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The gardening thread

Not properly - I do have a list of things that I found successful over the year that I try to add to every autumn but not very thoroughly. I do however have a pretty exhaustive forward planning list of what needs doing every month and use it rrrrrrrrrreligiously.
 
I just went out to prune the apple tree, got my extendable ladders out, the big long pole saw etc, walked around underneath trying to work out which bit of the mess of branches to cut and then put everything back in the shed and came back inside.

I'll either pay someone to do it next year or just leave it alone.
 
Yes, taking too many branches off generates the vertical risers doesn't it, not keen on how that looks. My apple tree is letting me know which branches to cut because some are dying off (is an old tree) so I've done them.
 
I keep endless journals,bimble...but they are mostly rubbish. They always start with great enthusiasm, either at the end of the summer or the traditional New Year ones. I write in them every day...for a week or so, then gaps start appearing because the journal got left out in the rain, fell down the back of a shelf, or I just got a bit bored. Worse, they start as the usual lists, things to do, seeds to order, and so on...but they inevitably deteriorate, from a simple (hopeful, cheery) diary to an extended whine about my useless neighbours, their horrible diseased plants, the sneaky land-grabs and filthy invading couch grass and so forth and so on. These journals are actually interchangeable, because they are all, basically the same.
 
I'm actually quite proud of my forward planning list - I keep it as a spreadsheet that I've made notes over the years from garden/house maintenance articles as to when things need to be done - separated into house/personal/garden (wildlife, flowers, veg ..). It works because I've got a crap memory and if it's all written down somewhere I don't worry that I've forgotten something.
 
I was up with the larks today after getting smashed last night and ordered loads of stuff of the internet. I know I have a 1000KG of good compost coming on Thursday.
I bought a wheelbarrow too, a good one as I will have to barrow the compost through my little side entrance.

When my partner came in from work last night to find me pissed with Xanax mixed in sat at the computer it was not good.. I slurred i was fine and then fell off the chair sideways and flopped abut like a dying fish. . Oops. Well the remaining Xanax is down the loo. I will be avoiding the booze. Plus lots of digging to show willing.

I dug down to see what the vegetable beds are like. Bit of couch grass but this loamy soil with no identifiable clay. Yay! So turned half over to let the frost due later this week to get in there and kill the buried slugs and help break up the sods. I will do the other half after making tea for better half. Might put a pic up so you all can se what can be achieved with WFH. :) I love Spring!
 
bimble I've tried to keep diaries, To do lists and all sorts of notes but they always fail because I don't do them regularly enough and then can't remember whether they're on the PC, on my phone or in a lever arch file.

The only thing I've have been reasonably consistent with is keeping a photographic log of what's in the garden and where. It also gives me an indication of what the garden looks at different times of the year so I can see "gaps" that might need filling or when things have flowered in previous years so I can check how things are going now.

I've also used My Garden - Your Free RHS Gardening Coach / RHS Gardening to log the plants I've bought and which part of the garden they are in but I don't think it's fully up to date. This took over from my lever arch file with all the plant labels in plastic wallets grouped by location. Can't say the RHS system is great but at least I don't have random labels falling out of physical files all the time. I think it can do a lot more than I use it for but I've never really investigated it properly.

As for forward planning I've not been consistent with that either. When I moved here I had a plan on how to tackle the transformation from overgrown nightmare to reasonably organised chaos but now the bigger tasks are done I just wing it with the occasional post it note (physical or virtual) with reminders of what I need to do at the weekend.
 
I usually plan things out roughly at the start of the year but inevitably I plant something and forget where it went because it wasn't on the list and I just had that bit of space and why would I mark the dirt I can remember where and what I put there!

bimble said:
My To Do list now says 'do not buy any more plants or seeds, at all this week, none'.
Click to expand...

Crossed out with the words "oh no" next to it.
 
I have a diary where I write down what to do week by week, then try to make a note of when I actually do stuff which is usually weeks out from my plans and also kind of pointless since I can remember things like the exact dates I sowed tomatoes last year without even checking. It's useful for making notes of stuff like the manure man's phone number and who I bought what plants from though.

Guy I do a lot of gardening work for has his grown-up son & family living with them temporarily so I've had a little helper following me around today :) Going to bring some seeds on Friday for her to grow.
 
one of the kids got me a gardening diary where you can fill in the weather and stuff but i've been crap about filling it in. trying to keep a semi organised record for the bonsais though, and i'm taking lots of progress pics so i can reflect on my mistakes in the years to come :)
 
platinumsage said:
I just went out to prune the apple tree, got my extendable ladders out, the big long pole saw etc, walked around underneath trying to work out which bit of the mess of branches to cut and then put everything back in the shed and came back inside.

I'll either pay someone to do it next year or just leave it alone.
Click to expand...
I'm meant to be pruning my allotment neighbour's old apples tomorrow (have also offered to help her clear the overgrown weeds she inherited with the plot because apparently I had so much fun doing mine last year). I do not have extendable ladders or a big long pole saw. Who wants to take bets on what I'll break when I fall out of a tree?
 
why why why is the world of garden hose connectors and adaptors so mindbogglingly complex and baffling, just spent an hour looking on the internet for the right tiny bit of plastic to make a thing fit on the other thing, and already have a small box full of things that failed to prove themselves in any way useful. Actual tenderhooks to find out if i got the right noggin this time.
 
Mate has given me a pressure washer - I'm not looking forward to trying to keep the hose on the tap for that.
 
it is absolutely mental, there are thousands, really, of adaptors and connectors, to 'choose from' / be confounded by. This is what's wrong with the world.
 
wayward bob said:
i water everything with a can because i can't make the hose-fit thing fit :oops::D
Click to expand...
I have a growing collection of shit watering cans because I can't bring myself to spend insane amounts of money on a posh Haws one (have used other people's though and they're a million times better than any other watering can I've tried) :mad: I can do hose connections but both the hoses I have are unusable for different reasons.
 
The strut holding the spout to the can can (can can? :confused:) break on aluminium ones, the rose on plastic ones can split ....
 
bimble said:
why why why is the world of garden hose connectors and adaptors so mindbogglingly complex and baffling, just spent an hour looking on the internet for the right tiny bit of plastic to make a thing fit on the other thing, and already have a small box full of things that failed to prove themselves in any way useful. Actual tenderhooks to find out if i got the right noggin this time.
Click to expand...
I've just received an order of a few connectors so I can tidy up the seep hoses in the veg beds. I checked and double-checked AND triple-checked that I was ordering the right connectors but I'm sure one of them isn't what I ordered. It's sat on my desk at moment so I can review my order to see if it's my mistake or the the suppliers. :hmm:
 
Hose connector world is, so far, the only thing in gardening i've found truly annoying and without redeeming features, that and maybe slugs but at least slugs have cool sex lives.
 
iona said:
Many things but mostly dribbly roses ime
Click to expand...
This is one of the most annoying things about watering cans.

The other is that if I don't leave them filled to the brim, slugs and snails take up residence in the spout and block it up.

I have strategically placed short lengths of cane around the garden to dislodge them.
 
Leafster said:
This is one of the most annoying things about watering cans.

The other is that if I don't leave them filled to the brim, slugs and snails take up residence in the spout and block it up.

I have strategically placed short lengths of cane around the garden to dislodge them.
Click to expand...
Spiders for me. Always feel really guilty when I have to evict them.
 
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