Most of the Valais wines are too "bitter" to my taste. But as I said elsewhere, wines are subject to personal taste and what is bitter to me is exactly nice to somebody else. But again, in case of the Romandie, my preference clearly is with the Vaudois, with the Genevois and the Neuchâtelois coming second behind.

There was a reason why the Bernese, with their artillery acquired from England, conquered the Waadtland


AND, sorry for derailing the topic, which ought to be gardening, and NOT Bernese artillery !

Lavaux is very beautiful, with its Tibetan style terrasses- a good example of why Swiss wines are so expensive, as all work has to be done manually. Of course the reason why it has been adopted as a unique Unesco landscape.
My brother owns part of a vineyard there- so the odd bottle comes our way.

To get back to gardening, has anybody got vines in their garden. We live at 950m, so no way here. We are going to UK soon and will bring back lots of seeds we can't easily get here. Like multicoloured chard, and more importantly PARSNIPS. Was going to plant a whole row for DB, but at this rate he ain't having any unless he begs IN FRENCH.

Just be careful. DB in fact DOES speak French. His accent is as bad as mine, but his ability is ways better than he himself thinks about it. Strongly suppose that on travelling French speaking places his wife takes over the BlaBla business

Let us know how you get on with parsnips. Parsnips and carrots are about the only thing I can't grow well here. I've tried a few times - in the ground, in raised beds and in tubs but each time they do really poorly.

You mustnt bury the seeds to deep, really only 1cm deep .

I grew parsnips in our new deep beds last year for the first time. Planted in May - and by early August I pulled one up and it was a tiddlywinks, so was very disappointed. Forgot all about them, and in late September had a wonderful surprise - several kilos! We had roast parsnip galore. So this year I shall plant a whole bed, as it is the only veg I can't readily get here.

A beginner here. The other day I bought a little can of seeds of red flowers. Question: If I were to strew them now at semi-wild places where I usually walk the dog, will they grow and bloom by June/July till October as the label says? I have already placed some in a few pots of soil on our balcony. Any tips, please?

Little red flowers is a bit vague, lol. What are they? poppies?

I would not recommend it. I don't know what the Swiss laws are but introducing any garden plant or non-native plant into the wild should not be done.

Reasons for this include:

It may spread and affect the native plants.

It may be harmful to wildlife.

It could be poisonous.

If they are poppies, no problem.

BTW has anybody on EF got an allotment? They are quite popular here, and many older apartment blocks have veggie patches available for residents.

Little refers to the cardboard can. Different seeds of about 15 kinds of red flowers, it says on the label, including zinnia and delphinium and Latin names such as Adonis aestivalis and Centauria something (my eyes are folding over at the fine print!).

These are a mixture of fairly common garden plants. They are possibly Annuals, but could be Perennials.

If they are Annuals, there is little likelihood of any harm being caused, but I still wouldn't recommend it without permission from the landowner. Once they have flowered this year they will die off. Generally they would not reappear the following year but they could seed and return.

If they are Perennials, that means that they may establish and spread each year. That is definitely not a good idea as they could spread other areas.

I was just curious to know if you have those amazing little flowers, called wild orchis ?



I've got some in my garden. They started in one point and now they are spreading bit by bit over the garden.

I like to watch them, they can be quite beautiful, depending the kind of orchis it is.

(it's a bit more annoying when I have to mow 'coz I want to keep them intact....

Those are beautiful, Bertrand.

I'm soooooo jealous. I've tried to naturalize Knabenkraut in my lawn, but alas the thundering herd has put paid to my attempts at creative lawn plantings. I'm happy if I can get the even the grass to stand up to them...

We walk through fields of wildflowers, including wild orchids, primula, cranesbill - simply gorgeous.

---

On a side note, I woke up this morning to frost on the lawn. Even my trusty cold frame could not save several of my seedlings.

April is indeed the cruelest month.

Looking for someone to come and sort out our jungle uhm garden for us.

We live in Beringen, SH.

Please pm me when interest and your hourly wages!

I used to have a large garden in the middle of the city of Bern and grew everything from vegetables and fruits to simple flowers and herbs. Now I live in a small place and have had to take up container gardening because I have so little soil space. Until now, things are doing well, but as I do not have a lot of sun, any ideas on good shade plants that can live well in pots would be helpful.

Most hostas and heuchera (purpur-glockchen) grow well in the shade and look good in containers

Hydrangeas too, yes?

@Starbug - what you are looking for summer bedding flowering plants or all year round plants/shrubs?

For Summer: not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite like Begonias and a couple of years ago, planted a pot full of white ones in complete shade in my garden - amongst the larger green shrubs they look fab, they last all summer too.. flat headed Busy Lizzies are a favorite of my Mothers as they flower their heads off all Summer long and are great in containers, again in the shade.. small headed Fuschias too like the shade and are lovely.
I did a hanging basket a few years back of just tobacco plants, a beautiful flowering plant, annual, quite delicate little flowers too, v. good in the shade.

If you want all year green plants/shrubs try Virburnum Tinus white flowers appear in Winter and Rhododendrons too do well in the shade and in pots - I have both but not in pots. I have also got a beautiful Magnolia Nigra loves the shade and beautiful deep purple flowers in May. A neighbour has two fab Skimma Japonicas in pots, red berries in Winter, glossy small leaves, flowers in Spring, do great in the shade. If you plant a small shrub in a large pot, you can mix the planting up with winter flowering plants and bulbs underneath for extra colour in spring - crocuses, tulips etc.

If you want to liven up a shady spot in Winter, pansies are great as long as you dead head regularly they will flower almost up to May when you change over your pots to Summer annuals.

@Campua - agree, Hostas and Heuchera are lovely (have them too but not in pots) do very well in the shade, watch your hostas though as slugs/snails will eat them night, noon and day, so keep your pots slug free if you can.

@Argus - Hydrangeas do well in pots but most like a little sun. I have noticed the lime green/almost pale white flowered Hydrangea like the shade more and I have one that is thriving in the shade in my front garden.

HTH

Thanks for the info, Swisstree. Is it true that hydrangeas give blue blooms if the soil is more acidic and pink blooms if more alkaline? If so, would it help if I watered it with lemon juice or diluted vinegar once in a while (to get blue flowers)?