Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

and not prickly as the door is on that side and the DGC dash in and out of there.

The little non stop bedding begonias seem to do well on my N facing wall. I also grow a Golden Showers Rose there, but it has thorns. Pinterest has suggestions for shade loving plants. You might find something suitable there.

Jalima, Erysimum will grow in pots and flowers from spring right through to winter. I have them in sun and shade and they do well. After a few years they do tend to go woody and die back, but they are cheap enough to replace. I wouldn't want to be without some in my garden. The purple is the most vigorous, but there are other colours of flower and foliage available.

Jalima I have a place at one side of the patio with no sun and find a big pot of Coleus plants works, the leaves are so colourful that you don't need flowers.
Just don't over water them.

What about the old faithful –Geranium Rozanne - or an evergreen shrub called Nandina. It comes in various shades and sizes. The colour is a gold/green. It is never any problem in my shady border. Unlike the two young wisterias we have which were flowering for the first time this year. Last night the frost attacked them and the leaves and new flowers (which were barely out) are sagging badly.

I hope your Wisterias recover, Liase. The temperature was around freezing here last night.
I agree with the Rozanne suggestion. I have one in a pot on the north side of my house, which is a riot of colour every year.

Thanks for the suggestions Shysal rosesarered and Liaise

I will have a look at the local garden centre - something that flowers from spring right through to winter sounds brilliant!!

My DF used to grow coleus, I hadn't thought about them for years.

I may look for Geranium Rozanne for the borders where there is some shade.
or the pots ...

or all of them!

It just hailed here

and begonias

No wonder the lovely man who owns our garden centre always looks pleased to see us

Jalima1108 Gold potentilla.

Thank you; I like potentilla, have one in a shady border too.

I had no idea potentilla or plumbago grew well in shade. We use both at a holiday home, (and gold dust) lots of sun, sporadic water and pitiful care. Beautiful results. I love blue and yellow together.

I want to grow a few simple veg this year. I will put them straight in the garden and have started preparing the ground. I have bought courgettes, runner beans and spinach. Any other ideas and when is it best to plant them? Live in the NW of England. Thanks in advance.

plumbago sounds like the name of a chemical
or a pain in the back

mumofmadboys, salad crops can be grown in succession, made even simpler if you use seed tapes ( I saw these in a reduced basket). Cuts down on thinning. We are still having a few frosts here, but I have sown a few short rows of things. I ought to make some cloches to warm up the soil and protect them, but not done so.
Courgettes can go in soon, runner beans can wait until May. If you wait a bit they always catch up. Happy gardening!

Plumbago are gorgeous to my taste.

DH has spinach, rocquette, and kale doing well currently.

We've always put runner beans straight into the ground but courgettes started off in pots in the greenhouse (or an indoor windowsill). It's gone very cold here (in the West) so I covered them with fleece at night even in the greenhouse.

If the veg garden is in a sunny position the soil should have started warming up with the lovely weather we were having!

MUMOFMADBOYS buy some fleece to put over your new beds. It will warm up the soil in advance and later on will protect your little seedlings at night. It can be bought at any garden centre.

As for pots for the north side. Do some extra ones JALIMA then you can occasionally give them a week in the sun (R&R).

I could try that Liaise but I really need two large ones either side of the doors and they are too heavy to move.
The geraniums got spots on their leaves, we did manage to move them into the sun and I stripped off the spotty leaves and they survived the rest of the summer, but not through the winter.

We like R&R

MOMB if you are growing runner beans in rows, plant the seeds a few days apart - say a few canes at a time - to ensure you don't get them all at the same time. They tend to crop heavily and this way you'll get a better succession and are less likely to get a glut. You can sow them from May to July.

I got impatient waiting for my lawn moss treatment to work and wondered whether I didn't use enough. I therefore applied another thicker covering yesterday. Hope I won't regret it! I have noticed a few blackened lawns on my walks around the village.

Yes the moss treatment really affects the lawn badly. Ours is looking awful especially now we have scarified it. The garden bin was full up with moss. I sometimes wonder if it would look better left as moss and clover. Certainly cheaper. Now it is dry as we have had no rain for weeks down here.

shysal am a bit concerned about the moss treatment, still yellow patches but that's all.Perhaps we should try and clear it out?Maybe it lacks rain, although we have watered a few times.

My moss went yellow too, but I noticed that next door's untreated lawn looked the same! The reason I was interested in the Mo Bacter was that it said there was no need to scarify, moss would be digested by bacteria. Lidl have a hand scarifier on offer from Sunday 30th, so perhaps I need to get one. My wire rake is a bit flimsy.
www.lidl.co.uk/en/Non-Food-Offers.htm?articleId=2666