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Today I did something in my Garden

blackbox

In the car maintenance forum there is a popular thread called "Today I did something to my car"

I'm proposing a similar thread for gardening that the mods might consider making a sticky! Please give a THANKS if you think this is a good idea.

I'll kick it of with:

Today I picked my redcurrants. They seem to have been early this year. They mostly ripen together but I will get a handful more over the next week. I have a small bush in a dodgy location but I got a couple of hundred grams that will make some nice jelly.

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Igotadose

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Just sowed some brassica indoors.

Red and green cabbage, sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower.

When do you plan to put them out? I usually wait till St. Patrick's day targeting seedlings outdoors in May, after the worst of the storms are over. I live out in the Dingle Peninsula, the storms off the ocean can really destroy things.

[Deleted User]

Igotadose wrote: »

When do you plan to put them out? I usually wait till St. Patrick's day targeting seedlings outdoors in May, after the worst of the storms are over. I live out in the Dingle Peninsula, the storms off the ocean can really destroy things.

Probably mid to late march under a fleece. I'm about an hour from you so get the Atlantic as well.
First year starting so early. Need to finish a small greenhouse I'm building and will grow them in there once strong enough.

CelticRambler

looksee wrote: »

I am amused that your garden in many respects looks uncannily like mine CelticRambler!

The garden, maybe, but what about the house?

That's what my house wants to be when it grows up. :pac:

As it happens, on her first visit after we moved, my mother was very disappointed to see how much like Ireland this part of France is, and others have made the same observation - brown cows in green fields, dotted with shiny EU-subidised tractors, and ever-decreasing hedgerows. Ye have much nicer skyscapes in Ireland, though - pure cloudless blue can get very boring after a while. :rolleyes:

Skipduke

pansies planted today:)

has anyone ever grown foxgloves from seed? do they come back year after year once established? tried them a few years ago but didnt work out in the greenhouse. at the same time i grew calendula, which is borderline invasive now lol

[Deleted User]

Skipduke wrote: »

pansies planted today:)

has anyone ever grown foxgloves from seed? do they come back year after year once established? tried them a few years ago but didnt work out in the greenhouse. at the same time i grew calendula, which is borderline invasive now lol

I've wild fox gloves in my field. Come back every year

[Deleted User]

Skipduke wrote: »

pansies planted today:)

has anyone ever grown foxgloves from seed? do they come back year after year once established? tried them a few years ago but didnt work out in the greenhouse. at the same time i grew calendula, which is borderline invasive now lol

I’ve tried growing them from seed with no luck. They’re biennials so last 2 years and flower in their second year. They probably come back year after year in some places due to self seeding where they’re happiest.

tickingclock

Skipduke wrote: »

have an old bath, planning to put it in the greenhouse and fill it with soil in the hopes of growing carrots. Good or bad idea?

I've an old bath with no holes. I've been thinking could I drill holes in it and paint it and sew flowers in it. I thought it'd be a good feature and project. Am I mad?

GreeBo

tickingclock wrote: »

I've an old bath with no holes. I've been thinking could I drill holes in it and paint it and sew flowers in it. I thought it'd be a good feature and project. Am I mad?

If you put a layer of rocks covered in weed membrane on the bottom and leave the plug out you should be ok, baths have a slight slope towards the drain anyway, but you could help it out a bit if you wanted (an inch of fall would be enough)

What type of bath is it? Drilling holes into a cast iron bath wont be much fun! (and it will weigh a tonne before you add any soil!)

tickingclock

It's a bath from a house from the 70s. Lots of my terracotta pots broke recently when a farmers animals got into my garden. So I've lots to replace and just got thinking last night about the bath. Any advice at all welcome

CelticRambler

Just to be different: I have two old baths (with no holes other than the plug-hole

) and am planning to use them as storage tanks for a drip feeding watering system for a couple of seedbeds. I made up a first version last year for sowing large quantities of bedding plants. It worked out quite well last year for starting my summer flowers, apart from the need to water it all the time (oh, and not so good for deep-rooted plants, that liked the open base a bit too much). I sowed a scatter of pansy seeds in the autumn, and pricked out/transplanted three dozen today. I need to move the whole thing now, but will rebuild two of them in the same style - with the addition of the "bath waterers" - once I've finished the new landscaping.

