The compost heap - off topic thread

New Home · 07-09-2019 8:29pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

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.

If they're like the ones I got, they're diamond files, and I agree, they're incredibly effective.

magicbastarder · 07-09-2019 9:16pm

this is the ikea one we have - more for frequent light use than actually reshaping a blade. i've a slow wet stone grinder (bought for sharpening woodturning gouges) i use when i need to go a bit more heavy duty:

https://www.ikea.com/ie/en/p/flaksa-ceramic-sharpener-black-30167003/

smacl · 11-09-2019 12:50pm

I've an oil stone and a couple of slip stones for curved blades which work well enough. Something quite satisfying about sharpening blades.

magicbastarder · 20-09-2019 8:38am

a new way of hedge trimming:

https://twitter.com/tariqrauf/status/1174403429810212866

New Home · 20-09-2019 10:06am

Good God, that's terrifying... what could possibly go wrong? A saw made of giant rotating blades, a helicopter, and live electricity cables... That's something ACME would come up with...

looksee · 07-11-2019 12:21pm

You were saying you wanted a rockery...

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/seoul-fake-mountain-photographer/index.html

Graces7 · 15-11-2019 1:34am

smacl wrote: »

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).[/QUOTE

That is what gardening is really about; you have learned the great secret! A pleasure not a penance! A cheer not a chore

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 18-11-2019 11:27pm

Chrysanthemum, Roses, Marigolds etc still flowering and many summer perennials not fully died back yet. It seems to be a long season this year.

scarepanda · 19-11-2019 2:43pm

We're planning on moving at some stage soon, house purchase has been really slow. Anyhow there's some blueberry and rose bushes and some rhubarb that I would really like to take with us. When's the best time to move them? My plan is to move them into buckets as soon as it's ok to dig them up because we currently have no timeline with regards to moving.

magicbastarder · 19-11-2019 3:05pm

rhubarb should be easy this time of year, just lift the crowns.

scarepanda · 19-11-2019 3:15pm

Will rhubarb be ok in a bucket for a few months? Is there anything in particular I need to do with it? Presumably moving it now, it will need a couple of years to settle in its new spot whenever that happens?

looksee · 19-11-2019 3:23pm

If you put anything in buckets it will drown. Get some big plant-pots or make holes in the buckets. I have roses stashed in turned back feed bags with a bit of a slit in the bottom for 18 months now, doing fine (I ran out of large pots

) You can move any of them now, roses are very forgiving, don't know anything about blueberries.

scarepanda · 19-11-2019 4:00pm

Oh there's holes in all the buckets already. I used to have other stuff in them before, I've just never had to dig up anything to put in a bucket before, so it's timing I'm most worried about in that regard. The rhubarb is the one I'd be the most unfamiliar with.

macraignil · 19-11-2019 6:56pm

scarepanda wrote: »

Oh there's holes in all the buckets already. I used to have other stuff in them before, I've just never had to dig up anything to put in a bucket before, so it's timing I'm most worried about in that regard. The rhubarb is the one I'd be the most unfamiliar with.

You can dig up rhubarb from now up until February but it does have a very big root system so it may be difficult to dig up an old well developed crown. I had to give up on one last winter as I was fairly likely to break my garden fork if I tried to move the whole thing. In the end I just used a spade to slice off pieces of the crown with some root and at least one leaf bud and these went on to form new plants and the old crown went on to produce just as much shoots as it usually does. My approach would be to just slice it up with a spade from the start if it is likely not to fit in a bucket. If you are dividing it into smaller bits the new plants should be left unharvested for the first year in their new position so they can mature enough to give good harvests further down the line. If you let it warm up when it is dug up it will probably start to grow shoots and there is a whole industry based on forced rhubarb growing in this way. Here is a link to a video clip I made when I divided mine in February. I have heard of rhubarb failing to settle when it was planted after it had started to grow leaves.

smacl · 21-11-2019 7:56pm

Ok, so I know that apples don't grow true from seed and fruit trees should be grafted on to suitable stock, but biting through a rather tasty Pink Lady last week I noticed a couple of the seed were sprouting. How long do you reckon before I get a crop from the latest additions to the orchard?

scarepanda · 21-11-2019 8:23pm

Thanks macraignil! There's two plants and only in their current place since Feb/march 2018. How would I know if it's ok to split what I have currently? And also, even if I don't split the plants, should they still be left for a couple of seasons to settle in?

macraignil · 21-11-2019 9:20pm

scarepanda wrote: »

Thanks macraignil! There's two plants and only in their current place since Feb/march 2018. How would I know if it's ok to split what I have currently? And also, even if I don't split the plants, should they still be left for a couple of seasons to settle in?

The best way to know if the plants are OK to split is to see how many leaf buds are on the rhubarb crown. The important thing is that each piece you want to grow from has its own leaf bud as well as some root. I found digging in from the outside meant I hit the big roots and they broke off easily and with no leaf bud these pieces were much less likely to successfully make a new plant.

