Thread: Blooming hard work. The gardening thread Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
As gardening matters are choking discussion elsewhere (like a virulent bindweed) I took a hint and decided to start a thread.

So fellow gardeners, I'm planting bulbs for next spring. I watered them in but am never sure how much ongoing watering they need. I don't want them to rot through overwatering, but the weather here is fairly dry.

Any helpful advice?

Huia.

[ 31. May 2015, 01:57: Message edited by: Huia ]
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
My gardening is on hold at the moment as I am awaiting the installation of cable for TV, broadband and phone. Long ago, I severed the ducting of what was believed to be a defunct arrangement in this area because it passed across what was to be my veggie patch only 3 inches under the surface. I can't use the beds along the edge until they've been, and I can't build garden features or raise the raised beds where they might be going to do stuff. So I have potatoes in bags, onions in bags, tomatoes in pots, everything moveable. And will have to do everything in a rush when they've been. I should be expecting them tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath. and I may have misread the paperwork.

I have a few bulbs to transfer from pots in another part of the garden, but they won't need much watering - rain will be enough, so I'm afraid I can't help with that.

[ 31. May 2015, 13:01: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :
 
Don't know what your winters are like. With our's we plant bulbs after the first hard frost, and then cover the grown witha couple of inches of mulch. Taking the mulch off only when we are certain frost risk is mostly over. Tulips can stand a degree of two if you cover them in the spring. Ours just started blooming last week.

We planted our own garden, flowers and also our community plot on Mon and Tues last, only to have -2°C overnight on Thurs. Damn! The murphy's law of prairie gardens. No sooner plant and Jack visits. We're supposed to get 100 days frost free they say each year. We watered everything heavily and covered the herbs. It looks like we are okay. Here's hoping. I saw some very sad tomato plants at the community garden.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
What kind of soil do you have? If it's heavy clay, you will need to worry more about the possible rot thing than with any other kind of dirt.

Me, I'd treat them like potted plants--water when you notice the ground looks really dry. Otherwise leave alone.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I got the date wrong, there's another month before the disruption. I'm going to have to put the bean plants in bags as well, with the canes poking up from the sides. That's a layer of shredded paper, stuff chopped off the brassicas with the green manure stuff (forgetmeknots mostly), a layer from the compost heap, bought compost above that and then the beans I bought from the country market. I don't know how that will work. I usually have a small trench with compost in it along by the fence. Where the cable may go.
I can't use the tomato grow house by the fence, but might use my small one to put the pots in until they need moving, if they do. That's on top of the old cable end.
The cable route has to be along the part of the garden that gets most direct sunlight. Of course.

[ 31. May 2015, 22:17: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
I think it will be important to state where you are, roughly, so that people know the climate.

I live in the mid-Atlantic US, and am a Darwinian gardener. I keep on buying plants and sticking them in. When they die, I buy different ones. This policy steadily pursued gets you a garden full of plants that survive -- everything else is dead. Every now and then I try something that didn't make it before. I am proud to report that after several failures the sage did not die, and is thriving. Also the foxgloves have condescended to reseed and reproduce.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
After a cold, damp May, everything is both lush and slow. So everything established is roaring into leaf/flower, but the newly planted veg and flowers are struggling.
 

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Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 
You're not wrong. Parsley and mint are triffid-like, but my stunted runner beans look like they need a hug and a hot water bottle.
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Thanks for the advice on bulbs - minimal watering and fingers crossed.

I am going to plant silver beet in my flower garden as the vege garden needs more work than I have time for at present. I've chosen a cultivar called "Bright Lights" where the ribs of different plants vary from the usual white through a kind of orange to red. It should be Ok if I put a frost cloth over it when necessary.

I'm in Christchurch NZ, so we are just going into winter. We have a temperate climate with maybe 3 or 4 days of snow. Minimum temperature
is usually about -5c

Huia
 

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Posted by marzipan (# 9442) on :
 
currently we're still in a flat with no outside space, so I'm mostly just planning things, but we have a little strawberry plant that my friend gave to me in anticipation of our moving house. We went away for the weekend and came back to a very sad and thirsty strawberry - hopefully it will recover as it's perked up a bit overnight after some watering (some of the leaves are still all wilted though)
And of course, if we'd left it outside, it would have got plenty of water but might have blown away (seems to have been very stormy here on the weekend)
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I'm in Kent, on the dry side of Britain, with clay soil derived from and on top of chalk, so alkaline rather than acid.
I looked to see what weeds do well in the garden - numbers of species of geraniums (not pelargoniums) and hairy bittercress. So I'm growing geraniums and cruciferae - hence the brassicas and the watercress bed.
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
The recent sunny spells and rain showers are bringing my wildflower seedling on a treat! They are in the patch where I tried vegetables unsuccessfully last year. I have also poked some pelargoniums (pelargonia?) into some gaps in the flower beds and bought a rosemary, marjoram and thyme for a dry sunny bed. Then this week a friend gave me a rooted rosemary cutting so I need to find somewhere to put that.

I must also see to my tubs but need Mr Nen's help to empty them. I am not sure what to do with the spent compost and woe betide me if I put it in the wrong place.
 

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Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nenya:

I must also see to my tubs but need Mr Nen's help to empty them. I am not sure what to do with the spent compost and woe betide me if I put it in the wrong place.

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Can't spent compost be used as mulch?
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Or dug in to raise the amount of humus, or used as a layer in a lasagne bed. Or put in the compost heap. I layer it on the veggie beds with added gromore fertiliser. I'm hoping that the worms will pull it down and bring up some of the clay nearer the surface. So far the only beastie to do anything useful like that has been a rat!

Here's one link with advice. Old potting compost

[ 06. June 2015, 20:49: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
More links
Gardeners world

Another site

Gardeners Alive

[ 06. June 2015, 21:09: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
Thank you for the suggestions and the helpful links. We are on heavy clay soil so I expect it would appreciate the spent compost, but in a past year I had to treat the tubs for vine weevil. Could that still be a problem and is it advisable to put it on the garden?
 

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Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
I have to post this somewhere, so if it's the wrong thread I'm sorry - but here goes.

We had another morning working in the churchyard, I was weeding and Mr S and the team were moving the bonfire site (so I came away with three or four bags of wood ash!) The site had to be moved because someone complained it was too near their ancestor's grave (the bonfire's been there for years, to my certain knowledge, which goes to show how much care they've been taking of his grave!) So, the team spent all morning moving the bonfire, watched by Concerned Relatives, so it wouldn't impinge on the grave.

When we went back this afternoon for some compost guess what - Concerned Relatives had begun heaping dead grass and flowers from the grave back on the old bonfire site! I shall need to make some more signs - 'NOTHING TO BE LEFT HERE' or 'NOT IN USE' - the graveyard is festooned already!

Somewhere in Hell, I think it was Pyx-e advised any new ordinands to run from any church with an active graveyard and my advice is, never become a churchwarden

Mrs. S, shaking her head in disbelief (and rubbing her back)
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Nenya:
but in a past year I had to treat the tubs for vine weevil. Could that still be a problem and is it advisable to put it on the garden?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
I've tracked down some reviews of the product I'm using (Roundup) and they are mixed. Guess I'll have to give it another go.

If I have no joy I shall have to burn them off.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Anyone got any advice re honeysuckle that seems to be refusing to thrive? <snip> the topmost leaves and shoots are now withering

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quote:

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Originally posted by Matt Black:
Anyone got any advice re honeysuckle that seems to be refusing to thrive? We planted it a couple of months back against our eastern boundary wall with the recommended compost and take care to water it either every day or every other day; however, like the parable of the sower, it sprang up rapidly but the topmost leaves and shoots are now withering and I am concerned that this will spread to the lower leaves.

