Today I did something in my Garden

CelticRambler

tickingclock wrote: »

Can I ask those of you who have baths in your garden please. Did you paint them and did you leave on the taps? I'd imagine they'd go very rusty

Took the taps off mine, but I've seen the odd arrangement where the taps have been left on and flowers planted to make it look like water flowing out of them. :eek:

And do you mean painted on the inside or out? Both of mine are white enamelled cast iron, so look good just as they are - a few defects on the inside are of no consequence in the garden, and the outside is a "rusty old iron" colour that blends perfectly with the surrounding soil.

In our last house, we acquired a puke-greeny-yellow plastic bath, which I sunk into the ground before planting it with shrubs. (That garden was incredibly dry due to the presence of the neighbours' out-of-control beech hedge, so I was using the bath as a kind of water-retaining planter.) With only the top 10cm visible, the obnoxious colour lost it's shock-value once it was diluted by the addition of forty shades of foliage.

Shocking weather so plans to get out and do some tidying up and prep and planning knocked on the head.

Sowed some lupin seeds instead in the hope of putting them in the ground around April time.

Graces7

Just checking and inspecting.

The first chickweed shoots are up; Lovely green edibles.

Daffodil leaves - but far too early out here ( west mayo offshore) for any flowers yet)

Kale and broccoli
foliage looking richly edible.

All is good for the time that it is.

CelticRambler

No rain here, but fierce windy, and a wind that couldn't make up its mind which direction it was coming from. So my gardening today was mostly "virtual" ... as in go shopping and buy things for the next fine day: one "all soils" blueberry, one self-fertile kiwi (we'll see if it's any more self-fertile than the last one ... ), and one red fig. Also 6x 4m planks to use as guides for the "tidying up" phase of my re-landscaping.

SouthWesterly

Didn't realise my name was in my op.

Photo of my 4x12 greenhouse built from windows and doors
Cost me about 120e in wood

SnowyMuckish

I can’t take credit for doing this in the garden, thanks to the other half for installing our pond

I don’t usually like the incessant rain we get here, but I think I’ll go out and polish up on my best rain dance moves for this week :pac::pac:




I don’t know if it’s hedgehog proof enough with my shallow end.

Nice job.
Can you give some info on size and cost and where you got it please?

magicbastarder

we have more seed potatoes than we need, so i decided to take a punt and plant some out (about ten of them); if we don't get a frost, we should be OK, if we do get one that hits them, so be it...

scarepanda

We had a great weekends work out in the garden. We got the back fence finished. Shrubs that we cut down last year were used to fill holes in the ditch and very back corner. The ditch is ready now to install wire to keep the dogs in!

Moving the shrubs has cleared out some space to throw some smaller cuttings etc which will in turn finally clear the space where the veg garden will go. So I can get a start on that! The smaller cuttings will go into the bottom of the raised beds eventually!

A few questions, I have some roses to plant out. They have been in buckets for the last year. They need a pruning, but will both a prune and transplanting into the ground around the same time have a negative effect on them?

And secondly, I can get some farm yard manure off a local farmer. AFAIK it's fresh enough, maybe a couple months old. Would it be a bad idea to use it at the bottom of a hole for rhubarb (and the roses)? Or would chicken manure pellets be a better option? I have to finish clearing that bed, so I don't actually know what the soil is like below. But as it was covered with weed membrane for what looks like a long time I wouldn't think it's in great condition at the moment so I think it would be better to add something into the hole.

CelticRambler

scarepanda wrote: »

I have some roses to plant out ... will both a prune and transplanting into the ground around the same time have a negative effect on them?

On the contrary: they should be pruned after transplanting. Not too hard, but it's a good idea to reduce the amount of growth that needs to be sustained immediately after transplanting. If they're in buckets and you're just plonking them into a hole, rootball and all, then they shouldn't be too stressed by the move.

scarepanda wrote: »

I can get some farm yard manure off a local farmer. AFAIK it's fresh enough, maybe a couple months old. Would it be a bad idea to use it at the bottom of a hole for rhubarb (and the roses)?

