Today I did something in my Garden

Harry Palmr · 25-06-2020 2:52pm

Small 10 minute job which is better done now than later - honeysuckle support frame from some handy poles. That's Crocosmia in behind.

SnowyMuckish · 25-06-2020 9:57pm

After a busy day pottering around the garden I’m after sitting down wearily on my back doorstep underneath my honeysuckle and in the stillness of the evening I’m watching a murder of noisy crows coming in to roost for the night, as ominous clouds roll in heavily overhead. No need for watering tonight

macraignil · 25-06-2020 10:23pm

Dead headed some of the self seeded driveway flower garden and cleared out a lot of the forget me not that has gone to seed. Also planted out some borage which I have not grown before so looking forward to seeing how that turns out over the next few weeks.

looksee · 26-06-2020 10:30am

I'd love if Valerian would self seed into the ruined bit of building in front of the house! I suppose if I mixed seed with a bit of soil and rubbed the mix into crevices in the mortar I might get a result? There are a couple of small harts tongue ferns stubbornly growing in more modern concrete patching in one place. Its a potentially charming ruin that needs a bit of attention to improve the look of it.

I am slightly hors de combat at the moment so all my gardening is going on in my head, you wouldn't believe the amazing results! I think an hour with the Chiltern catalogue and a cup of tea is in my immediate future.

Harry Palmr · 26-06-2020 10:49am

SnowyMuckish wrote: »

After a busy day pottering around the garden I’m after sitting down wearily on my back doorstep underneath my honeysuckle and in the stillness of the evening I’m watching a murder of noisy crows coming in to roost for the night, as ominous clouds roll in heavily overhead. No need for watering tonight

No rain in the Deise again. thunderstorms pass us completely. Watering by hand is a pain even on a small scale.

looksee · 26-06-2020 11:17am

It rained solidly all day in several bits of Waterford on Tuesday, including Waterford city. My garden has perked up and looking very enthusiastic (the weeds, that is) in north Waterford. You must be in a rain shadow somewhere?

Harry Palmr · 26-06-2020 11:28am

Tuesday? I can't remember that far back! Yes it did but my garden is made up of the most amazingly light soil - no clay at all. It's great to work but it sure won't hold moisture.

looksee · 26-06-2020 1:49pm

Mine is the same, the drainage is amazing. There is a nice layer of fertile, light, good quality, I think neutral to acid, soil on top, then some subsoil that is not fertile but is very improvable, and under that is pretty much shale. I am only getting used to it but it seems very good to grow stuff. Judging by the quantities of nettles it grows it is really good! And bindweed. OMG the bindweed. War has been declared.

Harry Palmr · 26-06-2020 2:24pm

That's war you'll never win! Surrender now

macraignil · 26-06-2020 2:46pm

looksee wrote: »

I'd love if Valerian would self seed into the ruined bit of building in front of the house! I suppose if I mixed seed with a bit of soil and rubbed the mix into crevices in the mortar I might get a result? There are a couple of small harts tongue ferns stubbornly growing in more modern concrete patching in one place. Its a potentially charming ruin that needs a bit of attention to improve the look of it.

I am slightly hors de combat at the moment so all my gardening is going on in my head, you wouldn't believe the amazing results! I think an hour with the Chiltern catalogue and a cup of tea is in my immediate future.

Although now most of my red valerian flowers are from self sown plants I started off with seeds I got online. I saw them growing on walls and all sorts of awkward spots in the local area so thought they would be ideal for the north facing steep bank at the front of the house. I started the seed in window boxes with compost and planted them out when the were already started growing and found this worked well. They were small when I planted them out so I did not have to do much digging to find places to put them and there was not much soil to dig in where I was putting them anyway. Might work better than just putting the seed where you want them to grow.

scarepanda · 26-06-2020 3:26pm

Can anyone recommend any good books or websites that help with the design of a wildlife friendly garden?

We are trying to get a plan of action in place for this autumn so that we can start with getting a good foundation in place to develop over the next few years.

magicbastarder · 26-06-2020 4:41pm

https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2019/07/08/lazy-bastard-insists-back-garden-is-biodiversity-friendly/

Lumen · 26-06-2020 7:47pm

First front-and-back prune of Eleagnus and Viburnum hedging in third season since planting in winter 2017.

