Thread: Glory heere, Diggers all: gardening 2012 Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Reminded to relaunch this thread by reason of the gales last night blowing down the fine old cherry tree which dominated our garden. Its going will markedly change the ecology of the place, which was heavily shaded.

I would like to plant one or more trees to replace it - apple and/ or pear that we could get fruit from. But it also opens up the possibility of completely redesigning the garden, moving the vegetable patch, growing different things.

Any ideas welcome - bearing in mind that it is approx 40' x 40', clay, in Scotland, still moderately shaded and with a fair bit of resident planting.

[ 03. January 2012, 11:38: Message edited by: Firenze ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
If there's been a mature tree on the spot for some years I would give the soil a rest from trees for a while. Take advantage of the new light to plant a new flower bed, or a new vegetable bed, or fruit bushes (raspberries for Scotland?) or - if the style of your garden allows it - a cottage-garden mixture of all of them.

I wouldn't plant another tree on the same spot for at least 5 years.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
I quote from our seed catalogue "The vegetable to grow in cold, windswept, unsheltered gardens enjoying the added bonus of poor wet soils..."

Sold! It's curly kale, by the way, or kail over in Irn-Bru territory.

Firenze, a real bugger about your poor cherry tree, but agree that you shouldn't plant another tree in that spot for a few years.

AG
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
There's cauld kail in Aberdeen,
And castocks in Strathbogie....

That'll be why then.
 

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Posted by poileplume (# 16438) on :
 
I agree with all the posts, don’t replant a tree. We also have heavy clay, when we lost a large tree in the middle of the garden it made all the difference.

If you want fruit, try varieties that are not easy to obtain in the shops, raspberries have already been mentioned but then there are gooseberries including desert gooseberries and cultivated blackberries, alpine strawberries (really nice with ice cream) and just about anything else that floats into your mind.

Plus the extra sunlight will open up other opportunities. We try a new varieties each year – some work, some don’t. But the one’s that work are incredible, taste you did not even dream was possible.

If you feel a real need to plant a tree – try a half standard. Less shade, easier to spray and also easier to pick. In the case of apples or pears, I would train them e.g. espalier or other method. Much easier and higher yield.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Firenze, I was sad to see that your cherry tree blew over. A cherry tree in bloom is one of the prettiest sights, isn't it?

I agree about the 'not planting another tree for a while' advice. (I have the same situation with a beloved pink Marsh grapefruit. Waiting a few more years to plant a good lemon!)

So, sun-loving plants would surely make your wait for a new tree a pleasure rather than a tedium, I would think!
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I don't think there's going to be much of a rush to planting anything, to be realistic. First of all, there's about a ton of tree out there to clear up, plus a demolished shed.

I'm hoping a friend with a chainsaw can help out, but owing to the geography of the building, everything that goes into or out of the garden has to do so via two flights of steps and a narrow doorway. A point I will have to make when looking for a contractor to come and re-erect fence, shed and greenhouse, clear debris and relandscape.

Given other stuff, I'm seeing a couple of months at least. This whole year might just be a watch and see. How will the surviving planting take to the new conditions?
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Do you know anyone with a wood-burning stove? Cherry wood burns well, so they might appreciate a stack of logs (user to collect)

I'm sorry to hear about the shed. I've been dealing with blown-down fences this winter and I was appalled to find out how damaging treated wood is to the environment. Don't even think of burning the shed - arsenic, copper and all sorts of nasties get released in the smoke. I won't be replacing my fences, that's for sure. I'm going to try and nurture a hedge instead, even if the garden is a bit narrow.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chamois:
Do you know anyone with a wood-burning stove? Cherry wood burns well, so they might appreciate a stack of logs (user to collect)

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Friend with chainsaw has one, hence the hobby. It would also be nice if he could cut me a memorial slice from the trunk as a breadboard.
 

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Posted by Amos (# 44) on :
 
Firenze, I think you should look up and read all the encouraging passages in Christopher Lloyd about how good it is when some major feature of the garden dies or blows over necessitating exciting new replanting.

The diocesan tree men arrived on Wednesday and caused two rows of overgrown (30-40 ft) leylandii hedge to vanish utterly. I hated those trees and they were terrible for the garden, but the garden looks awfully bare, and the things that the hedges were supposed to screen are now glaringly obvious. Has anyone here ever actually planted a hedge? Personally? I'd welcome advice about how to go about doing it.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Well I have today bought various plants from a garden centre for the first time in over 6 years - so happy that I've got a garden again to populate The front garden is very small, and the shrubs that are already there have been blown sideways the last couple of months; the back is currently tarmac where the only thing growing is moss and where the bins regularly dance about the place. So figuring out what to buy was a bit of a challenge, but I have come out with some cheap bulbs (crocus, narcissus and snowdrop, about 6 of each), a lavender, a hebe, and a couple of skimmias, plus a hard brush to try and get rid of the moss and make the tarmac less treacherous. The eventual plan is to fence off our bit of the tarmac and then build up some raised beds.

One good thing is that the people who sold the house left their compost bin, there's plenty of beautiful compost in there
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
Our unusually mild winter is great for my marginally hardy plants/trees like pieris and French lavender...but I worry about our native plants, which have evolved for a colder climate. I also worry about our lack of snow. Last weekend the weathercasters had us all eager for what they said would be a real blizzard, with 4" of snow, but we really only got enough to barely cover the ground; and then yesterday we had a warm (45-ish) day that melted most of the snow. I worry that we won't have enough moisture in the soil come spring. ******* global warming.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Amos:
Firenze, I think you should look up and read all the encouraging passages in Christopher Lloyd about how good it is when some major feature of the garden dies or blows over necessitating exciting new replanting.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Amos:
The diocesan tree men arrived on Wednesday and caused two rows of overgrown (30-40 ft) leylandii hedge to vanish utterly. I hated those trees and they were terrible for the garden, but the garden looks awfully bare...

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chamois:
the supplier sent blackthorn plants by mistake and I planted them anyway.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

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Originally posted by Chamois:
the supplier sent blackthorn plants by mistake and I planted them anyway.

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Bonus!
Blackthorn = sloes = Sloe Gin.
(in due course)

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quote:

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Originally posted by DaisyDaisy:
I have decided to try to have any replacement plants as fruit-bearing ones.

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Yes, that's my idea, too. The holly plants would have borne berries (well, the female plants, anyway) but the blackthorn should be good as well.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Spring is here!
I went down to my seedbed after work today and lots of little baby brussels sprout plants are coming through.
No sign of the leeks yet, though.

It's so warm I'm tempted to plant some beans but I really mustn't because my garden is a frost pocket and the next frost will knock them over.

How are you all doing in your gardens?
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 
Southern hemisphere here, coming into autumn. I've just soaked and planted on my balcony some miniature sweet pea seeds. Late. Should be planted here by St PAtrick's day according to local know how. Still, not too late.

I thought I was hard done by when there were only 23 seeds in pack. When I read the pack, it suggested there would be 20 seeds inside so I must have a bonus!
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Southern hemisphere here too. I have planted silver beet and mizuma as my winter crops in raised gardens. The beauty of this is that I have a pole at each corner so the anti cat net can be draped over the seedlings. I will also be able to use thes poles to drape the frost cloth over, thus (fingers crossed) lengthening the growing season.

I am going to plant daffodils in front of my fence when the ground dries out a bit following a neighbours burst water pipe.

Huia
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
At the moment my garden is largely down to debris. I do have a nice new shed, though.

Clearing the fallen tree has been ongoing this month or more. The root bole was particularly obdurate.

But come Monday, comes the skip, and we can get to the actual gardeny bits, like digging over and laying turf. Then I can think about planting. First in will need to be the vegetables. After that, in any order I can get to them, there's clearing out the borders and pots for summer bedding; redoing the gravel bed with alpines; and selecting shrubs/trees for the periphery of the garden, between the veggies and the end wall (formerly shaded by the tree).
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I planted a peony on Tuesday, and this morning I discovered that something had dug it up and taken it away.

I am going to plant another one, and after I have firmed the soil around it, I am going to put a piece of hardware cloth on the ground around it. That should foil the digger.

Moo
 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lothlorien:
Southern hemisphere here, coming into autumn

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quote:

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Originally posted by Zappa:

quote:

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Originally posted by Lothlorien:
Southern hemisphere here, coming into autumn

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... what is this last noun you use?

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At least we have proper seasons

Actually, while I qouldn't want it as hot as it gets where you are Zappa, I could enjoy living somewhere that didn't go below about 10c - including the wind chill factor.

Huia
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Does anyone know where I can get seeds for the Barnhaven Victorian Striped Polyanthus? I'd love to grow some of the blue ones, but haven't had much luck finding the seeds and the plants aren't on general sale (and I don't want to order them from France).
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Bump.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
jedijudi, I think this thread may need a lot of bumping. Possibly something to do with its title this year?
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I think it just needs to wait for the right time of the year!
Once the seeds sprout and veggies make their first little appearances, there will be much excitement and rejoicing on this thread.
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
Seeds sprout? Speak for yourselves, but, here in Terra Mariae, everything's already coming up! Of course, it may be due to the fact that we didn't have a winter (seriously, planting dahlias in March?), but I'm about two weeks out from my first radish harvest, the dahlias and garlic are already growing heartily, and I'm seriously wondering if I'm insane for not starting my basil already. Of course, I was planning on a lot of my herbs to die during the winter to give me basil space, but, since winter never happened, I may need more pots. Oh, and I have a dozen chile peppers arriving in under a month.
 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
An interesting phenomenon here in the tropics is that, as we slide rapidly out of the wet season into the dry, many trees are shedding leaves - almost like a traditional autumn, but not so total. I presume that way the tree reduces its need for water and lessens stress. Clever really.

It makes a bloody mess of the swimming pool.

[ 09. April 2012, 07:49: Message edited by: Zappa ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Zappa:
I presume that way the tree reduces its need for water and lessens stress

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This happens even in England. I remember during the Big Drought in the summer of 1976 all the London plane trees were dropping their leaves in July and August.

I don't remember how the swimming pools looked but it certainly made a mess of the London parks

 

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Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
What plans do people have for new things this growing year?

We're keeping it very simple on the allotment as I'm really out of action now until at least June. So lots of potatoes and onions which will have (and require) fairly little TLC until I have recovered from the birth of baby Ferijen. Whether we'll keep the allotment with a baby too remains to be seen, but I want at least one more summer. Planted lots of strawberries, which is my incentive to get there in June/July...

We are finally getting round to replacing some rather dodgy fences, moving the shed into the darkest part of the garden, and putting in a patio where the shed currently is. Whilst this won't increase my growing space in the back garden, it will be a more practical rearrangement and finally the wilderness space (all shade, no sunshine, directly under an oak tree and fence) in which nothing grows will be gone.

Pleasingly, after a year's neglect, 4 climbers I bought to a bargain price last year -might even have been £5 fo the lot - have all shown signs of life. And my £5 apple tree is also just about to bud. Not sure where my nearest apple tree is though, never mind the bees, so might have to get crafty with a friend's tree, a paint brush, and do some pollination myself... Has anyone done this with success before? I bought the tree on a whim to espalier against a wall, and really don't have space for another, but would like to give it a fighting chance of bearing fruit.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Chance would be the fine thing. Owing to various interruptions - recalcitrant tree stumps, weather, public holidays - a 5 day garden repair is now in its third week. Something about the torrential rain outside makes me think I may not see the contractors today either.

OTOH, given bucketing rain and average daytime highs of 10C, I wouldn't a)be out there planting anything and b)no plant would thank me for putting it in the ground anyway.
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
Privet got a dissing upthread - I'd like to speak up for it. We've a big hedge of it out the front - even I can't kill it, and it thrives on neglect. The council can't lean on me about it (unlike a big fence or perhaps conifers - thought I wouldn't want to look at either of those) and I don't have to look at the neighbours vans as a result. It can be a boring monocoluture, but I found a climbing rose in a corner of the garden and grew that through it, so we get flowers later. And I also found a bird-dropping Holly, and planted that in a bald patch - so it has a prickly toupe. Going to try growing some tall nasturtiums through one end of it this year. I love nasturtiums - all the colours I want from one packet of seed, and they keep going till the first frost.
 

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Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
PS - Firenze - I'd burn your old shed / fences too on a woodburner (and salve my eco-conscience by turning off the gas heating) - but perhaps not use them to fuel a BBQ. And a woodburner in your shed can be a great thing, on a cold Feb night when you've rowed this the wife (but all the neighbours have their washing in)...
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by mark_in_manchester:
PS - Firenze - I'd burn your old shed / fences too on a woodburner

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quote:

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Originally posted by no_prophet:
We had some +10°C days in March, but had a blizzard on Easter Saturday and another one overnight and all day Sunday today. .

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We've been having some topsy-turvey weather, too. Temps in the 20Cs last month, but decidedly chilly now. We had quite a hard frost last night, and there's a good layer of ice on various water containers this morning - even now at 10am.
I have seedlings sprouted indoors, and normally I would transfer them to the cold frame once they are up, or they get spindly, but I'm not sure that will be enough protection against current night-time temperatures.
It's a lovely sunny day (at the moment), so I will be out pulling up perennial weeds as soon as the ground has thawed enough to release its grip on their roots.

[ 16. April 2012, 09:00: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Rhubarb! Spring is here!
YUM!!!


 

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Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
Can you post me some? Almost my favourite substance in the whole world. I'm sure the sniffer dogs wouldn't mind.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I have a question about peonies

I bought three a year ago and planted them. One of them has come up with lots of foliage and no buds. The other two have buds and enough leaves to get on with, but they are not like the budless one.

Can anyone tell me what's going on and whether I should do anything?

Moo
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Sorry, Zappa, it's all spoken for. If it hasn't been eaten already.


 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Yes our rhubarb is growing well too, despite the cool spring, summer and now autumn. I have no idea how it will survive the winter.

But WHAT shall I do with the bucketloads of huge feijoas we are harvesting? (Feijoas are a pineapple guava, the only guava which tolerates frost).

A while back a neighbour knocked on our door and said "Did you know there is water running out of your front yard, through my yard, and pooling in the driveway of the next one?" Upon investigation we found some unknown person must have come on to our property for a drink, turned the hose on, and left it running. Our front yard (which slopes) has lots of plum trees in it, a large hedge, and 3 big feijoa bushes. Usually only one of them fruits. Normally, these are about the size of green olives. But 28,000 litres of water running through them means all the bushes are producing fruit the size of duck eggs.

We are now inundated in a different way - what shall we do with them? Not many people know about or even like their peculiar taste. So I can really only give them away a few at a time.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Do they make good jelly?
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
I found a fig & feijoa jam recipe - though we are not big jam eaters.

