eight Plum Puddings out of one

They are looking fine Fran. Standing up well to show they are taking up water easily. Sometimes I use a larger sized transparent orchid pot over a slip or cutting to provide humidity to recover from separation. Keep in the shade, so not too stressed as well.

I put a little water-retaining gel in each pot (already soaked in water - last time i just put the grains in, and when i watered the plants, they soil level rose about three inches above the pots!)

They're under cover at the moment, as a slight protection from the worst of the weather - jsut need to remember that, no matter how much it rains, they'll still need watering. as will the plants in the green house - want to repot as many as I can, if the move does go ahead that'll be the easiest way of transporting compost!

I don't have ground space, so this is the only "under cover" I have, short of putting them back in the mini-greenhouse, but there I'd probably forget to check on their progress.

I did snip some of the stems off, but very warily; i took off the largest that were starting to get discoloured or ragged at the edtes, reckoning them to be "old growth" - if the leaf looked healthy I lief it on, no matter what size.

Maybe next year these will be big enough to be given away - I had the parent for about eighteen months or so. Or, cf course, I could end up with a whole trough of Plum Puddings!

Or even a garden full of Plum Pudding Fran, if you can get a garden to cultivate heucheras. Don't do ivy in the ground, it sneaks up on you. It digs itself in after while and refuses to budge and is difficult to kill too.

thanks for the info! if I do get a garden, I'll keep everything in pots while I work out what I want to go where - sure thre'll be lots of re-arrangements. but ivy will stay potty!

Well done .... how are these doing now ?

they're not looking too bad - they're not under cover any more, but I had to push the pots tightly together with the larger ones on the outside to stop the **@! squirrels knocking the smaller pots over. Hopefully I'll find homes for them, don't need 10!

if anyone wants one, bu the way ...

Sounds like those are coming along well ..
despite the squirrels !!!

went out there just now and three pots had been tipped over, one plant totally uprooted - despite all the pots being in crates for protection! oh, I'd like to have a few words with them furry **@!!

:o((( !!

What a nuisance Fran! You stand there and can't believe your eyes what a mess these unwelcome visitors make in the garden. Even in the city they come and mess things up. I saw a squirrel early this morning sniffing the lawn for buried nuts. He had a scrabble but nothing dug up. Foxes burrowing and cats expiring on the patio!!!

had several more knocked over this morning, two completely out of their pots. I think "especially" in the city - they're used to people and don't leg it as more naturalisitc ones would, I think

I'm planning to get rid of a lot of plants, babies, doubles and others that are, or soon will be, too big, and next time I'll plan what to get around themes, rather than buying wha't sthere. but unless I can find some way of keeping the squirrels off, they'll be the same way.

lol really need some "natural barbed wire" or something too spiky for them to mess with. though that still wouldn't stop them knocking hte pots over, at least it might discourage their excavations.

easiest way would be to just put a mesh roof over the whole space! but i was refused permision from the council for a small covered area at one side, so I doubt they'd approve this. of course, if i didn't tell ask first ...

as a bonus, it might also stop some moron living above me from chcuking their rubbish out of their window! well, it wouldn't stop that, but it might stop my garden being turned into their waste bin;.

Your problems with the squirrels make me realize just how lucky I am to have a balcony where these furry creatures don't enter! I've seen them across the road but they have never ventured over here - or if they have they left no signs of their presence. We live on the ground floor & have chicken wire covering the railings with a little up the two sides - more so that I can grow climbing plants up them rather than for any sort of protection they might give.

How are the "transplantees" coming along? I've never grown these plants myself.

I've thought about getting a chicken-wure "roof" from wall to fence, and down the fence as well, as they can get through that mesh.

About an hour ago I glanced outside and there was a squirrel rooting in the Sweet Pea trough, right beside the back door. When i opened the door and yelled at it, it skipped off and hid behind the plants on my end table, where it no doubt thought i wouldn't be able to see it. and when I got close, it climbed up the fence and sat on top, sneering at me. wasn't till I picked up a stick that it finally moved off.

I really do need something, a roof or "organic barbed wire" in the troughs. I did think about making cages round the tables, but that'd look 'orrible, and be a nuisance to get at the plants to water or move them.

I did think about a pea-shooter; if they get smacked every time they come in, maybe they'll learn not to come in. or a long-range water pistol. But they're bold? fearless? A roof might be the best option, if the council allowed it! I asked them if it was okay for me to put up an awning on one side of the garden to give me a dry working space, and they said I needed planning permission (@150, and surveryor's drawings, @££?) so i doubt they'd let me roof the whole space over. Of course, I shouldn't have asked! but now I can't plead ignorance.

That's also what's stopping me having a go at a mini garden - whaat'st he point if I'm going to be forever picking up and pots and putting the plants back in where they've been knocked over, or refilling large pots that have been excavated?

sigh, rant over!

The Heucheras were doing well: I gave most of them away couple of weeks ago, kept two or three of the best. If you'd like to try growing them, I'd be happy to send one to you.