The 2013 Gardening Thread......

[*chez*]

What you are growing?

[mandymoosie]

PCC they're very pretty 😄 I hope you're having a wonderful time in Paris :-x

Well managed to get into the garden this afternoon, it felt so good to be out there at last!!!

Have potted up my Lavender, it's a tricky thing at times, you have to miss plenty of gravel in with the compost and have really good drainage cos Lavender does not like having it's "feet" wet, it's the first thing that will kill it.

I lost my last one because I planted it in our border which is very damp and within 2 years it had  keeled over and died 😞 That's why it's in a pot now, hope it remains nice and strong 😄

Excuse the moss there.........we always get it pretty bad on the hard standing, but this year it's worse because of all the wet weather and we just haven't had chance to get out there!!! lol

[ilove2patch]

Love the pot.:-D

[mandymoosie]

Thank you Maggie :-x

[captainbovine]

I was just going to say, nice pot there moosie:^O

I think I killed my lavenders too by not putting gravel in with the compost:-(

[mandymoosie]

They can be a pain CB.

Just hoping that I put enough gravel in with the compost, the lady in the place where we got the pot and stuff, said it would be plenty enough, but you just never know.

From what I've read about Lavenders online, apparently it's better to let them get pretty dry and then give them a good drink and let them get dry again. They can stand periods of dryness, but they can't tolerate being too wet 🙂

[ilove2patch]

When you think they grow on the side of mountains you can see the sense in that.

[mandymoosie]

Yes agree Maggie, they can tolerate great heat, full sun, which they love and being pretty dry 🙂

[bitsnknots]

We don't seem to have a problem with lavender.  I think that I've said before that we have lavender in both the front and back gardens and it seems to thrive.  The plants were already in the gardens when we moved into this bungalow 11 years ago.

[mandymoosie]

Oh Chris you lucky thing 😄

Where I lived before I had 4 really mature Lavenders, 3 English and 1 French and they all did really well, I so wished I'd moved them with me, but too late now.

It seems to be a problem getting them to "take" that's the tricky bit, once they've got going they seem to do really well.

I'm nervous now because I've just put them out, just keeping everything crossed that these will be okay 🙂

[bitsnknots]

Hope that you don't have a problem with your lavender plants moosie.  Some plants tend to be like that were they can be a pain.  This year, we've had problems with daffodils.  I know that the majority of our daffs are the tall ones but we do have a few dwarf daffs as well.  The majority of them have come up as dwarf daffs.  A friend of mine has the same problems.

[ilove2patch]

A lot of my dafs were just leaves this year.:-(

[mandymoosie]

All of our blue bells were just leaves this year too 😞

[rainydaywoman11]

Things are stirring, although this part of the garden is usually a mass of daffodils - loads of the primroses have disappeared too - the daffs are just starting to come out in other parts of the garden.  Too early for our bluebells too.

[captainbovine]

I planted some salad leaves in the stone sink in the garden, I shall be putting more in pots at 3wk intervals so I hopefully can have fresh leaves until July.

I've re planted the hypericum so they won't get root bound until OH has the front sorted to take them. I think they are far too small, so I've said he needs to get some bigger plants and alternate them. By the time we are 90 plonk, they will have matured!!!!:^O

[*chez*]

I went to collect  a rhubarb crown and some raspberry canes from freecyle and was asked if I would like another plant... a 4 ft peach tree!!

SO.. anyone any hints on keeping a peach tree?

[duck_a_lorange]

I've re planted the hypericum so they won't get root bound until OH has the front sorted to take them. I think they are far too small, so I've said he needs to get some bigger plants and alternate them. By the time we are 90 plonk, they will have matured!!!!:^O

They grow quite surprisingly fast, and need chopping every year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJkJBkCoaQ4

[10phizz]

I went to collect  a rhubarb crown and some raspberry canes from freecyle and was asked if I would like another plant... a 4 ft peach tree!!

SO.. anyone any hints on keeping a peach tree?

Could you ring the previous owner and ask ...........after all if they got it to 4 feet they must have done something right ! LOL

[chickengrandma-2008]

We had a big peach tree years ago.  We never got any peaches on it though.  You have to protect it from peach leaf curl but you'll have to google how.  Ours got it every year.:-(

[*elphaba*]

Only a couple of my lavender cuttings survived 😞   But I will pot them on soon and hope.

I'm harvesting the purple sprouting broccoli I fought tooth and nail for against cabbage whites and slugs.....and now pigeons.   Its lovely, but goodness there has to be a better way! 

Lots planted now, nothing coming up.  A hailstorm with big winds earlier took out my tunnel cloche but the purple sprouting just about survived.

Did someone say this gardening lark was relaxing?  

[ilove2patch]

A friend of mine has several peach trees along a fence in a very sheltered sunny garden & has loads of white peaches every year. We are on the south coast though.