Gardening corner 2018 season!???

Yay!! Just spotted my two grape vines are showing signs of life, I gave them severe haircuts in the autumn, they were rampant, thought I might possibly have killed them off, I am ridiculously pleased, rest of garden has been completely spanieled all winter, I really don’t know where to start, only thing that’s doing well is bl....y bamboo, sprouting everywhere, any advise as to how to get rid of it, even seems to be spaniel proof!

I have volunteers calling this morning to see what help I need with my garden, I can now buy new shrubs , choose bedding plants , I am thrilled and so grateful

That sounds exciting Anniebach. I hope you really enjoy yourself choosing some new plants.
Are you able to get to a garden centre or are you buying on line?

They have been, I am cheating here because I am not doing the gardening cause of arthritis. Tatty lawn being dug over and will become a mini wild flower meadow because I can't walk in fields now. I will have my own so should bring butterflies in. Can have as many tubs as I want. And someone will come to do the watering . It's an eco gardening group , isn't that wonderful? It was set up,last year by local Mind, they said it was payback for the years I worked for mental health needs locally.

Sounds wonderful. I have an area of grass that I’m slowly turning into a wildflower meadow. I cheat a bit, and have crocus growing there at the moment.
Have you looked on Pinterest? There’s some great examples of planters and ideas.

I will look J52, thank you

Enjoy it all Anniebach

That sounds lovely Anniebach do let us know how it all looks in a few weeks time, mini wildflower field is a great idea

We used to have a lovely view from our patio but, what we think are new people moved in behind us, have allowed their conifer trees to just grow and grow and the view has now disappeared. I feel so sad I can no longer sit and see the green fields etc. Any ideas what I can do. I hate any confrontation and am worried about knocking on their door and causing any upset. Thanks in advance

If they are a hedge, I believe that they can be no more than 6ft. I could be wrong, but as you say it could cause neighbour problems.

That sounds great Anniebach.
These pansies with the (endless!) rain on them are pretty aren’t they?

Grannylovesshopping Commiserations on your bambo. We finally got rid of ours when next door neighbours were having an extension built. They hired a mini digger which dug up all the bamboo in both our gardens. Since then we have been ruthless in cutting off any shoots which still emerge. We tried other ways to get rid of it, but this seems to have worked. Good luck!

Purpledaffodil what a terrific name for a gardening thread, thanks for bamboo help, I planted it myself so have only myself to blame, haha, had no idea it would take over to such an extent, I keep cutting new shoots but more keep appearing! Am also inundated with sycamore seedlings from tree next door, they are much easier to pull out, will try some serious digging re bamboo and will keep my ears open for anyone using a mini digger in the road

No rain today (as yet!) Hurrah!
Just spent the morning, weeding, at least they came up easily, potting on and planting herbaceous plants that didn’t get put in during the Autumn.
Now can we have some ? please.

I love pansies, such a happy flower ?

I have a Passion flower which always flowers very well but at the moment is showing no signs of life. I did cut it back a lot after flowering, do you think there is still time for it to come back?

I’m sure it still has time to sprout. Lots of things are very slow to show buds at the moment. My Passion flower, planted last year has some yellowish leaves from last year, but no new growth yet.

Thanks for that, would be sorry to lose it. Will keep hoping!

Grannylovesshopping?Isn’t it odd how many horticultural names there are on GN? If your bamboo is controllable by cutting off shoots as they appear, eventually you will kill it. That was the advice I found when I researched. We planted ours too so only have ourselves to blame, especially as we let it grow too big and wide before we tackled it. Apparently there is clumping and travelling bamboo. Ours was a fearsome traveller! ?

Is anyone else having trouble with squirrels picking and eating magnolia and tulip flowers? Have never noticed it here before but the little “rats with good PR” are pulling off all the flowers and eating them like ice creams?

We haven't seen our resident squirrels yet this year. No sign of then since before Christmas. I wonder where they are?

BBevan perhaps they’ve moved to Surrey to feast on flowers?? Seriously that is concerning, ours have never not been visible apart from on really cold days. They’ve been busy emptying the peanut holders most days too. That said we tell ourselves they are all God’s creatures, while gritting our teeth at the loss of spring flowers.

One has a very short tail. Have you seen it?

I’m sure our resident squirrels have brought friends to party, I’ll check their rear ends from a safe distance?

Yey! We have ?! The temperature is currently 6 degrees, so there’s hope that there might be gardening today.