Today I did something in my Garden

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Interesting about no shipping to eu. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come. A real disaster for both sides IMO

Hence why ive probably 2 years supply of seeds

paddylonglegs wrote: »

Interesting about no shipping to eu. I hope it’s not a sign of things to come.

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

You could try delivery through Address Pal with an Post as a work around. I’ve done it a few times when the the delivery cost for seeds from the Uk was too expensive. You’re given a Uk address and then an Post ships it across

Address Pal won't work in this case, and yes, it is unequivocally a sign of things to come. As things stand at the moment, the UK has refused to apply to the EU to be recognised as a "listed third country". This means that all imports of plants, animals and derivatives thereof must be checked at a phytosanitary inspection point. This is one of the EU's absolutely unbreakable rules - even wooden pallets coming from the UK have to be certified as "healthy" before they can have a pile of boxes stacked on them and be loaded onto a lorry.

Unless the UK government gets its act together, every single British supplier of seeds, cuttings, bulbs, etc., will have to firstly find an EU-lab to certify their product likely to be exported after 1st January (bearing in mind that every UK lab will lose their approved status on 31st December) and complete reams of paperwork to send with each delivery. That's a separate cert for your tulip bulbs, your lilies, your pack of seeds, your tray of primoses, the three bare-root roses, even if these are all sent in the same package.

Address Pal (or Parcel Motel) will have to ensure that all this paperwork is present and correct before taking charge of the package, which (if the rules are followed correctly) will then be delivered to a phytosanitary inspection point in Ireland. Once processed there, you'll be free to arrange onward delivery.

The same applies to buying pups, goldfish, chickens, eggs, bees, beef, honey, fish, milk, cheese ... ... ...

They may yet get sense, over the water, but there's not much sign of it yet. I had intended to do a cross-Channel run to Kent next month to collect a load of plants from the former MrsCR before all this stupidity comes into effect, but it looks like lockdown has put an end to that.

Just renewed my membership of Irish Seed Savers and I'm looking forward to getting their seed catalogue in the post.

I had a go at saving some seed myself this year and had some success (I hope) with perpetual spinach, february orchid, parsley, salsify, runner beans and some herbs (parsley, dill, chervil). I'm going to use some of my own potatoes as seed next year and see how I get on.

looksee wrote: »

Large pack of trees, shrubs and plants just arrived this evening from Future Forests! A great unpacking will happen tomorrow!

Soak the roots in water for a few hours.

I'll be getting some of mine next week

Was out in the garden today planting 30 strawberry plants I got from gardens for Life.

10 each of symphany, Elegance and birdland cottage.

Also planted comfrey and horseradish in pots

stored yacon, apios and tiger nuts for planting out next year

A busy afternoon.
Glorious day here in North kerry.

Went for groceries in Lidl at an early hour this morning, and hoped I might pick up a few of the Gaultherias they were advertising. Have just the spot for them. They had, and they were reduced to €1.45 for fine little plants with lovely big berries, so I got 10! I really need a couple of fine days to get some of this stuff in, needs about 48 hours of no rain in order to be able to dig.

I bought some wood and cement to start on a small greenhouse at a corner of the shed.
It wont be big but just enough to start seeds. I picked up some free windows a while ago for the purpose.

SouthWesterly wrote: »

It wont be big but just enough to start seeds. I picked up some free windows a while ago for the purpose.

I've been looking at my local small ads for double-glazed panes of glass to make a really tiny "greenhouse" - just wide/long enough to put over my heated propagator but with sufficient height for things to grow tall. All being well, I'll run it off a small solar panel, old car battery and low-power inverter, so it can be placed wherever suits whatever's inside.

looksee wrote: »

I have timber and perspex (perspex that I have had stashed for nearly 20 years, I knew it would come in useful!) waiting to be a cold frame. Greenhouse would be lovely but not likely to happen at the moment. I do have a lot of seeds to start - will have to be early spring now - and not enough windowsills for them!

Mine will be a glorified cold frame. 8 feet tall, 6 wide and 4 deep. It will really be for starting off seeds.

TheTorment wrote: »

If you are anywhere near Wexford I have some teak windows that I replaced a while back.
You are more than welcome to them

Thanks ... but the closest I'm likely to get to Wexford in the foreseeable future is listening to the Wexford Carol performed by the Vienna Boys Choir! (I live in France)

I haven't covered mine. I am not an authority on rhubarb but there was some growing happily if unloved (well it was somewhat strangled by weeds, but it was still growing) in the garden we moved to, I transferred it to a new spot during the summer, the leaves collapsed but it regrew fine. I think it is very long suffering.

I think the idea of covering it is to force early shoots.

fryup wrote: »

should i cover my rhubarb from frost or is it hardy enough??

Definitely don't cover it - the crown needs to be exposed to frost to ensure a good crop the following year. As looksee remarks, the practice of covering the crowns is to force an early crop; but this should only be done after the crown has had a good couple of months of really cold temperatures (less than 3°C)

Note: it is normal for any stems/leaves that happen to be growing at the time of a hard frost to turn to mush. Don't worry - the plant knows what it's doing, and will produce bigger, better replacement shoots in due course.

I have an experimental seed bed (mainly for growing massive quantities of bedding plants) that was originally filled with the shavings, sawdust and miscellaneous bits of rotted bark, moss and lichen from where I cut up logs for the fire. It performed very well last year, and I've just topped it up with woodworking by-products. As the chainsaw stuff is inevitably contaminated with oil and the wood I'm working is of unknown American origin, I'm hesitant to use it on the vegetable garden.

All being well, future shavings and sawdust will go in the new dry/compost toilet that's going up the back of the garden at some point this year. I reckon that'll sort out any traces of hydrocarbon contamination! :pac: These toilets are a staple feature now of most smaller festivals in France (much nicer than portaloos), so I don't think my continental friends will have any problem "doing their business" in the garden ... not sure how the prudish Irish will cope, though. :rolleyes:

I've spent an hour or two the last few days clearing out a bed. It was full of cotoneasters and overshadowed by the neighbours hedge up till last autumn. Cotoneasters are a slow balls of a yolk to remove! But I'm getting there slowly and it's good to be out!