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Gardening Advice
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Caught this little bar-steward on the lilies earlier. Capable of causing absolute devastation. Ha, but not this particular one.
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We suffer from them also, hate using the spray so you have to catch them 'red ' handed or bodied, disappear if you let them drop to the ground, sneaky devils.0
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I dont like to spray or kill anything, I do try to let nature take its course.
What I try to have is healthy plants, I dont know if this really makes a difference but we do have a lot of toads/frogs and the occasional hedgehog so I might have a bit of the gardening right.
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I’ve started using coffee grounds to protect my succulents. I’m reluctant to use traditional slug pellets in case the dog eats them and because my sense of tolerance to all living things is just about stretching to slugs. Seems to be helping although I’ll tell you better in a few weeks. Haven’t yet found a more palatable alternative to good old Roseclear to prevent black spot and bugs in my beloved roses yet so open to suggestions.1
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Update on my Buxus caterpillar infestation problem: the good news is that upon learning about this South East problem of buxus moths having arrived from Asia and destroying all buxus plants in their path, my quick response of daily picking off each and every caterpillar and spraying the remaining plants worth saving with the insecticide spray seems to have done the trick (for now). If you see your buxus plants turning brown, it's highly likely you'll find them being eaten by the buxus caterpillar - green with several black dots on their back. You need to act fast and dedicate time twice daily to rifle through the plant and roots to identify these cleverly camouflaged caterpillars, remove them and spray the plants.
You have been warned!0 -
Had two ornamental buxus utterly shredded within 48 hours two or three years ago. Went to the garden centre to get some spray to discover empty shelves and a couple of people scratching their heads. One bloke said he had a 30 yard long ornamental hedge literally disappear before his eyes. He was beside himself poor sod. The shelves had been emptied as it was going round like wildfire. My hedges were beyond saving unfortunately.meldrew66 said:Update on my Buxus caterpillar infestation problem: the good news is that upon learning about this South East problem of buxus moths having arrived from Asia and destroying all buxus plants in their path, my quick response of daily picking off each and every caterpillar and spraying the remaining plants worth saving with the insecticide spray seems to have done the trick (for now). If you see your buxus plants turning brown, it's highly likely you'll find them being eaten by the buxus caterpillar - green with several black dots on their back. You need to act fast and dedicate time twice daily to rifle through the plant and roots to identify these cleverly camouflaged caterpillars, remove them and spray the plants.
You have been warned!0 -
Yep, it’s a huge and potentially fatal problem for all Buxus plants in the UK unless they find a way to kill off the moths. I suspect that will not be possible. At the moment the problem is only in the South East but it’s gradually creeping northwards and is not receiving much publicity. I’m surprised that it hasn’t featured on the Tv gardening programmes; probably because there’s no way of preventing the problem, only how to try and deal with it.Sillybilly said:
Had two ornamental buxus utterly shredded within 48 hours two or three years ago. Went to the garden centre to get some spray to discover empty shelves and a couple of people scratching their heads. One bloke said he had a 30 yard long ornamental hedge literally disappear before his eyes. He was beside himself poor sod. The shelves had been emptied as it was going round like wildfire. My hedges were beyond saving unfortunately.meldrew66 said:Update on my Buxus caterpillar infestation problem: the good news is that upon learning about this South East problem of buxus moths having arrived from Asia and destroying all buxus plants in their path, my quick response of daily picking off each and every caterpillar and spraying the remaining plants worth saving with the insecticide spray seems to have done the trick (for now). If you see your buxus plants turning brown, it's highly likely you'll find them being eaten by the buxus caterpillar - green with several black dots on their back. You need to act fast and dedicate time twice daily to rifle through the plant and roots to identify these cleverly camouflaged caterpillars, remove them and spray the plants.
