Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Back to the garden
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan: One should have never ending garden tasks, just to remind oneself that nature will always win in the end. My friends in the South have stories about their father's annual attempts to take out the kudzu in the back 40 with anything from concentrated roundup to diesel fuel.
My nemesis that will surely outlive me is a nasty patch of Tree of Heaven, an invasive East Asian tree that sends out shoots, sprays seeds everywhere, and regenerates from pruning at an alarming rate. The things grow through asphalt, and have a distinct and unpleasant smell that will stick to your hands for a day after you attack them. There are (no kidding) a number of them around the city of Hiroshima that survived the bomb.
Funny you should say that, I just noticed this morning that one out the back had put leaves out, as it is one of the latest trees to do this.
They certainly have a bad reputation, I think their roots secrete toxins which kill other plants, hence a triumph of evolution.
They also have a habit of toppling over suddenly, as they become hollow (I think).
Quite a lot in London for some reason, I suppose they were thought to be exotic. One of the fastest growing trees, also, I think, up to 6 feet a year. They are handsome. [ 11. May 2016, 15:12: Message edited by: quetzalcoatl ]
-------------------- I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Landlubber:
quote: Originally posted by Chamois: The dandelions you will always have with you; but sunshine you will not always have with you.
(Or words to that effect…………..) [Devil]
We did not. It rained all day today. Did you summon it up to prove yourself right?
Who, me????? (looks around and up at sky)
-------------------- The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Drifting Star
 Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
Does anyone know anything about Monkey Puzzle trees? Ours, which is around 15 feet high, is looking very sad. The ends of all the branches are drooping, and the whole thing is turning brown. Google is not being helpful. I know they prefer free draining soil, which ours isn't, but it has been fine until the last year.
We've had them before at other houses, and they've always been completely trouble-free.
-------------------- The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Og, King of Bashan
 Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by quetzalcoatl: Quite a lot in London for some reason, I suppose they were thought to be exotic. One of the fastest growing trees, also, I think, up to 6 feet a year. They are handsome.
I will say that the four or five mature trees on the south side of my house and the north side of the house next door provide nice shade for my bedroom. I'd prefer a different species there, but I'll take the shade.
As for speed of growth, the family that used to live in the house next door moved out last year, so they didn't trim the new shoots on their side of the line. I trimmed them this spring, and at least four were over eight feet tall.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Good gosh. How tall can they ultimately get in London?
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: Good gosh. How tall can they ultimately get in London?
I'm hopeless at gauging heights of trees, but I used to live in a 4 storey mansion block, and there were several at the back, which exceeded the height of the roof. I guess that is about 60-70 feet? But I don't know what the tallest would be, the books say 100 feet.
We have a baby one at the back now, just reaching the roof tops (3 storey houses), so it will be interesting to watch it. I think it's a sucker from a huge one, which fell over onto someone's conservatory in a storm.
-------------------- I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Good heavens. There is one in the Enid Haupt garden behind the Smithsonian Castle in downtown Washington DC, but it is not much taller than I am.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Moo
 Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
IIRC the Tree of Heaven is the tree in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It was the only tree that thrived in that environment.
Moo
-------------------- Kerygmania host --------------------- See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Og, King of Bashan
 Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Brenda Clough: Good heavens. There is one in the Enid Haupt garden behind the Smithsonian Castle in downtown Washington DC, but it is not much taller than I am.
Check back in a week.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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jacobsen
 seeker
# 14998
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Chamois: quote: Originally posted by Landlubber:
quote: Originally posted by Chamois: The dandelions you will always have with you; but sunshine you will not always have with you.
(Or words to that effect…………..) [Devil]
We did not. It rained all day today. Did you summon it up to prove yourself right?
Who, me????? (looks around and up at sky)
And what is more, Chamois, the snails came out in force and chomped my courgette and aubergine plantlets which I only put in on Sunday! Any more of this tinkering with the weather, and it's garden hoses at dawn.
-------------------- But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
I've just used about half my lunch break to dash home and open the greenhouse. It was cool enough this morning I forgot about the sunny forecast...
Door is now ajar with the screen in to stop cats, and the plants I want to plant out at the weekend have been put in the cold frame. *heaves sigh of relief*
-------------------- 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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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
*Hugs the missus for her concern*
AG
-------------------- "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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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
Originally posted by jacobsen:
quote: And what is more, Chamois, the snails came out in force and chomped my courgette and aubergine plantlets which I only put in on Sunday! Any more of this tinkering with the weather, and it's garden hoses at dawn.
