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

[Filler.]

I mowed the grass the other day. I mow for ever. Looked so beautiful for 10 minutes in the autumn wind.

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Any advice on when to pull the begonias ?  I've lifted one to dry but the others are still looking great.

Can't believe how much the bulb has grown,it's a full fist and was smaller than a conker when I planted it.

[sheepfest]

Love some advice on Hydrangeas please as in when to prune them, pre or post winter?
Not a gardener at all and unfortunately for the plants there are 4 very well established plants which every person I ask about has conflicting advice. We have cut back in winter and spring over the last 5 years but feel like we are slowly killing them.

[bradders1011]

Just moved into a new house and one patch of the garden is covered in these mushrooms



Any advice on how to get rid please? Cheers!

[.adam]

You can't really get rid of them. Or at least, you'll spend a small fortune on treatment that will work to varying extents.

What you're looking at is the 'fruit' of the mushroom. The entire organism is made from what is essentially a network of candy floss like strands underneath your lawn. This is the mycelium network.

The good news is that mushrooms in your lawn are a good indicator that the lawn itself is healthy - the mushroom and the grass form a symbiotic relationship.

If they both you a lot, bear in mind that most mushrooms will only fruit for a very short window (maybe a couple of weeks or so). After that, they'll die back and the organism underground will continue without you knowing it's there.

If you're really bothered, just mow the lawn once/twice a week during the fruiting season and you'll destroy the mushrooms as they start to fruit and you won't see them.

If you pick one and take a photo of the underside, I might be able to help identify it for you. No mushroom is toxic to handle (only when ingesting) so don't worry about touching it.

My lawn now has an annual recurring crop of yellow stainer and red cracking bolete mushrooms which I just let grow out and do their thing. Still waiting for some decent edibles to set up home!

[bradders1011]

Cheers Adam, they're only really in a corner so shouldn't be too much of a bother. Do they all have the same flowering season or different times for different species?

[.adam]

Cheers Adam, they're only really in a corner so shouldn't be too much of a bother. Do they all have the same flowering season or different times for different species?

Different times for different mushrooms. Fruiting depends on the mushroom type, the amount of rain, the temperature for the time of year etc. You might find that they don't fruit next year depending on conditions. The network itself will probably be alive underground but conditions might not have been right for them to fruit.

As an example, I know a few fallen trees near to where I live where there are oyster mushrooms growing on the wood. I pop back each year at roughly the same time - sometimes they fruit, sometimes they don't. One year I think I got about 5kg of mushrooms of the one fallen tree. Next year there were none!

Very few tend to fruit over winter, most prefer spring or autumn when it's wetter but not too hot/cold.

EDIT: Photo of the haul of oysters from one tree last year:

[reddebs]

Love some advice on Hydrangeas please as in when to prune them, pre or post winter?
Not a gardener at all and unfortunately for the plants there are 4 very well established plants which every person I ask about has conflicting advice. We have cut back in winter and spring over the last 5 years but feel like we are slowly killing them.

Are they mophead or lacecap hydrangeas as the advice is different for each of them.

I have mopheads and the advice is leave the heads on them until spring as they protect the new growth in winter.  Cut back in spring but only to the new shoots as they're that years flowers so if you cut back too much they won't flower at all or have very few flowers.

[reddebs]

Woohoo my crab apple tree has arrived for the woodland area 👏👏

[reddebs]

We're down to the last pallet to dismantle ready to build raised beds for the veg plot. 

I'm looking forward to being able to grow things like peas, beans, maybe even some carrots and parsnips.

Then if we've got enough wood left I've another much smaller bed to do that I'd like to grow blueberries in.  If not then maybe put the strawberry plants in as they've not really been successful where they are.

[SvenJohansen]

I planted Larkspur during the summer mainly to attract pollinators and add some purple and blue colours to my garden. I bought them in Woodies. I've since been reading up about them and have found out that not only are they poisonous and toxic to animals but they are a skin irritant too. The packet didn't mention any of this info. I have a cat so I'll be digging them up again soon. They are only seedlings right now so shouldn't be a problem getting them out. But it's a shame that I have to do it at all. It's probably too late in the year to plant anything in their place? And should I dump the compost that they were in out of the pot?

[reddebs]

I planted Larkspur during the summer mainly to attract pollinators and add some purple and blue colours to my garden. I bought them in Woodies. I've since been reading up about them and have found out that not only are they poisonous and toxic to animals but they are a skin irritant too. The packet didn't mention any of this info. I have a cat so I'll be digging them up again soon. They are only seedlings right now so shouldn't be a problem getting them out. But it's a shame that I have to do it at all. It's probably too late in the year to plant anything in their place? And should I dump the compost that they were in out of the pot?

to be honest mate if the cat hasn't touched them so far I'd leave them. 

There are literally hundreds of plants that most of us have in our gardens that are toxic but unless they are eaten in large quantities they're typically harmless.

[SvenJohansen]

to be honest mate if the cat hasn't touched them so far I'd leave them. 

There are literally hundreds of plants that most of us have in our gardens that are toxic but unless they are eaten in large quantities they're typically harmless.

Ah ok thanks for the advice. I will leave them grow a bit so if the cat gets curious then I'll get rid. She doesn't really go for my flowers except for a Red Peace Lily I had during the summer, Someone told me it's known as a Nuns Saddle. I'm trying to find a picture of it coz it was a lovely looking flower. And Lilies are supposed to be bad for cats. Maybe that's why she dug it up the fecker!

Found it.......

https://plantcaretips.in/red-peace-lily/

[reddebs]

Ah ok thanks for the advice. I will leave them grow a bit so if the cat gets curious then I'll get rid. She doesn't really go for my flowers except for a red lily I had during the summer that I don't know the name of. Someone told me it's known as a Nuns Saddle. You'll know what it means when see a picture of it  And Lilies are supposed to be bad for cats. Maybe that's why she dug it up the fecker!

Yep lilies, daffodils, foxgloves to name a few 👍

[WhereAngelsPlay]

Alstroemeria  (Peruvian lily) aren't poisonous.

[reddebs]

Looks like I'm going to have to make changes to the bog garden as with all this rain it's been completely waterlogged which even bog plants don't like.

It's definitey going to need a much deeper layer of gravel/grit before the soil is added to hopefully give a it bit more drainage which means digging out at least 8-10" of soil.

We also need to raise the height of the pond on that side by about the same so it holds more water before it starts to overflow into the bog garden. 

We're talking a huge amount of work again, not least having to remove all the rocks, boulders and pebbles to even get to it 🤦

[WhereAngelsPlay]

I see a trip to your local plant hire in your future 

[reddebs]

I see a trip to your local plant hire in your future 

Nah we did it all by hand apart from digging the pond out.  I paid a man with a digger to do that, much cheaper and quicker 😂

[Slippers]

Nah we did it all by hand apart from digging the pond out.  I paid a man with a digger to do that, much cheaper and quicker 😂

My father dug our fishpond,I asked him not to because we weren't ready to set it up and the next thing I know he's only visible from the waist up and wanting to know what shape we'd like it to be.

[reddebs]

My father dug our fishpond,I asked him not to because we weren't ready to set it up and the next thing I know he's only visible from the waist up and wanting to know what shape we'd like it to be.

There's too much rock and stone in ours to have done it by hand plus it's also really heavy clay so it's like concrete in the summer and a swamp in winter.

It took me months just to dig over the existing borders and I got nothing but complaints when I asked Paul to create the veg plot so not a chance he was going to do the pond 👍