Gardening

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hammer1
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Gardening

Post by hammer1 »

Right folks, I will be aiming to hit the garden soon and want some tips.

Firstly I would like to know what colourful flowers can be planted now/April to come up in Summer and be no trouble.

Secondly I have an area with little light, what can I plant to bring some life to that part.

Any other tips to make life easy and colourful in the garden will be most welcomed. .salut


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Re: Gardening

Post by Oracle »

Hi Hammer1,

I have a preference for native wildflowers, poppies, cornflowers,corn marigolds, ox-eye daisies and the like, the advantage I,ve found is that because they are native they can cope well with the variables in our weather, and our native wildlife love them too,

Heres an example:

Image

This link from the Natural History Museum lets you enter your postcode to see what the naturally occurring wild flowers are for your area:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life ... de-plants/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/user/WildlifeGar ... yum9QyWQXk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Reason: Added link to the Natural History Museum page
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Re: Gardening

Post by Alexis »

Hi Hammer. I like this post and will be in quite a lot over the plant season. :D

I enjoy seeding at all sorts of times throughout the spring/summer as it provides wee surprises.

However, up here in the frozen east of Scotland we have to plant a bit later than yourselves, so will be interesting to here the varying planting times and successes (or not) both ends of the country.

Haven't given you any suggestions yet, as I am trying to make my dinner, but will come back to this tomorrow. ./thumbsup.. :D
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Re: Gardening

Post by Reddwarf »

For the shady area how about hosta's (watch out for the slugs) or ferns loads to chose from including the big old tree fern (very expensive though)

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Re: Gardening

Post by Alexis »

I tried Hostas and never again. They are horrible to keep the slugs away from and anything near them gets the slugs also.

Ferns are nice. Hydrangeas, Rhododendron, Camelia, Elephants Ears (Bergenia - lots of different colourful types).

I tried sweet peas in the shady bit the last two years and they came up like giants. Even when the cold Autumn arrived, they still kept flowering, so just try anything and see what happens.

Bedding plants in April will really give a colourful show and all you have to do once planted is dead head them to encourage more blooms.

Lily bulbs are magical in my opinion throughout the summer months. If you plant them randomly, they pop up multiplied each year and all you have to do is cut off the dead leaves at the end of the season.

I have double tulip bulbs planted too, which come back multiplied each April and last until the summer plants bloom.

Have fun, spend as little as possible and if you see a plant you like whilst out and about with seeds, just nick a few and plant. ;)

p.s. I have loads of pots, but you have to water faithfully even if it rains otherwise they dry out.
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Re: Gardening

Post by hammer1 »

./thumbsup..

Was going to crack into it tomorrow, but weather not to great. However will pop down to the garden centre and pick up a few bits and let you know.

We planted loads of daffodils and other coloured flowers towards the end of last year and they are just about the blossom, so should look nice going into April, bring a bit of colour to the place after the winter we have had.
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Re: Gardening

Post by hammer1 »

Managed to buy some Bengonia mix flowers/pendula cascade, Sweet Pea, Gladioli, poached egg and some rockery flowers and of course sunflower seeds.
Got some fern for the shaded area.

Lets hope some come up now once I get a chance to plant em. :lol:
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Re: Gardening

Post by Alexis »

hammer1 wrote:Managed to buy some Bengonia mix flowers/pendula cascade, Sweet Pea, Gladioli, poached egg and some rockery flowers and of course sunflower seeds.
Got some fern for the shaded area.

Lets hope some come up now once I get a chance to plant em. :lol:
You will just love the outcome hammer. clapclap Having the chance to plant them, as far as up here is concerned, may be about August. :lol: Like you, I have gathered loads of seeds and stuff, but much too dismal to enjoy planting yet. :(
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Re: Gardening

Post by Lisa_ »

Maybe we should have a sunflower competition, here's mine from last year !

Ignore the chap in the front he is a giant, his claim to fame being that he knew me before I was born ! .scratch .scratch

These were not planned, they just appeared and were over 6' tall and strong enough not to need supports !
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Re: Gardening

Post by hammer1 »

Managed to plant them at last today.

I take it they should flower around July/August???. Will they need plenty of watering Alexis??

Also done the sunflower seeds, doubt if it will get to your dizzy heights Lisa :lol:
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Re: Gardening

Post by Alexis »

hammer1 wrote:Managed to plant them at last today.

I take it they should flower around July/August???. Will they need plenty of watering Alexis??

Also done the sunflower seeds, doubt if it will get to your dizzy heights Lisa :lol:
Well done Hammer. You should have some flowering in June right the way through to September or even October if no more frosts.

If you have any in pots, you should water them every single morning or after the sun goes down in the cool of the evening, but never water when the sun is beating down otherwise you will scorch all the leaves.

The ones not in pots will need a wee feed once they are showing signs of growth and every three weeks or so whilst growing, but don't over-feed thinking you are being kind giving two scoops rather than one. Over-feeding can kill. They too will need regular water. Maybe have a but or even a bucket to catch rainwater. Plants love the rainwater better than the tap stuff.

I would advise something to deter slugs until the plants are established as they nibble the blinking roots of young tender plants and work their way up until they have devoured them completely.

As for your Sunflowers, millions and trillions of water and a wee feed will make yours bigger than oor Lisas. :lol:

My Sunflowers are going in tomorrow Lisa. ;)

Anyway, remember all this information is just my own learning over the years, so not an expert by any means. :lol:

Just wait until it all starts to surprise you Hammer. Just theeee best. BTW you should throw a few poppy seeds down every few weeks throughout the summer. When one lot die, the next lot come up and they really fit in with everything.
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Re: Gardening

Post by sleepy184 »

I've spent all day out in the garden today cleaning out the greenhouse and repotting my thousands of pot plants!

More to do tomorrow.

I mainly have fusias and geraniums but will be planting my tomato seeds and some other hopefully later this week.

My sweet peas are already in the garden as they accidentally started to grow in thier pods (I did not de pod them last year! opps) and so I planted them in the greenhouse and then planted them out today.
They are already a foot tall.

A lot of the rest of the garden is coming to life too with my clamatus going mad and the rhubarb and raspberry doing well too.

I love this time of year although not the work associated with it! LOL.
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