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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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looksee wrote: »

Can you use ordinary garden worms for a wormery? We have more worms per square foot than I have ever seen in a garden!

I remember reading up on this before and "normal" earthworms wouldn't thrive, I'm almost sure wormeries need tiger worms or "wrigglers", IIRC.

This might help. https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=114749133&postcount=11

New Home

And this, https://www.omlet.ie/guide/worm_composting/about_worms/earthworm_types/

External Association

I cleaned up my rockery, the moss, twigs etc.

Started with the fencing part of a larger garden project. Got off to a great start.

looksee

Igotadose wrote: »

in my wormery experience (outside Ireland), temperature matters a lot. Garden worms don't like it too warm, the 'composting worms' (the red smallish ones) do fine. So, if your wormery is indoors, you might want composting worms rather than generic garden worms.

Frankly, depends on what your plans for the worms are. Seems like if you have lots of worms per sq. foot, you don't need a wormery

I didn't have any plans for the worms, I thought they made compost? I probably won't bother but I find so many worms when I am digging I thought they might serve another purpose.

Igotadose

looksee wrote: »

I didn't have any plans for the worms, I thought they made compost? I probably won't bother but I find so many worms when I am digging I thought they might serve another purpose.

Compost is decomposed organic material AFAIK. Worms play a part in doing the chewing up part, but it's bacteria that break the material down. If you have a lot of the red wiggler compost worms, you're doing something right.

As for uses for worms, there's fishing, feeding to larger pet tropical fish, maybe letting chickens have at them...

CelticRambler

looksee wrote: »

I find so many worms when I am digging I thought they might serve another purpose.

You could eat them! :pac:

looksee

Blerch.

Edit: the two robins in the garden that practically sit on the fork as you are digging are very interested in them, but they are a bit too big. They are very pleased to munch on the much smaller - and less useful, I suspect - wrigglers that turn up every now and again.

New Home

You need some blackbirds.

Or some hens!

looksee

We have very few blackbirds for some reason. I occasionally see the odd one but we don't appear to have any residents.

looksee

Igotadose wrote: »

Compost is decomposed organic material AFAIK. Worms play a part in doing the chewing up part, but it's bacteria that break the material down. If you have a lot of the red wiggler compost worms, you're doing something right.

As for uses for worms, there's fishing, feeding to larger pet tropical fish, maybe letting chickens have at them...

Checks google, oh yes, I'd say some of them are compost worms, others are the more usual earth worms. I am happy for them to just be in the garden, I was just wondering about other ways they could be used. (I just looked them up, I know nothing about worms, or at least, now I know a bit more

)

Mollydog123

Planted my Maris Peers. First time using potato grow bags. Decided I'd give the raised beds a holiday this year.

[Deleted User]

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Got a delivery of certified native Irish wildflowers today from wildflowers.ie. It’s going to be a busy weekend sowing hope the weather holds long enough.

Sowed around 60sqm in our front garden yesterday,
took 3/4 hours to remove as much grass as possible.
Used one of these detaching blades in the mower and it worked well.

https://lawnmowerpartsonline.ie/product/16-dethatcher-blade

It did slightly damage the mower, i think i had it set too low and hit a bump.
Another thing to fix.

[Deleted User]

When one job is done another one always appears! We used the scarifier, it looks to be a very similar idea to the detacher, going to go over the area again when it dries to get it a bare as possible. Couldn’t get anywhere near the sowing this weekend due to the weather :rolleyes:

CelticRambler

There are days when I envy ye all over there with nothing more to worry about in your lawns than a bit of moss and a few patches of plantain! :pac: I spent a good hour this morning trying to redistribute dozens of molehills into the humps and hollows that the little feckers create with their tunnels. A pointless task, because I'm sure there'll be a least half a dozen new ones there when I go out after my lunch. :mad:

Edit: but then again ... the 17°C outside in the coldest part of the garden at the moment is some compensation.

I have some painting to do this afternoon, and have to move it into the shade - it's gloss white, and I'm already half-blinded by looking at the undercoat. :cool:

[Deleted User]

17c at the end of March, lovely! if I had that here in the NW in June/July I’d be delighted! Must be hard to keep up with watering in the Summer though?!

[Deleted User]

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

17c at the end of March, lovely! if I had that here in the NW in June/July I’d be delighted! Must be hard to keep up with watering in the Summer though?!

CR loves to rub our noses in his, weather

I can see snow on slieve Mish

CelticRambler

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

17c at the end of March, lovely! if I had that here in the NW in June/July I’d be delighted! Must be hard to keep up with watering in the Summer though?!

Summer? Never mind summer, I'm already recycling the kitchen water for the planters out the front, and dipping into the rain butts for the veg.

We've had only one full day of anything you might call rain since ... mid January, I think? Other than that, the plants get more from a heavy dew than straight from the sky.

