Today I did something in my Garden

paddylonglegs · 05-05-2020 2:42pm

Planning repaint garden walls, they are covered in the usual green mildew and whatever else.

Any thoughts on how to clean and prep walls without a power washer?

Harry Palmr · 05-05-2020 2:50pm

I used an 8 inch long hard bristle scrubbing bush for cleaning if the mildew is extensive there are home made concoctions like a vinegar and baking soda mix which you paint or spray on, leave for an hour then scrub/wash off. No idea if it works.

https://static.cleaningsupplies4u.com/420/420/assets/images/product/hand-scrubbing-brush--stiff-bristles.jpg

beggars_bush · 05-05-2020 11:37pm

Put up windbreak netting along fence to stop veg plants getting burnt.
Planted out beetroot red onions
Planted cucumber in polytunnel, more to go outside next week
Pumpkins going out later this week too and squashes

SnowyMuckish · 06-05-2020 8:44pm

I’ve been hardening off some young plants for the past week and I’m biting my nails trying to hold back planting them out. It’s the one part of gardening that I have no patience for! Going to wait out this cold spell coming this weekend and see how things fair out after that. Hopefully the cold spell won’t last too long?

SouthWesterly · 07-05-2020 3:05am

Another bed done, runner beans, Swede, turnip, okra, dwarf beans , mixed salad leaves, marigold and calendula.

SouthWesterly · 07-05-2020 7:47pm

Another day digging in my hybridised no dig garden. Planted a load of brassicas in starter beds.

magicbastarder · 07-05-2020 9:15pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

trying out something today - since we're not really using the car much, and it's sunny, i nipped off some of the oregano plant and am trying to find out how well drying it on the dash of the car works.

forgot to report back; this was a success. less than 24 hours later, crispy bone dry herbs.

NIMAN · 08-05-2020 2:18pm

After some major drainage work last month, finally got the full area rotovated, raked and reseeded yesterday.

The seed was literally being spread as the rains arrived. Couldn't have timed it better.

Hopefully the drainage will be fixed now, no way doing all that again next year!

https://flic.kr/p/2iYNNbY

https://flic.kr/p/2iYRwGP

GreeBo · 08-05-2020 2:57pm

NIMAN wrote: »

After some major drainage work last month, finally got the full area rotovated, raked and reseeded yesterday.

The seed was literally being spread as the rains arrived. Couldn't have timed it better.

Hopefully the drainage will be fixed now, no way doing all that again next year!

https://flic.kr/p/2iYNNbY

https://flic.kr/p/2iYRwGP

I hope the forecasted frost doesnt do you any damage!

SouthWesterly · 08-05-2020 5:40pm

Finished my beds today. Planted out a load of herbs and a poppy bed.
2 beds spare for the next batch of veg and 2 which I'm leaving covered with plastic as I've enough planted... For now.

SouthWesterly · 08-05-2020 5:41pm

Finished my beds today. Planted out a load of herbs and a poppy bed.
2 beds spare for the next batch of veg and 2 which I'm leaving covered with plastic as I've enough planted... For now.

Igotadose · 09-05-2020 9:21am

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

Hopefully the cold spell won’t last too long?

My unscientific rule of thumb is that, if NYC gets a weather system, 3 days later, we get some aspect of it.

Well, for this weekend, they're predicted a record (due to late in the season) cold front dropping snow and going below freezing throughout the Northeast US, for the weekend.

I was pretty sanguine about the cold we were having here - I had lots of seedlings out, none seemed to suffer. And the wind, usually the worst problem I face, abated the last couple days. But now, I'm beginning to regret not having any fleece to cover what's out there, I think by mid next week some aspect of this record system in the US will be upon us. Fingers crossed I am completely wrong! I really wish the DIY shops were open!

I wonder if I could get some wool from the local shepherds. I know they basically throw it away, maybe I can mulch with it to keep the seedlings warm for a couple days... I think I'd be causing a huge mess though..

