Until the time someone sets up "I Love Gardening"... a thread for gardening and plant-growing questions

So, my question is:

Until about two months ago I had a lovely big cactus that I'd nurtured from a tiny little thing. I'd bought it thinking that even I couldn't manage to kill a cactus. It seems this is untrue. A couple of months ago, some of the fronds (or whatever they're called) started to droop. I watered it a bit more, and hoped for the best. It got worse, and about a month ago someone told me it was drooping because it was being watered too much. I've all but stopped watering it, and now it is all drooped over and looking very sad indeed.

Clearly, then, its not watering. But how often SHOULD you water a cactus? And how can I save mine?? Plz help thnks.

i watered my christmas-blooming cactus NEVER EVER for abt four years - it wz v.small and pitiful but solidered on

then i moved it to a more reachable place and watered it a little and it EXPLODED INTO BLOSSOM and now judges xmas to occur tghree or four times a year flower-wise and is very giant and ridiculous

i water it every two or three weeks (but it is quite big now)

so i suggest leavin it dry for a LONG TIME - if it does not die it will be very extremely grateful when you finally return w.water and will respond accordingly

No snails, thankfully.

Thanks Mark.

How can I make it arise from its slumber? It looks so sad. Is there any point in giving it Baby Bio or is that crazy talk?

Ooh I am in need of this thread too. Have no clue about cacti really but what mark said sounds right.

I have one of those 'friendship' plants with the blobby shiny leaves. It is quite big and straggly. Every so often a small clump of the outermost leaves sort of rots and falls off. Does this mean I have no friends, or merely that I need to do something to the plant? (I wonder if repotting is needed? It does seem sort of small for the pot these days.)

the "leaves" are kind of fat and the stems are v.floppy? mine seems to be fine but it is a mystery to me when the leaves fall off and when not - it seems unrelated to care etc

Yeah, v floppy stems at the end. Oh well, maybe it's just trying to keep me on my toes.

There was a gardening thread. It was called Gardening 2005 or something like that.

I distinctly remember it, because that was where Ed told me to spray dishwater on my roses to get rid of aphids, and astonishingly, it worked.

However, I sure hope he was right about deflowering rocket because I felt like such a meanie for doing it. :-(

I have WHEAT growing in my yard at the moment. In a few months I'll just need a really tiny combine harvester and a threshing machine or whatnot, and a mill, and I can make my own flour! Er, or not.

Where can I buy cheap houseplants in London? I think I want to fill my new room (I move in July, I am planning ahead) with green foliage.

yeah soapy water kills aphids, though it "burns" the leaves of some plants as well

aphids reproduce asexually so every one alive is pregant w.already pregnant babies and so on ad yuck infinitum

you can also buy ladybird larvae which is fun in a microscopic gnashing jaws kinda way, but then they hatch anbd fly away and you still have an infinity of aphids

i got rid of my aphids once for all by the same kill-or-cure not-watering-for-four-months method though: the lenten rose shrivelled to a nubbin but persevered - and when i once more remembered i had plants it rallied (and the aphids were no more)

We saw lots of ladybugs on the walk yesterday. (Most of them having sex, as was so helpfully (heh I nearly typed hopefully, Freudian slip) pointed out.) But didn't think that we could get them home...

I'm only using the soapy water trick on my roses, which seem pretty hardy. Not on any eating plants.

Hrrrmmm, Anna, I'm not sure, as I live out in the 'burbs so I have cheap plants at B&Q and the National Trust Gardening Centre. If you can travel, you can probably get plants cheaper than in Central London!