How about a gardening thread?

[JackieH]

	Quote:	ZuriRollt
	Is this legal? Not in Canton Zurich!

Not from natural site! Free on local FB site, from private house, no longer needed.

And why on earth would anyone want to groan this. They would have ended up thrown away if we had not made 4 journey and spent hours of back breaking pick up. Just weird?!?

[swisspea]

I have a lot of seedlings after joining a seed-sharing group in Switzerland.


Any recommendations for home-mixed seed raising mix and potting mix as most will be grown on in pots.


Gardenersworld always recommends mixtures of compost + grit + sand. I'm not really happy with the 'seed raising' ready-mixture that is sold from our local migros.... seems to be very dry and coarse....


I've been mixing 50/50 compost plus the seed raising soil or all purpose potting mix + swiss sand + perlite.... trying to come up with a consistency that 'feels right' (my dad is a very keen gardener and for me it's just about what I remember from learning from working with him in the garden)....


BUT, the key question here - is what is the swiss equivalent to gardening grit and gardening sand ?

[meloncollie]

FYI, our local Landi has started to put out their plants - veggies, herbs, geraniums, fruit, summer annuals. Landi usually has better prices than other sources in my area.

Geraniums are CHF 1.70, both hanging and standing. Yes, these are smaller plants, but I find the smaller plants ideal to start my window boxes. They will fill out quickly. A really good price!

I picked up a marzipan sage, a pineapple mint, a honey-melon sage and a kummel thyme - I'm alwas happy to find something new for the herb garden. All smell heavenly, prices quite reasonable, ca CHF 4 -5 or so. Looking forward to cooking with these.

They have a fairly good selection of chilis and tomatoes out - ja, ja, I know it's too early. Couldn't resist a few, so they will live in the cold frame for a while.

Landi also has Vietnamese Coriander (Persicaria odorata) this year, which I had only seen at specialty garden centers before. The Landi pots are small, but much less expensive than elsewhere. Persicaria odorata grows like crazy, so you only need a small pot. This was in Wädenswil, no idea if they wll carry it in other stores.

A good selection of blueberry bushes, looked healthy, again less expensive than elsewhere.

Also, smaller rhododendrons for CHF 11. It will be some years before these give a good show, but at this price I can afford to re-design a problem spot.

So a trip to your Landi might be worthwhile in the next weeks. Out my way, the good stuff tends to go fast.

Now if only the weather would co-operate!

[Pancakes]

^^^ I agree about Landi. Their prices are far better than OBI or Jumbo for most things, especially garden-related. I am a bit of a collector (I guess) of Japanese maples, and they recently had dwarf Japanese maples there for only 19 CHF each, which is a really good price. I bought a Butterfly maple and an "orange dream" (both only grow up to about 125 cm high, hence "dwarf"). Good for shady spots. They're both out in my garden now, along with their many other Japanese "friends" and all are blooming beautifully.

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	Pancakes
	I bought a Butterfly maple and an "orange dream" (both only grow up to about 125 cm high, hence "dwarf"). Good for shady spots.

I had to look those uo - oh my, they are gorgeous!

Hmmm, if these stay dwarf size, the orange dream would be a very interesting way to get some color into my shade area. Now you've given me some ideas - thanks!

I may have to go back to Landi tomorrow.

[JackieH]

	Quote:	Pancakes
	^^^ I agree about Landi. Their prices are far better than OBI or Jumbo for most things, especially garden-related. I am a bit of a collector (I guess) of Japanese maples, and they recently had dwarf Japanese maples there for only 19 CHF each, which is a really good price. I bought a Butterfly maple and an "orange dream" (both only grow up to about 125 cm high, hence "dwarf"). Good for shady spots. They're both out in my garden now, along with their many other Japanese "friends" and all are blooming beautifully.

They had huge Japanese maples, about 2m- at HyperU last week. Too big for me, so asked OH to return with me next day- all gone. Grrr. For 69 E. I could have wept. At that size they are normally over 300.-

Sun has finally come out, but it is still f r e e z i n g!

[Pancakes]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	I had to look those uo - oh my, they are gorgeous! Hmmm, if these stay dwarf size, the orange dream would be a very interesting way to get some color into my shade area. Now you've given me some ideas - thanks! I may have to go back to Landi tomorrow.

If you do get something, let me know. I'm curious. They really are a nice way to add color in a shady spot. They turn gorgeous colors in the Autumn, too.

