Today I did something in my Garden

GreeBo

Ms2011 wrote: »

I've thrown daffodils in the compost bin and they've grown the following year

I was turning my compost today and noticed that I had stupidly dumped some ivy in there that was now growing well!

hirondelle

laoch na mona wrote: »

Got told I can have a greenhouse for free from my neighbours today, just have to cut through an overgrown garden to dismantle it, move it and reassemble it on my garden

I would suggest taking as many photos as possible before dismantling- the reassembly may run a bit smoother.....

GreeBo

hirondelle wrote: »

I would suggest taking as many photos as possible before dismantling- the reassembly may run a bit smoother.....

And use a whiteboard marker to draw a line across every joint and number each piece first.
Much easier to put back together when you can line up all the lines.

SnowyMuckish

I’m just wondering what kind of soil people have used in their ponds for their aquatic plants? It’s virtually impossible to source aquatic compost at the moment. I can only find 2 Irish suppliers and they don’t deliver. Has anyone used normal soil?

scarepanda

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

I’m just wondering what kind of soil people have used in their ponds for their aquatic plants? It’s virtually impossible to source aquatic compost at the moment. I can only find 2 Irish suppliers and they don’t deliver. Has anyone used normal soil?

Theres a lad on YouTube who uses subsoil to line the base of his ponds and plants directly into that. His channel is wildyourgarden.

CelticRambler

blackbox wrote: »

I transplanted some miniature early daffodils "in the green" today. I know this works for snowdrops but I'm not sure if daffs will survive.

They probably will! These guys (with the exception of the dwarf narcissi in the middle) were moved "in the green" several years ago because they popped up in an unexpected and not entirely convenient location:



At the time, they were three small clumps (two or three flowers each, max) As you can see, they've flourished in their new home!

whelzer

magicbastarder wrote: »

where are you based?
we bought topsoil from mulch.ie recently, was decent enough stuff. they're dublin only AFAIK.

Would also recommend Mulch, I use their Soil Enricher every 2 years on my veg bed and now flower borders.

How come they are not called flower beds??

CelticRambler

Apologies in advance for spamming this thread with photos - but it's been a good day, and I need to celebrate! :cool:

Two jobs finished (ish) for the price of ... one capsized digger, two trailer breakdowns, two aching shoulders, several worn-out vertebrae, and uncountable hours spent figuring out how, when, where and why!

This was the pleasant scene, about eleven months ago - lines of potatoes and onions doing what they do and making me proud:



And if you love well-managed vegetable gardens, this'll make you cry! :eek: The same view, today, having dug about 40m³ of topsoil out of my future pond:



From a different angle (standard-sized wheelbarrow for scale):



There's a lot more digging to be done there to take it down below the water table (and help keep the adjacent "farmyard" dry [you can see in the background where an experimental trench through the farmyard has become a canal]) but the clay-rich subsoil will be used to build embankments all around; and I won't start that till it's dried out a bit.

So: where did the topsoil go? Well, here: this is what you call a raised bed! :pac:





Again, quite a bit more work to be done "in due course ..." :rolleyes: - particularly building retaining walls or pallisades on all four sides (which, yes, I know, the books say should be built first ... but that could take me several years - I haven't yet finalised how it'll be contoured east and west!) I used the digger to get the terraces to approximately the right height, but the fine-tuning was done the old-fashioned way: with a straight edge, a rake and a lot of physical effort.

Every load of soil that went in there had a layer of hay at the bottom (to help it slide out of the trailer) so there's now quite a bit of organic matter mixed in with the clay; and a huge number of big, fat worms to help break it up. The "terraces" are slightly canted towards the back as a water-management strategy. The high point here is slightly below the level of the gutters on the house, so I'll look into using simple hydraulics to copiously irrigate the terraces during summer thunderstorms.

