Self-isolation Activities

[Marianne 808]

10 hours ago, Thyrsis said:

No images of our compost bins on Alamy! So here is our wisteria from a few years ago. Not quite out at the moment.

 

So jealous. The guys that cut our grass decided to help out and cut my wisteria back. It had taken 5 years to bloom and was amazing. My husband and I had even built a trellis for it using bent wood branches that had fallen in our yard. The guys cut it back in the fall without asking me  - that was 4 years ago and it hasn't bloomed since. Wisteria is my absolute favorite.

[spacecadet 3,571]

15 hours ago, Marianne said:

touching camera with sticky fingers

Just put the camera in a plastic bag, poke the lens out of the open end and fix it with an elastic band.

[Bryan 13,741]

20 hours ago, aphperspective said:

Found this Guy very interesting Bryan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LH6-w57Slw

 

 

Thanks for the link Andy. Some folk on our allotment site are big fans of his, but I'm not entirely sure. Great if your plot has good soil to begin with, but maybe not so clever if, like me, you are dealing with clay and stones. Also we grow a stack of staples, e.g. spuds and onions, and raised beds are wasteful of space. Further I inherited some raised beds at my last allotment where somebody had used old timber to make the beds. I found that the walls of the beds became safe havens for Mare's Tail and other troublsome perennial weeds, while the beds dried out more quickly than the main plot. I eventually  removed them all.  We do grow strawberries in a raised bed, so horses for courses maybe. 

[Robert M Estall 278]

Both my father in Canada and father-in-law in St Albans were keen gardeners and had clay and stone soil. They struggled a big part of their lives and managed to grow stuff against the odds. I have had a patch of rich river-bottom dark soil and struggled against weeds for years because I didn't put the time in. I do have the time now but don't grow staples. Potatoes and Carrots? No, so cheap and plentiful in the market. Sweet corn (it's always over-ripe and rubbish in the shops) runner beens (just about ripe) young broad beans, small corvettes. It's not about saving money, it's about providing the table with something better than you can buy from the shops. Raised beds: why on earth would you? Most years I have hundreds of wonderful pears, last year I had perhaps a dozen. The trees are nicely in blossom now, no frost please! Champion autumn Raspberry patch which is a happy accident. They just grow and grow in completely the wrong conditions. If I had crap soil, I think I would just grow fruit and grass and put up a greenhouse.

[aphperspective 333]

I suppose there are a million ways to grow veg, everybody does it their way. I'm starting from scratch on his ground. Brand new garden covered in weeds, stones and at least 3 old willow tree stumps and its on the site of an old forge (lots of clinker, bits of iron etc) so the first year is going to be a struggle, thankfully i'm retired so i don't have that weekend blitz to do it all in. The climate down here in West Cork is mild and damp (my neighbour grows a banana tree so that tells you how little frost we get. One thing i have had allot of success with is growing carrots in pots, 1 10" pot gets me about 50 carrots, harvest the whole pot each time stops the horrid carrot root fly. 

[Bryan 13,741]

6 hours ago, aphperspective said:

I suppose there are a million ways to grow veg, everybody does it their way. I'm starting from scratch on his ground. Brand new garden covered in weeds, stones and at least 3 old willow tree stumps and its on the site of an old forge (lots of clinker, bits of iron etc) so the first year is going to be a struggle, thankfully i'm retired so i don't have that weekend blitz to do it all in. The climate down here in West Cork is mild and damp (my neighbour grows a banana tree so that tells you how little frost we get. One thing i have had allot of success with is growing carrots in pots, 1 10" pot gets me about 50 carrots, harvest the whole pot each time stops the horrid carrot root fly. 

Good to hear of your success with the carrots, I had given up on them until last year when I grew them in shallow troughs around the top of the compost bin and that seemed to raise them above the firing line for the fly. A fellow gardener had some success companion planting with Marigolds, not entirely fly free, but she got a decent crop and  I intend to use both methods this year. There is nothing like fresh young carrots straight from ground to pot! 

 

Home grown tomatoes are another crop which tastes so much nicer than shop bought and there are now reliable outdoor varieties that will grow in our climate, e.g. Tumbler and Red Alert. Having said that, we lost some young Tom's to frost in the greenhouse yesterday evening, so care required. Fortunately back up supplies already through on the windowsill.

 

You can turn the stone to advantage by digging it out and using it to provide drainage, ideally building a drain to take the water away, or by digging soak aways. I'm on my 4th allotment and I've had to do remedial work on all of them. I like to think that I've left them all in a better state then when I started. Coincidentally our gardens are  also on the site of an old ironworks, so clinker etc is still being uncovered. 

 

Finally some words of wisdom from my grandfather, "Muck is the gardener" you can improve the worst of soils by adding well rotted manure.

Edited April 15 by Bryan

[aphperspective 333]

I'm surrounded by farmer friends so muck is no issue plus after every storm i get loads of seaweed from the beach about 200yds away. Agree with the carrots and toms nothing better than homegrown, i grow cucumber across the roof of my green house so the fruits hang straight down. Going back to the carrots i got a piece of ply marked out a grid 1" about a foot square, lay a 10" pot over it and draw round. Cut out the circle slightly undersize so it just fits inside the pot. Drill through the all the intersections of the grid with 6mm drill, fill the pot up to the brim, use the template to firm down the compost. Sow a seed through each hole  and sprinkle compost on top, firm again. Carrots all centered and pot full when ready to crop. 3 pots give me all the carrots i need with rotation and all grown on a shelf in the greenhouse. (Works with Parsnips a treat just sow in every other hole to give 2" centres.)

