Gardening chat

I’m about to go and plant some Korean Perilla seeds.

They’ve been in the fridge for a few days and then in warm water all of yesterday.

It’s my first time planting these, so we’ll see how they go.

I know it’s past the ideal time to plant them, but DP said not to order any seeds as his mum had some. Which I guessed as she had grown them before and apparently she did, but they were out in the garden shed and it was dark, so she would get them for me next time, well, yeah, that never happened. When I went to order some (not found in your typical nursery) I could only find one seller who still had them in stock and then my parcel was marked as delayed (Aus. Post) so took almost two weeks to get here, so yeah, I’m a bit late in planting them, but I might get enough out of them before it gets too cold.

ORRRRR!!! Maybe DP will actually help me put the glasshouse that I bought two years ago up and they can live in there in winter! Ok, I know, I’m dreaming! I’d normally do it myself, but I need him to help clear the area I want to put it first. That and the fact that it’s 6m long, makes it a two person job.

I bought some other mixed mustard and lettuce seeds at the same time, so might plant some of those out today too.

Oh, and I bought some of the green perilla (I think they’re Japanese) seeds too as they are smaller and not as strong in flavour apparently. The Korean ones, which we mainly eat pickled are too big and too strong in flavour for the kids and I, so I usually cut some in half for us. Hopefully these ones might be better for us.

What’s happening with your garden atm?

Is anything flowering? Any seedlings growing to flower in spring?

Bulbs have started to come up, I don’t know what they are but they look like daffodils so far. I need to prune the roses, it’s going to take all month as we have 25 large rose bushes. Some of those will be removed over winter as they have huge thorns and poke out over the lawn - not ideal with young kids. 

Oooh bulbs already!

Alliums are still sitting dormant. Don’t have any tulips/daffodils/hyacinths in this house.

I still have bulbs that I haven’t planted  I wonder if it is too late. I’m in Sydney (relatively close to the city/water so not the coldest part of Sydney if it matters for bulbs).

My marigold, pansies, foxglove, sunflower seedlings had been doing fine until I had to move them to the verandah (new house)… surviving marigolds will flower soon. I should have plenty of pansies though, some Allysum, sunflowers. Hopefully foxglove and a few petunias.

We moved in January, so I had no idea there were any bulbs, a nice surprise. I also need to do a lot of weeding. 

You have roses!

No good ( or any spots) for roses in this house. We had roses in the old house but they didn’t flourish as there wasn’t enough sun.

Our veg patch is doing nicely. I picked a heap of green beans the other day. I'm wondering if our buttercup squash is going to fruit though, it has flowers but it's had flower for 2+ weeks now and there isn't any fruit. Also I have a heap of tomatoes in, that are looking really nice. Zuchini's are going mad. We didn't plant a huge variety this year, just stuff we usually eat. (The 25+ tomato plants will have their fruit turned into homemade tomato sauce for cooking).

Non veg related we've planted a huge number of Grevilleas and a few other flowering natives and they are going off. Reds, colds, pinks of all variations. Sooo many flowers coming out. I also helped with a new bed near the path to the pool. It's a mix of money trees we moved out of the pots that were exploding out of, Aloe vera (which has spawned lots of babies and flowered), Rosella (which is flowering and fruiting and will be made into more jam soonish). And a couple of natives that I have no clue what they are. Oh and we planted a small bankzia but I can't figure out if it's alive or not because it's all brown shades.

The local shire has a few plants around that I want to find out the name of so I can get some. I'd really like to line the driveway with a more solid plant edging. Likely a mix of the Grevilleas (Rosella when they are up, they are one that dies off each year then sprouts back up), madagascan boabs and a few shrubby types. The plant I want to figure out is this soft silver grey and then has these bright purple flower pop up when it flowers. Bees absolutely love it too and we are always trying to give the bees we have more sources of food.

My bulbs are coming up, but some of my ranunculus haven’t sprouted at all.

Roses are doing a last ditch flower but are due for a prune. A couple of my standards need to be straightened and re-staked.

1 hour ago, Fruitmincepies said:

Bulbs have started to come up, I don’t know what they are but they look like daffodils so far. I need to prune the roses, it’s going to take all month as we have 25 large rose bushes. Some of those will be removed over winter as they have huge thorns and poke out over the lawn - not ideal with young kids. 

Are you pruning them yourself or do you have “staff?!” If you’re not used to it from your last house, i find its really hard on finger and wrist joints. And we only have about half as many as you. 

Just now, BusbyWilkes said:

Are you pruning them yourself or do you have “staff?!” If you’re not used to it from your last house, i find its really hard on finger and wrist joints. And we only have about half as many as you. 

Me, DH (under my supervision), my parents, people I can grab off the street  

We are overhauling the garden with the help of a landscape designer, so sometime next year they will all go (or at least 90% of them), so I’m willing to do it as a one off. I hope they will repay me with one last fantastic showing in spring and summer.

Just now, Fruitmincepies said:

Me, DH (under my supervision), my parents, people I can grab off the street  

We are overhauling the garden with the help of a landscape designer, so sometime next year they will all go (or at least 90% of them), so I’m willing to do it as a one off. I hope they will repay me with one last fantastic showing in spring and summer.

It was your “GT“ comment  that made me stir the pot!

I’ve found roses where we are are very accomodating of poor pruning! Especially the more established ones, like it sounds like you have. The size of the thorns on some of the old bushes is amazing.
Family in other states tend to be much more particular to get good flowering. 

12 minutes ago, BusbyWilkes said:

It was your “GT“ comment  that made me stir the pot!

