The compost heap - off topic thread

looksee · 04-07-2019 9:26pm #1

I was going to revive the previous OT thread, but it was 10 years old, so I thought maybe a new one?

Anyway, take a look at these beauties and tell us would you be tempted...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GXLDVWL/ref=psdc_3749091_t2_B07D365XN4

they honestly are so far off topic that they are can only be compared with those dyed chrysanths you see in the supermarket.

Spoiler...

they are not evening primrose, they are primroses which is a different animal, and they are not blue they are photoshopped. You can even see a bit of the covered over copyright mark on one of them!

uck51js9zml2yt · 04-07-2019 9:48pm

Speaking of compost heaps
I made the cheapest one ever

4 white pallets screwed together to form a square.
Great for the grass cuttings. Had to stop my wife thinking about putting it out on the field to be baled with the silage

Day Lewin · 04-07-2019 10:28pm

Ah, the old pallet compost bin: serviceable, excellent.

Also really handy that you can remove the lowest slat when it eventually comes time to scrape out the finished compost, you can get at it from underneath.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 04-07-2019 10:32pm

looksee wrote: »

I was going to revive the previous OT thread, but it was 10 years old, so I thought maybe a new one?

Anyway, take a look at these beauties and tell us would you be tempted...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GXLDVWL/ref=psdc_3749091_t2_B07D365XN4

they honestly are so far off topic that they are can only be compared with those dyed chrysanths you see in the supermarket.

Spoiler...
they are not evening primrose, they are primroses which is a different animal, and they are not blue they are photoshopped. You can even see a bit of the covered over copyright mark on one of them!

They say they're rare though. They'll be even more rare judging by the reviews and the lack if germination.

Getting to sit in the garden more this year for some reason - maybe I've finally before more efficient in the garden.

Great compost from the bins this year too. I'm nearly running out of places to put it.

Spuds are good this year and good crops of peas too. Onions coming nicely and massive courgettes.

Mrs S in experimenting with courgette and apple soup recipes,

New Home · 05-07-2019 2:00pm

I have seen those in real life (polyanthus primula), and yes, they can be blue and they can also be a purply shade of blue (not all of them would have the white line around the petals). I've never seen them sold as seeds, though, only as full plants imported straight from Holland.

https://www.google.com/search?&biw=1920&bih=938&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=IEkfXaPjNbuEhbIP5pyv2AU&q=blue+polyanthus+white+edges&oq=blue+polyanthus+white+edges&gs_l=img.3...10048.13253..13833...1.0..0.48.382.10......0....1..gws-wiz-img.3Cf1txMYD80

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 05-07-2019 4:08pm

Anybody thinned apples yet? There wasn't a massive set of fruit but still enough to warrant thinning out, because we didn't have any June drop.

finla · 05-07-2019 4:36pm

Zachary Billions Coffee wrote: »

Anybody thinned apples yet? There wasn't a massive set of fruit but still enough to warrant thinning out, because we didn't have any June drop.

No, very poor crop this year on all three of my apple trees. Never seen so many aphids on everything!

magicbastarder · 05-07-2019 4:41pm

yes, loads on my james grieve and belvedere house trees (only one of each).
i really need to prune the james grieve, it's like an overloaded fishing rod.

standardg60 · 05-07-2019 7:53pm

New Home wrote: »

I have seen those in real life (polyanthus primula), and yes, they can be blue and they can also be a purply shade of blue (not all of them would have the white line around the petals). I've never seen them sold as seeds, though, only as full plants imported straight from Holland.

https://www.google.com/search?&biw=1920&bih=938&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=IEkfXaPjNbuEhbIP5pyv2AU&q=blue+polyanthus+white+edges&oq=blue+polyanthus+white+edges&gs_l=img.3...10048.13253..13833...1.0..0.48.382.10......0....1..gws-wiz-img.3Cf1txMYD80

The pic is of primula but the seeds are oenothera which is a completely different plant!

Harry Palmr · 24-07-2019 3:50pm

Are plastic pots the bane of your life (and shed)? Why plastic is still allowed to be used is starting to bug me, there are alternatives but it seems hardly anyone uses them. Sure having some for potting on is handy but over a couple of years you could easily have scores that are surplus to requirement.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2019 7:15pm

I don't know about any of you but there seems to be a never ending list of jobs in the garden at the moment. Grass cutting hasn't slowed at all this year and needs doing twice a week. Hedges are throwing out tremendous growth and need almost constant attention. Deadheading of flowers is a daily chore. Strawberries are throwing out very vigorous runners galore, which need planting on or removing. Vegetables are constantly in need of harvesting and weeding is never ending. Many shrubs and trees seem to have spread an awful lot and need remedial work to keep them in order. It's all go all day every day this summer.

Or am I just getting too old?