Harry Palmr · 09-05-2020 10:25am

There will be some cool nights but nothing exceptional as the weather is basically slack continental HP not Atlantic from the US north east

https://www.wetterzentrale.de/en/topkarten.php?map=1&model=ecm&var=1&time=252&run=0&lid=OP&h=0&tr=24&mv=0

Wyldwood · 09-05-2020 10:26am

Newspaper can be used if nothing else is available for insulating plants. A couple of layers weighted with stones.

magicbastarder · 09-05-2020 10:37am

Igotadose wrote: »

My unscientific rule of thumb is that, if NYC gets a weather system, 3 days later, we get some aspect of it.

My father in law deals a lot with a company in Iceland, and it seems to be a good time of thumb that if we're having good weather, it's miserable there, and the converse.

Same applies with Portugal to a lesser extent - some of my colleagues are based in Lisbon.

CelticRambler · 09-05-2020 10:41am

If you can get hold of a barrow-load of freshly cut grass, heap it strategically around the bed to create some mini hot pockets as it decomposes. Once the temperatures rise again, you can either remove it entirely or dig it in.

Doctors room ghost · 09-05-2020 10:42am

GreeBo wrote: »

I hope the forecasted frost doesnt do you any damage!

I sowed grass in early April and it got 3 good frosts. The same grass is a foot and a bit high today not a bother on it

CelticRambler · 09-05-2020 12:07pm

Not exactly something I did today (other than upload the photos) but this is what happens when you've planted all your seeds, transplanted all your seedlings, mowed the grass three times in the week already and every other job is paused waiting for fresh supplies ...

The extreme southwestern corner of my bit of garden, somewhat neglected ...

After two long days of lopping and chainsawing, a vision of the future begins to emerge:

By the end of the week, a "blank canvas" has been marked out ... and several new lines now added to the To Do list!

That's a very productive plum tree on the right; there's a hawthorn on the left, with two self-sown rhododendrons on either side of it conveniently placed to screen a messy rear access; a holly right in the middle and - I hope - a dogwood (didn't realise it was there until after I'd cut it to the ground); there's also some honeysuckle growing through the ivy. A big messy alder (?I think) was turned into stakes and wood chip mulch.

SouthWesterly · 09-05-2020 12:13pm

Put up bean netting and scaffold netting over my fruit bushes.

Need to make a stand for the rain barrel.
It never stops.

GreeBo · 09-05-2020 1:22pm

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

I sowed grass in early April and it got 3 good frosts. The same grass is a foot and a bit high today not a bother on it

It all depends on when it germinates though, with the weather we have had for the last while the seeds will pop, but if we get a sharp ground frost they could pop their clogs.

CelticRambler · 09-05-2020 2:35pm

SouthWesterly wrote: »

It never stops.

When you wrote yesterday that you had "finished my beds" I was wondering yesterday how on earth you could be finished. :eek: Mine are in various stages of "done", "to be done", "done for now", "should have been done" and "ah feck, I forgot about that one ..." :pac:

New Home · 09-05-2020 2:50pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

When you wrote yesterday that you had "finished my beds" I was wondering yesterday how on earth you could be finished. :eek: Mine are in various stages of "done", "to be done", "done for now", "should have been done" and "ah feck, I forgot about that one ..." :pac:

Probably just changed the duvet covers.

SouthWesterly · 09-05-2020 4:17pm

CelticRambler wrote: »

When you wrote yesterday that you had "finished my beds" I was wondering yesterday how on earth you could be finished. :eek: Mine are in various stages of "done", "to be done", "done for now", "should have been done" and "ah feck, I forgot about that one ..." :pac:

I took the week off working from home.
Spent about 5 hours a day every day digging out buttercup from the beds and planting.
All the beds planted except for 2 that I'm planning to leave covered in plastic.
Just had 20mm of rain in the last hour so hopefully with the ground being warm and the heat returning mid week everything should come on.

