Allotments 4 All
Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: Hot_Potato on October 27, 2005, 16:55:26
-
Sorry if I'm repeating a topic that's already about somewhere!!....I've had a quick look but can't quite see one relating to my particular query.
I've had some wonderful tubs & hanging baskets on my tiny patio and adjacent trellis fencing.....cheated this year and bought them 'ready done' as this is the first year in my 'new flat'with 'little garden'.....today I've been re-doing said pots & baskets with their 'winter varieties....however - lots of the summer stuff was still looking reasonably good but have been 'strong willed' and discarded all but.....half a dozen or more still fantastic looking geraniums (maybe pelagoniums - not sure of the difference ???) I've taken them from their 'summer beds' and at the moment laid them out on newspaper on patio.....some still have lovely flower heads on them & more buds about to break!!....
now I'm just not able to bring them into my flat - have obviously left it too late to take cuttings (well I guess I have but not sure how to anyway :( ) but have heard that......you can put geraniums/and or peli's in a paper bag and hang in a shed or greenhouse!!...
Is this correct please and would you advise it....if not - is there any alternative other than to 'bin or compost them'?
Would appreciate your advice please - H.P.
-
Hi HP :D
Mine go in my unheated greenhouse for the winter, then they reshoot come spring...........if they don't all die from mildew, as my g'house seems susceptible! ;D One lady I work for does as FB's Mum does, puts them in pots against the house, the only difference is we cover hers with fleece, they are now on their 3rd year.
Worth a go, you have nought to loose if you were going to bin them anyway. ;D
-
I live in the North east and have hardy ivy leaf geraniums which are in hanging pots against a south facing brick wall.
They have survived untouched for the past 3 years.
I also collect the seeds... just in case.
Debs
-
Same here! Leave mine in pots right next to house wall, they're fine and dandy, and a couple of years old now.
Lottie ;D
-
You can eat geranium leaves can't you?!.........another veg for the family to suffer in eeking out a few salads ;D
-
Let us know, Icy........have no idea!! Daren't start experimenting, or will never get them to eat another salad!
-
thanks everyone for suggestions & experiences....do you think it would be ok if I put the lot (I've got 8 plants) into one big bucket/pot in compost and put in an unheated greenhouse that we have on this development (for communal use but no-one uses it)....they would be ok then? I might be lucky & find some survive. I could always put a big paper sack type thing over them in very cold weather (if we get what they keep telling us we're going to get!!)
just one thing....is there an obvious (visual) difference between geraniums & pelagoniums (sp)
U.C. I know you can eat certain types of geranium leaves - the scented ones used in ice creams & other desserts but not so sure about all varieties....might be a bit risky!!
-
Hi everyone. Found this post very interesting to me. I overwinter my geraniums/pelargonians (don't know the difference) in a heated greenhouse which I keep at 40f. Am I wasting electric and would they survive in an unheated greenhouse?? What about the cuttings I have taken? Glad of advice. Lorna.
-
Hey Lorna!
Geraniums are the hardy plants out in garden all year. Pelagoniums are what you think of as geraniums....clear as mud eh? Tim? Robert? Eric? Where are you?!?!??! Anyway, geraniums no prob, pelagoniums are supposed to need winter protection, but don't think it necessary for larger plants. As for cuttings.....No idea!! Sorry Lorna!!
Lottie ;D
-
Pelargoniums and ivy geraniums will probably die outside in a "normal" winter as they can take very little frost - I killed some by forgetting to bring them in on a frosty night.
The last seven or so winters have been unusually mild, which explains why so many things have survived winter unscathed (including bugs >:(). However, I think geraniums'/pelargoniums' greatest enemy is moisture combined with cold, which is why your greenhouse is a good idea, HP - they have a much better chance of survival if they are dry and protected from the worst of the weather.
-
OK, top one is a hardy geranium, bottom is a pelgonium
;D ;D ;D
-
Oh bugger - the one I am baby sitting is a pelgonium after all!
The label says geranium though ???
-
Right... So I have got all of the bottom ones plus ivy leaf geraniums so better keep them all in the greenhouse as usual, BUT as previously asked anybody know if I do need heated greenhouse. Mind you the electric heater I have is very economical.. Thanks Kate ..... Lorna.
