Hello Lee, the design of the feeders with a much narrower and shielded area for feeding makes them intrinsically more difficult for non- target species like crows, magpies and squirrels to access, but a determined squirrel could still get at the food so Finches Friend do stock bespoke squirrel proof cages for each model. Hope this is helpful Laura
So I’m not crazy! One year, I severely cut back my container pot honeysuckle. It had completely covered the trellis behind it, and looked so ratty once late fall came and it had lost many of its leaves. The spring after my radical cutback, it all regrew, densely no less, and exploded in blooms nearly its full length, like yours! Another great aspect to cutting severely is that by doing so, it’s trivial to transplant or move your honeysuckle and separately, your trellis, to wherever you want them to be! A thousand likes!
That hasn't been a problem for me. Even before the leaf stripping some of my canes tip over a bit at the edge and to keep the clump tidy I take these errant canes out at the base. I haven't noticed any increase in the canes bending after the the pruning procedure, bamboo leaves are very light and you're only maintaining the thickest and strongest canes when you prune so for me it hasn't been an issue at all. Hope this is helpful, best wishes Laura
That's a great trick. I think Month Don showed that one a few years back. I use up old galvanised wire left over from fencing. Look forward to your emails every week.
My first sowing of echinacea didn’t germinate, I then read that they need to be sown on the surface as they need light to get them started. Followed that advice a week ago (chucking the rest of the packet of seeds into a pot similar to the size of yours 😂). Within a couple of days I had seedlings growing! Amazingly fast when you get it right. Rudbeckia are another type of seed that needs light to germinate, took me 3 goes before I got that right and then only because I contacted the seed seller to complain about non-germination; the surface sowing advice was not on the packet but no free replacement, unlike the larger seed sellers who always replace seeds that don’t germinate in my experience. Enjoy your weekly newsletters, many thanks for those.
Hi Nicky, I was quite fortunate in that the area had previously been a soft fruit patch, so was already down to soil, although as you can see from the video there was a crop of weed seedlings to deal with! If you were starting from scratch and creating a bed from a lawn, then I would strip the top layer of turf off ( but don’t waste it - stack it in a corner somewhere and it will turn into wonderful topsoil in a couple of years!). You can buy special tools for turf stripping but I find a sharp spade does a pretty good job. Luckily, under turf there will be very few weed seeds so you may then just be able to cultivate the top few inches to create a fine tilth for the pictorial meadow seeds to go into. If the ground underneath is a bit compacted you may need to rotovate a bit deeper. I wouldn’t strip the turf though until a couple of weeks before sowing next spring, as any bare patch of soil gets invaded by wind borne weed seedlings very quickly. I don’t think killing the turf with glyphosate or by covering with black plastic would work as well as stripping the turf off, as the pictorial meadow seeds need to go into a nice fine tilth which I don’t think you would achieve if you had lumps of dead turf in the surface layer. If your bed needed a bit of a top up of soil after the turf stripping exercise remember to use sterile potting compost so you’re not introducing weed seeds. I hope this is helpful- there is more useful information on the Pictorial Meadows website. Best wishes Laura
Thank you so much Wendy. Yes I dont really begrudge a contractor's quote because they must run the risk of discovering hidden issues, pay their PL insurance, travel expenses etc, but when you're on a very tight budget, it's definitely worth having a go yourself!
Thank you so much for commenting, Elaine. It's lovely when people take the trouble to say we are doing things right. We Elaines need to stick together!
Hello Jo - this video was actually shot after last year (2023) Hampton Court Flower Show! We had had a hot dry spell leading up to the Show but then rain on the day I visited (typical 🙄). Sadly I didn’t get to the show this year. Best wishes Laura
Hi Laura, thank you for this very informative post, I have an orange tree which I suspect would follow the same regime, I have had it about 2 years now and the same small orange is still on the tree, as it is inedible should I discard? I keep it in an unheated porch but have put it in my greenhouse this spring, my problem is it flowers nicely but any fruit just falls off when they are tiny, I’m not sure what I am doing wrong, any suggestions? Sandra x
Hi Sandra - I think orange trees are trickier … I have three but have only really succeeded with the little willow-leaved mandarin which seems to flower in one big flush in spring and then the fruit ripens over winter (it’s the one I’m wheeling out in the video). My other two oranges have a few flowers but only small infrequent fruit. The owner of The Citrus Centre in West Sussex told me recently that oranges are actually hardier than lemons (in terms of surviving) but need warmer temperatures to produce fruit and if the young fruits haven’t developed by Christmas you should take them all off. I would definitely take off that old orange as I think leaving old fruits on can inhibit the production of new fruit, and I’m going to try thinning out the young developing fruit on my trees to leave only about 6, then feed it and nurture it over the summer and maybe bring it in a bit earlier so that it has a warmer autumn position and see if that works 🤷♀️ Good luck with yours! Best wishes Laura
I've grown a lemon tree from pip from a shop wanted to see if it would work well it's 2½ years old now and doing very well but it haves spikes as I know naturally they ment to be like that as in shops they bread out, how long does it take to get fruit on my tree
Hi Stacey, well done for growing a lemon from a pip! I have a couple of old lemon trees that I bought from an importer who was closing down his business years ago. They’re obviously just the wild species as they have the spines on like yours and the lemon fruits have a thicker skin and pith than my cultivated ones, but they’re still lovely trees that flower and fruit prolifically and I wouldn’t be without them. I think you’re right that modern trees are mainly grafted cultivated varieties that don’t have spines and have thinner skinned and juicier fruits. I’ve never grown one from a pip myself but I did some research for you and there seems to be quite a lot of natural variation in the time it takes a seed-grown lemon to reach flowering age but it can be as young as three years so you may not be far off - good luck with it ! Best wishes Laura
Hello! Yes don’t worry the lemons always start off green, and stay green until they reach their full size when they gradually turn yellow. This process can take a couple of months so just be patient! Once they turn yellow you can pick them off as you need them, they’ll stay quite happily on the tree for weeks at a time, so there’s no need to pick them all at once - just pluck one off when you need one. The tree will actually flower and fruit simultaneously throughout the year, but mine tend to come in different waves, so some trees will have mainly ripe fruit (like the one in the video) whilst others will be going through a phase when they’re mostly flowers or very young fruit. Good luck with your tree - and have you seen my comment below about not being in too much rush to pot it on? Best wishes Laura
@the3growbags451 Hi. I purchased had a lemon tree from the shop with some large green lemons already growing on it. Since then I had new bulbs coming out and they are slowly growing. I noticed in your video that the lemons on tree are already yellow from the start. I’m wondering will my lemons eventually turn yellow or will it stay green. And when should i be expecting to harvest them? Thank you very much in advance.