New Home · 13-08-2019 8:54pm

And you're not even making jam or pickles or preserving tomatoes and vegetables or making cordials, etc? Lazy, lazy, lazy! :pac:

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2019 10:22pm

New Home wrote: »

And you're not even making jam or pickles or preserving tomatoes and vegetables or making cordials, etc? Lazy, lazy, lazy! :pac:

No, Mrs S is in the middle of all that. But who has to crop the ingredients and clean the fruit?

magicbastarder · 13-08-2019 10:29pm

we've been neglecting the garden this last week. i'm sure the jobs will catch up on us.

Harry Palmr · 13-08-2019 10:30pm

The weeds have gone mad this summer that's for sure, perfect conditions alas.

uck51js9zml2yt · 13-08-2019 11:18pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The weeds have gone mad this summer that's for sure, perfect conditions alas.

Wife spent 4 hours Sunday and s few later in the week weeding.

smacl · 14-08-2019 8:28am

Leah Drab Eyeliner wrote: »

Wife spent 4 hours Sunday and s few later in the week weeding.

Thing I like most about gardening is getting outdoors for some light exercise in pleasant surroundings for a few hours with visible results for the effort. More past-time than chore but I've not been doing nearly enough of it recently (and my garden is a veritable postage stamp in comparison to yours).

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 23-08-2019 8:34pm

Isn't the year flying by? It dawned on me tonight that is time already to sow wallflowers, Forget-me-not and Sweet William for spring flowering.

Any other seasonal jobs come to mind?

magicbastarder · 23-08-2019 8:45pm

not sure if i'll do it this weekend, but there's an evergreen shrub in the front garden which i want to chop back hard now that it's finished flowering. it's turned into a big amorphous blob, about six foot in diameter.
the reason i will chop it back now rather than in the winter is because i want to put a small pond near it in the front garden, and need to shift the liner out of the garage, and get the damn thing dug when the weather is reasonable.

Harry Palmr · 23-08-2019 9:39pm

The birds in my back garden should be auditioning for Hitchcock so destructive are they. Everything bar the leeks is now under chicken wire.

smacl · 25-08-2019 1:58pm

Zachary Billions Coffee wrote: »

Any other seasonal jobs come to mind?

Just scratted and pressed a couple of buckets of windfalls for the first batch of cider for the year. Laborious enough job but satisfying at the same time. Couple of dozen bottles worth which should be good for early November. Plums are ripe too and need harvesting as does the rhubarb.

magicbastarder · 25-08-2019 4:06pm

I once had an apple and rhubarb cider which was lovely, you could combine the two?

smacl · 25-08-2019 4:27pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

I once had an apple and rhubarb cider which was lovely, you could combine the two?

Was actually thinking that. Just finished off the last of the rhubarb wine made earlier in the year which was delish. The only problem with it is that the rhubarb is a delicate enough flavour that easily gets drowned out. Made rhubarb and ginger beer last year that ended up pretty much as ginger beer.

magicbastarder · 25-08-2019 5:29pm

how do you process your apples?
i use a centrifugal fruit juicer for mine; it's reasonably efficient at recovering the juice, but by god, it's tedious work.

smacl · 25-08-2019 7:02pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

how do you process your apples?
i use a centrifugal fruit juicer for mine; it's reasonably efficient at recovering the juice, but by god, it's tedious work.

Had one and it produced great results before it finally clapped out, but as you say, loads of work. I use a bucket scratter these days and press. The scratter is just about ok without being brilliant but I don't have a big enough crop to justify a more serious piece of kit.

Garlinge · 26-08-2019 12:06pm

Re excess plastic pots. I donate to friend who does a charity 'open day' of her garden and pots up plants for sale also.

Zzippy · 26-08-2019 2:48pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

The birds in my back garden should be auditioning for Hitchcock so destructive are they. Everything bar the leeks is now under chicken wire.

Same here. We have a load of crows and magpies hanging around like bored teenagers. My apple crop is suffering...

smacl · 29-08-2019 12:26pm

Zzippy wrote: »

Same here. We have a load of crows and magpies hanging around like bored teenagers. My apple crop is suffering...

We've a shop next door with a deli-counter and the seagulls and crows are always there in the morning making a racket. The big black back gulls really are the thugs of local bird population and make a horrendous mess given half a chance.

Harry Palmr · 06-09-2019 5:31pm

I bought one of those pencil shaped tool sharpeners in Lidl, which look like nothing to be honest but a few swipes and my couldn't cut through butter shears have been transformed into a brand new condition and all for about €2.50.

magicbastarder · 07-09-2019 7:34pm

are they some sort of ceramic? ikea sell a ceramic bar knife sharpener which we use in the kitchen a lot, had not thought of using it on the shears.
though you have to periodically scrub it down with a scourer and jif, to remove the steel buildup on it which reduces its effectiveness.

magicbastarder · 07-09-2019 7:36pm

anyway, lots and lots of deadheading and chopping back in the garden today, a job which has been on the to-do list for weeks. quite a marked amount of mildew on many plants, but that's partly due to me not having done the above tasks till now.

it just seems the last few summers have been so much more humid than before.

The compost heap - off topic thread

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