[lizzyParticipant]

Dear Matthew,
It is really great that you are doing something for the butterflies and bees.
I too am creating a front garden with pollinators in mind. So far I have put in a Rosa Rugosa hedge to create a windbreak, and used single flowered roses to get the shape of the 4 triangular beds with lots of stuff underplanting them. I hope the bees will like the roses but it is my garden and I like roses!
I use this book to guide me ‘Plants for Bees’ by Kirk & Howes – it is really good but £25 – makes a nice birthday gift. I also consult this website http://www.rosybee.com which is very useful – if you find her research on plants that bees visit it is very interesting, she also supplies mailorder suitable plants.
I am trying to put in things that will flower in Autumn – so Sedum Autumn Joy, late flowering Hebe, single flowered dahlias, mich daisies. And some early flowers like snowdrops but not the doubles. You need to avoid anything that is double flowered as it is too difficult to get the nectar. Most bedding plants that you get in garden centres are useless for insects. Flowers with a nice landing area are good. Bees prefer to feed in the sun, but bumblebees will cope with shade thanks to their more furry bodies. I also found bees love Nepeta – and Summer Magic is good long flowering, and Phacelia is easy as an annual, and much visited. If you need a climber – passionflowers are visited a lot and honeysuckle of course. I have a row of lavender Gigantum on my allotment and it was heaving with bees etc last summer and it has a long flowering season compared to some lavenders, and as someone else has mentioned they don’t seem to go near sweet peas but runner beans seem ok.
I could probably go on quite a long time about this subject but am sure this is quite enough.

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi – I put in Joan J they fruited the first year and the flavour, compared to the other ones I inherited which I think are Polka plus I went round tasting from other allotment plots, is the best in my opinion; heavy fruiters and large. In fact I got fed up picking them !!

[lizzyParticipant]

hi Charles – I am not sure exactly how long but at least a week and yes outside – I left them on top of the soil – they had some rust on them so I decided to harvest them early – they were not very big but still a useful size; the allotment seems to have a ‘micro-climate’ as it is sheltered and always seems much hotter than my garden 5 mins away, and also has a fence which shelters my plot even more. well they are all on the compost heap now 🙁

[lizzyParticipant]

Yes it is the stems – good point. Fingers crossed for recovery – thank you Charles

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi all – just wanted to update you on my lettuce – hurrah success!
I bought new seed and I now have 3 lots all beautifully germinated – Freckles, Blackseeded Simpson and Winter Density.
So thank you all for your advice and encouragement – much appreciated.

[lizzyParticipant]

Charles and String fellow – thanks for advice – will get some more seeds to try.
that does help.

[lizzyParticipant]

well this is probably very bad form (to reply to my own question) but I found the following –

‘Look at your most healthy heavily cropping plants; and take some cuttings (as in the side shoots I assume) from them.
Pop them into modules around about now, and let them recover. [They flop for a week, then stand up and carry on growing]
Slow down the watering and when late autumn comes, take the strongest few indoors, and grow them on in a cool [not too warm] position.
Then, pot them on around February time, and grow them on next year. ‘
so I am going to try as I have several tomatoes who do not want to fade away!

[lizzyParticipant]

Some of my ‘ordinary’ garlic just grow into one big clove. Tastes ok.

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi – I keep bees! I am a natural beekeeper and belong to the Oxfordshire branch of the Natural Beekeepers who are really great for support/ education/ social. (I did a conventional beekeeping course at the local Agricultural College but all those interventions are not for me)
My plan was to put my 2 Warre hives on my allotment – however the person who has the plot next to mine made such a fuss about being scared of bees and not wanting any bees anywhere near that I had to put the bees in my garden. As this person lives 4 doors away there might still be a meet up with the bees but it is important that other allotmenteers are agreeable to bees onsite.
However it does mean that I can spend a lot of time observing ‘my’ bees and I have learnt a lot just by observation. I was also in the garden when they swarmed and was able to follow them and get them back, and deal with robber bees, wasps and ants.
Good luck but remember to listen to your bees.

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi – interesting to read this topic. I have been put off using horse manure from my local livery yard but because of the wormers that horses are given routinely so it is interesting to learn about the aminopyralids.
I have a ‘nice’ maturing heap of organic cow manure on my front lawn! I had to pay for it but the farmer brought it round on the tractor and think we paid £80.

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi please can anyone advise me if I should bother.
I sowed celeriac seed late spring early summer and the seedlings have been neglected until now. I have pricked them out into trays and have some room on the lottie now I have lifted the spuds.
Is it worth planting them out at this time of the year or should I cut my losses and start over next year?

[lizzyParticipant]

Hi I have sent you a couple photos of my U Kuris growing up the back of the garage. Lots of leaves not huge numbers of fruit but of good size. I did not realise they would root if they are on the ground. I think the garage roof – which is flat – gets very hot – they seem to avoid growing over the roof. I tied them onto canes until they got to the top then they clambered into the guttering – to my husbands horror! We are trying to persuade them to grow on the flat roof now – he has hauled them out of the gutter which was starting to buckle under the weight.

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