Does anyone know anything about gardening?

actually, maybe mine isn't as big as they get

Confessions thread >>>>>

I have one of these. Are they very, very slow growing? I've been here for 5 years and it spreads out horizontally but doesn't seem to have grown upwards at all. I want it to be nice like yours. Is there something I should/could be doing to it to make it less shit?

I have no idea, I'm afraid.

Mine hasn't grown much in the 2.5 years I have been here. I am going to prune it this year after flowering, for first time.

Actually, edit: I did remove some lower branches last year to make it into a canopy shape - less bushy .

My neighbour has one that is a 3m tall tree, complete with trunk. Obviously, different varieties exist.

I'm sure you know that it is a ceanothus.

Obviously, different varieties exist.

Hrm yeah, this is a good point. You inspired me to google to see if there is such a thing as a groundcover version, and there is. I don't know what variety mine is, but if it's a groundcover species then that might explain why it has such a consistently pathetic height.

There's a bluebell bulb underneath it, and every spring when the bluebell comes up, it towers above the shrub, about twice its size :/

Finally got around to landscaping the little strip at the back of the garden for the vegetable beds... Weed-proof and ready to go, just need to source some decent organic compost in bulk, manure is easy to find down here...

1 Attachment

Yep,
that's the artichoke that is a cultivated thistle.
Were you expecting the vaguely potato-like Jerusalem artichoke,
(that is a variation on a sunflower)?

Almost,
the unopened flower of the 'globe' artichoke is eaten.
In civilised countries you can find them ready peeled at greengrocers,
(and you can find them, here, in frozen food retailers).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artichoke

The cardoon was grown for its blanched leaf stalks to be eaten as another late season fresh vegetable.
@skydancer is the forum expert for Cardoons.

mdcc_tester is the forum expert

ftfy

Agreed.
Now edited to make clear the difference between matters mechanical and edible.

Very tidy little set-up. Look forward to seeing some photos in the spring :)

I ve been given a blueberry plant. Does anyone have any experience of growing them?

A look on the RHS
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/blueberries
seems to imply it will be best potted, although I'm generally not that keen on planting things I definitely don't want to die in a pot.

Soil is generally very, very heavy clay. But I'm pretty sure the spot I'm thinking is decent and was heavily worked by the previous occupants.

They are quite happy in pots for many years, unlike a lot of other plants.

The key thing is to make sure the soil is highly acidic, so use ericaceous compost in your pot or add a lot of it around where you plant it.

We had four or five blueberry plants on our allotment. Two of them were potted when we gave it up, they are very happy and still fruiting well.

andyp has spelt out the important factor of ericaceous soil/compost.

Blueberries also hate the chlorine in tap water,
so try to only ever water them with rain water.

We have a couple in pots, now about a decade old and going strong. From the deepest recesses of my mind, I don’t think they self-pollinate. So to get fruit, you’ll need another (I think - best check though).

Rainwater a must, as above.

Good point about tap water, they really don’t like it.

Cheers all.

From a quick read, it's not that they don't self pollinate, it's that they do better pollinating with other varieties.

@andyp and @c00ps- roughly what sort of size are the pots and how high are the plants?

Fair enough. We just got two because someone told us they need a friend! I have no idea how much fruit we get, as the kids eat it all before it gets indoors.

Our pots are about 2ft diameter (pretty sure this is too small though) and the plants are 3ft high and the same wide. But frost got them a couple of years ago and I had to cut lots of dead branches away. So they're much smaller than they should be for their age. Will ask Mrs c00ps, as she deals with the garden the most.

Thanks. I'm hoping this chap survives the cold snap. I've asked Mrs H to move it into our outdoor loo as a temp measure.

Otherwise, fleece is your friend. It does then look like you have giant cotton buds outside overnight though.

I bought one of those cheap-ass £3 (cos im cheap) ph probes off chi-bay so I could test the soil (cos I'm a tool), the bed down near the house starts at 5.5 and as you head back downt he garden it gets down to 'off the fucken charts'.

the veg patch can vary from 5.5 to 'OTFC' in the space of a foot.

does this sound normal? I tried it in a bag of ericaceous ompost and it was 6.0 then a bag of poo and it was 4.5

a dodge gauge or acidic as a bastard soil that changes willy-nilly over short distances.

I’ve got snowdrops in flower since Xmas

Quite possibly the cheapest 'topsoil' the builder could find when burying all his crap from building/developing your property....

Snowdrops, Crocosmia, Daffodils, Iris' and Croci all making a break for it here.

2 Attachments