Planting out already!!

Well we are suffering from overblooming, if there is such a thing. My cousin from Canada is visiting in a fortnight because she loves the english spring, but we're afraid everything will be over. Oh, and should there be poppies out by the roadside now? I don't think so.

Well I'm in Yorkshire, not known for its temperate climate usually and the roadsides look more June than May so hope your cousin isn't too disappointed..

Many experienced gardeners in the far north of England are careful not to put out bedding plants until the first week in June. Frost can strike us as late as the May Bank Holiday.

I'm trying to hang on until the end of May but everything is just about ready to plant out, so I may have to risk it.

I sowed some gazania seeds this year, I've never grown them before. Anyone know how tall they grow as I've only got a small courtyard garden and everthing goes in tubs?

Nannyliz - Gazanias grow to around 8" tall (depending on how much you feed them!). They come from South Africa, and, therefore, will require a spot in full sun and well-drained soil in order to do well. They aren't hardy in this country, so treat them as annuals unless you have somewhere to keep them frost free over winter. Good luck!

Living in the north (Northumberland3 miles away) I have lost some plants planted a couple of weeks ago, its been so nice and warm I forgot all about the frost! i had planted some baskets up and bought some Geraniums that I swore i wouldnt buy again. These I put in the shed at night now after my disaster with my Marigolds.Lost loads of plants and shrubs this winter and am not going to replace them.I also have noticed today that the slugs have taken a meal or two on my Hostas, any-one heard that if you put Garlic in the water you water with they dont like it.Or have I dreamt that.
Annie33

Considering the freezing winter we had, I am lucky that nothing was lost, I live in Suffolk, so slightly warmer than the North, even my dahlia tubers, which I never bring in, seem to have withstood the freeze. The problem here is total lack of rain, the ground is bone dry. I had to give all my perennials a good soak yesterday, which I am normally loath to do. Dry as it is, the slugs have also had a nibble at my hostas in pots.

Agreed to meet things halfway and have only put the plants out that are going into containers. fingers crossed .............

I live in the North and I got so fed up taking my planted baskets and seedlings out of the greenhouse in the morning before work and putting them back in the greenhouse at night, in case we got some frost, that the baskets are now hanging and the seedlings are in the garden.

I keep an eye on the weather and if frost is forecast I'll put the baskets back in the greenhouse and put pots near a wall but the seedlings in the garden will have to fend for themselves now.

So far I haven't needed to, so fingers crossed.

We have just had our first significant rain here in Norwich since 26 March! and how we needed it. The garden looks fresh and bright and all the plants in the greenhouse will soon be in the ground. I hope that we will have some more during the weekend (sorry if you are doing something outside!) but the fields are so dry. We will probably complain that by this time next week we have had too much....Never satisfied us gardeners!!!!

We haven't had any significant rain here in Normandy since the December snows (if you see what I mean!) All very, very dry and we are watering every day. The only rain we have had was when our village held its annual picnic on May day, when it started as we set up the tables, then made the food soggy and watered the wine.
In the garden we have masses of roses, strawberries, asparagus, salad and tonight the first broad beans for dinner. I will get the geraniums at the market tomorrow as we wait to plant them here until after the three saints days called the "Saints de Glace" which is meant to be the date for the end of the frosts, though it doesn't work every year!
One of our neighbours was saying yesterday that the drought is really catastrophic for the "agriculteurs paysans".

Well I vote for keeping the French drought going till after our holiday at the end of June beginning of July! Although we are heading for the south of France so if Normandy would like some rain for les jardin then you can take as much as you like...I would recommend overnight rain as a delightful alternative to picnic downpours.
We are eating our own lettuce but nothing else ready to eat yet...roses in bud but not open yet.

I will never ever wear a skirt to garden again! Last year while in the borders, cutting back "snow in summer" I snipped away at the plant and then stepped into the border to get at it from the other side, when a number of angry bees rose from the plant and I heard the noise and felt the sting at the same time. I jumped out of the border but was left with two very red patches, one on each leg above the knee - I had bare legs but never again! Trousers with socks pulled up over them, seems to be the most sensible option.

Actually cmcpne I think they have had more rain in the south of France than we have had here, but I will hope for the best for your holiday. It did get cold last night (about 5 degrees this morning) and apparently at 2am it hit zero and one of our French neighbours (who is in his eighties) got up to cover up his potato plants - that's serious gardening!

Georgette...............I dont have to wait for the bees to get me - anything and everything seems to bite me so its thin baggy old trousers tucked into socks....very fetching! Also sleeves and gloves when pruning hedges, last year my arms were an itchy pink mess! Am seriously wondering if they make a gardening burka!

We live in Northumberland and we never put out our bedding plants until the week of the Bank Holiday at the end of May. My husband has put his tomatoes in the greenhouse already (that's a first) but is prepared to rush out and put fleece over the plants if a frost is forecast.

Today has been cold and very windy - my husband has been out weeding. Since I have had a knee replacement I can't get down on my knees, so I've stayed inside playing on the computer - much more pleasant!

All out down here (Surrey), or would be if I had time to get them all out - there is plenty still waiting for a space, and i had an email from Sarah Raven today promising delivery of more plants I'd forgotten I'd ordered. No idea where I plan to squeeze them in

We are on the Essex coast - started planting out today, bedding, cubits, sown runner beans (will wait a couple of weeks before french beans get sown). There is a small risk of frost, but will keep some fleece on hand.

Slugs absolutely LOVE marigolds, and hostas are very high on the list of their favourite foods, too. The bigger hostas are better off, but the smaller, juicier hostas get eaten. Slugs are not detered by garlic or anything else organic. The best thing to use is Ferramol® Slug Pellets. They contain Ferric Phosphate which is not toxic for wildlife, pets or children.

My plants have had to wait, and then got evicted from the greenhouse and are sitting outside it. I have petunias waiting to go in large pots - but I want to know what colour they are first! Then I can sort them into about three pots and get good colour mixes........is this silly? I used to think that flowers didn't clash, but now I love to see certain colours together and not others.

And the best thing in the garden today is that my yucca, in the front lawn, is not dead! I watered in the front and spotted a shoot about 6" high behind it that can't be anything else. Behind the stump, I mean, of what was last year an eight foot high yucca tree. I am so glad not to have lost it altogether with the hard frost, because I have had it for years, in a pot and then planted out by me and my grandson five years ago.