Why we garden

[Rhiannon]

Useful?

Like I said earlier, it makes a good cut flower and it flowers a bit later when a lot of other stuff is going over. And in a big border it’s a good filler. And its shape is a good contrast to ‘round’ flowers and leaves.

[ippy]

You mean the crocosmia variety Lucifer, right? IME they are pretty indestructible, just plant in any reasonable soil. They are bright red and look good with oranges, yellows and purples. You could try planting them with some orange or yellow coreopsis and some purple verbena or Michaelmas daisies.

Cheers Rhi, my wife's the colour co ordinator in this house, I'll refer the info to her.

My speciality is roses I've just planted three 'Fragrant Clouds', I only wanted the two but I got three as a special offer and they included 50 daff bulbs too.

I've always been into the arts and crafts region, and can remember one of my tutors back in my teens turning up at the studio with a rather large cabbage? If you ever want to form a picture of a rose with all of the necessary fine detail, set yourself up with a cabbage, it's all there, it's identical, save the colour.

I moved into this new house, new to me the day before the EU referendum and it has an enormous garden, for the south east that is, so I'm trying to keep it mainly to grass, there are nine trees here at the mo and room for more, then when you add that to a seventy-five year old 'poor old git' like me, you can see why I'm trying to keep plants to a minimum, I could not resist the roses, I love them.   

Kind regards ippy

[floo]

My neighbours didn't want their compost bin and have given it to us, I have it all set up ready to go. 

[Rhiannon]

Nice. 

I bought an old shallow terracotta bowl from a local salvage place and have just planted it up with succulents (houseleeks and the like). People (in Wales especially) used to grow houseleeks on roofs to prevent both witches climbing down chimneys and lightning strikes. I wonder if this leek got mixed up with the vegetable when it came to the leek becoming a symbol of Wales. Anyway, the Latin name - sempervivum tectorum (think I spelled the last bit right) means ‘always alive on the roof’ I think.

Because they are very insulating and low maintenance they are now used in ‘green roofs’. Mine are just in a pot though.

[Rhiannon]

#26 Ippy, I’ve been in my house about the same time and I’m still to really tackle my garden properly. Next year...maybe...

I love roses, I used to grow a lot of medieval varieties and then the David Austin roses that repeat flower. Gorgeous things. There’s a really nice little climbing rose called Goldfinch that is brilliant over an arch.

[ippy]

#26 Ippy, I’ve been in my house about the same time and I’m still to really tackle my garden properly. Next year...maybe...

I love roses, I used to grow a lot of medieval varieties and then the David Austin roses that repeat flower. Gorgeous things. There’s a really nice little climbing rose called Goldfinch that is brilliant over an arch.

Rhi, try 'The New Dawn', last time I checked it was the only recurrent flowering rambler available, it's predominately white with a feint pinkish hue to it, keep all of the greenery trim to allow the air to blow freely around all of its parts and it should remain mildew free too.

If you live in a big town mildew is less trouble than if you live in a rural area, pollution keeps the mildew at bay.

I don't know how you are with environmental issues, you'll need to read the label, but there is a rose spray that is the most effective available that I know of, it even clears out rose rust, it's called 'Rose Clear', if you do use it there's no need for any other, it's systemic the whole of the plant becomes poisonous to all of the usual pests, any over spray gets taken up by the roots, expensive but it 100% works. (I just need to see where my shares in 'Rose Clear' are at the mo), oh yes, it doesn't taste that good.

November is the best time to plant, March is reasonable too, the tubs are ok all year, that Fragrant Cloud rose I have planted is the most fragrant you can get, so they say, it's also related to Peace, almost any rose with Peace as an ancestor is usually very healthy.

You've started me off in one of my favourite interests so it's your own fault if it looks like I've been going on about roses, so there!

Kind regards ippy. 



