Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

The gardening thread

plurker said:
Not Japeto, but we use the very Niwaki tools, which are similar, for domestic use at home. My OH, a professional gardener, has a variety for work use too.

The hori hori knife is a gamechanger, and the various secateurs are great. Definitely worth the money. We want one of the tripod ladders but it won't fit in the car :rolleyes:

www.niwaki.com

Niwaki - Japanese Tripod Ladders, Fine Pruning Tools & Other Great Stuff from Japan

Niwaki imports and sells Great Stuff from Japan. We source fine garden tools, kitchen knives and woodworking tools direct from manufacturers...
www.niwaki.com www.niwaki.com
Click to expand...
oh, these are beautiful objects. I bet they are a joy to use too. Not at all sure how i feel about lusting after garden tools. Lusting after flowers is one thing but :hmm:
 
bimble said:
I has a funny little plastic greenhouse / coldframe, that came in 700 confusing pieces off ebay but it works, looks like a tiny plastic house, have put next to the fence so it might not blow away.
Is there any sort of simple rule as to when seedlings are big enough to be transferred into there -or is is different for each plant, and some will need to be brought indoors for the nights longer than others etc?
Click to expand...
It really depends on the plant. Work out what will survive slight frosts, what won't, what needs a very minimum of say 5 degrees and what needs warmer temps than that. A max/min thermometer is good for accuracy (don't get the cheap ones with a needle that goes round like on a dial, they're shit, get digital or one that goes up and down with whatever they use now instead of mercury) but looking up your first/last frost dates and keeping an eye on the weather forecast will give you a decent idea of what to stick out when. Trial and error - or "stress testing" to borrow campanula's name for it - will also work :hmm::oops:

If it's one of those metal pole frame & plastic cover ones, wedge some bricks etc on top of the horizontal poles that sit on or just above the ground to stop it blowing around.
 
thanks iona. It's a bit of a revelation how well it works at grabbing the sparse pale sunlight and translating it into feelable warmth. Will tread carefully and watch the temp and weather. It is well loaded with rocks, the base bars.
 
Tjhere are some helpful rules, Bimble, such as where the plants originate from. All hardy annuals and perennials...that is, all plants from Northern Europe, the US, anywhere at altitude so lots of China, N.India...can all live outside all year. Plants which originate from the Mediterranean, S.Asia, S.Africa and quite a few parts of S.America and Southwest USA, need more frost protection. Habitat is always my first checkpoint. Then, you will need to consider how plants have been raised. If they are germinated in heat...or on a warm windowsill, then you will have to do something called hardening off.
What plants are you raising, bimble. Give us a list and we can go through them. It is a bit of trial and error but it is also hugely disheartening to kill off lovingly raised seedlings (and we can do this with kindness as well as neglect). So yes, there are some ways to minimise risk and loss. FWIW, my greatest attrition occurs over a hot summer when I simply cannot keep up with the daily watering needed by my small seedlings (which are still too small to go into the hurly-burly of the garden). I hardly ever lose plants to frost or cold.
I started with one of those little greenhouses...and grand-daughter has one - I loved mine. Make sure you can either peg it into the ground or weigh the base/bottom shelf with bricks. Even against a wall, they can fly off.

eta - just noticed that Iona and you have both emphasised stability! (I have chased various structures across the allotment).
 
campanula said:
If they are germinated in heat...or on a warm windowsill, then you will have to do something called hardening off.
What plants are you raising, bimble. Give us a list and we can go through them. .
Click to expand...
Oh yes very please.
Right now installed inside the minigreenhouse are:
  • 5 agapanthus quite snug in plastic pots (they came bare root in the post a few days ago and gave me a bit of a shock with how ugly they were, for such beauties). I think they are ok in there ?
  • a couple of baby cocosmius & 2 achilea inca golds (all of these about as tall as a finger but looking well), think they are better in there than either naked or indoors.
  • a collection of about 13 mystery plants with no labels, who have survived the winter to varying degrees.:hmm: I have been broadening & de-stoning the flowerbeds so most things, that didnt seem too attached to their spots, came out and got put in pots whilst i make the bed..

Seedlings that are happening now, inside the house all on windowsills:
  • sweet peas, now between about 5 about 9cm tall, & crowded into pots too close together
  • cornflowers (in tray, looking floppy and a bit gangly, not sure what to do.
  • nasturtium (3 germinated not a peep from the rest), those 3 look well, 1st true leaves.
  • some fennel, wispy and unconvincing.
  • a few california poppies (i know, just couldn't wait) in those paper pots that you can put in the ground without disturbing the roots.
  • white cosmos, looking a bit wispy now, still in the seed tray.

