[Help] Gardeners Question Time.

[Jack Straw]

And many thanks to [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION]. No wonder I couldn't identify it, if it is a single leafed ash, I didn't know such a thing existed. I though all ashes had those sets of leaves thing.
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This is one of the most exciting videos you're ever likely to see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUUng8S394

 

[WATFORD zero]

This is one of the most exciting videos you're ever likely to see!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plUUng8S394

That's definitely the bugger

 

[Jack Straw]

As you wish, apologies if these come out maaahooosive, resizing pictures isn't a skill I ever mastered:-

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The stick on the left is the one that was away from the previous root ball.
That came out with a hint of root,
The other stick with most of the foliage, such as it is, was just that a stick!

How's your Photinia? Is Stat Junior still watering and fertilizing it? Should have a flower or two on it?

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Thanks for the advice [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] - too late to do anything this season. But perhaps next year I'll be able to catch the little blighters before the tree flowers.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

For the naked gardening yesterday, I ran around bare handed! I'm such a rebel
Also, a trio of green finches ousted the sparrows from the feeders. That's another species to tick off as a first(first I've seen them, anyway)

 

[Stat Brother]

How's your Photinia? Is Stat Junior still watering and fertilizing it? Should have a flower or two on it?

It doesn't seem to be good news.

Despite the watering and 'extra' watering (no solids) I don't think it's going to make it.

As said half the plant was dead pre move.
Of the other half, that did move for the photos the left side of the 2 branches had a little root and has probably sprouted a couple of new leaves.
The right side had no roots at all and doesn't seem to have done anything.

It's been a month, it's not died although some of the older leaves are looking a bit 'worn out'.
But it's not grown either.
There were tiny buds on a spindly stick branches that I've studied closely and they haven't changed one bit.
They've not grown but not died away either.


We'll keep at it but I'm not holding out much hope.

 

[jakarta]

I'm not that rural, about 3 mins walk from Withdean Stadium. I know what you mean about the pigeons, I would recommend you try this to get rid of them Pigeon breast with red wine gravy, roast leeks and wild mushrooms

Oh and Nuthatches, we get them in pairs for some reason, bizzare to watch them as they feed upside down, beautiful looking birds of course. There are Crows who only seem to hop about on the verges at the bottom of our road, no idea why they don't come up to the top of the Hill where the pickings would be better!

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh and I've been meaning to ask about cheapo bedding plants.

T'other side of post 1 palm tree, and probably visible in the his photo, I got Jnr some bedding plants.

Naturally I got them from the world famous garden centre Aldi.
They were a tray of 10 plugs of begonias and a further 10 things beginning with L.
£1.79 per tray!!!

What are they going to do.

I'm anticipating them growing outwards but not up.
Flowering.
Dying off.

Does he then dig them out in readiness for next year or if left will they just carry on indefinitely, irrespective of the winter weather?

 

[jakarta]

Oh forgot in my twitcher post to ask the following:

Took a bamboo out of the ground (about 7-8 years old and about 6 foot) as we are extending our Pond and it was in the way.

I have stuck it in a large pot, what are its chances of survival?

 

[Notters]

So got my 72 perennial plugs from Thompson and Morgan in over the weekend. Slight problem is my border is only about 1m x 5m and it is already filled with peonies and alliums (which are just about to flower) - so it's going to be a bit congested. I did stick them straight in rather than potting first so will be interesting to see how many survive. I gather you shouldn't really do this?

72 bedding plants to follow soon, I guess these will have to go mostly in pots

At least I managed to get 5 bags of compost in Morrison's yesterday.

 

[Stat Brother]

Oh forgot in my twitcher post to ask the following:

Took a bamboo out of the ground (about 7-8 years old and about 6 foot) as we are extending our Pond and it was in the way.

I have stuck it in a large pot, what are its chances of survival?

I was of the impression bamboo was impossible to kill.

When you say taken out and moved it elsewhere.
What you might actually be saying is 'I now have 2 bamboo plants'.




But then again I know .... all.

 

[Jack Straw]

It doesn't seem to be good news.