You have been warned!0 -
It has featured on gardeners World, Monty Don said you are fighting a losing battle with the disease you can suppress it but never beat it. A lot of garden centres will not sell box now, Ilex being the replacement choice.0
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There is an effective treatment, Xentari, but some from amazon. I noticed one of my boxes was browning and caned it with the spray last year, the fuckers were back this year and I did the same again, it takes a lot longer than a year for the green to come back though so like Monty says. You are only ever containing it0
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Apparently its advisable not to cut/clip buxus at the moment as it attracts the critters...I have a lot but its thus far unscathed here in battle0
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While I am here ..anyone know of a good way to get rid of rabbits..humanely or otherwise0
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Angry Jack Russell, (not the wicket keeper)lolwray said:While I am here ..anyone know of a good way to get rid of rabbits..humanely or otherwise3 -
My Yucca has flowered. It did a similar thing a couple of years ago, grew a stork but it never came to much. Probably because of the time of year but this year we moved it to a different place in the garden and it's produced that.14 -
I tried my hand at a bit of topiary in 2017. This was gonna be a duck / chicken / bird / sitting on a nest.
The dreaded blight then hit and it was to remain forever 'bird with exploding head'.
I removed the whole thing
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On a brighter note I took this close up of a rose I admire in the garden, it's called Double Delight.
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We also have the buxus box hedge caterpillar problem in our garden here in the Cotswolds. First noticed it about a year ago in the Spring after we moved in as the leaves in sections of a 40 yard border hedge suddenly seemed to be disappearing rapidly. Have been fighting back with various sprays and cutting out the dead areas. In most places the hedge is growing back around and over the areas cut out. Am keeping fingers crossed that we have it under control but we will see.0
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Looks like raspberry ripple ice cream.Raith_C_Chattonell said:On a brighter note I took this close up of a rose I admire in the garden, it's called Double Delight.4 -
Grand Arum has made it through the roses. Spectacular thing. Apparently it stinks!
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Here's a good tip for ya.
When sewing seeds like tomatoes or radish for example, take a pencil with a slightly dampened eraser and dab at one seed at a time. You can then plant them out neatly like little soldiers in a row.
And in the best traditions of Blue Peter, here's one I did earlier - although I could've done it better tbf.
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With a nod to the orange kit debate this is a pot of orange geraniums0
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Added a fig and an olive tree both in large pots this year, in my mind they're now locked in a race to produce the first fruit , wife bought two eucalyptus trees also in pots at the same time which I dare not get the watering regime wrong.1
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I paid £3-50 for the container, 2 quid on compost and £1 on seeds. I have now grown radishes that would have cost me 50P in Asda ... so not very clever
However, great crop to grow with children - you can be eating them within a month of sewing seed and the bonus being the edible leaves. They are very nutritional in a peppery sort of way. For the chefs amongst you they make a fantastic pesto (apparently).
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Quick update from my earlier post re growing potatoes in the old Bexley bins. This is the haul from one bin - the other very similar.
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Same area of the garden today.Bournemouth Addick said:I'm very pleased with the progress of my musa basjoo that was out over winter. It's not a year old yet so was just pleased to get it through and established. I'm still wrapping it around the base every evening though.
You can see the growth it's put on in the last 6 weeks from where I cut it down before overwintering it. I have a spare Abysinnian and more musas still in my mum's summer house but this one is looking healthy. If a little scruffy around the edges at the moment.
Safe to say my musa survived the winter OK @jonseventyfive12 -
Fabulous BA, I lost 1 musa over the winter but my ensette although young are doing great, bigger greenhouse going up at the moment and all my bananas are now pot grown and will be under cover over the winter.1
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Cheers Jon. I'm very much a lockdown, late starter on the gardening front but quite pleased how it's coming together, given the state of it this time last July when it was basically a yard.jonseventyfive said:Fabulous BA, I lost 1 musa over the winter but my ensette although young are doing great, bigger greenhouse going up at the moment and all my bananas are now pot grown and will be under cover over the winter.
Would like the space to have a greenhouse too but might need to rig something temporary up instead just to over winter my tender stuff.0 -
Your plants look great but have a for the winter, up here in the Midlands it's pretty much start again in April and I get a bit twitchy about frost in September.0
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Insert 'plan'.0