& I have the most miniscule very tiny sproutings of:
  • snapdragons
  • mexican evening primrose / pink lady
  • rose campion

Also quite a lot of ranunculus claws are sitting around in pots all over the house, in various aspects & temperatures, all seem to be doing nothing so far though.

Nothing has been 'hardened off' yet, i did carry a few things outside just to show them the view but it was cold and i took them all in again swiftish, they are so small :oops:
 
I've already kicked my sweet peas out to stop them getting too leggy but my garden's probably quite a bit warmer than yours

Edit - actually that's a lie, I found a sad, straggly trayful hidden away in a cupboard this morning. State of these :oops::oops:
IMG-20210306-160808.jpg
 
Last edited:
Smashed out some pruning today after my rambling rose lived up to it's name. Got some bind weed that seems to be everywhere which I'm also trying to strip back.
 
My sweet peas are doing really well in the conservatory - I should pinch them off really. I'm hugely reluctant to put them outside though because the fucking mice eat them :mad:
 
two sheds said:
My sweet peas are doing really well in the conservatory - I should pinch them off really. I'm hugely reluctant to put them outside though because the fucking mice eat them :mad:
Click to expand...
Even once they're growing? My garden shed mice generally leave stuff alone once it's past cotyledon stage. The allotment shed mice seem to completely ignore even newly direct-sown peas and beans which kind of makes me worry about what they are actually eating instead
 
They did have four or five when they were several inches tall. They're about a foot tall now but I don't want to risk it :(
 
Far too cold up here for most things ... we are only just starting to see buds on the daffillips (plenty of snowdrops, instead)

However, it has been dry enough - if very cold - to consider starting a few outside jobs.
Restricted to working in short bursts, otherwise my TN has a wobbly.

Today, we've demolished a rotten fence and I've started to prune (ie chop down) the overgrown rugarosa that was growing behind it.
Spend the last hour burning up some of the very rotten scrap wood and the first batch of prunings.

More of the same tomorrow.
New fence components due late next week.
 
Yes I've been putting seeds in pots for the window sill. I put some aside for planting direct into the ground but then thought that it's by no means warmed up yet so I'll postpone them :)
 
Been a grim week or so compared to the week before it. Might start doing some planting and repairs out door next weekend though.
 
Do you folks practice successional sewing? I normally only plant one thing per bed per year but thinking of upping my game this year.
 
I don't normally but proper gardeners do :(

having said that with poppies and things with 500 seeds per packet have to have successional sewing because otherwise there's no point.
 
more rugarosa prunning today, it was dry & even sunny at times, but it wasn't warm.
Those plants are very well-endowed with loads of fine prickles instead of decent thorns.
Had another small bonfire.

[helped (?) by the neighbouring farmer deciding to do some muck-spreadin' - actually, slurry spraying - and it was exceptionally stinky]


E2A - also had something of a spring clean in the driveway, at least we've made a start on clearing the winter debris - there must be half a tree's worth of small twigs and dead leaves in various corners ...
 
heinous seamus said:
Do you folks practice successional sewing? I normally only plant one thing per bed per year but thinking of upping my game this year.
Click to expand...
I plan to, then ignore my plans and stick a few things in early/late because they might do ok and I'm impatient and disorganised. So effectively end up successional sowing anyway but in spite of my plans rather than because of them :rolleyes:
 
De-turfed the area where my new shed's going to go yesterday :thumbs: Gonna chuck some sand on tomorrow to level it back up before the rain later in the week turns it into a pond, and possibly get the gravel grids down too if my mum's up for multiple car trips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

danski
Baby fox in garden
2
Replies
56
Views
2K
cupid_stunt
cupid_stunt
ATOMIC SUPLEX
Egg in my garden.
Replies
18
Views
544
hash tag
hash tag
T & P
Would I need planning permission to raise the height of the garden boundary brick wall?
Replies
18
Views
414
Boudicca
Boudicca
J
garden obelisk recommendation?
Replies
6
Views
322
AnnO'Neemus
A
story
Coffee making accessories for the coffee wanker in your life
2 3 4
Replies
104
Views
2K
Happy Tree
Happy Tree
Back
Top Bottom