I've put this off for ages as they have been growing quite densely, but I recently read an opinion that you shouldn't let them get too wide before getting them used to being pruned. I hope I've done the right thing!

I plan to leave the tops alone until they get to at least 2m.

I'm really glad I planted 1m from the fence as it means I can get in behind to prune.

click for big versions

Elaeagnus x ebbingei

Viburnum tinus

looksee · 26-06-2020 9:09pm

My daughter-in-law has a long hedge of that on an exposed seaside hillside garden, its been in about 5 years I think and is now over 5 ft high and is beautiful, it makes a most impressive hedge. Its absolutely consistent and healthy, most attractive.

fryup · 27-06-2020 9:21am

? i'm currently trying to revive grass that was accidentally damaged by weedkiller overspray - any correct way of doing this?

ShiverinEskimo · 27-06-2020 9:25am

Let it die, give it a month or two, reseed. You won't save the existing grass now.

Harry Palmr · 27-06-2020 9:54am

Weedkiller? :mad: Maybe you should remove the strip and replace it with

fryup · 27-06-2020 10:09am

fake grass?? never!

looksee · 27-06-2020 5:15pm

Ah no, you couldn't have an odd strip of fake grass - a roll of turf maybe. But the suggested solution is ggod, leave the grass die off, apply a thin layer of bagged soil or compost and scatter seed will do the job. If it is very messy looking you could dig out the dead turf and top up with bagged topsoil, but it depends on what it looks like when you are ready to go.

SouthWesterly · 28-06-2020 4:00pm

Harvested the first if my veg.
Garlic didn't do well this year. Didn't get big or split

magicbastarder · 28-06-2020 4:04pm

when did you plant the garlic?

SouthWesterly · 28-06-2020 4:04pm

Harvested the first if my veg.
Garlic didn't do well this year. Didn't get big or split

Snowc · 28-06-2020 10:37pm

fryup wrote: »

fake grass?? never!

One roll will do and cut it about a foot long and place it over where the dying grass is,if you re-seed it you will only have the same problem when you go spraying again

looksee · 29-06-2020 10:40am

Lumen wrote: »

First front-and-back prune of Eleagnus and Viburnum hedging in third season since planting in winter 2017.

I've put this off for ages as they have been growing quite densely, but I recently read an opinion that you shouldn't let them get too wide before getting them used to being pruned. I hope I've done the right thing!

I plan to leave the tops alone until they get to at least 2m.

I'm really glad I planted 1m from the fence as it means I can get in behind to prune.

click for big versions

Elaeagnus x ebbingei

Viburnum tinus

I have only just noticed what you said about leaving them to grow to 2 m before cutting. I would never treat any hedge like that. You need to keep cutting it down to keep the cover good to the bottom of the hedge and a lot of branches to make it thick.

You will just grow trees with bare-ish trunks and wide branches instead of the close-knit mass of branches and new growth that you need. It will not take any longer to get to height than if you just ignore it.

Lumen · 29-06-2020 3:04pm

looksee wrote: »

I have only just noticed what you said about leaving them to grow to 2 m before cutting. I would never treat any hedge like that. You need to keep cutting it down to keep the cover good to the bottom of the hedge and a lot of branches to make it thick.

You will just grow trees with bare-ish trunks and wide branches instead of the close-knit mass of branches and new growth that you need. It will not take any longer to get to height than if you just ignore it.

Thanks looksee. I've been agonising over prune/don't prune for ages, after finding conflicting advice on various websites. I posted on here about it at some point too, but couldn't find it again.

I've been keeping an eye on both as they grow.

The Eleagnus, which has grown slower possibly as a result of being planted under a line of trees, is very dense low down, even after trimming front and back there is a mass of branches and leaves throughout and no way to see the fence through it, at least in the first two feet. On top of that there are some leaders which are flopping over in some cases. So it's about 80% dense and 20% leggy. I was hoping that the leaders would fill in, and if they showed persistent signs of legginess I was going to chop them.

The Viburnum is more balanced, with each one tapering a little at the top but not getting leggy. Now that I've thinned it front and back I can make out the fence through it, but I'm assuming that front and back pruning will cause it to thicken.

I'll post some pics later to illustrate.