Despite the watering and 'extra' watering (no solids) I don't think it's going to make it.

As said half the plant was dead pre move.
Of the other half, that did move for the photos the left side of the 2 branches had a little root and has probably sprouted a couple of new leaves.
The right side had no roots at all and doesn't seem to have done anything.

It's been a month, it's not died although some of the older leaves are looking a bit 'worn out'.
But it's not grown either.
There were tiny buds on a spindly stick branches that I've studied closely and they haven't changed one bit.
They've not grown but not died away either.

We'll keep at it but I'm not holding out much hope.

Reduce height of whole shrub (what's left of it) by half, even if you've pruned it already. This is to reduce the amount of top growth that the root system needs to maintain. It's still got two chances!

 

[Jack Straw]

Oh and I've been meaning to ask about cheapo bedding plants.

T'other side of post 1 palm tree, and probably visible in the his photo, I got Jnr some bedding plants.

Naturally I got them from the world famous garden centre Aldi.
They were a tray of 10 plugs of begonias and a further 10 things beginning with L.
£1.79 per tray!!!

What are they going to do.

I'm anticipating them growing outwards but not up.
Flowering.
Dying off.

Does he then dig them out in readiness for next year or if left will they just carry on indefinitely, irrespective of the winter weather?

The things beginning with L are probably Lobelia. They normally have little blue flowers with a white fleck in the middle. They could be trailing ones. Regardless, they won't grow taller than 100mm.
Without photos, it's all probabilities, so the Begonias are probably a species called sempervirens (always flowering). They will have flowers of red, pink, white or a mixture of any combination thereof. They grow a little taller to 200mm, so would need to go behind the Lobelia, or you could intermingle them. You may have tuberous Begonias, but probably not at the price you paid.
As they are summer bedding plants, they will carry on flowering until the first frost. Then they'll go black and snuff it. Begonias will look great right through usually until November, but the Lobelia could suffer a few weeks earlier.
They will then have done their work and need to be dug up and composted or got rid of. Then it's time to put in Spring bedding, bulbs such as Tulips, and plants like Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots. They will come in to flower in April-May, then snuff it, meaning it's time to put your newly sourced Begonias and Lobelias in again or whatever summer bedding plants take your fancy.
The only advice I can give regarding newly planted summer bedding - WATER LIKE............!!!

 

[LamieRobertson]

The things beginning with L are probably Lobelia. They normally have little blue flowers with a white fleck in the middle. They could be trailing ones. Regardless, they won't grow taller than 100mm.
Without photos, it's all probabilities, so the Begonias are probably a species called sempervirens (always flowering). They will have flowers of red, pink, white or a mixture of any combination thereof. They grow a little taller to 200mm, so would need to go behind the Lobelia, or you could intermingle them. You may have tuberous Begonias, but probably not at the price you paid.
As they are summer bedding plants, they will carry on flowering until the first frost. Then they'll go black and snuff it. Begonias will look great right through usually until November, but the Lobelia could suffer a few weeks earlier.
They will then have done their work and need to be dug up and composted or got rid of. Then it's time to put in Spring bedding, bulbs such as Tulips, and plants like Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots. They will come in to flower in April-May, then snuff it, meaning it's time to put your newly sourced Begonias and Lobelias in again or whatever summer bedding plants take your fancy.
The only advice I can give regarding newly planted summer bedding - WATER LIKE............!!!

Bedding begonias are a good stock plant...once they get roots down they dont need any watering ..so ‘great’ for some of my lazy customers...that and they last such a long time.
The nursery i have used for the last ten years and more has now closed permanently....but ive now sourced somewhere else..although costs are higher.

 

[Jack Straw]

Oh forgot in my twitcher post to ask the following:

Took a bamboo out of the ground (about 7-8 years old and about 6 foot) as we are extending our Pond and it was in the way.

I have stuck it in a large pot, what are its chances of survival?

Cut down all the old canes to the ground. Not the ones just emerging or fully grown yet. Water and feed regularly. Bamboos do so much better in the ground as do most things. They tend just to "tick over" in pots. I had a black-stemmed one in quite a big pot for three or four years. It literally just sat there. I planted it in my friend's garden last summer and it has now gone beserk!

