Beginners: Sow something easy from seed now!

[toggle]

right, suggest something that will cope with a lack of non being rained on watering for a few weeks. I'm moving in a few weeks and I want to have the front garden looking nice, but i really can't get up there every day to water them, is there anything that i'm likely to be able to get away with just sticking in and ignoring, considering the ground is pretty damp. i'ts south facing, small flower beds, soggy as a wet biscuit.

i just want something that looks nice as i pull up to the house and look at it.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Do you have a very high water table where you are, or a spring? Is it soggy because rainwater can't drain away because it's on clay? Unless this is so, if you don't water, it's probably not a damp garden at all. What is growing there already if anything? My usual advice would be that with established Mediterranean plants you'll be OK but you must get things off to a good start with regular watering untill a good root system is established. Not until then can you abandon watering. Borrow copies of Beth Chatto's excellent books 'The Damp Garden' and 'The Dry Garden' from the library and read up.

 

[Cakes]

Pot Marigolds (Calendula)
Dead easy...another good one to sow with kids...easy to handle and plant, cannot fail if watered, and nicely weird looking seeds.

They come in loads of varieties and there are interesting mixtures easily available.

Ooo I've planted loads of these, I hope their as successful as you say. I only seem to have a 1 in 3 success rate with growing from seed.

I heard that they have narcotic properties, do you reckon that's true?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

No it's not. You can make a healing and soothing ointment from Calendula.

 

[friedaweed]

We bought 3 of the packs at Wilkos today for 49p each. Cheers for the recommendations. Can you recommend any tall flowering plants?

This is the daddy of all sunflowers. Forget your Russian giant these babies will do 15ft in large pots. In the ground your mother will forgive you for selling the cow to that fat bloke at the flea market.
The Cyclops

My nipper shocked the primary school sunflower compo after dad swapped the birdseed offering her teacher had given her with one of these. We had to get the lollypop lady to hold up the traffic for 15 mins whilst we carried it lengthways across the road
Can anyone say competitive parent.
It your kids in a compo and you can’t get any of these drop me a PM we have a few left Especially if your up agains a bunch of toff kids

Another big plant that takes a bit of growing but is easy to germ is this one.

Echium pininana
Family: Boraginaceae (Half-hardy biennial) A magnificent plant, giant spikes up to 12 ft high packed with funnel shaped bright blue flowers, rise on stout stems from a rosette of lance shaped,rough, silvery green leaves. Surrounded by bees and butterflies all day long. Endemic to La Palma (Canary Islands) Easy. Toxic. 2.4-2.6m (8-12 ft) Sun / well drained.

They are really nice plants when mature.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I've got Echium pininana alba Snow Tower (still just in a packet of seed though). They won't succeed planted straight in the ground in the UK though. They have a germination temperature of about 68F which must be constant till they germinate. An airing cupboard is no good as they need light to germinate. A heated propagator is best. They need overwintering somewhere for the first year and protection in winter thereafter with straw or bracken over the plant in the flowerbed.

<edited to add>
I wouldn't recommend them to a beginner.

 

[sparkling]

Tell me more. What's under the tree? Grass? Earth? Is it a nice place to sit?

The tree sprang up all by its self smack in the middle of a border. Its in a sunny site and has some plants growing around the sides but its in front of it thats bare because of the roots I suspect.

I was going to give up trying to plant things because of the roots and instead put some pots but just wondered if you knew of anything that doesn't mind sharing its space with tree roots.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The main problem about planting under trees is dry shade. The things that do best are things that are in active growth when the tree is not, like spring flowering bulbs, crocus, snowdrops etc. I suspect your tree is not one you'd want, like sodding Sycamore which can self seed anywhere and then choke everything else out....find out what kind of tree it is. Unless it's something nice and/or small even after 20 years, get it out now. Not all trees are good to have.

 

[sparkling]

The main problem about planting under trees is dry shade. The things that do best are things that are in active growth when the tree is not, like spring flowering bulbs, crocus, snowdrops etc. I suspect your tree is not one you'd want, like sodding Sycamore which can self seed anywhere and then choke everything else out....find out what kind of tree it is. Unless it's something nice and/or small even after 20 years, get it out now. Not all trees are good to have.

Its an Ash tree and a few years ago I did have a tree surgeon who said that it came from a bigger Ash somewhere nearby and the bloody thing does tend to send up baby ones all over the place which I have to pull out before they get a hold.