I actually have a full-size orange dream (non-dwarf) already in my garden that is outgrowing his pot and I'm not quite sure what to do with. lol. I wish I could give him to you or someone somehow. He's quite large -- about 200 cm wide x 150 cm tall -- and still growing.

I counted yesterday, and I have 12 varieties of Japanese maples in my garden right now. It's like some weird addiction. It's stronger than I am.

If you do get one, they seem to love "universal erde" mixed with some garden compost (I buy the bagged compost at OBI, etc.). That's been my experience with them, at least. And it's good to use mulch, but try to keep the mulch away from the stem of the tree or else the stem can rot, over time.

Once it stops raining (actually it's hailing now!), maybe I'll post some photos.

[Pancakes]

Okay, it stopped hailing and raining so I'm going to post some photos of a few of my Japanese babies.

This is the full-size / non-dwarf Orange Dream that I have in a pot that he's outgrowing. The pot he's in is only about 40 cm in diameter! He received a lot of shade in the summer from the trees overhead. (Next to him is a red Skeeter's Broom maple that is in the ground and isn't yet full-grown).



And here's the dwarf Orange Dream that I recently bought at Landi. He's in a very shady spot (even this time of year) and seems to be blooming a bit slowly compared to the others, but they seem to bloom slower when they're in a lot of shade in the spring. They come in orange and then quickly change to the chartreuse color you see in the larger version above. (You can see the hail we just had in the photo):



And here is one of my favorites that I have -- a "Shaina" variety, which is pretty much full grown. He's one of the first things I planted when we moved into this apartment.



And this little red guy is a potted dwarf "acer atropurpureum" maple that is still a bit of a baby and only grows to about 150 cm tall x 100 cm wide. He seems to like the sun. (Some maples prefer more sun than shade and vice-versa):



Behind him is a (yellow-green) "Katsura" maple that I absolutely love but he is very much outgrowing his pot because he slowly grows to about 4 meters x 4 meters. I'm not quite sure what to do with him because I don't have the space in my garden for him unless I want to create a lot of shade by putting him in the ground and letting him grow.

Does anyone have any ideas of where or how to sell potted Japanese maples that are outgrowing their pots?

[JackieH]

Wahoo- amazing not easy to grow here in our very limey Jura soil- so have to keep in pots with acid soil.

[Pancakes]

	Quote:	JackieH
	Wahoo- amazing not easy to grow here in our very limey Jura soil- so have to keep in pots with acid soil.

That's actually one of the reasons why so many of mine went into pots instead of into the ground, because when putting in pots, it's easier to control the conditions of the soil. The soil in our garden is very full of stones. I was told it's called something like "bauer erde" or something -- where basically when they built these apartments, they just left all the debris from building the apartment become the ground that then became people's gardens. Or something like that. Thankfully the ones I do have planted in the ground seem to be doing okay, so far, though.

[bossybaby]

Given how cold and rainy it was during our absence (including several bouts of snow), the bulbs are coming along nicely. I put in another 100 or so parrot tulips last fall, to join the ones already planted each previous year and the now-hundreds of narcissus naturalising since 2018. That's a first, when Siberia looks farther along than parts of CH! At this rate we'll have tulips until the lilacs open.

[Belgianmum]

	Quote:	Pancakes
	If you do get something, let me know. I'm curious. They really are a nice way to add color in a shady spot. They turn gorgeous colors in the Autumn, too. I actually have a full-size orange dream (non-dwarf) already in my garden that is outgrowing his pot and I'm not quite sure what to do with. lol. I wish I could give him to you or someone somehow. He's quite large -- about 200 cm wide x 150 cm tall -- and still growing. I counted yesterday, and I have 12 varieties of Japanese maples in my garden right now. It's like some weird addiction. It's stronger than I am. If you do get one, they seem to love "universal erde" mixed with some garden compost (I buy the bagged compost at OBI, etc.). That's been my experience with them, at least. And it's good to use mulch, but try to keep the mulch away from the stem of the tree or else the stem can rot, over time. Once it stops raining (actually it's hailing now!), maybe I'll post some photos.

I was in Landi this morning and they still have a lovely selection of maples in our store.
I was eying up the orange dream as I loved your photos from yesterday but I realised that I already have two of those in the garden so I’ll choose something else.

They had a really good selection of plants there today but the weather is gorgeous so I don’t expect they’ll be there for very long.

