The Gardening Thread

[midnight]

I prefer Whisty's weedkillers, but you sound like a proper profi gardener, Frosty, so I guess you know what you're doing (unlike the borax lady).

Anyway, my 6 year old likes to play between the flowerpots and collects all the garden snails as his "pets", so I'm not even allowed to kill them. Yes, that's right, snails for pets, poor London child! I've given him a big plastic bowl to keep the little critters in, with leaf mulch and 2 old coconut shells for shelter, and what did they do? Breed, of course. Oh the the excitement about the snail eggs and potential baby snails: "They must really like it here, mummy!" Bet they do. Grrrrrrrrr.

[atomised]

Just finishing off a house move with all the joys of unpacking etc and I've earmarked a corner of the garden to cultivate and prepare for growing some vegetables next year, can't wait

[midnight]

A garden big enough to set aside a corner for vegetables? That's the stuff of dreams.....

[atomised]

It's a small corner. My.folks who've had an allotment for year's reckon it's ample for a bit of self sufficiency and it'll be good fun

[Katster]

I prefer Whisty's weedkillers, but you sound like a proper profi gardener, Frosty, so I guess you know what you're doing (unlike the borax lady).

Anyway, my 6 year old likes to play between the flowerpots and collects all the garden snails as his "pets", so I'm not even allowed to kill them. Yes, that's right, snails for pets, poor London child! I've given him a big plastic bowl to keep the little critters in, with leaf mulch and 2 old coconut shells for shelter, and what did they do? Breed, of course. Oh thehe excitement about the snail eggs and potential baby snails: "They must really like it here, mummy!" Bet they do. Grrrrrrrrr.

Lol, sounds like something I would have done as a kid. I still shout at my mum now for stomping on them

[feral chile]

I'm such a novice I don't even know how to work out what type of soil I have. The dogs used to dig up what seemed like black soot, because (I suspect) the lady who had lived here since 1930 used to empty out the ashes into the garden. She seemed to be big on growing stuff - would this have been a good or bad thing?

What type of soil is good for growing veg, and how do you tell what you've got? (I've got nearly a century of dumped stuff on top, I think).

If it helps, grass doesn't root very well - when I'm cleaning up after the dog, the grass tends to unroot as well.

Edited October 25, 2014 by feral chile

[midnight]

Lol, sounds like something I would have done as a kid. I still shout at my mum now for stomping on them

Same here, I used to play with them when I was a kid, so I can't blame him, it's genetic!

I can't bring myself to properly finish them off even today, I take them out with the rubbish or cowardly chuck them in a place where I know the birds will do the dirty deed for me. Hypocrisy, I know. :/

They eat my carefully tended runner beans, though, the only food I ever manage to grow, apart from some herbs.

[frostypaw]

I'm such a novice I don't even know how to work out what type of soil I have. The dogs used to dig up what seemed like black soot, because (I suspect) the lady who had lived here since 1930 used to empty out the ashes into the garden. She seemed to be big on growing stuff - would this have been a good or bad thing?

What type of soil is good for growing veg, and how do you tell what you've got? (I've got nearly a century of dumped stuff on top, I think).

If it helps, grass doesn't root very well - when I'm cleaning up after the dog, the grass tends to unroot as well.

The soot into your garden thing is a bit squiffy, but hopefully she was composting too then it's ok if it's not too much but it can result in some oddities depending on what you've been burning so I don't encourage it with my clients, nor stop them if they've been doing it a while

To find out your soil type dig up a bit, and mix it up so it's fairly even and take a little piece between your fingers. if it's all grainy when you rub it together there's sand in it, if it's smooth and you can mould it then it's more clay based. more helpful is to dig quite a big hole and see if it's consistent as it goes down, and how quickly water drains away when you fill the hole as if you stay damp then it will limit what you can do. you need nice deep soil for root veg, but can get away with lots of things in shallow soil

most veg do better in a raised bed tbh, you have more control and far less compaction so it's easy for them to grow. it's a hassle to start with, but better than disappointment in the ground

the grass pulling up is more likely because your lawn's never been scarified than anything to do with the soil

btw re>weedkillers - i prefer digging them out too, have done shedloads of brambles in these last weeks, but the glyphosate came out to do all the little grass/crap trying to grow in the paths/gravel/etc. time&place

[atomised]

I've always favoured digging weeds out. It's always the way my dad done it and I've just followed the lead I guess but whilst harder work it does get rid of them better

[feral chile]

Lol, sounds like something I would have done as a kid. I still shout at my mum now for stomping on them

I used to try to save the flies that my nan sprayed. I used to make little beds out of matchboxes for them, complete with bedsheets made out of toilet paper. When I got older, I used to put them outside.

