I was told to so I have.

A few of my roses are in full bloom already this year, though I've lost all the buds on one as they all had tiny holes in, I thought it best just to take them off completely.

Apparently strawberries are doing well...........http://bit.ly/h250Mi

Gardening threads should be in sports and leisure, otherwise it`s just sports.

I feel so guilty today, was checking when it would be ok to turn the compost as I have a slow worm family in mine, then I went and cut the grass which had gotten rather long since that rain we had, and I ran over at least one of the slow worms. 😞. I also ran over the lead of the LED butterfly lights.

The crop of radishes in my wee garden is nearly ready to pick - hurrah! Have some srping onions, carrots, tomatoes and runner beans growing too.

I`m growing Tomatoes in a lean to greenhouse, Potatoes in growsacks, Runner Beans, and Strawberries.

I often wonder whether it`s worth it though. The cost of all the stuff, plants, compost, growbags etc, probably exceeds the cost of just buying everything in the local supermarket.

And then I`ve got to get rid of the used compost and growbags afterwards.

Our estate has entered the Loughborough in bloom flower competition. New plants have been put in across the estate including annuals and perennials.

No I`ve not tried growing from seed, that would save some money, but a large part of the overall cost is on grow bags and compost. We don`t have enough space in the garden to grow stuff directly in the ground so 2 grow bags for the tomatoes and several bags of compost for the potatoes, runner beans and strawberries have cost about £37. (those potato sacks, 6 of them, hold an awful lot of compost).

I managed to get wallflowers to grow in a rubbly dry area next to a wall.
They're about finished now and I wondered if they'd most likely make it to another year if I cut them back really hard or just nipped the seedheads off?
It's so dry there establishing anything else would be difficult.
Conventionally you put in new plants every autumn - sown about now - but I know they will sometimes go into a third year.

Even get yourself a compost bin and make your own,Why throw out good material?.

The fun is in the growing ,eitherway.Bradders and I will say the taste of your own is always better..

Btw. a good mix of lettuce type seeds in a small planter is wonderfull,Just plucked a few myself the other day for a sandwitch.

Fresh and very satisfying.

Now get some nice flowering plants in and you are away Keep it up Bradders.Growing brings Joy.

Just harvested the first crop from the potato sacks - bumper harvest of lovely looking potatoes, no splits, damage or bad bits  Variety was 'Swift' and as it seems only yesterday that I planted them, that's a good name

I hope you have some mint to boil them with.
To be honest we think the early varieties lack good 'new potato' taste usually, but the ones you lift minutes before cooking are always so much better than any you can buy which have probably been knocking around for a week or more.

Now I've grown up believing that you shouldn't boil the mint with the potatoes. When the potatoes have finished cooking you drain them, put a knob of butter and the mint into the pan, lid on tightly and leave for 5 minutes. That way the heat and steam encourages the mint flavour to infuse without 'cooking' it, which has a less pleasant taste.

I don`t think that`s much of a crop, do you?

How do you stop broccoli 'bolting'? Mine are looking very leggy and spindley, with the beginnings of the eaty bit starting to show. Should I have pinched them out?

And when do peas stop producing? Mine aren't exactly reaching for the sky up the frame and are only delivering a small number of pods. Do I need to keep picking the pods as they ripen to encourage more growth?

Finally, some good news on the winter damage. The callistemon is now sprouting from the bottom after all the existing growth was killed off last winter (despite a fleece wrap) and the robinia pseudoacacia is in leaf again from one area at the bottom; whether it'll survive though...

Just to be different!

My Musa Basjoos have enjoyed the last few days of fine weather. My Bamboo has also shot up in the last week, probably about 25" of growth in just a week. Our garden is looking more jungle(y) in the last week (Palms, Banana, Bamboo and Canna).

I just wish somebody would run over the horrible cats that keep crapping in our garden NOthing I hate more than spending time making a garden look nice for ourselves then find poo everywhere. My better half is pregnant and I have a three year old.

The other way of doing it is to just take the spuds off the heat then put the mint leaves in and leave for five minutes, putting in the mint while the water in the saucepan is still boiling just destroys the oils. Treat the mint leaves like tea.   

Isn't that what I said more or less?

No, not really.  You put the mint leaves in after the water has been drained off, I put the mint leaves in while the spuds are still in the water but off the heat, gives a very intense mint flavour.

Makes your potatoes soggy