The gardening thread

[wayward bob]

*everywhere* smells of lilac today

 

[StoneRoad]

Finally, I have been able to be kind to my garden.

For the best part of the last two years I have been attempting to reclaim my garden from what had become something of a jungle wilderness. This has involved much tree / hedge / shrub pruning, and apart from grass cutting, not a lot else whilst working in my less than extensive spare time.

For the past two days I have been busy planting "pretties" of the bee-friendly variety, in a mixture of flower beds, containers and hanging baskets ... and the previous day we ordered a replacement greenhouse, slightly larger than the original.
Tomorrow will be a similar exercise - finishing off the containers and hanging baskets, going around the front garden flower beds to plant them out after I have bricked the other long edge (the soil under the grass - quality is almost up to calling it a lawn - is very soft and the mower runs off quite often, causing damage). I've bought in some "pretties" already ...

Then, I'll go around with the camera !

After that, couple of other areas will need further attention; in particular, I will have to completely "rebuild" the herb bed. The last job will be to sort out the "allotment" - so by the middle of the summer, I should be able to re-start the home-grown food system ... certainly, I will be in full production next year. I might even be able call some of the grass a lawn !

 

[heinous seamus]

Allotment progress update:

 

[clicker]

Great location and your shed looks like an owl

 

[StoneRoad]

Today was a further session in the garden - nice and sunny for most of the time as an encouragement !
Lunch was alfresco cheese, salad and homebrewed ginger beer.
As planned, I have finished off most of the containers / hanging baskets, including potting up a load of salad bowl and lollo rosso (as the allotment / greenhouse is n/a) but instead of attending to the front garden this afternoon, we have revamped the raspberry hedge that borders the east side of the allotment.
Also, we have ordered a secondary greenhouse. I have been told that whilst tomatoes and cucumber / courgettes will co-exist happily, they do better if segregated. Hopefully, I will be able to get some decent plants to let me catch up with the situation I would be in, if I had had the facilities/time/good weather at the earlier part of the year.
After the "evening" watering I strolled around, thinking about what the garden looked like two years ago ... there has been quite a change, I'm pleased to say ... and a few further improvements to come.

 

[Leafster]

It's been a bit too hot for me to do much in the garden over this long weekend - just a bit of pottering here and there. I spent far more time sitting under the umbrella relaxing

I helped my neighbour move some heavy stuff from her upstairs and took a quick photo of my back garden showing just how steeply terraced it is. There's another level below the bottom right-hand corner and the green shed in the top left in on a further level above. Not much colour at the moment as nearly all the spring bulbs have finished. It looks like the Aliums will be out soon and the first of the poppies have just opened.

 

[Mumbles274]

It's been a bit too hot for me to do much in the garden over this long weekend - just a bit of pottering here and there. I spent far more time sitting under the umbrella relaxing

I helped my neighbour move some heavy stuff from her upstairs and took a quick photo of my back garden showing just how steeply terraced it is. There's another level below the bottom right-hand corner and the green shed in the top left in on a further level above. Not much colour at the moment as nearly all the spring bulbs have finished. It looks like the Aliums will be out soon and the first of the poppies have just opened.

Its a beautiful garden. Well done

 

[Mumbles274]

We don't seem to be able to stop buying plants and making way for them. lamb1979 got a bottle brush tree ( got.rid of a blackberry that wasnt performing) and then today we got a wonga wonga vine. As well as some begonias for a shadey spot and some trailing lobelia for our vertical planter. There is so much more we want too!!

 

[Leafster]

Its a beautiful garden. Well done

Thanks! It's taken almost four years to get it from the overgrown neglected mess that was here when I moved in. Most of the planting is beginning to settle down but there are still parts which need tweaking. There's a patch under my neighbour's trees which I'm still finding difficult. Some things will grow but finding the "right" plants which can cope with conditions but still "fit" in with the plan has been a struggle. I'll get there eventually!

I know what you mean about the compulsion to buy new plants - I went to the garden centre to buy some compost to improve the very top of the garden but found I'd accidentally wandered around the plant section and there were plants in my trolley.

 

[StoneRoad]

This long weekend was spent doing a lot of planting - after two mammoth buying sessions at different garden centres, plus the first visit was to order the new and larger replacement greenhouse*. Ignoring that purchase (capital) the maintenance purchases on plants has probably reached a couple of hundred pounds now, as I've included a few extras bought since this time last year. I bought some heuchera (sp ?) for a very shady spot last year, one's died (bad weather) but the others are coming on well.
Got a good deal on some large bags of compost - 3 for £10 - at on place and some decent bedding, also at an economical price.
Ouch !!! me wallet's groaning !!!! * not to mention the secondary greenhouse which should arrive in a couple of days.
Result is starting to look good ... will be better when the plants are established.

