[Help] Gardeners Question Time.

[Moshe Gariani]

Some plants in this country can tolerate dry and dusty conditions but a rule, you will always get better results with an enriched soil, especially if you're snipping bits off on a regular basis.
Give the Rosemary a little more room than the others as it is a small shrub. Then just spread the others equidistantly and plant them and make sure you water them regularly. The Mint should be planted in a clay pot and plunge-planted unless you want it to take over. Most of what you've bought are perennial, so will live for a few years, but the Parsley and Corriander will do well to get through the winter and perhaps will need to be replaced each May.

Thanks very much to “the panel” for excellent advice. Looking forward to completing this little project now.

 

[Jack Straw]

Weed or plant?

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Some questions;
Was it there last year?
If it was, do you remember what colour flowers it had if any?
How tall did it grow?
This is crucial!

 

[jevs]

Could be an Echinops or globe thistle.

 

[vegster]

I am trying to create a herb garden and have purchased the following 13 plants to be delivered on Saturday:

2 coriander, 2 garden mint, 2 parsley, 2 thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary, sage and tarragon.

Presumably they will all grow outdoors? Do they survive the winter and grow again next year?

The space I have is a strip 6m x 0.5m. Soil is poor (quite dusty - that sort of sticks together when watered) but is a sunny spot.

How should I plant them up? Is there a best way of configuring the different plants in relation to each other?

Ok, in order, If its proper Coriander it will go to seed the instant it gets dry or the roots feel constrained, it will die back after flowering and won't come back. The Mint is a hardy perennial but as others have suggested, plant it in a pot and bury that pot otherwise all you will have is Mint. Parsley is slow growing and I think a Biennial , plant as per any other plant and it should do you two years if you don't over pick it. Thyme is a short lived perennial, they don't like really cold wet winters and so try to give it shelter but don't be surprised if it does not grow well. Basil is an annual at best, lovely to have in the greenhouse or outhouse, once it goes to seed it will progressively die, sow your own every 6 weeks or so, outdoors it will never really get going. Oregano is a perennial and should survive a year or two. Rosemary and Sage are quite woody perennials and will last you 4-5 years plus but they do get a bit gnarled. Tarragon, no idea.

 

[Jack Straw]

Could be an Echinops or globe thistle.

Yes, great minds, or Cephalaria gigantea. This is why we need a little more info. We need to be 100% in order to provide the 5-star service we strive to give!

 

[Jack Straw]

This is a superb wild flower guide.
https://www.npms.org.uk/sites/default/files/PDF/NPMS ID GUIDE_WEB_0.pdf

 

[WATFORD zero]

Ok, in order, If its proper Coriander it will go to seed the instant it gets dry or the roots feel constrained, it will die back after flowering and won't come back. The Mint is a hardy perennial but as others have suggested, plant it in a pot and bury that pot otherwise all you will have is Mint. Parsley is slow growing and I think a Biennial , plant as per any other plant and it should do you two years if you don't over pick it. Thyme is a short lived perennial, they don't like really cold wet winters and so try to give it shelter but don't be surprised if it does not grow well. Basil is an annual at best, lovely to have in the greenhouse or outhouse, once it goes to seed it will progressively die, sow your own every 6 weeks or so, outdoors it will never really get going. Oregano is a perennial and should survive a year or two. Rosemary and Sage are quite woody perennials and will last you 4-5 years plus but they do get a bit gnarled. Tarragon, no idea.

What a little ray of sunshine.

 

[vegster]

What a little ray of sunshine.

I'm wounded.

 

[WATFORD zero]

I'm wounded.

This is always the most optimistic thread on the whole of NSC. If anything can be bought back from it's death throes, this is where it will happen (even though you may have a point about coriander)

 

[vegster]

This is always the most optimistic thread on the whole of NSC. If anything can be bought back from it's death throes, this is where it will happen

Not with Coriander it will ! Absolute ******* to grow well, needs regular watering or it goes to seed almost instantly, plenty of nutrients in the soil or it goes to seed almost instantly when they run low and, you have to have nice soft deep soil or grow it in a very deep , VERY DEEP pot or, it will go to seed instantly the roots stop expanding.... Mrs V LOVES Coriander and it has cost me a fortune in stress, compost, seed and successional sowings to keep her happy. Don't talk to me about Coriander.. doh !

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Weed or plant?

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I want to say cynara cardunculus

 

[Coldeanseagull]

This little bush (currently about 4ft tall) grows in a border, doesn't really do much but fills a space. It has some black growth on it but otherwise seems healthy, can i just cut it back? (something wrong with the pic of the whole bush and it won't upload so hopefully this is enough)

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Griselinia littorilis. Yes cut it back as much as you want. I always had the blackening of new growth with a late bit of cold weather.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

A few questions for the experts if that's OK.

(1) This plan / weed grows through our hedge and into a rush bush, not unattractive but out of control. Worth keeping or should I try and get rid? The 'trunk' looks black and dead, but it clearly isn't!

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Already identified as symphoricarpus alba. I would get rid. It may look nice, but it takes over and you'll have a thicket in no time

 

[Coldeanseagull]

What is this, and what is it going to do? I planted it and I've been WiLB and it's doing much better than it did last year.

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I know this one, but can't for the life of me remember what it is

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Finally I've got a big pot with four or five canna lillies in it (photo won't upload for some reason), the lillies are about 2-3ft tall at the minute, got them from a neighbour. The pot is ugly, can I plant them in the ground, or is it best to leave them in the pot so I can put them in the shed over the winter? To be honest there's every chance they'll get smashed about by a football so I'm not too precious about them.

Plant them and dig them up for storage once the frost has blackened the stems....just like dahlias

 

[Westdene Seagull]

[MENTION=1561]lost in london[/MENTION] - I was always told that a weed was only a plant you didn't want where it was. So if you like them - keep them. If not - get rid.

I'm sure [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] and [MENTION=2019]jevs[/MENTION] may disagree but it's the way I garden.

 

[Jack Straw]

[MENTION=1561]lost in london[/MENTION] - I was always told that a weed was only a plant you didn't want where it was. So if you like them - keep them. If not - get rid.

I'm sure [MENTION=259]Jack Straw[/MENTION] and [MENTION=2019]jevs[/MENTION] may disagree but it's the way I garden.

No, I'm with you. Your definition is spot-on. Over the years, I've got to really appreciate plants that I used to consider as weeds, but now I embrace most of them - provided they're in the right place!

 

[Jack Straw]

I want to say cynara cardunculus

That is definitely in the frame, but that has much more silvery and serrated leaves than the one in the photo. I'm still struggling to get this 100% so I'm still investigating.

 

[lost in london]

We've got 3 or 4 planted around our borders and have survived the last 3 winters buy cutting them down to within 5 cms, of the ground and then covering in mulch to over winter.

Good tip, thanks. Reckon I can just dig them out of the pot and plant them? I'd been wondering as well whether that's better to do in the autumn, or now before they get too big / roots get too intertwined/

 

[lost in london]

OK. I'm going for Lysimachia punctata (Dotted Loosestrife). https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/10634/Lysimachia-punctata-L/Details

Given I planted it that should really ring a bell but doesn't! I'll be sure to send pics as and when it does something fancy.