(V): I've found the darker bees(malt) are more to the slugs taste but they'll go after a good european lager. :-)

(V): I make home brew and I find the tailings in a small pot are excellent, and to make them child proff you can place it under a pot as long as there is acess for the slugs.

Vikings: If it's any use I split my when the flowers have died back.

Foxy Lady: They don't like frost's but the birds love them so you need to cover them

It's supposedly spring time here but we're getting snow, it's unheard of this late in the year. Had 1 meter dumped on the road between Taupo & Napier. Temperature today was 8 derees C. Going to get down to 3 to-night

Snoopy:You'll have to wait and see come next spring.

Snoopy: I like your choie of gardening implement, if the wife didn't like roses so much it's what I'd use. No matter how careful I am and with gloves on I still get a thorn in the fingers. Thankfully we don't get snow so I can't imagine it as a problem LOL

Snoopy: I prune mine after they finish flowering and prior to the new leaves coming out.

Foxy Lady: Do you actually roast the seeds or do you remove them and just roast the kernels?

Dolittle: Dolittle you can have all you like of our rain, I don't think it's ever going to stop

Foxy Lady: Know what you mean by crazy weather. We had a drought recently which is unheard of, they said we'ed have power cuts because there wasn't enough water in the hydro dams and now all we get is rain and more rain.

Foxy Lady: You wouldn't normally get frosts that late in the year would you?

satinjade: is or are they cymimbidiums not sure on spelling. I've got mine in 20 lte pots filled with a really course potting mix nearly bark, need to have 3 green bulb, before they will flower and where we are we need to water heaps in the summer which is our Jan & Feb to get good spikes. Hope this helps

Foxy Lady:Or no we don't get snow.

Foxy Lady: Hamilton, central noth island of New Zealand

Foxy Lady:Well we've got heavy rain at the moment but as our district has been declared a drought area , the rain is much appreciated.

Foxy Lady: It's in the mid 20's Celcius here and quite mild, just finished picking our pears & peaches. Mind you not looking forward to winter.

Bernice: I don't think as many as that but usually the tree will shed a lot, what variety of lemon is it?

Bernice: I'd still thin them out to half a dozen per branch at the most to allow them to grow into reasonable sized lemons.

Foxy Lady: Same here except I'm getting ready to plant for this coming spring

Jim Dandy:I have no idea as you'll have different varities to us. Only 1 I've ever heard of over there is Idaho spuds. LOL

Jim Dandy: Well I'm getting ready to plant my seed potatoes but I'm in the southern hemisphere. Which will be the start of spring (Sept) thats as I want some by xmas, not sure where you are.

Jim Dandy:Certainly can get a big enough container , I've used a plastic rubbish bin put some compost in the bottom , put a couple of seed spuds in and as the tops grow keep filling up with compost, just leave a bit of green showing all the time and make sure you put in enough holes for excess water to drain off.

ScarletRose: Tomatoe pickels
6lb green tomatoes,1qrt vinegar,.5 lb brown sugar, .75 lb onions, 1.5 teaspoons cloves, 2 teaspoons peppercorns, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper, .25 lb raisins.
Slice tomatoes into a dish & sprinkle each layer with salt, leave overnight.
Boil up vinegar & spices & strain, slice onions & add to vinegar, drain tomatoes & add to other ingrediants, simmer until tender, bottle when cold.

well hope you have some success with this.

ScarletRose: you can ripen them on a window ledge as individual tomatoes, also you can hang the whole bush/plant ina shed and they will ripen. If all else fails I've got a reciepe for green tomatoe pickle

I want to know if I should prund my Laburnum tree, when we put it in it was a small bundle of leaves at the top of a long slender trunk. Then in the summer it went wild and sent out two branches which are over one meter long. Now it is shedding its leaves I'm wondering if I should cut it back. Any thought anybody?

ajtgirl, just looked it up on the net and it's still active in the soil for 6 months. So guess it's not what you're after sorry.

☼ajtgirl☼:I'm not sure on the chemicals in it but it, causes the roots to rot. We cleared the area and i think replanted a couple of months later.
I'll have a hunt around and find out who makes it and what it's active ingredients are

☼ajtgirl☼: We had a problem with bamboo and were able to get rid of it using a product called woody weed killer. Don't know if you have that in the states but it sure takes the hard work out of getting rid of bamboo.

Foxy Lady: I do but i also buy buttercups each year because the seed doesn't stay true.

Rose: Easy to get that many when you have a gully you can plant them in LOL. Haven't tried muffins will look around for a receipe.

Rose: Glad to see someone else grows pumpkin's, I've just pulled out mine, had a bumper crop got 30 stored away for pumpkin soup and scones

Foxy Lady:We might get black ice once or twice a year and it's only in certain areas.

Foxy Lady: Pretty mild we get a few frosty mornings but no snow, worst we we get is fog and black ice but thats not so common now adays

Foxy Lady: At least we don't get the snow that you people get over there. I'll stick to our mild climate anytime.

Foxy Lady: Our season is a bit silly at the moment we've got freisas coming out in autumn

BerniceC: I couldn't believe I was reading that somebody was selling oxalis. It certainly is a noxious weed in NZ I've got 3 types growing in my gardens & lawn. Thankfully I have mainly creeping oxalis which isn't so bad but it certainly creeps.

Well daylight saving has finished, and the temps are dropping so it looks like our winter is on its way. At least we don't get snow. LOL

Foxy Lady:Bernice is in Townsville east coast and the cyclone was hitting the west coast around port hedland. So she 'll be fine.

nobleheart: Live in a warmer climate and you don't have snow problems. LOL

Foxy Lady:Is that just a general fertilizer?

Foxy Lady:We've got a Lilac but it's pretty small. I suppose it's not old enough to have to many flowers.

BerniceC:Banana Passionfruit are a no-no over here noxious weed.

BerniceC:I've got mine planted as a windbreak for the orchard, so with 29 trees we get plenty of fruit. Friend has a reciepe for feijoa chutney, we supply the fruit she rewards us with chutney

Foxy Lady:I only like to look at snow and then from a distance, I'm shivering just thinking about it. Thank goodness we don't get it here.

Foxy Lady:We're just about at the end of our season, just put in brassicas for winter and picking the last of the summer vegies, but lots of fruit still to ripen, peaches, grapes, tamarillos,feijoas and persimmons.

BerniceC:They didn't build a new hotel, but the place certainly has changed. You might miss out on some vegetable growing in the tropics but you can grow lots more fruit, now thats go to be a plus.

BerniceC:Hamilton hotel has gone, and our weather is great for growing at the moment, half way thru botteling our beetroot. Getting the garden ready for the winter vegies

BerniceC:I'm in Hamilton, and yesterday picked our first peach. Just hope the birds leave some for us. LOL

Mousetrap:Understand it gets used on a lot of mousetraps. LOL