TP discovered on-line a method for freezing them, so we will attempt this. I suspect they would be lovely frozen, as they have a slightly grainy texture, like sorbet. They have a tangy refreshing taste, so it might work very well. Stay tuned!
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Banner Lady:
I found a fig & feijoa jam recipe - though we are not big jam eaters.

TP discovered on-line a method for freezing them, so we will attempt this. I suspect they would be lovely frozen, as they have a slightly grainy texture, like sorbet. They have a tangy refreshing taste, so it might work very well. Stay tuned!

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Make the jam, get some of the small rubberseal, clip down jars and keep them for the church fete or similar. Add a pretty computer generated label and they should sell well. Lemon butter is the first to sell at St Docs, apparently and the small jars are appreciated. I've seen them in the local dollar shops or equivalent, quite cheap.

Your rhubarb should be OK and come back to life in spring if the frost seems to kill it.
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
Rhubarb, or at least the cultivars I'm familiar with, is quite cold-hardy. I can't think of any time I've seen rhubarb pie featured in the southern US, but in the north, it's a springtime/early summer specialty. If it grows in Montana (which was the first place anyone in my family had ever run across the stuff), it'll survive any winter you'll get.

As for fejoas . . . looking them up on Wikipedia suggests fejoa vodka. Even if fruit-flavored vodkas/liqueurs aren't your thing, it should preserve them quite nicely.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
The post-tree fall works in the garden continue - we are now heading into the fifth week of a five-day job. To be fair, much of the delay has been down to the awful weather: yesterday or today was supposed to be turf laying, but the forecast was for a second Flood. Perversely, it's turned out warm and sunny. So I've been out and lugged about 40 paving slabs into position to delineate where is going to be veg, where lawn, where decorative planting. So whereas this morning, I had a muddy desolation, I now have a muddy desolation with scattered stones and lots of footprints.

I am quite getting into the idea of having a bed of combined flowers and herbs.
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
So far autumn here has been more lke a colder version of summer,which is very welcome as summer was abysmal.

In March I took cuttings of some miniature and polyantha roses, and yesterday I saw roots sprouting through the peat pots I have potted 6 and still have hopes for another 10, but as I have muddled them I will have to wait until they flower in October to know which is which, although leaf size will sort out the polys (Cecile Brunner and Pearl d'Or).

The mizuma is a tiny forest, but the silverbeet is being a bit slow.
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
My baby tomatoes are popping up nicely -- I have about 10 varieties.

Two science experiments this year are growing potatoes and melons in containers. I've seen numerous YouTube videos about growing 'taters in actual garbage cans, but they looked so ghetto that I instead found some very inexpensive, several-gallon plastic planters that I'm going to drill with drainage holes and plant with a few Irish Cobblers. Melons are a very iffy crop here in Michigan, but while perusing an heirloom-variety seed catalog I found a white-fleshed variety from the former USSR called Collective Farm Woman that is supposed to be super-tasty and able to ripen during short northern summers. I'm also debating whether to get an heirloom variety called Jenny Lind that also gets high marks for taste and is reasonably early. These I'm going to plant in patio containers that I'm covering (tastefully) with black plastic.

Another vegetable I've never had good luck with here are carrots. I'm seriously thinking of trying those in a container, like a deep utility bucket. Has anyone ever tried this? I'm not sure whether the opportunity cost is worth the effort...but supermarket carrots just don't taste like garden carrots.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by LutheranChik:
Another vegetable I've never had good luck with here are carrots. I'm seriously thinking of trying those in a container, like a deep utility bucket. Has anyone ever tried this?

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quote:

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Originally posted by LutheranChik:
Another vegetable I've never had good luck with here are carrots. I'm seriously thinking of trying those in a container, like a deep utility bucket. Has anyone ever tried this? I'm not sure whether the opportunity cost is worth the effort...but supermarket carrots just don't taste like garden carrots.

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I grow carrots in large buckets (sometimes known as "muck buckets") and this works really well as long as the compost that you use is not too rich, which is when you tend to get forked or weird carrots. I usually use the soil that I grew last year's container-grown tomatoes in, before finally putting it over the ground. Sow the carrot seed not too thinly, then thin out as the seedlings get large enough. You can get some tasty baby carrots as well as good straight long ones.

A similar approach to parsnips works well for me - use a pole (I use an old broom handle) to make a hole around 8" deep, fill it with compost and sow about 3 seeds on the top of that. When the seedlings are large enough, pinch out all but the strongest one (pulling disturbs the roots of the remaining parsnip) and you should get a lovely long tasty parsnip.

I don't seem to be able to grow beetroot, although all my growing neighbours can. So I shall be trying a similar approach with that - make a shallow trench & fill with compost, then sow the seeds into the compost.

One experiment this year is to grow squash in the compost bin that I filled with last year's green waste - the heat and nutrients should be ideal.
The other experiment was to have been growing by the moon cycles, and I'm sort of following that but to be honest I seem to be doing whatever I can when the time & weather permits (as usual).
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Things are very slow here - must have been cold while we were away as even the weeds, bar a few poppies, haven't grown! My mangetout have started well, but the beetroot are very slow. All the winter sown alliums - garlic, onions, and elephant garlic - are going nicely, though.

I grow my carrots in lengths of drainpipe - they tend to fang terribly in our soil, and the carrot fly love them. Same method as for parsnips given above (I grow my show parsnips in bigger drainpipes, but they seem to like my soil, and grow fat and long, while ten yards away my neighbour grows ones that look like Paul the psychic octopus!), and I get straight carrots and much, much less of the dread fly. 12" lengths should be adequate for stump rooted types, but if you want to grow St Valery or the like for showing I'd double that.

AG
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
We got very healthy but culinarily "iffy" volunteer squash in our compost pile last year, so this year for kicks and giggles I'm going to deliberately plant a few seeds in it just to see what happens. What was interesting to me was that our normally voracious local deer left the lush compost-pile squash plants alone; the same vine, planted say in our annual bed, would have been history before it ever got its first flower. (Our cutflower experience is that the deer love them some sunflowers -- they ALWAYS top off at least a few -- but seem to leave a lot of other annuals alone. But if you try to include a runner bean in the flower patch, they will seek out and defoliate it.)
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
LC: if it's not too late, try growing some Bhut Jolokia chiles. That'll learn them deer to eat yer veggies!
 

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Posted by Ferdzy (# 8702) on :
 
*stomps in*

Fecking SN*W for the next 2 days!

*stomps out*
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Went to the far end of the yard to get some compost. Top of the compost pile is covered, I mean covered with pumpkin vines. Last fall right after Halloween I had just thrown the guts of the Jack-0-lantern on the top of the pile. Guess I will not have to buy any pumpkins come next fall.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
I spent half an hour yesterday retrieving feijoas from the mulch under the bushes. After some discussion about what to do with ANOTHER three bucketloads of the things, TP took to lightly stewing them with green apples (which are very cheap at the moment). Upon investigation this morning, we noticed that cooked feijoas must thicken as they cool. And this opens a whole new realm of possibilities. I am now treating them like you would mashed banana. I have just used up an unwanted loaf of linseed bread which someone left in our fridge to make a bread pudding. It contains sultanas, apples, 2 cups of feijoa mash and I put it in the oven after drizzling the top of the pud with butter and honey. TP likes a good stodgy pudding that's not too sweet. (Though sultanas are mandatory.) I'm hoping that the feijoa pulp moisture will be absorbed by the linseed and sultanas.

On the 'net there are recipes for feijoa muffins, which I must try, and also feijoa jelly, sorbet and chutney. We are not big chutney or jam eaters so I'm hoping that the muffins and puddings work okay. The weather is getting cooler with snowfalls already happening in the mountains nearby. Gardening now is mostly clearing away stuff to be ready for winter transplanting jobs.
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
And reporting back to say apple and feijoa bread pudding is definitely a winner. TP is on his second helping already, which is a relief.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
I have two old dry ponds in my yard, There are rubber linings in them but they hold little water. My neighbor asked if I had any use for a large pile of sand he has left from a project. IDEA! I am thinking I could make a bog garden. I think I am half way there. Does anyone one the ship have experience with a bog garden? I am open for any advice.
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
Bog gardens, with carnivorous plants and everything, are not something to be undertaken lightly. Unless you're in South Carolina or the Gulf coast, where such lovelies are native, it's going to go nowhere. Have a look around here before you set your heart on anything; the more I read, the more I realized I wasn't going to be able to grow those lovely Sarracenia leucophylla after all.

[ 25. April 2012, 00:04: Message edited by: AristonAstuanax ]
 

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Posted by Ferdzy (# 8702) on :
 
I see no one has replied to Moo about the peonies, so I will have a go at it.

It may simply be related to the variety of peony. I've noted that some of my herbacious hybrid peonies behave noticeably differently than the lactiflora clones. Some come up earlier, some come up later.

That's assuming that all three are different peonies. However if they are the same one, then it may have to do with how deeply they are planted. Peonies are a bit fussy about depth, and may not bloom well if not planted at the proper depth. (I believe that's with the top of the crown 2" down.)
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
After procrastinating for several days I finally got to serious planting in the garden -- snap peas, broad beans and some red leaf lettuce. We've had many very warm (70 or so Fahrenheit) days that have made me equivocate about even attempting spring veggies, but when I started digging around in the garden I realized that the soil itself is still rather cold. And for the last two days the weather has been true April weather for Michigan.

Still haven't planted my potatoes (Irish Cobbler this year); just not feeling the right potato mojo outside.;-)

[ 25. April 2012, 01:09: Message edited by: LutheranChik ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Banner Lady:
On the 'net there are recipes for feijoa muffins, which I must try, and also feijoa jelly, sorbet and chutney. We are not big chutney or jam eaters so I'm hoping that the muffins and puddings work okay

---

quote:

---

Bog gardens, with carnivorous plants

---

I was thinking more along the line of nice green water loving plans and cat tails and a frog or two. Not something that would be eating bugs or frogs or such.
 

---

Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Graven Image:
In reply to question on bog gardens,
Aristan Astuanax posted

quote:

---

Bog gardens, with carnivorous plants

---

I was thinking more along the line of nice green water loving plans and cat tails and a frog or two. Not something that would be eating bugs or frogs or such.

---

quote:

---

Well that's no fun! If you don't have at least something in any given garden that'll scare the neighbors, you're not doing it right.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Graven Image:
I found the lilac in bloom this morning. Someone planted it under two large maple trees so I often miss it. I would move it as it grows tall and very think searching for light but I am afraid it is to big and moving it would do it in. So I will just pick the one or two blooms it has each year, and enjoy them in the house.

---

Lilac in the house? My grandmother would have had a fit - that was one of the things supposed to be terribly unlucky to have indoors.


 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Lilac in the house? My grandmother would have had a fit - that was one of the things supposed to be terribly unlucky to have indoors.

---

My mother said the same. Neither lilac nor may blossom were to be brought into the house, even for a minute.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Graven Image enjoys her lilac and carnations on the kitchen table, but keeps looking upward just in case the roof should fall in.
 

---

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Today was a bit archaeological. I spent several hours trundling bricks from one end of the garden to the other, and using them to create a split-level bed across the back. However, when I started to dig a hole to install the Pieris, I found a buried paving slab. Dug that out, and decided that with all this masonry-hoicking, I was fairly tired, and would just put in a few herbs before stopping for the day. Started to dig out a space for the lavender, found a layer of weed-suppressant membrane and under that another sodding paving stone.

As it looks to run under the bees' nest by the wall, I've left it and turned it into A Feature.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
, I found a buried paving slab.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Lilac in the house? My grandmother would have had a fit - that was one of the things supposed to be terribly unlucky to have indoors.

---

My mother said the same. Neither lilac nor may blossom were to be brought into the house, even for a minute.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sparrow:
Lilac in the house? My grandmother would have had a fit - that was one of the things supposed to be terribly unlucky to have indoors.

---

My mother said the same. Neither lilac nor may blossom were to be brought into the house, even for a minute.

---

quote:

---

I found a buried paving slab

---

Someone in my village found one of those, and he, too, made it into a feature. After a couple of years he decided to get rid of it, dug it up, turned it over and lo! it was an early C19th gravestone. Someone told him to phone me, as apparently I'm the village authority on dug-up garden gravestones (who knew?). It seems to have been only half-finished; either there was a mistake in it, or the person who had commissioned it hadn't paid up.

The Sunday Post got to hear of it and ran a ridiculous story on the "gravestone mystery".

I have a question. My house is east facing. A path runs along the front. The path is broad and meets the house wall to half way along, and then narrows, to create a small flower bed running along the front of the rest of the house. This flower bed is only a foot deep, though 15 ft wide. Everything I plant in it dies. Part of the problem may be that the roof overhang shelters it from rain, so it's quite dry. However, I do water it regularly. I have a variety of pots and planters sitting on the broad bit of the path, which are in the same situation re roof overhang, and they do fine. The pots and planters are filled with my own compost, which might help.

What I want is just easy, pretty colour. Ideally I'd like spring bulbs (snowdrops, croci, muscari) to be followed by bedding plants (pansies, alyssum, lobelia etc) However, everything just fails to thrive and then dies. I've had packs of bedding plants which I've planted in various spots, and the only ones which don't thrive (or at least live) are the ones which I've planted in this narrow flowerbed.

Suggestions?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Today I found a penny dated 1902.

Re the planting: I have a strip of earth between the edge of the patio paving and a brick wall, about 6 ft x 6 in. Every year I plant nasturtiums. They don't just grow, they boil out of the space and wrap themselves round the garden furniture. Last autumn, they took off down the neighbouring flowerbed and must have made about 20 feet before winter frosts intervened.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
North East Quine, Have you thought of flowering herbs? Some are lovely and it is my experience herbs are not so fussy and even I of black thumb can not kill them off.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
Today I found a penny dated 1902

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
Originally posted by Firenze:

quote:

---

I found a buried paving slab

---

Someone in my village found one of those, and he, too, made it into a feature. After a couple of years he decided to get rid of it, dug it up, turned it over and lo! it was an early C19th gravestone. Someone told him to phone me, as apparently I'm the village authority on dug-up garden gravestones (who knew?). It seems to have been only half-finished; either there was a mistake in it, or the person who had commissioned it hadn't paid up.

The Sunday Post got to hear of it and ran a ridiculous story on the "gravestone mystery".

---

In the days before dwarfing rootstocks, the Victorians used to restrict the growth of fruit trees by planting them on top of a stone slab, to restrict the roots. Gravestone mystery solved?
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
"The March of the Dandelions"
in my garden, now

 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Somehow the slugs (we think) have got into our vegetable plot, which is actually a raised bed in a wooden frame surrounded by stones and gravel. Either way, the bean leaves look like green doilies, the pea leaves are frilly, the young courgette leaves have been mostly eaten, and chances of recovery look slim while this is going on.

