taxi4ballet Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Went down the bottom of the garden this morning to discover my asparagus is now 5 feet tall! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 OO! I made up hanging baskets up for the back garden yesterday, but I need a few more plants for the one at the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Tescos were selling gorgeous hanging baskets for £5 last week. My friend's husband said that the garden centres/supermarkets were overstocked because the bad weather we had been having meant no-one was buying anything. Our weeds are looking glorious! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I wanted to plant a crepe myrtle tree but the nurseries didn't have any (it was the wrong season of the year). So, with the permission of my neighbor I snapped off a tiny twig - about two inches and the circumference of a thin #3 knitting needle - off her dormant tree. It was a totally dead looking twig. Everyone said there was no way it would root. But, somehow, I had a feeling about it. So, I stuck this sliver of wood in a pot of ordinary soil and covered it with a glass jar and put it on a patio table where it would half day of sunshine. About three months later, I saw a lighter brownish dot on the side of the twig. Then, the tiniest bit of green on the dot. Then a tiny leave unfolded. It is now about fives inches high - has several leaves. A true miracle! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 Went down the bottom of the garden this morning to discover my asparagus is now 5 feet tall! Taxi, my mind is boggling as to why you had to go down the bottom of the garden to *see* that it was that tall! Is your garden even more of a jungle than mine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted May 28, 2012 Share Posted May 28, 2012 I've had a horrible afternoon at the bottom of my garden trying to cut down giant thorns and weeds, although it was sweltering I had to wear trousers, anorak and gloves to protect myself! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Taxi, my mind is boggling as to why you had to go down the bottom of the garden to *see* that it was that tall! Is your garden even more of a jungle than mine? It's just a small patch of asparagus stuck in a corner behind a bush - by the way it's grown another 6 inches since yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Good grief - but then I've heard that asparagus can be like that. It's not bolting, is it? (does asparagus bolt? My rhubarb nearly did last year) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted May 30, 2012 Author Share Posted May 30, 2012 Yes, I think my asparagus can safely be described as having bolted! It's only a tiny patch so we never get enough to make it worthwhile cutting. Left to grow, it turns into beautiful tall ferny fronds and looks lovely. It does grow really quickly, at least 6 inches a day. I vaguely remember something on a gardening programme once (or it might have been QI) that rhubarb grows so quickly that you can actually hear it creaking and rustling.., weird 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 The asparagus has now produced hundreds of tiny green bell-shaped flowers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Out here on the Herts/Essex frontier, our place lies at the end of a lengthy but gradual slope, the surface of which must be super-saturated as we have moats around various flower beds at the moment. I'm used to that now in January or February - but on 13th June? And like the asparagus, anything with a soft stem is growing at an alarming rate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 It's been so wet I can't plant out any of the plants I have bough yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann Williams Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 It's been so wet I can't plant out any of the plants I have bough yet! Same here (West London). The geraniums, petunias, salvias etc which I bought at the end of April thinking I cold put them in the pots then are still languishing in their plastic pots, some of them half-demolished by the slugs (so look on the bright side, everyone - at least it's a great year for the slugs...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I have put some into hanging baskets, but the rest are still waiting! One day is not enough to dry out the soil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 If there is anyone interested in the study of molluscs then I suggest they come and have a quick five minutes walk round my garden with a bucket; they'll be occupied for weeks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MargaretN7 Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I think my omelette tomorrow might have some young spinach from my garden in it - grown in a trough (the spinach, not the omelette) which has copper tape round it and is standing on sharp stones. That worked last year as protection from those dastardly slugs and snails, and seems to have carried on to work this year as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I remember one evening I could actually hear the slugs and snails chewing on the crisp leaves of my hibiscus plants! I did two things -spread around snail/slug bait and hand (in gloves) picked them off. That kept them at bay. Googling "organic snail bait/killer" brings up lots of info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 We used to have a wonderful organic slug killer in the shape of a resident toad. Unfortunately he came off worst in a fight with our lawn mower a couple of weeks ago... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 The dratted slugs have eaten all my petunias except those in my hanging baskets and those on the wheely bins waiting to be planted! Rubbish beer isle in Tescos, here I come! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Slugs seem to have an obsession with petunias, do they taste of chocolate or something? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 I once planted a tub with 24 African marigolds. When we came out of the house the following morning there was not a single trace of marigolds but a lot of slug trails! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 A US friend on Facebook suggested using Epsom salts to get rid of them. It is good for plants and very bad for slugs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Crushed eggshells are supposed to work too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I tried that, Taxi! The dogs ate them ,having previously refused them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I had a voucher for some free plants at Homebase recently. I really fancied the African Marigolds, until I read the label and it said that slugs were extremely fond of them! They've already been very "fond" of a selection of pinks I bought earlier in the year. The only trouble with "rubbish beer" traps is that when it's raining frequently all that happens is that the rain falls into the traps and either displaces and/or dilutes the beer. Otherwise I'd have them all over the garden by now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 The only thing for it is a dark wet evening, rubber gloves, a torch and a bucket (just don't let the neighbours see you)! Fill the bucket with the slugs, then pour on the beer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 My husband refuses to let me waste beer on mere slugs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Tell him that the plants cost more than the beer does! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anjuli_Bai Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Why do you need the beer? Once they are in the bucket almost anything will do. Or you can put them directly in a plastic bag and seal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 The only thing for it is a dark wet evening, rubber gloves, a torch and a bucket (just don't let the neighbours see you)! It didn't need to be dark: I've never seen such clusters of snails - and slugs - as I saw last night! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiz Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 (edited) I wronged the slugs I have found scads of snails instead. I have only seen one slug and it went with snails, straight into my wheely bin! They can eat the weeds! Edited June 26, 2012 by Fiz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted June 27, 2012 Author Share Posted June 27, 2012 If you open the lid of your wheely bin, you will find the whole lot has migrated to the inside of the lid... My next-door neighbour ties them into economy nappy sacks so they can't escape. Can't help wondering whether we're getting fixated on mollusc slaughter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 SALT, SALT AND MORE SALT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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