Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

gilly I reckon it's too dry. Hydrangeas need moisture to do well. Give it a really good mulch in autumn/spring and make sure it doesn't dry out.

liaise thanks for that. Yes dwarf peaches are a real option, as I can totter them into the greenhouse during winter/spring tonstop silver leaf, I was also thinking of possible apple and pears or cherries as well.

roses enjoy the tomatoes, there's nothing like home grown. I just made a ratatouille of home grown tomatoes, courgette and aubergine. The onions aren't ready so they were shop ones!

Starting to eat the tomatoes now, mmmmmn, yummy, small sweet cherry tomatoes.Wonderful with baguette and cheese.

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek Swanny but most of mine have thrived like that.

One or two did not survive when we went away one very hot weekend, forgot to move them out of the sunny window and forgot to close the blinds in the conservatory; it was 40C in there when we got home!
So a bit of forgetting is OK but not too much

Jalima thanks for the orchid info. Think I might be in with a chance if there is so much forgetting involved

One of ours always produces lots of flowers, the other oe is never so good.
We don't cut them back after flowering and tend to leave the flowers on all winter, then trim in early spring.

I have just given the rather sad one a good mulch of shrub and rose compost and it looks greener and has some flowers.

Yours lookshealthy, gillybob but perhaps it needs some potassium which I think is in Phostrogen feed.

gilly we have four hydrangeas and three are lovely, one has only about five flowers this year, and tiny ones too, it's a mystery!

Yes I always do shysal and they are always lovely. Don't know what I have done wrong this year?

I have a couple of potted hydrangeas which are a few years old. They became straggly so I cut them back early in the season. They have so far only had two late flowers each. Hope next year they will do better. Did you also cut yours back?

We always cut our hydrangeas back Liase!and didn't do it any different this time. We love very close to the sea (North East) and don't really get hard frosts (I think it must be the salty air ???) although we had a very cold spring this year.

I have fed it and spoke to it both kindly and sternly too. Think I should give up this year as not a bud to be seen .

Did you cut it back? Plants do seem to have good years and then like a rest. Did the frost affect it earlier in the year. We had a lot of plants spoiled by two late frosts down here in Dorset. Give it a feed and speak to it severely.

Same plant this year ???

One of my hydrangeas doesn't seem to be going to flower at all this year . It was fab last year though . Don't know what I might have done wrong ? ( photo from last year )

WHITEWAVE we have peaches and mandarins in pots of John Innes no.3 compost. They are grown on rooting stock and sit on the patio. They are not large but produce plenty of fruit. Every few years we give them some new compost. The pots are about 18 inches across. We feed regularly with chicken pellets or any other fertiliser but not Gromore as this encourages leaves but not fruit. We never had any success with apricots grown in this way. They died after about a year but the others are over ten years old now.

We have loads of apples but not a single pea yet!

I wonder if you could rescue it?

I don't think the pears will be much good. It's a very old tree and only our second year here. Last year they were huge and not ripe until the end of October. I suspect, unless there is a lot of rain they will just turn and fall off.

Anyone got any tree fruit in tubs. Is it successful, what size tub, and what sort of compost please.

I think so much of my stuff is a month ahead of normal. Well if they ripen and are delicious -j52 no problem!

I'm a bit concerned about my plums and pears. The plums are beginning to turn colour. I'm sure it was the end of August last year. The pears are certainly not ready for a month or two, but they are turning blush as well.

Just cut down my summer raspberries the summer is going too quickly.

1 forget to water them
2 when you remember, stand them in the sink in water for a while
3 when they have flowered chop back the stalk
4 put them somewhere light but not too hot and forget them
5 when you remember them give them some orchid feed

They may surprise you and flower again!

Not an outdoor gardening question but does anyone here grow orchids? I've just been given 2 by a neighbour and don't want to lose them as I'm sure he will expect to see them on my window-ledge. I've only tried once before and it did't last long, so how often should they be watered and fed, and do you cut the stem off after it's flowered? I know I should ask him but he has a very limited knowledge of English and my sum total of east-european languages is limited to 'hello' in Polish

Yes, my sweet peas are the best ever, but they are taking a lot of watering. Now the hot spell has broken, I hope they don't succumb to being ruined by rain.
Newquay I am also in favour of prerennials, hydrangeas, roses, day lilies, astrantia, cranesbill geraniums, dianthus and penstemon are all great plants that look after themselves, by and large.
I do pop in the odd annual to fill in gaps.

I have just been cutting back a hop and then picked some more sweet peas for the house, neighbour and mum and it occurred to me that I don't think I can ever remember such a successful year for everything in the garden. It must be something to do with the weather I think