Despite all that, I think what you're saying is that regardless of any of that, nobody in their right mind just leaves a hedge to grow, so I guess I ought to listen. :-)

Hocus Focus · 09-07-2020 2:06pm

blackbox wrote: »

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.

Thanks!

Hocus Focus · 09-07-2020 2:20pm

looksee wrote: »

I have only just noticed what you said about leaving them to grow to 2 m before cutting. I would never treat any hedge like that. You need to keep cutting it down to keep the cover good to the bottom of the hedge and a lot of branches to make it thick.

You will just grow trees with bare-ish trunks and wide branches instead of the close-knit mass of branches and new growth that you need. It will not take any longer to get to height than if you just ignore it.

Googling the words; "laying a hedge" will reveal a wealth of information on how to turn hedging plants into an impenetrable barrier for the perimeter of your property.

Lumen · 09-07-2020 9:04pm

Hocus Focus wrote: »

Googling the words; "laying a hedge" will reveal a wealth of information on how to turn hedging plants into an impenetrable barrier for the perimeter of your property.

Isn't hedge laying a hedgerow thing rather than a hedge thing?

SouthWesterly · 09-07-2020 11:11pm

Transplanted a load of kale. Will have loads this year. None of the other brassicas survived the caterpillar and slugs.

looksee · 10-07-2020 9:15am

Hocus Focus wrote: »

Googling the words; "laying a hedge" will reveal a wealth of information on how to turn hedging plants into an impenetrable barrier for the perimeter of your property.

I am not sure what this has to do with my post, but the an impenetrable barrier is not always the object of growing a hedge, and laying is usually done with hawthorn, involves cutting, hacking and weaving, none of which is relevant to either of these hedges.

Hocus Focus · 10-07-2020 12:02pm

Lumen wrote: »

Isn't hedge laying a hedgerow thing rather than a hedge thing?

It's primarily a hedgerow thing, to provide a stockproof barrier for keeping animals confined, or preventing them from destroying crops, but can be also used in domestic hedges in a mild way in order to fill them out so that they don't just have the appearance of a series of shrubs joined at the shoulder.

Hocus Focus · 10-07-2020 12:06pm

looksee wrote: »

I am not sure what this has to do with my post, but the an impenetrable barrier is not always the object of growing a hedge, and laying is usually done with hawthorn, involves cutting, hacking and weaving, none of which is relevant to either of these hedges.

See my reply to Lumen. I'm just suggesting a mild version of what can be seen done to hedgerows in those websites devoted to the subject. You can fill in the hedge from low down so that it will keep in a small child or a big dog.

looksee · 11-07-2020 10:04am

Finally planted out seven roses that have been hauled around the countryside for two years with almost total neglect! I was given a birthday present of some David Austen roses just before I moved the first time and as they had been not long planted I wanted to take them with me.

So yesterday ground was finally ready, they were tipped out of their mad assortment of containers - from fancy large pots to a coal sack - all the weeds and seedling trees removed, cleaned up and popped into a hole with compost and manure hidden in the bottom, and the dead bits cut off. And really they have survived (all but one, which might be ok) very well, including an odd flower on two of them. Strictly speaking I should cut off the flowers, but they seem happy.

New Home · 11-07-2020 12:11pm

Wish me luck - I need to go and fix a tarp over the roof of the shed, hopefully the weather will let me.

CelticRambler · 11-07-2020 12:35pm

Good luck!

I've spent the morning destroying most of my cherry tomatoes, on which I discovered blight (for the first time in 15 years) yesterday. Worse, the potatoes I lifted earlier in the week that have been drying in crates also seem to be affected. Am now trying to understand how this got a foothold while afternoon temps were >30°C and humidity <30% ...

SouthWesterly · 11-07-2020 11:05pm

Got a delivery of wood chips today and then went off and came home with a boot full of cardboard.
Finally started on the paths.

beggars_bush · 14-07-2020 12:12pm

Thinning out carrots. Then the rain started

CelticRambler · 14-07-2020 1:16pm

Rain.

I have only a vague memory of such a thing.

Scraped the bottom of my last water barrel this morning, and the bottom of the two scavenged half-baths (150l) added yesterday to collect all the grey water from the house.