The people who share the plot with me are reluctant to put down actual pesticide, but we need to deal with slugs efficiently. Any suggestions? In this weather salt is unlikely to stay around for long.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I have some virtuous organic slug barrier stuff which I'll put down when I have some leaves to protect. I only planted the peas and courgettes the other day, and I've still to dig over the last 10 % of the patch for salads.

I feel I'm in a kind of horticultural phoney war, waiting for the Spring offensive: neither weeds nor pests have really put in an appearance yet.

Though I did have a giant cactus hit me on the head today, as I was trying to wheedle its pot on to a new base.
 

---

Posted by QLib (# 43) on :
 
I planted out flat-leaf parsley the other day, and within 48 hours, it was just stalks. Slimy little bastards.
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
This is something I recently heard of but have not tried. You scatter coffee grounds around where the slugs are. Please let me know if it works. I don't have a problem at the moment.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :
 
I don't know about that, but coffee grounds were once described as 'champagne to worms'
 

---

Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
For the love of all things green, don't put salt anywhere near your plants! Slug salting is a "hunt and destroy" strategy, and, well, salting the earth is a good way to make sure nothing ever grows there again.

Vigilance and a salt shaker may be your best options. Some people try eggshells around their plants (sharp edges and all that) while others swear that a pan filled with beer sunk into the ground level with the surface will trap the slimy bastards. I've heard doubts about both (apparently the latter strategy is good in theory, hard to execute in practice), but I suppose they're worth a shot.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Thanks, all. We already decided not to go down the salt route, partly because it's been raining pretty hard here, but also because we don't want it affecting the plants, and because I once tried that in sunnier days and it's a cruel and horrible way of getting rid of them, especially on the larger ones. I like the idea of coffee grounds, we can do that easily enough and it's bio-degradable, so thanks for that suggestion, Moo, we'll give that a go - but if anyone has any other ideas do say.

Someone suggested leaving half a hollowed out grapefruit on the ground - apparently they like to congregate underneath one, then they can be scooped up and relocated/disposed of, but I'm not convinced about this.
 

---

Posted by Ferijen (# 4719) on :
 
You can buy - or custom make - beer traps, which slugs will fall into and die happy.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I recommend going out first thing in the morning, picking the slugs off the leaves by hand, putting them down on a paving stone and stamping on them.

It protected my beans last year. And it's totally organic. If a bit messy.

In this wet weather you might have to go out in the evening as well.

Incidentally, other slugs eat dead slugs, so about half an hour after a stamping session is a good time to go out and catch some more of the little b*****s in the act.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
I have heard that slugs and snails will not crawl over copper - it's supposed to give them a shock, or something, IIRC. A few years back I got fed up with removing the slimy things from the rabbits's food bowls in their hutch, so bought some copper tape which I wrapped around the hutch legs. Never had another snail in there. However, attaching this to a raised bed mightn't be quite so easy!

At the moment I'm wondering how well sweet peas swim. Mr Beethoven bought a couple of half-barrels which he then planted up - but neglected to drill drainage holes first. With the amount of rain we've had since planting them, they're so far beyond waterlogged that there's actually a couple of centimetres of water standing above the soil level! I've tipped out what I can a couple of times, but I'm not optimistic that the plants will survive...
 

---

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
The Leopard Slug* has the advantage of being omnivorous, and preying on other slugs - not to mention having the most incredible mating habits.

AG

* You gotta love a Wikipedia page with drawings of slug's willies on.
 

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Posted by Flausa (# 3466) on :
 
I was discussing slug control with another shippie yesterday, and he's apparently had brilliant success with homemade beer traps. He did mention that you have to regularly empty the traps of dead bodies which I'm not sure I'm up to just yet. He said last year he had to lay a trap for every 4 lettuce plants, but none of the lettuce plants were touched. He's also gone for the copper tape around his raised beds this year, and I'll be curious to see how that works out. I'm thinking of just growing all my veg in containers that are well off the ground. I've also put a bird feeder in my back garden which has subsequently attracted starlings who've been feasting on sluggy bodies as well. Though attracting more birds means I'll have to work on protecting the fruit bushes and trees should they decide to produce.

My other thought is investing in a good greenhouse to 1) protect from nasty slugs, 2) encourage a longer growing period, and less work on trying to get things to grow in clay. Currently I have a host of plants growing in our sun room quite happily, but I can't keep them in there forever! And I have planted pretty much everything I could get my hands on this year ... aubergines, beans, carrots, courgettes, dill, tomatoes, onions, peppers, peas, 3 varieties of pumpkins, nasturtiums, sunflowers, and sweetcorn. We've also planted a host of fruit bushes and some dwarf fruit trees. I'm hoping that I won't just be feeding the slugs and birds this year!

[ 13. May 2012, 07:27: Message edited by: Flausa ]
 

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Posted by Scots lass (# 2699) on :
 
I'm not much of a gardener, but I decided to plant some things in pots on our (sizeable, 1st floor) balcony and opted for sunflower seeds. The squirrels ate them. I re-planted. The little buggers did it again. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to stop them doing it if I re-plant a third time, or should I just give up on sunflowers?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Netting? Chicken wire? Or even a couple of layers of clingfilm (has the advantage of greenhousing the seeds/shoots)? Top dressing of chili powder?
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
Something dug up a peony I planted this spring. I got another one and planted it with wire mesh around it and a lot of bamboo skewers sticking up.

I think perhaps the bamboo skewers alone would have done the job, which would have saved me some work.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Jemima the 9th (# 15106) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by AristonAstuanax:
For the love of all things green, don't put salt anywhere near your plants!

---

Aha! Thank you. I wondered if this is one of the reasons we had such a bad year last year. Well, that and the lack of sunshine, and trying to grow the same vegetables in the same place year after year...Tut tut.

We've certainly had some success using coffee grounds as slug repellants. A couple of years ago one of the high street coffee market chains was giving away their grounds for the purpose, which was good for us as we don't drink much coffee. Tended to make the back garden smell interesting though... We've also had some success with beer traps, though I loathe emptying them, and copper tape round pots. We suffer more with snails than with slugs, though. They get picked off & lobbed over the garden wall.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Slug pellets are down - no sign of any dead slugs yet but let's see what happens. The plants we put in at the start of this week look terrible - ragged and diseased with leaves dying off already, and I've put translucent plastic cups over the smaller seedlings but combination of frost and too much rain isn't helping.

And this evening when I passed by on my way home, I saw a monstrous crow in the next plot, which makes me think that it may have been responsible for having a go at the pumpkin plant with its pretty orange flowers, as I found the plant snapped off and drifting loosely round the topsoil.

It's an uphill battle this year to grow anything other than onions and spinach. Three years ago we had the most fertile allotment anyone could wish for, this year it's as if it's been cursed. Do we just keep on replanting? It seems cruel under these conditions when a plant will be dead in 3-4 days.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Thanks for the tip about salt - I was just about to plant my 2nd attempt at sprouts this year, this time with a liberal helping of salt, but instead I'll try beer, eggshells (I've been saving them up for several years now - baking them so they last) & maybe coffee grounds too.
My allotment is so unpromising this year that I am half wondering about paving it over - not sure the rules allow that though
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Organically-approved slug pellets exist, as well.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
We have those. The rain seems to have stopped for the time being, but if it resumes I'm turning the allotment into a rice paddy and planting water chestnuts round the side.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steve H:
Organically-approved slug pellets exist, as well.

---

I've tried those but they didn't make much difference, and seemed to dissolve rather quickly in the rain.
It's a shame there isn't much one can do with beer-marinated slugs.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Gardening Which seemed to reckon that the organic pellets (based on one of the iron sulphates, IIRC) worked as well as the rest. I think the difference is that the slugs crawl off and die elsewhere, rather than undergoing a slimy supernova on the spot as they do with metaldehyde.

They don't last very long, though, you are quite right there!

AG
 

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Posted by Photo Geek (# 9757) on :
 
My tomato plants are finally in the ground. I planted 2 each of Brandy Boy, Momotaro, Champion II, and 1 each of Sungold, Homesweet, Fire Works, Moskovich, Siberian, Bucks County and Ultimate Opener.
 

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Posted by joan knox (# 16100) on :
 
*sits on rocking chair chewing tobacco and knittin'*
weeeell, lemme tell you, yesirree, I was there in the good burgh of Edin the year of the great May storm of 2012... reckon as I recall the winds were so strong that they not only picked up and threw around the rare lesser spotted haggis running freely over Arthur's Seat...my oh my, they even had tourists clingin' horizontal-like to the railings by the Scott Monument. Why, I heard tell of an entire coachload of 'mericans who were headed to Glasgy, but were blown clear 'cross the country to Aberdeen...
*continues rocking and reminiscing*

Hmmm, gardening... so this time last year the big storm hit and with it went my greenhouse as was. This year, I am being less ambitious: cultivating yellow scallopini in tubs inside at the moment. Tumbling toms are outside, carrots sorted, and that is pretty much it on the veg front. Pathetic.
I've also heard that copper bands are the way forward with the slugs, so am trying them this year to see.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Just off to put in my 2nd attempt at brassica, and maybe some beans..... with handfuls of organic slug pellets.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
We got back today to find a slug trail indoors near the kitchen door (*shudder*). We have different theories about where it came from, but have declared war on the slimy bastards in any case. The copper wire is in the post, and I will have a look out for the organic pellets. Though given the amount of the wet stuff up here that might not be the way to go.

In other (much better) news, next week we are viewing a potential allotment site. We are quite far down the official list, but as the list is so big they have decided to open up some more ground for smaller plots. It will apparently need a lot of work - if we get to the top of the list and bag a regular allotment it will probably be reasonably well and recently worked-over (but we won't get one of those for a good few years probably); this land is old allotments which haven't been worked for 30-odd years, so it would probably take a year of digging before we could even think about growing anything. But I'm quite hopeful at the prospect.

I've planted a handful of dwarf beans, and will put them in the front garden. I finally got round to doing some weeding, so we now have somewhere we can put them
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by joan knox:
.. so this time last year the big storm hit and with it went my greenhouse as was.

---

The wind-tattered remains of my greenhouse were finally finished off by the tree falling on them in the January storm. My strategy for this year is mini houses designed to fit over a grow bag. The forecast for next week is that temperatures might actually achieve double figures and stay there, so I may look about for seedlings to start up.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
All the perennials in my garden are growing well (especially the rhubarb) but the only seeds doing anything much are some broad beans. I'm trying leeks this year, they've been in for a month now and all I've got are a few tiny thin threads of green about two inches long. Does anyone know if this is usual for leeks? Should I have started them off in a cold frame? They're in good soil in a sunny position.
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
I'm peeping shyly into this thread hoping for inspiration. I'm an armchair gardener - I read all the books, I watch all the programmes, I just don't get out there and do it. But I'd love to catch the gardening bug (and I don't mean slugs although they are a pest... I tried the beer traps once... they loved them and died happy but dealing with the traps afterwards with dead slugs in them was ), I love a pretty garden and it's got to be good to be outdoors at times... I just wish I was better at it and knew more about it...
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I am pleased and proud as punch to announce that one of my two grapevines has buds on it! It was a close thing as to whether it even survived the winter...or whatever that strange season that we had here was.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Chamois, assuming you are in the UK, with the weather we've had I think your leeks are probably pretty normal.

I've got Birds at the moment, and I'm not impressed. Despite our open situation it's unusual to get bird damage, but it seems to be all or nothing - some years nothing, others the lot goes. My second sowing broad beans were just coming up nicely, and every one has been pulled up and flung to the side, my caulis have been skeletonized, and my poor few beetroot seedlings that have struggled to the surface are all looking distinctly munched. Ho hum, all part of life's rich tapestry...

AG
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
All the perennials in my garden are growing well (especially the rhubarb) but the only seeds doing anything much are some broad beans. I'm trying leeks this year, they've been in for a month now and all I've got are a few tiny thin threads of green about two inches long. Does anyone know if this is usual for leeks? Should I have started them off in a cold frame? They're in good soil in a sunny position.

---

A cold frame might not have made much difference - my leeks look a lot like the description of yours. This year everything is slow and late, or simply not starting a all. Not just for us amateurs but for farmers too, I am told.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Sandemaniac and daisydaisy

Thanks for the reassurance about my leek seedlings, I was wondering what I'd done wrong. It's supposed to get warmer this week so I just hope that gets them growing.

Sandemaniac, I'm sorry you've got Birds. I've got Foxes. The local vixen has 3 cubs this year and they are romping in my garden every night and flattening my plants. The b*******s haven't started digging yet but I know it's only a matter of time. Last year's cubs dug up my potatoes. I'm not growing potatoes this year but I'm sure they'll find something else to destroy.


 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nenya:
I'm peeping shyly into this thread hoping for inspiration. I'm an armchair gardener - I read all the books, I watch all the programmes, I just don't get out there and do it. .

---

Not too late. Buy bedding plants, which are cheap, but will give you a summer's worth of colour in borders and tubs. Stick in a few things that will bat year after year with little attention - the ones that work for me are cranesbill geranium (rather too well if anything), monbretia, lemon verbena, lavender, aquilegia (which arrived of itself) and heuchera.

I know sod all (so to speak) about gardening, but plants are pretty damn eager to grow.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
This is my first garden since lining the planting beds with fine chicken wire last fall. So far not a single gopher. I have beat you little fuzzy plant eaters.
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
You really shouldn't have said that out loud. They're just plotting. Waiting. Biding their time.

There is no defeating gophers.

[ 20. May 2012, 18:33: Message edited by: AristonAstuanax ]
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Firenze:
..... Stick in a few things that will bat year after year with little attention - the ones that work for me are cranesbill geranium (rather too well if anything), monbretia, lemon verbena, lavender, aquilegia (which arrived of itself)

---

They're all my favourites and are reliable year after year. I'd add alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle) and foxglove. Early in the winter you can cut back everything that looks dead and it'll come back next year.
Thugs to avoid (unless you've got plenty of room) are Japanese anemones (windflowers), ivy and passion vines. I put all these in as a novice and 20 yrs on now realise I'll have to move if I want to have a garden free of them!
 

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Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
Horsetail is the bane of my life right now. It doesn't help that the only certain way to achieve a garden without the stuff is to move to a new house, ideally a long way away . Even roundup doesn't kill the whole plant.

The bluebells are looking nice though.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Horsetail is the bane of my life right now. It doesn't help that the only certain way to achieve a garden without the stuff is to move to a new house, ideally a long way away . Even roundup doesn't kill the whole plant.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steve H:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
Horsetail is the bane of my life right now. It doesn't help that the only certain way to achieve a garden without the stuff is to move to a new house, ideally a long way away . Even roundup doesn't kill the whole plant.

---

Click here.

---

Wouldn't it be great if "click here" could eradicate horsetail. Meanwhile maybe we need a dinosaur to graze it.
 

