I grew loads last year in pots. Sow them directly into decent compost and stand back!

Thankyou. I will do so.

My Snowdrops are blooming lovely.

Spring has sprung.

I'll have a look for my snowdrops when I get home (finish work at 4.30 on a Sunday, so it'll still be light!).

So are they blooming Steve????

Well, a gentleman doesn't normally talk about these things, but they're awfully small!


On the plus side, the seedlings in the heated greenhouse at work are doing superbly. We've now got some brave strawberries nosing their way out of the compost.

The helebores are looking pretty good in my front garden.

*envy*

saw some gorgeous hellebores last week in Normandy - absolutely lovely.

Just spent a pleasant few minutes potting on some 70 tomato seedlings into individual pots. It seemed slightly surreal, however, given that there's more than an inch of snow standing around!

What stage are everybody's bulbs at? My snowdrops are out but that's all. Wouldn't we normally have crocuses by now? I went to Harrogate today and normally Harrogate is carpeted with crocuses but I couldn't even see any sign of them. My daffodil bulbs are sprouting but a long way off yet.

I think a lot of bulbs have been following the weather forecasts!

The ground has been simply too cold for too long for some bulbs to plump up and push out the flowers. But never fear - they will emerge!

There 's very little of anything showing here. yet.

No bulbs here yet. However the celandines are out and so are the daisies. The grass needs cutting but is too wet. I pulled out loads of brambles yesterday.

Snowdrops are amazing. There were crocus in bloom in a sunny spot the other day. Daffs are only around 3inches tall.
I think I might do some weeding now they are all up, and I can't accidently chop them off underneath the soil.

Daffs have just started peeking through - very late this year. Have actually just bought a few pots of new ones to plant out, thinking that I'd lost them all. Lots of leaves on the bluebells.

Dear Skylark,

my crocuses have finally peeped through - and I'm only 10 or so junctions down the M1 from you!

Excellent - hopefully we're not too far behind you!

I have 3 snowdrops (1 more than last year) down here in Hampshire. The daffs are starting to plump up but mine are usually late.

I did notice the surest sign that spring is finally springing today. My pond has turned into a seething mass of frogs and frogspawn.

Lots of lovely snowdrops - ours have settled in this year (it's their second winter with us) and are blooming lovely!

Daffs etc just peeking through, and we have 1 lone crocus (looks as though it's got its timing a bit wrong).

I suppose daffs should be out today to celebrate St David's Day

On the way to work yesterday, I noticed a whole bed of crocus out by the old church in Edgbaston. Lovely.

Lots of snowdrops which have now been out for a while.

I've been away for five days and have come back to loads of crocuses - and the first daffodil looks as if it will only be a day or two before it bursts forth (my first daff bloomed on 20th January last year!!!).

My snowdrops have decided they like it best under the yew tree - not where I thought they'd be happy, but I'm not going to complain. The crocuses I have growing in a pot are about to flower, but none of those that are in the lawn - I think they've given up. Daffs, earlier tulips and hyacinths are pushing up nicely.

I think we're getting another frost tonight.

It was so lovely today that I went in the front garden with little Jen . We raked the grass to get the thatch out, emptied the dead winter pansies, trimmed the box and swept the drive. Then I cleaned the inside of my car out........it was very grubby from the Lake District in half term.
Anyone done some gardening?

I was at work today, so I potted on some marigolds and hebe cuttings in the big heated greenhouse. Quite therapeutic.

Strange sort of weather - scraped ice off the car screen at 9am, and was sunbathing in shirt sleeves by noon.

I inspected it I've now got crocusses! Still got the snowdrops, and the daffs are coming up. I've also got some other colourful plants in flower but I don't know what they're called. They're quite bright, deep, primary colours - some red, some yellow, some orange - and I don't think they're bulbs.


edit: I don't think I should be posting in the Gardeners' thread

Yep! Have just discovered that what I call a "brush cutter" the Americans call a "weed whacker". So I went out and whacked the weeds - particularly the brambles. Now I can see the winter jasmine, the gorse, the eleagnus and the pyrachantha (how do you spell that?). I also whacked round the trees and the hedges and whacked a path to the washing line and the post box so I can now get to those two places without getting my knees wet. I found one daffodil - which I managed by the skin of my strings not to whack and have also been on my hands and knees weeding round the primroses.

I'll be quite glad to get back to school tomorrow!

Got rid of the rest of the fried/burned winter pansies.
Weeded the hosta bed,and the herb garden.
Sat in the sunshine for 10 minutes with a diet coke, and dreamed of hot sunny days
My Basil mowed the lawns and cut the hedges, then vacuumed the patio..........boys and toys.

ah - I have a crocus and a small clump of miniature daffodils. Things are looking up.

