Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Am in love with mint moths
The gardening thread
- Thread starter ringo
- Start date
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Skip dived a (working) hose wheel complete with hose and some extra hose connector bits from the guy next door whose been literally working on building a house on his house for the last 2 years and is now building a garden shed.
Already picked most of the second sowing of radishes here, that and salad leaves are the only things that aren't much late. Broad beans only just starting to grow teeny tiny baby pods. Chard's about ready to start picking which is fine coz I'd only just finished last year's. Netted the strawberries tonight now they're turning pink.
Pulled all the carrots in the farm polytunnel today and filled a massive bag for myself from the ones they couldn't put in veg boxes coz a rat had nibbled the top. And I got to have a go on the weed burner
Pulled all the carrots in the farm polytunnel today and filled a massive bag for myself from the ones they couldn't put in veg boxes coz a rat had nibbled the top. And I got to have a go on the weed burner
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Me tooAnd I got to have a go on the weed burner
Am going to strim stuff first and then have a go at the fucking brambles.
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
So you got round to buying a rocket then? Gas?Me too
View attachment 272700
Am going to strim stuff first and then have a go at the fucking brambles.
two sheds
Least noticed poster 2007
Yep butane - it's waiting for the rain to stop
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
Flame retardant suit?Yep butane - it's waiting for the rain to stop
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
I got to play with my new toy today. I'm still a bit vibraty?
www.drapertools.com
Petrol Brush Cutter and Line Trimmer, 32.5cc 80880 GTP34 | Draper Tools
Petrol Brush Cutter and Line Trimmer, 32.5cc 80880 GTP34 | Draper Tools - Features: 2 stroke petrol engine, Choke for easy starting, On/off switch with safety throttle lever and lock on for starting, Bike handle for comfortable use, Shoulder harness, Supplied with: three bladed brush cutter...
Calamity1971
If Mr Peanut says It's okay, then it is.
Doing a garden tomorrow, the grass and brambles are that high I found an upright bike! It's taking some getting used to on wild bits over my fence. You're going to set yourself alight and I'm going to slice a limb off 
Callie
Pivoting
Trying to take a pic of one
it attack!! Maybe I am minty fresh??Attachments
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
i have a wild cherry that's growing on from a sapling in the ground atm, heading for a pot. will report back in a year
in other news, my little ash tree never came back and i still need to dig the compost.
I collected my first seeds of the season yesterday (cowslips, erigeron) which has brought annuals to my attention. For inveterate seed sowers, these are the ne plus ultra of the garden, and I like to try a few new ones, every year (on top of absolute standards such as cosmos, cornflowers, sweet peas and poppies). These lovely plants have always been slightly disdained by horticultural snobs - a bit too common (prole-y) and gaudy (trashy), Worryingly, seed sellers have been shrinking their inventories so where there used to be numerous selections of clarkia, lavatera and gypsophila, there are now 1 or 2...and some have practically vanished altogether (gilia, venus's looking glass, annual chrysanthemums).
I rushed out with my camera (but pics might or might not materialise.). So, this year, I am back on flax with the delightful rad flax (linum grandiflora) - a shorter but brighter version of the lovely blue (linum perenne, narbonense, ussussitatum).
Vaccaria has a similar style to gypsophila - airy, delicate blooms which almost float
Limnanthes douglasii - I always have this on the allotment but recently found a pure white variety with slight pinkish veining. Much more sophisticated (ha) than the usual fried egg look of yellow and white.
There are a whole heap of short, intensely pretty Californicans which I generally grow - have a look at the nemophilias.
Phacelia: many allotmenteers grow this as a green manure and pollinator...but I find it a bit graceless and coarse, compared to some of its cousins such as P.campanilora. This year, I am growing a little hybrid from T&M (who keep a selection of 99p seeds which are not listed in the catalogue...but are always worth checking.
