DavePoole Torquay wrote:
p. pleater wrote:
I wanted some large pots to grow tomatoes and 'cumbers etc...............
Instead I bought ten builders quality buckets from Homebase for 99p each

Well done! If you're not too worried about aethetics, inexpensive
buckets and even dustbins make fantastic large containers and help keep
costs down. I keep quite a few large palms in pots and because I'm
loathe to leave them here when I decide to move on, I occasionally need
very large pots/tubs to keep them on the go. Opting for the
conventional way, big tree pots could cost 20+ quid apiece. Dustbins
with lots of holes drilled in the base are barely a few quid each and
equally as effective.

As for my best buy this year, I never thought I'd say it but it was a
plant from B&Q of all places! They had a sale earlier (well, one of
the many they seem to hold each year) and were knocking out very
good-sized tree ferns for comparative peanuts. I picked up a really
thick trunk that weighed a ton, just over 5.5ft tall for £59.00.
Based upon the normal retail price of around £25.00 per foot of trunk,
it was barely a third of the cost you'd normally expect to pay. That
was in early April and it was leafless at the time, but the top was
stuffed with 'knuckles'. A few months later together with a bit of TLC
and it has 19 arching fronds each between 5 and 7feet long, plus
several more still to unfurl. Its a brilliant plant and a seriously
good buy.

I saw them (the tree ferns) in B+Q in Dublin in June and I was sickened
by the cheapness. They have suddenly dropped in price. I have spent 8
years growing 7 of them (badly; I did not know how to do it) from
spores and the biggest ones are only about 1 foot of trunk max and
maybe 1 metre frond length. For relatively little, I could have just
bought some and they would be MUCH bigger than the ones I have. My
ones have great sentimental value and I have learned a lot but it was a
bit daft looking back and a lot of work as they moved house with us 3
years ago and it gets harder and harder to repot the ones that are
still in pots.

Des in Dublin