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What sort of soil lies beneath the compost? Mine loves Clay-with-Flints and needs regular cutting back. Its roots are in shade. This is the second picture down here
Periclymum and was grown from a plant which hadn't done very well in a tub at my parents' home in the Cotswolds. It was very slow taking off, and I was worried I would lose it.
I have another, grown from a self sown plant from the house which used to belong to my grandparents, and which I have seen in hedgerows. This is the nearest to it. =honeysuckle&filters[primary]=images&sort=1&o=107]The other one It is growing quite happily in a tub of compost, though I haven't seen flowers yet. It is in the north-eat of the garden and does get sun. There are holes in the base of the tub to allow the roots to get out and make a root run in th every shallow soil underneath. I think it will need a little longer to get properly established. How long have you had yours?
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
The best weedkiller I've found for a patio (crazy-paving path actually) is SALT: apply liberally and it will kill dandelions, daisies, etc, etc, etc.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
... though salt will kill basically anything, and it stays in the soil, so don't use around other, "good" plants.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Interestingly, after the east coast floods in 1953, a number of farms in Kent received compensation for the harm done by the sea water. The land recovered much sooner than expected. Mind you, major crops of the area were varieties of brassicas, and being derived from coastal plants. they might have been better able to cope.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
I have a new encouragement to dig the garden - a blackbird, which is happy to come within three feet of me. It sits on the corner of our shed, sings a few notes and then, if I turn a bit of soil over, flies down to fossick away for worms.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
... though salt will kill basically anything, and it stays in the soil, so don't use around other, "good" plants.

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Indeed. There was a reason why you sowed the place thereof with salt.

I am reconciled to digging out the cracks in the paving. Occasionally it throws up a clump of something pretty.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
We've had rain this afternoon and evening so weeding is postponed.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I wonder about the salting of the North by the Normans. How did they get enough of the stuff to make any difference? I would think the slaughter of people might have more to do with the low values shown in Domesday. They would have needed huge amounts of salt, which would have to have been got by evaporation of brines - if from Cheshire wells, using an enormous number of trees, if from the sea, ditto if in England. If imported from places where the sun was used to evaporate the seawater, an immense logistics programme would have been involved, ships, barrels, wagons, draught oxen. I can't see it myself.
 

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Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Strawberries just beginning to ripen and the salad leaves are edible. The raspberries will be next - I love raspberries, you don't have to kneel down to pick them and for some reason the birds don't eat them. Too full of strawberries, no doubt

Mrs. S, greedy gardener
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
Here in the Mid-Atlantic of the US the season is far in advance of yours. We have had the last of the strawberries. Finally we are at the brink of the tomato and corn season, surely the glory of the year around here. From here it is a long delicious plunge into the fruits of summer (blueberries, blackberries!) which does not end until the shortening days end the corn (September) and the frosts nail the tomatoes.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I've got a strawberry plant somewhere in a pot in the allotment. It had two leaves last time I looked. It's had two leaves for the past 12 months. I could plant it out but then it would run all over the place.

I'll be putting out the tomato plant on my next visit. It was a cute little thing in a pot when I bought it, so I kept it in my flat for a bit but now it's a leggy monster with its first flowers. Time to give it the stake treatment.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
My accidental strawberry patches are doing well - yesterday I used some of them to make gooseberry (from the freezer - some 2 yrs old) and strawberry jam - yum

I might have mis-timed a week away - now it's warmer and drier it's a scary time to not be watering. I think most will survive, and I've asked a neighbour to sprinkle water on the beetroots in exchange for free access to the strawberries.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I found my yellow corydalis plant which I brought from my parents' place has not done the usual weedlike thing, and was on its last legs under some London Pride and Creeping Jenny, and transplanted it into a better position - it had a good amount of root, fortunately.
The last little bit of one of my grandfather's mints seems to have taken to pot growing successfully. The lot in the last pot totally vanished over winter, and it would be a great shame to lose it. It is a spearmint type, from its perfume. I found a few leaves popping up from the ground near where it had originally grown. The other mint is much more vigorous. I had to put both of them in pots because they really love my clay soil and were plotting to take over the garden.
The Albertine rose from my grandparents' home is flourishing over the back gate. I grew it from a cutting, and it, too, is loving the clay. I gave it a bit of blood, fish and bone meal last year. It looks as if it will outgrow its Virginia Creeper neighbour, a legacy from the last owner.
The rambler rose I grew from cuttings from a neighbour's root stock at my last place is flourishing as well. It is covered with clusters of small off-white single blooms with a sweet musky scent. Intergrowing with it is a honeysuckle from my parents' place which arrived in a tub, in which it had never flowered to my knowledge. It is just coming into flower, and the two of them are covering the fence along the south of my garden.
On the north side the legacy philadelphus is coming into flower, covered with small white flowers in the way forsythia flowers. It has an unfortunate version of the philadelphus scent, lacking the usual top notes and rather cloying. It fills the garden and the house when the windows are open. Eventually, the one next door to it, grown from a cutting from my parents' garden will take over. It won't be as pretty, but the scent will be better.
There are a few raspberries in pots at the top of the garden, and I think there are a few fruits there. I have some strawberries in small pots I bought from a local L'Arche community, and should get one dish of the fruit from them. I threw out the last lot of plants last year, as taught by Mum, and am slowly replacing them. Two lots in hanging baskets from Waitrose have added to them today.
I have started to cut back the purple sprouting broccoli, though I am leaving the stems just in case the roots might like to give me some leaves. The courgettes and cucumbers are looking pathetic. Runner beans and onions are in potato sacks, so I can move them when the TV cable people arrive. The potatoes all need more compost again.
 

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Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
Some of my strawberries are also just beginning to ripen, though the alpine ones they share a bed with have been giving us their tiny berries for a while now. The planters with their herbs and viola are looking great and my hanging fuschia are in flower. My huge, heavenly scented rose (la reine Victoire, I think) is putting on a great show near the henhouse.
Peas and salad are looking good, but the runners have mostly been eaten by slugs
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Got a whole load of stuff finally planted out last night - the combination of cold nights and dry weather has held everything back so badly. Still a lot to do before we go away on holiday, and I have a horrible feeling an awful lot won't make it if we don't have rain soon...

AG
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Portable gardens, that's the answer. I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this before. With a portable garden, you can pop out and water it any time you want, if the view from your hotel room is horrible you've got an alternative, and you have an instant lawn to picnic on.

Slightly less facetiously, I'll have to take the tomato plant around to the allotment today or tomorrow. Cute is turning increasingly into a triffid.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Thank goodness, we've finally had some rain. My garden was rock-hard.
 

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Posted by Yangtze (# 4965) on :
 
AAAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH beastly sodding snails just got my runner bean, totally ignoring the nice tasty eco slug pellets surrounding it.

Not content with just munching on a leaf it chomped through the entire plant. Nothing left at all, not even the teeniest bit of stalk.

I despair. So far of everything I've planted this season only one tomato plant appears to have survived the ravages of the wildlife.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Something has vanished my watercress. It was there, some seedlings from last year, and some cuttings I had rooted from cress bought for eating dropped into dibbed holes, and doing quite well, and now it isn't there. The hairy bittercress is there. Presumably they don't like that, 'cos it's bitter. I have scattered iron flavoured ecopellets in the bed. Eat quickly, because you have eaten my dreams.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
You both have my sympathy. I've had all sorts eaten (bastard fucking flea beetle being the worst culprit), dried off, or just plain never got going this year. Just when I need the emotional reward most, the allotment hasn't delivered. Mind you, being uncertain whether I'll have it for much longer (house hunting) probably hasn't helped.

