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I have an old 4ft chimney pot in the garden which i want to plant a training fuchsia in. Will it be ok just to fill it with multi purpose compost or should I use something else mixed in with it or something different altogether ? Thanks.
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I would make sure I put plenty of crocks in the bottom for drainage and then use a soil based compost such as John Innes.
It will hold the water and nutrients better and should look lovely.
Pat
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I had a gardening TV programme on as background noise and the expert, a top garden designer suggested that broken up polystyrene packaging is good in the bottom of pots. The trick that I thought was impressive, not knowing a weed from anything that should be in a garden was if you are putting a potted something into a tub put the pot and it's contents in the tub, fill the tub, remove the pot, knock it off the plant, and put the plant into the correct sized hole in the tub. That is the extent of my gardening knowledge, ask me one which has a big hammer and a spanner involved. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 20 Apr 16 at 08:39
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That's a good tip ON - never heard that before.
I've read somewhere recently that the old advice to put crocs in the bottom of a pot was unnecessary, and did nothing for drainage.
After all, if you think of the chimney pot as just a tubular section of ordinary garden, you wouldn't dig a four foot hole and put stones in the bottom just to plant a fuchsia?
At that height you do need to think carefully about stabilising it. It will be very heavy and liable to fall over if not on paving or sound foundation.
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The pot will heat up so ensure it is kept well watered.
A tip I read re pots on a patio. Put some liner in the bottom to keep slugs out.
Use the sort of woven stuff that lines hanging baskets.i
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>> suggested that broken up polystyrene packaging is good in the bottom of pots.
/\
what he said.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 20 Apr 16 at 10:22
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Do you want one of my old crocks?
Runfer probably has some of the other kind in the back of the LEC...
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>> I would make sure I put plenty of crocks in the bottom for drainage and
>> then use a soil based compost such as John Innes.
>>
>> It will hold the water and nutrients better and should look lovely.
>>
>> Pat
>>
Lots of old crocks on this forum. Bury them in a chimney pot and let them grow daisies...
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I can't remember who said it, but some gardening expert on TV or radio said something along the lines of "Multi-purpose compost is good for everything and good for nothing."
So don't use it - the few nutrients in it will last for only a matter of weeks. As Pat says, use a JI soil-based compost for anything that going to be in it for months or years. John Innes No 3 is usually recommended for "final re-potting".
Fuchsias are pretty robust and, apart from anchoring the pot by burying the bottom foot or so, and watering every day in warm weather (as has been suggested by others) it should be perfectly OK.
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>> I can't remember who said it, but some gardening expert on TV or radio said
>> something along the lines of "Multi-purpose compost is good for everything and good for nothing."
As Pat says, use a JI soil-based compost for anything that going
to be in it for months or years. John Innes No 3 is usually recommended for "final re-potting".
I have learnt something today. Thanks.
Any recommendations for shrubs/perennials to grow in containers as I am fed up with buying bedding plants every year. Very exposed and windy where I live so they need to able to cope with those conditions?
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A 4ft pot will take a surprisingly lot of compost to fill and become very heavy and difficult to move. A slow release fertiliser is also a good idea to mix in with the compost.
Not sure how the other gardeners feel about Rootgrow but I use it, worth a read-up to see if you believe the benefits.
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I've been reading about that and wondering if it's worth the cost Rudedog.
I'm in the process of making up 24 hanging baskets (not all for myself!) and around 12 window boxes and tubs.
I think it would prove expensive at least for those I make for friends and family who never expect pay for them;)
It was a good winter this year though so I managed to take cuttings from last years plants which have grown on nicely, and they are the ones I use for others baskets.
It means I can go and buy new and exciting plants for my own each year!
Pat
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I have used Rootgrow. Not noticed any significant improvement from controls.
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With things like pots and baskets, I find the easiest way to feed the plants is to dissolve something like Miracle-Gro in the water according to instructions on the pack. You're going to have to water pots and baskets anyway, so adding something as you fill the can is easy.
And you are going to use a watering-can, aren't you? There is no way you can tell how much water has gone into a pot or basket if you just spray water from a hose.
(Actually, for the really lazy, you can get attachments for a hose to enable feed to be mixed in as you use the hose.)
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Well I've used Rootgrow on all of my shrubs and trees, unlike a good feed the results are hard to define or see directly, apparently an improved micro root system will benefit the plant in times of stress (I have found it slightly cheaper unbranded on eBay direct from the factory in Kent).
Trouble is now I've started using it I'd kick myself if I stopped and an expensive plant curled up and died.
Just bought a nice purple magnolia which is waiting to go in, and I've just tracked down a giant timber bamboo to add to my collection (small now but should grow to about 6-8 metres with 10cm culms.
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I have a few pots in the garden with various plants and bulbs can't say whatever I have used most plants aren't keen on growing in pots.