In the meantime, seeing as the fridge is empty, e-mails have gone unanswered for too long, and the washing machine is on the blink, the landscaping will have to be put on pause for a while. But I'll still try to get some veg (trans)planted up on the hill in the next week.

That is some going, well done. I put some chicken manure on my hedge and some ericaceous compost on my acid lovers after work and was feeling good about getting half an hour's fresh air!!!

Good stuff.
I take it thats for water storage and not for fish?!

CelticRambler

BrownFinger wrote: »

I take it thats for water storage and not for fish?!

Correct. If our future summers here follow the same pattern as in recent years, the pond(s) would be almost completely drained by October, so not at all suitable for fish. It'll probably take a few years to figure out the balance between real capacity and consumption, but I'm hoping they support a decent population of amphibians and reptiles, and perhaps a corner of waterlilies or other aquatic plants.

The inner faces of the embankments will be terraced somewhat like the "raised bed" and I'd be thinking of growing some moisture-loving summer veg on the first "flood plain" area to be exposed as the levels drop. I'll do whatever I can to keep it attractive throughout the season, and (hopefully) avoid going into the autumn with nothing more than a manky puddle surrounded by 100m² of gooey mud!

beggars_bush

CelticRambler wrote: »

Correct. If our future summers here follow the same pattern as in recent years, the pond(s) would be almost completely drained by October, so not at all suitable for fish. It'll probably take a few years to figure out the balance between real capacity and consumption, but I'm hoping they support a decent population of amphibians and reptiles, and perhaps a corner of waterlilies or other aquatic plants.

The inner faces of the embankments will be terraced somewhat like the "raised bed" and I'd be thinking of growing some moisture-loving summer veg on the first "flood plain" area to be exposed as the levels drop. I'll do whatever I can to keep it attractive throughout the season, and (hopefully) avoid going into the autumn with nothing more than a manky puddle surrounded by 100m² of gooey mud!

how are you going to keep the water from stagnating?

beggars_bush

beggars_bush wrote: »

how are you going to keep the water from stagnating?

if you are looking at a pump check aquta forte dm vario - extremely efficient pumps .
or look into an air lift .

blackbox

CelticRambler wrote: »

Apologies in advance for spamming this thread with photos - but it's been a good day, and I need to celebrate! :cool:

This was the pleasant scene, about eleven months ago - lines of potatoes and onions doing what they do and making me proud:

There's a lot more digging to be done there to take it down below the water table (and help keep the adjacent "farmyard" dry [you can see in the background where an experimental trench through the farmyard has become a canal]) but the clay-rich subsoil will be used to build embankments all around; and I won't start that till it's dried out a bit.

That's a huge amount of work. You deserve a celebration.

I get the impression that you're not planning to use a liner.

Unless you have a stream feeding it. Will the surface level not simply go up and down to equal the water table?

Igotadose

Pulled back the plastic on one vegetable bed.... Slugs. Snails... Like, dozens. Might put some slug traps before anything goes in.

Going to be a long season I think.

SouthWesterly

Aerial photo of my veg garden

CelticRambler

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Aerial photo of my veg garden

Is that a chicken run in the bottom right hand corner? Or are you dabbling in snail-farming?

CelticRambler

beggars_bush wrote: »

how are you going to keep the water from stagnating?

blackbox wrote: »

I get the impression that you're not planning to use a liner.

Unless you have a stream feeding it. Will the surface level not simply go up and down to equal the water table?

No stream, no liner, no recirculation pump! 'Tis the traditional way around here, and even though it should result in a stagnant pool, it doesn't. The local farmers dig a deeper hole natural depressions in the fields to provide watering holes for their cattle.

It has (must have?) something to do with the clay soil, and for the same reason, I should be able to store copious amounts above the water table. To a certain extent, even the term "water table" isn't really appropriate in this context, as the clay forms a nearly impermeable layer anywhere it's compacted.