On the other hand, almost everything that has survived is now in the ground, bar my leeks, and I have my cage up over my brassicas to keep the pigeons off. I feel better for that.

AG
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
We have deer. They go through neatly biting in half each daylily bud, just as it is about to open. They also bite into each hosta leaf. I have taken to shouting recipes at them, somthing about marinating venison in red wine with juniper berry, garlic clove and a bay leaf.
 

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Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :
 
The elk used to come through our old place occasionally and take one bite out of the middle of each cabbage. That doesn't leave much!
 

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Posted by irish_lord99 (# 16250) on :
 
We've had a mixed year so far here in southern Maine. The spinach all wilted (again! ) and our bed of cucumbers and peppers got frosted. I planted new seedlings I'd been cultivating indoors and built a little plastic covered hot-house over them... and the hot house cooked the seedlings withing 24 hours. So we re-seeded the cukes and bought a pepper plant.

The cabbage almost didn't make it, only two survived the frost that killed the cukes and peppers. The peach tree we bought for the back yard didn't survive transplant, but the cherry and apples are doing fine.

Most everything else is doing fine as well, should have a decent harvest this year of Brussels sprouts, zucchini, melons, peas, beans, onions, leeks, scallions, carrots and parsnips. We've already harvested some kale and radishes!

As for decor: I fell a large spruce* that was weak in the roots (read that, ready to fall on the house if there was a big wind) and that really opened up the front yard so the day lillys, hastas, and lilacs are all doing well.

We essentially bought a house with an established flower garden that hadn't been taken care of for over five years by our elderly predecessor, so it's been a lot of work trying to sort out what to keep and what to kill off.

Any advice on eliminating grape vines? We can't kill them no matter what we do. I've actually tied the root balls to rope, then to my truck and ripped them out that way, and they still leave enough to grow back.

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* Well, large for this area: 34 inch diameter stump. Had it sawn into heafty lumber to timber frame a greenhouse next year!
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I’m holding off on planting out runner beans until they’re too large for the wildlife to munch on – having said that, I did once see a muntjac deer running away from the allotments with a mouth full of runner bean leaves, if the ground-level creatures don’t get them something else will. Netting is the answer in the early stages (as with my poor broccoli plants) but can I find any in the shops?

Can anyone recommend a hedge trimmer? I need something light and easy to use that isn’t scary and doesn’t cost a fortune. I’m trying to avoid the kind of mansize electric chainsaws which I have difficulty lifting and cost too much anyway.
 

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Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Ariel:
I’m holding off on planting out runner beans until they’re too large for the wildlife to munch on – having said that, I did once see a muntjac deer running away from the allotments with a mouth full of runner bean leaves, if the ground-level creatures don’t get them something else will. Netting is the answer in the early stages (as with my poor broccoli plants) but can I find any in the shops?

Can anyone recommend a hedge trimmer? I need something light and easy to use that isn’t scary and doesn’t cost a fortune. I’m trying to avoid the kind of mansize electric chainsaws which I have difficulty lifting and cost too much anyway.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ariel:
I’m holding off on planting out runner beans until they’re too large for the wildlife to munch on – having said that, I did once see a muntjac deer running away from the allotments with a mouth full of runner bean leaves, if the ground-level creatures don’t get them something else will. Netting is the answer in the early stages (as with my poor broccoli plants) but can I find any in the shops?

Can anyone recommend a hedge trimmer? I need something light and easy to use that isn’t scary and doesn’t cost a fortune. I’m trying to avoid the kind of mansize electric chainsaws which I have difficulty lifting and cost too much anyway.

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I bought a Bosch, and being a skinflint, bought the cheapest one, about £40, but they make about half a dozen models. It's fairly light, and is quite fast. If you have a really tall hedge you might need one of those with an extension, but we manage without, with a privet hedge. Also not cordless, as I had one of those, which take ages to recharge.

AHS 45-16 is the model we got.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Cordless hedge trimmers (and anything else) tend to be very heavy because of the battery packs as well, so you're best to avoid those. Similarly, petrol driven ones have much greater weight (although I suspect they're not on your list anyway!)
 

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Posted by quetzalcoatl (# 16740) on :
 
I have a cordless strimmer, (for an allotment with no power source), and it's excellent, although of course it runs out! But it does all the grass paths, before running out.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Yes, I have a cordless one as well for a similar allotment. It can do half an hour before it conks out, which is just about right for the paths around my plot.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll pop into Homebase and see if they have a Bosch hedge trimmer on display. My worry would be accidentally dropping it on myself!
 

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Posted by quetzalcoatl (# 16740) on :
 
Well, Bosch do some bigger ones, about £150, so they will be heavier. This one is 2.5 kg and cheap!
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
We finally managed to sort out That Corner - the one bit of the garden we'd done nothing with since moving in a few years ago. It had the remains of a compost heap - complete with rotting posts where the corners had been, and chicken wire strung between them... Instead of looking like a half-hearted attempt at wilderness, it's now three small raised beds, surrounded by bark mulch. Much nicer! And that means that at long last I have my herb section, which I've been wanting for a while. Sadly though, two of the thyme plants we put in are looking very sorry for themselves, and the third isn't looking much better. It's better news in the veg bed, as the sweetcorn is growing nicely, and I regularly help myself to a few salad leaves and spring onions. The greenhouse is looking good too, with lots of tomatoes forming and the first few mini cucumbers almost ready for picking.

Life being what it it, in one of those wonderful co-incidences of timing we have a new puppy at the same time as Mr B has been temporarily laid up with a bad leg, and of course it's prime weed-growing season. I've managed to do some weeding while out in the garden with the dogs a few evenings recently, but there's more needing doing than I have time and energy for... Op 2 has helpfully taken control of picking raspberries as they ripen - and sometimes even shares them with the rest of us! She did a sterling job of mowing half the back lawn a few weeks ago; maybe I should try and bribe - sorry, persuade - her to do it again.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Just a random thought--most herbs actively dislike rich ground, from what I understand, and if you used to have a compost pile there, that might be why they're sulking. Put them somewhere more congenial (like a crack in the pavement).
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
What can you do about slugs and snails? I've tried gravel and I've tried copper wire. I've tried beer traps. I've tried that stuff made of wool that made the greenhouse and garden smell of wet sheep but didn't stop the blighters. I don't have easy access to ducks. I have heard it suggested that you should pick them off one by one by hand. Apart from being time consuming, mind numbingly boring and distressingly slimy, what are you meant to do then? Throw them over next door's fence???

The only thing that works seems to be nasty un-eco friendly slug pellets, to which I always seem to revert (a friend swore that researching this, she'd come across a buddhist website that basically said 'give up and use slug pellets').

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

M.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I wish I knew. Some birds have been co-operative enough to eat some of the snails in my plot, but obviously they can't eat them all. None of them will touch the slugs and I don't blame them. Pesticide is probably the only solution.

I wanted to put slug pellets in with my seed potatoes, but then it occurred to me that the potatoes might absorb them as they grew and I'd inadvertently poison anyone I gave them to, so I'm resigned to them looking like ocarinas again for the third year running.

I've also just had to buy a greenfly spray. My patio aubergine (in a pot on the windowsill and two floors up) is suddenly covered in aphids. You wouldn't think they'd fly this high but I suppose it's just a matter of where the wind blows them.
 

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Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Putting salt on slugs works a way of getting rid of them. It's not pretty, but it works.

The problem with slug pellets is that they're killing the natural predators of hedgehogs, song thrushes and ground beetles. Apparently, that article suggests making sure the ground is well drained helps too.
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
There are two things that make me throw my green credentials out of the window. One is slugs, the other greenfly.

