Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!

We have a red leaved Acer, I think it's 'Garnet', in a largish pot, provided it is regularly watered it does very well although it got caught by the late frost this year.

On Thu, 2 Jun 2011 14:37:27 +0000, Granity
wrote:


queen eleanor;925216 Wrote:
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!

We have a red leaved Acer, I think it's 'Garnet', in a largish pot,
provided it is regularly watered it does very well although it got
caught by the late frost this year.

Yes: I've got a Japanese maple in an 18" pot, in which it's perfectly
happy. It'll need moving on or chucking out one of these years, of
course. A problem with all these imported ceramic pots is that the
drainage holes are ridiculously small: if you haven't got a suitable
drill, you do need to avoid over-watering as much as underwatering.

--
Mike.

Mike Lyle wrote:
On Thu, 2 Jun 2011 14:37:27 +0000, Granity
wrote:


queen eleanor;925216 Wrote:
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!

We have a red leaved Acer, I think it's 'Garnet', in a largish pot,
provided it is regularly watered it does very well although it got
caught by the late frost this year.

Yes: I've got a Japanese maple in an 18" pot, in which it's perfectly
happy. It'll need moving on or chucking out one of these years, of
course. A problem with all these imported ceramic pots is that the
drainage holes are ridiculously small: if you haven't got a suitable
drill, you do need to avoid over-watering as much as underwatering.

How long do you keep a small tree or shrub in a pot in the same soil
before changing it?

On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:29:43 +0100, Frank wrote:

Mike Lyle wrote:
On Thu, 2 Jun 2011 14:37:27 +0000, Granity
wrote:


queen eleanor;925216 Wrote:
Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!

We have a red leaved Acer, I think it's 'Garnet', in a largish pot,
provided it is regularly watered it does very well although it got
caught by the late frost this year.

Yes: I've got a Japanese maple in an 18" pot, in which it's perfectly
happy. It'll need moving on or chucking out one of these years, of
course. A problem with all these imported ceramic pots is that the
drainage holes are ridiculously small: if you haven't got a suitable
drill, you do need to avoid over-watering as much as underwatering.

How long do you keep a small tree or shrub in a pot in the same soil
before changing it?

You probably need to ask a gardener a lot less approximatory than this
one; but if it starts looking tired, "tip it out and see if it's
filled the container with roots" will usually do.

When you do tip it out, you may very well find that the main roots
have got tangled and started choking one another: that's why, of
course, they always say to spread a tree's roots out when first
planting. You''ll also very possibly find that the root ball is
completely dry in the middle: peaty mixtures are famously hard to wet
again once they've dried, and the plant may have been thirsty for
years. Best to use John Innes, or mix garden soil into commercial
compost, and put a trace of washing-up liquid in the watering can
(when a squirter is empty, I fill it with water, and keep it handy for
this purpose).

Hope this helps: but there are far more knowledgeable people in the
group.

--
Mike.

Thanks very much for your help with this, I have bought an Acer. It is lush!

"queen eleanor" wrote
I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!


Albizia julibrissin (the Silk Tree) being in a pot you can ensure good
drainage which is what it likes especially in our wet winters. Can take the
frost just does not like it wet too. Very pretty tree and beautiful and
unusual flowers. Try to get the red flowered one and don't bother with the
red leaved one.
Put the Toms out in the garden in a sunny spot, we grow all ours out on our
allotment without cover, you will get much tastier Toms with their roots in
the soil.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

On 10/06/2011 23:36, Bob Hobden wrote:
"queen eleanor" wrote
I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!


Albizia julibrissin (the Silk Tree) being in a pot you can ensure good
drainage which is what it likes especially in our wet winters. Can take the
frost just does not like it wet too. Very pretty tree and beautiful and
unusual flowers. Try to get the red flowered one and don't bother with the
red leaved one.
Put the Toms out in the garden in a sunny spot, we grow all ours out on our
allotment without cover, you will get much tastier Toms with their roots in
the soil.


Does root restriction of Albizia encourage flowering, Bob? I assume it
keeps the plant a bit smaller than in the garden, and that would be
useful here. I have an A. julibrissin v. rosea which has been in the
front garden for around 10 years, a couple of metres from the SE wall of
the house. It's now about 3 metres high, and I think (wishful??) that
it might flower for the first time, as there seem to be some buds of a
different shape from the leaf buds. BTW, it is in solid clay soil, but
that doesn't seem to have bothered it too much!

--

Jeff

In article , queen eleanor
writes

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me.

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

I have grown cherry tomatoes very successfully in large pots (about 9
inches diameter) filled with a mixture of soil and garden compost. These
were stood out on a low wall with a southerly aspect, and produced loads
of the most delicious little fruits. I am following the same procedure
this year and the plants are looking very good.

Frequent watering and feeding is essential. Do not pinch out the side
shoots; let them just grow and fruit. Because they form a wide, low bush
with the stems hanging down they can be grown in hanging baskets, but
these require more watering. You won't get many plants in a mini
greenhouse!

Roy.
--
Roy Bailey
West Berkshire.

"Jeff Layman" wrote ...

Bob Hobden wrote:
"queen eleanor" wrote
I was wondering if someone could help me. I have recently acquired a
big
ceramic pot which would be suitable for a small tree. Can anyone
recommend a nice looking, easy to care for, small tree? I don't want it
to grow massive... am I being stupid in assuming I could get a small
tree that will stay small?!?

Also, someone has given me some cherry tomato plants which are in my
kitchen window. I don't know how to care for them, can someone give me
some tips. I would prefer them to be outside. I don't have a proper
greenhouse but I do have a mini greenhouse from Homebase.

Thanks very much for your help!


Albizia julibrissin (the Silk Tree) being in a pot you can ensure good
drainage which is what it likes especially in our wet winters. Can take
the
frost just does not like it wet too. Very pretty tree and beautiful and
unusual flowers. Try to get the red flowered one and don't bother with
the
red leaved one.
Put the Toms out in the garden in a sunny spot, we grow all ours out on
our
allotment without cover, you will get much tastier Toms with their roots
in
the soil.


Does root restriction of Albizia encourage flowering, Bob? I assume it
keeps the plant a bit smaller than in the garden, and that would be useful
here. I have an A. julibrissin v. rosea which has been in the front
garden for around 10 years, a couple of metres from the SE wall of the
house. It's now about 3 metres high, and I think (wishful??) that it
might flower for the first time, as there seem to be some buds of a
different shape from the leaf buds. BTW, it is in solid clay soil, but
that doesn't seem to have bothered it too much!


Yes, A julibrissin v. rosea is the preferred variety, I notice Burncoose are
selling them in three sizes.
I have three non-rosea that I grew from seed collected in a friends garden
(SW France) where it's been down to -13°C. They are still in pots while I
find somewhere for them to be planted and are about 4 years old, one
flowered last year. There is one in a front garden about 5 miles away and it
is more like a large shrub than a single trunked tree, say 5ft tall, and was
covered in flower last summer.
I thought they had planted out a couple at Kew but haven't seen them yet.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK

They're not very tall at the moment so I've managed to cram 6 in there! I assume they will be ok to take out and put them outside, the weather is cold at the moment and I don't want them to die.

I have got mine in smaller pots than 9 inches, I think 5 inches, are they going to need bigger pots?