Took a break from that today to deal with those pansies and a few California poppies that self-seeded from last year. Also put ten Acanthus into my new formal bed, to provide a thick, low-level green background as a distraction from the droopy foliage of the spring bulbs. Weeded my strawberries this afternoon (some flowers already :eek: ) and planted some extra thyme and parsely under cover.

Lawn mower won't start, though. Bit of a bummer, as the grass could do with a shave, and it's lovely and dry.

looksee

The foxgloves - they will come back every year - sort of. They quickly lose their various colours and revert to mostly the common purple, and they will die out eventually if they don't really like the situation.

Having said that we have some in last year that I am hoping will flower this year and continue on, but we also have wild foxgloves so they may like this place. I suspect they need a bit of altitude, but that's just a guess. My previous attempts in two other houses were much nearer sea level than we are now and didn't have any natural foxgloves.

macraignil

Skipduke wrote: »

pansies planted today:)

has anyone ever grown foxgloves from seed? do they come back year after year once established? tried them a few years ago but didnt work out in the greenhouse. at the same time i grew calendula, which is borderline invasive now lol

Lots of foxgloves in the garden here but they are the wild type rather than the cultivated ones. If I am clearing ground for some other plants I will often rescue the young foxgloves to plant somewhere else in the garden and they self seed themselves here as well since they seem to like it here. Just moved one last week that got dug up when I was removing a tuft of grass growing in the wrong place and the rain since then would make me think it should be well settled in its new place. There are so many that I have started to chop down the flower spikes when they are finished flowering and the seeds can be shaken out of these onto soil to boost the numbers of fresh plants to flower the following year. I think I did this with a window box of compost before and found they sprouted there as well.

Got self seeding calendula around the place also.

[Deleted User]

looksee wrote: »

The foxgloves - they will come back every year

Would they not be considered biennials? I was always of the belief that the native foxgloves only lasted 2 years?

looksee

You are probably right, they re-seed as far as I know, but whether they grow seems to depend on whether they are happy with the site.

Sorry, I just realised you were referring to my comment that they come back every year, I was really saying that once you have them and they are happy they will continue on.

Skipduke

too cold/early for marigolds to grow in an unheated greenhouse?

mr price has a heap of seeds if anyones intrested now, 99c. always find them fine. saves you spending 2.50 or more in woodies lol

New Home

CelticRambler wrote: »

Just to be different: I have two old baths (with no holes other than the plug-hole ) and am planning to use them as storage tanks for a drip feeding watering system for a couple of seedbeds. I made up a first version last year for sowing large quantities of bedding plants. It worked out quite well last year for starting my summer flowers, apart from the need to water it all the time (oh, and not so good for deep-rooted plants, that liked the open base a bit too much). I sowed a scatter of pansy seeds in the autumn, and pricked out/transplanted three dozen today. I need to move the whole thing now, but will rebuild two of them in the same style - with the addition of the "bath waterers" - once I've finished the new landscaping.

What with them not being covered properly, you might find yourself with a huge mosquito breeding ground, considering your location.

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

What with them not being covered properly, you might find yourself with a huge mosquito breeding ground, considering your location.

A theoretical possibility, already taken into account, and also with an eye to the more aggressive tiger mosquito moving north through France. However, we already have dozens of small ponds in the vicinity (mostly old clay pits) and it seems like the local wildlife has adapted to keep the population in check. We already have lots of bats, lizards, frogs and insectivorous birds tearing around house and garden all through the summer. The water in the baths will rarely be static - at the height of last summer I was getting through about 250 litres a day on flowers alone (all "grey") whereas the baths' capacity is just 80 each.

If there's a problem, it'll be in the big ponds, but I've decided that the ecological benefit of providing a "wetland" environment for the frogs, toads, newts and salamanders that are here already will outweigh any mosquito "cost".

Harry Palmr

Went out to do some work on my own garden for the first time this year! Cleaned the beds, pulled the scraggy remains of some of the overwintering salad leaves. Continued to chop, lop and saw a large laurel - that site will be for a greenhouse of some sort.

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

That many cranes?!? Wow, I'd have loved to see them, it must've been a sight to behold. Would you take a picture, next time, please, Celtic Rambler?