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Posted by Miffy (# 1438) on :
 
I've a crack in my butt!

I was going to blog this but hadn't the nerve with a post title like that!

Yes, really. We've been trying to do the green thing these last couple of years. When we couldn't get water out of the rainbutt last summer we just assumed it'd evaporated. I checked today - not a sausage...A few minutes and a couple of watering cans full run through the guttering later we discovered cracks round the base of the container. All our precious water has been leaking out into the earth. Back to the drawing board then....or Homebase.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Went to the lotty today. Didn't need to do any watering - did loads on Sunday and the beds were still damp. I created a new compost ridge, my second. A few weeks ago, I was making a compost heap outside the back of the polytunnel, when I had the bright idea of making it inside the tunnel instead. There are eight deep beds in the tunnel - four on each side of the central path - with six sunken paths between them, and four at either end, sunken because all the topsoil from them went onto the deep beds. I decided to put all the compost material into one of the sunken paths, and heap it up as high as possible. The pt gets pretty warm inside, even without doors, so that'd help the heating up, and I could control the moisture too. Of course, it meant one-side-only access to the two deep beds on either side, but they're narrow enough to reach across all the way from the other side, at a pinch. Anyway, the first one rotted down very quickly, because the material was too sappy (I knew that when building it, but went ahead because even a too-sappy heap is a lot better than nothing). That one is now at the cold-composting stage. The new one, opposite, is, I think, somewhat better balanced between 'browns' and 'greens'.
While I was there, I also earthed up the spuds, which are outside the tunnel.
On Sunday, when I went previously, I took with me a big bag full of well-rotted compost from my garden bins, and mulched the beans (French and Runner) and Pumpkins. Things are finally starting to grow, after the delay caused by the miserable April and early May. Hopefully, they'll catch up, and today's beautiful weather is not just a one-off.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Our allotment is no longer a problem - most of the replacement plants are now dead. But the tomatoes, six of the runner beans and the last remaining courgette may just about pull through.

It's been so disheartening growing beautiful, healthy replacements, putting them into the ground, and seeing them dead within 3-4 days. I'm wondering if we should make a fourth attempt and try to get another lot in, but it may be too late to start growing things from seed yet again.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Our allotment is no longer a problem - most of the replacement plants are now dead. But the tomatoes, six of the runner beans and the last remaining courgette may just about pull through.

It's been so disheartening growing beautiful, healthy replacements, putting them into the ground, and seeing them dead within 3-4 days. I'm wondering if we should make a fourth attempt and try to get another lot in, but it may be too late to start growing things from seed yet again.

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Originally posted by Ariel:
Our allotment is no longer a problem - most of the replacement plants are now dead.

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Originally posted by Graven Image:
My Japanese Maple tree has a number of small dead branches near the top. Leaves brown and curled. Any ideas? I have removed all the dead wood but wonder what the cause might be. Someone told me it was not enough water in our very hot summers. We had plenty of water this winter, and as we are in May it has yet to get to the high summer heat.

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Dig down and check to see if there are girdling roots.

Also look to see if it is verticilium wilt. Both problems will cause the tree to die from the top down.

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Originally posted by Steve H:
You might be in time with peas, runner and French beans, and the gourd family (courgettes, pumpkins, etc). Also, brassicas (cabbage tribe): there are varieties suitable for sowing at all sorts of times.

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Well, I suppose so, but we've already put in two lots of peas, three lots of beans and a succession of pumpkins, courgettes and squashes over the past four weeks. I don't know whether it's the variety; I might see if there are any seedlings left on sale at the Saturday market.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Patience, dear heart: we're only just starting to get the sort of weather we ought to be getting at this time of year. Hopefully, all the plants which have been languishing for weeks will start to flourish. My poor tommys are still tiny, even though I started them very early this year. I'm hoping that a week or two in the polytunnel with decent weather will enable them to catch up.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Ariel, I'm hoping that I can still get pumpkin seeds going in time for a reasonable harvest - it's been a strange year and only now are my brassicas beginning to look like they'll survive.

As an experiment I sowed pea and bean seeds in cells in the greenhouse in both March and April, and the April ones are much stronger and taller. Hopefully next year I'll resist the urge to plant so early as even March for me seems late! I'm just itching to get things growing.

Later today I'm planning on putting in the beans, tomatoes, courgettes and a couple of butternut squashes in the hope that this brief spell of warm weather will encourage them to become established.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
I'm nervously poking a trowel in here... Not a keen gardener at all, but we finally have a garden that will be ours long-term, so am starting to take a little more interest.

Unfortunately, although we've managed to tidy up most of the garden since moving in a few months ago, we haven't touched the veg plot. All sorts of tedious reasons, including the weather, but now that the sun is shining I have an area of knee-high weeds which I need to do something about rather urgently. I don't know what I might want to put in there other than potatoes and carrots, so any easy-to-grow suggestions are very welcome

The area has been used as a veg plot for a number of years now, so other than getting all the pesky invaders out so there's a blank canvas, is there anything else I need to do to prepare it?
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
If it's been used as a veg patch until recently, it's probably in fair condition. I think there's two options - one is to cut all the weeds down to the ground, put down a black plastic sheet, and just roll it back a bit further every time you need a bit more space until you've got the whole thing dug. Six weeks under that will kill everything bar the really deep rooted nasties, so will make cleaning it back up a piece of cake.

The second is just to start digging, and keep going when you get a mo - it'll get harder work as the weeds at the far end get bigger, but you'll get there in the end.

If you can find seed potatoes (it's a bit late in the season), you can certainly sow them now and they take off like bullets. It's a funny year for carrots - I just can't get them to germinate - but it's just the right time for runner beans, courgettes, that sort of thing, so I'd get started!

AG
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Courgettes, butternut squash and pumpkin will all help smother the weeds with their abundant leaves. When you prepare the planting hole throw in a handful of growmore or pelleted chicken manure and they'll appreciate it.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
Ooh, I'd forgotten about courgettes; last time we had a veg patch it was so small that we only had space for 2 courgette plants in order that we could fit other things in too. This time, they could be ideal!

Thanks for the advice. I'm (sort of) hoping to make a start on the digging after work this afternoon, cos I know the longer I put it off the worse it'll get...
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Use all those knee-high weeds to make compost.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
There is a school of thought whereby avoiding too much digging is a Good Thing, especially at this time of year because by opening up the soil you help precious water to evaporate. Spuds, carrots and any other root crop will help turn over the soil without too much extra effort on your part. All you need to do is prepare the hole for whatever you are planting, and maybe put in a large plant pot (or vertical drainpipe) that you can target individual plants when watering. Weeds can be seen as a mulch, but it's a good idea to remove any flowers before they set seed - when you harvest or tidy up in the autumn you can weed as you go, in readiness for the next years planting - this has worked for me, and now my plot has a tolerable level of weeds (not many, and I don't get hung up by those that do appear, even bindweed has gradually been overcome).
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:
There is a school of thought whereby avoiding too much digging is a Good Thing, especially at this time of year because by opening up the soil you help precious water to evaporate.

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Possibly, but digging is good for the soul.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
and the waistline
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
..... Stick in a few things that will bat year after year with little attention - the ones that work for me are cranesbill geranium (rather too well if anything), monbretia, lemon verbena, lavender, aquilegia (which arrived of itself)

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They're all my favourites and are reliable year after year. I'd add alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle) and foxglove. Early in the winter you can cut back everything that looks dead and it'll come back next year.
Thugs to avoid (unless you've got plenty of room) are Japanese anemones (windflowers), ivy and passion vines. I put all these in as a novice and 20 yrs on now realise I'll have to move if I want to have a garden free of them!

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Oh. Thank you so much for the advice. *Makes list and appointment with garden centre*

The silly thing is I really do want to love gardening. It would be exercise, an interest for me that doesn't involve a desk (lots of that in my job) or burying my head in a book (my preferred pastime) and I do love a pretty garden. *Resolves to change things... but it's a bit hot out there at present and the hay fever has kicked in today...*
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Perhaps you're too young. I always had a merely theoretical interest in gardening until I reached a Certain Age, whereupon I had an atavistic urge to pot up geraniums or mulch brassica (or something. The impulse didn't come with any actual horticultural instructions).
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
Our weird Michigan spring continues -- one day the high barely cracks 60 degrees F, the next day it's close to 90. We also don't have our usual rainfall...not a problem yet except for our pond.

I'm very excited to have just received two interesting packets of heirloom melon seeds, Green Nutmeg and the rather evocatively named Collective Farm Woman. These are both relatively small (3 lbs and under) super-early varieties developed for short-season areas, which is the only way melons can get ripe around here...rather than planting them directly in the garden I'm going to try growing them in containers on my patio and let them grow up/down the sides of the railing (probably with a little mechanical assist).

My first planting of lettuce didn't seem to take very well -- very spotty. Although, on the positive side, now they're already "thinned out" enough to make heads rather than a continuous row of cutting lettuce, which is something I wanted to try this year. (My mother always only grew Black Seeded Simpson, one planting, a long row that we continually picked from.)
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 

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Originally posted by Firenze:
Perhaps you're too young.

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I love you! Of course that's the reason! I knew there was a good one. How much older than 52 do you have to be before the gardening bug bites?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

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Originally posted by Nenya:

quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
Perhaps you're too young.

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I love you! Of course that's the reason! I knew there was a good one. How much older than 52 do you have to be before the gardening bug bites?

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Originally posted by poileplume:
Whatever you do don't use weeds to make compost. You store the seeds in the compost to break out in all their glory next year!

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Originally posted by jedijudy:
Oooh, I remember pinks! Mom's pinks were a magnet for me, as well as butterflies. Every time I walked by, I would inhale their spicy aroma and enjoy.

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Originally posted by Steve H:

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Originally posted by poileplume:
Whatever you do don't use weeds to make compost. You store the seeds in the compost to break out in all their glory next year!

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Not if the compost heats up properly. The heat kills the seeds. (It also kills disease organisms, so, as long as you can be sure to get it properly hot, which isn't difficult if it's properly constructed, you can also put diseased plants, such as blighted toms, on it.)

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Originally posted by Firenze:
What's the thinking on weed soup?

I'm thinking of leaving weedings in a bucket with rainwater until they turn to malodorous slime. I'm told plants love this. (I mean the plants that it's subsequently poured over, rather than the ones left to rot).

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A good idea with nettles and comfrey. I don't know about other weeds. In the case of comfrey, you can also pack the leaves dry into a bucket or other suitable container, cover it to keep ot rain if you're leaving it in the garden, leave it for a week or two, and strain off the black liquid that it gives off as it rots. Use it as a concentrate, which doesn't pong, unlike the reaqdy-diluted version you describe. However, if you store it in bottles, put the tops on loosely, because it can ferment, so gas needs to escape, or the bottles'll explode.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
I've got some comfrey leaves rotting in a spare watering-can in the garden right now. I've got some comfrey plants in the garden, because the leaves are also great compost-activators. The variety to get is Bocking 14, because it is sterile, so you don't get unwanted seedlings popping up everywhere. You can get root cuttings from Garden Organic (can't remember their url, but a google should find them).
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
If I didn't put weeds on my compost heap all I would have is a heap of slimy compacted grass clippings.
As it is, because my compost is slow and doesn't get hot enough to kill off the really nasties, I chop off seed heads and roots and send them off for the council to compost - along with blighted tomatoes, black-spotted roses and similar diseased material - and just mix the stems and leaves in with the mown grass.

Mind you, the amount of seeds produced by the weeds I don't get round to pulling make my efforts at making weed-free compost pretty pointless
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Thanks everyone for the advice on the maple tree. I am going to start with really giving it plenty of water. As it is on a slope perhaps water is draining away down hill. I am thinking perhaps dirt has drained down over roots as well.
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
Just getting started here. My perennial bed has been neglected for two years because of some runoff problems from the house next door, but the new neighbors have re-landscaped their lot and all should be better. Feeling optimistic, I have plunged in. Earlier in the week I planted a new Blushing Bride hydrangea. I have decided to restructure the whole shape of the area, so today I dug up and replanted two hostas, two irises, 6 astilbe, and two sedum. I planted two -- oh, shoot, I can't remember the name -- that I purchased at our parish plant sale. Dark green leaves and spikey deep pink flowers. So, now I need to fill in the gaps with annuals, but I was too tired to finish the job!
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
Praying for rain...not only because of my garden and pond, but because our state is under an extreme fire danger alert, with a large wildfire burning in the Upper Peninsula, in the Tahquamenon Falls area.
 

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Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :
 
Oh, it's so pretty there, LutheranChik. The falls are gorgeous (those who haven't seen them: the water looks like iced tea because of the tannins in the water from all the evergreens). I hope your beautiful state gets some relief and soon!
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
If I didn't put weeds on my compost heap all I would have is a heap of slimy compacted grass clippings.
As it is, because my compost is slow and doesn't get hot enough to kill off the really nasties, I chop off seed heads and roots and send them off for the council to compost - along with blighted tomatoes, black-spotted roses and similar diseased material - and just mix the stems and leaves in with the mown grass.

Mind you, the amount of seeds produced by the weeds I don't get round to pulling make my efforts at making weed-free compost pretty pointless

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Originally posted by Steve H:
It isn't too difficult to get your compost heap good 'n' hot if you build it right. You need to build it big enough, for starters: ....

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:

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Originally posted by Steve H:
It isn't too difficult to get your compost heap good 'n' hot if you build it right. You need to build it big enough, for starters: ....

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I'd struggle to fill a compost bin the size that you suggest - at the allotment I have 3, each defined by pallets, and even with waste from the garden wouldn't fill one - weeding seedlings out of the result works fine for me. Having 3 in rotation helps me to be able to do that.

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Originally posted by Steve H:
It isn't too difficult to get your compost heap good 'n' hot if you build it right.

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

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Originally posted by Steve H:
It isn't too difficult to get your compost heap good 'n' hot if you build it right.

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I have two compost bins constructed from interlocking, but widely spaced wooden slats, standing on soil. Each is 3ft square, and the one we are filling stands at the moment at 39" high. The compost is covered with pieces of carpet to retain the heat, and the bins have wooden lids
Our lawn produces 4X42litre buckets of clippings per mowing; more if the grass is particularly lush. I save all my weeds (minus flower heads and roots), shredded prunings, raw vegetable waste, some shredded documents, some wood ash , cat hair and the contents of the vacuum cleaner in more 42litre buckets until the lawn is mowed and then I intersperse the coarser material with the grass clippings before tipping the lot into the compost bin.

