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18-04-2019, 07:10 PM
11

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by Kazz ->
Geraniums are always nice in troughs you can get upright and trailing and variegated (shades green leaf as well.) I always find a block of colour looks nice in there and if they are by each other location wise a nice block of long lasting colour. Think Mediterranean countries and geraniums flowering there.
Mixed with either trailing ivy or silver leaf (both commonly available ion every garden centre.)Or use them on there own, trailing and upright geraniums.

They go till the first frosts and are somewhat drought resistant, if the leaves start to go yellow increase the watering they don't like soggy soil .
I remember some lovely photos of your garden years ago Kazz.

Do you still have your Acers?
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18-04-2019, 07:25 PM
12

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
Best of luck SG.

I set up three raised bed for the veg patch this year along with some grow bags for potatoes and beans/peas. But I didn't realise how much soil they would need. Bag and bags of compost. Such a lot of work to fill them. But they are great because the snails and slugs just can't get in and I've put netting on top too which helps. I've found two snails so far get stuck in the netting trying to get in but their shells are too big!
Thank you Annie, I know!! it's all paying out at the moment, but I think it's worth it because I expect to get lots of enjoyment watching them all grow, (I hope!)
With the soil, I know it's a huge outlay, but then I think, it's only once for bags and bags of soil. after that, it will hopefully just be the one sack kept in the shed and put on with a hand trowel!!

I did actually read something about the bloomin slug problem. I am saving all my egg shells in a container to sprinkle around the plants as apparently slugs hate them. Also I am going to put ground coffee down as well as they hate it.

I will certainly take note of your tip about the netting. When do you put the netting on Annie? is it in the evenings when you are going back indoors? silly question I know.
Thank you for that tip.


Primus, Thank you - good to know my cheap as chips little greenhouse will be ok for the bedding plants. Must admit, never heard of horticultural fleece!

The plants I've ordered so far are:

Geraniums Best Red
Begonia Evening Glow (Red & Silver leaves)
Several different colours of petunias
Daphne in yellow and orange
Lobelia Midnight Blue and Blue Monsoon
Snowtopia
Alexanders Great
and half a dozen Hostas.

I know I will need more plants but still stuck onworking out height etc.
so not going to rush just yet. I will have more time to plan once I know for definite.
I'm certainly having fun preparing for it though. I bought a smallish wooden wheelbarrow with bright yellow handles, yet another one to buy soil for!!

Kazz, I love Geraniums too, and I prefer a block colour with one contrasting colour. I will be buying some later, but I haven't the room to keep them for 3 weeks at the moment, I'm already worrying whether my cheap as chips mini greenhouse will hold all I've bought already!

Thank you for the tip about the leaves and watering. I've made a note in my book. xx

JBR, bless, thank you. and thank Marge for any tips gratefully received.


Realist.Thanks for the advice. Already tried that with no luck! I even went in search of small gardens being paved, and put in the measurements etc. The websites idea of a small garden certainly differs from mine!! I didn't have any luck. Their "small garden" was three times the area I am working on. I had fun looking at the gardens though.
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18-04-2019, 09:44 PM
13

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
Best of luck SG.

I set up three raised bed for the veg patch this year along with some grow bags for potatoes and beans/peas. But I didn't realise how much soil they would need. Bag and bags of compost. Such a lot of work to fill them. But they are great because the snails and slugs just can't get in and I've put netting on top too which helps. I've found two snails so far get stuck in the netting trying to get in but their shells are too big!
Just for info a 1 sq metre raised bed will need 1000 litres of soil
That’s a lot of bags
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18-04-2019, 09:54 PM
14

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

SG I have the netting on all the time while the seedlings grow to a decent size. It's held down by rocks and old bricks. Poundland do decent packs which are enough for two raised beds.

The original reason for the nets was to keep the cats and dog out of there because when all the compost was put in they thought I was being really kind and making a lovely toileting area, one for each of them! But I've now realised how great it is at keeping snails out. So I am going to wait until the plants outgrow it. Once plants grow to a decent size the snails aren't so likely to devour the whole lot.


I love geraniums, particularly some of the beautiful Pelargonium varieties.
The really good thing about geraniums is that slugs and snails hate them. They do those lovely stacked planting towers in Europe where the geraniums trail in a lovely way. They look amazing. I've seen them in Spain.