That said, I restrict the slug pellets to areas where I've planted very young plants - the sort that would be obliterated by slugs rather than just nibbled. There are plenty of slugs in the rest of the garden and the fields. They do seem to enjoy the grass if there's no other young and juicy plant flesh around, and that's fine.

With greenfly I try the green methods first. Dilute washing up liquid works on a mild infestation, so if I can catch them early there's unlikely to be a problem. However, when they're several layers deep all over the buds of the roses I haven't found anything friendly that works.

I once came back from a holiday and found a greenfly infestation on my lupins that was so bad I feel ill remembering it now. I haven't grown lupins since.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I use organic slug pellets which don't poison the rest of the garden wildlife. I think they are basically copper sulphate. They really do work. I sprinkled them round my runner bean seedlings and a couple of mornings ago I saw a large garden snail 2 inches from one of the seedlings - almost within munching distance - but slithering as fast as it could in the opposite direction. I don't think the chemical gets absorbed by the plants, either.

Putting salt on slugs is definitely not for the soft-hearted. I pick snails and slugs off the plants I haven't protected with pellets, put them down on the paved garden path and stamp on them. It's the most humane way of killing them that I know. Over in a moment.

I've got black fly on the runner beans which I'm dealing with by rubbing them off with my fingers. I also squash gooseberry sawfly caterpillars with my fingers. The large ones make a very satisfying squish.

My gooseberry bushes have got a wonderful crop this year and it's already ripening. My strawberries were also magnificent but sadly now finished so I won't be eating my own strawberries while watching Wimbledon.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Thanks, all. CK, I know that slug pellets are a Bad Thing, that's the point of trying to find another way of protecting my baby plants. I'm not worried about holey leaves in mature plants, but about the seedlings/small plants surviving at all. And being able to eat a few strawberries.

I'm much too much of a wuss to try the salt or stamping methods. I've never come across eco friendly slug pellets before, although I see that Yangtze referred to them upthread. I'll have to try and find some. Yangtze's experience doesn't bode well, though!

Hmm, I wonder if I can fit a duck pond in the garden....

M.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I once planted some lupins and came out the next morning to find them eaten down overnight down to two-inch stumps. I put a ring of slug pellets down and came out again the next morning to find that just about every slug and snail in the neighbourhood had gravitated to the area and there was a ring of dead and dying creatures around the lupins (which had been nibbled further). Lupins are lovely but I've never planted them again.
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
They say that a ring of diatomaceous earth will keep slugs away. (It is sharp bits and hurts their tummies.) I have never tried it.
 

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Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :
 
Or wood ash, or crushed eggshells ...

I have started trying to grow watercress in half an old water-butt, spurred on by the delightful experience of trying watercress gin. I shan't be distilling my own, even though that might be economically a Good Thing!

The peas have never looked so good (yum ) and the raspberries are just kicking in, though I ate the last of the asparagus only the other day.

At least it makes up for lugging all those watering-cans from water-butt to veggie plot *sigh*

Mrs. S, rubbing her back
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Just got back from some time away and wandered around the garden. The flag iris bulbs have begun to sprout. I think there may have been a couple of frosts while I was away, but the days have mainly been clear and sunny (amazing for June here) there are even roses still in flower.


Of course now the garden needs weeding.

Huia
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
My first greenhouse tomato is starting to turn orange Lots more developing of various types, so I'm hoping for a good crop this year. I love tomatoes fresh off the vine, still warm from the sun. Yum!

I'm certain that the other day there were two cucumbers nearly ready - now there's only one, and I haven't picked any. Not quite sure what's happened there...! I'll have to pick the good one tonight, to make sure we get it. The second cucumber plant has always been a bit behind the first, but is now flowering and looking quite promising, too. If only I knew what was causing the majority of the potential cucumbers to go yellow and shrivel up before they've really got started

LC - I didn't know that about herbs wanting poor soil - that could indeed be the issue then. I'll have to have a bit of a re-think in that case...
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Will be back in Oxford by tomorrow evening, to find out what disaster the heatwave has wrought on the allotment while we've been away. If only I could tow some Scottish rainclouds back with me! It's not fair to ask anyone else to water as (a) the usual suspects are all away or have a small child and (b) every drop of water has to be raised from a well.

AG

Wot no sig?
 

---

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Portable gardens, that's the answer. I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this before. With a portable garden, you can pop out and water it any time you want, if the view from your hotel room is horrible you've got an alternative, and you have an instant lawn to picnic on.
<snip>

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
What can you do about slugs and snails? I've tried gravel and I've tried copper wire. I've tried beer traps. I've tried that stuff made of wool that made the greenhouse and garden smell of wet sheep but didn't stop the blighters. I don't have easy access to ducks. I have heard it suggested that you should pick them off one by one by hand. Apart from being time consuming, mind numbingly boring and distressingly slimy, what are you meant to do then? Throw them over next door's fence???

The only thing that works seems to be nasty un-eco friendly slug pellets, to which I always seem to revert (a friend swore that researching this, she'd come across a buddhist website that basically said 'give up and use slug pellets').

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

M.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by cattyish:
Cattyish, couldn't make a greenhouse stay upright.

---

Viagra?

Having got back, I think the only thing that is irredeemably brown bread is something I knew I'd killed already - most other stuff is hanging. Just need rain - a nice thunderstorm would be good, just an inch or two...

AG
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Just over 4 kilos of Redcurrants picked from just one bush in the relative cool of the evening, lit partly by the echoes of the sun and also by the lovely full moon. I'm still working my way through those from last year - there is a limit to the amount of jelly one can consume! Have offered half to the local ice cream parlour which produces some very creative flavour mixes.
 

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Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
Hmm, thanks all. I didn't have much success with copper tape (which is what I meant by wire, sorry, stupid mistake) and crushed eggshells and diatomaceous soil sound like the same idea as the sharp gravel I've tried. But I've never come across the pot scourer theorem - shall give that a go.

Despite all this, most stuff has survived, apart from nearly all my lettuces, all my basil and several runner beans and french beans.

M.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I can't get out to put things right after the cable layers yet - first it was simply too hot for me, and the plants. Now it is raining. Not enough to be useful, of course, but enough to make things slippery.
I need to move the pots and bags to the sunny part of the garden and provide taller canes for the beans. I need to add compost to the potatoes, and thin the peaches. I need to return the jasmine to its proper place. I need to gather up all the tumbled leeks and make leek something or other to freeze. I need to put loads of pruned virginia creeper in the compost bins, and prune the rambler rose back hard. Ditto the Albertine, which will need a stepladder. I need to reshape the forsythia, and get some light to the peony underneath it. I need to uproot the cabbages and add them to the compost.
I need a succession of nice overcast days to do it all.
Preferably before the end of the month, when I'm going to Iceland.
I need to find my midge net.

[ 02. July 2015, 13:32: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Just purchased various ways and means of killing flea beetle.

[scream]DIE YOU FUCKERS DIE![/scream]

AG
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I could go out tonight, only, the remains of a swarm of bees are hanging around, and one of them has decided she doesn't like me. It's cooler, there's been some rain, the sun is too low to shine in, but that bee has it in for me.

The rest have been collected from next door, but how would the beekeeper pick up a few dozen which won't settle?
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I just wet with water today as it was still dry and they were dying! So I hope the water helps them.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
The gooseberries are cooking on the bushes in this heat. I've bottled 14 lots of gooseberry puree but I've now run out of empty bottling jars and there're loads more berries still to pick.

I agree with Sandemaniac - a nice thunderstorm with a good downpour would go down a treat.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Your gooseberry purée sounds lovely - I plan to pick mine tomorrow, wearing armour.