 

[gentlegreen]

Found someone online selling samphire plants pulled from a saltmarsh in the south east

 

[StoneRoad]

I'm not sure that is legal ...

unless they have a licence ?

 

[gentlegreen]

It does seem a bit dodgy but I may go for it as so far I've only located seeds for rock samphire which may turn out to be a bit stone-croppy ...

 

[gentlegreen]

Geum triflorum "prairie smoke".
Mrs Bradshaw can get stuffed

 

[campanula]

Geum triflorum "prairie smoke".

Yes, isn't it beautiful? Failed to germinate mine (have since read it helps to use a smoke primer) so might have to try again. Some of the water avens - geum rivale - are equally lovely...and there are some really nice hybrids out there (such as Lemon Drop, Pink Frills, Bellbank and Banana Daiquiri).

Also, easy from seed: I am besotted with calandrinas/talinum and portulaca. I am waiting for something called 'Jewels of Ophar' to flower. Oh yeah, the fabulous poppy mallow - callirhoe involucrata. All do better for me (on arid sandy soil) than my straggling filipendula rubra venusta and eupatorium maculata (both feeble).

I do have a monstrous, self-sown lavatera on the plot (appeared last year)...and an equally large anisodontea. I am very keen on pink plants - quite disgustingly so (shameless).

eta - samphire - salsola soda, as opposed to crithmun maritimun, seeds are being sold by Marshalls seeds and Sarah Raven (who, much as I dislike her as a self-promoting lifestyle gardener) doers occasionally have interesting (if pricey) seeds.
I am certain B&T World seeds and possible Chilterns and Plantworld will sell Samphire seeds.

Tiny, little, trying not to be hectoring, voice - please don't buy wild collected plants. This rarely bodes well for a balanced eco-system and a brief look at the history of Victorian fern mania or the fate of the glorious tecophilea might be persuasive.

 

[gentlegreen]

I hadn't realised until yesterday that salsola soda had become a Sunday supplement cult thing and that everyone was sold out.
Also the seeds apparently have a poor shelf-life so last year's probably wouldn't have germinated even if I hadn't lost them.
Fresh seeds have just arrived from "World Wonders Gardens".

Meanwhile my tulips have held their petals well. They took a long time to colour up from green and last night I came home to several different shades of yellow and white.

 

[gentlegreen]

Stuck at home with the lurgy and my brugmansias are out for delivery at work today
My fuchsias were delivered on Wednesday so I have those.
Hopefully if it gets to my office, my colleague will think to put the transparent green package in the window for the weekend ... I'll keep an eye on my email.

 

[gaijingirl]

campanula I bought some lovely plants that caught my eye and have put them in a trough in my garden. I realised whilst planting that they are called Campanula and had a light-bulb moment about your name!

 

[StoneRoad]

The windy weather and my TN have chased me out of the garden after only a short while today, but I got most of the grass trimmed yesterday and over the bank holiday weekend I planted loads of pretties and the raspberries I potted up a couple of years ago so I could weed out some perennial pests (which I hope has worked).

The big new greenhouse is due in about three weeks and the secondary one should arrive in a few days (either Tuesday or Wednesday, If I've read the runes right !) The little thing with shelves is almost full already. Will have to buy a few things to grow in them ...

 

[StoneRoad]

Ah, missed a point.

I have a very soft spot for an old HT rose variety called "Ena Harkness" - it is quite scented and a vibrant deep red. Not only that, it was a favourite grown by my parents. My mam was especially fond of it.
Unfortunately, being a bit subject to black spot and having droopy flowers especially if it gets a bit thirsty means that more modern varieties have over-taken it in popularity so I haven't see it for some years.
However, my OH has managed to find a climbing version which claims to have eliminated the droopy heads ...
I am now the proud owner of a potted rose, it came newly potted so I'll not disturb it until after flowering.

 

[campanula]

campanula I bought some lovely plants that caught my eye and have put them in a trough in my garden. I realised whilst planting that they are called Campanula and had a light-bulb moment about your name!

Aha. I have had a long love affair with wild roses and campanulas for years (my other username on garden webs is often rosa primula)
I find myself wondering about other people's usernames A LOT.

However, my OH has managed to find a climbing version which claims to have eliminated the droopy heads ...
I am now the proud owner of a potted rose, it came newly potted so I'll not disturb it until after flowering.

Sensible, as it will have been bare-rooted over winter and containerised so the rootball will not have had the time to fill the pot. Any attempt at transplanting will likely result in the entire rootball falling away (O Yes, I have been there).
Ena Harkness is a lovely classic rose. The 'weak necks' are a result of it's china/tea heritage...but is a positive advantage in a climbing version, grown up a trellis/arbour/arch/pergola etc.