OK, OK, no more tinkering I promise. My garden is heaving with snails and slugs, too. On Sunday morning I caught a huge pale slug in the act, climbing into one of my pots of leek seedlings. A short, sharp stamp took care of HIM, and then it was out with the organic slug killer. To play safe I even put some around the tomato plants which don't usually get touched until the fruit is ripening.
The mild winter seems to have preserved a lot of garden pests. I've already got sawfly on my gooseberry bushes, a month earlier than usual.
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
 Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Got some zinnia seeds in pots last night. I'll be bringing them in for a bit at night, but we are getting really close around here. Average last freeze is May 4, but it could easily still snow one more time. My general rule is that you can wait until the first of June to get the tomatoes out and still get pretty good production, so why risk it?
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
The vegetable bed is ready, any real risk of frost is gone and a nice drop of rain is forecast for tomorrow night. So it's decision time. Courgettes or runner beans? I haven't got space to grow both……….
What to do???
-------------------- The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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jedijudy
 Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I posted in 'the pause that refreshes' thread, and was reminded that I wanted to post here, too. I have no veggies right now, but am excited to have what I hope is a baby orchid growing.
One of my tiny dendrobium orchids regularly produces seed pods. I used to just toss them, as they weaken the mother plant, but recently decided to do an experiment and put the minuscule seeds into the crevices of my elm tree. After a year and a half, there is something green and grass-like growing out of one of those crevices!! It may turn out to be something else, and it will take a long time to finally identify it, but I have high hopes!
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Yesterday I had only a short time, so I watered everything that needed it, and had a go at sawing through an ivy stem that is blocking a place I need to put a vertical flagstone to stop the rat run down the fence. Couldn't quite finish it, and today a) is wet and b) I have to wait in for the plumber to fix the dead immersion heater he fitted earlier in the year. And there's loads more to do.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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jacobsen
 seeker
# 14998
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Chamois: The vegetable bed is ready, any real risk of frost is gone and a nice drop of rain is forecast for tomorrow night. So it's decision time. Courgettes or runner beans? I haven't got space to grow both……….
What to do???
Both.In the same space/ pot(s). Only one will survive, and it will be exciting to find out which. Or, as courgettes spread, and beans grow up their tripods, maybe both would survive. A win-win situation.
-------------------- But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
jacobsen, good idea. I'll try it.
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Og, King of Bashan
 Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
I have actually seen a number of places suggesting that the trellised beans over summer squash strategy is a winner.
Bonus, the bean roots may fix nitrogen in the soil, which will be promptly put to use by the heavy feeding squash.
(In North America, you often hear maize, beans, and squash called the "three sisters," as they were the traditional food crops of the Indians. They reportedly all work well together.)
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
My old raised beds on the allotment, made from purloined scafold planks, are finally disintegrating - they've done at least ten years, if not more, and were free, so I'm not complaining, but that did leave me with a lot of disintegrating wood to dispose of. Our garden at the house also has a lot of random decaying wood left by the previous owner, so there seemed to be a logical solution.
Last night I dragged the lot out to the allotment and had a bonfire - driven by a decent wind, I reckon you could have smelted iron on it it was that hot! Possibly the only thing more satisfying than a really roraing bonfire is digging by its light, and throwing all your twitch roots onto it. BURN YOU BASTARDS BURN! Do excuse me - I don't know what came over me there...
AG
-------------------- "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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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan: I have actually seen a number of places suggesting that the trellised beans over summer squash strategy is a winner.
Bonus, the bean roots may fix nitrogen in the soil, which will be promptly put to use by the heavy feeding squash.
(In North America, you often hear maize, beans, and squash called the "three sisters," as they were the traditional food crops of the Indians. They reportedly all work well together.)
AIUI, the traditional way of planting them is to put the seeds of corn and climbing beans in the same hole. The beans will climb the cornstalk. The squash is planted around the edges of the plot, and vines its way into the plot. [ 21. May 2016, 07:59: Message edited by: Golden Key ]
-------------------- Blessed Gator, pray for us! --"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon") --"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Down here, I have often seen advice to plant pumpkins and other cucurbits along with sweet corn. The corn shelters the vines from our harsh summer sun.
-------------------- Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Drifting Star
 Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sandemaniac: ...Possibly the only thing more satisfying than a really roraing bonfire is digging by its light, and throwing all your twitch roots onto it. BURN YOU BASTARDS BURN! Do excuse me - I don't know what came over me there...
AG
Oh I do! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
-------------------- The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Hee hee!
Popped back this afternoon for some asparagus (forgot the knife last night and, thus far, it isn't heaving it down), to find that the whole lot has burnt right out - just ash left that I can dig straight in.
Perfect all round!