It's not recommended ... but last year I used very fresh manure at the base of every hole into which I transplanted half a dozen roses (most viciously ripped out of the ground where they were, hacked in two or three at the level of the roots, and stood into their new location): they're all doing really well. :cool:

CelticRambler

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Photo of my 4x12 greenhouse built from windows and doors

It looks like one of those puzzles you'd get in a Christmas cracker, and have to figure out how all the pieces go together. Well done!

scarepanda

Ah that's good to know celticrambler! I don't want to stress them too much. One is a regular shrub rose and the older is (I think) a climber. Both are alive but neither are looking all that happy (or didn't by the end of the summer).

Would it be a safer bet to throw the chicken pellet stuff down at the base of the hole?

SouthWesterly

CelticRambler wrote: »

It looks like one of those puzzles you'd get in a Christmas cracker, and have to figure out how all the pieces go together. Well done!

Thats about the size of it OK. After that it's the closest to the size and fill in the gaps later

SnowyMuckish

TheTorment wrote: »

Nice job.
Can you give some info on size and cost and where you got it please?

I got it from Fountains and Decor.
https://fountains-decor.ie/preformed-ponds/

They have a wide range of sizes, mine is roughly 2.1m x 1.4m. It seems good quality and strong.

I noticed that they have ‘lake’ sized ponds for €1000+

one can only dream :pac:

New Home

That would make a big hill.

SnowyMuckish

New Home wrote: »

That would make a big hill.

I think the Other Half would have heart failure if he saw me coming with a ‘lake’ sized pond. He’d definitely be subscribing to the ‘no dig’ gardening style

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

That would make a big hill.

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

I noticed that they have ‘lake’ sized ponds for €1000+

one can only dream :pac:

Dreams can turn into nightmares! :pac: I'm on Day 2 of making the big hill with the clearings from my pond. The idea seemed so simple on paper: dig out soil, dump into trailer, shunt trailer 25m to new hill (or "terraced veg bed" to give its posh name); tip up trailer to empty it; return to the excavation site and repeat.

Well ...



The frikking soil is so sticky, it won't fall out, even with the trailer tipped up to 70° :eek: After trying all kinds of clever techniques, none of which worked, I've had to fall back on old tech and use a spade. Which is slowing the whole process down no end.

Tomorrow, I'll try again the only technique that looked promising - line the trailer with hay before each load. Had to give up on that today as the wind was still too strong, and the hay was blowing away before I could dump anything on top of it. (I have a barn full of twenty-five year old hay that needs to be got rid of - adding it to this clayey soil seems like a win-win).

CelticRambler

scarepanda wrote: »

Would it be a safer bet to throw the chicken pellet stuff down at the base of the hole?

I'll have to let someone else answer that - the last time I used anything resembling chicken pellets, it came straight out of the chicken!

SnowyMuckish

Is going to be amazing when it’s done! Looking forward to seeing the finished product!

New Home

CelticRambler wrote: »

Dreams can turn into nightmares! :pac: I'm on Day 2 of making the big hill with the clearings from my pond. The idea seemed so simple on paper: dig out soil, dump into trailer, shunt trailer 25m to new hill (or "terraced veg bed" to give its posh name); tip up trailer to empty it; return to the excavation site and repeat.

Well ...



The frikking soil is so sticky, it won't fall out, even with the trailer tipped up to 70° :eek: After trying all kinds of clever techniques, none of which worked, I've had to fall back on old tech and use a spade. Which is slowing the whole process down no end.

Tomorrow, I'll try again the only technique that looked promising - line the trailer with hay before each load. Had to give up on that today as the wind was still too strong, and the hay was blowing away before I could dump anything on top of it. (I have a barn full of twenty-five year old hay that needs to be got rid of - adding it to this clayey soil seems like a win-win).

Nice clay you've got there...

scarepanda

CelticRambler wrote: »

I'll have to let someone else answer that - the last time I used anything resembling chicken pellets, it came straight out of the chicken!