[Svenca]

	Quote:	swisspea
	I have a lot of seedlings after joining a seed-sharing group in Switzerland. Any recommendations for home-mixed seed raising mix and potting mix as most will be grown on in pots. Gardenersworld always recommends mixtures of compost + grit + sand. I'm not really happy with the 'seed raising' ready-mixture that is sold from our local migros.... seems to be very dry and coarse.... I've been mixing 50/50 compost plus the seed raising soil or all purpose potting mix + swiss sand + perlite.... trying to come up with a consistency that 'feels right' (my dad is a very keen gardener and for me it's just about what I remember from learning from working with him in the garden).... BUT, the key question here - is what is the swiss equivalent to gardening grit and gardening sand ?

I am no expert but this year have grown the best seedlings (in 3 years) with the Migros Organic Seedling Soil (Aussaat und Krauterde?) which I sort have have to go through and take out the occassional bigger pieces and also crumble - mixed with Vermiculite (40 - 50%???).
I dont use grit or sand so i am not really answering your question
But I do add normal builders sand or kids sandpit sand to compost and grow really good carrots in large tubs.
Happy Gardening!!

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	bossybaby
	Given how cold and rainy it was during our absence (including several bouts of snow), the bulbs are coming along nicely. I put in another 100 or so parrot tulips last fall, to join the ones already planted each previous year and the now-hundreds of narcissus naturalising since 2018. That's a first, when Siberia looks farther along than parts of CH! At this rate we'll have tulips until the lilacs open.

Gorgeous!

I especially love your parrot tulips. They really make a stunning show.


Sadly, my spring bulb garden is looking a tad sparse. I put several hundred bulbs in last fall to augment those already there - tulips, daffodils, hyacinths - but the tulips did not come up, and I swear there are fewer daffodils than expected.

I suspect there are some very fat mice living in my garden.

Ah well, there's always next year...

[Pancakes]

I was in OBI earlier and noticed a Japanese maple that I've always wanted on sale for only 24.99 CHF. (Normal price was 40 CHF). It's a "full moon maple," otherwise known as a Jordan maple. Larger-than normal leaves with beautiful yellow color in the summer. I had to force myself to not buy it. And now I'm forcing myself to not go back and buy it.

I think I might need some kind of intervention.



I was a good girl and bought a hibiscus instead.

[Pancakes]

Quick question: Does anyone know of part-sun or full-sun flowers that slugs usually leave alone?

Despite having a pet hedgehog in my garden, we have an awful slug problem. They've already devoured the "pinks" that I planted a few weeks ago.

[bossybaby]

	Quote:	Pancakes
	Quick question: Does anyone know of part-sun or full-sun flowers that slugs usually leave alone?

I've never had schnecken in my penstemon or aquilegia (bleeding heart). We seem to have a slugless spring now, but it's been bad in the past.

[Belgianmum]

	Quote:	bossybaby
	I've never had schnecken in my penstemon or aquilegia (bleeding heart). We seem to have a slugless spring now, but it's been bad in the past.

I’ve always known dicentra as bleeding heart, I never knew it was also a name for aquilegia.

Perennial geraniums are also pretty indestructible and slug resistant.

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	Pancakes
	Quick question: Does anyone know of part-sun or full-sun flowers that slugs usually leave alone? Despite having a pet hedgehog in my garden, we have an awful slug problem. They've already devoured the "pinks" that I planted a few weeks ago.

Are you looking for annuals or perennials? Early or late blooming?

Although my slugs are certified weapons of mass distruction, off the top of my head, I've had better luck with:

Geranium (Pelagorum, annual), even those that I plant directly in a bed.
Cranesbill (true geranium, perennial) Most are shade loving, but there are varieties that take sun.
Veronica
Lavender.
Foxglove. (Digitalis warnings apply)
Columbine - but these spread like wildfire.
Poppies
Monarda
Montbretia
Allium

How about flowering shrubs? Slugs leave the woodier plants alone.

For instance, potentilla, peonies, wiegelia, hibiscus, spirea, bluebeard, and of course roses, especially a rugosa which is fairly low maintenance for a rose. Some of these have dwarf varieties so can be a good focal point in a garden bed. But if you are not into pruning, flowering shrubs can be a pain.

Anything that the slugs love as much as I do goes into a pot, on a higher perch. Even then the little b*****s often outsmart me.

The banana sized slugs we get here are the bane of my existence.

Good luck!

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	Belgianmum
	I’ve always known dicentra as bleeding heart, I never knew it was also a name for aquilegia. Perennial geraniums are also pretty indestructible and slug resistant.

Aren't aquilegia columbine?