A proper downpour would be lovely as I'm now having to pump water - the pump has a really poor draw and it takes forever to fill a watering can. Anyone got an idea for improving it? It's a traditional hand pump and priming it can take 2 gallons which of course I then have to pump back.
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have had a major prune of a philadelphus and a rambling rose, and took a bagful of the prunings to the dump. I've also tidied the veggie area. These activities are taking place in the early morning when the garden is still shaded, and I can water without encouraging the molluscs out afterwards. I have lost 80 litres of rainwater which I assume was emptied out by the TV cable fitters for some reason. I had moved it from the route down the side of the garden, but not from where they needed to stand to fit the cable along the top of the first storey. I have a new job, of fitting up guttering to run the rain which falls down the side of the house back into the store. And I can't find the brackets I bought a while back. Back in the year of the hose pipe ban, I rigged up a string of gutters like something from Heath Robinson, but the supports I used then aren't there any more. Bah.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
The vinegar+salt weedkiller has been a success as has the ready-made one, Roundup.

Neither is instant or overnight but they do work given a couple of shots and there is stuff to grub up afterwards. Once I've grubbed up the area that may be replanted I'll go over it with (proper) weedkiller again. The patio will be treated with vinegar+salt periodically so that nothing grows on it again, ever.
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
Left it slightly too late this week to pick the courgettes from my allotment so ended up with two beauties weighing a total of 6.5lb. Now placed with two families of four. To forestall this happening again I popped round yesterday and picked up 5 normal size courgettes. I was surprised and pleased to discover that they have a flavour - lovely.

Beetroot is coming along nicely too, the potatoes went in late so won't be ready for a while. I never did get round to planting runner beans this year.

And the search for netting for the broccoli continues. It seems to be impossible to buy this in the garden section of any shops, nurseries or garden centres, which is surprising.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
[messianic moment]IT HAS RAINED![/messianic moment]

Annoyingly it's forecast to sod up our big cricket match but hey ho! More to come too, about sodding time!

Ariel, try Harrod Horticultural.

AG
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I found two ash seedlings in the philadelphus, which I cut down, but they will be back, and then get glyphosate - though it will be tricky to keep it off the surroundings.
 

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Posted by Celtic Knotweed (# 13008) on :
 
Penny S - it is possible to get Roundup gel, which can be a bit easier to keep off the surrounding plants.

Alternatively, have a small tube or jar dedicated to the liquid variety, then apply exactly where you want it using a paintbrush of the relevant size! Still runs the risk of drips, but much better than the spray bottles I keep seeing the stuff in.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Memo to self: buy bottle of vodka. Gathered a punnetworth of raspberries and there are a lot more on the canes. It would be really nice to have my own raspberry liqueur for Christmas.
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Might try that with the blackberries.

Thanks for the reminder about the gel - I've got some somewhere. Probably in the metal cupboard in the garage for security, where I will probably not find it but turn up the gutter brackets.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
We really need rain. Apart from a few drops, and one downpour about three weeks ago, we've had nothing in this area for months. My garden is baked hard clay except where I've been watering.

The gooseberries are finished now and the raspberries are starting to ripen but they are tiny and hard - it's been much too dry and hot for them.

Cloudy today, but no rain worth the name.
 

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Posted by daisydaisy (# 12167) on :
 
Picked most of the black currants and half a bush of the red gooseberries this evening. The rest of the reds and the green gooseberries will have to wait for tomorrow. I'm freezing them while I get around to whatever I do with them next. Which will have to include some left over from last year too.
 

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Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sandemaniac:


Annoyingly it's forecast to sod up our big cricket match but hey ho! More to come too, about sodding time!


AG

---

When exactly is sodding time? My lawn needs some patching, and I'd hate to miss the right time to sod.

John
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
For those of you in Britain waiting for rain our travels and Staycation start on Friday 17th for about ten days, so expect no cricket in that period.

It will be good sodding time too if the ground is soft enough to be worked before sods are laid.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
I think when you say "Sod it!", it's sodding time.

AG
 

---

Posted by John Holding (# 158) on :
 
Well, I'm as likely to say that in mid-December as in mid-summer, and that's a really nasty time of year to be out laying soc ...in 2 feet of snow.

John
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
It's been raining lightly here on and off since Saturday night - hooray! I'm hoping that the constant gentle damp might mean it soaks in better than a heavy torrential downpour...

I managed to do a tiny bit of weeding this weekend - just two small raised beds - and cleared a lot of blanketweed out of the pond (again), but there's so much more needing to be done. And that's without having to mow the lawn as it's been so hot and dry it just hasn't grown!
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
It's too wet to go out and work in the garden, but not wet enough to make much difference to my ad hoc collection of collecting devices. I certainly can't take the drill out to fix up the guttering, so am relying on buckets and bowls for the moment.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
STILL no rain.

Not a drop. And it poured yesterday where I work, about ten miles north.

I'm watering as fast as I can but my poor garden is suffering badly.


 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have had a bad something or other* this week which has meant that I can't move around easily, or stand for long, so I have not been out in the garden - things are looking the worse for wear. I managed this evening to soak things, and will do it again tomorrow morning, but it's not good.

*I usually explain it as back, but it isn't, it's lower abdomen, where something twangs for no apparent reason - the first time was when I bent over to pick up an envelope - and I have to use a load of different muscles to do things, which then start complaining themselves. Nearly better now. It's always self limiting, so I don't bother the doctor. But I'm really glad I bought a rising chair because of its pattern, and because I though it might be useful for my Dad.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
I have two blackcurrant bushes, planted five years ago, which have been unexpectedly successful and has outgrown their location. Specifically, they are encroaching on my neighbours and while they're ok about it I'd like to minimise any inconvenience to them. I plan to move them while dormant later this year. I'm going to put blueberry bushes in their place.

In the meantime, can I prune them back bit by bit i.e. prune branches as and when all the blackcurrants on that branch have ripened and been picked? Or should I wait till all the blackcurrants on the bush have been picked? Does the fact that they're going to be moved alter anything about pruning?

I picked the first of the blackcurrants yesterday.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
The raspberries are cropping madly. We had some for pudding last night, I put more in juice smoothie this morning, I'm about to take a punnet to friends and yet more went into a bottle with an equal measure of sugar and topped up with vodka. And still they come.
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
STILL no rain.

Not a drop. And it poured yesterday where I work, about ten miles north.

I'm watering as fast as I can but my poor garden is suffering badly.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by North East Quine:
I have two blackcurrant bushes, planted five years ago, which have been unexpectedly successful and has outgrown their location. Specifically, they are encroaching on my neighbours and while they're ok about it I'd like to minimise any inconvenience to them. I plan to move them while dormant later this year. I'm going to put blueberry bushes in their place.

In the meantime, can I prune them back bit by bit i.e. prune branches as and when all the blackcurrants on that branch have ripened and been picked? Or should I wait till all the blackcurrants on the bush have been picked? Does the fact that they're going to be moved alter anything about pruning?

I picked the first of the blackcurrants yesterday.

---

The one thing you don't want to do is to encourage weak new growth to spring up. You're probably best off to follow your usual practice, whatever and whenever that is. I'm guessing it's to prune while dormant?

In any case, the day you plan to move them (dormant) is a good day to do your pruning if you haven't already. That way the root loss is balanced by the leaf/stem loss at the same time. Plus your plant won't be awake for any of it.

 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Okay, I found this. http://www.nsalg.org.uk/crop/blackcurrants/ If you need to prune now so you have new growth for fruiting next year, then you're probably right to do it as soon as possible. What you want to avoid is having fragile baby bits at the time of moving--so either prune as soon as sensible, or as late.
 