Hello Radha - that’s a really good question (for English speakers Radha is asking what size pot to use) and I’m sorry I didn’t include this information in the video. When you buy a lemon tree you shouldn’t be in too much hurry to pot it into a bigger pot. You’re going to be feeding and watering it regularly so it will be quite happy. If it starts drying out too quickly after watering then that’s a sign it needs potting on into a bigger pot, but only use a pot that’s a bit bigger than the original one or else the roots will sit in soggy wet compost for a long time after watering which it won’t like, especially in cold weather. For this reason it’s better to pot on your lemon tree in the spring, so its roots have time to grow and fill the pot and are able to reach and take up all the available water before winter sets in. You probably only need to move your lemon tree up into a bigger pot every two to three years or so as they are relatively slow growers The eventual pot size is really down to what you have room for, and to keep it from outgrowing its space you can trim back its roots by a third then repot it in the same size pot again, but if you do this you must also trim its top growth back by a third too, as the reduced root ball will struggle to support the same amount of foliage. I hope this is helpful, Best wishes Laura
Mine arrived today and ive planted it on my very hot sunny all day south coast balcony, i put it in a large pot for now under a trellis where i have 3 other Clematis blooming & growing beautifully from a planter. The Apple Blossom has no blooms yet but its leafy & im very happy with it from.Gardening Express for £22 , its got a lot of healthy dark green & new bronze leaves & tendrils , its about 5ft tall. Looks great with the other 4 plants im training along with Rose &, star Jasmine on the other trellis, i will eventually train them to arch over the balcony . Thank you for the video i was looking to see if there were any tips for the Armandi
An absolute delight to attend today & purchase from the shop. The event was fabulous & we enjoyed every garden , everyone so friendly & welcoming 💚💚💚👩🌾👩🌾👩🌾
Ah thank you! And I also now know the story behind your name as a very kind granny who helps re-stuff much loved favourite toys! It was lovely meeting you today.
Wendy that's so interesting. There wasn't a lot of chat about the Bridgerton garden but it was different to the others which was a real boon in itself. You're right - the NGS garden was beautifully executed. The designer said he only added those azaleas (Daviseii) as an afterthought at the last moment, so there's hope for us all!😃
Hello Elaine, yes I’m so sorry I rushed to put the video up last night and just didn’t have time to edit the auto- generated subtitles - I’m at Chelsea again today (with the other two Growbags!) but I’ll go into our channel and improve the subtitles as soon as I get home. Hope it didn’t spoil your enjoyment of the video too much. Best wishes Laura
I really love your video and here are some reasons why. First of all, your garden is absolutely beautiful. I feel so doubtful when I watch a video and their flowers are all dying and they haven’t even cut their grass in about a month, lol. I’ve watched a lot of videos as this is my first year to really get into gardening. Your tip about filling the soil a couple of inches from the top so you can water it well enough was a great idea. I hadn’t thought of that yet. And I love your idea of using the sticks for the trellis! I have so many trees around here that I’m constantly trimming the branches off of. And not only is it a cheap solution. It also looks wonderful! Thank you for the good advice. I’m looking forward to watching more of your videos if you have more.❤
Your bamboo may be one of the more vigorous types, but its definitely worth giving it a good thin one and seeing if you can get it back under control - good luck!
Mine are indoors but look a bit leggy, should have put them in their own pots, just moved so space was an issue. ill try and move them asap, great to watch the videos, thank-you.
The Erigeron is going to love its new home. I have a fondness for this plant as it grew everywhere in the walls and steps of my hometown Helston, Cornwall. Always brings back happy childhood memories.
Thank you for your encouragement Wendy, hope the Erigeron is going to be as happy in its new home in the Highlands as the one of your childhood memories at the other end of the country in Cornwall.
Tulips are looking really lovely. I've had great success with the ones I bought from Morrison's supermarket. They were called Rainbow Mix and Pink Mix and they were really cheap. They've been the best out of all my Tulips this year. I was very surprised at how successful they've been.
Thank you for writing in, Wendy - yes, when you buy a really cheap mixed pack, you almost assume that they are going to be a bit rubbish, but you're hoping for the best. And sometimes they come up trumps and you feel doubly pleased! All the best, Elaine
I wish I'd seen this video 2 weeks ago, mine are in a module tray on a heatmat in the pop up greenhouse, hopefully if they ever germinate I can follow the rest of the advice!
I used little pellets for my seeds this year, I will definitely look at wool pots to pot them up. As I don’t have plastic pots anyway so might as well start off with a biodegradable option. Thank you 😊
