The potting shed

pickledtink

Benidormqueen wrote:

OH, Sorry angelavdavis to hear your hanging baskets have been a disaster,
mine have been fantastic this year, apart from Saturday when the wind sent them quite giddy, had to take them down overnight to give them a rest. they look lovley again today, I feed them every three days with tomato feed.
My grass was terrible a few weeks ago, never seen it looking so tatty and almost dead with all the sun and heat, We are on a water meter so I could not water it often, but I gave it a good rake all over and feed it with Asda's own brand of lawn food, and it now looks great, and really thick and lush and no weeds.
Rest of garden doing fine all my plants, most I did myself from seeds are still looking good, and I'm very proud of them still got, marigolds,buzy lizzies,
asters,bergonias,cornflower. taggetts, and 3ft long Surfina's.and lovley rudbeckias which will last untill the frost kills them, they are beautiful. all lovley rustic shades.

Sounds glorious. I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to ornamentals. Just go for all the ones which flower all season as long as you look after them. I'm a Petunia, Geranium, Lobelia girl. Love Nasturtiums as they look great, trail all over the place and you can eat them too! Even better they entice all the nasty black fly away from my veg and you can just snap off the offending leaf without damaging the plant.
They've all done very well this year and the recent rain has made them all very lush. All spilling out and looking dead fetching. I was harbouring thoughts of drifting about amongst my blooms today in a floaty frock etc
Unfortunately my compost heap exploded all over me so I have had to launder all I was wearing and even after a good scrub I'm still a bit niffy....:rolleyes:

hazeyj

You mention black fly above...my clematis are covered in these tiny little black things. Can I get rid of them?

hazeyj

pickledtink wrote:

Spring onion and Rocket sow now
Tomatoes'll have to wait till next year unfortunately. If you sow them indoors in early March you can transplant them outside late April.
Depends where you are in the country as to when the first frost falls. Where are you?
Things you can still sow now are: cut and come again mixed salad leaves. Perpetual Spinach, Radishes ( which you can eat the leaves from as well and they are gorgeous), Kale, garlic ( can just use a supermarket one) onions.
Also lots of things for harvesting next spring and you can get seedling plants from online nurseries for cabbage , Broccolli etc.
All of these can be grown in containers and herbs in baskets like basil, coriander which can be sown now. Thyme, parsley, chives will still take if you get some young plants now and plant up.
I've got masses of seeds and am happy to send you some which you can get going with. Just PM me your postal.
Another gardening forum I'm on we all rallied round as one member had her entire veg patch broken into by sheep. She lost al her hard earned veg so we're all sending anything which can be sown now to fill up that empty space.

Oh wow thanks for your advice. I will pm you with my details. Thanks:beer: I'm in manchester by the way. On top of the building and my garden gets the wind, soplants have to be rock hard to out on my terrace

Benidormqueen

{quote} pickledtink
Thanks,
Also got Geraniums & Lobelia and a few Lavender shurbs,
Just been mowing my beautiful lawns while weathers fine, been having a good look around my boarders my passion flowers got fruit on for thefirst time,got ever so giddy when i saw them,:D also got a few frogs hoppingaround.( what shoud I put in for some winter colour )any tips please!!!

pickledtink

Hazey. Check your PM.

I've checked your frost dates for Manchester.
First frosts will be mid October and last mid may. So you've got time for some quick crops.
I'll have a look and send you some seeds tomorrow.

pickledtink

I picked my first ever ripe yellow lemon today! Thrilled to bits. I keep gazing at it in adoration. Sadly got no Gin to put it in though.

Seems like a good excuse to buy a bottle however...._party_

pickledtink

hazeyj wrote:

You mention black fly above...my clematis are covered in these tiny little black things. Can I get rid of them?

Spray the !!!!!!s. I don't usually bother with the organic route on non edibles but in this case it's so inexpensive to use the home made organic answer. It works and it's very cheap too.
Mix 9 parts water to 1 part handwash liquid soap ( not washing up liquid. That damages the plant). Put in a spray bottle and spray generously all over them. Get them all. Do it in the morning if possible. It's not rocket science but it really works. The soap bit sort of clogs them up and kills them. Costs zilch compared to buying those spray things for about £3.00 each!

MaureenHB

pickledtink wrote:

What was your drip system? was it one of those which comes complete or did you rig something up Blue Peter style?
I've bought one of those small polytunnels but can't figure out how you're supposed to water them.:o

The drip system consists of a set of thin black tubing and some drippers, bought as a kit from a garden centre for about £11, i thought it was expensive at the time but it is set up from a water butt in the greenhouse and has given easy watering all through the summer fr tomatoes, peppers, chillies, salad, ooh lotsa stuff! I am going to try some kale I think for winter greens.. any recommendations as to best one?

MaureenHB

Another gardening forum I'm on we all rallied round as one member had her entire veg patch broken into by sheep. She lost al her hard earned veg so we're all sending anything which can be sown now to fill up that empty space.[/QUOTE]

What a lovely thing to do.

pickledtink

MaureenHB wrote:

Another gardening forum I'm on we all rallied round as one member had her entire veg patch broken into by sheep. She lost al her hard earned veg so we're all sending anything which can be sown now to fill up that empty space.

What a lovely thing to do.[/QUOTE]

To be honest I think most people are only too happy to give seed away. I know I always have far too much and would much rather see someone sowing it than just letting it go to waste.
Especially when it's my own seed from good healthy plants.
I've got plenty of my own Winter Squash /Pumpkin seeds for next years sowing if anyone would like some? PM me if you want me to send you a few. Very healthy prolific producers. You get a mix of Butternut, Crown Prince, Harlequin and Gem. Seed catalogues charge about £3.00 for only 6 - 10 seeds! All delicious and the flowers are heavenly eating too. Such a prized expensive dish in French and Italian restaurants and we just can't eat them all we have so many. You can even eat the stalks so when you thin the leaves out you get vegetables before the fruit even appear!