Spritzhenry's Outbox

Lovely, Joey! So glad it all went well. Now you can relax (I hope). Th garden does look good. Bet you all worked hard on it. Love the flower arrangement, a real talent there.

Funnily enough, I had it tested only a week ago - it came out at 7, so neutral. However, in the light of needing an acid soil, what do you think is my next step please? Dig in some ericaceous compost round them maybe?

Sorry - pressed submit twice by accident!

I know it's a bit rampant, but Virginia Creepers are a wonderful colour at the moment - they can be kept under control! We also have a vine which I'll photograph and post for you to look at, it's a good colour and lovely leaf shapes. I just chop bits off when they grow in the wrong direction! I will look its name up if you like it.

I know it's a bit rampant, but Virginia Creepers are a wonderful colour at the moment - they can be kept under control! We also have a vine which I'll photograph and post for you to look at, it's a good colour and lovely leaf shapes. I just chop bits off when they grow in the wrong direction! I will look its name up if you like it.

I may be crazy - in fact probably am - but the leaves look remarkably like a poinsettia without its top colourful bracts ... what does anyone else think?

I bought mine from Wisley, planted them as per instructions to climb through conifers (having seen them at Sissinghurst doing just that). We are in Somerset, so should be OK for being west!! I am so disappointed they have only grown about 8 inches each and don't look happy. Fingers crossed they'll survive the winter and maybe do something next year... PS - do I have to protect them during cold weather? If so, how?

I was going to post a question about this plant - now I hope you can answer! - I planted two of them in July, but they have hardly grown. How long did yours take to get going?

Definitely Crocosmia - like mine! (See photo on my page) It has corms and spreads, it is hardy and will die back in the winter but reappear next spring! You will need to clear away the dead leaves to tidy things up. You can buy named varieties like 'Lucifer' which is taller and bright red. There are also yellow and bi-coloured yellow/red ones. Hope this helps.

Hi David - I've been looking through the T&M seed catalogue and I found 'Whirlybird' nasturtiums and 'Storm'' petunias for the tornado?) also 'Rainbow mixed' petunias. Hope this is of interest!

P.S. I have had 2 cucumbers from my plant, with a third ready to cut and a fourth on its way. That will be the last, the plant is on its last legs! Edible, but rather tough skin.

Hope you enjoyed them! Worth all your time and effort...:-)

Welcome back Joey - hope the wedding went well?

We are lucky that the people who sold us the house made fences with extra wired reinforcement into the ground. They were paranoid about the badgers apparently, and got really upset when the little darlings discovered the wet route to the lawn! I am aware that they are digging for cranefly larvae, and we either put up with the resulting damage or try to improve the lawns to get rid of moss etc and therefore craneflies. Husband says no time or inclination to deal with improvement - (we have a LOT of lawn) - so we'll just have to put up with it... (sigh) :-( P.S. Yes, I'd like to see them paddling but am not staying up all night!

Hallo Tussie, yes, you're right. That's one of the perils mentioned on the site. Luckily, I don't use cocoa shell mulch, he would certainly eat it! There's a useful list of foods to avoid as well as plants/bulbs/mulches etc. I don't know why vets don't produce a list, I think they should - not just assume we know what may or may not be OK. Have you got a dog?

I read an article by Peter Seabrook this week who found he had the same results as you did. He made the point that peat is being deliberately made, it is now like a sustainable resource, so maybe we can stop feeling guilty when we use peat-based composts. I tried some peat free compost for flower seedlings and they just didn't grow properly. I do also compost everything I can to enrich our soil to minimise the amount I have to buy. We can only do our best and it is a waste of time, money and effort to use inferior products.

It's all clever stuff, Ajay! Thank you all for your hard work.

They haven't got badgers, then! :-)

West Ham? lol

It's Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'. I've got it, it seems to pop up all over the place in my garden!

I grew Achilleas from seed this year, they germinatved very easily and I've got far too many now - keep giving them away!