AG
-------------------- "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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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
A word to the wise. Trying to fit a tap to a 220l barrel is a PITA - I had to climb in and, as a result, my shoulders are quite hideously scratched and painful. Not funny.
AG
-------------------- "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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Og, King of Bashan
 Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
Just about finished the two garden boxes. In past years, I have focused on mass food production, with mixed results. This year, I thought I would diversify. Two tomato plants, a few rows of cucumbers, eight squares of basil, and the rest mixed easy to grow flowers- cosmos, French marigolds, and zinnias. Together with the pots from last week, it should be a pollinator's paradise back there. Hopefully this results in more tomatoes, and a home made floral crown for a local statue of Our Lady for the assumption.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Sandemaniac: Hee hee!
Popped back this afternoon for some asparagus (forgot the knife last night and, thus far, it isn't heaving it down), to find that the whole lot has burnt right out - just ash left that I can dig straight in.
Perfect all round!
AG
Aren't you supposed to slake it first? (Not sure about technical term.) Let it lie about wet for a bit so it doesn't "burn" things. Put it in the compost for a while? I think I heard this mentioned on 'Gardeners' Question Time' just the other week.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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ThunderBunk
 Stone cold idiot
# 15579
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Posted
Took a day off for some pottering.
Went to the garden centre this morning, and acquired a new fern and some heucheras for my mostly shady and extremely dry back garden - or a border therein.
Spent a lot of the time since weeding about three square metres - another one or two to go before planting can really start. The amount of bindweed root I have removed is amazing - unless of course you have the stuff yourself, in which case you'd probably find yourself measuring the time it will take to recover in milliseconds.
Quite a satisfying occupation, though I don't think my knees are hugely fond. Another cue to lose some weight and get fit.....
-------------------- Currently mostly furious, and occasionally foolish. Normal service may resume eventually. Or it may not. And remember children, "feiern ist wichtig".
Foolish, potentially deranged witterings
Posts: 2208 | From: Norwich | Registered: Apr 2010
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ThunderBunk
 Stone cold idiot
# 15579
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Posted
....and another few miles of bindweed root gone and a fern and a heuchera in, fed and watered.
More gardening than I've done in rather too long....
![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
-------------------- Currently mostly furious, and occasionally foolish. Normal service may resume eventually. Or it may not. And remember children, "feiern ist wichtig".
Foolish, potentially deranged witterings
Posts: 2208 | From: Norwich | Registered: Apr 2010
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Some bright-eyed marketing type where I work decided that a grand way to promote membership would be to hand out packets of seeds with our company logo on. They are forget-me-not, cynoglossum blue, and each packet has perhaps a dozen seeds in them. We have enough packets for an army, far too many. So I took a couple dozen home and scattered them lavishly over a few selected flower beds. It has rained steadily for the past few days, and I am charmed to report that the seeds seem to be coming up! If I get =one= flowering plant out of all this I will be content.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Just wait.
That's all.
You'll get them this year.
And next year.
And next year.
There's a reason for the name.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
I have had forget-me-nots out-compete the mint in one pot a few years ago
There are some growing round the edge of the parking gravel, but I know that I can keep an eye on them there (famous last words...)
[edit for speling] [ 24. May 2016, 11:18: Message edited by: Celtic Knotweed ]
-------------------- 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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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
We have far more than our fair share of slugs, deer, groundhogs and other garden foes -- I have given up trying to grow anything from seed. So we may hope that these guys can endure.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Smudgie
 Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
I am a reluctant gardener, though I do rather love it on the rare occasion that I do get out there with the secateurs and it suddenly looks more like a place of leisure than a scene from Jumanji. Why it is, though, that you always end up doing more than you planned and then regretting it rather than pacing yourself and working in a series of manageable chunks?
My garden was a tip when I moved in and is full of really tenacious weeds that even weedkiller, weed-suppressing-matting and a healthy layer of gravel has been unable to overcome. Anyone with any suggestions, bearing in mind that my stamina is limited and my budget even more so?
I have today bought two tiny jasmine plants for 50p each. By tiny I mean tiny. Obviously they have two chances... but I'm wondering whether they'd have the best chance of survival if I keep them indoors until they're a bit more substantial or whether I should plant them in a bigger pot outdoors. I'm assuming jasmine is happy in a pot, as long as the pot is big enough? There's nothing special I should be doing for it, is there?
-------------------- Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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jacobsen
 seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Tiny is relative to the size of pot they came in. If it was less than 10cm (4 inches) across, I'd keep them indoors until they look as if a larger pot would suit them. Only Hercules could strangle serpents in his cradle.
-------------------- But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Smudgie
 Ship's Barnacle
# 2716
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Posted
The pot is about 2 inches across. The little plants (three flowers!) look too big for the pot so I think they'll need to move on somewhere....
