Gardening tips.

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
I planted a flower bed full of plants last summer . I brought the ones that come back every year.they all looks dead now though . Am I supposed to do anything to them to make they grow again ? I have no idea what the names of the plants are . I just know one was a Lilly

@Alee

Many perennials (plants that come up every year) need cutting back to just above ground level. They do look dead as @Gramaisc says but they will come up.

Cut off any dead foliage even if that means cutting it right back.
Without knowing the names of the plants it's difficult to tell you what to do.

A handy tip for next time is to plant the label next to the plant so that you can remember what you have planted.

Are you able to take a photo of the plants so that we can see what it looks like now?
 

Alee

Well-Known Forumite
Thanks , I did stick the label in but they have all disapeared ,I'm guessing they all blown away ! Can I still cut the plants back now or was that something im supposed to do in autum ?
Honestly I'm crap at gardening :-D
I'm good with veg but flowers is all new to me
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Thanks , I did stick the label in but they have all disapeared ,I'm guessing they all blown away ! Can I still cut the plants back now or was that something im supposed to do in autum ?
Honestly I'm crap at gardening :-D
I'm good with veg but flowers is all new to me
Do it now*, if you like - always remember that plants were growing before we came along - it's largely a tidiness issue, if they aren't sprouting from bits that you want to cut off...





* A head-torch is handy..
 

Carole

Well-Known Forumite
Thanks , I did stick the label in but they have all disapeared ,I'm guessing they all blown away ! Can I still cut the plants back now or was that something im supposed to do in autum ?
Honestly I'm crap at gardening :-D
I'm good with veg but flowers is all new to me

Yes it should ideally have been done in Autumn but you can still do it now.

Some of the plants may have starting growing again now and if so, leave anything green and just cut away all the old dead stuff.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
The girl at the chemist wants an erection

She's bought a 4x4 greenhouse of many parts

Does anyone put together greenhouses

I said I'd ask before I went for a stiff one
Well, the greenhouse is up - at last.

If anybody else gets the same type, it's actually a good structure, but the instructions are terrible.

They are incomplete, unclear, not always in the right order* and sometimes just wrong. Some of the parts have even been superseded by new components that are not even vaguely similar-looking and are actually plastic, not stainless steel, as described - not easy to find...

Supplementary instructions will be available, until I can blot it from my memory.


*without my trusty 10mm floppy spanner, I would have probably had to take it apart again to fit the shelves in, or, at least, take some of the glass back out..
31WFbLXAN9L._SY300_.jpg
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Outside the Forum (yes, there is another world out there), I have been roped into renovating another aluminium greenhouse - it has a few broken and slipped panes. On inspection, I discovered that it has been constructed without any Z Clips - this is why the vertical panes have slipped as much as they have. It could also do with a few more W Clips than it currently has.

Wilkinson's still sell packs of the W & Z Clips, so I have obtained a few of each and will attend to the project in the near future, when I've obtained the necessary replacement panes.

s-l1000.jpg
 

ChrisLewis

Well-Known Forumite
Yes it should ideally have been done in Autumn but you can still do it now.

Some of the plants may have starting growing again now and if so, leave anything green and just cut away all the old dead stuff.

Great time to split all those perennials- do a few swoops with your neighbors!
 

arthur

Nixon Garden Neatness
I’ve been searching for low toxic alternatives to chemical sprays. I've just made up a Chili and Garlic Natural Spray Solutions to kill the caterpillars that are munching their way through my holly hocks and postemon

Has anyone ever tried anything like this and what results?
 

Lancer165

Well-Known Forumite
For weeds, a non toxic solution, white vinegar, salt and a dash of washing up liquid in a sprayer, burns the buggers back (eventually).
 

Lancer165

Well-Known Forumite
Though I do have Mares Tail in my front garden, that is a total ball ache, can't get rid of it but I have come up with a solution to keep it back, a weed wand, every two weeks have a wander burning it back. Anybody got any other suggestions on this weed?
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Though I do have Mares Tail in my front garden, that is a total ball ache, can't get rid of it but I have come up with a solution to keep it back, a weed wand, every two weeks have a wander burning it back. Anybody got any other suggestions on this weed?
Keep killing the green bits and it will respond by attempting to grow elsewhere, if it can. If there is a 'reservoir' outside your garden, you might drive it there and it might then come back later. If you can contain it, then persistence is the answer.

Glyphosate works, to some extent, after many applications - worth walking around on it first to 'bruise' it - but, the fine, waxy "leaves" don't help with absorption. It's been around much longer than we have and will be here when we've gone. In the old days, they could be a hundred feet tall.....

Pull it up, dry it and polish your pewter with it. The silicate particles that were meant to wear down the dinosaurs' teeth do put a nice sheen on soft metals.
 
Top