Comments for Auntie Planty

Comment on ladybirds – friend or foe? by Helen

Helen — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 08:16:39 +0000

Hi Julie I have just found your message (taken long enough!) perhaps we ought to take this conversation on to email so that I don’t lose you again valerie@auntieplanty.com will find me – talk soon

Comment on ladybirds – friend or foe? by Julie Brown

Julie Brown — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 12:03:29 +0000

Hi Valerie
Trish Abraham has been extolling your virtues and I’d love to join your gardening masterclass one month, but I can’t make Thursdays! I have set up my own business mainly doing container planting (www.urbanbloomplanting.co.uk) and I’m doing the RHS Level 2 Practical Horticulture course at Capel Manor. Would love to come and volunteer with you from time to time, to get your wisdom and learn a thing or two perhaps.

Comment on garden composting by Julia Jones

Julia Jones — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 19:40:01 +0000

Thank you for such a clear explanation much appreciated and very timely.

Comment on ode to autumn by Valerie Munro

Valerie Munro — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 18:01:11 +0000

In reply to Roz.

Leaving leaves on the lawn is defo not a good idea as they will kill off the grass.

I have suggested that you can leave a line of leaves along the back of a border for hedgehogs etc.

Leaving leaves on the border – hmm – well, it’s not so simple. As the leaves are broken down the bacteria doing this important work need nitrogen, and they take it from the soil thereby leaving your plants rather hungry.

Comment on ode to autumn by Roz

Roz — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 18:56:42 +0000

Leaving the leaves is really the best
Fat juicy worms will do the rest
Taking their feast far into the ground
Enriching the soil when they move it around

Comment on Lamport-gnome-replica-amoswolfe by Fran

Fran — Thu, 30 May 2019 14:45:57 +0000

My family are descendants of the Isham gene my mother was an Isham . We have a replica of the original gnome is there any value attached. F

Comment on sad chestnut trees by Valerie Munro

Valerie Munro — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 08:36:41 +0000

In reply to Phil Stilliard. the moth lays the eggs directly into the leaf tissue, and when these hatch the larvae will then munch its way around the cells between the upper and lower layer of the leaf, hence turning everything brown.

Comment on sad chestnut trees by Phil Stilliard

Phil Stilliard — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 14:37:23 +0000

Very interesting! Do the grubs crawl up the tree to get to the leaves, and if so, could the same treatment be used as on apple trees, sticky tape round the trunk?

Comment on climbing plants by Valerie Munro

Valerie Munro — Sat, 19 Aug 2017 15:24:29 +0000

In reply to Ann Salmon.

Clematis, doesn’t twine at all – it hangs on to its support by twisting its leaf stalks.

Understanding this will then prompt you to give the plant appropriate support – either a mesh or a grid of thinnish wire. Trellis struts are too fat for the leaf stalk to curl around.

I hope that this helps

Comment on climbing plants by Ann Salmon

Ann Salmon — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 18:56:09 +0000

Does a clematis alpina twine clockwise of anti-pclockwise?

Comment on garden nemesis by Annie Keighley

Annie Keighley — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 12:36:56 +0000

The garlic wash definitely works and allowed us to grow clematis and oriental poppies for the first time last year. The downside is the greenhouse (rain-free) stank like rancid pizza.
This year, by accident, I’ve discovered slugs love pineapple and watermelon. Just put any rinds on those plastic supermarket veg trays and you’ll find them heaving with feasting slugs after 10pm. All that remains is the ethical dilemma of how to dispose of them!