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Growing flowers
Newtogardening4
Posts: 17
I planted some bluebells & poppies (& a strawberry plant which is now covered in holes 
) and I am now starting to see leaves sprouting, I wondered if anyone can advise how I can tell the weeds from the things I have planted or should I wait a while.
My flowerbed is a complete mess, I deweeded it all several months ago and it has all grown back. I will insert some pictures sorry not the best quality lighting.
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When did you plant them? Bluebells take a long time. Poppies are pretty quick depending on when you have sown them. Mine came up within 10 days in the autumn.
I remember Monty don sowing bluebells a while back. They look like grass to begin with and seem beyond my level of patience to grow from seed.
Most bulbs will have stiff lance like leaves on emergence so are quite easy to identify. Bluebells are just emerging here (South of England) and they have several pointed leaves surrounding what will be the flower stem. They do not flower until late April. Poppies will emerge when the ground warms up and then sporadically. If you keep the Strawberry weed free it should flower in late Spring and bear fruit thereafter. You will notice that the Strawberry will make 'runners' during and after fruiting. These are daughters of the plant you put in . It is possible to pin these runners to the soil when the plantlets are an inch or so high. These will in turn become new plants and once rooted (4 weeksish) can be detached from the parent plant and left insitu or moved to a more convenient location; plants for free! Strawberries are normally productive in their first 2-3 years then need replacing, but since each plant will have about 6 daughters each season you just have to compost the old and replace with the offspring. Strawberries are 'hungry' plants and benefit from a top dressing of growmore or blood,fish and bonemeal available at the garden centre. Good luck with your new venture and don't get disheartened if things don't go quite to plan, persevere and you will be rewarded. If you don't already own one, ask for a gardening book for your birthday!
I agree with the others above - strawberry looks fine and the bluebells are just appearing. Poppies will appear later.
Those little green plants in the hollows of the concrete surround look like Hairy Bittercress - it's a weed that spreads quickly - it has little white flowers - learn to recognise it when it's small and pull it up before it flowers
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks dovefromabove I'll be sure to keep pulling those ones out, so annoying how they keep growing back!
This might sound stupid but if I sieve the top layer of soil would this be effective in removing a lot of the bigger stones and small weeds?
Thanks again!
The strawberry leaves are last years and like us they show their age. It'll grow lovely fresh green healthy ones in the spring/summer
Those stones are fine - you don't need to get rid of them - they aid drainage. Anyway if you did get rid of them the action of rain etc would mean that more would work their way to the top. You don't want garden soil that looks like the contents of a compost bag
And sieving won't get rid of tiny weed seeds. Patient hand weeding is the way in that bed.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.