Not my pic (have only seen one group since, and they were far, far in the distance ... and going the wrong way

) but I came across this video of a previous mass migration recorded by someone almost exactly 150km south of me, so those guys probably passed over my area a few hours beforehand. I was working away then, though, so definitely didn't see or hear them myself. Even in smaller groups, they are indeed a sight - and sound - to behold. Here, we have the additional advantage of there being a significant thermal in the area (don't quite know why), so most of the groups "stop" directly overhead while they climb to a new altitude.

paddylonglegs

Looking for some suggestions folks:

I’m building a couple of large-ish planters, maybe 3ff x 3ft x 4ft high.

They will each hold a tree and will be placed in a south facing front garden. The house is a bungalow, the front “garden” is concrete

I’d love to hear your suggestions on some options.

I don’t need them to be huge, probably reaching gutter height.

I’m looking for ideas on a tree which will give year round interest. I do love silver birch but I believe they are not good for containers. We have thought about the likes of crabapple for its blossom and interest, but I personally like something more modern. I’m not ruling out evergreen either!

[Deleted User]

Witch hazel has a lovely scent and winter flowers.
Some varieties of magnolia would be small enough for pots.
Topiary type plants might be nice.
Maples have beautiful form and colours.
Some versions of Rowan have stunning purple or white berries in autumn after flowers in spring.

paddylonglegs

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Witch hazel has a lovely scent and winter flowers.
Some varieties of magnolia would be small enough for pots.
Topiary type plants might be nice.
Maples have beautiful form and colours.
Some versions of Rowan have stunning purple or white berries in autumn after flowers in spring.

Some great suggestions there, Portuguese or cherry Laurel , clipped well, could be a good solution. Thank you!

macraignil

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Looking for some suggestions folks:

I’m building a couple of large-ish planters, maybe 3ff x 3ft x 4ft high.

They will each hold a tree and will be placed in a south facing front garden. The house is a bungalow, the front “garden” is concrete

I’d love to hear your suggestions on some options.

I don’t need them to be huge, probably reaching gutter height.

I’m looking for ideas on a tree which will give year round interest. I do love silver birch but I believe they are not good for containers. We have thought about the likes of crabapple for its blossom and interest, but I personally like something more modern. I’m not ruling out evergreen either!

I've seen photinia red robin grown as small trees in large pots as well that have their interesting leaf colours through the year.

Make sure to allow for drainage when you are making your planters.

blackbox

macraignil wrote: »

Make sure to allow for drainage when you are making your planters.

...and be sure to make them strong. There will be more than a tonne of soil in each of them.

ErinGoBrath

CelticRambler wrote: »

I would ... if I could get the right combination of early warning, limited cloud cover and the right camera to hand! I've been trying for over a year to get a good photo of their passage overhead, even to the point of having a drone charged up and ready for take-off for more than a week back in the autumn! So far, though, no success. Just checked my crane migration site, and seemingly I'm in the ha'penny place are regards sightings yesterday - some people saw tens of thousands! :eek:

From that site, this is the migration pattern yesterday (SW to NE) and an "I am here" for completenes.

My sister spends most of her time in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon, I've visited there lots of times. Amazing part of France, you're lucky to be living there!

paddylonglegs

macraignil wrote: »

Make sure to allow for drainage when you are making your planters.

I will surely!

CelticRambler

ErinGoBrath wrote: »

My sister spends most of her time in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon, I've visited there lots of times. Amazing part of France, you're lucky to be living there!

Neuvy-sur-Barangeon? 150km to the north - totally different part of France!

Administratively, we're part of the same region, but culturally, linguistically, geologically, meteorologically and in many other ways my area belongs to the south. About a fortnight ago, there was a 10 or 12°C difference in temperature between here and there (we were in positive single digits, they were well into the negatives). That happens quite a lot at the extremes of summer and winter. Aswell as the 150km, we're at an altitude of about 100-200m higher.

blackbox

My greenhouse kit arrived today (Vitavia Saturn). It was ordered ages ago.

Weather is terrible but I might get to make a start on it on Sunday. I'd say that assembling it will keep me occupied for quite a while. I like to do stuff like this very carefully.

Never had a greenhouse before.

tickingclock

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

Skipduke

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

Using mine for veg growing but if it was for flowers yeah maybe a nice coat of paint