Roses, particularly the wildlings, have been en enduring love of mine, which is why my unruly allotment is now an assault course of vicious briars and gigantic ramblers. I have always had a lot of time for Jack Harkness's creations and grow a few myself. Good ventilation, irrigation and feeding goes a long way to dealing with blackspot, although Cardinal Hume, Jacqueline du Pre, Alissar Princess of Phoenicia all get it to varying degrees...but both of my Harkness climbers, Penny Lane and Perpetually Yours do much better. Ena Harkness is a fragrant delight - one perfect bud in a glass justifies it's place in any garden.

 

[nogojones]

So this is about one year since I started working onn this one. most of my time hhere seems to be spent weeding and slug/snail removing though

 

[gentlegreen]

On the seedcam today ....



Still cold enough in my downstairs room to need artificial heat as well as light. A rather inefficient heater on the shelf below, controlled by a soil probe thermostat is keeping the exotics end of the tray at 24 degrees. The new, super cheap under-floor heating cable I have just bought is proving challenging to tame sufficiently for the purpose.

We may be at the point in the year where it would make more sense to use heating cable in the greenhouse. Doubtless in the future I will come up with a hybrid facility - I certainly don't want to lose the convenience of not having to go outside.

My halophilic salad seeds are on their way - the salsola came up like cress, the buck-horn plantain is just showing, the rock samphire is sown, and I'm about to order marsh samphire seeds.

Everything is bonkers late, so I will be grabbing whatever I can find locally to have something to look at while I'm waiting.

 

[StoneRoad]

I think that I mentioned plans for a new "secondary" greenhouse.

It arrived Tuesday, as a flat pack.

Tomorrow is the final check-over (bolts nice'n'tight and all glazing clips in place) before going to raid the better of our local garden centre for some appropriate plants ...

 

[wayward bob]

garden is saving my head atm, somewhere semi-presentable to sit with a friend for coffee, choice of sun or shade. space to lay open a deckchair and dream about paving the whole fucking lot to make room for a hammock lights fixed up under the big lilac tree making that space (the best bit) cosy after dark. ferns unfurling, strawbs flowering, even the freesias i planted more in hope than expectation are doing *something*.

my grandpa was an excessivley zealous gardener in his retired years and spending time there was one of my favourite things. he paid us a penny each to get the daisies off his lawn good training

 

[nogojones]

On the seedcam today ....

View attachment 135601

Still cold enough in my downstairs room to need artificial heat as well as light. A rather inefficient heater on the shelf below, controlled by a soil probe thermostat is keeping the exotics end of the tray at 24 degrees. The new, super cheap under-floor heating cable I have just bought is proving challenging to tame sufficiently for the purpose.

We may be at the point in the year where it would make more sense to use heating cable in the greenhouse. Doubtless in the future I will come up with a hybrid facility - I certainly don't want to lose the convenience of not having to go outside.

My halophilic salad seeds are on their way - the salsola came up like cress, the buck-horn plantain is just showing, the rock samphire is sown, and I'm about to order marsh samphire seeds.

Everything is bonkers late, so I will be grabbing whatever I can find locally to have something to look at while I'm waiting.

How easy is the samphire to grow? any special conditions?

 

[gentlegreen]

How easy is the samphire to grow? any special conditions?

I haven't actually grown any yet, but I suspect the rock samphire should be easy enough - grown like a succulent - by all accounts it's more pungent and best used as a condiment.
The marsh samphire will be more of a challenge - like the salsola soda (more or less the Mediterranean version) it will need to be watered with weak rock salt solution from time to time...

I'm up for a challenge though - I'm also determined to always have a regular supply of watercress ...

I've only properly eaten samphire once and that was some I bought in Tesco

 

[StoneRoad]

I think that I mentioned plans for a new "secondary" greenhouse.

It arrived Tuesday, as a flat pack.

Tomorrow is the final check-over (bolts nice'n'tight and all glazing clips in place) before going to raid the better of our local garden centre for some appropriate plants ...

As promised, we raided the local garden centre.
Now have a supply of tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers ...
and a few other things.

Spent a while "potting on" - as I will probably want to move some of these in a few weeks - I've gone for pots not growbags.

 

[Callie]

*everywhere* smells of lilac today

Do insects enjoy lilac?? I know they like budleilja (howeverthefuckyouspellit) but lilacs flower much earlier so possibly a decent food source?? I've never spent time close enough to observe if they are more ornamental or serve as an attraction for wildlife?

 

[wayward bob]

Do insects enjoy lilac??

i think so, certainly noticed a few bees around.