Nicotiana: this genus has bucked the trend (along with cosmos) so there are a huge variety. I have 6 distinct species (and having a labelling nightmare at the moment). I never, ever buy the silly dwarf 'Domino' strain...but the plkain white species, n, alata syn. affinis, cannot be bettered. I also have suaveolens, langsdorfii, sylvestris and a couple of hybrids including a colour changing, new-to-me 'Whisper'.
Also growing callistephos, zinnia, tithonia, coreopsis, mentzelia and the usual volunteers.
Also, the next 2-3 weeks are biennial time - a much underrated, but, afaiac, highly valuable plant family. I have just done my order (from Seedaholic)
.so will do yet another rambling post and take the time to figure out the photo stuff (again)...but not until I have got my head straight with an afternoon allotment session.
I rushed out with my camera (but pics might or might not materialise.). So, this year, I am back on flax with the delightful rad flax (linum grandiflora) - a shorter but brighter version of the lovely blue (linum perenne, narbonense, ussussitatum).
Vaccaria has a similar style to gypsophila - airy, delicate blooms which almost float
Limnanthes douglasii - I always have this on the allotment but recently found a pure white variety with slight pinkish veining. Much more sophisticated (ha) than the usual fried egg look of yellow and white.
There are a whole heap of short, intensely pretty Californicans which I generally grow - have a look at the nemophilias.
Phacelia: many allotmenteers grow this as a green manure and pollinator...but I find it a bit graceless and coarse, compared to some of its cousins such as P.campanilora. This year, I am growing a little hybrid from T&M (who keep a selection of 99p seeds which are not listed in the catalogue...but are always worth checking.
Nicotiana: this genus has bucked the trend (along with cosmos) so there are a huge variety. I have 6 distinct species (and having a labelling nightmare at the moment). I never, ever buy the silly dwarf 'Domino' strain...but the plkain white species, n, alata syn. affinis, cannot be bettered. I also have suaveolens, langsdorfii, sylvestris and a couple of hybrids including a colour changing, new-to-me 'Whisper'.
Also growing callistephos, zinnia, tithonia, coreopsis, mentzelia and the usual volunteers.
Also, the next 2-3 weeks are biennial time - a much underrated, but, afaiac, highly valuable plant family. I have just done my order (from Seedaholic)
.so will do yet another rambling post and take the time to figure out the photo stuff (again)...but not until I have got my head straight with an afternoon allotment session.
StoneRoad
heckling from the back!
It is rather too windy for my taste at the moment ...
I hope that it doesn't damage anything !
Had some "help" this morning - one of our blackbirds decided to clean out a gutter. He chucked out a load of dead leaves & almost compost when searching for food. This all landed on the gravel path, and was about half a bucket-full when I picked it up for transfer to the compost heap. I had almost finished when "Bright eyes" threw another lot at me !
I hope that it doesn't damage anything !
Had some "help" this morning - one of our blackbirds decided to clean out a gutter. He chucked out a load of dead leaves & almost compost when searching for food. This all landed on the gravel path, and was about half a bucket-full when I picked it up for transfer to the compost heap. I had almost finished when "Bright eyes" threw another lot at me !
Leafster
.
It's the magpies who clean my gutters out for me. They also pick the moss of the roof and once I watched them collecting tiny snails from my cordylines.
It's not too windy here on the North Downs but I'm stuck at my desk.
TopCat
Putin fanboy
Bastard magpies gather on the neighbours roof, maybe 10 in total. They send out scouts looking for birds nests, return, report, then all go and attack the nests killing anything they can get which is most of the baby birds around here.
They are protected so no shooting them but it’s grim to witness.
They are protected so no shooting them but it’s grim to witness.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
Trying to take a pic of one
Mine is super skittish so as soon as it senses a shadow it runs away unless your very lucky
Idaho
blah blah blah
I forgive the baby bird murder. I find them beautiful, especially in take off and landing.
Artaxerxes
Look out, he's got a gnu!
