General Chat

I also love fushicas and my favourite is Devonshire Dumpling. Anyone got one of these, they are lovely large pale pink flowers and I first grew them in a three tier standing basket.
I love freesia to which remind me of my mum as she liked them.
Sharron the watercress will be lovely.

I love Fuschias too Sharron but my favourite plants in my garden are my 2 different honeysuckles and my white and my pink climbing jasmines which are in my rustic corner that I told you about on an earlier post. I have a large patch of Lily of the valley which was my late M I L 's favourite, large red carnations for F I L and freesias for my late Dad. They all surround me when I sit out in the garden and bring back lots of memories.

A few years ago we had a large, deep pond, part below and part above ground. One end had a sort of cascade of water and one year some watercress appeared there, as if by magic. For a few years it perked up our salads and sandwiches and then just as mysteriously disappeared. But it was good while it lasted. The supermarket stuff I get now is tasteless by comparison.

Go for it Sharron - think of all those lovely bowls of watercress soup you'll be making.

I love watercress. Have a look at this and go for it.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/26/gardening-alys-fowler-grow-watercress

A watercress waterfall sounds a worthy GR memorial to Fred. We have two water features in our garden which are both memorials to my Dad as it was bought out of the very small amount of 'inheritance' he left me.

Fred liked fuschias and I think I will put some more in because the berries are edible and they are easy to look after and good to look at.

As you come in the front gate and look across to the corner of the lawn there isa big sweep of sage which has taken off on it's own and a huge clump of crocosmia that were not even planted there with a fuschia in bloom in font of them. That has been there years.

None of it is contrived and it looks worthy of Chelsea. as do some of the weeds, unfortunately!

My shed gives me about a twenty foot square of garden behind the house and there is about another ninety foot behind that. Fred's mate makes straight lines back there!

I love planting up the old rubbish . I don't like throwing stuff out if it can be made to look good. Lovely idea about the sweet peas and it would be another memory of Fred. I have old drain pipes,buckets etc planted up with all sorts of bits they look quite good in our rustic bit of garden. That was made from old bits of timber it is like a wood gazebo with climbers all over it , old bricks laid as paving and then planted up with all evening scented plants so that after a hard day in the garden I can sit underneath on our little table and chairs and enjoy.

The other compartments are not served by the running water. They say to grow herbs in them. Don't know how they drain.

There is an old sink in the garden. That has strawberries in it.

I don't really do decorative stuff in the garden, more utilizing things to grow food. Flowers are things I acquire by accident usually and they grow where they can, as do the strawberries that escape!

Some of Fred's enormous collection of junk is still hanging around, like the huge bench vice I can't bring myself to get rid of and we are thinking of growing some sweet peas that came from somewhere up the metal parcel trolley he got from somewhere, or a few more runner beans!

I think this little planter would fit quietly into a darkish corner to give my watercress a better chance of surviving my tender care.

:-D :-D :-D :-D. Sharron. I like the small water features too. One day I will get mine sorted it is an old stone sink which has a hand water pump that you can run the water through. Again with little ones about it is not practical to set it up with water at the moment so I have it planted with a lovely blue campanula to give it the effect of water. Your one sound lovely as there are also some lovely aquatic plants that could be put in something like that.

This little chap is only about 16" square and is three tiers but half of each tier is blanked off to provide planters for herbs.

I thought it would be big enough because I am not planning on watercress farming!

It would give me three little compartments for me to kill my watercress is and it could be a sort of GR memorial to Fred couldn't it?

No problems Sharron we all live and learn <3. I got a pond basket and aquatic compost and planted it in it with a layer of pea shingle to stop water washing away the soil. I have had ponds since I was a small girl and now have a 7'6 square one in the garden which is 3 feet deep. I have dismantled the waterfall now though as it is a bit tempting for the grandkids to paddle in ;-). The rest of the pond has a very heavy duty metal frame and mesh on to keep the kids and the herons out. My filter and pump sometimes get pond weed blocking them but I just turn it off , lift it out and clean it off before dropping it back in. No problems at all.

I was thinking of bits of root or something floating about and getting stuck in the filters or the works.

Did you have a bit of soil in there for it?

I was asking Fred's mate something about digging yesterday and he thought I was questioning his methods.

I was not. I really am learning from scratch so I do ask some pretty fundamental questions.

No I just picked it frequently to keep it under control. The pumps that drive water features are not usually in the bit where you plant so no problem.

It didn't damage the waterfall gubbins?

I grew it in our waterfall in the pond and it did really well. Nothing like the taste of fresh watercress :-D

I have a pot of watercress which has finally started to do better now I have put it in the shade.

There is an offer in my e-mails from a garden company offering a tiered water feature that cascades. I have heard that watercress grows better in flowing water and I have been instructed to indulge myself.

Do you think I could grow watercress in a cascading water feature or would it clog it up.