The gardening thread
- Thread starter ringo
- Start date
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
Weird, I live 500 miles north and mine is ok, originally from north London too.
I did some weeding earlier, nice to get out for an hour or two
Didn't want to trim anything as it's still damned cold at night.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Loads died in London last winter too, so by summer there were loads of bare trunks with new leaf balls growing at ankle level. I think mine died because it was still cold wet in April when I planted it and its a very exposed front garden with lots of wind so it never got a chance to establish its roots.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Yup, two spanking new bamboo plants on the back patio waiting to go in but I couldn't even open the curtains.
Treacle Toes
Time
I don't want to pay for green waste collection.
The MOUNTAIN is still taunting me from the lawn. Was planning on dealing with it this morning but got carried away drinking coffee and eating cake....there is some waste land at the back so when i get around to it that's where it will be going.
The MOUNTAIN is still taunting me from the lawn. Was planning on dealing with it this morning but got carried away drinking coffee and eating cake....there is some waste land at the back so when i get around to it that's where it will be going.
Leafster
.
Run the lawnmower over it to shred it then put the remains on the compost heap.I don't want to pay for green waste collection.
The MOUNTAIN is still taunting me from the lawn. Was planning on dealing with it this morning but got carried away drinking coffee and eating cake....there is some waste land at the back so when i get around to it that's where it will be going.
Treacle Toes
Time
The sun is coming out here so I really MUST get out and clear up the ivy debris and crack on a bit more with the patios.
There is a lot to do here and sometimes I feel overwhelmed.
The plan is to do as much as I can alone and then organise a HELP ME party...trouble is I am notoriously bad in asking for help.
Just one more coffee and a fag and i'm out there!!!!
There is a lot to do here and sometimes I feel overwhelmed.
The plan is to do as much as I can alone and then organise a HELP ME party...trouble is I am notoriously bad in asking for help.
Just one more coffee and a fag and i'm out there!!!!
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
Treacle Toes
Time
Yay me! 
Spent a couple of hours out there. Have cleared all the ivy debris from the lawn, raked over all of the back to encourage growth, had a good dig at the other mountain of earth and old bricks by the back wall and had a lovely wee fire to celebrate using sticks/twigs that had been blown all around the garden with the recent high winds.
Spent a couple of hours out there. Have cleared all the ivy debris from the lawn, raked over all of the back to encourage growth, had a good dig at the other mountain of earth and old bricks by the back wall and had a lovely wee fire to celebrate using sticks/twigs that had been blown all around the garden with the recent high winds.
Callie
Pivoting
Is that *all* your garden?! Its huge!The sun is coming out here so I really MUST get out and clear up the ivy debris and crack on a bit more with the patios.
There is a lot to do here and sometimes I feel overwhelmed.
The plan is to do as much as I can alone and then organise a HELP ME party...trouble is I am notoriously bad in asking for help.
Just one more coffee and a fag and i'm out there!!!!
I will come to your party
Treacle Toes
Time
Is that *all* your garden?! Its huge!
I will come to your party
It is all mine..I call it the beast
, affectionately of course! That isn't all of it either...there is a side bit with a large double shed and some more lawn that is out of shot from the kitchen window. It was originally divided into 3 but I have knocked the concrete dividers out closest to the house and am building an allotment in the middle section...at the back is where the fire pit and sweat lodge are....so much to do though, and so much done already
I am not complaining, just saying. I know I am very fortunate to have it and I do have plans to do great things with and in it!
Gonna see if I can find a before pic so that you can see how much has changed so far.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
Thats a great way to celebrate. I want a fire now.
If the delivery emails are to be believed I'm going to have the last 4 bamboo plants come in plus the two I already have and the Japanese Acer to plant this weekend, and the weather don't look too bad neither. Will try and remember a before and after photo.
Treacle Toes
Time
How much have you been paying for your bamboo? I am planning to transplant some from a friend's garden soon. I love it!
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
I was a bit surprised at how much it can cost, so ended up doing a lot of research into the price as well as the species, size, colour, tendency to spread etc. In the end I only went for clumping species, and as it happens they are all Phyllostachys of different types, but that wasn't a prerequisite.
The local garden centre was doing them half price at £30 or £60 a plant, which I thought was a bit shocking seeing as they grow fast, but then realised they're tricky to grow from seed and are not commercial until a year or two old so I spose I'll let them off, just not going to buy them.