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Posted by Tree Bee (# 4033) on :
 
What we usually do is to prune black currants while picking, ie cut off the whole branch that has the fruit on. Makes it easier then to pull the fruit off, we use a fork.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
For the past few weeks I've been ignoring the wasps' nest at the edge of the lawn, but yesterday morning Op 1 decided to put a stone over the entrance which infuriated them and led to 20+ wasps appearing at once to deal with it, instead of the previous 2-3. Now that it's been disturbed, it clearly needs dealing with before we have real problems - I think both dogs have already had narrow escapes - so does anyone know any good methods?
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
You will be balancing $ versus efficacy. You could:
Boil the largest kettle of water you can carry, and pour it all down the hole. (Wear long sleeves and pants, draw your socks up over your pants cuff, and wear long gauntlets. If you have a hat with a long veil us it.)
Buy a spray can of wasp killer from the store. They will propel poison from a (relatively) longer distance, but it won't go as deep.
Hire an exterminator. They will be licensed to handle insecticides that are not available to homeowners. This is the only solution if the nest is VERY large.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Lothlorien, thanks very much for the advice.

Beethoven, my advice is hire a pest controller straight away.
 

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Posted by Beethoven (# 114) on :
 
We've gone for the boiling water method - early morning before they're too active, and again in the evening when they're settling down, as well as a time or two in the day. Mr B thought it looked very quiet yesterday evening, so he's now filled the hole in and we'll see. If there are any signs of new activity there, we'll step it up, but hopefully this might be sorted now...
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I've just been making a summer pudding with blackberries from the garden, and found little crawling larvae which did not like being heated.

Too late to put anything on the brambles to prevent further instances, of course. I've had berries from this strain for years, here and back at the last place, and never found any infestation before, so I had taken no preventative action. Could be fruit flies rather than beetles (as in raspberries).
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
"Summer pudding - now with extra protein!"
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Beethoven, good that you sorted out the wasp nest. I remember my brother and the boy next door finding one on council land around November and dropping a cracker (Mighty Cannon) down it - the wasps were very displeased and they were lucky to escape being badly stung

Huia
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
It was very wet yesterday and so it helped them! I often have to carry wet for them.
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Originally posted by Penny S:

quote:

---

I've just been making a summer pudding with blackberries from the garden, and found little crawling larvae which did not like being heated.

---

quote:

---

I have just stuck in a whole stack of plug plants - violas and Sweet William. The blurb says that they can be planted Aug-Oct and will flower through until April. Is that reasonable? I never imagined violas as winter flowers...

---

Violas are naturalised in my garden. They seed themselves everywhere and they are certainly winter-hardy. Some of them do flower during the winter but they should really come into their own when the weather warms up in the spring. I like them very much and they are no trouble.

Don't know anything about Sweet William. Sounds like an interesting experiment - do let us know how you get on.

The challenge with establishing pot-grown plants at the moment is attacks by hungry snails and slugs now we've finally had some rain.

Good luck!
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I've just been out in the early morning drizzle pruning the forsythia. I know it's the worng time of year, but it has put on an enormous amount of growth over the summer, and was shading out the peony, and other shade loving plants which don't like that much shade. It has an interesting growth habit - putting on tall straight verticals, but also filling the space underneath with stems heading directly downwards. I thought I had done a decent job of trimming it neatly, but from indoors it is perfectly obvious that I have left it unbalanced, having gone a bit mad with my new long arm pruner on the bits I have never been able to reach before. I think, however, I will leave it like that until spring, and then cut back the rest - hoping that I have left it enough to flower on.
I have now two huge bags of chopped up bits for the dump - I don't think they will break down in the compost. Unless anyone knows better. The other bag holds stems from my rambler rose. They will be very awkward to move through the house.
 

---

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I was very pleased to see that one of the baby orchids I bought in the Spring had bloomed this morning!

Anytime I don't kill an orchid is cause for rejoicing!
 

---

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Wondering whether to bring the last of my tomatoes indoors to ripen. The weather has broken, but we had some lovely sunshine on Sunday afternoon and 3 or 4 more of them started turning red.

Maybe I'll leave them on the plants until the weekend. And see how it goes.

Hmmm. Not sure.
 

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Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
Part of my allotment is used for flowers to cut for the house, and I'm planning for next year.

The cut flowers have been pretty successful this year, with the house having home-grown flowers from early spring until now (and still going strong). But some have been more successful than others. Coreopsis has been a star performer, having provided colour for months, and it still doesn't look anywhere near finished. The blooms aren't large, but a narrow vaseful makes a lively golden pom-pom. Narcissi and tulips were stalwart, as usual, and sweet peas are a must every year.

Less successful were the dahlias - the ones I grew were a bit short and they tend to drop petals very quickly unless they are put into water straight after cutting (not so easy when you have to drive back from the allotment). Lilies were fine, but you only really get one stem from each plant (I know this tends to be true of narcissi, but at least they are then out of the way before the main growing season - headless lilies sit there looking sad all summer long).

What else would folk recommend for a cutting patch? Ideally they would be repeat flowering and have a decent stem length for use in a vase. Scent would be most welcome.
 

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Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :
 
It absolutely depends upon your climate. But around here the workhorse flower is the black-eyed Susan (rudbeckia hirta) which grows wild. Profuse bloom from June until September.
 

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Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
Hmmm, I grow Rudbeckia at home (both traditional 'black-eyed Susan' perennial cultivars like 'Goldsturm' and dark red, annual 'Cherry Brandy'), but I haven't tried them as cut flowers. I think I'll give them a go.
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
Lots of mine have got gone an I've fixed them now and still have good ones. Yesterday there was lots of water.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chapelhead:
What else would folk recommend for a cutting patch? Ideally they would be repeat flowering and have a decent stem length for use in a vase. Scent would be most welcome.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Dianthus, carnation, something of that kind. I have that and lavender in my allotment.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chamois:
Is it safe to leave brassicas un-netted in the winter? What do you do?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jengie jon:
From my perspective these are unpickable wild cherries the problem is cleaning the windows!
Jengie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by M.:
We were a bit taken aback today to be able to pick enough courgettes for a meal, although they're quite small. I think it justifies our laziness in not having cleared the plants yet....

M.

---

I'm still picking courgettes and runner beans - about every third day.
I brought in a pound of beans yesterday, and half a dozen medium to large courgettes. I'm also picking ridge cucumbers faster than we can eat them.
I have no intention of clearing the beds before the plants give up producing.
 

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Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :
 
Ariel, I used to live in a place with a fairly small front yard. There was a central path to door and an apple tree one side of the path and a double grafted plum the other. One Sunday afternoon, I sensed movement outside. Two young Asian women had started stripping the plum tree. They told me they always ate green plums and were very annoyed when I sent them on their way.

I left dog in front yard for several days till plums ripened.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I dug up two potatoes yesterday (the only ones in a bag which started with a potato left over from a Tomtato grafted plant last year (the only fruit)) and had to dump them. They were crawling with tiny white worms, less than a mm thick and about 6 or 7 mm long. There were serious hollows in the tubers as well. I had tried washing them off in the butt - they were large potatoes, and I thought salvagable, and a lot dropped off (this was when I found the hollows), but some were left with their heads (I assume) buried in the flesh, wriggling away. At this point my stomach rebelled and I put them with the haulm to be taken to the dump (where they incinerate rubbish rather than send it to landfill).

Any idea what they could be? They don't seem to fit any of the pictures or descriptions on line. Definitely not beetle larvae, and the tuber damage doesn't look like wireworm or cutworm.

