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Garden & Gardening Tips

Can someone help me? I have had a passion flower growing outside for about twenty five years. It grows up about eight feet and then spreads out and covers a frame which measures eighteen feet by ten feet. By the end of the summer it is touching the ground on all sides. The canopy is like a net made of nylon rope forming squares about one foot by one foot. I leave all the growth on for the winter and then cut it back quite hard as soon as I see signs of growth. This spring it looked dead and I thought the severe winter had finally killed it but no, I had some new shoots. Nowhere near like previous years but at least it is not dead. My question is this, does anyone know if Passion Flowers have a lifespan and has mine had its time? The nylon rope was going brittle and breaking so I have taken it all out and removed every last piece of dead wood from the plant. My son is sending one of his men to replace the rope this week so I am going to get several clothes lines made from plastic with a metal thread in the middle. If my plant has had its useful life I will get a new one.
 
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Hi stitcher, I read in the paper if you see any new green shouts you have to inform number 11 Downing Street right away, only trying to help!Keep
smiling Bernard:cool:
 
Trevor we have a passion flower the length of one fence and Pete cut it right back in the autumn but due to the hard winter it took ages to come to life and Pete thought he had killed it. I phoned in to the garden programme with Ed Doolan and Margaret Thrower said don't be afraid to cut it right back. We had our first flower a couple of weeks ago and find new ones all over the garden. This was the first flower this year Trevor. Jean.
 
I do cut mine back every year Jean but I wondered what the lifespan of the plant is. Mine is 25 years old now.
 
Thanks Alf I read that too but this plant of ours came back from the dead. I hope your's does too Trevor. Our flowers are somewhat smaller this year. Jean.
 
Sorry Trevor I posted before I had finished. Margaret Thrower said there are two different types the hardy and the [can't remember what she called it sorry] but I wonder myself how long they live. We have a whisteria that has not flowered in ten years and I phoned the same show and was told it depends whether it was grown from seed or a cutting. It grows wild [if we let it] but still not a flower. My sons has the most beautiful flowers every year. Oh well maybe next year. Jean.
 
What is it? Now I know you are stumped so I will give you a clue; They have turned black, the leaves that is. Still don't know? another clue then. Areas of the foliage has dried up and died. My final clue is, the tomatoes develop dark patches and drop off before they are ripe.
They are the Tumbler variety and I have two per hanging basket. I ensure they always have an adequate water supply and I feed twice a week with Tomorite. I have grown them before with great success. There are no prizes for the correct answer but I will be very grateful if anyone can tell me what is wrong.
Trevor.
 
O/k Jean. I am at a loss because it is the first time I have had this problem. I bought the plants from Dobies, used new compost and they went very well for awhile. We have had quite a few tomatoes off them but this has just started to happen. I will ask at a garden centre tommorrow.
 
Hi Stitcher: Have a read of this link about Tomatoes. I have two very healthy tomato plants going this summer. One is a Roma I know. There are so many things that can happen to Tomatoes when they are growing. Our next door neighbour Tony, who is from an Italian background, grows tomatoes every year under cover and he has had a lot of problems over the past two years and it is something to do with buying hybrid plants. Don't know much else. I just hope my plants make it to the end of the season. Good luck.
https://www.ehmanns.com/Tomato.htm
 
jennyann, I grow toms every year and do not normally get any problems. I did grow them in the greenhouse until last year when I tried these tumbler in baskets. They did very well last and have been brilliant this year up until a week ago. I will read the link you posted and if the answer is not there I will ask a proffesional tomorrow.
Trevor.
 
Hi Sticher: Hope that you can find out from the Garden Centre what is happening with your tomato plants. It's unnerving when you have been doing what you always do with the tomatoes every year and then something adverse happens. Keep us posted please.
 
Alf I have. Asparagus.:D:D. Jean. Dave we have parts specially for our frogs and toads to hide. Hardly any baby frogs this year yet thousands of tadpoles in the middle pond where there are no fish to eat them???????. Jean. Jennyann I too hope Trevor sorts out his problem. I have been so lucky this year as Steve one of our twins who has a large long garden has turned the bottom end into a mini allotment. Have beans onions lettuce for the weekend and butternut squash to come. Lovely. Jean.
 
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Hi Jean: Good for Steve. There is nothing like home grown produce if you have the proper soil and are prepared to look after the crops, etc.
I have been reading how in Westernized countries the sale of vegetable seeds has risen more this year than in many previous years and also the waiting lists for allotments are growing by the week. That's good news since people want to be in control of what they grow and,therefore, what they are eating in the way of fresh fruit and vegetables.

