The garden centers are open. I have spent my working life with plants and even though I have been self isolating - I have taken a chance three times.
I went to a supermarket in search of bedding - I won't name the supermarket as staff doing their best. The Garden part was different, hardly anyone trying to keep the Two Yards + Six Inch social distancing - I felt very uneasy.
Anyway I have made that point and I have some news or advice for people on here who like gardening - All my working life was with plants.
Bedding Plants hardly in existence with staff laid off, not many have been grown.- So hardly any for sale.
Geraniums and Fuchsia plants are a great substitute for bedding, if it comes to it - certain perennials can be used to provide colour,,
Bedding plants may be available later, but I have grabbed what I can now and with Fuchsia and Geranium plants, the garden should be fine.
Back to my main point : If you go for plants - Take care, you may practice social distancing, not everyone does though.
Keep eyes open and buy your plants - keep safe, don't rely on others bothering about your safety.
Most Garden centers are fine - rules are in place.
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Ern007
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The staff try, but out of sight some people just don't think.. Garden centers only are the best, because it's just one range off goods - I felt uneasy in both.
Hello Ern, thank you for your advice. I'm a keen gardener and like to use perennials rather than bedding. I grow sweet peas and nicotiana from seed and buy fuchsias for hanging baskets. This year I've reused the ivy from my winter baskets instead of buying trailing plants and they're looking fine. Stay well.
I am using Ivy also Ghounds - instead of hanging bedding. I have no luck with Sweet Peas at all, but the Tobacco Plants you mention can grow huge,, Good luck with your garden. My post was not to scare, but to urge care, No blame but some people don't think. keep safe and enjoy your garden.
I find the opposite Ern, the sweet peas do well from a spring sowing, even picked some mid October last year though they weren't big flowers by then, but the nicotiana don't do so well. Soil maybe? I'm on heavy clay....been here five years and slowly improving it. I think your post was spot on. Gardens are a joy and your professional life must have brought pleasure to so many.
Interesting Ghounds - when first married many years ago, we had a garden back and from full of clay and yes, our sweet peas did well. We moved twice since them and sweet peas just do not like us, or should I say our light soil with no clay.. Thank's for that post.. Ern
Muck is not what it used to be. I ordered a few bags online in March and it was bagged sealed and sanitised. the best was the old much from farmyards, that helped things to grow. I use a lot of compost as my soil is so light, get a bit of sun and wind, it's bone dry..
I was thinking more of farm or stable manure, I'm semi rural so it's in plentiful supply! Mine was waterlogged or actually under water in places all winter now it's cracked and solid in places! Can't win!
Yes that's what i used to use, stable manure the best, the bagged stuff is not that good, I am rural but getting the stuff is not easy - they don't bring and I just have a small Chevvy.
As we are not allowed out I have ordered some plants online, so far they have been pretty good so I have just placed quite a large order and am keeping my fingers crossed.
After reading what you have written and what we have heard I think we might be avoiding garden centres for quite some time.
Mydexter - I am not slagging off supermarkets - but their pants in larger supermarkets are separate from the main store which are correctly queued. But I found the Garden Center Part was different and people just did not all observe social distancing - not the supermarkets fault, it was people not thinking at best and not caring at worst..
I have ordered online with mixed results. Bluebell nursery's great and You Garden fantastic and reliable, but some very slow and I have cancelled some orders, taking to many orders with not enough stock. I have just wrote and asked what does part invoiced mean in my long standing order, and some out of stock.. Dose that apply to me I asked in e mail.. Amazon has been a decent source - i would say online ordering has been 75% good. Patsy10 most garden centers are fine, look at how they queue and that gives an idea. keep safe and well Ern.
Dont get me started about Tescos.My husband does the shopping and he wont go there any more because of the behaviour of others.In fairness though Im sure not all branches are the same.
We don't shop at Tesco, in fact we get deliveries as medical problems made shopping harder, virus or not. some outlets have separate garden areas away from main building whoo do a good job, it's people some don't care, they just walk into you, next to you and there is plenty of space.. Gets me very annoyed also that some can be so thoughtless,
Yep, there's always some inconsiderate selfish people around -not just in shops.I stopped going for walks as I was getting too stressed about the number of people who werent observing social distancing.
To be honest I live in a village and 99% on observe social distancing, we have a local small supermarket which I won't go in though. Small. We have a new Bargain Booze which is also a convenience store and I must say the guide lines are 1st class as are 99% of customers. Yesterday I ventured into the town I used to live in and was different - Unless it was me picked a poorish day or being fussy. We have 6 huge supermarkets within a 4 mile radius, but we but delivery, much safer. I suppose I chose a day when people was more occupied looking at plants than observing the 2 yards plus 5 inch social distancing..
I live in a small town. Last weekend people were buying takeaway food and sitting in the central square in grlups,eating it.Some even had a picnic blanket!!!I had to make a detour to avoid them. I grew up in a village -at times I wish I still lived there!
I bought my seeds last autumn, I haven't had great results saving seeds. I think they have to be completely dry before you store them and I don't seem to manage that somehow.
You have to mainly let the seeds mature on the plant which if saving a lot, means you can't dead head, I grew Fuchsia for a living and I found it hard to store seeds, they are like a fruit and hard to know without a lot off trouble, when they are ready for storing which should with any seed, be in a paper bag.
Also unlike cutting lots of seeds self gathered do not grow true, good example aquilegia from say a yellow and white, you can bet saved seeds will be back to roots blue.. Foxglove no need to save, they self sow.. very hit and miss, cuttings where possible you get the best results and 100% of the parent plant features.
I let my aquilegia and foxgloves self seed and get a good colour range, I do like to dead head to keep the flowers coming. I've had success with keeping honesty seeds, they're dry by Autumn anyway!
Interesting I love aquilegia but they are not long lived and seed themselves, I always got blue flowers every time.
A virus wiped them out and a new small horrible aquilegia came on the market, I note now you can buy more decent plants, My village gardens are full of aquilegia nowhere near as nice as dandelion's . Have you never noticed they went missing for a while?
Being a cottage gardener Ghounds - You will have noticed how aquilegias have changed due to the almost complete wipe out of the plants. I know some quality is coming back but where I live the purple variety in particular is small and produces a lot of blooms which does not look good - On the other had I do see an improvement with nice long spurs like they used to have..
I loved the plants with Foxglove two of my favourites, we bought a very nice on last week.
This probably will be of interest to you, it explains what I have been saying about the plant almost being wiped out..
Thank you Ern, I will definitely take a look at that later. I had a look at my own aquilegias this morning as you got me thinking! They all seem fine but one has tiny dark pink and white spiky flowers, just popped up this year. It's definitely an aquilegia as the leaves are the same as the others. I wouldn't say the flowers are too impressive but they're certainly unusual.I like to plant things the pollinators will be able to use so foxgloves are a particular favourite.
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White Barn
Spring gardening
WHAT A JUXTAPOSITION TO BE GRATEFUL FOR
Very depressed and Covid-19 spreading in my area near Seattle.