Second ideas for disposal - I think I'll put them on the bird table.
 

---

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
They contract when wet, and have a waxy surface so they float on the surface tension. Don't look much like onion or carrot fly maggots, either.

[ 09. October 2015, 12:02: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Like others here I'm still picking runner beans and courgettes. I'm also enjoying an amazing late crop of raspberries. The raspberries didn't fruit at the usual time, because it was so hot and dry, but now the weather is more to their taste they've decided to have another go. A bowl of fresh raspberries in October is definitely an unexpected pleasure!

I've decided to risk the broccoli without nets. Have to wait and see what happens.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I've been risking the broccoli without nets all summer, basically because I haven't been able to find any netting anywhere I could use. Result: short, straight, leafless, flowerless stumps.

I put half a very large plastic bottle over two of the plants to save them from the worst of the pigeons and they're ok, except they've now grown to fit the shape of the half bottle.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I've been using nets all summer, but when the plants got to over 3 feet high the nets weren't big enough any more. It was either buy a new, larger net - and work out a way to fix it over the large plants - or take a risk and not use nets during the winter.

I'm interested in how pigeons actually eat the leaves at the top of a large brassica plant. The pigeons who visit my garden don't seem very good at perching except on more-or-less horizontal branches. And there aren't any horizontal branches on broccoli plants, just a tall, very thick vertical stem with leaves coming out of it. Pigeons are much too big to perch on the leaves and I think their feet are too small to grip the large vertical stem. I can see how they can peck the lower leaves, but can they actually reach the ones at the top? If so, how?
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
They start when the plant is small enough for them to munch and then give up with the medium size plants until these grow sturdy enough for them to perch on and resume their interrupted meal.

I think it's also cabbage butterflies that also quite like them - they (or their caterpillars, I'm not sure which) go for brassica, either way you may find there are holes in the middle of the leaves (assuming there are leaves left).

Having said that, you name it, anything you plant in your allotment will probably have a pest dedicated to eating holes in the middle of its leaves. I've been bedevilled by one that even munches rhubarb leaves.
 

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Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
Is there anything that doesn't want to much it's way though my brassicas?
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Originally posted by Ariel:

quote:

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They start when the plant is small enough for them to munch and then give up with the medium size plants until these grow sturdy enough for them to perch on and resume their interrupted meal.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Is there anything that doesn't want to much it's way though my brassicas?

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Probably any children you try to feed them to


I've decided that the thin garden along the driveway is going to be planted with different kinds of thyme. When I was a child I read a book called The Time Garden by Edward Eager about children who travelled in time using different kinds of thyme.

I found a stall at a local market where the stall holder grows about 30 different types. So far I have common, silver, golden and orange.

I need to do more weeding before I buy more.

Huia
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I love those books! I have a complete set. I bought them for my school book corner in the hopes that I would pass on the pleasure. Now I keep them for relative's offspring.
 

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Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
We have a single garage attached to our house. Then there is a path between our garage and the boundary fence with our neighbour. We have an ugly area of cracked and uneven concrete which I'd like to improve cheaply. To the east is the back of the garage, to the south is our house, and to the north is the boundary fence. The only sunlight comes from the west, and there's some shade from the west, too, as that neighbour has a tree in their garden.

The fence is ok; it has a rambling rose growing up it, and some other plants (currently the last of the montbretia).

The obvious solution would be tubs, but they haven't been successful. The shade and lack of sunlight means that when it rains the concrete stays damp for ages. We don't have a window which overlooks it, so we can't see it from the house, but our freezer and some of the recycling boxes are in the garage so we walk across the concrete to the back door of the garage a lot.

Suggestions?
 

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Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Chapelhead:
Is there anything that doesn't want to munch its way though my brassicas?

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I keep misreading this and wondering why you're wearing brassicas.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
I have now completed the Big Autumn Dig.

My shoulders and arms are sore. The rest of me is feeling very smug.
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
Which variety of daffs blooms the earliest in the spring?

All my gardening is in tubs and I have the crocus and tulips sorted, but would like to put in som really early daffs
 

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Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
Tête-à-tête.

Generally speaking, the ones with smaller flowers and shorter stems tend to be earlier, although they really are a law to themselves, and the time they flower will depend on the weather for the whole of the previous year.

Daffodils in general tend to flower earlier when they're well established, too, so they may well get earlier as the years go on.

There's also one called Narcissus ‘First Hope’, which used to be called January Gold, which speaks for itself really, and another called Early Sensation which may flower at Christmas.

We usually have at least some tight buds around at Christmas from what was originally just a mixed bag of bulbs. Daffodils will open in a vase from really tight buds.

[ 29. October 2015, 10:12: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
 

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Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :
 
Thanks for the info Drifting Star. It
may explain why my newly planted daffs came up later than others my neighbour has had for years. I wondered why.

Huia
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Yesterday I had to pick no less than five cauliflowers before they went over. This whilst trying to empty the freezer so we can fit a sheep into it...

AG
 

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Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :
 
Removing the horns might help, but the poor thing will still feel the cold, even with its woolly coat.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I've been out in the half light righting the angle of the old water tank I use to collect rainwater. I'd noticed it had listed to one side rather a lot - approaching ten degrees, so it had lost some of its contents.

I had to empty it. Some went into a dustbin I bought in the drought year when the shops had run out of water-butts. Other containers have taken some of the rest, but some had to be emptied on the ground.

On moving the tank, I revealed a void which had been excavated by rats, and had been partially blocked by some pea gravel (by me, earlier in the year). I used the rest of the gravel to fill the space and level it, moved the tank back and put some of the water back as well. By then it was too dark to transfer the rest. I'd already soaked my trousers! I've got a piece of corrugated plastic roofing material over the top of my compost bins to direct rain into the tank, should Abigail dump any in our direction.
 

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Posted by Celtic Knotweed (# 13008) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
Removing the horns might help, but the poor thing will still feel the cold, even with its woolly coat.

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No, the wool has gone off to someone else to be spun into yarn. The poor sheep has gone quite to pieces, and will definitely freeze.

On the plants side of things, various bulbs got put in pots a couple of weekends ago. In theory they should be flowering from March, and the existing pot of snowdrops from about Feb. Does anyone know if having the snowdrops on an open south side of a building rather than a very enclosed north side will make much of a difference? (New house, and the south is the easier side to put pots right now)
 

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Posted by daisymay (# 1480) on :
 
I always put some food for the birds up in my place where I have many good stuff. And it is still green, not finished yet.
 

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Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Boogie:
Which variety of daffs blooms the earliest in the spring?

All my gardening is in tubs and I have the crocus and tulips sorted, but would like to put in som really early daffs

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Some years ago we planted a variety named IIRC 'Ice Follies.' They were rather tall, had rather large almost pure white flowers. In our climate (upper south USA) they were our first to bloom, usually in mid-February, often pushing up through the snow.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have laid up for myself treasures in the potato sack, where moth and scab have corrupted. I have had to throw most of the crop away, due to a beastie which is not really known in these parts, and which I had to search for under the term "tiny white worms in the potatoes". Potato tuberworm, it is, and apart from waving itself about like hairs out of its tiny holes in the tubers, it fills it full of frass and fungi and stuff, and reproduces prolifically via its adult moth stage, pupating all over the place.

I'm going to have to deliver the tubers and the haulm and all the bags they have been growing in bagged up and disguised as household waste so they are incinerated. I'm going to have to douse the growing area with Jeyes fluid - none of the university articles online mention how to clean the growing area. I've warned my gardening neighbour, the only potato grower within flying distance. And as he hasn't had it, I'm wondering where it came from - flight distance is short.

I am not a happy bunny.