And these clear skies do come at the price of chilly nights - still in the low single digits this week. A 20-degree difference in the same day is a bit of a pain (it's now 26°C where it was 17°C earlier - still in the shade there, but the sun's coming around and is bouncing off a nearby wall).

[Deleted User]

SouthWesterly wrote: »

CR loves to rub our noses in his, weather

I can see snow on slieve Mish

CelticRambler wrote: »

Summer? Never mind summer, I'm already recycling the kitchen water for the planters out the front, and dipping into the rain butts for the veg.

We've had only one full day of anything you might call rain since ... mid January, .

Oh well at least that’s one problem I don’t have to worry about, I could bottle and sell the stuff :pac: :pac: we put herring bone drains into our lawn a few years ago, looked out this morning to see 3 mini lakes in it, had to go out to puncture a few holes. Almost no need to ‘create’ a garden pond here, I don’t know why I bothered :pac:

Still a few warm degrees our way would be nice this summer!

[Deleted User]

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Oh well at least that’s one problem I don’t have to worry about, I could bottle and sell the stuff :pac: :pac: we put herring bone drains into our lawn a few years ago, looked out this morning to see 3 mini lakes in it, had to go out to puncture a few holes. Almost no need to ‘create’ a garden pond here, I don’t know why I bothered :pac:

Still a few warm degrees our way would be nice this summer!

Water is one thing the kingdom isn't short of

CelticRambler

This is what had me blinded earlier: a quarantine facility for summer visitors ...

Can also be used by plants (up to) 60cm tall that think something-teen degrees is a bit chilly, and single-digit temps are just ... no! :pac:

The "ice lolly sticks" were a late addition to the design, when I realised that this'd be too heavy to move by myself when fully glazed, and I'll most need to be moving it when I'm least likely to have anyone around to help. So the five panes (salvaged from a set of internal doors that were in the house when we arrived - 15 years in the "might come in handy" corner ) can be lifted out and re-fitted as required. Of course this means that they don't give a complete seal, but I'm going to call that "ventilation" ...

py wrote: »

Started with the fencing part of a larger garden project. Got off to a great start.

About 1/3 done on either side of the garden. Have hit a snag on both sides though. Remenants of a large tree stump on one side and a smaller tree stump embedded in concrete on the other. Both are directly where my next post is to be laid. Mini excavator arriving on Thursday which will hopefully get me back moving and also help with the remainder of the project.

looksee

I weeded.

Igotadose

Weeded some and fertilized berry bushes as well as artichokes. Back to the rainy weather tomorrow.

looksee

Igotadose wrote: »

Weeded some and fertilized berry bushes as well as artichokes. Back to the rainy weather tomorrow.

Ah no! I though we were settling into a bit of nice weather!

beggars_bush

Polytunnel finished

Most of garden dug too.
Time to prep beds for my sarpo mira spuds!

CelticRambler

Igotadose wrote: »

Back to the rainy weather tomorrow.

Lucky for some!

We're promised the possibility of (maybe) some light showers next week. Was talking to the neighbour this evening (walking his dog after curfew ... ) - his little pond and reed-bed is now completely dry.

Today was a flower-day for me - pricking out and potting on, mostly border annuals, but a collection of lupins too; as well as pulling the weeds out of the containers where I have loads of tulips growing (am really pleased with how my container-grown tulips are performing*).

Also picked up half a dozen lavenders for 1€90 apiece when I went to the supermarket this morning. I've set myself the target of getting my herb garden fully landscaped, renovated and re-planted by the end of April (not including the saffron bulbs, because they won't be sold till July).

* but they're not half as impressive as the late in-ground planting of these, following the suggestion of a work colleague back in December.

[Deleted User]

BrownFinger wrote: »

Sowed around 60sqm in our front garden yesterday,
took 3/4 hours to remove as much grass as possible.

Can I ask how bare did you get the lawn? I got a good bit off today but still grass left. Should have hired a rotavator in hindsight. Hopefully the yellow rattle will do the job.

looksee

CelticRambler wrote: »

Lucky for some! We're promised the possibility of (maybe) some light showers next week. Was talking to the neighbour this evening (walking his dog after curfew ... ) - his little pond and reed-bed is now completely dry.

Today was a flower-day for me - pricking out and potting on, mostly border annuals, but a collection of lupins too; as well as pulling the weeds out of the containers where I have loads of tulips growing (am really pleased with how my container-grown tulips are performing*).

Also picked up half a dozen lavenders for 1€90 apiece when I went to the supermarket this morning. I've set myself the target of getting my herb garden fully landscaped, renovated and re-planted by the end of April (not including the saffron bulbs, because they won't be sold till July).

* but they're not half as impressive as the late in-ground planting of these, following the suggestion of a work colleague back in December.

Whatever about the tulips (which are gorgeous) I am eyeing the little fence with some interest and envy!

CelticRambler

One of last spring's lock-down projects! If you're that interested, I have some before-during-after pics that I can post tomorrow.