Hello gdnh I hope you enjoy your stay in London but don't be fooled into thinking that just because the summers are warmer than they used to be they are what you would call hot. I suggest you google up some weather stats for where you are going and see the kind of temps to expect. Also be aware that since we have a temperate maritime climate the weather, while generally avoiding extremes, can be extremely variable and unpredictable. You might need both sun cream and a raincoat in July and August, shorts and a sweater. At the moment we are having the warmest April for many years but it's only in the high 60s - low 70s. So not hot compared to much of the US. On the plus side, when it IS warm, the countryside is still lush and green and there are pretty much no mosquitos or other nasty insects, except in Scotland where they have ghastly midges. As for things which you can grow in 2 months I am afraid there is not much. Our growing season is long but slow. Tomatoes are quite hard to grow successfully outdoors because of low temps and blight. In containers and grow bags in a sheltered spot you might have more success but it may be hard to find plants in mid Summer. You will not be able to grow pepper, egg plant, melons, cucumbers, okra etc outside without protection. I can't think of anything you could grow from seed in 2 months except maybe radishes if you sow them on your first day. Regarding the 'palms' in some coastal areas. Most of these are either Trachycarpus fortuneii, a hardy palm from China or misnamed Cordyline australis which are not true palms. Our climate has definitely got warmer over recent years and some places you may see young Canary Island Date Palms, Phoenix canariensis although many were lost last winter. There is no way you can grow a herbaceous border in 2 month, I'm afraid. If you are going to your Mum's doesn't she have a garden already? (I'm using garden in the UK sense ie all the space around the house, all of which is kept permanently cultivated.) Your best bet is perhaps buy get a few pots of already growing stuff and maybe try a few radishes. Garden centres within London tend to be pricey but the DIY stores usually have garden sections, not great but reasonable prices. You could try Homebase or B & Q. Columbia Road Flower Market is not bad and many small grocery shops have a few plants for sale. And do take the opportunity to try and visit some gardens while you are here. Near London you could visit Kew, Hampton Court, Chelsea Physic Garden and the various parks. I hope you have a good time despite the circumstances of your visit.

Thank you all for your input. I do appreciate it. Lets just say adding salt is the last thing I would do for a plant problem. I do like my Sarasa comets (Don't want any Koi) only six in a 7000 gallon pond so they are probably not adding enough poo to feed the plants. Plan on adding Golden Orfe in the next two weeks after quarantine.To aid the plants I plan on adding Flourish Iron. Don't know if it will help the lilies but it should help the others. I know I need the plants to out compete the algae especialy with the high phosphates I have now. I have Bitterlings ready to come out of quarantine and the PH is 7.5 in that tank. If I add these to the pond with a PH of 8.5 - 9.0 is it going to hurt them? What is the best way to add them since the PH is so differect? Thanks Again

"I did not waste my money on mail order junk..." "It may be fine out in the country, and that's all well and good for those of you who can have them ... you can certainly have more greenhouse space for less money than I can ... but in some settings, frankly, it just doesn't fly." Judgmental! Lets look at post from others that own the HFGH. ________________________________________________- CONCERNING HFGH PARTS: "gardenerwantabe (My Page) on Fri, Sep 22, 06 at 8:45 Yea the price is what suckered me into buying them. Now I get to throw away these worthless P.O.S. and buy some good ones." _______________________________________________ CONCERNING MODIFICATIONS TO HFGH: "by gardenerwantabe (My Page) on Fri, Sep 22, 06 at 18:58 Molly Did you read the posts on this forum about the modifications that is required to make the 10x12 HFGH survive in a thunderstorm. If you don't do these mods you will lose it." ___________________________________________________ LET"S LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER AT JUDGEMENTAL SHALL WE: "by gardenerwantabe (My Page) on Sun, Sep 24, 06 at 17:10 I hate to bust your bubble but a hoop house covered with the plastic is nowhere near as strong or durable as polycarbonate. The wind will tear it and the sun will destroy it in two or three years. Replacing the plastic film is a never ending job and you will soon spend more than what it would have cost to buy a GH with polycarbonate panels. All you got to do to convince yourself of this is look at the warranty on both types." ________________________________________________ AND: "by gardenerwantabe (My Page) on Mon, Sep 25, 06 at 13:44 Please share with us where you bought this miracle plastic. What is the name of the manufacture. I'm sure people would like to know where they can find a plastic that will last 4 times longer than anything else on the market." __________________________________________________ A beautiful thing that requires so much modification to keep it intact, and parts that are (to borrow a quote from another post) "POS" are not only in my opinion junk, the Wall Street Journal thinks so also. You will find the link to their story in a earlier post above. Everyone should read it. Yes, some would not find a hoophouse an aesthetic contribution, but many do. They are also featured on television home improvement shows in surburan settings in back yards of 200,000.00 homes, and look quite good there. LASTLY LETS LOOK CLOSER AT AN EARLIER POST OF MINE: "Best of luck to you. Bottom line is enjoying our greenhouses, isn't that right." This forum should be named "SUPPORT YOUR HFGH" Postive, comments welcome: Negetive, comments go elsewhere. WILL DO SO GLADLY

"Those buyers who can, should move now....or else face an even more difficult lending climate come fall." Yeah, that's why we're jumping the gun a little bit, every mortgage person we talked to IRL said the exact same thing. I don't know HOW he pulled it off but DH managed to get the financing to go ahead and buy another house before we sold this one without a bridge loan - just a straight second mortgage. (And from a real bank, too, not one of these slightly hinky internet places.) I think it may have been the combination of our very high credit rating (yay me LOL) and the fact that we've had two offers already, although both had fallen through. We're taking a loan against the 401k for the down and when this house is sold we'll use the proceeds to pay the 401k back. There's enough in savings to pay the mortgage on this house past Christmas while we pay the new mortgage out of everyday funds, but I don't think it'll take that long to unload this place which is good because I don't really want to use up our savings on this place! Besides, a lot of people prefer to look at empty houses, and we can put a lockbox up for their convenience. We'd be moving about 45 minutes away but I have a friend in town that I can probably get to come check on the house every couple of days. It's a big risk but we talked about it and think it would actually reduce my stress level rather than increase it. When we bought this house it was 19 days from offer to close; we had gotten preapproved but it took about 10 days to get the financing fully in place. Our realtor took care of scheduling all the inspections and everything, and she really lit a fire under people's butts. :-) We have a bid in on a bank owned property (pretty much everything we could afford was bank owned!) now and we'll have to move fast on everything if we get it - inspections, appraisal, getting the mortgage squared away - because that bank charges $100 a day for delays after 30 days from offer acceptance. Bleccch.