But as they do not like temperatures below 52 F, I don't expect they'll overwinter too well.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Oh dear, that's a bugger, Penny. It annoys me enough when onions rot in the sack, to lose an entire crop like that...

I'm railing against a forecast for wind the day I want to start reglazing the greenhouse. Grr!

AG
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I have got about a third, counting the very tiny tubers - any recipe for blueberry sized potatoes? And some I thought OK turned out not to be when I washed them.

I should have harvested earlier. The ones I did get in earlier are fine, though. And I did well for tomatoes.

I'll have to watch next year. They aren't confined to potatoes. Any solanum species, tomatoes, peppers, aubergine (eggplant), tobacco (not planning on that, but people have nicotiana as garden flowers), and they'll go for leaves if they can't get tubers, cutting crops by weakening the plants. Native to Meso-america, and a serious problem to farmers. They really can wipe out a crop there - even after harvest when the tubers are in store.

[ 27. November 2015, 18:26: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Well, three hours of rough digging (it's mostly too wet to do anything else), and I've got almost three quarters of the second half-plot (difficult concept time - I have two half-plots, not one whole plot) dug for the winter. Still plenty to sort out, but digging is the big job. The fun bit is that a lot of the last quarter is the flower area which always ends up a mad unkempt mass, knee deep in roots and un-untangleable rubbish. It's also the lowest bit of the plot, so wettest... If the weather gods could just keep off from too much rain until I've got it sorted.....

AG
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
Well done.
I've just (as in only) moved some large flower pots and treated the contaminated areas with Jeyes Fluid. Which was a major performance. I couldn't open the can. It had a childproof lid. Press down and turn - it just didn't. So I sawed the top off with a serrated knife and then drilled a hole in the inner lid with another blade, nearly cutting myself while doing it. And then, it doesn't look or smell like old Jeyes Fluid. It used to turn blue in the water, but this time it didn't. Anyway, I've watered the surrounds of the places where the larvae were in case of pupae attempting to over winter. And I've also sprayed the peach (which still has its leaves) with Bordeaux mixture against the peach leaf curl, and moved all the canes to the corner by the back door. Then it got dark.

[ 09. December 2015, 16:57: Message edited by: Penny S ]
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
I have trellis!

All down the left hand side of the garden. My Guide Dog pup, Twiglet, has grown very tall and I was worrying she may leap the fence one day.

I thought to grow beans, peas and sweet peas up it in the spring - what are the best variety for a complete amateur? They will be grown in large pots.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Boogie:
I have trellis!

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You can get cream for that, y'know. Peas tend to straggle rather than climb, but runner beans were apparently grown for their flowers long before anyone thought of eating them - see if you can find a heritage variety with bicolour flowers, Marshalls seeds do St George which is red and white, or Celebration which is pink. Borlotti have the coloured pods as well. Sweet peas I think just pick something you like, or get a mixed packet - they appreciate being started early under glass, and like a deep pot to make the roots go down, other than that they're pretty simple.

Currently festering because it keeps raining when I want to get the digging finished. If I try now it'll be like shit.

AG
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
I'll second runner beans: and if you start them in pots and stagger the planting, you can have beans from about June through to quite late in the season. I don't bother with early or late varieties, just plant the things.

I've still got some smallish beans coming through now, though I doubt they'll get much bigger than little finger size. (My family all love runner beans and you can't get them frozen.)

The grass is still growing, so I may have to mow again, in December
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Well, I did get some digging in in the end, though it took nearly as long afterwards to clean my boots and tools as I'd spent digging. Hopefully I'll get a bit more in before Christmas now.

The big news, though, is that the Knotweed and I have nearly finished rerubbering and reglazing the greenhouse! It's been complicated by the previous owner using rather a lot of window glass to replace panes instead of horticultural glass (4mm vs 3mm thickness, so 25% heavier, and none of the fittings fit properly), and often in odd sizes - when you have a pane that has dropped leaving a gap it's very easy to miss the fact that it's also half an inch short!

Just eight panes to go now, then I shall put in some broad beans and sweet peas to celebrate!

AG
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Today dawned clear and bright, so I finished the greenhouse, then washed all my pots (so the entire neighbourhood has a subtle aroma of Jeyes' Fluid), let them dry, stacked them and put them away for the rest of winter. I've also made a temporary fix to the bizarre bodge at the corner where the garden is higher than the greenhouse, and I'd had to excavate the glass from four inches of soil, and I've started digging out the strange random triangle of gravel as well. I think it might have been a soakaway for the dog pens but as at least some of the concrete will go when I get a mo (and a skip, and a temper on to beat the living shit out of the stuff)I think we can live without it. Especially as it'll fill the holes in the front driveway.

All in all, a good, productive, day.

AG
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Oh, and I also spiked the sheet of mud with odd green tufts that appeared when I took the mower to the lush greenery a few weeks ago, and as it's so warm stuck some birdfeed - sorry, grass seed - down. We shall see!

AG
 

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Posted by Banner Lady (# 10505) on :
 
Summer solstice just gone and so are the berries. TP spent the last few days cutting back brambles and tidying the main runners into neat skeletal espaliers. We have our first gooseberries although he had to google when to pick them (thank you to Penny the naked gardener from the UK!) Apricots by the bucketful, and they are the best we've ever had. Plums almost ready to be picked. First figs have ripened, but the cherries are pretty much done.

On Christmas morning a pair of red and blue rosellas got stuck into the last few cherry plums on our tree - it made me smile to think they were enjoying their own plum pud that day. Lots of lizards in our garden this year. No idea what they are eating, but I guess it means 30 yrs of organic gardening has created a fairly healthy ecosystem.

Sadly the painted elm in our front garden has developed elm blight. Must be from trees a few blocks away, and I understand there is no recovery from this disease. Interestingly the other elm, still in a pot at the back of the house has no blight at all. Not sure if it is a good idea to replace the sick one with the healthy one in the same place, but we have until late autumn to decide.
 

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Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :
 
Originally posted by Banner Lady:

quote:

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Sadly the painted elm in our front garden has developed elm blight. Must be from trees a few blocks away, and I understand there is no recovery from this disease. Interestingly the other elm, still in a pot at the back of the house has no blight at all. Not sure if it is a good idea to replace the sick one with the healthy one in the same place, but we have until late autumn to decide.

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I wouldn't risk putting it in the same place. I believe the elm disease virus is carried from tree to tree by flying beetles, so it may not infect the soil, but every type of plant selectively removes its preferred nutrients from the soil so it's never a good idea to replace like with like without at least a few year's break.

Winter solstice just finished here, so the garden birds are singing again. The bluetits are visiting my nest box already!
 

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Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
Mr Nen mowed the lawns at the beginning of the week. Admittedly they had got very long, and we kept waiting for a dry day which never came, but they're now a mangled mess with some patches which are yellow and others which are muddy. I do hope they're going to recover.
 

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Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 
Blown off the allotment after an hour or so's digging out twitch. Mind you, I was greeted when I arrived by someone's plastic tool chest rolling across the plots towards me, so I can't say I wasn't warned. Thank goodness for fences to stop the big lumps!

Right, assuming the heavens don't open, I'm about to go put in a rose cutting. Almost certainly not the right time of year, but the other day I was talking to someone where we used to live, and realised that someone had broken a piece off the lovely rose at the end of next door's driveway that I'd always meant to ask if I could take a cutting of. So quick as you like, I had that! It's perked up in a mug of water on the windowsill, so it's time it went into the ground to take its chances.

AG
 

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Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
My wild strawberries are in flower - joining the dianthus, primroses, scented geranium, etc, etc, etc. In fact the only things not in flower at the moment are the trees and the spring bulbs.
 

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