I will definitely try that. I need to make a list - the collective advice from everyone on here is so valuable!! That sounds very scary - I'm glad they were all ok. We have various friends who have been camping this week. I suspect they'll be heading home this morning...
Deschampsia cespitosa was a bit of a disaster, they grew enormous and never really had the fluffy look I was expecting. I don't think the variety I was sold was 'Goldtau' as labelled.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
Thank you Dovefromabove. That is it. I knew someone would know. I had a feeling there was a 3 in it somewhere. A good space saving ploy. Have just picked my 1st corn on the cob but they need another 10 days or so. Still, I shall enjoy my 1st picking, boiled in salt water, chewed off the stalk with lashings of butter. I always leave one of my globe artichokes for the bees. They do love to dive into the centre of the flower in their quest for nectar, behinds wriggling with delight.
Some really interesting posts here - always good to hear how others are faring. We have a long sloping garden down to an area that is waterlogged in the winter and after rain; we also have rabbits, moles and occasionally deer so I've had to choose plants to suit all that lot. Most of our perennial/annual growing takes place in long sleeper beds which edge the patio because the wildlife tend not to notice them. I have always felt limited though and had a lot of damage to what are generally regarded as rabbit/deer resistant shrubs in the open garden to the wildlife in the past.
This year, though, with the enforced staying at home, I got busy and used a balcony to grow cosmos because they're quite expensive to buy as plants. They are big and strong now with lots of buds but have only just come into flower! Perhaps need to start earlier next year. I also got runner beans and courgettes going, as well as butternut squash, and some tomatoes which are growing pretty well.
But my main success was the bottom of the garden where I've been working on a bog garden for the past couple of years and also trying to cultivate other areas down there so they actually look nice rather than a brown mess. We have lots of daffodils and bluebells in the spring but there wasn't much else there. Wood chips help a lot with the appearance and also for walking on without getting muddy feet. I spent hours raking out the surface to make it level then sowed grass seed over half of it and made a large circle into a perennial wildflower patch for clay/heavy soil. I surrounded it with a temporary fence to keep the rabbits out while the plants grow. Everything looks green down there at the moment which is an improvement in itself but it will take until next year to see how the wildflower area turns out and what the winter does to it all. I have sown from seed lots of candelabra primulas to plant around the bog area in the autumn and they should look great if they all bloom next year. I feel as if I am at last (after 30 years!) getting control of what is a difficult area and have a bit of a sense of achievement. I'm not sure I would have managed to do so much without being in lockdown so at least something good has come from it for me. Sorry this is so long!
This is such an interesting thread. @CazzieT your garden is lovely and your new lawn looks very healthy. I’ve had success with hardy fuchsia cuttings and my roses have given their best displays ever. Failures include cosmos which I tried to grow from seed on the bedroom windowsill but they just grew very elongated and spindly and planting out a hydrangea paniculata cutting with three lovely strong stems and two of them snapping off at the base in recent gales.
Posts
That sounds very scary - I'm glad they were all ok. We have various friends who have been camping this week. I suspect they'll be heading home this morning...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Have just picked my 1st corn on the cob but they need another 10 days or so. Still, I shall enjoy my 1st picking, boiled in salt water, chewed off the stalk with lashings of butter.
I always leave one of my globe artichokes for the bees. They do love to dive into the centre of the flower in their quest for nectar, behinds wriggling with delight.
This year, though, with the enforced staying at home, I got busy and used a balcony to grow cosmos because they're quite expensive to buy as plants. They are big and strong now with lots of buds but have only just come into flower! Perhaps need to start earlier next year. I also got runner beans and courgettes going, as well as butternut squash, and some tomatoes which are growing pretty well.
But my main success was the bottom of the garden where I've been working on a bog garden for the past couple of years and also trying to cultivate other areas down there so they actually look nice rather than a brown mess. We have lots of daffodils and bluebells in the spring but there wasn't much else there. Wood chips help a lot with the appearance and also for walking on without getting muddy feet. I spent hours raking out the surface to make it level then sowed grass seed over half of it and made a large circle into a perennial wildflower patch for clay/heavy soil. I surrounded it with a temporary fence to keep the rabbits out while the plants
Sorry this is so long!
I’ve had success with hardy fuchsia cuttings and my roses have given their best displays ever.
Failures include cosmos which I tried to grow from seed on the bedroom windowsill but they just grew very elongated and spindly and planting out a hydrangea paniculata cutting with three lovely strong stems and two of them snapping off at the base in recent gales.
Only 2/14 of my cosmos have flowered.
I underestimated the windiness of the garden and I have lost a few plants to the wind.
I haven't got a water butt yet and every rainy day I spend glumly looking out the window at all the droplets I could have been saving for my camellias