Andy. 

[spacecadet 3,571]

11 hours ago, Robert M Estall said:

corvettes

😀

[Robert M Estall 278]

Alpaca poo is best! Seems far less weed. I do like a fresh little carrot plucked when perhaps 4 inches, no cooking needed. Pots sound a good idea. I could try some rocket that way as they get devoured by little flies as well. Snuggled up near the chive forest in the herb patch perhaps. I'm told they don't like the smell of anything like onions. Yes growing corvettes, mine were yellow last year!

Edited April 15 by Robert M Estall

[losdemas 2,751]

12 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

😀

 

 

12 hours ago, Robert M Estall said:

young broad beans, small corvettes

 

He said small!

[aphperspective 333]

I grow all sorts in pots scattered around, anything that is quick cropping Salad stuff that you don't use allot of each time, Lettuce etc. Raddish 3 or 4 to a 3" pot. Just re sow as you use them. 

[Matt Ashmore 1,123]

On 13/04/2020 at 23:32, Marianne said:

 

So jealous. The guys that cut our grass decided to help out and cut my wisteria back. It had taken 5 years to bloom and was amazing. My husband and I had even built a trellis for it using bent wood branches that had fallen in our yard. The guys cut it back in the fall without asking me  - that was 4 years ago and it hasn't bloomed since. Wisteria is my absolute favorite.

 

A few years ago my mother-in-law was 'helpful' in the garden. She decided to cut off all of the rhubarb leaves that she thought were bad because they had holes in them.. that was all of the rhubarb leaves so we now no longer have rhubarb!

[aphperspective 333]

2 hours ago, Matt Ashmore said:

 

A few years ago my mother-in-law was 'helpful' in the garden. She decided to cut off all of the rhubarb leaves that she thought were bad because they had holes in them.. that was all of the rhubarb leaves so we now no longer have rhubarb!

She may be related to my partner, she has the same effect on plants as Roundup 🙂 Let her loose with a weeding trowel and nothing is safe. Once decimated a whole bed of  mixed herbs i had just planted convinced they were weeds.

[Ed Rooney 3,337]

I think I could tell a rat from a rhubarb plant. Hmm. Maybe.

[Marianne 808]

First gardener mowed down my sage and basil. I only ever grew snapdragons and zinnias as a kid helping my grandmother out in her garden and helping harvest the figs before the birds got them. My grandmother had an amazing garden, roses climbing up the side of the house. Lilac trees you could play hide and seek in. I did not inherit her green thumb but have never mistaken a plant for a weed. We've had our best luck with trees, lilacs and Japanese maples we planted over 20 years ago - and I've grown 8-10-foot tall sunflowers, but between a bad back after a series of accidents and frustration with deer, rabbits and squirrels, this will be my first attempt at gardening in some time. 

 

My husband transplanted these from a seedlings in a neighbor's garden. We have another in the side yard. I can't seem to find any photos of the lilacs. Hmmm, surprised but I'll have to upload some. Tons of these and our other Japanese maples. This one was in two calendars a couple years back. 

 

 

 

 

 

[spacecadet 3,571]

I put this in the "nice thing done today" thread, but last evening I got rid of a lot of dry cuttings. The bonfire went up in no time- no smoke to bother anyone! Very satisfying. The council have cancelled the green waste collection and closed the tip, but no-one told the plants to stop growing

[Matt Ashmore 1,123]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

but no-one told the plants to stop growing

 

Try shouting at them louder.. they'll get the message sooner or later! 🙂

[Allan Bell 2,236]

I'm going to have to take up gardening now it is warmer, everything is growing like wildfire.

 

Allan

 

[gvallee 3,036]

A group of photographers in my 'home town' (if there is such a thing) uploads raw files to a private FB page. The game is to edit it the way we like, be as creative as we like or not. Results are amazing. It's a lot of fun. It makes me realize how much I'm used to editing for the editorial market, which is anything but creative. 

[Allan Bell 2,236]

15 minutes ago, gvallee said:

A group of photographers in my 'home town' (if there is such a thing) uploads raw files to a private FB page. The game is to edit it the way we like, be as creative as we like or not. Results are amazing. It's a lot of fun. It makes me realize how much I'm used to editing for the editorial market, which is anything but creative. 

 

While I was out for my walk this morning I decided to take some images to try to turn into artwork/creative just for fun.

 

Allan

 

[spacecadet 3,571]

21 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

I'm going to have to take up gardening now it is warmer, everything is growing like wildfire.

 

Allan

 

I've actually had a wildfire. See above.

[Allan Bell 2,236]

Just now, spacecadet said:

I've actually had a wildfire. See above.

 

Yes! Saw that post. You are lucky I don't have enough room in the garden where I am just now to have a fire with out burning the neighbours fence down.😃

 

Allan

 

[spacecadet 3,571]

7 minutes ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Yes! Saw that post. You are lucky I don't have enough room in the garden where I am just now to have a fire with out burning the neighbours fence down.😃

 

Allan

 

We do usually use a small brazier- limits the heat to a couple of feet- but there was just too much piling up.

[Mr Standfast 457]

Rant begins...

 

What is it with joggers and scale?

 

2k amd 5k are easy...

 

2m is impossible!!

 

Rant ends.

 

 

I'm enjoying the gardening stuff.. 😀

[CAROL SAUNDERS 116]

What is it with men and a pair of gardening shears, thank heavens he's not a hairdresser!  I think the saying is scissor happy - he chopped some of my gorgeous Red Acer - not amused!😮

 

Carol