The compost heap - off topic thread

New Home · 17-04-2021 6:22pm

A long time ago someone was asking how to create a shaded area (IIRC) or how to create a climbing frame for their peas and beans. I remembered this image, but I wasn't able to find it again at the time. Today I did. I think this is genius.

https://funsubstance.com/uploads/original/500/500236.jpg

fryup · 19-04-2021 8:56am

^^^^^^^^^^

would that not attract alot of biting insects? midges and the like

New Home · 19-04-2021 10:12am

No more than any other type of canopy/pergola, I wouldn't think. I've seen photos of green teepees made for children to play in using climbing vegetables, I'd say this is the same principle.

Harry Palmr · 19-04-2021 11:30pm

It's very groovy but in Ireland it's main use would be cover on a soft day

Harry Palmr · 20-04-2021 12:21pm

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Woodies delivery notes

Pay the extra! DPD are so much better than Fastway in my experience.

Item arrived exactly as intended between 11 an 12.

fryup · 21-04-2021 10:48am

QUESTION: do birds build nests in laurel hedging??

New Home · 21-04-2021 11:23am

Yes.

New Home · 25-04-2021 1:06am

Genius idea.

https://www.handimania.com/home-garden/a-fantastic-patent-for-planting-strawberries-all-you-need-is-a-plastic-laundry-basket.html

magicbastarder · 28-04-2021 10:56am

is it just me, or are people posting more about problems with laurel this year than they have previously?

atahuapla · 28-04-2021 11:22am

Any one know where to get bags of subbase?
Looking to replace a small patch of grass with slabs.

looksee · 28-04-2021 11:58am

Someone may have a better idea but maybe a couple of bags of the cheapest gravel you can find and a couple of bags of sand? How much you need depends on what's underneath, if its soil you could need a few though, at a guess you would only get a couple of slabs to a bag of gravel. I wonder if you live near me, I have 20 tonnes of gravel and pebbles to get rid of

macraignil · 28-04-2021 12:08pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

is it just me, or are people posting more about problems with laurel this year than they have previously?

Just started to look at the gardenersworld forum the last couple of years and it is a busier gardening forum than boards and since starting to look at it there has been a very regular posting of questions about laurel to the extent that some regular contributors seem fed up of the same questions about laurel and usually offer a link back to a thread on the topic that went into great detail over multiple pages. There was a good related post in the last couple of days from one experienced gardener who explained how their best success with laurel was in very poor ground and suggested a lot of these laurel appearance issues are likely to be caused by people trying too hard with their laurel and giving it nutrients they don't need and watering too regularly and lightly so the roots don't go deep to find water and nutrients like they should naturally do. Not cutting it back enough to generate vigorous new bushy growth was also highlighted as a common mistake.

I have some laurel that is the same this year as in other years and I also have noticed more posts here about laurel. I suspect the greater number of posts on boards is coming from people who are just starting to notice they have a garden since lock-down more than there being any new problem with laurel.

CelticRambler · 28-04-2021 3:03pm

macraignil wrote: »

people who are just starting to notice they have a garden since lock-down

Some just starting to notice they've got families too! :pac:

Very off topic now, but I was watching a film this afternoon (it's raining

) that included some "posh house" locations, very reminiscent of those makeover programmes, and in conjunction with some other online conversations, was thinking that there seems to be a type of person (or couple, less commonly whole families) that only exists in their home environment, but doesn't really live there.

I think lockdown has made many people realise that that grassy/muddy/paved space outside the kitchen window is (could/should be) much more than a decorative backdrop to whatever time they spend at that address in daylight hours. Hopefully any such enlightenment will be permanent.

magicbastarder · 28-04-2021 3:06pm

we were talking to the woman who runs hedgehog rescue dublin about this, and last summer was their busiest summer ever, due to lockdown. people at home finally getting round to jobs they'd been putting off for years (such as lifting collapsed old sheds nursing hedgehog mothers were under) or cutting/strimming places which had been left undisturbed for years, and killing or maiming hogs which had set up home there.

looksee · 28-04-2021 6:04pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

we were talking to the woman who runs hedgehog rescue dublin about this, and last summer was their busiest summer ever, due to lockdown. people at home finally getting round to jobs they'd been putting off for years (such as lifting collapsed old sheds nursing hedgehog mothers were under) or cutting/strimming places which had been left undisturbed for years, and killing or maiming hogs which had set up home there.

