h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for that, if I had a little more space I might go for it.

I have to take issue with one thing though... "Ivy is good" **!*"**
Ivy is of course, totally evil

I quite like Ivy, although I don't approve of it being grown up anything but other plants. There is some growing round a corner of my house. I've taken lots of cuttings to plant along my hedges to thicken them up for the wildlife, and in Spring I will take some more, and then cut it down before it gets too attached.

Both my neighbours grow nothing much else except Ivy

Once it gets a hold in an awkward spot you can necer really get to the roots and it just keeps on coming back at you, smothering anything else in its path. Pulling it out seems to make loads of dust which makes me sneeze, it grows up walls and pulls out the pointing, then it grows over gutters and blocks them, and still it carries on, eventually covering up the whole sky blocking out all light so the whole planet is competely dark forever.
You could say I'm not a fan.

I can tell that from the mild over-exaggeration. What are your feelings on Russin Vine?

Russian vine is nice, it grows over the top of some big privet bushes nearby and adds some colour ( well white ) when it flowers.

I also like virginia creeper on the top of my shed and along the walls. Even though it grows liek mad it's easy enough to trim back, it's only ivy that is truly evil.

I have tried in two different gardens to get Virginia Creeper to gorw, and it just won't have it. What's your secret?

I bought the first one from a market stall and just bunged it in next to the shed. Wherever the dangling stems hit some soil again they start to make some roots so you can make new plants out of that. You probably can't root green stems though, only woody ones, then it just grows like a tree. We could probably sort one out to go with the toadspawn.

The other climber I like is hops, but I don't have any females. Females are necessary for the aromatic flowers.

Both of mine came from garden centres. They sat there all year not growing, then the leaves all fell off, and the stems dried up.

Thanks for the offer of cuttings, that sounds cool. I've been involved in swopping seeds etc with other researchers, so if there's anything that I can let you have in return, just let me know. I was thinking of doing a sort of 'swap shop' for seeds and cuttings on h2g2. Could be a good way of getting out occasionally.

I was thinking of a grape vine, as my garden gets so hot in the summer as it's south facing and very sheltered.

There's one herb which I really like but haven't had any for years, that's called Balm of Gilead.

It sounds like you could definitely go for a grape vine, but you might have to protect it from frost in winter. If you have a south facing lean-to or half covered area, that would be best. I have a friend in Kent who grows five different varieties at the back of his house and makes a gallon or two of wine each year.

Mina , are you still my ACE ? Only I submitted an article about Real cider for peer review yesterday, got a few comments, but now I'm not sure what's supposed to happen next.

Hi, of course I'm still your ACE. Even if I wasn't, I'd still help out. It makes me feel important. (As I think I've said before.)

When you put an entry in Peer Review it can be very trickey, as there is nothing the author can do except wait. If it's good enough for the Edited Guide then a Scout will be along to recommend it after a minimum of 7 days. If it's not good enough, or it is but someone else has some info that might be worth putting in, then you'll get comments from your peers. You can take the advice or not, it's your entry. But you still have to wait for a Scout to notice it.
It's good to keep chatting in there, as it keeps it near the top of the forum list.
I've added my own comment now btw.

Going back to the plants, I haven't got a lean to or anything like that, but I have got a mini greenhouse. Would I need to protect the whole plant? As I had thought I'd like to contruct a wide arch, and grow it over that. I saw one in a Dutch researchers garden, and it wasn't undercover. Although that was only October.

Ah, so there's a 7 day minumum thanks.

Sorry I don't know much more about grape vines, but I think the mini greenhouse might be too small really. I think the main stem is quite hardy, but the grapes themselves are more likely to grow and ripen under a bit of glass or clear plastic. I'm sure you could find varieties more suited to outdoor growth in England, and maybe a small one for the greenhouse as well. The ones my friend grows are eating varieties, but he makes wine out of them anyway. There's probably a good reason for that. They make nice plants anyway, whether they fruit or not.

I think I'll have to look into grapes a bit more. I'll probably leave it this year anyway. I'm (for the first time) growing a lot of plants from seeds for next year, and I don't know how much room there will be in the garden for anything else!

We used to have a grape vine at the family home in Swansea. Despite the fact that it's very wet, the weather there is also very mild. So growing grapes in an unheated greenhouse wasn't difficult.
If you intend to make wine then you want to be careful about which variety you grow. Grapes ripen according to 'epochs'. The earliest ripening grapes tend to fare best in this country.

We grew the vine *outside* the greenhouse and trained it in through the glass. We also built the compost heap on top of the vine's roots. We used to get a magnificent crop of grapes each year. However, it takes a lot of bunches of grapes to produce one gallon of wine, we found. You will need to thin the bunches out once the grapes start to grow: the best way of doing this is to get some long, fine bladed scissors.

Wine sounds nice, but a lot of hard work. I'd probably just eat the grapes. I like the idea of growing it under the compost and into the greenhouse, but if I definitely need a greenhouse I'll have to give up the idea. There's things I want before a greenhouse.

Such as? I *still* haven't got around to putting up my greenhouse.

BTW: I don't know if you've followed up the conversation we were having on my Personal Space, but I mentioned there that the seeds arrived. Thanks very much . And a Cool Yule to you too.

Andy,
You now know how to get you piano back: send me some seeds also.

The FM

Oh yes, I had read it, I must have forgotten to answer. Sorry.

Before the greenhouse I want a ing great huge fence between me and all my scumbag neighbours.

Seeds hmm,

Not a lot to offer right now.
maybe

Nigella
Honesty
Evening primrose
Teasel
foxglove
aquilegia

and some ancient packets at the bottom of my fridge.