Hopefully by this time next year I'll be the same! I have this stuff a couple of years, but I'll be getting hens ASAP after I have the veg beds going!

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

Nice clay you've got there...

:rolleyes: This is actually the good stuff - mostly topsoil that I've improved over the last two years by growing potatoes, onions and beetroot in it, and adding barrow-loads of grass clippings throughout the year. The subsoil (which is almost pure clay) is even worse! The digger can scoop it up, no problem ... and then it just sits there in the bucket, upside down until I take a crowbar to it. :eek:

But at least now I'm reassured that my house won't fall down in the next three hundred years, as it's the same stuff used to hold the stones in place! :pac:

New Home

Spray the scoop with WD40 first, that ought to do it.

scarepanda

Another job done today. Cleared an existing raised bed. It was a bit overgrown, with a couple of inches of organic matter on top of a couple inches of gravel on top of rotten weed membrane. I planted 3 currant bushes and 4 rhubarb plants into it. I'll also finish it off with a row of strawberries to the front in the next day or two.

I also got two rose bushes planted earlier in the week at the side patio bed.

All I have left in a pot that needs to go into the ground is a tree, think it's a dogwood. I have to finish clearing that spot first.

beggars_bush

Another 45 mins of digging the veg garden today between showers.
Just another few hours left!

Graces7

Cropped more kale and broccoli... lovely flavours.

CelticRambler

Finished shifting 25m³ of topsoil from the site of the first new pond to the new terraced bed. Still a long way to go before I reach the bottom of the pond (about another 75m³ and that'll be the much heavier clay subsoil) but before I start on the next layer, I need to work on getting the first of the terraces into shape so that I can put some plants in by the end of the month.

Took a break from the destructive work this afternoon and did some constructive landscaping instead - built an east-facing embankment on top of woody débris as part of my new herb garden. I'll give it a week or two to settle, then move a selection of herbs into position. Over the course of the next few months, this bank will be complemented by a south-facing and a west-facing bank, arranged around a paved area that I laid way back our the early days here.

Skipduke

summer bulbs planted today!

Question;
i have a steep mount of soil/gravel behind my house. all compacted by a digger. Grass doesnt seem to grow on it, just a bit here and there. soil wouldnt be great, as mentioned a lot of gravel.

anyone have any ideas what to do with it or what you've done with the -not so flat- parts of the garden?

ShiverinEskimo

Heather bed. Will grow in any soil (as long as it's not too alkaline) and will give you colour all year round if you mix the seasonals around. Will eventually provide full ground cover and suppress weeds. They need a trim after flowering to stop them getting too woody once they are mature a bit but a quick shave with a hedge clipper does it in seconds.

Regular feed of azalea feed or other acid loving feed will keep it ticking over.

Goldfinch8

Skipduke wrote: »

Question;
i have a steep mount of soil/gravel behind my house. all compacted by a digger. Grass doesnt seem to grow on it, just a bit here and there. soil wouldnt be great, as mentioned a lot of gravel.

anyone have any ideas what to do with it or what you've done with the -not so flat- parts of the garden?

I would certainly second the advice given by ShiverinEskimo above with regards to perhaps considering heathers for such an area.
I did the same with a fairly inhospitable slope of compacted subsoil that was left behind my house after its
construction. I decided to terrace back the slope somewhat to break it up and I planted winter/early spring flowering heathers on both sides of the terrace. I dug in a mixture of compost, and ericacious soil mixed with some topsoil under each new plant. They provide a real shot of colour at a time of the year when there is little else going on in the garden.
I also designed and planted my garden with pollinators in mind and in the next few weeks these heathers will begin to hum and buzz again with bees as they get one of their first big shots of nectar and pollen after the winter slumber.
These heathers below get plenty of wind also as my home is on an exposed site in the West of Ireland. These plants are as tough as old boots and they are growing in an environment where even weeds struggle to get a foothold.