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Month: August 2016

Three Colours – One Flower

Three Colours – One Flower

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As flowers age they can lose some of their colour.
The sun can have a bleaching effect and the pigment should already have done it’s job of attracting pollination insects.

Some flowers have petals that are a throw back to an earlier plant cross

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Other plants may be programmed to produce flowers with a natural variety in their colouring.

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Photographs can lie especially when it comes to the rendition of colour.
The colour temperature and light conditions can make the same pigments appear different in different conditions

Italian Lantana

Lantana camara often has three colours on one blossom in this case pink, yellow and red.

Kids Plants to Make Them Gardeners

Kids Plants to Make Them Gardeners

Book Cover

Kids can have fun in the garden and on a windowsill. It can give them an understanding of food and green issues in a fun environment. Help them grow plants that are easy, reliable and develop quickly to maintain interest. Give them good soil, a sunny location and help so they are not put off  gardening in the future.
Kids can be turned into enthusiastic gardeners from an early age and with luck it will stay with them for life

Plants for Kids

  • Mustard and Cress are quick germinators and growers and produce an edible crop in days not weeks.
  • Sunflowers are very popular with children, the seeds are easy to handle and the growing plants look bigger every week.
  • Nasturtiums are quick growing and even if they do not like the peppery tasty the flowers and leaves are edible. The three seeds per flower show how plants reproduce year after year whilst providing food for other creatures.
  • Plants from tubers or bulbs such as Dahlias and Lilies are popular for the flowers. For indoors as a present for Mum try a Gloxinia
  • Seed potatoes. Peas or Courgettes are reliable croppers.

Indoor experiments that we tried as children …

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Growing Hollyhocks – Purple Malva

Growing Hollyhocks – Purple Malva

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Hollyhock family are from the Alcea genus but I couldn’t find a UK supplier of the variety above..

Malva sylvestris Magic Hollyhock has beautiful rich purple pink flowers, veined deep glossy purple, some loosely double like Old Fashioned Roses. It thrives easily in most soils providing a magnificent display.
Book Cover
Cultivation

  • Sow from late winter to early spring 1.5mm (1/16in) deep in John Innes Seed Compost.
  • Make sure that the compost is moist but not wet and seal in a polythene bag until after germination, which normally takes 15-21 days at 21C (70F).
  • Transplant when large enough to handle into 7.5cm (3 in) pots.
  • Grow cool and later plant out 60cm (24in) apart into an ordinary but not rich soil in sun and some shelter. If windy tie to a stake or support.

Hollyhock Malva sylvestris ‘Magic’ is available as seed from Thompson & Morgan

 

Want to know if it is an Alcea or Malva read about Aroids

 

Read Growing Hollyhocks for Fun

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Ant Pest Control in the Garden

Ant Pest Control in the Garden

Ants and aphids on weed in our flower garden

Ants can be an unsightly nuisance and inspire concern. However they do not directly damage plants but are more a sign that you have another pest problem.

Ants eat the honeydew secreted by aphids, scale insects and other pests. So ant go where there is food and are clever enough to farm aphids by carrying them from one plant to another to increase their food supply.

Ants can burrow into the soil of seedlings disturbing roots.


Prevention and Control

  • Ant Killer Gel contain a specially formulated d-phenothrin gel to destroy both ants and ants nests. Ants carry this insecticidal gel deep into the nest to destroy it from within.
  • Generic insects Killer sprays for Fleas, Bed Bugs, Moths, Ants, Wasps, Mosquitoes are available.
  • micro-emulsion formulations  provide a fast and effective way to kill ants and other crawling insects.
  • Amazon range of ant controls
  • Remember no aphids, no food, no ants!
  • Aphid killer and controls from amazon. or read organic control for aphids

 

Photo credit Martin LeBar creative commons license on flickr

Poppy Companion Planting with Vegetables

Poppy Companion Planting with Vegetables

Opium Poppy

Think before you allow poppies to proliferate.
Poppies rob a lot of goodness from your soil.

Poppies and Vegetables

  • Poppies grown close to purple sprouting broccoli and other brassicas will inhibit the plants and reduce your potential crop.
  • Poppies that are planted close together have the ability to kill off other plants.
  • Odd self sown poppies may not have a dramatic effect but better safe than sorry.
  • Beans and Peas that ‘fix’ nitrogen back into the soil may not appear to suffer such an effect but take care with green leaf crops.