Lots of our mini daffs are out too, and the crocuses have been doing very well. Wanted to go out into the greenhouse to make inroads on seeds and tidying up, but had to take Sonny Jim to Taikwondo which took up 3 hours (much longer than planned - 3 hours when I could have been doing something interesting )

MY snowdrops seem to have lasted forever this year. They have been wonderful. So very pretty.
I don't have crocus due to squirrels.
The daffs are about to bloom, they are in the shade and so a touch later than most.
I am imagining hot sunny days, and marigolds, nastyturns, pelargoniums.......................

Peach blossom is just coming out. Violets and primroses ( the real wild kind ) blooming but the crocuses are over. Grass needs cutting again.

Just been in the heated greenhouse at work, potting on yet more tomato seedlings (now got about 300 going!). Noticed that the most mature plants have started to set flowers already. Spring really has arrived.

Has anyone ever used seeds from the previous year? If so, how did they do? I have some packets (opened and unopened ) from last year and feel as though I should give them a go rather than throw them out. (They're veggies by the way; not flowers). I also have some seed potatoes I never got round to planting last year. Any good?

Never throw seeds away - by all means give them a try. I wish you could see the greenhouses at work where we've got stacks of plants growing from last year's seeds. If the potatoes are still firm, why not try them - what's to lose?

Excellent. Thankyou. Just what I wanted to hear. That'll free up a few £££ for other seeds (Off to buy some Nicotiana Sylvestris - the Giant White kind & heliotrope and ...

Can anyone advise me, please, on how to treat a Skimmia japonica 'rubella' which is just finishing flowering? It was given to me just before Christmas so it's new to me... do I snip off the dead flower heads, or leave them to seed, or what?

Does the gardening thread include houseplants...

If so, can anyone recommend a small houseplant for a *very* sunny window ledge. It would be in a warm room and above a radiator, but behind curtains at night. I can only think of cactus but I don't like cactus plants. I don't mind some flowering houseplants but I prefer interesting leaves. Fussy aren't I

Not too hot on house plants Skylark.
MY hostas are coming up. The snowdrops are over, but the daffs are wonderful. Tulips are up, but the leaves are holy, anyone know what eats tulip leaves please??

slugs? not sure.

Probably.

The one that springs to mind would be the coleus - vibrant variegated leaves in various shades of red, purple, pink, yellow and green, loves a sunny spot, and not too difficult to grow. Doesn't get too big so long as you keep pinching out the growing tips, which will also help to make an nice bushy plant. Does get heads of small flowers, but it's actually better to take them off as the plant will last longer that way.

Hi there,

my advice to people on gardening matters is to think about what nature does to plants. In the case of skimmia, the answer is nothing. Leave the heads on unless you are a particularly "tidy" gardener and want the plant to look good cosmetically.

Oh no, that reminds me, I planted some delphiniums the other day and meant to pre-empt the slug attack, but forgot because it rained hard. I'd better go and look

Thank you. Most of my plants are the results of leaving it to nature - not particularly tidy but at least they are still alive!

Had a decent session yesterday afternoon - now got a neat stripy lawn - edged and tidied the borders and dug over a patch in the vegetable garden.

The only thing that is really tempermental and tends not to germinate when it's more than a year old is parsnips.



Potatoes are through, broad beans poking their heads through and if this wind drops I'm going to do my bean sticks today.

I've also just looked at my house on 'streetview' and the picture was taken early last summer, when I'd had a bit of a problem with my bean sticks and they are all wonky

Feeling virtuous having finally dug over my veg plots (that sounds impessive, but they're quite small veg plots!). Also done a bit of spring cleaning and pruned some roses and shrubs. Got tomatoes, peppers, green beans and lettuces sprouting, along with some summer bedding. Finally starting to feel like spring has arrived

Looking for a bit of inspiration though - wondered if anyone has any suggestions for a small corner of my veg plot? It's only about 3ft square, and doesn't get too much sunlight - just in the morning, till maybe 11.00. Soil's quite good, slightly clay but not really claggy. As well as all the above I also have (or am planning to have) rhubarb, apples, black and redcurrants, courgettes and various herbs.

Any ideas?

If it doesn't get much sunlight it's probably the best place to have your herbs as they tend to have a rather rampant nature and will grow slightly slower in the shade. Or why don't you try some onions.

Sound advice from Digby. I would be tempted to grow herbs in large pots - that way you can move them round the garden to get more sun when they are needing it, and then at the back end of the season, it's easy to split them, and share them with friends!

You can't have too many onions - I grow loads and when we harvest them my wife plaits the foliage and hangs them in bunches in the pantry. Useful and attractive!

EDIT - I meant that the onions were useful and attractive, although Mrs Stetenorve is also