I have one bin in use, and the other is 'maturing'. Once a year, in the spring, Mr RoS empties the 'maturing' heap into heavy-duty plastic sacks, where it sits for another year before I use it as a soil conditioner. The previous year's accumulated compost gets turned into the now empty bin for a year 'maturing', and we start filling the newly empty one.
I do not have the strength, time or space to turn the compost more frequently, and Mr RoS certainly does not have the inclination. Since I have been mixing the lawn clippings with the coarser material before adding it to the heap the quality of the resulting compost has improved, but a lot of the material is very dry and is still recognisable (especially the shredded prunings, some of which are quite big chunks)
I understand that female urine is not acceptable as a compost activator, and can't see Mr RoS strolling down to the end of the garden to relieve himself.

Any suggestions for improving the quality, and speeding up production, of my compost?

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Maybe my time-scale was somewhat optimistic. It sounds as though you're doing ok, not that I'm an expert anyway - you probably have as much knpowledge and experience as me, if not more.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
Well, my veg-patch-clearance project didn't actually get started until Saturday morning, but I got almost half of it done - with a bit of help from the Opuses. So that afternoon I took Op 2 to the garden centre and we picked out some veggies to go in there when it's all done. We have round carrots ('Because they'll be quicker for me to eat than the long ones' ), garlic chives (because she liked the look of them, and I like the taste), a courgette and a rather interesting looking squash (pattypan maybe), and some runner and french beans. Oh, and some tomatoes and cucumber for the greenhouse.

Now while I continue clearing the patch, I can start to work out how & where I want to put things. Do I go for boring & traditional rows, or do I make it more interesting - perhaps two triangles with a diagonal path between them and the beans as the central point in each? Or maybe better to do four smaller triangles - so the courgette & squash go in the middle of the other two? That way they'd be just about small enough that the bits in the middle would be reachable(-ish) from the paths & edges... Lots to ponder, but fun too
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
I found my cleome at a greenhouse today -- yes! The bees will be very happy. And I found tomatillos, which we like to use in salsa. I also bought a couple of (edible) sweet potato vines, although I've never tried sweet potatoes before; an impulse buy because they were inexpensive.

I'm trying to imagine a nicer, more put-together herb garden than what we have now; we were supposed to have an intrusive maple tree next to our house cut down last winter, but when we went South to help our kids we forgot to remind our yard guy to do that for us, and now we're stuck with the tree for another growing year. The tree's roots are uncomfortably close to our house foundation; they also suck water away from our plantings on the south side of the house; and the tree overly shades that area. My herbs still manage fairly well on the far side of the shade cast by the tree, but some of them, like the chives, struggle, and they all have to be watered more frequently because of the competing tree roots. Anyway, with the tree gone next year, I'd like to get a larger herb like lovage or angelica to add some height and textural interest to the bed, and also add some flowers that sometimes fall into the "herb" category, like calendulas.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Beethoven:
Well, my veg-patch-clearance project didn't actually get started until Saturday morning, but I got almost half of it done - with a bit of help from the Opuses. So that afternoon I took Op 2 to the garden centre and we picked out some veggies to go in there when it's all done. We have round carrots ('Because they'll be quicker for me to eat than the long ones' ), garlic chives (because she liked the look of them, and I like the taste), a courgette and a rather interesting looking squash (pattypan maybe), and some runner and french beans. Oh, and some tomatoes and cucumber for the greenhouse.

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Assuming that your opuses are still quite young, you might consider next year, if you haven't already, growing different-coloured french beans - they come in yellow, purple and psychedelic red-and-green. Kids love that sort of thing. The same goes for tomatoes of course, and I bet they'd also love tiny currant toms, which are no bigger than a large pea, but you get hundreds - literally - to a plant. They're ideal for popping in your mouth while on the plot.

[ 28. May 2012, 22:09: Message edited by: Steve H ]
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
Ooh, I haven't seen colourful beans - I'll definitely look out for them next year.

Op 2 is 8, and seems to have very definite ideas about colour; Op 1 (10) will eat yellow tomatoes very happily, but Op 2 wants her tomatoes to be red. We saw some different coloured carrots when we were shopping, but they got a definite NO from her. And whereas I love the little tomatoes that can just be munched endlessly, 2 has decided that she wants bigger tomatoes that can be eaten like a plum. So we compromised - one set of cherry tomatoes, and one of medium sized ones. Again, next year I'll look out for the even smaller tomatoes, cos they sound great!

I'm hoping that being involved in the garden will mean they're more willing to try things that they've not previously been keen on. Whilst not impossibly picky, they both like to stay within a fairly narrow range of 'Vegetable I Know I Like' and avoid 'Ones I Know I Won't Like' more then I'm happy with. Hopefully, helping to grow them will lead to helping to eat them. And even if it doesn't, a bit of time helping in the garden is still a Good Thing.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Just got back from the lotty. I took my fork and hoe, to do some watering, weeding and compost-turning. I gave each of the eight deep-beds inside the polytunnel two gallons (one watering-canful) of water. The cabbages and Brussels sprouts are coming along really well, benefitting from the polytunnel, which gets pretty darn hot inside, even with no doors. The French and runner beans, tomatoes, and pumpkins are also coming along well at last, now that we've got decent weather, and the toms have got flower buds on them! Hooray! At last! The pumpkins too are ramping away, sending out long shoots, and also have flower buds. I turned the compost inside the pt. It's rotting well, but won't be ready for some time. The free-standing heap outside, constructed last autumn, is just about ready.
Outside, the tunnel, the spuds are coming along nicely. I earthed them up a week or so ago. The Swiss chard (a white-ribbed variety) has appeared above ground, which makes weeding between the rows easier. No sign of the beetroot in its bed round the side yet, but no doubt it'll arrive soon.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
Ludwig - Real Seeds do purple and yellow frenchies, as you can see, and lots of other interesting, rare veg. varieties.
 

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Posted by Steve H (# 17102) on :
 
They also do currant toms, in their cherry toms section, as well as all sorts of interesting full-size toms.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 

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Originally posted by Steve H:
Ludwig - Real Seeds do purple and yellow frenchies, as you can see, and lots of other interesting, rare veg. varieties.

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Steve H, please refer to Shipmates by their ship names. I know that in some cases, permission is given for shortened versions (I am known as jj frequently). It's a sign of respect to our friends here on the Ship.

jedijudy
Heaven Host
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
I understand that female urine is not acceptable as a compost activator

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I use it (no other variety of urine being available in my household). Seems to work OK.

Is this yet another myth about the inferiority of all-things-female?

I don't pee directly on the compost heap as at my advanced age I'm no longer flexible enough. I pee in a pot and pour it on top of the heap.

So there.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I thought I'd read the 'no-female pee' advice on here, but maybe not.
I think it was that the oestrogen in female urine gets into the veggies and does untold damage to the male of the species - or something along those lines.
Being of advanced years I probably don't have any hormones left to worry about, but I'm not sure I could balance on a bucket these days.
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
Re the discussion on currant tomatoes -- they're very, very tasty and prolific. They're also vigorous re-seeders, though, so be prepared. (In my climate, "volunteer" tomatoes very rarely survive long enough to fruit.)

Green beans are a very rewarding and forgiving garden veg for new gardeners/children; and you can plant them every two weeks or so well into July (at least here) and still get a crop.

Lettuce is another easy crop -- and if you're worried about summer heat, you can plant it near another, taller vegetable so that it benefits from the shade. (I've heard of people intercropping beans and lettuce; I tend to plant more intensively, so I don't have enough room to do this.)
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
Well, I think the veggies are nearly sorted, for the time being. I've put in some sweetcorn this morning, and a salad/stir-fry leafy thing called something like mizuma(!). I've picked up two more varieties of carrot seed which should still be ok for planting now, and I've potted up my cucumber and tomatoes. Hopefully the temperature will stay moderate enough that if I give everything a good watering before I go away tomorrow, the greenhouse things will make it through the few days til I get back without Mr B having to water them. Op 1 is enjoying keeping an eye on her radishes - and nibbling the roots of the ones that get thinned out! :-)

So now there's just the fruit area to tackle. Lots of strawberries - rather overgrown, admittedly - a couple of currant bushes which I need to net, and several prolific rhubarb crowns. Yum! I'll put some raspberries and a gooseberry in once I've cleared it up a bit, and then that'll be the big work pretty much finished I think.

Just don't mention weeding...
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
I spent this morning cultivating another small bed in my veg garden -- I have about 12 mini-raised beds (no wooden supports, just earthed up). I planted a four-pack of Brussels sprouts that were starting to look sickly in their plastic pot -- couldn't plant anything last week in our torrential rain -- and am aiming to start on beans and tomato transplants.

My cilantro is looking fine, which means it's time to start another row. The lettuce that's up looks fine, but it's very spotty -- I think some got washed out in the rain. I also have a couple of fine specimens of "volunteer" lettuce from last year, including one very curly head that I'm determined to keep alive and healthy.

I had a forgotten row of carrots from last year come up. There is something about the garden -- don't know whether it's the soil or the fact that it's overshaded -- that stunts any root vegetable I plant...I dug them all up and threw them in the compost pile. I want so desperately to have nice, fresh carrots, but the garden refuses to cooperate. Ditto beets. I have some "Chioggia" seeds, and I love both the sweetness and the color of those candy-striped beets, but they never seem to do anything in our soil.

I'm regretting not being here this past winter. Our yard guys, who also do tree-cutting, gave us an estimate in the fall but never showed up to do the job, and when we were out-of-state on our family emergency we didn't really want them to be cutting trees when we weren't there so we didn't press the issue. So the main offender shading 2/3 of my garden, an ugly multi-trunked oak tree that adds nothing to the aesthetics of our yard and keeps spitting dead branches onto our garage roof, will thwart my attempts at veg gardening another year. Sigh.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
We are having really weird weather this year - it has been either unseasonably hot and dry,or unseasonably cold and wet.
I nursed seeds & seedlings through the hot spells, carrying two cans of water with me on every trip down to the end of the garden and even digging a teaspoon of water-absorbing crystals into the planting holes of my beans and squashes. Since I finished the planting it has chucked icy cold rain on us, and the plants and seedlings are just sitting there shivering in sodden mud puddles.

I forgot to sow my Romanesco, which should have been done while we were in the first of the cold wet spells so they were late to come up, and are just not making any attempt to get past the cotyledon stage.
I don't think there's much chance of getting a crop from them in what's left of the so-called growing season.
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
My "Green Nutmeg" and "Collective Farm Woman" melon seeds have begun to sprout under lights...I'll move them into their black-plastic-covered pots when they develop their first real leaves. I'm really hoping they amount to something; they're both very early, and I'll have them in the hottest, sunniest spot on our property.

We are going to be traveling to New England this fall for a couple of weeks -- this is a trip we've planned for four years but have been thwarted in making every time -- which is changing up my garden plans; I'll not be growing the fall vegetables I thought I would. (So I'll be buying my kale from the store, I guess.) I'm not sure if this is cause for frustration or relief.;-) Depending on how early we leave, our catsitter will be the beneficiary of any late tomatoes and such that ripen in our absence.

How many others plant a fall garden? I haven't had good luck with this. The books all say to plant cole crops and other fall veg in August, but it seems that the young plants are done in by the heat. And if I wait until September they're done in by frost. My guidebook on fall planting was written by someone in Maine, in a climate zone colder than mine, so weather doesn't seem to be part of it.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I usually plant spring onions in August, but I don't think that can really count as a serious fall garden. I don't have much space and my garden is on heavy clay so since I moved here I've always done a thorough autumn dig. Maybe if I can get the soil under control in another couple of years I'll try some autumn planting.

Just tip-toed in to report - I picked and ate my first handful of strawberries this morning. The taste of summer!
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 

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Originally posted by LutheranChik:
How many others plant a fall garden?

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quote:

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Originally posted by daisydaisy:
Anyone else wondering if rice or watercress might be good crops to grow at the moment?
Yesterday I took advantage of a gap in the rain to check what plants hadn't been washed away. Thankfully most are OK although some have been flattened. I was surprised to see that the seedlings that I'd planted up during the last dry gap are doing well. I don't think I'll have any gluts this year.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
While the veggies are relishing the wet (and oh boy, so are the weeds) they don't much like the cold, and are not making any significant growth.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
.... Thanks, I'm afraid, to the frequent application of slug-pellets. I've avoided using them for years, but this year's slug population is making up for all the recent dry springs....

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quote:

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Originally posted by Kyzyl:

Question...has anyone else tried the mix and match approach to veggies & flowers? What worked? Crashed and burned??

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quote:

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Originally posted by georgiaboy:

So a question: What other herb or other perennial might work well along-side, there being a bit of space at either end?

As I am a horrible yellow-thumb, it would need to flourish on little or no care. [/QB]

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I've a black thumb but the cold resistant rosemary does well here. If it gets warm and sunny you might try Lavender (I like the spanish version). Once it's established it seems to tolerate my forgetting to water in August. Mi nt, planted in a coffee can with thet top and bottom cut out so it won't invade the world is also pretty rugged.
 

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Posted by AristonAstuanax (# 10894) on :
 
Grey santolina (an odd-sounding herb, but the leaves smell amazing—camphor and licorice is how I would describe it) is a classic for knot gardens, and has a similar erect/bushing habit to rosemary. Give it a shot—it's usually used in knot gardens and parterres, so it should be good there.
 

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Posted by Mary LA (# 17040) on :
 
Teucrium? Tall-flowering Nepeta 'Six Hills'? We do a fair amount of Mediterranean planting out here along with indigenous, a mix of greys, greens and blues.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
One of the joys of shopping at Lidl (a German-based chain) is the special offers, which frequently bear a wonderful irrelevance to the demographic - or indeed climate - of where they're sold. This morning it was arc-welding equipment and lemon tree saplings. And fig trees. And cacti.

I would love to pluck lemons from the garden, but at, currently, 9C and throwing it down, I can't see it.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Only a couple of warm days so far and nearly everything is late. I've transplanted all my leek seedlings now. They still look a bit pathetic but they were obviously doing no good in the seed bed so I thought I might as well put them in their long-term positions and see if they can get going. The brassicas are looking OK (fingers tightly crossed) but my beans and courgettes are going nowhere.

On the other hand the soft fruit is excellent. I had enough fruit for four crumbles from my young gooseberry bushes, and very tasty it was, too. The strawberries are fruiting well and my late raspberries are growing fast and showing their first few flower buds.

Still hoping for warmer weather.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
I have a question about clematis pruning. We have 3 clematises (clematii?) by the front door, the earliest flowering (and most rampant) being a montana with pink flowers. The flowers are now gone, and the plant is going mad putting out new growth waving in the wind. Can I chop it back now, or do I need to wait till some other time, and how much can I chop it? (it really could do with quite a haircut). I don't want to kill it as the display of flowers this year was riotous, but it really is getting a bit out of hand.

