The compost heap - off topic thread

looksee

https://twitter.com/FlyFifer10/status/1763531683792322701?t=EiiASh2Egz-kS0SKCTGA0g&s=08

See what can be done...

magicbastarder

Would be curious if anyone else has had issues with raspberry plants dying? Never had an issue before, they've been where they are for seven or eight years, but this year some of the stalks died before they came into leaf, and some died after they came into leaf. The other plants around them are fine; we'd been wondering if possibly the excessively wet winter had damaged the roots.

blackbox

My raspberries are very poor this year. I moved some of them, which obviously didn't help, but definitely worse than expected.

On the other hand, the strawberries are doing great.

magicbastarder

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

'the next Japanese knotweed'

dathi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122212267#Comment_122212267

https://www.rhs.org.uk/disease/raspberry-cane-blight

this?

magicbastarder

Oh, will check for those spores, cheers. Mentions waterlogged soil. We definitely had that.

Poulgorm

I planted some dahlia tubers in pots in early May: sprouted fine, but something was eating the leaves - down to the stems.

Couldn't find any snails / slugs, so I felt some creepy crawlies must be the guilty party.

I have a large tub - higher than the pots. Put the pots into it (one at a time). Put water into the tub - submerged the pots - about a 1/2 inch above the rim. Left each pot submerged for about 2 hours.

Lo & behold, whatever was eating the leaves was gone - permanently (drowned?). I now have thriving dahlias, about to come into flower.

Might be a useful tip for someone…

Dug up some hellabores last month because they were being decimated in the ground since they were planted earlier this year. They're thriving since being potted up and pushing lots of new growth and I've noticed two of them are starting to put out flowers, in July. I'm guessing it's just appreciating a good feed.

Poulgorm

I have a bed of Agapanthus which put on a display of gorgeous, long-lasting, deep blue flowers every year.

This year, they are growing vigorously and have multiplied. But…very few flower heads forming.

Any ideas of a possible cause?

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414749#Comment_122414749

Temperature?

looksee

You have just made me realise - same here, only two rather sad flowers on a patch that usually has lots.

My agapanthus is doing okay for me this year thankfully. It’s one of the few success stories. Lots of things didn’t come through due to the winter we had, I’ve lost so much! Spent the day out clearing the place up today in the sunshine. I’ve hardly touched the place this year as I couldn’t get out near it. I’m beginning to regret some of my flower choices as they’ve completely swamped other plants. I’ve been waging war on lupins and geranium Rozanne. I planted them en masse to keep the horsetail at bay but all they’ve done is drown the rest of the garden and the horsetail still won. Ah well it was a nice day to be pottering about.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122414861#Comment_122414861

I'd agree, just hasn't been warm enough especially in the earlier months.

amandstu

Has anyone ever used the rotted bottoms of old turf stacks as soil improvers?

Would that work the same way as the bags of peat compost that used to be for sale and are now phased out as peat exploitation has more or less ended in Ireland?

I seem to remember those big bags were full of fibrous peat whereas what I have is quite a bit finer (dusty ,almost in places)

Will it be good if I dig it into the veg beds ?(no seeds is always a good thing)

Obviously no feed in them.

looksee

Its organic material, can't see why it would not be helpful.

magicbastarder

are there any tricks to keep peas producing? we had a not too bad haul of mangetout this year, but the plants have pretty much stopped producing flowers and some are yellowing visibly so they're done now - any way to extend their lifespan?

looksee

Sow some more a month after the first lot. Too late for now, but try it next year.

Sigma101

We've a 20 year old cordyline that's always been trouble-free, producing lots of branches and flower spikes over the years. In the last few weeks it's suddenly lost maybe half of its leaves, with the remainder looking very yellow. It's in a reasonably well-drained spot. Could it be root rot or something else? I read somewhere that it typically has a 20-year lifespan but there was one in my parents' garden that was twice that age. Any thoughts? Thanks

looksee

Just been out planting odds and ends of stuff in pots that have been waiting for attention. As I dug, it occurred to me that the villains in novels that set to in the middle of the night and dig a full size grave with whatever old shovel they happen to have handy are really very…lucky? unlikely? supermen? I was just digging medium sized holes in semi-virgin (is there such a thing?) meadow and there were stones and rocks and roots, and when finished there was the soil left from the spoil heap as well as the disturbed area where the hole was dug. I doubt I would have covered it all with a few dead leaves. Funny that.

Really nice out there, some heat in the sun.

Sigma101

A cosmos that grew 8 feet tall and refused to yield a single flower all Summer has now decided it's time!

looksee

I was just browsing through a blog created by my daughter some 5 years ago to cover the development of the garden from a bramble infested wilderness (though with trees and a reasonable grassy area) to its current more civilised state - though not there yet.

I found this comment from 2020, now she knows the names of stuff and how they grow, this was early days

The 'spaghetti' reference was to the fact that almost all weeds that were dug up had roots like spaghetti - nettles, brambles, bindweed, scutch, and above ground, creeping buttercup.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122848925#Comment_122848925

I thought it was a reference to the Swedish spaghetti tree harvest hoax of 1957. 😄

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti-tree_hoax

looksee

I remember seeing that when it happened - I think it was Cliff Mitchelmore read it on the news, it was very convincing though even as a kid I didn't believe it. And the only spaghetti we ever saw was the tinned stuff.

Edit - wrong all round it was Panarama and Richard Dimbelby, I will go watch the video.

Turbulent Bill

Opened up my compost bin today and spread out the contents on the veg patch. Love seeing all the insects at work in the heap, and how garden waste transforms to useful stuff. It's like alchemy.

looksee

I have been throwing kitchen waste into my dalek-type compost bin for about 4 years now, occasionally gets a dose of leaves or grass clippings or the contents of a plant-pot, but mostly kitchen waste. Its never been emptied, I just don't get round to it, and has never completely filled. I really should empty it!

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122877082#Comment_122877082

Open the bottom hatch and dig out any mature compost you can find. :)

magicbastarder

We have two such compost bins, I get a couple of wheelbarrows of compost from them each year. They get more than kitchen waste though.

And we moved to tea leaves a few years ago - no tea bags - because even though we were buying biodegradable ones, I was finding tea bags which had been in the compost bin for probably a year.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122877114#Comment_122877114

There's always something else to do! I was somewhat out of commission for most of the last 6 months and did very little gardening, but its coming back to the fore.

Sigma101

We have two bins also and alternate between them every year or so. We've had similar experience with teabags. Other things that don't really break down for us include the outer skins of avocados and pistachio shells. There's always lots of the little round brand labels used on bananas and oranges in our compost too.

magicbastarder

weirdest thing i found in the garden was a couple of years after we moved in, where the previous owner had a compost bin, i found a chicken's egg half buried in the soil. we had our own chickens at that point and i know for a fact we'd not bought eggs in over a year, and there was no reason an egg from our kitchen would have ended up there. plus, there was an illegible but visible date printed on the side of the egg, like you get with store bought eggs.

for the laugh, i cracked it into the compost bin, expecting the foulness of hell; but it was not rank; it had probably lost half its volume but was still recognisably the innards of an egg.