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Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Columba Oct 2024 9:45pm, 3 Oct 2024 22,587 posts	Quote Pin Columba I would be very suspicious of that giant cucumber. My daughter nearly poisoned herself with a giant courgette. One taste and she threw the whole dish away. Can happen, apparently, if the parent cross-fertilises with something that isn't a courgette but is related, such as a gourd. My little hardy cyclamen seem to be spreading, which delights my heart.
Eynsham Red Oct 2024 9:53pm, 3 Oct 2024 11,389 posts	Quote Pin Eynsham Red Our cyclamen are flourishing this year. Fortunately they’re something that the slugs and snails (which have also flourished) are not interested in.
Velociraptor Oct 2024 11:03pm, 3 Oct 2024 71,220 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor I love hardy cyclamen. My dad has several clumps of them, but I haven't managed to get them to take hold in my garden.
Gooner Oct 2024 11:32pm, 3 Oct 2024 21,364 posts	Quote Pin Gooner We have a small patch of them at the bottom of the garden under the damson tree and despite my attempts, they refuse to spread towards the house.
Cerrertonia Oct 2024 7:32am, 4 Oct 2024 22,059 posts	Quote Pin Cerrertonia There were a few patches in my old garden when we moved in - edge of the lawn, under trees. Occasionally I planted a couple more. After about 20 years, in 2020, they suddenly took off and naturalised all over the place.
Cerrertonia Oct 2024 7:35am, 4 Oct 2024 22,060 posts	Quote Pin Cerrertonia Looks like I posted a picture of a patch of them and colchicums (autumn crocus) on the thread at the time too. As well as the clump in the foreground, you can see two other patches in the distance if you look carefully. And it was 2019, not 2020.
Surrey Phil Nov 2024 10:50am, 2 Nov 2024 10,758 posts	Quote Pin Surrey Phil Got a gardening friend to cut the grass and edges one more time. I was a bit concerned that the grass would tear up and leave muddy patches but he generally did a good job. Still getting fed up with the squirrels raiding the bird nuts and seed. I tend to remove the feeders for a few days but they keep coming back. I'm not entirely sure if these ones hibernate but I'll get the feeders out again if I don't see squirrels for a while.
Velociraptor Nov 2024 10:52am, 2 Nov 2024 71,753 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor I still have sunflowers, cosmos and osteospermums putting out new flower heads. This is giving me an excuse to delay getting the pots cleared out and the spring bulbs in.
Columba Nov 2024 9:08pm, 2 Nov 2024 22,609 posts	Quote Pin Columba @Surrey Phil My son-in-law discovered a kind of bird food that squirrels don't like. It contains chilli (or something) which doesn't bother the birds but gives the squirrels stomach-ache, so after a few tries they leave the feeders alone. Son-in-law says it worked.
Surrey Phil Nov 2024 9:15pm, 2 Nov 2024 10,768 posts	Quote Pin Surrey Phil I have heard of that but wasn't sure if you could get it with the chilli or you had to do it yourself. If you have the name of the bird food, that would be fantastic.