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Gardening

Is it the Manchester or black poplar?

Manchester is a named black poplar cultivar, but although it may be down to the age of the trees, the bark looks wrong - it looks all but smooth (like beech). I also don't think that Manchester is fastigiate, but a normal spreading poplar???????
 
Anyone interested in half-hardy and "exotic" plants?
I really like anything growing from a bulb, corm or tuber, in particular Zingiberaceae, Crinums, and South African bulbs, but also anything with a scent (Eucharis, for instance). I grow loads from seed but also buy dry bulbs etc.

In the past few years some really unusual and exotic plants have become very, very cheap - check out Himalayan Gardens' stock and prices. In many cases the plants are cheap because they are field-grown in warm parts of the S hemisphere - Africa or and/or Asia. This probably means that many of the plants fail as people do not appreciate what is going on, so how long the trade will persist..........

The very first Hedychium that I bought as a dry rhizome took 3 years to produce a shoot and had to be kept warm and gently moist for all that time (basically indoors in a large pot inside a large plastic bag). Most Hedychiums need many weeks or a few months. I have a Tupistra nutans that has just started into growth which was bought early this year - the shoot is now around 15mm tall. Scadoxus multiflorus should be a summer-growing bulb, but imported bulbs are all over the place - I bought 3 early this year and 1 produced a flower and a set of leaves within several weeks, the second was several weeks behind and the third is a "dormant" bud just above the top dressing.

I also import bulbs occasionally, from RSA, and 3 Crossyne bulbs (a plant of arid SA areas) are just now growing to season after 2 years of essentially no growth at all. They have had to be kept JUST damp to stop them drying-up completely, for that time (they are also potted in sand/grit, with just a hint of humus, in clay pots, so that they can't stay very damp for very long.
 
I went through a phase of growing dahlias, it’s quite fun to focus on a species like that, with lots of cultivars. I’ve also tried cannas but I found that they flowered too late to be rewarding, as if the flower came at a time of year when I was no longer using the garden - they would be better at the front of the house maybe.

Oh and I’ve tried aeoniums - I saw some large ones in a window box in Notting Hill and was very impressed, they seemed to keep going for a few years there. But they didn’t like me, they just stayed small, looked moribund and eventually gave up the ghost.
 
All half or barely hardy @mandryka.
One, if not the, centre of distribution for Aeoniums is the Canaries - warm/hot and dry, poor soils.

As for your Cannas - similar to the Hedychium here - mine are in an unheated greenhouse for the winter, where they are only slightly damper than bone-dry, which means they start into growth too late in the spring to make blooms, so althogh the species that I have are scented ones, only occassionally do I see a bloom. The answer is simple - heat the greenhouse to 5C or so and keep them damp during the winter. Like Canna, they also dislike strong light - far better in a shade house for the real growing season.

Cannas are like so very many of the exotics that are popular now - Alocassia, Pseudophallus, and other aroids in particular - they need to be pot-grown and planted out as large plants as soon as the frosts are past.

Several of the Hedychium are hardy enough to survive in a warm and dry spot in a garden if they are heavily mulched - Calke Abbey has at least a couple that grow like topsy in an unheated conservatory set against one wall of the walled garden - I've never seen them in flower so don't know the species, but quite possibly gardenerianum.
 
That was a good watch Gav, thanks. I very much like what he's doing there and could listen to him talk a lot I think. One of those soothing voices like Monty has and seems a jolly decent fella too.

'£400,000: formerly a lot of money' was funny.

He didn't really say much about no-dig itself, but then I suppose there isn't a fat lot beyond don't dig and pile on compost. Must make a cover for mine as they're getting doubly soggy with all the rain on top of me peeing on them.

I saw him speaking in mid Wales once, he was very interesting and indeed his voice is very soothing . We use his methods in our garden and polytunnel with decent results.
I went off him during covid when he joined the anti lockdown / tin hat brigade. I now get my gardening fix from Liz Zorab and Stephanie Haggerty on Youtube who use the same methods.
Happy gardening
Tony
 
Raised beds turned over and raked today...

Greenhouse is full of roses and fuscias in pots and the last of the Bell peppers and scotch bonnet chillis!

All that's left in the ground now is parsnips, beetroot, cavelo nero and a few random bits of chard and spinach...