I’ve found roses where we are are very accomodating of poor pruning! Especially the more established ones, like it sounds like you have. The size of the thorns on some of the old bushes is amazing.
Family in other states tend to be much more particular to get good flowering. 

stir away - I love a good GT joke

Saw an amazing collection of deep pink, purple and yellow roses in full bloom on our walk today! They were in a west facing spot but I was quite amazed.

I’m jealous of the roses. I’ve attempted to grow them here several times but apparently termites loooove the roses. 
 

this is one of the grevilleas we have flowering at the moment. 

I have more mandarins and lemons than I can eat. And my snow peas are flowering. 
the daphne is almost blooming, and my laculia are flowering, and my camellia. We have a lot of winter flowering plants. It’s lovely.

the yard though is soooo muddy. It’s been a very wet winter in Melbourne and the ground doesn’t get a chance to dry out between showers. 

My jonquils from previous years have bloomed and done weeks ago, so I planted a few dozen new bulbs two weeks ago and they are already about 5cm tall!  

My ornamental pear tree went from still completely green to gold in a week and a week later has lost them all.  Can't believe how quickly it happened this year.

I've got a lots and lots of seeds to plant in Spring - hopefully I'll have my side path ready to go by then so that I can put the seedlings in.

3 hours ago, Tinsel said:

My jonquils from previous years have bloomed and done weeks ago, so I planted a few dozen new bulbs two weeks ago and they are already about 5cm tall!  

2 weeks ago and they are 5 cm tall? There’s hope for my bulbs then! Thank you Tinsel!!!

I’ve got some bulbs starting to come up, but I can’t remember what I ended up putting where so it’s a mystery!

I can’t quite believe it (and I’m not yet sure it’s not a cruel trick by the gardening gods), but the fairy-floss corymbia I thought was done for (browning leaves, shoots being eaten by bugs, dying branches) seems to have suddenly come good and has new shoots and leaves everywhere?? I will be so happy if it does come good as I was so so so excited about that little tree and dithered for ages about placement etc.

I’ve been tucking in all sorts of things (mostly natives) trying to figure what the damn possums will leave in peace!

10 minutes ago, QuirkyMum said:

2 weeks ago and they are 5 cm tall? There’s hope for my bulbs then! Thank you Tinsel!!!

Everything in my yard has gone nuts   My gardenias started blooming a month ago, and while not covered in flowers, there are usually about 6 on each bush (about 50cm tall) since then all the time, as some flowers brown and dry, new plump buds open!  Gardenias are for Summer, I'll have to give them a good talking to.

One of my azaleas has been blooming every couple of months for the last 18 months - season in, season out - this is it on 31st May and still covered in lovely pink blooms.

5 hours ago, LemonMyrtle said:

I have more mandarins and lemons than I can eat.

My lemon tree is fruiting for the first time and is gorgeous - the pink grapefruit is on its second season and going very well - the orange is still nada so either wrong spot or wrong tree - and I had to chop down the lime tree as it was splitting.

I harvested 2.85kg of chillies the other weekend, so gave away many chillies and a lot of sauce - and still have bottled in the fridge and cupboard of sauce and pickled chillies.

Other than that, the occasional self-seeded pak choi is making its way to the table and capsicums are coming to an end.

It has been very dry for the first half of this year here.

On 01/07/2021 at 12:18 PM, QuirkyMum said:

Oooh bulbs already!

Alliums are still sitting dormant. Don’t have any tulips/daffodils/hyacinths in this house.

I still have bulbs that I haven’t planted  I wonder if it is too late. I’m in Sydney (relatively close to the city/water so not the coldest part of Sydney if it matters for bulbs).

My marigold, pansies, foxglove, sunflower seedlings had been doing fine until I had to move them to the verandah (new house)… surviving marigolds will flower soon. I should have plenty of pansies though, some Allysum, sunflowers. Hopefully foxglove and a few petunias.

Because we are having such a cold winter I reckon it's still worth a shot at putting bulbs in now. Bunnings and the like still have some bags of bulbs by the counter, and I picked up a few stray quick sale packets around this time last year. They came up and bloomed no worries. 

1 hour ago, Molinero said:

 

Because we are having such a cold winter I reckon it's still worth a shot at putting bulbs in now. Bunnings and the like still have some bags of bulbs by the counter, and I picked up a few stray quick sale packets around this time last year. They came up and bloomed no worries. 

Thanks. I did it on Sunday! This thread certainly encouraged me to do it! Thanks everyone!

Around 300 bulbs were planted. I made quite a mess too but it has been done at least.

When I opened brown bags with bulbs, a lot of the bulbs had green shoots already. Some were quite strong shoots too. Only hyacinths and tulips didn’t have any. All my daffodils(a lot), jonquils, muskari had shoots.

Also to shorten their journey up, I planted them into pots with no more than 5 cm on soil on top. A couple are peeking already. Would have taken longer if planted deep into soil as I was going to.

I also planted a packet of ranunculus( which I’ve never grown before and bought it this April), soaked them on Saturday and planted on Sunday when they were plump and according to Google looked ready… packet says 60-80 cm tall!!! I should have checked before buying. Anyone growing them?

Mine is a 20 pack of white ones from tesselaar. We will see:)

We need a signature with our location just for the garden thread. I’m in Sydney!

1 hour ago, Molinero said:

 

Because we are having such a cold winter I reckon it's still worth a shot at putting bulbs in now. Bunnings and the like still have some bags of bulbs by the counter, and I picked up a few stray quick sale packets around this time last year. They came up and bloomed no worries. 

Yep, I did this a few years ago too.  They came up that winter/spring. 

@QuirkyMum, I've planted some ranunculus too.  Found a dozen or so in a bag that I don't remember buying!