Apparently the root system is fairly near the house so it needs careful pruning before chopping down. I actually don't mind it as it shades in the morning but is fine in the morning....for us...my poor neighbours get all the shade in the afternoon which is unfair on them. I need to save some money and get the surgeon back to do some more pruning.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'd be really tempted to get rid of it. Actually I wouldn't be tempted, I'd just do it. How big is it?

 

[past caring]

I had great success last year with Morning Glory -- it really is idiot-proof!

My problem with it is I'm too successful. Bloody things self-seeded the year before last and ended up choking various clematis and roses.....

 

[Mrs Magpie]

A very useful skill is being able to identify plants when they're still seedlings.....gives you the chance to hoick out unwanted stuff before it's a problem.

 

[aqua]

how the hell do you learn that though?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Observation.

 

[ernestolynch]

A long lost skill in this age of instant gratification.

 

[sparkling]

I'd be really tempted to get rid of it. Actually I wouldn't be tempted, I'd just do it. How big is it?

As big as the house.

How much do you think a good tree person should charge for chopping it down?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I have no idea...sorry.
<edited to add> I've taken out loads of Sycamore in my time but never anything bigger than about 15-20 feet tall.

 

[aqua]

Observation.

I meant where do I start?

 

[past caring]

Well, aside from "observation" in the sense of knowing exactly what the seedling is, there's a more basic method of "observation".

Was something there last year?

If so, is this a returning perennial?

Did I plant it? Do I want it?

If the answer to all the above is "no", you don't need to worry about identifying exactly whether you're getting rid of a plane seedling or a chestnut seedling. Just get rid of it.

Serves me well.

 

[aqua]

I like that approach

 

[gaijingirl]

Yes that's the approach I took this winter on digging up in the new flat I moved into.. I appear to have dug up all kinds of stuff - including rather a large harvest of potatoes...

S'gonna be a slow learning curve I think!!

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Sweet Peas!

I'm particularly keen on the antique/grandiflora ones, 'cos they smell nicer.

 

[_pH_]

As big as the house.

How much do you think a good tree person should charge for chopping it down?

Depends on whether it needs sectional felling or can be felled in one go. Also depends on access for a chipper etc. Probably cost you around £300.

 

[_pH_]

Can you recommend any tall flowering plants?

I like this:

Ligularia przewalskii. Lovely foliage. Needs damp ground though.

Or this:

Acanthus mollis.

I likes me foliage, me.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Acanthus mollis is pretty easy from seed too.

 

[kazza23]

How about under a tree where this is not much sun?- actually there is never much sun in half my garden, so any plants that like the shade?

 

[Mrs Magpie]

There are loads of plants that do well, nay thrive in shade. pretty much all the woodland plants. I'll post a long list soon, probably Thursday night but I'll be starting a different thread....I only came online to check my PMs and emails.....

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Quick list of 481 shade loving roses, some of which climb trees. Go here and select 'shade tolerant'. Please bear in mind though, shade tolerant means 'can thrive with less than 6 hrs sun' but probably not less than 4 hrs dappled sun.

 

[fat hamster]

There are loads of plants that do well, nay thrive in shade. pretty much all the woodland plants. I'll post a long list soon, probably Thursday night but I'll be starting a different thread....

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Plants for Shade.

I said I'd do this as a thread on Thursday but I spent the whole day in the garden* (and not the shady one either )

A lovely shady garden I have seen, even though it was 'going over' and starting to prepare for autumn was Carol Klein's garden in Devon. There was a pale blue Hydrangea under a tree and it was reflecting back every bit of available light and looked ghostly and beautiful under the shade of the trees behind it. I can't remember what variety it was at all. I just remember what an arresting, but serene part of her garden that corner was.

The first thing I'd do with a shady spot is to maximise any light there is. If it's a yard surrounded by brick buildings, if possible paint the walls a pale colour to reflect rather than absorb any light.

Shade under trees is harder to do well as it is often dry shade. In a woodland setting this is counteracted by a thick layer of leaf litter. Improve the soil as much as possible with an annual mulch of leaf mould or compost.

Don't forget that green is a colour too, and there are lots of plants with beautiful foliage colour and form.

Here's a really good link to be getting on with....I'm really busy today...more later as William would say....


http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/jardin/en/info_verte/ombre/ombre.htm



*working, not lolling about, I'll have you know.