SouthWesterly · 15-07-2020 8:40am

Pulled some of last years early spuds that grew again. My wife enjoyed the potatoes on her butter

looksee · 15-07-2020 8:54am

Dug one plant of my first ever spuds! Not really big enough yet, one huge spud and a load of marbles, but cooked them anyway, yum. And peas.

Finished planting a new large border with an assortment of plants I had brought with me (roses mostly), more that I had bought over the last 12 months - I buy plants like other women buy shoes - gift plants, stuff grown from seed, including a lot of sweet williams, and lots of bits and rooted slips donated, some of which were plants that had travelled to and fro between several gardens over the the past few years. It has a satisfyingly familiar look about it.

CelticRambler · 15-07-2020 9:21am

looksee wrote: »

Finished planting a new large border with an assortment of plants I had brought with me ... some of which were plants that had travelled to and fro between several gardens over the the past few years. It has a satisfyingly familiar look about it.

One section of my land here inadvertently developed into a similar "memory garden". The rest of the site, in the beginning, being variations on the theme of "veg plot and/or jungle" the shrubs and perennials we'd brought from our last house were all put in this convenient corner, where they've continued to grow and thrive for 15 years. There's one (a variegated Euonymous) that spent the previous decade growing from a cutting on our kitchen windowsill, having been collected originally from my MiL's garden. Sometimes, I like to remind my now young-adult children that these plants were part of my life before they were! But it's also a link to their granny's garden, somewhere to which they no longer have access.

looksee · 15-07-2020 10:23am

I had a variegated euonymous that I took as a cutting from my mother's garden in the UK some 40 years ago. It been a vast plant that covered a good bit of garden then took off up an overgrown chainlink fence where it served a very useful purpose. My bit sat in a pot, then was planted in the garden, but it never really took off. It moved house with us and was in another garden for 30 years, still not doing very much. It then got put into a large planter and travelled with us again and the last remnant of growth is still in the overgrown pot looking very sad.

I was going to dump it but I think I will try and fan it back to life (though I have a new identical plant waiting to be planted).

Trouble is, while this particular one has a history, its not even a plant I particularly like, I have no idea why I bought a new one!

Hocus Focus · 15-07-2020 11:24am

beggars_bush wrote: »

Thinning out carrots. Then the rain started

It's advisable to only thin carrots in the late evening, after the carrot flies have gone to bed. The same applies to onions.

beggars_bush · 15-07-2020 2:25pm

Hocus Focus wrote: »

It's advisable to only thin carrots in the late evening, after the carrot flies have gone to bed. The same applies to onions.

I don't think it matters once you dispose of all the picked seedlings well away from the carrots

New Home · 15-07-2020 8:53pm

looksee wrote: »

I had a variegated euonymous that I took as a cutting from my mother's garden in the UK some 40 years ago. It been a vast plant that covered a good bit of garden then took off up an overgrown chainlink fence where it served a very useful purpose. My bit sat in a pot, then was planted in the garden, but it never really took off. It moved house with us and was in another garden for 30 years, still not doing very much. It then got put into a large planter and travelled with us again and the last remnant of growth is still in the overgrown pot looking very sad.

I was going to dump it but I think I will try and fan it back to life (though I have a new identical plant waiting to be planted).

Trouble is, while this particular one has a history, its not even a plant I particularly like, I have no idea why I bought a new one!

To keep it company?

looksee · 15-07-2020 9:17pm

I think it had more to do with the fact that they were in Lidl in the shutdown and I was suffering from plant buying deprivation.

Harry Palmr · 11-09-2020 10:26am

Another freebie - Ox eye daisy plant which was divided and I got the "other half". Now planted at the top of the garden

SnowyMuckish · 12-09-2020 1:36pm

Just ordered my autumn planting bulbs from Fruithill Farm.

Some lovely organic tulips. This one is called Salmon Impression, hope it’s as nice as the pictures!

All I need now is some Forget Me Not seeds to pair with them.
Can anyone recommend any particular variety?

fryup · 14-09-2020 10:54am

can i prune cucumber leaves?

SouthWesterly · 25-09-2020 7:12pm

A busy few days in the garden. 200 winter onions down and a bed ready for 300 garlic cloves and shallots.

Will be prepping my beds over the next few weeks for spring.

Today I did something in my Garden

Comments