Anyway, for the bamboo hedge along my back wall I've gone for:
4 plants from the same place (on Ebay), total with postage £45:
2 of Phyllostachys 'Spectabilis' - Yellow Groove Bamboo
2 of Phyllostachys bissetii - Green Bamboo
1 Black Bamboo Plant, , 1 5litre pot, 100cm+ (Phyllostachys nigra) about £30 off Ebay
Giant Green Japanese - Phyllostachys nigra Henonis. Comes 10 litre 180cm high £37.50 inc postage.
http://www.junglegiants.co.uk/acatalog/Phyllostachys_nigra_Henonis.html
And a colourful specimen yellow giant bamboo to block the view of some neighbours:
1 Yellow Phyllostachys Vivax Aureocaulis 40% OFF - Yellow Timber Bamboo, is already 9 feet high, with postage GBP 29.89 from
http://www.scottishbamboo.com/Clearance_Phyllostachys_Vivax_Aureocaulis.htm
So 7 plants, two of which are giants and another a quite expensive black specimen type for £142.39. That's as cheap as I could manage it for the large quantity and coverage I wanted.
Treacle Toes
Time
Before and so far pics... (trampoline wasn't mine)
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
I should be doing stuff in the garden really. It's cold and wet though, and I am not hardy.
Think I might rip out the passion flower and jasmine at the end of the yard...the bed they grow out of is basically a toilet for my cat
and the trellis they're attached to has been blown off the fence by recent storms. I am tempted to get rid of the lot and plant a fruit tree instead.
We're also considering a grassless yard. I do like the green but the actual quality is poor, the space is tiny and it's muddy as fuck. If we pave the lot, we'll have more usable space and can have more pots.
Think I might rip out the passion flower and jasmine at the end of the yard...the bed they grow out of is basically a toilet for my cat
and the trellis they're attached to has been blown off the fence by recent storms. I am tempted to get rid of the lot and plant a fruit tree instead.We're also considering a grassless yard. I do like the green but the actual quality is poor, the space is tiny and it's muddy as fuck. If we pave the lot, we'll have more usable space and can have more pots.
ringo
Macaroni cheese controller
If you pave it over you lose some green and turn it grey. Plus the plants in the pots would do better in the earth, and you will have better drainage if you don't pave it up. Just saying like.
Manter
Lunch Mob
If the grass is a real pita, some sort of loose surface like gravel might work- you can still get drainage that way, and if I were you I'd go for beds or raised beds rather than pots. Pots you have to remember to water, and replant etc- plants are much more robust in the groundI should be doing stuff in the garden really. It's cold and wet though, and I am not hardy.
Think I might rip out the passion flower and jasmine at the end of the yard...the bed they grow out of is basically a toilet for my cat
We're also considering a grassless yard. I do like the green but the actual quality is poor, the space is tiny and it's muddy as fuck. If we pave the lot, we'll have more usable space and can have more pots.
May Kasahara
take me to the feeling
I don't think either of you appreciate quite how small our 'garden' is
BoatieBird
Well-Known Member
I don't think either of you appreciate quite how small our 'garden' is
I think we need photos
This thread needs more photos
Treacle Toes
Time
I like your approach. If you don't like it rip it out, make it your own, total Armageddon
I have been very good not to throw anything useful away and recycle it elsewhere in the garden, wood, paving stones, plants etc.
From the before pic you can see that too much of the left hand side of the garden was being taken over by MONSTER Ivy. Cutting that back has been a massive job in itself.
Manter
Lunch Mob
My best mate has a courtyard at the back of her house that is basically the size of a garden table.... She has put an l of raised bed (brick walls up to knee height) along one side and across the back, has trellised up the back wall with arches going to mirrors, and gravelled what is left. If you sit at the table no one can get past you, but it still means we can sit outside in the summer, or fold the table up and have a paddling pool for the kids, but it looks good the rest of the time. And she only waters when her 4 year old does it (which is slightly obsessively at the moment, though we keep trying to explain the rain has made it unnecessaryI don't think either of you appreciate quite how small our 'garden' is
)
Manter
Lunch Mob
Yeah, we have a very neglected garden to our right which is overrun by nasties including ivy. I spend a lot of time hauling runners out of the flowerbeds- last summer I missed about 6 weeks (I was very pregnant in my defence!) and I was finding the ends of ivy runners 7or 8 foot into the garden. It's voracious!
TruXta
tired
A perfect day for gardening. Ain't going anywhere near it today
Might mow the lawn tomorrow tho, and clear oak leaves from the front garden. Would've ordered a skip and rotovator for next weekend but my folks are coming to stay the weekend, would be a bithandy shit to have them come for a long weekend of hard manual labour.
Might mow the lawn tomorrow tho, and clear oak leaves from the front garden. Would've ordered a skip and rotovator for next weekend but my folks are coming to stay the weekend, would be a bit
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