 

[Stat Brother]

The things beginning with L are probably Lobelia. They normally have little blue flowers with a white fleck in the middle. They could be trailing ones. Regardless, they won't grow taller than 100mm.
Without photos, it's all probabilities, so the Begonias are probably a species called sempervirens (always flowering). They will have flowers of red, pink, white or a mixture of any combination thereof. They grow a little taller to 200mm, so would need to go behind the Lobelia, or you could intermingle them. You may have tuberous Begonias, but probably not at the price you paid.
As they are summer bedding plants, they will carry on flowering until the first frost. Then they'll go black and snuff it. Begonias will look great right through usually until November, but the Lobelia could suffer a few weeks earlier.
They will then have done their work and need to be dug up and composted or got rid of. Then it's time to put in Spring bedding, bulbs such as Tulips, and plants like Wallflowers and Forget-me-nots. They will come in to flower in April-May, then snuff it, meaning it's time to put your newly sourced Begonias and Lobelias in again or whatever summer bedding plants take your fancy.
The only advice I can give regarding newly planted summer bedding - WATER LIKE............!!!

All a bit faffy, if you ask me.

Yeah Lobelia's sound about right.

While digging Jnr unearthed the dwarf daff bulbs that pop up each February.
He put them back and left them a little space.

It seems like the plan for now is leave alone.
Throw out the begonias and Lobelia's at Autumn hedgetrim o'clock.
Bulb in readiness for spring.
Then after that fill with bedding plants again.

All the while watering ....

 

[Jack Straw]

So got my 72 perennial plugs from Thompson and Morgan in over the weekend. Slight problem is my border is only about 1m x 5m and it is already filled with peonies and alliums (which are just about to flower) - so it's going to be a bit congested. I did stick them straight in rather than potting first so will be interesting to see how many survive. I gather you shouldn't really do this?

72 bedding plants to follow soon, I guess these will have to go mostly in pots

At least I managed to get 5 bags of compost in Morrison's yesterday.

Now is a great time to plant perennials. The ground has warmed up and no more frosts. Certainly no need to pot them up, however small they might be at the moment. You've done the right thing. Remember the golden rule with any newly planted stuff!
You need to allow a little bit of room around the Peonies, but not the Alliums. Just let them come up through your perennials.

 

[jakarta]

Cut down all the old canes to the ground. Not the ones just emerging or fully grown yet. Water and feed regularly. Bamboos do so much better in the ground as do most things. They tend just to "tick over" in pots. I had a black-stemmed one in quite a big pot for three or four years. It literally just sat there. I planted it in my friend's garden last summer and it has now gone beserk!

Many thanks, shame to chop it down as spring growth just started but where it was is going to be a hole in the ground prior to it being a bigger pond. Will get relocated somewhere in the garden at some point. Happy for it to 'tick over' for a few months or even into next year. Presume it would prefer replanting Autumn or Spring?

 

[Stat Brother]

Now is a great time to plant perennials. The ground has warmed up and no more frosts. Certainly no need to pot them up, however small they might be at the moment. You've done the right thing. Remember the golden rule with any newly planted stuff!
You need to allow a little bit of room around the Peonies, but not the Alliums. Just let them come up through your perennials.

Just been out to look at the 10 Lobelia's that were planted about 2 weeks ago.
To a man they're all pretty much twice the size, they certainly couldn't all fit back in the tray they came from.

The 2 leafed dots of poppies are flourishing, although Jnrs gonna learn the weeding lesson, the hard way.
As that area which was dug over, 'honest' by a 15 year old boy, is rather rapidly being reclaimed.

 

[Jack Straw]

Many thanks, shame to chop it down as spring growth just started but where it was is going to be a hole in the ground prior to it being a bigger pond. Will get relocated somewhere in the garden at some point. Happy for it to 'tick over' for a few months or even into next year. Presume it would prefer replanting Autumn or Spring?

Spring would be best as autumn planting means it will be sitting in damp cold soil for months hence not establishing in the best conditions.