"Polly the Parrot" wrote in message
...
Bought some poppies in Bunnings.

Planted facing westerly sun, carp fertiliser (smelly brown stuff mixed
with water).

Trouble is, either the flowers are very small, or they only half open,
or the stems snap, and the stems are very short.

Any ideas to improve the situation?

as well as suspecting bunnings' products in general, i'd also wonder about
the season, the type, and the fertiliser!! :-)

most poppies don't flower in winter. not sure what kind you've got or where
you are, but i'm kind of amazed they're flowering at all (that could just be
my ignorance though). i'd not expect them to flower well this time of year
(actually i'd not expect flowering _at all_, but again we don't know the
type).

fertiliser: many "wildflowers" dislike fertiliser, manures, or rich soil &
are happier without. this might be part of the problem. having said that,
some poppies would be thrilled (but again it would depend what type they
are). but it's a possibility - too much nutrition.

i also gather they were transplants from a punnet. again being very general,
poppies tend to dislike transplanting (although i've done it) - so they may
not do especially well until the next generation when they are self-seeding,
whereupon the self-sown plants do much better than the originals.

last possibility i can think of is perhaps not enough sun through the day,
then they get blasted in the afternoon; but you haven't indicated this as
part of the problem.
kylie

On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:20:19 +0000, 0tterbot wrote:

most poppies don't flower in winter.

I'm sure Bunnings follows the old adage that flowering plants sell better
than non-flowering plants.

last possibility i can think of is perhaps not enough sun through the
day, then they get blasted in the afternoon; but you haven't indicated
this as part of the problem.

The wind is Sydney has been off snow for days. If stuff isn't protected it
will be wind blown and almost snap frozen.

On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:02:18 +1000 terryc
wrote:

I'm sure Bunnings follows the old adage that flowering plants sell
better than non-flowering plants.

Err... sure sucked me in!

Polly the Parrot wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:02:18 +1000 terryc
wrote:

I'm sure Bunnings follows the old adage that flowering plants sell
better than non-flowering plants.

Err... sure sucked me in!

As a matter of fact, I picked up six heartsease plants for 50c each at
Bunnings. They had all finished flowering and had been put in the
chuck-out trolley for mugs like me.

Well! I know have a beeootiful display of lovely pink and purple
heartsease spilling out of my hanging baskets ($6 at GoLo)! My leeks are
nearly eight inches tall and my silver beet are enormous. Can't wait to
harvest something - anything! - from my garden!

As an aside, while digging the other day, I uncovered three
shovel-headed planarian worms. These are flatworms that live off the
'soup' in the soil substrate and they're *so* interesting. If you cut
one in half, both halves will regenerate and grow. If you cut a chunk
out of the side of one, it will grow an entire new head-end and become
y-shaped. We studied these creatures a million years ago when I was
doing Biology at Uni and in all these years, it's the first time I've
seen them 'in the wild' as it were. I returned them carefully to the
soil and will hope to meet them again some time.

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia

"Trish Brown" wrote in message
node...
Polly the Parrot wrote:
On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 15:02:18 +1000 terryc
wrote:

I'm sure Bunnings follows the old adage that flowering plants sell
better than non-flowering plants.

Err... sure sucked me in!

As a matter of fact, I picked up six heartsease plants for 50c each at
Bunnings. They had all finished flowering and had been put in the
chuck-out trolley for mugs like me.

Well! I know have a beeootiful display of lovely pink and purple
heartsease spilling out of my hanging baskets ($6 at GoLo)! My leeks are
nearly eight inches tall and my silver beet are enormous. Can't wait to
harvest something - anything! - from my garden!

Harvested my first cut of silverbeet from Bunnings. Grown in lovely black
clay (Darling Downs) with blood & bone, chook excreta & trace elements. Will
be adding the sheep droppings in spring to other areas to aid bulking up.



As an aside, while digging the other day, I uncovered three shovel-headed
planarian worms. These are flatworms that live off the 'soup' in the soil
substrate and they're *so* interesting. If you cut one in half, both
halves will regenerate and grow. If you cut a chunk out of the side of
one, it will grow an entire new head-end and become y-shaped. We studied
these creatures a million years ago when I was doing Biology at Uni and in
all these years, it's the first time I've seen them 'in the wild' as it
were. I returned them carefully to the soil and will hope to meet them
again some time.

--
Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia



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On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:30:48 +1000, SG1 wrote:

Harvested my first cut of silverbeet from Bunnings. Grown in lovely black
clay (Darling Downs) with blood & bone, chook excreta & trace elements. Will
be adding the sheep droppings in spring to other areas to aid bulking up.

Make sure you let thefaster growing plants go to see and harvest the seed
heads. Then you just ned to spread the seed next year.

"terryc" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:30:48 +1000, SG1 wrote:

Harvested my first cut of silverbeet from Bunnings. Grown in lovely black
clay (Darling Downs) with blood & bone, chook excreta & trace elements.
Will
be adding the sheep droppings in spring to other areas to aid bulking up.

Make sure you let thefaster growing plants go to see and harvest the seed
heads. Then you just ned to spread the seed next year.

At the moment nothing is growing fast, too damn cool. Used seedlings to
actually get a garden as we only moved in during April. Have 1/2 fenced off
from the ferals (heeler & heinz). Will be using the rest when & if it warms
up. We have about 15m x 2m that is usable at moment but it does have a great
big gum near one end.




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