mort
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I knew I'd heard it somewhere, forgotten where though, at least it shows i'm listening🙂
The savour of our garden late in the year after everything else was frazzled
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Get your garden out
- Thread starter aliclarke86
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I knew I'd heard it somewhere, forgotten where though, at least it shows i'm listening🙂
The savour of our garden late in the year after everything else was frazzled
I harvested my chillies this morning, defenatily the best outdoor crop for many years.
Many of my garden plants have suffered this year from the heat and lack of rain but the chillies have loved the weather.
I bought the majority from the B&Q sales bench for 50p a pot but I did grow two plants from seed.
Many of my garden plants have suffered this year from the heat and lack of rain but the chillies have loved the weather.
I bought the majority from the B&Q sales bench for 50p a pot but I did grow two plants from seed.
Hi all,
This one is cheating a little bit, because it is the lab. garden. We have a number of Hares (Lepus europaeus) on Campus and they are a lot less wary than normal. This was taken from the window with the <"fish-tanks in it">.
cheers Darrel
This one is cheating a little bit, because it is the lab. garden. We have a number of Hares (Lepus europaeus) on Campus and they are a lot less wary than normal. This was taken from the window with the <"fish-tanks in it">.
cheers Darrel
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
The Bee is a <"leaf-cutter bee"> (Megachile sp.), she doesn't have pollen sacks on her legs, but collects the pollen on the underneath of her abdomen.
cheers Darrel
mort
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We get lots of leaf cutter bees in the garden but this was a very large specimen, perhaps twice the size of those we normally see. Some are really diddy little things but I don't know if that means they are different species or different generations.
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
That one may be <"Megachile ligniseca">, but you can't really ID them from a photo.
Bees are really variable in size (you sometimes get tiny Common Carder (<"Bombus pascuorum">) bumblebees for example), but I'd guess that these are different species.
cheers Darrel
sparkyweasel
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- 30 Jun 2011
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Got to love Leafcutter Bees. 🙂
This one made a nest in a plant pot in my greenhouse.
This one made a nest in a plant pot in my greenhouse.
sparkyweasel
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- Joined
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- 2,962
This one was not so bright, nested in a bird-feeding coconut. Not a great pic, but you can see a piece of leaf being carried in for lining the nest.
Hi all,
Cheating a little bit again, because it is the campus garden rather than at home, but these are from the sub-tropical fruit gardens of Bath.
One for @foxfish , the <"Chinese Gooseberry">, or "Kiwi fruit", (Actinidia chinensis). These may come ripe in November, it depends a little bit on the weather. I'd estimated there are several hundred fruit.
and a <"flowering Loquat"> (Eriobotrya japonica). I've seen this in fruit in S. Turkey in May, so I'm not holding out much hope for a successful crop. The flowers don't look much, but they <"smell incredibly strong">, a bit like Almonds, but sweeter.
cheers Darrel
Cheating a little bit again, because it is the campus garden rather than at home, but these are from the sub-tropical fruit gardens of Bath.
One for @foxfish , the <"Chinese Gooseberry">, or "Kiwi fruit", (Actinidia chinensis). These may come ripe in November, it depends a little bit on the weather. I'd estimated there are several hundred fruit.
and a <"flowering Loquat"> (Eriobotrya japonica). I've seen this in fruit in S. Turkey in May, so I'm not holding out much hope for a successful crop. The flowers don't look much, but they <"smell incredibly strong">, a bit like Almonds, but sweeter.
cheers Darrel
Yes the Kiwi fruit was a huge growing crop in Guernsey, for a few years anyway, you can still find them for sale on the hedge rows in late summer.
We used to eat them like a boiled egg by cutting off the top and scooping out the inside with a tea spoon.
Lovely taste if perfectly ripe, with bright green flesh and black pips.
We used to eat them like a boiled egg by cutting off the top and scooping out the inside with a tea spoon.
Lovely taste if perfectly ripe, with bright green flesh and black pips.
Tim Harrison
Member
It seems spring has sprung, first snowdrops. Moved house during the autumn and pleasantly surprised to discover the garden littered with green shoots. Perfect antidote to winter blues.
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
I like Trachelospermum (Star Jasmine). I have a <"variegated one"> at home, and they are the red leaved climber, to the left of the Rose, <"in the planters at work">.
cheers Darrel
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Gorgeous scent as well.Hi all,
I like Trachelospermum (Star Jasmine). I have a <"variegated one"> at home, and they are the red leaved climber, to the left of the Rose, <"in the planters at work">.
cheers Darrel
Tim Harrison
Member
Moved in to a new house back end of September 2022. The front and back gardens were completely overgrown, mostly with ivy, and it took 3 of us a couple of weeks to clear both. It'll be a work in progress for some time.
But for now we're just enjoying watching it spring to life. The bottom bed is crammed with bluebells and other bulbs. And the magnolia tree has just started to flower. It'd been neglected like everything else in the garden.
By the time I'd finished pruning the dead, diseased, damaged, and deranged, and dead ugly. I'd removed about a third of it. But it should regrow in to a magnificent specimen eventually.
But for now we're just enjoying watching it spring to life. The bottom bed is crammed with bluebells and other bulbs. And the magnolia tree has just started to flower. It'd been neglected like everything else in the garden.
By the time I'd finished pruning the dead, diseased, damaged, and deranged, and dead ugly. I'd removed about a third of it. But it should regrow in to a magnificent specimen eventually.
I love Magnolia trees yours are a deciduous variety which means you can trim them back around September but be warned they dont like being heavily cut back.
If you know an experienced tree surgeon they will know how to encourage back budding so you can re gain a proper shape.
Done properly your trees could be re shaped and lush in two seasons, the first trim in late summer will see new buds forming lower down the branches in the nest spring, then the second trim in the following September can be made right back to the new branches that will have formed from the fresh buds.
If you know an experienced tree surgeon they will know how to encourage back budding so you can re gain a proper shape.
Done properly your trees could be re shaped and lush in two seasons, the first trim in late summer will see new buds forming lower down the branches in the nest spring, then the second trim in the following September can be made right back to the new branches that will have formed from the fresh buds.
Tim Harrison
Member
Thanks @foxfish, I've noticed some new buds already, so hopefully I haven't upset it too much.
On another note, and I know I'm probably preaching to the converted, now is a good time to keep an eye on the sale section in garden centres.
There are some amazing bargains to be had. This haul cost a little over £10.00. 11 trays, each with 6 plants.
A few mins deadheading and straight in the soil they will keep reflowering for some time, and do the same in following years.
On another note, and I know I'm probably preaching to the converted, now is a good time to keep an eye on the sale section in garden centres.
There are some amazing bargains to be had. This haul cost a little over £10.00. 11 trays, each with 6 plants.
A few mins deadheading and straight in the soil they will keep reflowering for some time, and do the same in following years.
Tim, you must be kidding! I'm not especially into flowering plants for their look (but year by year keep quite lots of allium ursinum, mandragora officinarum and acmella oleracea for their, well... flowers 😉 ) but looks I need to do a trip to our local garden center for herbs hunt.
BTW is any of the UKAPS-ers growing Perilla Magilla (var of Perilla Frutescens)? I can pay a good whiskey for a little bit of seeds.