Ah that's sad! We have been trying to figure out which of the swiss cheese ditches around our garden are currently home to rabbits - the rabbits are still around but we think they have moved house over to the other side of the garden. So we stuffed one huge St Pancras Station type hole - the surface layer had collapsed and left a cavern about 15 inches across - with grass clippings. If the rabbits pushed their way out then the hole was still in use, and at the same time the cats would not go investigating it. So far the grass is still there.

New Home · 29-04-2021 10:07pm

fryup · 01-05-2021 2:27pm

that cheapo washing powder for killing surface moss - does it have to be bio or non bio or does it matter?

magicbastarder · 01-05-2021 3:02pm

bio, i think, but if it's only a small patch, boiling water is cheap, quick, and instantaneous.

magicbastarder · 04-05-2021 5:59pm

‘Strange’ and ‘unusual’ weather conditions expected this week
Met Éireann warns of temperatures of minus three overnight as gardeners fear frost
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/strange-and-unusual-weather-conditions-expected-this-week-1.4555070

fryup · 04-05-2021 10:22pm

anyone watchin supergarden on RTE? fair bunch of airhead contestants they have this time around

btw - is Bloom going ahead this year?

magicbastarder · 04-05-2021 10:24pm

it's not.

fryup · 05-05-2021 5:33pm

so what's the point in the Supergarden TV show then?

magicbastarder · 06-05-2021 8:07am

quite an obvious frost here this morning (near DCU)

scarepanda · 06-05-2021 11:27am

Stupid frost

We built a new flower bed last weekend. I was in the garden centre looking for pots on Monday, didn't find any pots but did come out with a load of plants to plant up the new bed. I got a bit over excited and planted everything out (stupid I know but it's my first proper flower bed:)). Silly old me knew the weather wasn't promised great but didn't realise till yesterday that frost was promised, so I spent the afternoon trying to find some frost blanket to protect dahlias. A local garden centre kindly gave me some used bits they had which was plenty to cover the main dahlias. But I completely forgot that 2 of the plants my daughter picked up were also dahlias and I didn't cover them

fryup · 10-05-2021 8:36am

Bad week ahead weather wise - lower than average temps & blustery showers:(

New Home · 10-05-2021 8:50am

One thing for sure, this year's weather is not a patch on last year's.

The Continental Op · 10-05-2021 9:22am

Recent frosts were so bad here that even all the new ivy leaves are burnt off.

GreeBo · 10-05-2021 12:13pm

The Continental Op wrote: »

Recent frosts were so bad here that even all the new ivy leaves are burnt off.

We had -4/-5 overnight and loads of things that had started have since died back, my poor golden acer is looking very bare

looksee · 10-05-2021 4:38pm

Has anyone else found seedlings very slow to get going? They sprouted and were pricked out into trays and put in the cold frame. And there they sit, quite alive and perky but not growing.

The Continental Op · 10-05-2021 4:52pm

looksee wrote: »

Has anyone else found seedlings very slow to get going? They sprouted and were pricked out into trays and put in the cold frame. And there they sit, quite alive and perky but not growing.

Don't mention seedlings in my house. My wife has had all her sweat pea seedlings eaten TWICE now by mice, about €20 worth of seed later she is on her third try. If they had grown perhaps I could have commented on how quick they were to grow

looksee · 10-05-2021 5:20pm

Oh that's aggravating. I have a load more seed than I planted but realised that there is still so much basic construction and organising work to do that I really don't have time for a lot of seed minding, so what I sowed - about 6 different things - is what I have this year.

Were they speciality sweet peas? Its been a bit chilly so far for them, some years are good and others you can wish you hadn't bothered!

The Continental Op · 10-05-2021 5:23pm

looksee wrote: »

Oh that's aggravating. I have a load more seed than I planted but realised that there is still so much basic construction and organising work to do that I really don't have time for a lot of seed minding, so what I sowed - about 6 different things - is what I have this year.

Were they speciality sweet peas? Its been a bit chilly so far for them, some years are good and others you can wish you hadn't bothered!

Having had similar issues in the past I don't think she spends as much on them now as she once did, well apart from multiple tries.