In other news, slugs (I presume) have got 2 out of 3 of my dwarf beans in the front garden, so I have surrounded the one remaining one with the eco pellets. The other beans I planted (runners, to climb the other side of the front door from the clematis) haven't germinated; we put some more in pots indoors to start them off but there doesn't seem to be anything happening with them either
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
If you need to prune an out-of-control montana then straight after flowering is the time to do it. Then it will still have time to produce some new shoots for next year's flowering.

I've had climbing beans rot at the base with all the wet this year - squashes too. Luckily I'd sown more than enough so have some spares - although they are the more miserable specimens that didn't get planted out first time round. I did have to sow a few more of the French beans, but did that indoors and sat them on the boiler to germinate.

I walked down the garden yesterday and noted that the kohl rabi seemed to be enjoying the wet weather, and were filling out nicely. This afternoon I went down to the veg patch to pick some chard and was horrified to see that the entire row of kohl rabi had every leaf stripped down to the mid-rib. Pigeons!

Wish I knew someone who could come & shoot 'em.

I'm about to get a gooseberry glut. We haven't yet finished the 2010 crop, & 2011 is untouched as yet (30 lb, IIRC). I need the freezer space for other things, so I'll have to give them away.
They are a fair size, butlacking in taste this year - too much wet & not enough sun, I guess
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Thanks RoS. I'll try and get to it tomorrow and hope I don't get too carried away. Although I think the montanas are pretty indestructible, so probably the worst thing that could happen is no flowers for one year.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
I've got some Morning Glory seedlings that are now beginning to race up the canes they are twining round. They are in pots in the greenhouse at the moment and I'm about to put them outside; will they still be ok in pots out of doors but do they need to be in the ground? I really don;t have room for them in the ground.

And can I put more than one in each (large) pot? I haven't tried them before so I have no experience of them.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Morning glories are basically indestructible and will cling to life (and live long and prosper!) no matter what you put them in--poured concrete, a little asphalt, boiling oil...

No, really, they'll be quite happy in pots provided they get plenty of sun and water. They are pigs for water and will hang limp and forlorn if they even suspect you are neglecting them that way (though they won't die, no sirreee, just make you feel intensely guilty). So make sure the pot you give them, whatever it is, has enough soil to hold enough water that you don't have to be out there every two minutes topping it up to prevent the ungrateful things from publicly embarrassing you. By the bye, the wimpy leaves unwimpify themselves magically after being given a drink, so no need to worry overmuch, just roll your eyes at them.

WARNING SERIOUS PAY ATTENTION OH DEAR TOO LATE: Wherever you put the beautiful thugs, you will inevitably have zillions of seedlings popping up in the ground around them for the next ten years. I kid you not. Even if it's concrete. They don't know the meaning of birth control, and they grow like mad. So do NOT place them near your spiniest roses unless you want to mangle yourself pulling out morning glory seedlings in them for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, they ARE beautiful... and you can't say that about most plants of that habit.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Morning glories are basically indestructible and will cling to life (and live long and prosper!) no matter what you put them in--poured concrete, a little asphalt, boiling oil.

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Up to a point, Lord Copper. The point at which they change from being indigenous bindweed to the any of the cultivated Convolvulaceae. The former romps around my garden as per your description: the latter wither and perish with equal enthusiasm.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
Thanks for the warning .... I'm planning to put them on the patio so hopefully they won't seed themselves too much.
 

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Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
BTW they are ... shall we say ... affectionate, aren't they? I've just been out to the greenhouse to water them this morning and they have twined themselves round each other in a very lascivious manner!
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Like Firenze I have the rampant UK version of wild convolvulus (Bindweed!) strangling much of my garden, but all attempts to grow pretty blue morning glory have failed utterly.
They don't seem to like our cold winds, their leaves turn white and they fade away.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
I didn't think that was possible!

[with great respect] Can your climate kill bamboo, too? [/respect]
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Scotland totally un-noted for its bamboo thickets (outside the odd panda enclosure), so I suspect it can.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
[with great respect] Can your climate kill bamboo, too? [/respect]

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It didn't kill off the bamboo in my garden in 25 years. We sold off that piece of land to a developer, who removed topsoil, bamboo and everything else with a JCB and built houses there. I keep peeping over the fence, as I'm sure it will reappear eventually.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
We're somewhat south of Scotland, but put some bamboo in earlier this year. It's not looking overjoyed so far, although it's hanging in there...

I've finally given in and bought some (organic) slug stuff. The beasties have destroyed too many of the things I want, and left alone the bits I don't mind about, so it's time to give them a nudge. I'm too squeamish to go out at night and collect them for disposal, so hopefully this will work well enough!

On the bright side, though, one of the lupins had escaped their notice and is now flowering happily. And the beetroot seedlings which I planted out the other day are looking a bit perkier than they did. My tomatoes are all in flower in the greenhouse, and so are my cucumbers. Very excited about the idea of home-grown cuc!
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I have planted out my leeks, although they are still far from being "the thickness of a pencil". They were the only things left in pots, and were in danger of being forgotten about.
 

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Posted by Hezekiah (# 17157) on :
 
Bah, I've just spotted the first signs of potato blight. I suppose it's the wetness. Still, the runner and borlotti beans and the peas are storming ahead.
 

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Posted by sophs (# 2296) on :
 
The evil slimy buggers have killed 2 squash plants, 2 sweet potato vines and about 4 tomatoes. I've lost count of the number of peas they've stripped and beer doesn't seem to be helping. I loathe them!

On the plus side, our potatoes are growing wonderfully, we should have some onions and leeks to eat and the remaining sweet potatoes and tomatoes are carefully protected by plastic bottles and are still alive.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by sophs:
The evil slimy buggers have killed 2 squash plants, 2 sweet potato vines and about 4 tomatoes.

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I think there was a major design fault when slugs & snails were created, and it's the reason why I wage war on them more than any other pest: They completely kill their food source!
I wouldn't mind (well, I'd mind but not be about it) if they just ate away the leaves, but they rasp away the growing point completely, leaving nothing for anybody else - and no chance of a secondary growth for themselves at a later occasion!

Ooh, it was good to get that off my chest
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
Something (probably a cat) flattened the impatiens in one of my planters. I scattered some repellant, and I hope the plants recover.

Moo
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Two or three warm - hot days after all that wet weather, and things are finally growing!
Most of the climbing beans are at or near the tops of the poles, and some have flower buds. The broad beans have pods - they seem to have appeared almost overnight. There's nothing much in them yet, but they are a respectable length, and here's a reasonable number. The broad bean plants are huge, some at 5' and still growing.
 

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Posted by poileplume (# 16438) on :
 
I planted a new bed near a road but hidden from the house. I was mystified as the plants developed well but flowered erratically.

A neighbour has just told me why. Can you believe it, people are stopping their cars and picking the flowers!
 

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Posted by badger@thesett (# 16422) on :
 
my gardening is rather limited due to lack of knowledge and experience along with the fact I live in a first floor flat and due to health reasons never go out. I like house plants and am trying at the moment to grow things to eat. So far haven't killed some of the herbs I planted in window boxes on the indoor windowsill but wondering what to go for next. Did think about tomatoes but never go out so am limited to what I can get delivered on a benefits budget that is getting reduced by govt policy. All the more reason to grow more but what and how, do have sunny windowsills

Any ideas greatly appreciated
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Sprouting seeds - which can be done with a jamjar, or wet tissue, don 't even need a seed sprouter - are quick to grow and very nutritious.

A further enhancement to sunny windowsills is cardboard covered with tinfoil behind the plants.

What about chilis and peppers? Both will grow from seed.
 

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Posted by FooloftheShip (# 15579) on :
 
Goose grass (cleavers, or whatever it is called in your neck of the woods) is almost sufficient to make me question my faith in a beneficent creator. Or at least one with any compassion. It suffocates everything, as well as being damned hard to remove. And I'm allergic to it. Sigh.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by FooloftheShip:
Goose grass (cleavers, or whatever it is called in your neck of the woods) ...
It suffocates everything, as well as being damned hard to remove.

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For suffocating everything in the garden and being well-nigh impossible to remove, bindweed beats cleavers hands down!
I have both

 

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Posted by FooloftheShip (# 15579) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:

quote:

---

Originally posted by FooloftheShip:
Goose grass (cleavers, or whatever it is called in your neck of the woods) ...
It suffocates everything, as well as being damned hard to remove.

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For suffocating everything in the garden and being well-nigh impossible to remove, bindweed beats cleavers hands down!
I have both

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I may be mad, but I find bindweed easier to deal with. It doesn't form clumps in the same way, not being sticky, and at least I'm not allergic to it.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
My current problem is snails. And slugs, but mainly snails.

It's the sort of damp, warm, still weather they love and the little so-and-sos are munching everything in my garden. Especially the brassicas.


 

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Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :
 
Re indoor gradening: i am told that as long as the strawberries have plenty of sun, they can be grown indoor.....

(hearsay only)
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Ethne Alba:
Re indoor gradening: i am told that as long as the strawberries have plenty of sun, they can be grown indoor.....

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That might be a problem. Nothing but rain, rain and more rain here.

Everything's growing madly (especially the weeds) and I can't keep up. And of course the flipping snails don't eat the weeds, do they? That would be far too easy.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
We're about to go away for a week or so. The garden's already an unmown jungle. I expect to come back to something like the Amazon basin on steroids.
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
I am mortified at the state of our front lawn, but it's never been dry enough for long enough to be able to actually hack it back. We are currently the ones lowering the tone of the neighbourhood

In other news, I planted out a couple of bean plants in the front garden this evening, to run up the front of the house by the front door. I pre-emptively squished a snail and surrounded them with the eco slug pellets, so hopefully they will get a bit of a chance to actually come to something (unlike the last lot of beans that I planted). I've also planted some more out indoors, the plan with them being to eventually plant them out in my currently empty giant pot with a wigwam to climb up.
 

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Posted by TallPoppy (# 16294) on :
 
The lushness of the garden given the warm wet weather this year has to be seen to be believed. I am hoping for great things of my ornamental grasses this Autumn. They don't do well producing their lovely seedheads in dry summers.

One thing I am wondering is whether Nigella seeds sown now would reach flowering size before winter. I have cleared two beds of Orlaya grandiflora, and the vacant spaces need to be filled with something. So I was thinking some summer bedding eg nemesias, interspersed with Nigella Persian Jewels. I guess as the seeds only cost me £1 I may as well chuck 'em down and see what happens.

I have been away from the main boards for a while as I have been strugging with recurrent depressive disorder and so have been sticking to Waving Not Drowning until I felt better. Which I do now! 'Waves to everyone'

TallPoppy
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Glad to see you back posting, TallPoppy.

Good luck with the nigella, plant 'em if you've got 'em. I don't think seeds are indefinitely viable - I put in a load from packets I found in a drawer, and nothing seems to have come of them.

Another day of steady drizzle here.
 

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Posted by TallPoppy (# 16294) on :
 
Glad to be back.

Steady drizzle here, but 24 pansies and violas (cheap and so cheerful) won't get planted without some help from me, so I might just put on a waterproof jacket and get on with it, no matter what the weather.

TP
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chamois:
And of course the flipping snails don't eat the weeds, do they? That would be far too easy.

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So true. My lovely little veg patch is doubly stricken - by the weeds which are making the most of the fact that most of the time I'm at home it's too damp to be doing weeding (I did say I'm not exactly keen, didn't I?!), and by the snails who are determined to ignore all the lovely fresh new growth of the weeds, and eat my lovely veggies instead

On the bright side, today might just be the day I pick my first cucumbers!
 

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Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :
 
What is the best thing to put into the gaps between slabs as I pull out the grass/weeds/whatever growing between them to stop them returning?

I have weeded it all out once doing wellat getting out roots and new varieties of weed have now taken over!!
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
I filled the gaps in my flagstone with sand and spray it with vinegar each spring and nothing grows. At another house I put potting soil in gaps and planted tiny ground cover and let it grow onto flagstones. That required regular water and trimming plants off of the stones. Looked nice but a bit of work.
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
It's downright droughty here...our goldfish are circling an ever-smaller backyard pond (but alas one large enough to preclude, say, trying to raise the water level with a garden hose), and the vegetables and annuals are entirely dependent upon daily watering to survive. Praying for rain for farmers, gardeners and All My Relations, as our Native American neighbors would say.

Among the casualties of our hot, dry weather is our basket of many-bells, which my sister-in-law gave us for Mother's Day. It's all foliage now and can't seem to snap out of it, despite waterings. My lettuce also bolted.

On a positive note, my melons in pots are doing well -- the Green Nutmeg are flourishing, even. The Collective Farm Woman plants are about half the size of the other variety but seem to be healthy and growing. I'd also stuck a couple of leftover seedlings into an empty spot in the garden (I hate throwing away seedlings, even if it means planting them in a less-than-optimal place) and they too are doing well. The eggplant in a pot seem happy in their spot next to the garage. The peppers look puny, but they're setting on fruit. (I think I cursed them by waiting too long to plant them.) Interestingly, though, a pepper that was supposed to be a bell pepper is producing a long Hungarian-style fruit, so I'll be curious to find out whether it's sweet or hot.

Maybe a quarter of my tomato plants are in flower, as are the tomatillos, one of our garden experiments.

Our other big experiment, the potatoes in a pot, seems to be coming along nicely...the plants are somewhat tall and spindly, probably because they're in the shade part of the day, but they're a healthy color, leafy and vigorous. I've filled the pots with soil up to the top edge now, so I'm just waiting for nature to take its course. (Every couple inches of plant growth I'd been throwing in an equivalent depth of soil.)
 

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Posted by Avila (# 15541) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Graven Image:
I filled the gaps in my flagstone with sand and spray it with vinegar each spring and nothing grows. At another house I put potting soil in gaps and planted tiny ground cover and let it grow onto flagstones. That required regular water and trimming plants off of the stones. Looked nice but a bit of work.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
creating bare patches just invites back the buttercup, ground elder etc. Are there things which I could put in that might fill the gaps?

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I have resorted to old carpet - although even that has not deterred
the bindweed which just creeps underneath it and out at the edges.
This week I have spent 12 hours dragging bindweed, bramble, ivy, cleavers, herb robert and japanese anemone out of the bits of the garden that are not under carpet.
The veggie plot usually stays fairly weed-free, but the wet weather has changed all that, so the beds there are now full of annual weeds. I hope I can get to them before they seed, but I haven't finished with the jungle yet - Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae (Mrs. Robb's bonnet) encroaching into the 'lawn' needs to be yanked out next.
Time is of the essence, because if this hot & sunny weather lasts more than two days the ground will set like concrete
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
How lovely to see some sunshine at last! I've just spent a happy afternoon moving one of my compost bins. This involved sifting through the contents and taking out the bits that hadn't finished composting, then moving the bin to a new position and loading it up with the compost which is virtually ready to use. A wonderfully dirty job. I'm planning to dig a new bed in the autumn and I'm saving the compost for that.