Have the following
45kg of various spuds.
30 artichoke
30 asparagus
Oca and mashua
Cabbage of various types, broccoli( various),cauliflower, Kale, various beans and peas.
Carrots ( various) Swede, turnip ( various),beetroot (various), onions, scallions, garlic, parsnip, fennell, dill, tuber parsley, chard, mixed leaves. Radish, lettuce and edible flowers.
I'm sure I've missed something.

I put the drone up last night. I'll stick up a photo when I can.

Also built a chicken, coop and run,( in the last month) got extra hens and half a dozen meat birds.

Got a rain barrel set up just before the storm today to take rain from the chicken run roof.

Hoping the fruit tree flowers survive the next few days. Looking at a great harvest of apples if they do. Lost everything this time last year with the cold storm that we got in may.
I set the rows of veg up with enough space to be able to hoe down the middle to deal with weeds.

Also 3 acres of hay growing in the field as well.

Half the garden also has wood chips of weed fabric which will help.

CelticRambler · 09-05-2020 10:55pm

SouthWesterly wrote: »

I'm sure I've missed something.

Tomatoes!

I think I've realised why we might have a different experience of being "finished" - or not: here, where I am, a longer growing season means that a lot of those tasks are spread out, otherwise the time is "wasted". I'm only finished the winter harvest a few weeks (last of my lambs lettuce and beetroot rapidly went to seed in the summer temperatures of April) and am now getting started on the spring harvest - the first of my pick-as-you-go feuille de chêne lettuce is ready, half a kilo of strawberries collected this afternoon, early cherries are already gone (birds got the lot of them) ... but I'm also preparing beds for what I'll be sowing in June (melons, beans, potatoes, various salad items) knowing that they'll keep growing until December.

Today was a wrapping up day, as I'm working away for two weeks from tomorrow (pandemic be damned!

) - so spent the morning potting on sweet peas and lupins, and spent the afternoon sowing more melons, gerkins and peppers, as well as some zinias and late marigolds (last year's didn't self-seed as expected

) to add to a tray of nasturtiums. The forecast is for "unsettled weather" for the fortnight which I'm hoping means a perfect combination of temperature and humidity for unsupervised seeds and seedlings.

SouthWesterly · 10-05-2020 9:19pm

Took a walk out this evening. Ground nice and wet. Shallots shot up overnight. A bit of warm weather next week will do it a, world of good and everything will benefit.

scarepanda · 10-05-2020 9:44pm

Today we dismantled a ramshackle greenhouse in our old house. It's been up about 6 years. How it's survived, especially hurricane Ophelia, we'll never know! We brought the perspex to the new house and my dad's going to take all the timber during the week when we are not there.

We also got a general clean out of the garden done. A bit of strimming and a good mow will see it out now.

SouthWesterly · 11-05-2020 7:23pm

Just got a delivery of wood chips. I'm back in action

beggars_bush · 13-05-2020 11:07am

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Polytunnel is getting a bit crowded

SouthWesterly · 13-05-2020 2:16pm

Ordered horseradish from future forests.

magicbastarder · 13-05-2020 4:07pm

we dug ours up, took up too much space for the utility we got from it. nice looking plant, though.

SouthWesterly · 13-05-2020 6:00pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

we dug ours up, took up too much space for the utility we got from it. nice looking plant, though.