CelticRambler · 10-05-2021 5:34pm

looksee wrote: »

I have a load more seed than I planted but realised that there is still so much basic construction and organising work to do that I really don't have time for a lot of seed minding, so what I sowed - about 6 different things - is what I have this year.

A similar story here: this year's crazy swings in the weather means that the seeds/seedlings need a lot more minding than usual, which is too much to fit in alongside building and remodelling.

fryup · 12-05-2021 10:17am

"Craft" Gardener ...and what be that??

indeed.ie

not a bad wage, i wonder would they take on a DIY'er like myself

magicbastarder · 12-05-2021 10:46am

needs official qualifications and seemingly the ability to manage a team - i suspect a DIYer would be on the team being managed, at best...

fryup · 12-05-2021 10:49am

so craft gardener basically means professional gardener?

The Continental Op · 12-05-2021 11:59am

fryup wrote: »

so craft gardener basically means professional gardener?

Working for the council, they don't do any gardening so the adverts a joke.

Edit> And probably a soul destroying job for anyone that was a real gardener.

fryup · 12-05-2021 5:02pm

you'd be working in public parks won't you? and public parks have garden beds and the like and trees that need to be maintained

The Continental Op · 12-05-2021 5:20pm

fryup wrote: »

you'd be working in public parks won't you? and public parks have garden beds and the like and trees that need to be maintained

Show me a public park that is well maintained nowadays. I've seen a couple of good attempts at imaginative planting schemes by my own coco but after a couple of years of bad maintenance by guys that didn't know what they were doing and couldn't care less they were ripped out again.

fryup · 14-05-2021 11:37pm

what makes a good natural weedkiller?

The Continental Op · 14-05-2021 11:39pm

fryup wrote: »

what makes a good natural weedkiller?

Tarmac or concrete the thicker the better

Vinegar is the one you'll find mentioned a lot but its just another chemical.

SouthWesterly · 15-05-2021 8:35am

The peoples gardens in the phoenix park were always well maintained.

Jim_Hodge · 15-05-2021 10:50am

fryup wrote: »

what makes a good natural weedkiller?

On driveways or hard surfaces a touch of boiling water does the trick nicely.

magicbastarder · 15-05-2021 10:59am

The Continental Op wrote: »

Vinegar is the one you'll find mentioned a lot but its just another chemical.

'just another chemical' is a rather trite way of putting it. everything is 'just another chemical' but some chemicals are far, far worse than others.

macraignil · 15-05-2021 11:08am

fryup wrote: »

what makes a good natural weedkiller?

Flame torch works well on driveways. Otherwise a hoe or a trowel or if they are really small finger and thumb to simply pull them up.

fryup · 15-05-2021 2:12pm

Jim_Hodge wrote: »

On driveways or hard surfaces a touch of boiling water does the trick nicely.

well in a raised bed amongst the veg i suppose vinegar with salt and washing up liquid?

magicbastarder wrote: »

'just another chemical' is a rather trite way of putting it. everything is 'just another chemical' but some chemicals are far, far worse than others.

yes, vinegar wouldn't be in the stratosphere as roundup...(or would it?)

blackbox · 15-05-2021 2:17pm

fryup wrote: »

what makes a good natural weedkiller?

Fire

magicbastarder · 15-05-2021 3:46pm

fryup wrote: »

yes, vinegar wouldn't be in the stratosphere as roundup...(or would it?)

on the continuum of 'not organic' weed killers, roundup is not the worst.

CelticRambler · 15-05-2021 4:27pm

fryup wrote: »

well in a raised bed amongst the veg i suppose vinegar with salt and washing up liquid?

As a weedkiller? There's no way I'd use that concoction on my veg beds. Apart from being completely useless and a waste of salt, vinegar and washing-up liquid, it'd play havoc with your soil chemistry.

If it's weeds in a raised veg bed, pull them out with your fingers. Job done. No chemicals (organic or otherwise) needed.

SnowyMuckish · 15-05-2021 4:33pm

Saw an interesting piece last night on GW where someone pulled dandelions from their veg patch, didn’t get all the deep tap root so covered the patch with a small piece of cardboard to exclude light. Says she repeats the process a few times and it eventually kills off the root.

The compost heap - off topic thread

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