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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Blooming hard work. The gardening thread
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
Thank goodness, we've finally had some rain. My garden was rock-hard.
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
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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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
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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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
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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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
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!
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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irish_lord99
Shipmate
# 16250
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Posted
We've had a mixed year so far here in southern Maine. The spinach all wilted (again! ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif) ) 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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"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain
Posts: 1169 | From: Maine, US | Registered: Feb 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
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.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
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.
If only deer where more trainable you could kill two birds with one stone.
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote:
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.
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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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
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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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
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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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
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!
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
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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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Beethoven
Ship's deaf genius
# 114
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Posted
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. ![[Frown]](frown.gif) 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. ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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! ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif) 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. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
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Who wants to be a rock anyway?
toujours gai!
Posts: 1309 | From: Here (and occasionally there) | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
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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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
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.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
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.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
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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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
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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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
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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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
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.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
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.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
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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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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The Intrepid Mrs S
Shipmate
# 17002
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Posted
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. ![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif) 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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Don't get your knickers in a twist over your advancing age. It achieves nothing and makes you walk funny.
Prayer should be our first recourse, not our last resort
'Lord, please give us patience. NOW!'
Posts: 1464 | From: Neither here nor there | Registered: Mar 2012
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
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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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Beethoven
Ship's deaf genius
# 114
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Posted
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...! ![[Confused]](confused.gif) 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. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) 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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Who wants to be a rock anyway?
toujours gai!
Posts: 1309 | From: Here (and occasionally there) | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
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?
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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cattyish
Wuss in Boots
# 7829
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Posted
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>
I wondered about tomato plants in the car.
Cattyish, couldn't make a greenhouse stay upright.
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...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Posts: 1794 | From: Scotland | Registered: Jul 2004
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
I am rather regretting choosing last week for a holiday visiting gardens of North Yorkshire - while the gardens looked lovely (and I came home with rather a lot of plants) my allotment suddenly took off and so the last few days have been spent catching up with crops.... strawberries, raspberries, cherries (my first crop), peas, carrots..... I have just about got to the point where I can get on with weeding and doing some summer pruning.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
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.
I have had some success this year in protecting my hostas with copper sticky tape wrapped round the pots they are in. You need several widths to make a wide enough barrier that they can't slither across. I also have a couple of beer traps which are fairly successful.
That's slugs ... for snails, I give them flying lessons. Not into the neighbour's garden, they just come back, but out the front garden and on to the road where hopefully they get squished by passing traffic.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Another suggestion for protecting small pots is to acquire some copper plated pan scourers These will stretch around the pots and also provide a rough surface not easy to slime over. I have had some success with them. But they aren't any use on larger pots.
[ 01. July 2015, 16:41: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cattyish:
Cattyish, couldn't make a greenhouse stay upright.
Viagra? ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
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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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
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.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
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.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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 ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Just purchased various ways and means of killing flea beetle.
[scream]DIE YOU FUCKERS DIE![/scream]
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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?
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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daisymay
St Elmo's Fire
# 1480
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Posted
I just wet with water today as it was still dry and they were dying! So I hope the water helps them.
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London
Flickr fotos
Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
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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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
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.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
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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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
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.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
[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
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
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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My little sister is riding 100k round London at night to raise money for cancer research donations here if you feel so inclined.
Posts: 664 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Sep 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
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.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
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.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
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.
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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