(I was an only child, so any living thing became a playmate)

Edited October 28, 2014 by feral chile

[grumpyhack]

Must get myself a third compost bin. I've got so many falling leaves at present that could be composted but my two bins are full.

[grumpyhack]

Got my new compost bin. Our council are great. Compost bins for a tenner to encourage 'green living' and to reduce the amount people put out in their dustbins to go to landfill.

[whisty]

Got my new compost bin. Our council are great. Compost bins for a tenner to encourage 'green living' and to reduce the amount people put out in their dustbins to go to landfill.

£5 delivery charge here. You don't really need a compost bin for leaves. A plastic sack with some holes punched in the bottom is sufficient. Well Monty Don says so anyway, so I've tried that this year.

[grumpyhack]

£5 delivery charge here. You don't really need a compost bin for leaves. A plastic sack with some holes punched in the bottom is sufficient. Well Monty Don says so anyway, so I've tried that this year.

Were it just leaves I'd agree. But it's also veg peelings and grass from three large lawns.

[frostypaw]

How is Monty Don's weeping bag of heavy mess doing?

Proper frost around here this morning. It's coming. Sadly

[grumpyhack]

Now it's officially spring maybe time to resurrect this thread. Gave my lawns their first cut of the year today.

[greenfairy43]

We spent the afternoon on our allotment. It's so exciting seeing things start budding

[midnight]

We've planted runner beans in indoor pots, ready to go out as soon as it gets a little warmer, and as soon as they are big enough to have a fighting chance against the slug & snail onslaught.

And I'm surrounded by 4 flowering orchids at the moment - almost feels like overkill, in the nicest possible way.

[grumpyhack]

Thought it was about time to bring this thread back to life. Just finished a finger-tip weed of the chunk of my veg patch where last year I grew runner beans. Everything else was covered with black plastic sheeting over the winter which kept it weed free.

So in today sweetcorn, which I've never tried before, brussel sprouts, curly kale and purple sprouting broccoli. I also salvaged some mange tout peas which had almost been forgotten and were dying in the greenhouse and put them in with pea netting in the hope they might come back to life.

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse about to pick my first cucumber and have the tomato plants coming on well.

Also got my first strawberries in the garden ready for picking this weekend.

Any other gardeners out there?

Edited June 11, 2015 by grumpyhack

[whisty]

You're going to love that sweetcorn if it grows well. The sweetest of sweetcorn you'll ever have, no need for butter on those babies. Did you plant them in a square?

[grumpyhack]

No in a row against a south facing wall that I hope will reflect back some sun and heat. Should I have gone for a square, if so why?

[sheffieldlady]

Not really a gardener, I have a couple of plants in pots / metal buckets in the garden. Recently did some patio groundwork (well, when I say I, I mean I was the beer bottle opener whilst the other half handled the wacker plate for compacting the sub base) but I did have involvement in slab laying and concrete mixing..

I need to raise the lawn - the garden is very small and sits on a slope which sort of goes off to the right (so the left is higher than the right) this wasn't an issue before we had a patio but now we have a patio with the lawn separated / hidden behind some railway sleepers, was wondering if anyone had any tips for raising the lawn? I have goggled but suggestions are welcomed the lawn is also patchy - I wouldn't mind fixing that. If anyone has any suggestions - I would be grateful

[whisty]

No in a row against a south facing wall that I hope will reflect back some sun and heat.  Should I have gone for a square, if so why?

 

Square is recommended for pollination by wind. You'll have to get your paint brush out and do by hand If you have 2 rows it should be fine. Or maybe the wall will help.

Edited June 15, 2015 by whisty

[Spindles]

Not really a gardener, I have a couple of plants in pots / metal buckets in the garden. Recently did some patio groundwork (well, when I say I, I mean I was the beer bottle opener whilst the other half handled the wacker plate for compacting the sub base) but I did have involvement in slab laying and concrete mixing..

I need to raise the lawn - the garden is very small and sits on a slope which sort of goes off to the right (so the left is higher than the right) this wasn't an issue before we had a patio but now we have a patio with the lawn separated / hidden behind some railway sleepers, was wondering if anyone had any tips for raising the lawn? I have goggled but suggestions are welcomed the lawn is also patchy - I wouldn't mind fixing that. If anyone has any suggestions - I would be grateful

rotavate and reseed it?  I levelled mine with a good old fashioned fork, shovel and rake some years back, thankfully it's only 12 feet wide and 30 feet long.  Most of the original grass grew back through and I'd reseeded it with some posh grass seed which filled it out nicely, a decade later and it's a lovely flat surface with good even growth.

 

I spent an hour or so doing a spot of weeding and tidying yesterday, was lovely out in the sun.

[sheffieldlady]

Thanks - having spent some time on Google - the word rotovate never came up.