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[CLKD]

I have been busy weeding, splitting, cutting back, tying in for several weeks: every morning something new is in bud 

2day I stood the plants from the porch so that I could water the pots - fuchsias, pelagoniums, a couple of herbs ......... as well as the new 3 Daphne plants which will be potted on once it's warm enough to leave them outside. 

Knackered  in a weary kind of way  .  I have Plans 4 2morrow if the weather holds. 

[daska86]

Cleaned my little potting cupboard and washed trays and pots ready for planting seeds over the next couple of weeks.

[CLKD]

We said to each other whilst sitting with a cuppa by the pond, how lovely it would be to have acres of land in order to have a shed with everything on a shelf appropriate to it's use  .  Here we have corners with pots/watering cans/potting compost etc. ........... and shelves in the utility room with items that we can no longer access due to stuff on top of stuff 

We've also found a garden centre which recycles pots and compost bags I may have said.

[littleminnie]

Growing Cosmos from seed.  Just potted on 8 plants.

[CLKD]

I love them, have no patience with seeds - how long B4 germination littleminnie?

I will be planting up dahlia cuttings tomorrow - 4 have good healthy shoots thus far. I over wintered the plants, they look like spuds.

[daska86]

Any advice little Minnie as I'm growing them from seed for the first time ?

[littleminnie]

Cosmos seem quite easy to grow from seed.  They started showing after about 5-6 days. I don’t normally bother with seeds but lockdown has been so boring I decided to give them a try.
They came up quite quickly and turn towards window every day so you have to keep turning them.  I kept them covered until they got their 2nd lot of leaves then left them uncovered.

[CLKD]

In a plastic bag kind of 'covered'?

Monty was doing dahlias last night on BBC, his tubers are much larger than mine 

[littleminnie]

I have a plastic lid but you can use cling film

[CLKD]

We did it all years ago: the greenhouse, the under-tray heating pads, windowsills .......

I bought some carnations a few weeks ago and they were full of side shoots which DH removed, stuck into compost and covered with a plastic bag.  Usually the side shoots are removed B4 sale ..........

Dahlias put into 3 pots of compost, well watered and will be stood in the warm spare bedroom 2B turned daily.  I need to check the remainder of the tubers to see if there is likely to be any growth.  I was surprised at the roots already!

[daska86]

Thanks littleminnie

[CLKD]

We have beautiful roses
A few clematis
Picking straws., rasps., red currants every morning 4 breakfast and mid-afternoon treat
Schuwanne pepper shrubs look healthy
Daisies every were ......

[Jellyb]

I got an allotment at the end of last summer, mainly for flowers but a little bit of veg for the 2 of us.  Spent the winter starting everything from seed on windowsills and the into a plastic greenhouse.
Everything is blooming now and it's so amazing to see the things that you started from seed.  I have flowers in the house all over the place now and can pick them regularly for family & friends.  I'm already planning what to grow & where for next year.  Love it, it's my happy place!

[CLKD]

A great sense of satisfaction.

Do U share crops/advice with other 'holders'.  Some begin broad bean seeds in November.  Also sweet pea seeds.  Some plants can go in a little later than suggested as most catch up.

I don't do well with sweet peas ............ not enough light.  The thing is to grow stuff that you eat for a while, see how others near your patch do with things that you might fancy and arrange swapsies ;-)

Is there a communal composting system?

[Jellyb]

Other plot holders will offer you surplus stuff and there's a centrally placed table to leave stuff that you don't need, others can help themselves.  We all have our own composters (or some choose not to) and a few times a year the council will drop off a load of leaf mulch or bark chipping for everyone to use.
I only grow what we like, and this year is really to find out what grows well and what doesn't, how much space I have and if i can use it better next year.
For instance, for only 2 of us, 1 courgette plant is enough, as I'm already seeing that I'll have far too many with 2 plants.
I started pretty much everything from seeds/bulbs, starting last November for Sweet Peas, but am looking at the layout of the beds and ways to make it work better.  So, I'll be planting a couple of rose bushes and dedicating 1 bed to spring bulbs, which I can then use for annuals when they finish in early summer.
I like planning, so that's part of the fun, as well as seeing all the flowers blooming!🌻🌼🌷🌹🌺