I have used vermiculite which seem to help a bit with retaining moisture.I have spread about 4 bags on the soil with bark to stop weeds and a bit of mulch for the garden.My grass needs treatment or feed that will be another tenner for a box of granules.
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I use swellgel to retain moisture and slow release pellets of fertiliser in all my pots and baskets.
In addition, mine are fed once a week during the summer with Miraclegro using a hose end feeder....I can't reach them with a watering can;)
While we have some gardeners on here I can do with some suggestions.
We have a large pond and upgraded the filter system last Autumn. It was late in the year and we need to do something to camouflage the outlet pipe. It's a 4' length of guttering downpipe....in a delicate shade of light grey which sticks out to get the flow some way away from the ponds edge.
It's not pleasing on the eye and no matter how long I sit and gaze at it with a glass of red and a ciggie, I can't come up with a suitable way of camouflaging it.
For me it has to be something natural, such as moss or lichen, or something wooden or slate.
The filter end of the pipe is hidden with a horizontal conifer but there is no way of fixing anything under this that's water tight and cutting the pipe off shorter.
There's your poser for the weekend, while I'm at work!
Pat
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Grow Greater Periwinckle and train it round the pipe..
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I need a more immediate solution because it bugs me every time I look at the pond!
Pat
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Bury it under some dark coloured rocks, there must be something that will grow on an underwater rockery if it needs a bit more disguise.
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I hope everyone's going to be out in the garden today, making the most of the sunshine:
www.wngd.org/
:)
Last edited by: Focusless on Sat 7 May 16 at 10:52
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I have been out in the garden every day for the last three weeks....but working.
Plenty of jobs completed.....patio and drive jet washed , lawns weeded, fed ,edged, cut and scarified.
Trees and bushes pruned and debris removed to tip ......despite managing to cut through the extension lead in the process...luckily the circuit breakers and fuses did their job.
Plenty of digging and weeding and planting to do but still wary of frosts at night.
It was nice yesterday so decided just to sit on a lounger on the patio in shorts with a beer and the Telegraph crossword but then got bored and ended up tidying the garden shed....
Going into town today for a festival of folk music and dance...and probably a beer or three.
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Forget buying expensive fertilisers, all you need to do is grow a couple of Comfrey plants (in any old rough corner of the garden) and when it's about a foot high chop it down to about 2", put all the cuttings in your water butt and leave it a good week or more, stirring occasionally.
Soon you will have the most foul-smelling brew, mix it 50/50 with clean water in a watering can, and watch them plants/veggies go! - I've used nothing else for years on the allotment,, and now everybody else seems to have a Comfrey- tank as well!
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It is however an invasive and persistent weed. I have had an allotment for four years. The previous owner planted comfrey and I'm still trying to get rid of the stuff. Leave just a bit of the deep tap root in the ground and it will regrow. Pulling out the plant amongst growing crops causes major disturbance. This year I have had to resort to glyphosate to try to eradicate it.
It may make a good fertiliser buy I would sooner plant ground elder than comfrey!
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>> It is however an invasive and persistent weed.
Grow it on the compost heap. Just trash the leaves occasionally and leave them there to rot.
When you dig out the compost it's easy to fish out the roots and chuck them in the next compost heap.
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When I finally get rid of the wretched stuff it isn't coming anywhere near my plot!
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I grow sterile comfrey - non invasive.
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"I grow sterile comfrey - non invasive."
In the 1950s, my uncle introduced Russian Comfrey to his cottage garden; it tried to take over his entire veggie patch. An aptly named plant?
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Does anyone know what this plant/shrub is?
We have it in our garden but cannot remember its name, or from where we obtained it!
i115.photobucket.com/albums/n297/penfro/Flower_zpseptytgt2.jpg
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up here we call them "Wild Dog Rose" but whether that's the proper name I'm not sure!
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Found it! It's a tree peony!
First time it's flowered, though.
We had it from Thompson & Morgan in 2013 (checked archived emails on Gmail!).
It was part of a three item "special offer" costing £5.64 or so just for the postage. I remember we had a flyer for T & M offering the three items free: I love freebies!
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"It's a tree peony!
First time it's flowered, though."
Consider yourself fortunate. Tree peonies have a reputation for being a bit tricky. They take four or so years to settle and produce flowers. Poor position, incorrect planting, prolonged drought can all affect flowering.
They're fussy over soil - need pH neutral, will tolerate a little on either side of that - and are prone to disease. If fertilising, avoid over-rich feeding.
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>> An aptly named plant?
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Indeed yes. CGN seems to suspect it under every bed.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Mon 23 May 16 at 12:08
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Busy in the garden at the moment taking up big flagstone pavers and taking them to the skip.
I'm braking them up first with a lump hammer my mind is willing but body complaining.
They will be replaced with 2 by 2 feet pavers on sand.I got writ of big conifers a few years ago they started to take over.I like this time of the year pottering about getting out of Diana's way.>;)
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Gardeners question time - Pat
