The gardening thread
- Thread starter ringo
- Start date
TopCat
Putin fanboy
I admire ants as I do rats and wood pigeons. But when they are a pest they have to be pushed back.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Was looking at getting some compost last night - I've found the Durston's peat free compost to be really good but with delivery the best I could see is £50 for 6 bags with delivery. The alternative if I pretend to be trade is £110 for a pallet of 40 bags which is huge overkill for what I need but tempting and would I think be a lifetime's supply.
Your thoughts TopCat since you have recent experience?
Your thoughts TopCat since you have recent experience?
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Well Lidl compost is cheap but they will only sell you so much and you have to lug it home.
The bulk compost I bought came from a company near Sevenoaks. 1000 litre bags. Dropped at your door or drive. It was a buy one get one free offer initially. So two bags came. £89 plus a tenner for delivery and I gave the bloke a fiver as tip. The compost was not a fine grade. It went mostly to the bottom of the beds.
I gave feedback about the quality. They reassured me enough to order a better quality.
I got 6000 litres the second delivery. £300 all in. I reckon the rather hench delivery man would barrow it in for a price.
Don’t underestimate the effort but it’s worth it.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Ta 
I've got a couple of raised beds that could take 60 or 70 litres before they start overflowing but the rest of the garden is pretty well mature. I could spread it around between plants though. So I might well. I must have spent over £100 on bags over the last couple of years so I'll perhaps see if they'll sell me a pallet if I pretend I'm a gardner.
I've got a couple of raised beds that could take 60 or 70 litres before they start overflowing but the rest of the garden is pretty well mature. I could spread it around between plants though. So I might well. I must have spent over £100 on bags over the last couple of years so I'll perhaps see if they'll sell me a pallet if I pretend I'm a gardner. 
Callie
Pivoting
Ok I am in the midst of making a garden disaster 
My garden is paved for the most part. We've always wanted to make one section lawn. I've semi researched how ( ) and I'm going to buy some rolls of turf. The area is small imo 155x310. If the turf is crap can I supplement it with grass seed? Just chuck some on??
Current status: giant cat litter tray
My garden is paved for the most part. We've always wanted to make one section lawn. I've semi researched how (
) and I'm going to buy some rolls of turf. The area is small imo 155x310. If the turf is crap can I supplement it with grass seed? Just chuck some on??Current status: giant cat litter tray
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bimble
floofy
You are planning to remove the paving stones as step one?Ok I am in the midst of making a garden disaster
My garden is paved for the most part. We've always wanted to make one section lawn. I've semi researched how (
Current status: giant cat litter tray
I did some turfing last week, on a little bit that was just a mudslide after an encounter with a digger.
It seems to be growing happily, all i do is make sure it doesn't dry out. Laying it was fun, like very heavy carpet.
dahlia coccinea, platycodon and round leaf persicaria up today. Still no tomatoes though. I have a pot of random stuff - a lucky dip from the Hardy Plant Society, which is germinating like mad. Completely clueless about all of them except an obvious lathyrus. And I have several monocots (aristea, anthericum, albuca and dietes, all of which are missing labels.
Ha, I have a few lucky dip pots of stray & unlabelled seeds too. Lots of leggy tomatoes and night scented stocks coz I wasn't expecting them to germinate so quickly! Ridiculous impulse-bought walking stick kale is up now, oca has gone from mad alien tentacle sprout thing to having actual leaves and the eryngium seeds I acquired last year and chucked outside right before that brief frost back in Jan are shooting up everywhere now. Salvia microphylla and Sunzilla sunflowers are today's new arrivals though the latter might need surgical intervention to escape their little seed coating hats.
last year and chucked outside right before that brief frost back in Jan are shooting up everywhere now. Salvia microphylla and Sunzilla sunflowers are today's new arrivals though the latter might need surgical intervention to escape their little seed coating hats.Thinking of giving up on the gooseberries and redcurrants for this year and using the space for another row of potatoes and more peas & beans instead. The nursery that keeps not getting back to me are going to phone re fruit order as soon as I get the veg into the ground, aren't they 
bimble
floofy
I seem to live in an area that’s full of little nurseries, not big proper garden centres with solid roofs but just one or two people with plants for sale and sometimes weird other stuff like the odd shit ornament.
Found a brilliant one today, just a joy, it was basically a woman’s life’s work and her garden and there were chairs where you could have tea, if it’s not raining.
So far, I haven’t come across a single plant-obsessed person that I didn’t like. They are all quite eccentric, the people who run these places, and all very different from each other, but just I like them a lot every time. Even the really grumpy one.
Get to wondering what that’s about, maybe it’s the working with plants all day that does it or maybe it’s what drew them each to that as a life in the first place. Small mysteries.
Found a brilliant one today, just a joy, it was basically a woman’s life’s work and her garden and there were chairs where you could have tea, if it’s not raining.
So far, I haven’t come across a single plant-obsessed person that I didn’t like. They are all quite eccentric, the people who run these places, and all very different from each other, but just I like them a lot every time. Even the really grumpy one.
Get to wondering what that’s about, maybe it’s the working with plants all day that does it or maybe it’s what drew them each to that as a life in the first place. Small mysteries.
Yeah I realised the other day that the reason I often sow seeds without labels is I think of plants as people, so it's easy to remember what's in which pot (am actually awful with names and quite face blind so might be more accurate to say I think of plants the way other people think of people) 
Anyway, what new plants did you get then?
bimble
floofy
Oh no nothing at all just a bag of compost which is all I needed.
I has a Ribes Gordonianum, no buds yet but leafs. Eta yes it does, they’re just tiny (the buds).
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Back to work with my "assistant" today (garden owner's five year old granddaughter). She can identify a few plants now and I think she might've actually done more weeding and mulching than I did last week - it's fun apparently! Going to pot on her tomato seedlings and direct sow some veg today I think.
Leafster
.
There's a little fuchsia specialist near me. The first time I went there I thought I'd wandered into someone's garden. No signs or anything to suggest it was open to the public! I walked around the greenhouses and plant stands but couldn't find anyone. Eventually, I found a path towards a house and as I was walking up to it, a bloke wandered out. He seemed surprised to find someone in his "nursery"!
Once we got chatting he was so enthusiast about his plants. There were two or three varieties that I'd come to buy and he rushed around trying to find them for me. Everything seemed so disorganised but he seemed to know where everything was. Nothing was priced up and I got the feeling he was just guessing when I asked him how much my plants cost. Sadly, I don't think he's open to the public now. Last time I checked it was mail order only.
I've just checked and I can't even find his website.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Damson and cherry blossom are starting to come out, the cherry a week or so earlier than last year.
The smell of the Damson blossom is frankly incredible.
The smell of the Damson blossom is frankly incredible.
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bimble
floofy
proper frost this morning, dont think anything has perished as a result but some things are looking a bit floppy : \
This is now my favourite place, possibly in the world but definitely in the tiny world in which i've been living lately, might just accept it and put a chair in there to hang out in.
This is now my favourite place, possibly in the world but definitely in the tiny world in which i've been living lately, might just accept it and put a chair in there to hang out in.
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