May as well share it here as they are pretty (just turn up where not wanted and strangle my stuff)
Yep, convolvulous cneorum is rather modest. I know you had a moonflower one year. Me too...but it didn't bloom until November, so that got crossed off the glamourous climber list. There are a selection of morning glories...most of which I have explored. I had a retro moment with the old favourite 'Heavenly Blue' last year. An oldie but, if you wait till May to get started, a goodie. It hates, hates being given an early start and never really gets going. However, some of the MGs are fairly early into bloom. Most of the ipomea nil group (are easier and faster than HB - I had Kniola's Black and Granpa Otts one year. I have a lot of time for the blue convolvulous sabatius...which will trail or climb but only to a very mannerly 3 feet or so. Almost the exact size of the little pink field bindweed, c.arvensis (which is a nuisance but nothing, NOTHING like the strangling, indefatiguable, rootily immortal c.sepium).
A really nice little concolvulous is the slightly picky pink c.altheoides. A dainty mediterranean but will take some sourcing (don't be afraid of mail order). I don't recall seeing seeds but I have some in a customer's garden so I will be vigilant. Finally, the little annual tricolour is often on my a seed list. You used to be able to buy seeds in single colours (this is one of the noticeable changes as inventories get 'ratified').
Anyway, that's the convolvulous family but we haven't mentioned a number of other scandent, lush climbers or creepers (a quality I really find works well in untidy gardens (mine). In no particular order, thunbergia, rhodochiton, lofospermum, mandevilla, lapageria (although I have never grown this), a vast range of clematis (one for every month,), campsis (if you have large walls), aconitum,
Scramblers include globe mallows (sphaeralcea), poppy mallow (callirhoe involucrata), clematis integrifolia (non-climbing), campanula pocharskyana...
Bindweed is a beautiful swine of a plant. I really struggle to stay on top because I have many enormous roses, - mad digging around the roots is not any option, nor is spraying. Continually, I am yanking and pulling - rose stems get snapped or deformed, buds stripped off and and the roots are deep and persistent. It isn't even that there are heaps of elegant blooms - it's mainly vicious lianas which wrap tightly around every upright form. Horrible. The prevalence of bindweed and couch is one of the reasons for growing a lot of annuals. It is no fun watching the hideous rhizomes bullying through the perennials so I can at least clear out entire beds, when no precious paeonies, daylilies or long-lived perennials such as baptisia, are wrecked by rooty thugs.
A really nice little concolvulous is the slightly picky pink c.altheoides. A dainty mediterranean but will take some sourcing (don't be afraid of mail order). I don't recall seeing seeds but I have some in a customer's garden so I will be vigilant. Finally, the little annual tricolour is often on my a seed list. You used to be able to buy seeds in single colours (this is one of the noticeable changes as inventories get 'ratified').
Anyway, that's the convolvulous family but we haven't mentioned a number of other scandent, lush climbers or creepers (a quality I really find works well in untidy gardens (mine). In no particular order, thunbergia, rhodochiton, lofospermum, mandevilla, lapageria (although I have never grown this), a vast range of clematis (one for every month,), campsis (if you have large walls), aconitum,
Scramblers include globe mallows (sphaeralcea), poppy mallow (callirhoe involucrata), clematis integrifolia (non-climbing), campanula pocharskyana...
Bindweed is a beautiful swine of a plant. I really struggle to stay on top because I have many enormous roses, - mad digging around the roots is not any option, nor is spraying. Continually, I am yanking and pulling - rose stems get snapped or deformed, buds stripped off and and the roots are deep and persistent. It isn't even that there are heaps of elegant blooms - it's mainly vicious lianas which wrap tightly around every upright form. Horrible. The prevalence of bindweed and couch is one of the reasons for growing a lot of annuals. It is no fun watching the hideous rhizomes bullying through the perennials so I can at least clear out entire beds, when no precious paeonies, daylilies or long-lived perennials such as baptisia, are wrecked by rooty thugs.
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