Olive trees are a poor show in Blighty, they throw out thin whippy stems which cant support their own weight & twist & turn. A very untidy looking thing.
I have not come across anyone who has had fruit.
Not so a FIG tree, they look very tropcial & once established need to be restrained, BROWN TURKEY figs are good providers of bountiful figs. Careful how you harvest , they take 2 years to mature, the figs that is.
Why not try a MULBERRY, they take 10 yrs to mature, but they are lovely tree/bushes, very sturdy. Go for the black variety & not the inferior white type.
Similar to Olives , vaguely , is the WEEPING SILVER PEAR, compact and of good shape.
I’m spraying my plum trees this morning against sawfly, who lay their eggs at blossom drop and the larvae then burrow into the developing fruit. I’m also having to plant out my runner beans as they are growing so well they will become root bound if I don’t. If any frosts are forecast I will just have to protect them with fleece…:shock:
I sprayed my plum and my pear trees yesterday Barry. I’ve made a start on planting out my bedding plants as there’s no frost forecast on the 10 day weather forecast.
Alan attractive is not what I am after!Cant do with attractive things when you are almost 80 shows the owner up you see,battered is perfect.Anyway have two trees both potted up and for the time being look good, dont know what the future may hold
I have an Olive tree which bore an olive the first year I had it since then it has gone down hill. It had blooms on it last year and I was quite hopeful but the never came to anything. I might repot it this year and give it a good feed. If it still does nothing it is out the door!
I know it’s still a little early but I have now started to plant out some of my tender plants, let’s hope I don’t come to regret it later.
I’ve started to pick rhubarb, with 3lbs being stashed in the freezer today. The fruit has set on my gooseberries and plums, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much flower on my blackcurrants, it could be a bumper year for fruit this year…fingers crossed…
I’m with you on this one Barry. After a late start to spring everything is looking very good in the garden. Fingers crossed we don’t get any late frosts.
I potted up all my geraniums that over-wintered in the greenhouse and placed the pots around the garden - instant colour
I ordered some trailing clematis which arrived Friday, they are still a bit small to go into baskets but I’m really looking forward to putting them out front. Haven’t read how to over-winter them yet!
I am sick of looking at the brown stalks I planted in the autumn which were supposed to be bare rooted raspberries :twisted:. They show not one sign of life in their brown stems or roots so I have dug them up and planted some with leaves from the local garden centre :-).
The new ones are Glen Lyon, not a variety I would have chosen but at least they are alive and I hope to have fruit for the little ones to pick next year :-).
As sods law would have it, I am going to be away on holiday the week my grafted tomato plant is due to arrive. Ah well, you can’t win them all as they say and I will just have to hope it is well packed and survives until my return :-).
I know what you mean about the lack of life in some things Meg, we planted some bare rooted Jostaberries from Unwins in late winter but there are no signs of life in them whatsoever at the moment…
They may be ok Barry I was disconcerted to find the raspberries hadn’t even taken root and the stems when trimmed were brown. I got in touch with the supplier who said 'give them time ’ but I was not convinced and didn’t want to wait and lose a whole season. The ones I have planted now look great with bushy leaf growth and they should fruit next year
Hi Janela I have one gooseberry bush and have known it to be stripped overnight :shock:
I had a few of the caterpillars last year but went out daily with tweezers and a container of salt water and picked them off. I also put a fresh layer of bark chippings under the bush in the spring to prevent anything in the soil crawling up the stem . That seemed to help.
We now have one red and one green gooseberry bush Meg and a blackcurrant.
Tweezers and salt water sounds tedious but worth it … hubby mulched around them in autumn, so that may help.
I noticed blackfly on the blackcurrant today - I’m going to spray them with milk in the morning - it is supposed to suffocate them!
Fingers crossed I haven’t had any problems with gooseberries or blackcurrants, but I have sprayed the plums against sawfly even though last year we had no plums because of the weather, which really should mean no sawflies around the trees to lay eggs this year…
Lots of flowers on my apple this year It seems to do year and year about - one good year, one bad. Last year was a very bad year (like all fruit it seems)
Cleaned off the black fly on the current bush and it isn’t crawling with ants now
Found one red lily beetle :twisted: and squashed it. No signs of more anywhere. (Is there a smiley for fingers crossed?)
We planted up a rose - a cutting from mum’s garden and two clematis today and I potted on some trailing geraniums and pricked out lots of seedlings. Moved a lot of odd cuttings from the greenhouse onto the table outside. I take cuttings of everything. Just as well, I lost a pinkish hebe this winter and I’ve two cuttings to replace it
The bed for the tomatoes is almost ready, just got to get some fish blood & bone before planting.
I have to admit to feeling a touch envious as I read this thread, I have been out of action for a few weeks just as I should have been busy. I usually redo my hanging baskets and tubs at this time, I am just going to do a quick makeover and hope for the best.
The birds have been taking the moss for their nests and you can now see the plastic showing through. So I intend replacing bits of moss and Mind Your Own Business and replenish the tops with fresh compost, than plant up with trailing things and perhaps the damage will be hidden.
My herbs are a bit slow this year but perhaps I am just being impatient, I cannot chop them anyway.
I did manage to prop myself up and trim a shrub with my cordless hedge trimmers, it felt good to be doing something.
I stopped using moss for the same reason Maggie - I now use coconut coir. Though the birds do still ‘nick’ it but not too much of it.
I hope you are pottering again soon Maggie.
The concern about bees or the lack of them seems to be well founded, I have only seen about half a dozen so far, all different types; I usually see loads as I have grasses for them to pollinate before the flowers appear, plus the spring flowers have been neglected.
I was disconcerted to find the raspberries hadn’t even taken root and the stems when trimmed were brown. I got in touch with the supplier who said 'give them time ’ but I was not convinced and didn’t want to wait and lose a whole season. The ones I have planted now look great with bushy leaf growth and they should fruit next year 