My first raspberries are just ready. The poor tomato plants have only set two fruit between them, but they have lots of flowers so I'm hoping that the sun will bring them on now. Luckily I'm growing Sub Arctic Plenty which is supposed to crop in cool seasons. But the way the summer's been so far I probably need a variety called Artic Plenty.

One courgette plant has made it through the cold weather and is now flowering.
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
Our veg garden is still in a pathetic state, and now I notice that a tomato worm is apparently munching on those plants. I can't find it yet. Gaaah. I usually try to live and let live, pestwise, but I really detest those things.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I finally chucked my poor, sodden, mangled tomato plants today. Joining them on the compost heap were beech hedge and shrub trimmings and several bucketfuls of chickweed.

The surviving veggies have started to perk up in the unaccustomed sunshine.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
My first real success this year... Mouli & mizuna. The mouli is rather hot, so I wonder if I should harvest those ear
Ier. Still very tasty.
And the courgettes (or maybe pumpkin or butternut squash? I didn't label them ) have started to grow.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
Has anyone besides me had trouble with their crape myrtles this year? One of mine is just beginning to bloom, and the other has plenty of buds but no flowers yet. Usually they start blooming in June.

Moo
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisydaisy:
My first real success this year... Mouli & mizuna. The mouli is rather hot, so I wonder if I should harvest those ear
Ier. Still very tasty.
And the courgettes (or maybe pumpkin or butternut squash? I didn't label them ) have started to grow.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisydaisy:
And the courgettes (or maybe pumpkin or butternut squash? I didn't label them ) have started to grow.

---

Heh - I have some of these. Two plants, clearly different, one bought as a seedling and one grown from seed (dunno where the rest went). I usually grow a lot of summer and winter squash, pumpkins and courgettes, and the home grown one could be any of these. The bought one is almost certainly either a courgette or a pumpkin. One of them is flowering, so I'm hoping for some hints fairly soon.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
My (greenhouse) cucumbers are doing very well, and regular snail checks mean that most of the ones I'm picking now aren't very munched. And I have a nice kitchen gadget which peels things in pretty stripes so I can still feed snail-nibbled ones to the rest of the family without them knowing...

My tomatoes are hanging in there, and I'm hoping against hope that one day at least a few of the fruits which are developing nicely might ripen. Otherwise I'll be making green tomato chutney the way my mum used to at the end of the season.

I spent two days last week weeding my veg patch again, and am keeping a close eye on it now. Much easier now that I've finished work for the summer, so can pick my time to attend to it. The courgettes are coming on nicely, and the first couple of 'Balmoral' squashes are starting to develop. Looking forward to trying those, and seeing if I can persuade the rest of the family that squashes are A Good Thing.
 

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Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Having dug up the Charlotte potatoes in bags last weekend, I had to harvest the ones in the ground due to the onset of potato blight. One or two of them were rotten but most of them were fine, some were big enough to be baking potatoes.

Sadly I managed to break the stem of my most successful courgette plant during the frenzied harvest

Raspberries are fruiting madly but this year's new strawberry plants not as successful

AND I made jam with last year's fruit that was still in the bottom of the freezer - I've never made jam before, and used the breadmaker but it worked a treat.

Mrs. S, glad she doesn't actually have to live off the land

P.S. AND we sang 'We plough the fields and scatter' at church yesterday morning
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Served a very tasty broad (fava) bean paté to guests yesterday from my home-grown broad beans flavoured with my own summer savory, parsley and sweet mace.
I've not grown sweet mace (tagetes lucida) before, it has a flavour similar to tarragon - in fact one of it's other common names is spanish tarragon. I think its flavour is stronger than russian tarragon, but presumably not as good as the real french stuff.
I picked the first two courgettes this morning. All the other cucurbits are flowering well, but I'm not sure yet if any of the fruit has set.
I will be picking the first runner beans later this week. If I didn't have a fridge full of leftovers from entertaining at the w/e I would probably have found just about a serving of beans big enough to pick today

[ 30. July 2012, 10:51: Message edited by: Roseofsharon ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Roseofsharon, your broad bean pate sounds wonderful. My broad beans suffered a major black fly attack during the wet weather in June. I didn't deal with it in time so I've only got a very small crop this year, just enough for a taste or two, but maybe I'll try your pate recipe next year.

My late raspberries are starting to fruit now. They really have enjoyed all the rain.

I started earthing up the leeks last weekend - just the first inch, whoops, I mean 2cm. A bit of a puzzle how to earth up with "dry" soil this year!

Slugs and snails are a big problem but it's so nice to see everything still green and growing at the end of July. Most years, the gardens round here are starting to look a bit dry, brown and tired by now.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
maybe I'll try your pate recipe next year.

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quote:

---

Originally posted by NJA:
If a wild olive branch is grafted onto a cultivated tree, does it produce wild olives or cultivated ones?

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The fruit of a grafted tree remains true to type, it does not take on the form of its host.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
This odd bit of rain and no rain has hurt many of my plants in my back yard and front yard. The chestnut tree died and so has the one from India. Also the lovely (old one) yellow flowers seem to have died too. Others have had many many more flowers than usual.

Today I had to cut down things that seemed dead - hard work and sadness...
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Same here. A climbing rose that survived two seriously hard winters was dead after the last one, which was mild. One of my pear trees (not very old, but perfectly healthy last year) has died - again, before the drought followed by deluge that has been this summer. My almond tree looked good in the spring, but has lost all its leaves from the lower half now.


 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I was just looking out on the garden today and thinking: This I probably as good as it gets. Usually, by this time, things would be beginning to look faded and blowsy. But because of the long cold, wet spell the garden is doing its early summer turn. The blossom is just dropping from the peas and beans; the bedding geraniums, lobelia, begonia etc are raving, the calendula are thinking of flowering.

If there is a mild, and not too wet, August and September, I might yet see a bit of produce.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisymay:

Today I had to cut down things that seemed dead - hard work and sadness...

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
Sorry to hear that, Firenze. I remember your potato crop failure last year.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jedijudy:
This is my first ever grape crop! All half dozen of them!

---

Don't do yourself down - I can count 7 grapes in that photo.

A triumph!


 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Thanks Chamois. I'm very pleased!

And, I see four fruits on my Black Sapote!
 

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Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :
 
My gardening experience this year has been very Zen...between the summer drought/incredible heat and our frequent traveling our vegetable garden has never been worse, but I've accepted that. I'm far sadder about our farmer neighbors whose large fields of hay, corn, etc. aren't doing well. (Although recent rains and moderated temps have revived some crops.) But I am sobered by the thought that, were I a pioneer 150 years ago, my family might be facing starvation come winter!

One real surprise: Last year I planted butterfly plants (the orange milkweed relatives) and cornflowers around the house-number post we have next to our driveway. Last year these plants really struggled in that challenging roadside location -- lots of reflective sun and heat from the highway, plus poor sandy soil -- and I didn't have a lot of confidence in their survival. This year, though, despite the weather, the plants are thriving with just a minimum of effort on my part -- I mulched them with compost in June and threw a couple buckets of water on them during the worst of the dry spell. I also stuck a morning glory in the mix, and that is twirling all about, I hope soon to flower.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I harvested my potatoes on Monday, and am quite pleased with the crop.
Considering that I bought a bag of 10 seed potatoes from a general 'homewares' store, late in the season and already sprouting and have grown them in 3 fifteen litre buckets, I don't think that 9lb is a bad result.
In fact, with only two of us, me hardly eating potatoes at all and no suitable storage facilities, that is plenty to accompany the daily plateful of homegrown runner beans
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I reckon I've lifted about 7lbs so far. If the rate is consistent for the rest of the plot, there may be another 20lbs there.

While I'm going through them fairly briskly (they're delicious), I need to harvest them all in the next week. Experience tells me that if I don't, the worms will get them. Storage will just have to be in newspaper in the coolest place I can find outside of the fridge.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Every year, rather later than it should be done, I hack back a berberis (or pyracanthra) by our door and every year Mrs Sioni tells me I have cut it incorrectly. I state that there's just too much of the damned thing and hack a bit more. Despite having minimal greenery on it by September the beast thrives, so this year, while she's at work, I'm going to deal with it once and for all, on the pretext that there's too much tree, too close to the house.

Same goes for the holly, on the other side of the bay window. And we won't get pink bird poop all over the path any more.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
We returned from a week away to discover that although the weather hadn't been the best for our holiday, it had obviously suited the garden perfectly! My runner beans had all grown a good couple of feet and burst into vigorous flower, the rainbow chard is big and colourful, the tatties have grown more and are flowering, and the squash & courgette look very happy.

In the greenhouse the cucumbers are continuing to grow well, and the tomatoes are finally ripening - and absolutely delicious they are, too! I don't think I've yet managed to bring all the ones I've picked back to the house with me, even though there aren't really enough to share between four of us anyway...

Soft fruit hasn't been a success this year though - but since the gooseberries & raspberries only went in a couple of months ago I wasn't really expecting anything from them this year. The apples look to be fattening up though...
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Sub Arctic Plenty has produced its first two ripe tomatoes!

But the slugs got there first.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I was slightly out in my calculations - total remaining potatoes came to just over 30lbs. I noticed a very high incidence of rotten ones in the ground; those that were good were on the periphery of the plant, quite shallow and with the skin characteristic of new potatoes. I assume they grew in the last month of reasonable weather, whereas all the tubers the plant produced in May and June perished of cold and wet.

The peas and beans have put on a last gallant sprint as well. The carrots are tiny and unlikely to get much bigger, so we will have one nice dinner of baby veg.

The rhubarb looks a bit green and spindly, but I am just away to bake it in a flan with cream and cinnamon.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Sioni Sais, you have now handed me the key to why that one church member kept "accidentally" running over the church peonies with the lawnmower. Three years in a row. And I'm going to be looking narrowly at Mr. Lamb the next time he announces a plan to tidy up the juniper out front.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Garden is doing well except for the one melon that I planted. Lots of vine, leaves, and blooms, but no fruit. There are bees about so that is not the problem. Any suggestions as to what the fix might be? No doubt to late for this year, but I am open to trying melons again next year.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Have better temperatures? I understand some plants refuse to set fruit if the temp is running too high or low for their liking. Which is probably the explanation for the first ever August we have had here where we are not about to be engulfed in gourds.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
We hand-fertilize ours, as the bees aren't always reliable about it. We have a good number set, but the problem is always trying to get them to ripen before it gets too cold.
 

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
Melons may not like it hot. We have summer days with many times over 100F and then cool nights. Next year I will play bee as well.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I harvested the tomatoes today and dug up the plants. The dreaded blight has arrived....

My two tomato plants have set about 12lbs of fruit. I just hope I can get it to ripen off the plant.

What method do people here find the best for ripening green tomatoes?
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
What method do people here find the best for ripening green tomatoes?

---

I've had some luck putting them on the kitchen windowsill. I think it depends on how close they are to being ripe.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
I used to ripen green tomatoes by layering them between sheets of newspaper in a drawer, or a cardboard box.
That was in the days when my garden was blight-free. When blight became an annual problem I found that, once the plant showed signs of it - even if I stripped it and stored the green tomatoes straight away, the fruit developed blight before they ripened.

For the past few years I have just grown a couple of plants in pots on the patio, far away from the veg plot, and they have been blight-free. Not sure that's going to work this year
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Don't forget that green tomato chutney is wonderful.
 

---

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
Not tomatoes, but my chillis are turning red.

Wahay!
 

---

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drifting Star:
Don't forget that green tomato chutney is wonderful.

---

So is green tomato mincemeat.

Moo
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Thanks for all the suggestions about green tomatoes. Much appreciated.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I took half my grape crop to share with my son and granddaughter. We each had one grape! And they were very good!
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Update on the green tomatoes: I had to throw about half of them away because of the blight, but the others are ripening nicely on various window sills round the house.

My autumn raspberries are in full fruit now - yummy! And two out of my three young plum trees set some fruit for the first time this year, 5 plums on Merton Gem and 7 plums on Marjorie's seedling. Hopefully a foretaste of goodies to come.

 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
We have been given the go-ahead by the council to take down the lovely, but sick, flowering cherry from our garden, and with a sorrowful heart I have just accepted a quote for getting the work done (hopefully before the winter storms do it for us)
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Roseofsharon, what a pity you've got to remove it. That's a beautiful tree.

The road where I live has a lot of flowering cherry trees planted by the local council years ago, and now they are gradually decaying and having to be removed one by one. The council is replanting with sycamore. Not the same thing at all.
 

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Posted by Grammatica (# 13248) on :
 
Hi, all. In my South Florida vegetable garden, I'm just at the stage of tearing out all the overgrowth from the summer fallow period, getting ready to stir up the soil and amend it for planting.

I have questions for Jedi Judy or anyone else who gardens in subtropical/ tropical areas.

1) I have a stand of Surinam cherry bushes. I love to eat the fruits raw, and I hope to make jam with them. Problem: they tend to harbor fruit fly worms. So: How best to prevent the fruit flies from getting to them? Is there a spray I can use? My only real luck came one year when, most unusually for my latitude, we had six weeks of continuously cold weather, with temperatures below 40 F each night, and often below freezing. No fruit fly worms in the fruits the following year. But I can't count on that.

2) My hibiscus is having problems. The blossoms rot in bud, and the new leaves, instead of growing out, stay tiny and become crinkled and convoluted. The ends of the canes develop a stubby, button-like appearance from the multiple tiny crinkled leaves. I hope I am describing it well enough. Is this a fungus? It seems to get worse in droughts. Does the bush need extra nutrients? Anyone?
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help, Grammatica.

The Surinam cherries are notorious for worms...in some years! I never made the connection between cold winters and fewer worms, but will have to observe more carefully!

Our particular solution to the cherry problem is to make jam and jelly from the tasty things! (BTW, if anyone hasn't ever tried a Surinam cherry, it's nothing like what people normally think of when they think of cherries. Plus they're not shaped the same, either!)

Your hibiscus problem is one I've seen mostly in older plants. One thing to try is to prune it back pretty drastically. It used to be standard practice to prune them back to pointed stakes in the beginning of winter, but I haven't heard of anyone doing that for quite a long time.

Good luck with them, Grammatica!
 

---

Posted by Grammatica (# 13248) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
(BTW, if anyone hasn't ever tried a Surinam cherry, it's nothing like what people normally think of when they think of cherries. Plus they're not shaped the same, either!)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Roseofsharon:
We have been given the go-ahead by the council to take down the lovely, but sick, flowering cherry from our garden, and with a sorrowful heart I have just accepted a quote for getting the work done (hopefully before the winter storms do it for us)

---

That is quite a tree Roseofsharon - I am sure you will miss it. Will you be replacing it with another cherry? When the houses around me were built, the developer put in alternating flowering cherries and rowan trees with differing coloured berries. After about 30 years one of the cherries near me started to revert to root stock and dropped loads of mirabelle plums which I turned into jam. Sadly, that tree has been removed and replaced with a regular flowering cherry. I have since decided that when I put in a plant to try to get an edible fruiting variety because it's so good to have fruit in my tiny garden, even if it's a tiny amount.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Grammatica,how big are the fruit flies which attack the cherries? I'm wondering if netting would help.