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18-04-2019, 09:57 PM
15

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by Rehab44 ->
Just for info a 1 sq metre raised bed will need 1000 litres of soil
That’s a lot of bags
It took 8 or 9 bags each raised bed! I was shocked and I am not even thinking how much each onion and potato will cost when you add it all up! I'm hoping that for this amount of work we will at least have some carrots that are longer than half an inch though.
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19-04-2019, 12:43 AM
16

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by AnnieS ->
It took 8 or 9 bags each raised bed! I was shocked and I am not even thinking how much each onion and potato will cost when you add it all up! I'm hoping that for this amount of work we will at least have some carrots that are longer than half an inch though.
I've come to the conclusion that it's worth growing veggies in buckets (ask a local florist if they've got any spares or buy a cheap load from ebay). Have a look on Home Grown Veg on youtube (overcome your natural disdain of JBR's love for the Yorkshire accent) for tips. Then fill your raised bed with such pots and, if you can be bothered, hide the gaps between them.

If you're that way inclined, you can enrich compost each year and avoid re-using potato soil to prevent blight in subsequent years.
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19-04-2019, 04:04 AM
17

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Hi

Lidl are selling good compost at £1.99 for 40 litres.

SG, not far from you is a lovely little garden centre, cheap as chips.

It is run by mother and daughter and they are very knowledgeable.

They do homemade cakes and scones and you can walk around their garden.

A lovely day out, only open weekdays.

https://www.yell.com/biz/buzzy-bee-n...hurch-7789530/
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19-04-2019, 10:12 AM
18

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Hi SG.

Marge has been very busy but has now written what advice she feels she can offer:

Most important determinants about what you should chose are

i) Soil type
ii) Light/shade
iii) What effort you are able to commit (some plants need more effort than others)
iv) What you like in terms of appearance, colour schemes etc

Give some thought to whether you want perennials, which will come again next year and all you will need to do is add a thick layer of compost mulch to the baskets and troughs, or annuals which will die and need replacing next year. Annuals tend to be more colourful and prolific (although not always!). Perennials are easier in terms of having to replant (or not). Some perennials are colourful in terms of foliage rather than having big flowers, having a whole range of greens, browns and even black interesting leaves – e.g. Heuchera plum pudding.

Nasturtiums (annuals) are lovely for a hanging basket or for troughs as they are very prolific and will give you seeds for next year. They will give you warm Mediterranean colours (yellows, reds, oranges) so pick more upright plants that will complement such colours (white, deep purple, variegated green varieties of ivy) rather than clash (pinks). This is all subjective though because what you think goes might not be what someone else would choose.

For climbers, you can’t go wrong with sweet peas (annuals) and they have a lovely fragrance.

A greenhouse is fine for avoiding frost at this time of year. You can Google to find out when the last frosts are due in your area.

All the info you need is on the internet but you’ll need to set aside some time to research.
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19-04-2019, 10:19 AM
19

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

Originally Posted by Rehab44 ->
Just for info a 1 sq metre raised bed will need 1000 litres of soil
That’s a lot of bags
Hi Rehab, that's interesting to know. I guess that will mean a few trips to bring them home in the boot!

Annie, thanks for the info re netting. I think I have the pefect thing. I have just bought a new fly screen for the back door with automatic closing as my old one had a small tear on the bottom due to the little dogs coming and going. The automatic closing will make a perfect weight for putting over the 2 troughs.
One thing though if you wouldn't mind me asking, you mentioned "seeds", I will have plants. The netting won't damage the leaves will it?

What a beautiful display of geraniums! I only wish we had their amount of sunshine.

You're very brave to grow vegetables. I suppose it does work out expensive to begin with, but I'm sure the taste of your own home-grown veggie must make it all worthwhile. well done you, and anyone who can grow veggies successfully. Me, I have managed to kill every indoor plant over the years, so when I decided to do this, have to admit HWMO raised his eyebrows to the sky.
Still, if at first ........

Swimmy, thanks for that info. Its only 23 miles to that garden centre, so have made a note of it. It sounds a lovely place. Hidden treasure as I hadn't heard of it. I much prefer smaller, more personal garden centres, they seem to be much friendlier and take the time to chat about things that one needs to know.

I will certainly be buying the compost from Lidl, as it's a fantastic price at the moment, 40 litres for £1.49.
But, if it was for growing vegetables, unfortunately I wouldn't use it. My brother told me that their compost bags are the cheapest, but apparently, people were complaining of a really strong industrial smell, similar to crude oil, or creosote when the bags were opened. apparently, it has been discovered that the cause of this smell is that it comes from green waste, and as we all know, there's plenty of weedkiller and toxic stuff on grass cuttings!!

It will be perfect for my needs though as only growing blooms and shrubs.
So once again, thanks for the valuable tips.
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19-04-2019, 11:04 AM
20

Re: Hanging baskets and raised beds advice please.

SG if you have bedding plants that are or soon will be above the level of the raised bed edge then I wouldn't recommend netting. It's very good for protecting bulbs and seedlings.
 
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