Hosta

An update on the Hosta June that we took out of the terrarium. Its looking rather nice at the moment.

Was doing the usual checks on the Hostas and came across this, a Kiwi Hippo that had been munched, however it wasn’t slugs and snails it was a mouse or shrew. So, I’m going to use the modified garlic solution to deal with this. If you add some chilli flakes to the garlic, brew, then this should deter them. I’ll let you know how I get on. This is the method for dealing with rabbits and deer, so hopefully, it should work for the little ones.

We have changed the website and have stopped bare root sales and changed over to plant sales.
Thankyou to everyone that purchased bare root Hostas, we will be shipping them to you over the next few weeks.
The website only has a few potted Hosta varieties currently available but more, will be added each week as they are checked and have started growing and we know they have all done well over winter.

More and more of the #hostas are waking up, Dixie Chick, Golden Tiara, Cracker Crumbs, Guacamole and Goldrush.

Just to remind you that there is always a chance of the temperatures falling back again and all these hostas are grown outdoors so fleeces at the ready.

Well it is that time of year again, Valentines day, February 14th and it is time to start drenching Garlic into the pots to give you that head start for the year.
Why do we do this? Well by starting the process now it affects the eggs of slugs and snails that are in the pots and any that come into contact with the solution will not develop. Also the small black slugs that are in the pot’s soil tend to die. So by doing the drench it gives you a month or so’s head start on the season and you only have to contend with the slug/snail population that is elsewhere in yours and your neighbours gardens.
When we do the drenching we make a stronger/double solution to ensure that we thoroughly drench the pots.
Note of Caution: Never buy your garlic mixture, always make it yourself and dispose of and make fresh every 2 to 3 months. Your mixture can go off and it looses its garlic smell and becomes quite rancid! The other reason for not keeping your mixture for too long is that it can develop botulinum which can be very nasty, so always wash your hands.
How we make our Garlic.
We take 1 to 2 garlic bulbs (not cloves, but whole bulbs) This amount varies dependent on your bulb size and strength.
Cut horizontally across the middle to expose the garlic, place in a pan of water with 1 to 2 litres of water, crush and boil for 10 to 15 minutes or until it stinks the house out. You can’t over cook it and again garlic varies in strength.
Let the mixture cool.
Sieve the mixture to take the bits out and put it in a bottle.
For normal spraying mix we take about 4 table spoons to a gallon of water and spray on the leaves and soil to deter slugs and snails.
When we drench into the pots as we are doing at present we use about 6 to 8 table spoons to the gallon.
We repeat this process every week to 10 days.
Once the Hostas are in leaf we change from drenching to spraying. Remember if it rains you have to do it again, can get quite busy, but with the larger sprayers it doesn’t take too long. We tend to use 5 litre sprayers so hence the gallon amount.
Last little piece of advice, this also works on other plants that are attractive to slugs and snails, such as dahlias and delphiniums.

Well it has been 2 days since June has been in the seed growing booth and as you can see it is growing fast and furious. Will try and acclimatize it outside again once the extremes of the weather have settled down. But on the positive side it is nice to see fresh Hostas leaves.

Well had to take one of the Hostas out of the new Terrarium as the Small Hosta in it has grown exceedingly well. I think that since the depth of soil in the Terrarium is deeper than we would normally have it hasn’t Bonsaied the Hostas as much as previous Terrariums.
So here is the one taken out a June, and the Terrarium as seen now.
We also have 2 spiders in the Terrarium at present which is keeping down the little midges which have hatched form the moss that was in the Terrarium, so a proper little eco system.

6th April – Forde Abbey Spring Plant Fair
14th April – Mapperton House -Plant Fair
27th & 28th April – Dorset Spring Show (Attending as South Hele Cross Farm)
3rd & 4th May – Powerderham Castle Tobey’s Garden Festival
11th May – Yarlington House – Plant Fair
12th May – RHS Rosemoor – Devon Plant Heritage
16th to 18th May – Devon County Show
30th May to 1st June – Royal Bath & West Show
8th & 9th June – Hellens Garden Festival
22nd & 23rd June – Axe Vale Show (Attending as South Hele Cross Farm)
14th July – South Molton Panier Market – Devon Plant Heritage
2nd & 3rd August – Taunton Flower Show
7th September – Forde Abbey Autumn Plant Fair
7th September – RHS Rosemoor – Devon Plant Heritage
27th to 29th September – RHS Malvern Show tbc

Well, here is the new hosta terrarium for 2024. This was put together over the weekend and is much larger than our Teapot terrariums. It was put together over the weekend after acclimatising the 3 Hostas in here. I won’t tell you what they are yet. I’ll let you discover as we go through the season.

Our Bare Root Hosta offering will end on February 15th and we will be changing our website over to potted Hosta pricing after this date. So to celebrate the beginning of the new Hosta growing season we thought we would offer you a discount of 15% off all bare root orders.

Please note that all Bare Root Hosta orders will be dispatched either at the end of February or the beginning of March.