     

[Rhiannon]

Ipoy, I live as rural as and mildew, black spot and rust can be a problem, especially with some of the ancient varieties. But then they largely originated in Persia so it’s not surprising. I’m not one for spraying so look for varieties that combine the look and fragrance of the old with disease resistance. But I still love the old ones the best, Rosa gallica ‘officianalis’ (the Apothecaries’ rose’) and its red and white sport, r. gallica off. ‘Versicolor’, Rosa Mundi, supposedly named after Fair Rosamund, mistress of Henry II, allegedly murdered by Eleanor of Aquitaine.

We both seem to be off on our favourite subjects. This thread is turning out to be rather lovely. Well I’m enjoying it anyway.

[Dicky Underpants]

Yes, I did herb garden things last week, felt renewed after.

I dug half a border in a disabled friend's garden over the weekend. Getting out the brambles which had overrun it was tough work, and I expected to be very achy for a few days. I was a bit stiff and sleepy, but felt good that I'd achieved something practical. I thought I'd try a last-ditch attempt at overwintering some broad beans and garlic, so I planted some.

I mentioned this to the friendly Sicilian manager in a local Caffe Nero next day, and wondered whether broad beans were popular in his homeland. He didn't know the type of bean in English, so I told him the Italian word was "fava". He was delighted, since it brought memories of his childhood, when he used to eat them raw from the pod. "They're amazing" he said. Well, I don't care for them raw - in fact 'Davide' is the only person, apart from an Irish friend, that I've met who does. My father, quite a son of the soil back in Norfolk, only liked them out of a tin.
Are broad beans a 'marmite' sort of thing ?

[Rhiannon]

I haven’t eaten broad beans for years but I have read lots of recipes where they are not only podded  but peeled. I used to go to an Italian somewhere round the back of Fleet Street that did a kind of soup that wasn’t a soup, made from haricot (I think) beans, olive oil and lemon. Utter heaven and I’ve never been able to recreate it. At another Italian place I had the best dish of my life - a roulade made from a fat roll of pasta, sage and butter. So simple and the kind of food that makes you cry because you won’t find it again. I’ve had pasta with sage butter since but never as a roulade.

Sage tea makes a useful gargle for sore throats. Just saying. 

[floo]

I haven’t eaten broad beans for years but I have read lots of recipes where they are not only podded  but peeled. I used to go to an Italian somewhere round the back of Fleet Street that did a kind of soup that wasn’t a soup, made from haricot (I think) beans, olive oil and lemon. Utter heaven and I’ve never been able to recreate it. At another Italian place I had the best dish of my life - a roulade made from a fat roll of pasta, sage and butter. So simple and the kind of food that makes you cry because you won’t find it again. I’ve had pasta with sage butter since but never as a roulade.

Sage tea makes a useful gargle for sore throats. Just saying. 

I have always disliked broad beans, especially as I nearly killed our adopted DS son by giving him some when he was 16 months old! He is of Greek Cypriot decent and unbeknown to us has a rare, for the UK, blood condition, G6PD. Broad beans are one of the items to which he is allergic.

[Rhiannon]

Does anyone else rescue plants? I’ve hit a very handsome nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ that I bought for a quid from a very exclusive stately home’s shop, which is now huge, and which, since I cut it back, my cat loves to pee on. I also have a lot of bugle (ajuga reptans) plants that came from one rescue from the same place. Good ground cover, that one.

[ippy]

Does anyone else rescue plants? I’ve hit a very handsome nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ that I bought for a quid from a very exclusive stately home’s shop, which is now huge, and which, since I cut it back, my cat loves to pee on. I also have a lot of bugle (ajuga reptans) plants that came from one rescue from the same place. Good ground cover, that one.

Can't help you with that plant Rhi, but I just thought I'd have a boast about the runner beans I grew this year, about a half way through the season I realised that Tescos wouldn't be able to get one of their articulated lorry's close enough to my garden to be able to pick up my crop of beans this year
.
The poor old freezer is bulging at the sides, and all I get from my family when I offer the some beans is they seem to be on a hurry to get somewhere, I did notice the price of beans went up when my plants had finished producing, anyway when I woke up I thought you might be interested in the name of the runners that were very successful for me this year, 'Polestar', they were very tasty too, it was the best crop of runners I've ever had, I'll be looking for some more for next years crop without a doubt.