-------------------- Miss you, Erin.
Posts: 14382 | From: Under the duvet | Registered: Apr 2002
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
Today I finally got around to weeding one of the flower beds. Under the rampant forget-me-knots I found an OAK seedling.
We have oak trees in the neighbourhood (the oak tree is the official symbol of this county and you can find them practically everywhere) but none anywhere near enough to my garden to drop acorns.
Sodding squirrels. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
-------------------- The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Curiosity killed ...
 Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
The local Tesco's plant display has some bulb boxes and I really wonder who put them together. The blue box contains anemones, hyacinths and grape hyacinths according to the picture on the front, no noticeable warning about grape hyacinths taking over, and similar odd selections.
-------------------- Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Cheap weed control: newspapers. Get a whole bunch of them, black and white pages only (no color inserts or stapled sections). Layer them over the area you want to exterminate the weeds from. There is no thickness too thick for this; three inches of solid newsprint would be very acceptable. Interleave the sheets so that there are no gaps and it's a solid mass. It'll look terrible. If you don't care, weight the papers down with bricks or stones. If you do care, add a load of bark chips or mulch to hide the entire thing. The newspaper will mat down into a solid impenetrable mass through which no weed can grow. Then they will gradually break down and decay. When this has happened most of the way, rake away the unrotted bits and plant. Everything beneath the papers will be dead.
-------------------- Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Or you can top up with compost or soil and grow things on top, as you will have effectively made a lasagna bed.
I have put down ground elder successfully using brown cardboard, but it has somehow found its way to another raised bed.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
I am cautiously prepared to say that our allotment looks brilliant. Everything is growing, blooming, going like the clappers. Californian poppies out now, delightful. Blackberries growing like the beanstalk. Flower sprouts ditto. Lovage, strawberries, rocket, irises, angelica, go, go, go. Slugs have gone into purdah.
-------------------- I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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jacobsen
 seeker
# 14998
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Posted
No, slugs simply execute a réculer pour mieux sauter*
*This is a false retreat in order the better to attack. Again. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
-------------------- But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
As of an hour or so ago, I have a grand total of four water butts, one on the greenhouse, three on the end of the house all linked up together. The scratches on my shoulders from cclimbing in and out to do the taps are healing nicely too.
Now I just need some rain to fill them...
AG
-------------------- "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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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by jacobsen: No, slugs simply execute a réculer pour mieux sauter*
*This is a false retreat in order the better to attack. Again.
True, but during the reculer phase, those tiny little flower sproutlets have become big beasts, who say fuck off to slugs, well, in the main.
-------------------- I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Fredegund
Shipmate
# 17952
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Posted
Angelica??????????????????? Have you any idea what that can do? Ours is halfway up the garage wall and destroying the herb bed. It's flowering - if you can call those hideous things flowers. I let it just to see what they were like, and wish I hadn't. And His Nibbs wants to crystallise some, so I can't take the scythe to it.
Posts: 117 | From: Shakespeare's County | Registered: Jan 2014
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Celtic Knotweed
Shipmate
# 13008
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Posted
Angelica!!! Fredegund you may wish to remove the flower heads before the seeds can get out. It's on the (very short) list of plants that will not get planted by us because it takes over. Can't recall right now if the root spreads as well, but I suspect it does.
And this from someone who is happy to let most things grow. Personally I'll just buy the candied stuff if I want it.
-------------------- 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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Penny S
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# 14768
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Posted
I think the roots are like carrots and such like, swollen taproots saving energy for next year's flinging of seeds about - mine hasn't spread either way.
And CK, you'll be lucky to find the candied stuff. I have a small stash from Julian Graves, who went bust. Thinking I had used it all up, I went round various outlets, to find none. The ubiquitous Dr Oetker has bought up Supercook, who bought up the original supplier, and, as he has with other products, discontinued it.
It appears to be available online, from France. [ 26. May 2016, 13:07: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Chamois
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# 16204
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Posted
Originally posted by Curiosity Killed …
quote: The local Tesco's plant display has some bulb boxes and I really wonder who put them together. The blue box contains anemones, hyacinths and grape hyacinths according to the picture on the front, no noticeable warning about grape hyacinths taking over, and similar odd selections.
The worst places to find this sort of thing are the newspaper adverts for cheap plant selections, usually offered at or after the end of the planting season. I saw one once for two miniature patio apple trees (fine in principle), with a Bramley Seedling thrown in "at no extra cost". No mention of the fact that a Bramley on its own roots takes at least 10 years to come to fruit and will completely fill the average garden, never mind a patio!
-------------------- The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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