Gran/Grandads Gardening Corner

I have a dead tree in a bed at the front of the house. We have decided to leave it there because, although it is dead, it does provide some privacy. Do you think I could grow a clematis up it?

luckygirl Do you know why the tree is dead? I was thinking of nasty things like honey fungus. I would want to now how big the dead tree is and is it still safe.

If it is a branchy tree the clematis could climb by twining up the remaing branches or would you need to train it up on wires or such by climbing on ladders etc.

I still can't stop buying plants though. I went to Asda's cash machine to get money to pay the hairdresser and ASDA had two really nice lillies reduced to £2 each.
I have just pulled up a lot of geraniums from under my front window which is really dry and shady. This is a Geranuim I bought specially as it would grown in very shady places. I am going to try planting these off sets along the bottom fence to see if they would grow and act as good ground cover weed suppressant right down by the fence at the bottom of the garden.
The original plants have spread very well. I go over with the hedge trimmer every autumn and it keeps them very neat and tidy. A lot of my gardening now is trying to make as manageable as possible.

The trunk of this tree is shorter than I am so not very big and not in danger of causing destruction if it does come down. I just think it would be nice to make it look more attractive. I think we could just tie a clematis to the trunk and then let it ramble over the branches when it gets a bit higher. No sign of fungus, but lots of mistletoe, so that might have sapped its strength. I have no idea what sort of tree it is as we inherited this dead item when we moved here and have never seen a leaf! I think it might be a flowering cherry or something along those lines.

I have planted geraniums and creeping phlox in my rose garden and it looks very nice - google told me that the geranium was a good thing for rose beds as it puts off various bugs. I have had black spot, but only a handful of greenfly which I just picked off. I am thrilled with my new scented garden!

Don't be tempted to get a too rampant clematis Luckygirl, it may be difficult to trim if it runs out of tree to climb!

I wish the tree in our front garden would die! It's a very large lopsided Scots pine, which sounds wonderful but it's in a very small garden and partially overhangs where we have to park the car with inevitable results from the pigeons above. There's a preservation order on it and we've been refused permission to remove 6foot off the offending branch. We've appealed. DH manages to keep the pigeons at bay much of the time spraying water up their bottoms, but we still had a broken pigeon's egg welded to the rear windscreen wiper last week. Silly birds!

My roses have suffered a bit this year. I shall plant geraniums around them next year. Thanks Lucky.

I have a rambler and clematis climbing my dead tree.

Paul's Himalayan Musk which is huge and now that the tree is breaking with age needs constant pruning and this year I planted Niobe so that hasn't taken off yet.

I think that the best clematis are the later flowers. I know that they aren't those huge dinner plate size blooms but you get an enormous amount of bang for your buck. They get cut to the ground well a foot in February so no problem with fiddling with pruning.

Luckygirl You could get either a later or earlier flowering clematis and a winter flowering one as well as a wisteria which has beautiful leaves and gorgeous flowers. Do your research and get the right ones. That would give you a good span of flowers during the year.

We have just started off a Rosa Kiftsgate to climb up our enormous damson tree, I just hope that we can still pick the fruit without too much difficulty in the years to come! Eventually I might be too decrepit to care of course.

Thanks for all the advice!

Having harvested my onions and shallots, I have a bare piece of soil in my veg patch. What could I plant for the winter? Brassicas get eaten by the deer. Not too keen on broad beans but could sow one row.

Just watching GW and I live in the south, everything that they are looking at is finished in my garden what a difference compare to even just a bit further north. No doubt Cornish grans are even different.

Perhaps sow spring onions, garlic winter lettuce chard?
Newly mower !, nellymoser agree with you about easy maintenance . But also can't resist plants . Have a few waiting to be planted out. A new Salvia etc etc.

shysal do you bottle/pickle the shallots?Nothing nicer than home grown ones.?

I'm hoping to grow small gherkins next year. I had great success with cucumbers, so they should be ok.
Picking shallots makes me cry.?

Pickling- picking them is ok!

Hasn't it been a great year for apples? ???

'lemongrove', I don't pickle the shallots as I can't stand the taste of vinegar! I grow the larger banana ones which are good for cooking and roasting, and soften more quickly than onions.
Yes it has been a good year for apples. There are many boxes outside houses in my village to help ourselves, picked not fallen. Lots of juicy blackberries in the hedgerows too - yum!

I can scoff shallots straight from the pickle jar, but a heavenly mix with some cheese and buttered baguette.

I have taken over a small square of our communal garden. 4 square planters of spring bulbs are ready to install. I'd love to find a small shade-loving tree/shrub to grow in a large pot.
Would like buddleia or maybe an acer but the area is in shade and I don' t think they'd be happy.
Any suggestions?

Yes, an acer would be fine, is it out of the wind in that spot though?
Buddleia get enormous,roots too much for a pot.
You can have certain bamboos in large pots, graceful and evergreen and do well in shade.
The smaller viburnums, like Spirit do well in pots and the shade and are evergreen with flowers.

shysal - broad beans and onions are planted here at this time of year. The last time we planted broad beans they were eaten by mice
Also winter salad leaves, and possibly a few potatoes for xmas. Depends on your climate and your soil.

Thanks lemongrove. The corner I have in mind is shaded but sheltered quite well from wind.
Will now investigate viburnums.
Ps should I now be stopping all feeding ?(tomatoes plum-tree and geraniums)

My Acer has seeds every year , today I planted some in a pot of compost , what are my chances of them germinating ?

Very good I should think. Go for it .

I have stopped all plant feeding now.

There are seed pods on my camellia. Would they grow if I planted them?