-
Think it all depends on how the winter is Lorna! If it's mild, think they'd be fine in unheated greenhouse, but be ready with heater if the temperature plummets!! Daiymay, think they're often mislabelled!! Good luck!
Lottie ;D
-
Last year I put all mine in a covered passage down the side of the house.
Didn't loose any.
However they say this year promisses to be very cold so may have to put a 'door' at the end of the passage to stop the wind!
-
thanks everyone for advice & pics so far but.....need to know now if....
I need to trim/shorten the rather long, leggy plants that some of them are - some are much shorter - some are still flowering....if I'm to put them in greenhouse. These plants are now out of the pots and lying 'bare' on newspaper out on my patio table til I'm sure what to do with them (not had any time today anyway)....
Tomorrow tho - I can put all of them into pots (when I've bought more) of compost if that's the thing to do & transfer to greenhouse.....
I don't have to put each one in a seperate pot do I??....I hope answer is 'no' as I've no more pots!! (at the moment)
H.P.
-
FB.....these were originally in either tubs or hanging baskets (along with a lot of other summer bedding plants) but I had to remove them to 'plant up the new winter stuff.....
will do as you say tho and 'trim & tidy them' up a bit then put them loosely into a much bigger pot or two (or would a large cardboard box do?) in some potting compost and leave on a shelf in the small unheated greenhouse here....
I suppose if it gets really cold, I could lay newspaper over them or even wrap bubble wrap around them?
thanks everyone for your comments ;)
-
The compost you put them in should be slightly damp at first (you're not trying to dry them out like a bulb) so you may end up with a soggy cardboard box if you're not careful. ;D Any container will do, though.
-
thanks R.M......didn't have time today to go and buy any new containers - will 'hunt' for something tomorrow somewhere!!
I hope this will be the last question - altho I can't be certain ;)......once in the pots in the greenhouse - will I continue to water it/them occasionally throughout the winter months?
-
I'd water them when really dry. You don't want then to rot.
Lottie
-
As Lottie says, when really dry, and then only a tiny amount at a time, preferably well away from the stems. Another way you could help insulate them would be to mix perlite into the compost you plant them up in if you have it - but don't worry if you haven't.
-
I've got Vermiculite - presume it's the same sort of thing?
-
That would have a similar effect and do fine. You do realize you'll be overrun with plants next year, don't you? ;D
-
RosaM......why???
what do they get up to in the pots then?? ;)
-
well it's done - I chose half a dozen of the strongest and tidiest looking plants taken from my summer 'pots' and put them altogether into one large black pot, holes drilled in bottom with plenty of drainage stones then equal parts of compost & vermiculite....didn't water them cos the compost was very damp!...maybe I should have done but was afraid of them getting too wet :-\.....
have sat the pot into 2 plastic trays which stands on some metal staging way off the ground in the unheated greenhouse......
now it's up to them!! ;) and of course, the weather!
if it gets really cold, as I keep hearing it will, can always put a bubble-wrap jacket around them :)
-
I feel a bit of a philistine after reading all the sensible ways to look after geraniums through the winter. All I do is pull them out of the ground and chuck them straight into a black bin liner. I usually stash about 40 plants in three full bin liners. I then just leave then somewhere, shed, under trees or wherever they drop. If outside they may get an old blanket thrown over them. I actually buried them all (not in bin liners) one year after reading an old gardening book. In the bin liners they go mouldy, the tops rot off and you think you've really done it this time. Just cut them back in the spring. I lump them all in a few big trays, usually in the greenhouse or frame, to keep an eye on them. 99% and all of the buried ones survive and shoot out. Every year I think that I ought to do it properly but never seem to get round to it...
-
Corrrr.....wish I'd known all that before!!!
wouldn't have been worrying my socks off about how to look after my plants......
probably be sods law that after all this wonderful advice and careful 'coddling' the blasted things will all die on me ???
-
blimey! me too! have been looking after the plant we are babysitting for a friend in the greenhouse like it is a child! go out and check on it all the time etc..