Your plants were in their position less time than the one I was dividing last winter so you might be OK not dividing it but I just found it easier to manage the smaller pieces. I have read that rhubarb in its first year from planting should not be harvested and I would be inclined to give it one year to recover from the move even if it is not divided but if you just were careful not to harvest too much in the first year I think it should still settle in OK. If it has settled in better though it could start yielding better further down the line. Some of the divided pieces I gave to my parents (as they had let their rhubarb get overgrown) were growing well and they harvested some against my advice and it still was growing OK recently so I think they will have gotten away with not giving it the full year to settle in. It depends how much rhubarb you use but my thinking is that if you are digging it up anyway you are as well dividing it when it is out of the ground even if you just give away some of the pieces to people you know who might like to grow some.

Thud · 22-11-2019 3:38pm

smacl wrote: »

Ok, so I know that apples don't grow true from seed and fruit trees should be grafted on to suitable stock, but biting through a rather tasty Pink Lady last week I noticed a couple of the seed were sprouting. How long do you reckon before I get a crop from the latest additions to the orchard?

there's a guy called SkillCult on youtube with a lot of videos about apple cultivation, he mentions in one of his videos that the non edible/cooker apples from seed is a bit of an old wives tale and you can often get a good eating apple tree from the seeds. it takes a long time to prove wrong and is in "Big Apple's" interest for people to believe it so they will buy trees

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 22-11-2019 7:23pm

smacl wrote: »

Ok, so I know that apples don't grow true from seed and fruit trees should be grafted on to suitable stock, but biting through a rather tasty Pink Lady last week I noticed a couple of the seed were sprouting. How long do you reckon before I get a crop from the latest additions to the orchard?

It just may not come true to the parent apple but may be better - it's how we get new types. It'll be about 8 years to fruiting.

magicbastarder · 22-11-2019 7:28pm

i tried it a few times, about ten years ago (growing an apple from seed), but all my efforts seemed incredibly susceptible to mildew.

smacl · 23-11-2019 2:03pm

Zachary Billions Coffee wrote: »

It just may not come true to the parent apple but may be better - it's how we get new types. It'll be about 8 years to fruiting.

Official boards apple tasting set for Autumn 2027 so

Harry Palmr · 29-03-2020 11:30pm

Bump, could this be stickied? We might need a place to have a moan if the restrictions stay in place for an extended period.

Anyway, compost how are you all fixed? I was going to go out and buy a couple of big bags and that moment has been lost, I was in Lidl and they had none and the section where they keep it was empty as in everything was moved or just sold and not replaced so I'm wondering how I'm going to get some for when I need it.

magicbastarder · 29-03-2020 11:40pm

all sorted here. got three bags of manure (the commercial stuff, i think from westland) last week before everything closed up, and also got a bit of compost from the two compost bins. spent an hour or two today sieving the garden compost, and mixing it with the topsoil from the spoil heap generated by digging a garden pond in about october last year.

kylith · 30-03-2020 9:46am

Hit two bags last week with the intention of getting more, cos I reckon i’m Gonna need a lot. That’s me scuppered unless Lidl start stocking it again.

Harry Palmr · 30-03-2020 10:20am

I do have a compost heap - ancient grass cuttings etc but it's now home to an annual crop of Crocosmia so I'm not disturbing it. For starting off the oriental salah leaves I'll just skim a bit off the potato bed.

magicbastarder · 30-03-2020 10:28am

huh, my compost heap is where my crocosmia go to live too. and when i say live, i actually mean die.

Day Lewin · 30-03-2020 10:31am

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I do have a compost heap - ancient grass cuttings etc but it's now home to an annual crop of Crocosmia so I'm not disturbing it. For starting off the oriental salah leaves I'll just skim a bit off the potato bed.

Believe me, the Crocosmia won't suffer from being disturbed. Tough as old leather, that lot.

Day Lewin · 30-03-2020 10:32am

I opened up my winter compost during the week and found the Tumbler doing well but a bit dry and incompletely broken down (I've been adding and turning it weekly)

The Dalek proved to be absolutely full of nests of wriggling red worms, - perfect!
Half-cooked compost in most of it: as usual, there is a base layer of ready-to-use, and a top layer of recent additions, un-rotted.

I turned them both out and stacked the half-cooked by layers in a simple bunker of concrete blocks, covered with a layer of grass clippings, a watering of urea, (diluted male pee!) and then a plastic sheet weighted down with stones: that will be just right in a month or two.

The Dalek is re-started with a spadeful of old compost and some shredded paper. Roll on the summer!

Harry Palmr · 30-03-2020 10:33am

I've just done a google and yes it's a thing, they like slumming it in the mucky corner.

fryup · 30-03-2020 11:54am

i live in a rural area and recently there's a fekin pot belly pig coming in to my garden and digging up the lawn :mad:

i've phoned the neighbours and no one knows where he's come from....i take it someone on lockdown has stopped feeding it or released it

The compost heap - off topic thread

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