Last of the carrots are in the over roasting as I type this ;)
 
Chillies ? I have a load growing several different types , First time for me , What do I do with them , They look ready to pick.
Any advice on storing so they don't rot away.
 
Any advice on storing so they don't rot away.

DO NOT pick them.

Pull the plants up. clean any soil/compost from the roots and hang the whole plant by the roots somewhere cool, dry and not too brightly lit. That way they should slowly dry and the chillies be usable for years.
 
They look ready to pick.

I have a few left in the g/house (Jalapenos). We've simply frozen them in the past (green and red) and years later, slightly crinkly, they're fine to add to dishes though a bit sodden (can be washed/dried on kitchen towel). I'd think that hanging chilli plants for yonks would culminate in dried chillies.
 
I have a few left in the g/house (Jalapenos). We've simply frozen them in the past (green and red) and years later, slightly crinkly, they're fine to add to dishes though a bit sodden (can be washed/dried on kitchen towel). I'd think that hanging chilli plants for yonks would culminate in dried chillies.
It certainly would in the right climate, because that's exactly what they do in southern Italy. It might work in the UK.
 
I don't use fresh chilli very much, but do freeze shop-boughts. Like all frozen foods, they do desicate somewhat as the ice sublimes over months of storage. I would not mop any thawed ones as you will be mopping up flavour as well as water.

I have also seen UK chillies "stored" by simply allowing the compost of potted plants go to powdery dryness and leaving the chillies on the plants.
 
Good autumn colour in the garden today


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(oops -- bin in photo!)

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@Vinny and other experienced gardeners. I have a brown turkey in a container -- it seems fine, I get maybe three figs a year. Would I get a bigger crop if I put it in the ground?
 
LLLOL - VERY few leaves left on anything at all around here...........

You've some cracking leaf-growth on the lilies :)

Brown Turkey is THE cultivar to grow in the UK - superb flavour, not as good as the best figs from the E Med', but close.

Figs are VERY thirsty - a bit weird for a fruit associated with deserts. If you search online, you will find data for field crops in places like Califiornia, where exactly how thirsty they are becomes obvious. If memory serves, they are also very hungry plants as well.

So, in a pot - treat like a bog plant when in active growth and strip the second (early spring) crop of immature fruits, off the tree once it goes dormant (about now).

You are probably well aware, but planting figs in the ground has MUCH folklore associated with it. A common one says to bury a Gladstone bag and plant the tree in that. These days, restricting root-run to a cubic metre or so seems a common suggestion - dig the "pit", line with paving stones, back-fill and plant.
 
LLLOL - VERY few leaves left on anything at all around here...........

You've some cracking leaf-growth on the lilies :)

Brown Turkey is THE cultivar to grow in the UK - superb flavour, not as good as the best figs from the E Med', but close.

Figs are VERY thirsty - a bit weird for a fruit associated with deserts. If you search online, you will find data for field crops in places like Califiornia, where exactly how thirsty they are becomes obvious. If memory serves, they are also very hungry plants as well.

So, in a pot - treat like a bog plant when in active growth and strip the second (early spring) crop of immature fruits, off the tree once it goes dormant (about now).

You are probably well aware, but planting figs in the ground has MUCH folklore associated with it. A common one says to bury a Gladstone bag and plant the tree in that. These days, restricting root-run to a cubic metre or so seems a common suggestion - dig the "pit", line with paving stones, back-fill and plant.

I may as well leave it in the pot by the sound of it, rather than restrict its root run -- the pot's 50L, I could always put it in a 150L one. The real advantage of having it in the container is that it tells you loud and proud when it needs water, so I use it as a good indicator for irrigation needs/problems.

The lilies are very happy! And a happy lily makes a happy gardener.
 
I don't use fresh chilli very much, but do freeze shop-boughts. Like all frozen foods, they do desicate somewhat as the ice sublimes over months of storage. I would not mop any thawed ones as you will be mopping up flavour as well as water.

I have also seen UK chillies "stored" by simply allowing the compost of potted plants go to powdery dryness and leaving the chillies on the plants.

This

Ours got a watering last week and that's it now. They're in the dark end of the greenhouse and I'll let them fully dry out
 
I’ll try the bigger pot. I’ve just ordered a 160L so it can stretch its legs out. I will report back next August - or maybe August 2024.
 


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