I'll be growing some French beans too I'm not that knowledgeable about French beans, can you or anyone else recommend any particular climbing ones, I'll be growing them in much the same way as my runners.

Regards ippy

[Robbie]

I love runner beans and could eat them with every meal, ippy! So well done.

[Dicky Underpants]

I have always disliked broad beans, especially as I nearly killed our adopted DS son by giving him some when he was 16 months old! He is of Greek Cypriot decent and unbeknown to us has a rare, for the UK, blood condition, G6PD. Broad beans are one of the items to which he is allergic.

That sounds dreadful, Floo. I knew of this rare allergy, but have never come across anyone I know who suffers from it. It also shows how we are sometimes coloured in our attitude to things by our personal experience: I've got a soft spot for broad beans, since I started my first teenage affair picking them with a girl who'd come over from Coventry (cousin of my best friend). I'm allergic to huge numbers of things (including, unusually, Butcombe beer, which makes me sneeze after one sip), but fortunately not Broad Beans.

[ippy]

I love runner beans and could eat them with every meal, ippy! So well done.

If you decide to grow that 'Polstar' variety don't forget access for the supermarket's larger vehicles and arrange to put some money by for the staff you'll need when they start cropping.

I can hardly believe how many beans we have here, still, they were growing from shrimps to fully grown about 9 inches to a foot overnight. (The rate of growth bit's not a exaggeration).

Regards ippy

[Dicky Underpants]

I'll be growing some French beans too I'm not that knowledgeable about French beans, can you or anyone else recommend any particular climbing ones, I'll be growing them in much the same way as my runners.

Regards ippy

ippy

I think the variety I grew was Monte Cristo, and had far better success with climbers rather than the dwarf varieties, which invariably got muddy or eaten by slugs. French beans are a particularly useful crop since they can be eaten at three stages: pods, immature flageolets, or mature haricots. Technically I suppose runner beans could be treated the same way, but I think it's only the British who just eat the pods: I think it's the mature beans that are eaten in their country of origin.

I think there must be some sort of marmite thing going on with bean likes and dislikes: I don't much care for runner beans, but love all stages of the french bean - and of course, the homely old broad bean.

[ippy]

ippy

I think the variety I grew was Monte Cristo, and had far better success with climbers rather than the dwarf varieties, which invariably got muddy or eaten by slugs. French beans are a particularly useful crop since they can be eaten at three stages: pods, immature flageolets, or mature haricots. Technically I suppose runner beans could be treated the same way, but I think it's only the British who just eat the pods: I think it's the mature beans that are eaten in their country of origin.

I think there must be some sort of marmite thing going on with bean likes and dislikes: I don't much care for runner beans, but love all stages of the french bean - and of course, the homely old broad bean.

Thanks D U, l'll  give those a go, I'm really into veg I'm a five vege one meat man myself, I'll give any veg a go, oh yes, I didn't know about the haricots, I'll let a few develop in to the mature beans.

Regards ippy

[Nearly Sane]

I have always disliked broad beans, especially as I nearly killed our adopted DS son by giving him some when he was 16 months old! He is of Greek Cypriot decent and unbeknown to us has a rare, for the UK, blood condition, G6PD. Broad beans are one of the items to which he is allergic.

Oddly broad beans are beans my wife can eat, because they are peeled, she's allergic to the skin of most beans, and violently to cucumber. Very glad your adopted DS son is now ok but allergies are fascinating.


ETA - suddenly rereading this the Greek bit jumped out and I went full on geek, and remembered that there was a theory about Pythagoras' admonition against beans and favism


http://g6pddeficiency.org/wp/g6pd-deficiency-home/favism-2/#.WimSq3rLdoM

See the bit on vegetarianism -

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoreanism

[Rhiannon]

I wish I was better at growing veg. I think I could probably manage raised beds. But my son has bagged the only suitable part of the garden for a footie pitch. I’ve yet to master growing veg in pots, except cut and come again salad.