Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

Hi everyone,

I'm really enjoying this thread, but can I make a suggestion - could we all perhaps give an idea of our location? I just think that it might be good to know whether our plants are flowering at the same time as those in similar areas, rather than being thrown into a panic because someone has daffs, in flower and yours are just throwing up buds.

Just to start the ball rolling, I live in Pembrokeshire.

Meanwhile, it seems that lots of us have problems with moss. We've only been in our current house for 12 months, and so far I haven't seen any problem areas thank goodness, but this website from the RHS seems to give all the info you're likely to need:

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=422

Friend has just told me that I should not have trimmed the fuchsia - I will go out and sing to it and give it a bit of love!

Have just taken on a lovely lady gardener. One look at my plot she remarked.'I do love a challenge'.

I'll be dividing grasses (I have loads) today. DD has announced she'd like to build a Mexican themed garden at the side of the bungalow where I used to have raised beds for vegetables. They have rotted now so DH is going to clear the site for her.

To date, DD's idea of gardening is sitting on a sun lounger with a glass of wine watching her OH do all the work.

They split up a few months ago.......

We also have a lot of moss in our neglected lawn. We have both had heart surgery in the last two years so the garden had to look after itself to a large extent. Just bought a Black and Decker moss remover and a huge carton of weedkiller. The B & D was only £60 so it should be worth it.
My first cucumber plant is just poking its head above the compost in the pot Crud clearing on the borders is going ahead slowly but surely, very slowly in fact, as my knees ain't what they used to be.
We grubbed out the blackcurrants last year - I like blackcurrant jam but.... - our neighbours had the "fixed grin" when we took round bowls of blackcurrants!
All in all we are looking forward to this year more so than for many years as we are both feeling much fitter.
Potatoes chitting, tomatoes planted in pots, broad beans in trays, must put bonemeal and manure on all the shrubs - the list is endless. Happy gardening everyone!

Hopeful1, when you find a way to get rid of moss you will become a millionairess overnight! Good luck!

I am loving this thread but I keep wanting to buy everything mentioned! Going to look up the ceramic chips now!

Advice please.......I have various varieties of magnolia planted around my garden. Oldest five years. Not one shrub has ever flowered. Help? I did have a wisteria which took six years to bloom and is now annually a joy to behold. Am I being too impatient yet again?

My water butts got rather smelly and the mosquitoes were breeding furiously. I bought some ceramic chips from Harrod/Jerrod and they have worked wonders! Just need to get one of the taps fixed now!

How do you get rid of Moss? I raked the grass of it but there is a dark corner which is now darker as I racked the Moss off and now it is dirt.. was this Correct? I'm a bit of a novice but somehow the plants are doing really well. Thanks.

Tidy the gardens, weed and dig. May be sow some seeds,bulbs.

Grantasticpasta !
I bought some Mara des Bois strawberry plants last year. They combine the sweet aromatic taste of a wild fruit with the size of a hybrid, and crop May to September. They were delicious. I am hoping for a bigger crop this year.

I found It!

ooooops - our attention!

i'm disabled so can't garden much any more and lost my gardener a year ago. i thought i could cope with the help of my grandaughters but couldn't.
so this year i've found myself another gardener and he will be sorting out the garden for us which will then leave us to keep it under control until autumn.
so many plans for growing fruit and veggies plus herbs in the greenhouse.
no lawn to worry about but the fish pond needs a good sorting out.
when shrubs and climbers are sorted we can turn out attention to the many plants in pots. looking forward to being out in the fresh air and having a fruitful and tidy garden.

My goodness, this thread has been responded to with vigour. Lovely! Shows where many of our hearts and enthusiasm lies. Again.....lovely! My share for today is the absolute pleasure I am having from some primrose denticulata. Already well in flower and giving me such pleasure. Not a perennial I knew much of or fancied but they came in a package deal and, naturally, I found a corner for them. I am about to buy more and give them a more prominent position. Such an early harbinger of gardening joys to come. Pretty cold here today but I'm feeling virtuous in that I've already been out leaf clearing. Yes.......should have been done last year! Guilty as charged!

I'm going to have a go at a gutter of strawberries! Slugs and woodlice get mine every year so it's time to try something drastic!! I saw a funny picture online of a "nurses garden" where each plant has its own drip bag - I'm going to give my strawberries the same intensive care!!

This is where I bought mine- only one left now. It is a small 8in plant in a 2L pot, but it will grow!
Sundae Fraise

I shall have to look up the Sundae Fraise now ( no doubt I will want one!).

Never had a lemon tree but scale is a bugger to get rid off.We had it in a vine a couple of years ago and cut it right down to a few feet from the ground.It grew back wonderfully strong, but a vigorous vine is a different thing to a tree.Have always wanted a lemon tree in the conservatory, and didn't realise that something kept inside could even get scale!

Any lemon tree experts? Mine is in the conservatory with five lemons left on. And that's all. No leaves! I think its' still alive. I've had it about eight years now. It normally goes outside but stayed in last year as DH had a bad back and we couldn't move it. Consequently it's succumbed to scale insects. Badly. We came back from holiday and found it smothered. I tried everything from washing up liquid, different insect sprays and simply picking the horrible things off. So I'm not sure what killed the leaves, I think it could have been one of the sprays, but it made it easier to spot the scaley bugs. There doesn't seem any signs of it shooting yet. Have any of you lemon tree owners got new growth on your trees yet?

rosesarered, I have ordered a hydrangea. I decided on Sundae Fraise which is described as the little sister of Vanille Fraise, a bit smaller. Many thanks for the recommendation.
I am loving this thread, so informative!

My camellia is always late flowering. It is full of buds that look ready to break but it'll hang on for a while before it shows us any real colour. When it gets going it's gorgeous. Five years ago when we moved in it looked as if it was on its last legs, so I'm not complaining.

Our camellia flowers later and later each year!

I had to look up yuzu Galen - does yours bear fruit?

Must be a good camelia year, ours is in a tub and was very miserable last year, changed its position, gave it a red card (!) and its covered in bloom this year. The rhododendrons are also in pots. Dodgy soil here. One has insisted on flowering in the Autumn for the last couple of years, the others are full of bud and even the confused one has some. It's a very soggy garden at the moment, need it to dry a bit to do much. We've several acers in tubs, they are very happy away from windy spots. I love them, very graceful. It's so good to see things budding, raises my spirits that's for sure.