Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

X posts J52

Yes,Lucky that will do fine.In fact in tests of all sorts of plants, including roses, careful pruning versus a chainsaw massacre shows that the plants all grow back with vigour, and you can be too precious about pruning methods.
DH uses long handled secateurs for the chop of photinias or long handled shears, but if you have a whole hedge of them, use the hedge trimmer.

Yes, photinia can be cut successfully with a hedge trimmer. They are so beautiful in sunlight.

We have a long photinia (Red Robin) hedge - googling produces the advice to pinch out the new buds at this time of year to encourage the red leaves. This operation would involve days and days as it is a very long hedge. Could we just hedge trimmer it back when it starts to grow?

Hmm. Maybe not bamboo then, we have two in tubs we use as a windbreak but really want to plant that area as it's so small. Thanks merlot, we also wondered about ferns, will look at the Rodgersia, a new one on me. tAny more suggestions? All thoughts welcome.

I only bought my Vanilla Fraiche hydrangea online (.from a reputable company) last year. I can't honestly remember if it had flowers on it, but I think not Foxy. When. I say n buds, I mean so buds that look,viable. Perhaps there is still time for them to swell, but everything else in the garden is sprouting already.

This one is for veg growers. I had an allotment for years and got fed up with knobbly misshapen carrots and parsnips. Eventually I made a raised bed two feet deep and filled it with a mixture of seived compost and sharp sand, much to the amusement of the old timers on neighbouring plots.
Once growing well I covered them in enviro mesh raised on a frame of canes and thinned them out as needed.
Result, perfect straight carrots. Some of the old timers started to do the same and one even said 'Never thought I'd learn anything good from a woman!'

NfK I use copper tape on my hosta pots too. It's amazing stuff. To be honest, we don't get a lot of slug damage here, but in the last garden, it saved a lot of my plants. When they crawl up and touch the tape, you can see them rear away from it.

Re slugs and strawberries in pots. I grow my slug irresistable hostas in pots with a band of that stick on copper tape around them and it seems to work. I tried it last year around delphiniums using four small sticks (actually odd knitting needles) to hold it in place and it helped there too.

We bought two bamboos for a dark spot which needed a screen. They were supposedly clump forming but we planted them in sunk cut off plastic dustbins just in case. I'm glad we did as one of them was mislabelled. (A common problem?) one has now reached the predicted 10 feet as required but the other is only 3 feet and we haven't a clue what it is, so I'm glad it's constrained within its bin! It's actually worked out well as they compliment each other.

Fascinating thread! So much useful information. Another bamboo warning. Ours took a man with a mini digger to clear. And we've put turf over a lot of the area now as advice is that mowing over any shoots will kill the wretched stuff eventually.

corner Think carefully about bamboo. I had three in my last garden which I chose according to their height and spread. They all went completely bonkers and were difficult to control, even the fargesia which was the smallest. They are also drop dead leaves all over the place which I read are supposed stay on the ground to help to feed the plant. I still love them, but I wouldn't grow another.

Well, I have let myself in for helping with a potato growing project at GS's school. I forgot the first rule of my Army training: "Never Volunteer"! I had an email today from the headmistress, so I have to go and present myself next week. Should be fun .

I would just remove the dead heads back to the new buds, Luckygirl

Novice here again. Can I just leave the hydrangeas and not prune them at all? - there are loads here, interspersed with azalias in a packed bed that looked lovely when we arrived last year.

Oh dear Anya. Did it not flower last year? It depends where you are as some buds show sooner than others depending on where you live. Don't give up on it, it may suddenly show buds as the weather warms up. Good luck

Ferns should be OK. Rodgersia could be a good bet as well because slugs don't like it.

www.plantsforshade.co.uk/acatalog/Rodgersia.html

cornergran, a few years ago I bought a clumping Black Bamboo...or so I thought. It turned out the pot was mislabelled and before I knew it we had Bamboo everywhere, including between the Indian Stone paving which had taken my DH years to lay. I am still trying to kill the stuff off now before it tunnels through the swimming pool. Be very careful

We have a small, very wet, bare patch between the path and fence, shed on one side, shade in the morning, sun in the afternoon in summer, none in winter. About 3ft square. Slugs love it and munch anything planted there. Any ideas what I could plant there? We wondered about a clump type bamboo, maybe a foxglove as I like flowers where I can get them, then ran out of ideas. What do you think? It's a tiny garden and important we make the best use of every tiny bit. Thanks for any ideas.

No dead heads. No buds

On the subject of hydrangeas, I leave the dead heads on until March then prune back to the next bud down. Mine are in pots, one is huge so after pruning, I go to the base of the plant and cut out 3 or 4 of the old unproductive stems to open up the centre of the plant. I have to say they are always lovely. You can cut them back further if they get too big but you will sacrifice that years flowers and they will not bloom well until the following year. Most of them look like dead sticks but here in Cambridge it's clear to see the new buds just below the dead heads.

A friend slipped on wet decking and fractured his ribs.

Please please be careful on wet decking, my work colleague slipped on her decking on Sunday and broke her shoulder in 2 placed and today is having a plate put in her broken shoulder and will be out of action for at least 2 months. On a lighter note I've grown strawberrys in pots, I had a good crop, however the slugs had eaten them underneath when I harvested them, so best to keep higher off the ground.

Is it too late to move a hydrangea?

CrazyDaisy still harvest time on the other side of the world
(apparently!)
All that lovely produce hitting the shops.

grannylyn flowers would be a bonus...I'd happily settle for leaf buds!