[Oliveview]

I grew some geraniums from seed at least 4 if not 5 years ago.  I never covered the pot they were in at winter (a very wide one, not that deep though) and they were covered in snow a couple of years ago too, thought I'd lost them.  When we moved to Spain 2 years ago the neighbour took the tub..... visited them today and they are still in flower. Not bad for a packet of seeds and no new compost!  I took some cuttings back to Spain with me last month and they have taken, so maybe the new cuttings will be as strong as the parent plants.  

[muntjac]

i love the geraniums myself i am mad on the pelargoniums tho , my other things is fuchias im now on my 67th variety lol

[Oliveview]

I once entered a flower show with my pot plant- a cyclamen- which I had had for a few years and it was a mass of flowers.  I won first place, the man who normally won first with his fushias was disqualified as he had 3 plants in the one tub and not just one.  He was most annoyed.  The next day my plant died :cry: think the fushia man nobbled it :evil:
Pamela

[Oliveview]

whoops didn't realise I had mentioned it before! I was so pleased to see all the flowers on the plant yesterday I just had to share

[John]

Don't worry Oliveview - I repeat myself all the time.  Something to do with age, so cruel people tell me

[DD.]

Don't worry Oliveview - I repeat myself all the time.  Something to do with age, so cruel people tell me

Not to worry John, so do I.

[DD.]

Don't worry Oliveview - I repeat myself all the time.  Something to do with age, so cruel people tell me

Not to worry John, so do I.

[John]

   

[milkman]

Not to worry John, so do I.

Not to worry John, so do I.

[Clodagh & Dick]

Do you have the dreaded geraniium moth that decimated geraniums in Spain from the mid 90's. We control them now with garlic, our own distilled geranium oil and nettle infusiuns....plus a buterfly net!!

[liz from the fizz]

not to worry john so do i so do i

[John]

Not heard of this geranium moth - so I suppose that's one bug we're free from.

[Clodagh & Dick]

Your lucky..hope global warming never becomes a reality! In the last fifteen years the geranium moth, minero fruit fly that attacks oranges and now requires major spraying programmes and now a weevil that kills palm trees have all arrived in Spain as a result of the poor checking of cheap imports of plants. Hope this does not eventually prevent us importring heritage veggie seeds from the UK...which is now difficult from the US.

[John]

We're now getting problems growing rhubarb, blackcurrants and raspberries as the winters aren't cold enough.

Certainly more slugs and bugs seem to be surviving and extending their life period.

[Clodagh & Dick]

re raspberries we obtained our plants from a bar which grew them at 1600 metres in the sierra navada near granada. Our allotment is only at 300 metre but 600 kilometres north. They shoudn't realy grow here biut with copios mulching with a neighbours not treated grass cuttings - we are sensible and don't have one! - and comfrey leaves we harvested this year from a 15 metre double row from may until January 5th...only six fruits but a crop.
 Re snails  our original 7 small cuttings from Ireland are now 500 large plants about to be split so that we close the one gap we have in the Comfrey strip/mini hedge asround the whole curcumference of our 800 square metres.
One of the advantages of the comfrey is that is a barrier to snails. They have a good feast on the leaves and often travel no further so we have traps of old roofing tiles etc to catch them.After 4 weeks of feeding in a cage with rosemary one of our companiion plants - not the original bar maid where we obtained the raspbery plants - they are cooked for a delicious Asturian type starter. Within the comfrey barrier we are now using crished neem kernals to contriol small slugs ...we do not see the UK monsters.