Hanging baskets & tomatoes

Great job, How do U do the fuschia cutting please.

you have been busy Balcony. what a shame your sister didnt need them, after all your hard work.

I bought the three packets of seed especially for her as well! I didn't say anything as they were supposed to be a sort of birthday present. Her birthday is next week. Other years I have planted my "excess" plants in her garden as her birthday is in june.

Still they should look equally as nice in my daughter's garden & may get watered more often. My sister waters them for a couple of weeks after I plant them but then forgets & they only get the rain.

Last year I planted my excess Cosmos plants, (seeds from Gardener's World, on BBC2), in my sister's garden. I kept the strongest looking plants to put in my balcony but hers grew much better than mine, which got plenty of TLC & fertilizer! I took photos of her garden with all the plants flowering their heads off!

Doon: You take Fuchsia cutting like you would most other plants. Cut a branch a couple of inches long, peel off the lower leaves & cut just below a leaf node, leaving 2 pairs of leaves & then put then in a small pot filled with your favorite rooting material (compost, sand, peat or vermiculite or even plain old water!). Keep them protected from strong sunlight in a plastic bag, or not, as you like. I'm rooting mine in plastic bags for the first time ever this year. I took 4 cutting from a Fuchsia, Swingtime, I bought today. In a few weeks they start to root & then when you notice them growing transplant to individual pots.

Jeez, you certainly pack some stuff onto that balcony of yours, lol.

You have taken balcony growing to new heights lol.

Thanks 4 the advice, I will do it for sure, as i lost all my "soft" fuschias last Winter. The were huge & was so sad to have lost them after 10 years, boo hoo!!

Glad to have been of help, Doon! You should always have a few cutting of any plant that might get killed off by a frost. I generally take a few cuttings of plants I would "miss" if a frost got to them. Mind you as they are often kept in the same conditions as the mother plant the same is likely to happen to them! No much room for any special precautions on my balcony - just a big round table in the most protected corner of the balcony with a big plastic bag in which all my tender plants go! I have it lowered most of the time but when frost is forecast I raise it up for the night.

Even in February of this year, when we had some of the coldest weather in the UK for many a year, I didn't lose any plants to frost damage! I might lose a few to rot or fungus or even to being too dry owing to having so many crowded into too small a place. I have kept two Fuchsia standards alive for the past 4 years or more overwintering that way!

The greenhouse I have on the balcony used to have thick plastic walls but time hasn't been very kind to it & the wind has ended up tearing of the door. I take it off now (the last couple of summers) & use it as shelving. In the winter I put it back on but without a door it's gives my plants less protection from the wind. I have a big plastic bag I can pull over it in the winter but it is not made of thick plastic. At least it keeps some of the wind off!

It sounds, sound (LOL) advice Balcony, my problem is we run away from Winter here & go cycling in Arizona USA for the mnths Dec-March. So I am doomed. I guess I can ask a kind friend to look after it. Thx 4 the advise, keep well.

The tomato plant in my hanging basket is still doing fine! it's now about a foot high! The Fuchsias it is sharing the basket with are all flowering now. I'll have to get a photo of it to post here!

fabulous job!!