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The gardening thread

I finally mowed the lawn....the grass was up to my knees :facepalm: I did it this evening...2 hours all told I am proud of the lawn mower! :thumbs:

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I had been putting it off to give the bluebells a chance to die back, and then to enjoy the daisys and buttercups and then it rained the whole weekend and everything went whooshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :D

I decided to pick some buttercups to enjoy in the house and pulled up some from the root to plant in a pot.

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The lily of the valley have resurfaced too:

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...they have come up right through the middle of the violets though :hmm:

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It's lovely to see what there is in the garden I really like this wild grass so have left some alone and will attempt to transplant it to another area.

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Once I finished mine I went next door to mow and strim the neighbours front garden too as she can't manage it herself, her grass was longer! Another hour .:eek: I got a lovely bottle of Chablis and posh biscuits as a thank you and some fresh spinach from another neighbour whom I gave some tomato plants to. :)

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Neighbour (really tatty rented house owned by a bit of a crook) has bindweed. Fucksake :(

Ripped it out and I choked plants today, but just reading the RHS website. Very, very rarely for them, they basically say blitz with chemicals. Apparently it's bloody difficult to get rid of....

I may pour chemicals over the fence to kill it from the other side too :)
 
The nettles and ivy are both very good for wildlife. :)

I still have a bit of bindweed after 30 years - albeit of somewhat punctuated gardening - even in one isolated bed.
I suppose I could eliminate it with glyphosate, but I don't find much of a problem keeping it at a reasonable level - I'll nip it off if I see it.

I have similar misgivings about using anti-mollusc nematodes ...
 
Manter said:
Neighbour (really tatty rented house owned by a bit of a crook) has bindweed. Fucksake :(

Ripped it out and I choked plants today, but just reading the RHS website. Very, very rarely for them, they basically say blitz with chemicals. Apparently it's bloody difficult to get rid of....

I may pour chemicals over the fence to kill it from the other side too :)
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Our garden was overrun with it but after a major offensive to pull out all visible signs and then regular spot treatment with one of those chemical sprays I have more or less eradicated it. I don't use weed killer on anything else but it seemed the only way of getting rid of it.

The only consolation is that as it's often all interconnected when you spray one bit with a systemic weed killer it affects large chunks of it so spraying the bits on your side of the fence should be enough.
 
Yesterday I discovered some knotweed coming in from under the neighbours wall.... :mad: I was not kind...luckily though this was where the brick barbecue will be built so that particular spot will be easy to keep under control. :)
 
Leafster said:
Our garden was overrun with it but after a major offensive to pull out all visible signs and then regular spot treatment with one of those chemical sprays I have more or less eradicated it. I don't use weed killer on anything else but it seemed the only way of getting rid of it.

The only consolation is that as it's often all interconnected when you spray one bit with a systemic weed killer it affects large chunks of it so spraying the bits on your side of the fence should be enough.
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I'm consoling myself at least it isn't knotweed :-/

I'm like you, I don't use chemicals, but I may need the nuclear option :(
 
You need to get your neighbour on the case - maybe volunteer to apply the weedkiller yourself if they won't.
I have no direct experience of dealing with it, (but I regularly notice spectacular infestations of it) - but the professionals treat eradication like toxic waste - probably more than a small element of "licence to print money".

It's the UK's most expensive weed - apart from buddleia when it's alongside railway tracks.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=218
 
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Rutita1 said:
Rub my face in it why don't you! :mad: :D

Seriously though, it's the first I've seen of it so I am hoping I can stay on top of it. I am not into using chemicals either.
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There are non-chemical ways of dealing with it, so if it's just a small patch which has suddenly emerged (maybe because your digging has brought old roots to near the surface) it may not be all doom and gloom. If it's the advancing edge of a huge clump in your neighbour's garden it is more serious, because you can deal with your bit, but it will continue to reinvade, so you need to treat the whole clump, and chemicals might be the most practical solution.

Although it can be a nightmare, it's just a plant, which means it can only grow if the leaves are exposed to light. At Abney Park Cemetary in Stoke Newington they deal with it by overplanting, which shades it out enough that growth is minimised and it doesn't spread. If you are ruthless about cutting it back every time it emerges, you will at least stop it from spreading, providing it isn't connected to a larger patch elsewhere which is still photosynthisising.

Attempting to dig it up is tricky, because you may well just uncover more, or spread it further.

And you need to dispose of any cuttings very carefully, ideally by incinerating. Whatever you do, don't put them in your compost heap :eek:

ETA: I've just re-read your post where you say it's coming from under your neighbour's wall. You'll need to mount a joint campaign with them, though there may still be other options than chemicals.
 
need advice.. will I fit a tripod with 6 runner bean plants AND a courgette plant in here?

Other things I need to find space for are 1 chilli plant, 1 accidentally purchased courgette plant, some chives...

I was thinking definitely to put the runner beans here but not sure what else could fit and would work with them.

I've just been working some compost into the soil. It also had some manure about a week ago.

(foot and boob for scale)

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gentlegreen said:
Just make sure the runner beans don't shade the courgettes.
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ok brilliant... could I squeeze anything else in there - basically I have that plot above (really deep earth) surrounded by railway sleepers

plus this little triangle box but it's not very deep (I'm about to move it up next to the square one above) - I need to fill it with compost and i need to plant the runner beans, courgette, aubergine, chill plant and chives.. not sure what to put where..

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to be honest.. the aubergines were a bit of an accident so would be happy to stick them in the flowerbeds down the side of the garden and see what happens...

also was advised by another urbanite to put rocket in the triangle box - so might do that.

sorry.. so many questions! I wish I was better at this but hopefully one day I'll be the advice giver.
 
I now have the first few mushroom trays for my salad shelf experiment - from the fruit and veg people at work - shocking that all those plastic trays come all the way from Poland of all places and end up in landfill.

I don't need to feel guilty about growing my own salads because they only do cucumbers, tomatoes and round lettuces ...

I'm running low on compost now and Aldi have stopped stocking it for this year... I may have to get B&Q to deliver some.
 
You should be OK with 6 broad runner beans and a courgette plant in there (the square plot).

I grew 10 RBs and a courgette plant in this flexible planter a couple of years ago.



The planter was smaller than your area so it should work.

As gentlegreen said, the key is watering them regularly. The problem I had with the planter was drying out too quickly ( also should have added more feed with the watering which explains the yellowing courgette leaves :oops: )
 
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Courgettes are BIG plants.
With only one plant, you'll probably want to be manually pollinating - I'm pretty sure you can use a male flower from the same plant and it should do more than one female flower.
 
gentlegreen said:
Courgettes are BIG plants.
With only one plant, you'll probably want to be manually pollinating - I'm pretty sure you can use a male flower from the same plant and it should do more than one female flower.
Click to expand...

I did some of that last year and got lots of lovely flowers but i grew them in a pot which I think was too small and after one courgette it died.. so I don't want to make that mistake again this year. I'm tempted to buy another courgette plant and just plant 2 courgette plants in that square plot and perhaps grown the beans like Leafster above - they're runner beans though - not broad beans..
 
gaijingirl said:
I did some of that last year and got lots of lovely flowers but i grew them in a pot which I think was too small and after one courgette it died.. so I don't want to make that mistake again this year. I'm tempted to buy another courgette plant and just plant 2 courgette plants in that square plot and perhaps grown the beans like Leafster above - they're runner beans though - not broad beans..
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Ooops! I'm a little distracted today. Of course they are runner beans! :D
 
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