Gardening Advice

Doing some gardening today.  Anyone know of good gardening websites?  I have two pots of herbs and I'd like to plant some in the ground but am not sure which ones are hardy enough to survive the winter. 

Thanks!!

I love the BBC's gardening website.

"Grow Your Own" magazine has a quite useful forum; http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/

Rosemary is hale and hardy.  I think thyme and oregano can survive a winter.  Have fun planting. 

Thanks for the tips!   I planted some flower bulbs yesterday... hopefully come up.  I didn't realize before how hard as a rock our garden is.  Clay... yikes.

Actually to clarify two of the beds I think the previous owners but in and so they are filled with some nice soil.  The back flower bed is ridiculously hard.  I'm thinking in spring I'll plant a hydrangea back there... can that take the clay?

Rosemary definitely will survive. And I've got some sage plants that made it through last winter, albeit looking worse for wear, and sprang back into good form for the summer so I'm not ripping them out. I've got a curly parsley plant that will NOT die - I cut it back and it just gets bigger, so that might do alright for you at least until it gets properly cold.

Our garden is clay too and while I don't know about hydrangeas, I did sprinkle a packet of native wild flowers in one corner and they've gone nuts - I've had colour all summer and now all autumn and they're self-seeding so I can basically just let that area do it's own thing, which is kind of nice. I've also had really good luck with jasmine in the clay as well as Barberry shrubs which I LOVE but can grow a bit big if you don't keep it pruned.

Rosemary definitely will survive. And I've got some sage plants that made it through last winter, albeit looking worse for wear, and sprang back into good form for the summer so I'm not ripping them out. I've got a curly parsley plant that will NOT die - I cut it back and it just gets bigger, so that might do alright for you at least until it gets properly cold.

Our garden is clay too and while I don't know about hydrangeas, I did sprinkle a packet of native wild flowers in one corner and they've gone nuts - I've had colour all summer and now all autumn and they're self-seeding so I can basically just let that area do it's own thing, which is kind of nice. I've also had really good luck with jasmine in the clay as well as Barberry shrubs which I LOVE but can grow a bit big if you don't keep it pruned.

Excellent! Thanks for the advice!  I'll have to look into the Barberry shrubs, not sure what that is.  And what kind of native wildflowers?  The previous owners of our new house have some green groundcover type plants in there, but it's so, blah.  I'm dying for some color in there come spring.

I'm going to keep bringing up the BBC site until someone uses it! 

If you go here, you can click on which type of soil you have (where it says Soil Types on the right), and it gives you a list of plants that would be appropriate to plant in, for instance, clay.

I'm going to keep bringing up the BBC site until someone uses it! 

If you go here, you can click on which type of soil you have (where it says Soil Types on the right), and it gives you a list of plants that would be appropriate to plant in, for instance, clay.

Awesome, thanks sooo much!

And what kind of native wildflowers?  The previous owners of our new house have some green groundcover type plants in there, but it's so, blah.  I'm dying for some color in there come spring.

To be honest I just bought a packet of seeds that said mixed native flowers or something. LOL. I know so far I've had corflowers pop up as well as a couple of varieties of what look like daisies.

Chives!  I just remembered chives! 

Chives!  I just remembered chives! 

oh excellent! because they are getting out of control in the pot i have them in!

Kind of off-topic here, but how in the world do people get such beautiful fushias to grow in the UK? We tried here (in the US) last year, and none of them made it.

I was just in England, and the fushias were marvelous. Big, bodacious bushes of them! What are we missing?

Kind of off-topic here, but how in the world do people get such beautiful fushias to grow in the UK? We tried here (in the US) last year, and none of them made it.

I was just in England, and the fushias were marvelous. Big, bodacious bushes of them! What are we missing?

I think it's the climate and especially the Gulf Stream.

Kind of off-topic here, but how in the world do people get such beautiful fushias to grow in the UK? We tried here (in the US) last year, and none of them made it.

I was just in England, and the fushias were marvelous. Big, bodacious bushes of them! What are we missing?

If I could pull my fuchsias up and post them all to you, I would in a heartbeat. I loathe fuchsias with the burning passion of a thousand fires!