The reports also show that a great percentage of the seed buyers are
in the younger demographic. They have more energy, of course, but they are concerned about the quality of the fresh food that they eat.
 
Jennyann this year we have had cabbages carrots onions beans tiny green tomatoes off Steve and so have his neighbours as his hard work and TLC have paid off. I did wind him up saying I had made goosberry crumble because his tomatoes looked like them. They taste so sweet but are a pea green. If Pete had not got his ponds that take up half the garden I would do the same. But I do not begrudge Pete his hobby and I love to listen to the water when he has the pump on. Jean.
 
Stitcher, it sounds like Tomato Blight. Just the same as Potato Blight, it strikes at times of high humidity and spreads like crazy, usually at this time of year when we have a few such days. A precautionary spray is Dithane 945, but it is useless once the wretched plague gets a hold. It looks as if I have just caught it in time on the tomatos which were showing signs and on the spuds which were not yet effected but many neighbours have lost their crop.
Best of luck,
Ted
 
Thanks a million to those who answered my call. I phoned a friend in S.Wales who runs a horticultural business. He does more landscape work than domestic growing so he asked his friend who owns a small Garden Centre. The verdict is that it could be blight or it could be overwatering or overfeeding. I explained that I have used normal basket liners with holes in so that rules out overwatering, and to some extent overfeeding.To allow the water to soak in, I make the compost lower in the center so the water forms a puddle and goes through the basket and out of the said holes. I know compost gets a crust on the surface if it is allowed to dry out. In view of this I disturb the surface occasionally so the water does not form a puddle around the plant stem. This again partially rules out the water and feed problem. The expert opinion was, without seeing the problem first hand and possibly making a test it is considered to be TOMATO BLIGHT. Thanks again for the help.
 
Glad you got it sorted for next time Trevor I was begining to think it may be your cat friendly neighbours????. Jean.
 
I can't follow any of these questions is it me or is it Jean:(

If you mark you post see#No? it might help
 
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Hi Alf it's probably me again. I'm high on wall paper paste. Oh must tell you Alf Pete converted a paint roller as you suggested and has used it to get the weeds out from between the slabs. Jean.
 
I'm sure that nice man of yours would do lots of things for you if you asked him in between posting to the Forum:)
 
I'm sure he would Alf and the mind boggles but he went round to Steve's today to collect a cabbage and sort out next week with our grandaughter and her vegi friend. Steve too has done what you suggested with an old paint roller and it is so cheap and works a treat. Jean.
 
Is it just mine, or has everybodies garden gone haywire this year? My tomato plants have gone in the green bag, my runner beans do not look as good as usual and my broad beans have all matured in the same week!!! I am finding large slugs everywhere and my dahlias are not really as healthy as usual.
I will not give up, I have picked the broad beans and fed the runners. The cougettes have been wonderful with a few still to come. I have dug over the plot where the broad beans were and the courgettes will go there next year, I am trying the yellow ones next season. I will be purchasing some perrenial cauliflower plants and some of the old war-time wrinkly garden peas for next season. I will sort out my greenhouse tomorrow, rest day monday and a trip to Cross Hands near Llannelli to see my old mate on Tuesday. I double checked with a Wyvale Garden Centre yesterday about my tomato plants and I was told again that it was blight and they have had it on some of their toms this year.
 
No your not the only one, out of 6 tomato plants only one has done anygood, I think its all the rain we've had.
 
Trevor the opposite for Steve this year his beans cabbage tomato's have all thrived. We too have had more slugs and snails than any other year and I gave up on my hosta after trying various tips including putting vaseline around the roots and rock its planted in. I have some onions and beans to cook tomorrow what Steve grew. He has so much produce this year he can't give it away. Fed both neighbours either side plus us for the last three Sundays. Glad you got your tomatoe's sorted for the next time. I still have five of those little green ones left they are lovely. Bye. Jean.
 
Jean & mariew, my toms are the only disaster, the courgettes are excellent but the beans are a little slow although we have had some French and some runners. I have asked quite a few knowledgeable people about the toms and it could be overfeeding, overwatering by hand or by rainfall. I checked my tomato feed and found that although it looks the exactly the same as what I always use there is a difference in strentgh. I am assuming therefore that it is my own fault.
 
I know that lots of people can not garden in gloves, one tip I read years ago was, if you run your fingers along a bar of soap so that your
nails are full of soap its much easier to wash your hands when you have
done! worth a try eh? bye Bernard. ps My sons bites his nails!.
 
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