mental. A great addition that one.

[Millie]

It looks healthy enough adam, and the fact that it has already flowered suggests it should do again, but they don't flower for long so maybe you've just gone past the flowering stage. If you follow the guides for growing them then I see no reason why you won't get a healthy outcome.

Does anyone have 'hot lips' salvia growing? If not, I highly recommend them. Lovely to look at, amazing scent, and the bees go absolutely crazy for them.

Yeah got a couple of the hot lips ones, and some other varieties as well.  They grow so quick, love them.

[Sarge]

Does anyone have 'hot lips' salvia growing? If not, I highly recommend them. Lovely to look at, amazing scent, and the bees go absolutely crazy for them.

Great plant and is a hardy fucker too.

[royhendo]

Bought a wisteria from B&M for about £20. Reading online, it says that grafted versions are much better than those grown from seed/cuttings/root stock(?) and that it might not even be worth bothering with the ones grown from the latter as they won't flower.

Thing is, the wisteria I bought looks like it was grown from seed but had plenty of flowers on it when we picked it up (albeit they've dropped off now)

Any suggestions - is it worth bothering with?

Here's a photo if anyone can offer an opinion.

Bloody hell, that's brilliant!

We've layered ours with great success - two baby plants after scraping the stem and popping them under a layer of earth for a year. We got ours as a wedding present.

[reddebs]

Finally most of the plants I've grown from seed are starting to through up buds so I might get some colour in the garden soon.

Just put in a ceanothus and ordered another £80 worth of compact flowering shrubs mainly to fill one border.

The roses are particularly beautiful this year.  Not sure if that's down to how much attention they've had or if they'd have been as spectacular anyway 🤷

[royhendo]

The pics are tremendous!

Quick question - our Virginia Creeper... we think it's dead (for some reason - it's gone strong for years and years but there's no sign of foliage this year... usually there is). Anyone heard of one of those passing away for not much reason? We have a little shoot from the foot of it coming through so all is not lost... but the gable end of the back of the house is gonna look a little bare if it goes. *sobs*

[reddebs]

The pics are tremendous!

Quick question - our Virginia Creeper... we think it's dead (for some reason - it's gone strong for years and years but there's no sign of foliage this year... usually there is). Anyone heard of one of those passing away for not much reason? We have a little shoot from the foot of it coming through so all is not lost... but the gable end of the back of the house is gonna look a little bare if it goes. *sobs*

Oh no 😔  they're absolutely beautiful but I believe a pain in the ass to look after though I have no experience of growing or caring for one.

At least there is still signs of life though Roy so hopefully it'll pull through somehow 🙏

[Crosby Nick]

The pics are tremendous!

Quick question - our Virginia Creeper... we think it's dead (for some reason - it's gone strong for years and years but there's no sign of foliage this year... usually there is). Anyone heard of one of those passing away for not much reason? We have a little shoot from the foot of it coming through so all is not lost... but the gable end of the back of the house is gonna look a little bare if it goes. *sobs*

We had some all over the front of our old house. Looked really nice, especially in autumn as the leaves turned red (although a pain in the arse to sweep up!). Anyway, we got someone round to ‘tidy it up’ one spring and they cut it back so much that it never grew back. Still go past the old house and it looks pretty bare.

But that was human incompetence rather than any disease or anything like that.

[royhendo]

Ta both - looking at it, and looking at the gardening forums after googling it, it does seem that drought can kill it (either restricting foliage to the top and the ground level, or just ground level, or killing it).

It has been incredibly dry here - the streams have run dry in some places even (and I've never seen that happen in this general area - it's come close at times, but there's literally no water in places). We have a climbing hydrangea that's wilting regularly (we do have a stream that does have water, so I have a little well dug from that and I water with gorilla tubs of water taken from there)... so I think the dry weather's taken it to the brink and it's effectively binned off the bits it can't keep alive. That's guesswork mind... but I suppose we'll just need to see if it comes back to life over the course of the autumn. It's in a pot too, which maybe makes it worse. We have ivy at the other side and the wisteria growing from round the corner so it'll not even be noticable in a few years' time... but harumph. I don't like things dying!