Got some from the in-laws in Eastern Europe last year but it got planted in what became a walk way.

beggars_bush · 14-05-2020 9:20am

Final beds are ready for butternut squash, pumpkins , ,cucumbers and shard to be planted out.
Wish frost would go away

SouthWesterly · 16-05-2020 4:57pm

Installed a water collection system today.
Gutter on the chicken run to channel the water, going into 2 connected barrels with a tap on one

Planted out kale and sowed some more peas

beggars_bush · 19-05-2020 3:53pm

Cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes are finally in the ground. I planted them with a half plastic bottle sunk into ground beside them to allow for better watering of roots.
Swiss chard, sweet corn and pak choi are the only ones left.

paddylonglegs · 19-05-2020 10:33pm

Finally got my hands on herb seeds! Planted at the weekend with kids and sitting on the window sill

SnowyMuckish · 19-05-2020 10:58pm

Never thought I’d say this, but I spent a blissful evening weeding my veg patch. Listening to the beautiful melody of bird song and spring lambs, pure serenity!

fryup · 20-05-2020 9:40am

is it safe to give a quick careful squirt of Roundup around a fruit patch??....i've got a raspberry patch and there's dock leaves, couch grass etc amongst it and i'm sick to death of pulling them up every week

SouthWesterly · 20-05-2020 2:09pm

was out last night spraying bluestone and washing soda on my spuds. Of course I forgot to attach the nozzle and used more than necessary. I couldnt be bothered walkiing back to the hosue until i had to refill the spray.

Harry Palmr · 20-05-2020 2:14pm

Transferred some of that fancy oriental lettuce from the baby bed to the main bed. Hopefully it'll not all get wiped out tomorrow night! Might put a few pots over them with a brick on top. Next job, digging out small brambles before they become big ones.

SouthWesterly · 20-05-2020 4:07pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Transferred some of that fancy oriental lettuce from the baby bed to the main bed. Hopefully it'll not all get wiped out tomorrow night! Might put a few pots over them with a brick on top. Next job, digging out small brambles before they become big ones.

Removing blackberries. I'm encouraging mine!

Harry Palmr · 20-05-2020 4:17pm

I know, the whole top of the garden was brambles for years - they overwhelmed everything bar a tree. It was great for 6 weeks of fruit but otherwise a monster of a nuisance so two winters ago I decided to nuke them all and now I make sure to stay on top any that spout.

SouthWesterly · 21-05-2020 6:57pm

We got the last of the wood chips down on the veggie beds before the rain. I'm happy

blackbox · 21-05-2020 7:19pm

fryup wrote: »

is it safe to give a quick careful squirt of Roundup around a fruit patch??....i've got a raspberry patch and there's dock leaves, couch grass etc amongst it and i'm sick to death of pulling them up every week

I always do this around fruit trees. No problems as long as you don't get it on the leaves. Best avoid a windy day. If you do get it on a leaf, remove the leaf immediately so that it doesn't get absorbed into the plant.

macraignil · 21-05-2020 8:00pm

Moved the barbecue from the front of the house into the garage. Sounds like there is going to be a bit of wind blowing.

Garlinge · 22-05-2020 5:09pm

Today I planted last of runner bean plants first grown to few inches high in pots. Just finished putting up the bamboos poles for them to run up using cable ties as good way to fix them at top.

ShiverinEskimo · 27-05-2020 9:39pm

Bought a tank of propane, assembled a weed burner and went to town on my gravel driveway. Long day but very satisfying.

whodafunk · 28-05-2020 8:19am

Ripped up an old path running through the garden, got the garden rotivated and levelled.

whodafunk · 28-05-2020 8:22am

Ripped up an old path running through the garden, got the garden rotivated and levelled. Plan to run stepping stones through where path was.
Finish painting garden walls white over the long weekend and plenty of watering for the new grass seed going down!

darrenheaphy · 29-05-2020 12:14pm

Garlinge wrote: »

Today I planted last of runner bean plants first grown to few inches high in pots. Just finished putting up the bamboos poles for them to run up using cable ties as good way to fix them at top.

They look beautiful if you can stay on top of it, I had bamboo wigwams and it looked stunning. Pics attached for refeference

SnowyMuckish · 29-05-2020 9:33pm

Spent today watering and potting on seedlings. For the first time this year I got a faint hint of honeysuckle fragrance as I sat on my back doorstep. It always brings back fond childhood memories!

Today I did something in my Garden

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