This year I netted my red cabbages and have no caterpillars on them whereas I didn't net my brussels sprouts and I'm picking off caterpillars every day.

Of course, if the adult flies are very small they'll get through netting mesh.

If you can't net the whole bush, you could net a few branches and save the cherries on those.

Just a thought.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
I dug up a few potatoes as an experiment the other day to see if they're ready. They're purple! Rather more floury than I normally like, but at least they'll make good roasties or mash, then. The runner beans need picking soon, too, as they're finally getting properly going. And I must remember to check how to tell if the sweetcorn is ripe (anyone?).

Sadly the carrots didn't come out well. Partly because I hadn't separated the seedlings anything like as well as I thought I had, so they've grown all squished together, and partly cos some nasty fly/crawling grey things found them.

I'll be making some chard soup soon, though - the rainbow chard has truly lived up to its name and is flourishing. And I'll be looking for beetroot recipes, too!
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by daisydaisy:
Will you be replacing it with another cherry?

---

We will be looking for something that is resistant to honey fungus, and sadly cherries are not on the RHS list.

Honey fungus is very active in our garden and we have lost many smaller trees and shrubs to its ravages, starting with a weeping willow twenty years ago. I wouldn't plant another tree just there for several years, but the council says we must - although they haven't actually given us a deadline.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I got home from work yesterday evening to find that my local council had cut down the flowering cherry tree in the street outside my nextdoor neighbour's house. There wasn't a thing wrong with it that I could see! The stump was still there this morning and you could see it was healthy wood - no streaks or discolour or any sign of honey fungus.

I'm really upset. OK, it was a large tree, but it wasn't doing anyone any harm.
 

---

Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
I got home from work yesterday evening to find that my local council had cut down the flowering cherry tree in the street outside my nextdoor neighbour's house. There wasn't a thing wrong with it that I could see! The stump was still there this morning and you could see it was healthy wood - no streaks or discolour or any sign of honey fungus.

I'm really upset. OK, it was a large tree, but it wasn't doing anyone any harm.

---

Oh, that's sad!
If there are any similar trees in the rest of the street I'd apply for a TPO quickly, before any more get felled
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I spoke to some neighbours today who were home when the council were felling the cherry tree. They told me that the council men said the tree was diseased.

I'm really not convinced. It looked perfectly healthy to me.

Vandalism

 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Men and machines cost money, so I don't suppose it was gratuitous.

You could try calling the Council and asking to speak to their dendrologist (ie whoever is responsible within Environment/Parks and Gardens/whatever for tree management). I wouldn't be confrontational about it - just ask about the policy, and particularly on replacement. I think trees are viewed as an amenity - leafy suburbs 'n that.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I have just had the most extraordinary experience! This evening I cut and cooked the first red cabbage from my garden. I've never grown cabbages before and (what with the slugs and the caterpillars and the birds and so on) I was wondering if it was worth the trouble. But wow - what an incredible taste sensation!

I've a believer!

 

---

Posted by Grammatica (# 13248) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
Grammatica,how big are the fruit flies which attack the cherries? I'm wondering if netting would help.

---

Sorry I didn't see your post before. It's the Caribbean Fruit Fly that attacks them, and the University of Florida says: "The adult is a small yellow-brown fly that can be as long as 12–14 mm, with rather long, patterned wings." But I've never actually seen the flies; just the worms in the cherries.

I've never heard of anyone doing this, but it might work. Surinam cherry is really a bush; it grows, oh, maybe 10-14 feet high. It would be possible if the netting were wrapped all around the bottom of the tree.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
bump
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Tell me, what do you do with a vegetable patch over winter? I've done little in the garden for the past couple of months (been away a lot) and now the peas and beans have died back, the lettuce have bolted, and the weeds are rollicking merrily. What to do - dig it? Leave it?
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I would dig it. Otherwise it's going to be worse when you have to clear it up in the spring.

But then, my garden is on heavy clay. If you're on a lighter soil weeding in the spring may not be such hard work.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
You could try dumping a lot of mulch on it.

Moo
 

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Posted by Spike (# 36) on :
 
Not really a gardening question as such, as I don't have a garden, but I do like to grow herbs on my kitchen windowsill.

I've had great success with mint, basil, rosemary and sage, but I just cannot get on with coriander. (Cilantro for those of you across the pond).

I've usually bought it ready grown in a pot and no matter how much or how little I water it, or whether I put it in the light or the shade, it always dies within three days.

Has anyone had success growing coriander? What am I doing wrong?
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
I'm convinced the herbs in pots are from particularly feeble strains, designed to die readily.

The one time I grew coriander from seed successfully, I had a south-facing bay window and it was an unusually good summer. I remember I made a cardboard screen to prop up behind the seed trays, covered in tinfoil.

So, basically, I think you need a greenhouse and exceptionally favourable climatic conditions.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Yesterday I bought some ready-made plants. Those are the ones that someone else has grown from seed-my normal mode of gardening.

So, the shade plants are in: mint and lemon balm. Tomorrow morning (Lord willing, and nothing changes my schedule!) the heirloom tomatoes, basil and dill will be planted.

I am getting some strange looks, however. Most folks around here do veggies in containers. Mine (except for the mints) are going right into the ground. So, wish me luck! Hopefully the nematodes haven't found that part of the back yard.

Also, I caved and bought two more orchids. One is a phalaenopsis with irregular patches of purples and white. Reminds me of a calico cat!
 

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Posted by Mr Curly (# 5518) on :
 
It's spring here, and I'm very pleased with how our vege patch is going so far.

mr curly
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Autumn here, but still very mild and damp. My red cabbages have done very well and the sprouts are looking hopeful for later in the winter. Also the leeks, in spite of a very slow start last spring. Thanks to everyone for the leek advice here!

Today I'm going to spend an hour picking caterpillars off the gooseberry bushes. I've never had a sawfly attack so late in the year before. I want to stop as many as possible from over-wintering, otherwise I'll have no gooseberry crop next May. It's a tricky job because the gooseberries have massive thorns but the caterpillars are too small to pick off if I wear gloves.

The joys of gardening!
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
For any orchid growers here, I have a question. One of my cattleyas is blooming now, and has a lovely fragrance. Strangely, there are two blooms on one stalk, and they are colored differently, and they smell differently, too! Also, the aroma is there in the morning, but not the rest of the day. It comes back the next morning.

My google-fu is betraying me right now, so I thought you all might know about these things! Is the morning scent meant to attract certain insects, and is it for reproduction? Is the coloring difference significant?

My inquiring mind awaits your wisdom!
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
bump
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
After assuming that we'd be on the waiting list for donkey's years, TME and I are now officially allotmenteers! Well to be more precise we are 1/4-allotmenteers - the allotment association had a couple of plots that had been neglected so they evicted the previous plot holders and the plan is to divide each plot into 4 so that people on the list can at least get going, but we stay on the list for a half or full plot if any of those come up. Even the 1/4 plot isn't small (around 20 foot square) so we should hopefully get a fair bit grown next year. I think the logic is that rather than give a full plot to someone they don't know, if we can show our commitment to the little plot then they know that we won't neglect a bigger one. We are all organising as a group to clear the whole area (it's quite weedy in parts, although mainly annual weeds), and then they will divvy up the individual 1/4-plots. I like the community aspect of this, hopefully we will get to know some fellow veg-growers and get to share seeds, tools, tips etc.

And the best thing is the view! - in sight of the Wallace Monument.
 

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Posted by Roseofsharon (# 9657) on :
 
Managed to excavate my parsnips from soggy clay to clear the last veg bed. Just the leeks and chard left, and they will stand over winter (the chard will get fleeced, if I can get it cut before the next frost). I was expecting the parsnips to be forked monstrosities, like the salsify and scorzonera grown in the same bed, but most of them are pretty good. There is some forking, but not until after a good length of decent single root.
They are now packed in a box of dryish old compost, and I hope they will last past Christmas. It worked last year.

We had a dry, bright day today,so I cut back some lanky roses and cleared the lawn of fallen branch-lets from the flowering cherry. I also lifted and potted some of the cyclamen from underneath the cherry - just to save them from the boots of the men coming to fell the tree next weekend
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Congrats on the allotmentette, JTL. I Imagine it will be enormously satisfying to bring such a neglected plot back into production.

Meanwhile the back half of the garden is silently reproaching me every time I look out of the window. I tell myself I'm waiting for the weeds to die back.

[ 25. November 2012, 19:37: Message edited by: Firenze ]
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Great news, JTL! Just beware of phantom armies trampling the sassenachs across your spuds...

If it's allowed, now would be a really good time to put down weed control membrane (AKA black plastic sheet). There's not a lot you can start now, I suspect it's too wet to dig, and that will get a decent head start on killing off all those weeds (even couch grass succumbs) while you browse the seed catalogues. Just make sure that it's well pinned and weighted down or your sheets will be well on their way to Norway before you can say Harald Hardrada.

Meanwhile, we may be losing ours for a while. The floods are encroaching from both sides, and it may well get very, very wet. In summer 2007 when the allotments last flooded, many plots were awash. Ho hum, at least there's not too much out there except kale!

AG
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
So, the shade plants are in: mint and lemon balm. Tomorrow morning (Lord willing, and nothing changes my schedule!) the heirloom tomatoes, basil and dill will be planted.
... Most folks around here do veggies in containers. Mine (except for the mints) are going right into the ground. So, wish me luck!

---

The tomatoes are alive and growing! The biggest one has blossoms and I am thrilled! The basil is not happy, but not dead yet. Dill is growing and very full. I planted a few bell peppers, too. They are alive, but not really growing yet.

It's very exciting! Haven't been able to grow veg for a while. Y'all have inspired me, you know!
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
We've eaten the last of the red cabbages now, and very good they were, too. Just started on the sprouts which are rather small but tasty. The leeks did well in the end, thanks to the advice I was given here, but it's too wet to dig them up at the moment.

Luckily I live near the top of a hill. Feeling very sorry for everyone whose garden or allotment is flooded at the moment.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
We went for a month with no rain. So, of course I watered my poor plants when I could.

There has been rain off and on for the past week! It seems obvious to me that the tomatoes like God's rain much better than the water I provide via the garden hose. There are four marble-sized tomatoes on the very healthy looking tomato number one. I think it's a pink and white striped variety. The plant is gorgeous! Yesterday it came up to almost mid-thigh on me.

The other two have blossoms finally. The flowers on the black tomato look almost like nightshade. Very interesting.

Yes, I'm very pleased with my little garden!
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Although my garden is near the top of a hill - it's now flooded. The poor plum tree is ankle deep in water. Hate to think about all the drowned worms.



How are other people getting on?
 

---

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Underwater here too (at least, it should be - can't get out to it for water). Not too much in it to take harm, thankfully, and I'll have a little party for every slug that drowns!

Spring will be hard work, given I didn't get a lot of digging done before the heavens opened.

AG
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Thankfully not under water, but very muddy. I picked sprouts on Christmas Eve, but wasn't tempted to stop for long. Like Sandemaniac I will have a lot of digging to catch up with. I am following the school of "weeds help stop the nutrients from washing away".
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I have six tomatoes growing! Four are ping pong ball sized, and two marble sized ones. There is dill enough to actually use, and a pepper has a blossom bud. We actually had a very short rain today, so hopefully that helps the little plants.

Well, the tomato is about waist high on me. So not too little for being in the ground.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by jedijudy:
I have six tomatoes growing!

---

The Ship is a real education. There was I thinking that tomatoes just grow like weeds in the States, being the place they originally come from and all that. Apologies for my ignorance.

It sounds very exciting! I love it when plants in my garden start to fruit. Roll on Spring!
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
Chamois, there are probably some places where tomatoes do grow like weeds. Florida is not one of those places. Therefore, I am doubly happy to have some hope for juicy, ripe fruit in the not-too-far future!

Having lived the first part of my life Up North™, I can see the definite resemblance of some of my tomato plants to the deadly nightshade they are related to. (I don't think we have nightshade down here.)
 

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Posted by Earwig (# 12057) on :
 
Hello green fingered Shippies. What fruit and veg grow best in cold and wet conditions? I had a really poor year in the allotment last year - even the courgettes struggled - and 2013 is meant to be wetter and colder. What should I plant to take advantage of this vile weather?
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
Earwig,here is a good blog on the subject. I came across it when I was pondering the same problem. I have one raised bed but am considering building some more in the spring.


 

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Posted by Anna B (# 1439) on :
 
The snow is thick on the ground but the 2013 gardening catalogues are beginning to arrive---hooray! Now for deciding what to plant in an area thick with wildlife---I can practically see the deer reading the catalogues over my shoulder...
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anna B:
The snow is thick on the ground but the 2013 gardening catalogues are beginning to arrive---hooray! Now for deciding what to plant in an area thick with wildlife---I can practically see the deer reading the catalogues over my shoulder...

---

My niece had her whole patch mown down by deer, there is now venison in her freezer ....
 

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Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
Our allotment site is full of wascawwy wabbits, but as vegetarians they will at least escape our freezer. One of the early jobs once the site is properly cleared (we are making progress, but it is not always easy to get everyone together so people are doing little bits at a time) is to put up a decent fence to try and keep them out, or at least at bay.

Thanks for the blog on growing veg in cold, wet soil - as a central Scotland site near a river I somehow suspect that will be our default growing condition
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Onions, chive, garlic, and poisonous flowers (daffodil, foxglove, etc) against the deer. Interscatter them with more tasty stuff. And avoid fertilizer or seedlings grown in the same if at all possible--I understand it makes the fertilized plants taste saltier, which is a major deer draw. Though I think it is only nonorganic stuff that does this, so compost should be all right.
 

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Posted by Moo (# 107) on :
 
I read a gardening article that said you can protect your garden from deer by planting strong-smelling plants, such as lavender, around the periphery. The theory is that since other animals prey on deer, they rely on their sense of smell for protection. Strong odors will prevent the deer from smelling predators, so they avoid strong-scented areas.

Moo
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Strong-smelling plants are good, but Lamb Chopped's idea of mixing them in with the veggies is better than planting them round the edge. However, if you really have a persistent deer problem (not just occasional visits) I'm afraid the only two answers are a ten-foot high and four-foot wide park pale to keep them out, or shooting them. I had to get a man in to shoot the foxes who were destroying my garden - nothing else worked because foxes dig their way under any sort of fence.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
New thread for a new year now started.

Cheers
Ariel
Heaven Host
 

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