Your Garden 2022

Its carrot fly I think. Not much you can do about it at this stage. More to the point is preventing it happening next year - there is loads of advice on line and most people have their own pet theories including interplanting with smelly plants like marigolds or onions, putting a barrier round the bed - the fly tends to work at a low altitude and a foot high barrier can prevent them finding the plants, and not handling the carrot foliage - for example to thin them, sow thinly to start with.

Meanwhile harvest the crop and save any that are completely unaffected (not many, usually) and cut out the bad bits to use or freeze the carrots.

I’ve been following the weather on and off for the past while, it seems like we’re having one of the wettest winters of late, lots if saturated soils. It’ll be interesting to see what’ll come back next spring in the garden. I’d be interested in hearing the stories of others! Keeping an eye on my drainage loving plants, half thinking I should dig them up, other half saying I’ve given them enough grit (in my NW Donegal heavy clay) leave them as an experiment and learn from that. I’ve taken cuttings anyways to be sure!

Im holding all bulbs back till the end of the month, hoping for colder drier weather.

As for the garden at the moment, roses in full bloom covered in aphids, lupins and geraniums are back and happy out, the world’s definitely going a bit mad, seems like July on the 1st of November.

I got the shock of my life today when I was out mulching to see my lavender coming back too! Mad!

What are good plants to put in planter boxes for the winter months?

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have said flowers rather than plants.

I have two planter boxes at the front of the house and would like to put some flowers in there that will survive the winter!

They probably won't survive till spring, plant them now, you have nothing to lose and while they may be a bit late they will be better than not planting them. I still have daffodils and alliums to plant, you have just reminded me 😀

Do you plant 50kg of seed potatoes every year?

i’ve tried some Carolus this year and it was hit & miss. One plant could be great and the next one could have only small potatoes (walnut size)

Got the tulips down today.

Ye better get the fleeces out and start mulching, take anything particularly tender in, by the sounds of it something’s brewing across in the weather forum for next weekend❄️❄️🥶☃️

Chardonney?, Blue Nun?, Pinot Grigio?

As for the rest, it is December. And even in mid-summer, unless you have an Conservatory you are not likely to get lemons!

Loads of my carrots got destroyed with carrot fly this year - planning to move them a bit this year and maybe cover them if I can but are there carrot-fly resistant varieties that anyone can recommend?

If ye don't need great numbers of carrots, grow them in large planter pots. Never a fly problem there, but grown in the ground nearby has had flies show up.

When you set them out matters, too. Not before 25 may. Also, I put 1 seed in a dirt filled loo roll and start them that way.reduces the need to thin

There is likely to be a cement ledge at the bottom of that wall so you need to put your sleeper border far enough out from the wall to be able to plant in front of the ledge. Also you tend to get a rain shadow at the bottom of a wall like that so don't plant anything that needs a lot of watering. And avoid plants that prefer acid soil (azalias, summer flowering heathers etc.) as the cement will have a lime effect on the soil.

Having said that, you will need some support on the wall. I would avoid wooden trellis, it breaks up after a couple of seasons and if you put in a strong growing plant (honeysuckle, clematis montana) they will pull it down. A lot of the honeysuckles would not appreciate a full sun wall anyway, a few do. Put up a properly installed wires and vine eyes system before you start planting and it will last for years. Get the woven wire, its easier to manage than the fencing wire. Get it stretched really tight so it doesn't sag.

Having said all that...clematis would be good, choose plants that will flower at different times so you have a long display, there are spring, summer, autumn, winter (I have one coming into flower at the moment) plants. They mostly like full sun though clematis montana, especially the white one, is extremely vigorous and will be happy in part shade. I'd be inclined to avoid it. Do put something - a piece of paving slab for example - over the roots of clematis, they don't like to be warm, but the stems up will be fine. Roses would do well there. If you are prepared for a bit of actual gardening sweet peas would be lovely, lots of flowers and lovely scent but you have to be prepared to plant them every year and look after them a bit. You could put up an occasional panel of trellis for them, they are not heavy and need plenty of support, those decorative willow panels would be nice, maybe space four or so of them at intervals along the wall, behind the wire. Insects and birds love pyrocantha, flowers in summer, berries in autumn/winter. Very thorny so beware if you have kids with footballs. I'm sure there will be other suggestions, these are a few off the top of my head and dinner prep for visitors calls!

If you are getting wisteria get the Japanese rather than the Chinese version. The Chinese one has insipid flowers and is insanely vigorous.

Time for new thread... 2023?

Good gardening weather at the moment. Soft ground is a chance to pull out some established plants before they get growing. I am going to put in some roses, never bothered with them before