Well captured Steve, couldn't have been easy. I had one fly into the conservatory earlier in the year, I was trying to keep the dogs off of it and grab my camera all at the same time. It escaped through the doors in the end unharmed but I never managed to photograph it.
Just cut my Musa's down to a decent size and winter protected them with straw string and a dustbin lid .
We are now at that point in the Aussie Spring where by moisture can be stripped out of the soil and once is has gone it can be a nightmare to get back.
I once left an area of soil totally uncovered and without water and when I finally put water on it ( a lot of water) it never got more than a few mm in to the surface!
Topping up sugar cane mulch regularly and maintaining moisture levels is priority at the min. Also protecting seedlings from sun burn and wind burn.
Guys when is the best time to cut down the Roses? I was tempted today but thought I'd check just incase lol
The best time to prune roses is March, when you can identify budding nodes that are facing the right way (usually outward facing) to create an open and even shape to the bush.
Shrubs can be Trimmed a bit now to save any wind rocking and damage by Snowfall.The Proper Prune is done in March as already stated by above post.
Thanks to both
My Pyracanthas are looking great
The Ones that get the full Summer Sun are out covered in the little berries, we have Orange and Red Pyracanthas, The ones the otherside of the garden are not covered in berries though and I'm a little worried with these because we had last Years berries on them all the way though the summer, the berries didn't drop and we never got the white flowers !!!...Hoping there just be later to develop
The pyracantha may need a good mulch and fertilizer
pyracantha.co.uk
Jonesy, there could be a number of reasons for this but as long as the shrub looks generally healthy, I don't think you need worry. Pyracanthas flower on one year old wood, so a hard pruning last year could affect the current year's flowering, or even the harsh winter may have had an affect on them.
Pyracanthas are generally forgiving plants that grow in most soil types, they'll flower and berry in sun or shade, but thrive best in full sun. The ones not in full sun may have just had a rest this year. Fruiting shrubs tend to do that for no obvious reason and you did say they'd done well last year.
Is anyone growing their own garlic. It's the right time to plant it now, so I've sent for some from the IOW garlic farm and I'm going to plant some in my border amongst the flowers.
Easy to grow and trouble-free in my experience, but make sure that it's somewhere that gets full sun, and mulch the bed a bit. It's no coincidence that the UK's only commercial garlic farm is in one of the sunniest places in Britain.
And on a separate topic, how long can my nasturtiums keep going? Will they give up of theri own accord before we get a severe frost (of which no sign at the moment)? They're still producing flowers like mad on the coast here - lowest air temp 1C so far, though that same night only five miles away in a sheltered valley it was -3C, and nasturtiums there were limp and dying the next morning.
Thanks Caz, the Ones in shade are looking very healthy, nice green leaf and they did well all through summer keeping it's fruit and giving great colour but obviously I might pay the price this Year because they didn't get the chance to flower and produce fruit like the ones that were in full sun
When I purchased these 3 years back I didn't relise I Picked up Orange and Red but I'm pleased I did because the mix of the Colours look great ..I only paid £2 each
Anyone got any advice about what I can do with composting leaves.
We never had trees before at our old house, this garden has a large sycamore and some other trees.
Last year I swept them up and bagged them, but the bags seemed to have gone all holey and fallen to pieces.
I assume, I shouldn't compost them with the garden other stuff.
Nothing wrong with composting leaves, unless you've swept them up from, say, an oily garageway.
Your average small garden heap may have problems digesting a lot of wet leaves stuck together, though, so add them at intervals separated by e.g. cut back stems of perennials, to give some ventilation. If there's too many for that, dump them in a hidden corner (every garden has one?) turn them over every month or so, expect something useful in a year (or two?)
Could I grow garlic in my cold greenhouse, I was wondering what I could do with my greenhouse in the winter, I've only had it about 6 months. So any ideas would be great.
Thanks
My garlic has arrived. I've given a bulb each to my sister and daughter and the rest is going in my border amonst my climbing roses, which should not only give me an edible crop next summer, but should also keep the aphids off my roses!
Not about to cut mine yet, they are still flowering! (they are not late season roses)
My climbing roses are still flowering too BN! It's all this mild weather!
Most shrubs can be cut down once the sap has stopped rising, which should be any time now, but the mild weather is prolonging the growing season this year. If you cut back whilst sap is rising, they'll make new growth, which isn't really what you want as growth will be weak at the end of the growing season.
I sometimes prune my roses in February if the weather is mild and I can see the start of strong new growth, that way they get a good early start. A common mistake with pruning any tree or shrub, is not pruning hard enough!
Edited by user 06 November 2011 10:04:43(UTC) | Reason: Not specified