So it's very common in our ground to have pools of water in wheel ruts and other surface dents, but the soil underneath will be almost bone dry. The plan here is to deliberately create layers of compacted clay at strategic locations (e.g. the "farmyard" and under the terraced bed) so that as much rainfall as possible flows sideways to the lowest point, i.e. into the ponds, from where it can then only percolate very, very slowly through its own compacted clay lining.

Get back to me in a year or two and I'll tell you whether the practice lives up to the theory! :cool:

magicbastarder

Water stagnates when there's too much nutrient in it. The clay soil may be low in those nutrients, so less likely to stagnate.

SouthWesterly

CelticRambler wrote: »

Is that a chicken run in the bottom right hand corner? Or are you dabbling in snail-farming?

Thats the chicken run. Built it last year. It's fully enclosed to deal with the sideways rain we get here. Built a pen adjacent for them to go outside while avian flu in with us.

looksee

Planted three rows of spuds - clearing the ground took most of the time but at least there is a nice clear patch now.

SnowyMuckish

Today was the first day that I had ‘proper’ time in the garden. It was such a beautiful evening, the stillness of the air was broken only by the calming melody of the birds. It was one of those days where I think I needed the garden as much as it needed me! There is no better tonic for a hectic, stressful day.

I sauntered around the boarders inspecting signs of new growth. I divided some geranium Rozannes in the autumn. Watching their almost fernlike fronds unfurling was the highlight of the evening!

Outside of that, I started some small odd jobs, weeding, tidying and dividing some perennials.

It’s just got me in the right frame of mind for Monty’s first night back, glass of wine at the ready! Friday nights are finally back, a lovely long season ahead of us!

An Ri rua

Spent the afternoon clearing birch twigs and pine cones from the lawns and avenue. And oak leaves from flower beds and pots. So good to be outside for the whole afternoon and evening. First properly kind day IMO. My 2 tomcats thought they'd died and gone to Heaven.

Preparing a sheltered gravelled area for a J-shape rocket stove and my twig stove.
Looking forward to days like last April, God willing.
Preparing a quarter acre at the back of the sheds as a wild garden/orchard. Planning to cut Georgian garden style paths through the grass, 2 widths wide, and then scuffle up the base of the ditches and the ground, where I can get at it through the grass, and sow wild flower seeds. Have my grandfather's scythe and just took delivery of a Lansky Puck so looking forward to testing that and sharpening up my new Tramontina machete and other tools. Going to avoid using petrol/electric machines on this garden if I can. Definitely once I get it up and running.

Windy West facing hillside but lovely spot, full of badgers, foxes and rabbits.

SouthWesterly

Just sowed 180 peas,90 beans and 10 squash in modules in the greenhouse.

Harry Palmr

Chainsawed stump of Laurel, painted fence behind same.
Sowed tomatoes
Covered onions which are just poking through - the crows etc are a right pain.
Weeded pollinator bed.

Tomorrow the front grass cut again.

SnowyMuckish

Spent today doing a bit more clearing and weeding of the veg beds. I don’t know what today’s public enemy number 1 was but it was hotly contested between self seeded fennel with their deep tap roots and stray raspberry canes sprouting everywhere.

Also ordered some nicotina sylvestris and night scented stock. The path to our decking is a well trodden route on late summer evenings so my project for this year is to add a bit of evening scent along the way.

Harry Palmr

My god fennel is up there with alpine strawberries and some exotic grasses for marching across the landscape. Each by a different method but all annoying!

magicbastarder

interesting, the alpine strawberries have disappeared from our garden, and i'd prefer them to have stayed.

Harry Palmr

That's odd, the birds love eating seeds and pooing them nearby and not so near by - I've found them 100 metres or more from the bed they used to occupy - ironically that bed now has fennel!

magicbastarder

yeah, that's why i found it surprised that they did die off... that said, other types of plants have disappeared too (e.g. dog violets), but i've made a lot of changes to the garden since we bought the house.