Poppies as a Weed

  • The large quantity of seed produced from a few plants can cause poppies to become weed like infestations.
  • If I could convert the latex into a useful crop as they do in Afghanistan it may be another story
  • Seed remains viable in your soil for many years. One years seeding = many years of weeding
  • Long tap roots make some poppies hard to weed. If you break the root you may get two plants next time.

poppy seedheads

Uses of Poppies and Seeds

  • Seed from the opium poppy Papaver somniferum can be crushed to form seed oil.
  • Poppy seeds are used, whole or ground, as an ingredient in many foods such as bread and baked products.
  • Different varieties of poppy seed are used as a spice, a condiment, a decorative garnish and a thickener in food.
  • Seeds can be used in bird seed mixes
  • Poppy is popular in many different international cuisines.
  • The crop is grown for the production of opium, morphine, codeine and the alkaloid thebaine

Related try Growing Poppies from Seed

Garden Wind Problems

Garden Wind Problems

wind swept

Trees shrubs even small plants react to wind. The example of this Yew tree is a bit extreme but you can see the effect of a strong prevailing wind.

Problems Caused By Wind

  • Plants may grow on a slant, leaning away from the wind. This inhibits growth and plants will not reach their full potential.
  • Shrubs and trees  may be distorted not growing  leaves or branches on the windward side.
  • Intermittent wind can cause plants to bend, then grow straight giving stems a twisted or crooked appearance.
  • Wind can be energy sapping for gardeners, so too for plants that have to live in the conditions.
  • ‘Wind rock’ making plants sway at ground level loosens the roots of shrubs like roses and can kill.
  • Strong wind can ‘burn’ young foliage.
  • Strong wind can uproot or blow down trees and plants.

wind swept

Prevent and Cure Wind Problems

  • It seems easy but do not plant in windy locations. If you must, be prepared for wind problems when choosing plants. Opt for low growers, hardy plants and shrubs with an open habit that allows wind to blow through.
  • Use natural barriers as wind breaks. Use hollows, walls, hedges and buildings to create a wind shadow.
  • Stake and tie plants.
  • Protect with barriers such as netting
  • Accept the results of wind damage, it is natural after all.

 

Seed Quizzes – What are These Seedheads

Seed Quizzes – What are These Seedheads

lupin seedheads

Knipfolia seedheads

allium seedheads

peonie seedheads

Teasel seedheads

poppy seedheads

For the answers hover over the photograph. The variety shouldn’t affect how the seed looks but there may be differences in the seedhead itself.

Seeds to use For a Children’s Quiz

  1. A pea is a seed
  2. Sunflower seeds with your breakfast or in your bread are interesting seeds.
  3. Potatoes are seeds or more correctly tubers that act like seeds.
  4. Wild Bird and budgie seed are obviously seeds. They often sprout into grasses or millet.
  5. There are lots of different beans to use in a seed quiz – even baked beans count but they will never germinate as they have been cooked.
  6. Mustard and cress seeds are fun to sow and grow and you soon learn the difference between the two.
  7. Apple or orange pips are easy to collect.
  8. Soft fruit have lots of seed and on strawberries they grow on the outside of the red skin

 

Welcome to Gardeners Tips Blog

Welcome to Gardeners Tips Blog

The original post on 5th April 2008′ was entitled welcome to the Compost Heap.’
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It started off ‘Welcome to our blog of gardening tips and advice.

Articles will vary from simple tip pages to more complex advice about different species or aspects of gardening.’

Update 31 July 2016 from Hortoris

  • In over 8 years we have ‘posted’ over 1600 pages and even more photographs, onto our hobby website.
  • At the peak we were getting over 2000 visitors a day. Until recently that is when Google changed the way we were ranking on some key pages.
  • It is an important motivator to know that our words are being read and our pictures viewed.
  • To win back some of our old viewers we will be upgrading many of the articles and top tips over the next few weeks.
  • We can’t be sure to get it right so if you have any views or contribution to make please let us know on comments below or via twitter. (I am a twitter novice so do not expect miracles just yet)
  • If you think the site is a pile of dung fit only for the compost heap then tell us that as well.

The photographs are pictures of parts of the garden from our upstairs windows.

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How to Use our Blog .

  1. You can always get back to our current page by clicking on the Gardeners Tips Headline.
  2. You can search within the blog and google at the same time by using the custom search facility top right of every page.
  3. We use many categories which can be searched separately eg Dianthus brings up a continuous stream of posts/pages.
  4. To keep loading times down we often use read more buttons which does what it says on the tin I mean button!
  5. This is not a money making blog but if you buy an amazon book we highlight by clicking on the cover or use the affiliates like Thompson & Morgan highlighted in blue we get a very small commission. You always pay the same so it wont cost you.

Some Links
Cycling Uphill

Gods Own County …

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Photos from Waterperry Garden Oxfordshire

Photos from Waterperry Garden Oxfordshire

Waterperry is a small village eight miles east of Oxford. It lies on the River Thame (not to be confused with River Thames), though the Thame does end up feeding into the Thames. The extensive gardens and river-side setting offer a combination of formal gardens, flowing herbaceous borders and wildlife meadows by the river.
Waterperry gardens
Helenium

Waterperry gardens

Mixed border …

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