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The gardening thread

yes to climber on fence - possibly a jasmine? i want hand tools, not power - it's a small residential space (see previous illustration) where noise carries and i have all the time in the world :)

provides screening/privacy over garden wall/open fence to next door, but still lets a breeze through.
 
i'm not sure i even need shears tbh - the hauling and chopping keeps in check if i bother. i particularly like hauling and twining into circles to bung up the more visible gaps :D
 
I ought really to dig up my purple sprouting broccoli to make way for courgettes (or rather try and get someone else to do it as I'm currently one handed) but it's still vaguely producing in a small way. When does it officially finish?
 
I have an adult fox and 4 cubs repeatedly digging in my planters in spite of pointy sticks.
Any advice ?

If I had a spare working PIR lamp I might find the enthusiasm to wire it up to an aquarium pump and bucket of water ...

So I mashed up some old curry powder, cardamom pods and garlic powder and srinkled it ...
As a special bonus, some very stinky old urine soaked into some hay ...

Someone's feeding the little barstewards - I found a bit of pork pie yesterday ...

I chucked a bit of wood not quite at this adult one and it didn't budge ...


digger.jpg
 
They had a den in my garden - or at least the entrance to one - but I've filled it in and put a pile of timber on top of it.
This generation seems to have lost the knowledge of how to dig a new one...
 
About six weeks ago, I saw one of our local foxes trotting down the road.
This was at stupid o'clock as I wasn't sleeping well at the time.
The fox was carrying something - I got the binns out for a better look.
It had found a rat, which was now dead, and was taking it home.
I've seen this pair removing rabbits as well.
So they do quite a good pest control service.
 
StoneRoad said:
About six weeks ago, I saw one of our local foxes trotting down the road.
This was at stupid o'clock as I wasn't sleeping well at the time.
The fox was carrying something - I got the binns out for a better look.
It had found a rat, which was now dead, and was taking it home.
I've seen this pair removing rabbits as well.
So they do quite a good pest control service.
Click to expand...
Yes I'm sure they help keep the rats down, but they're in danger of ruining the little bit of gardening I'm doing.
 
I went out to find a hole dug in the same container for the third day running and a spraint near my back door.
The hole was a fair bit smaller though.
I suppose it may still think better of it once it starts cleaning itself.
 
Does jasmine stephanense ring a bell, wayward bob? My next door neighbour has this (and I am sure I did back in some long ago). If so, it never makes much woody growth, just layers lots of fine stems...and super easy with basic hedge shears...although if you have a little spare cash, you could buy some rather lovely Japanese niwaki ones.- Okatsune do a lovely pair of 8inch blades...which is lovely for box hedging, shaping...honestly sounds up your tree. Cost a bit over £70. Needless to say, mine are not these. (but I do have Japanese secateurs)...and did buy some for a present for my eldest and can definitely say they are a complete pleasure to use, especially if you are not being paid by the hour.
 
I was desperate to empty the greenhouse as much as possible so had a big push to get stuff in the ground at the allotment. I can't honestly say I gave much thought to this apart from clearing one of the spring beds (yanking out tulips, wallflowers/forget-me-nots and early annuals), and sticking zinnias, tithonia, larkspur and the like, willy-nilly. All a bit rushed (and the greenhouse is still nowhere near empty.) Occasionally, this can look quite good...but I fear this will not be one of those years.
The madder I was growing for dye is basically a sort of godzilla goosegrass...at least 4 times as large and twice as vigorous...sneakily hiding beneath a ferocious rose, it had reached monster proportions and had to be chopped, along with the usual rampaging weeds. My compost bays are now so high, I have to climb up on top of one heap with pitchforks full of...stuff, to toss onto the next pile.
 
Yesterday was markedly cooler, with rain.
The grass certainly needed that ...

Much warmer today, and now sunny.
Bees going knutts over the rugosa flowers ...

PS one of my bird nest boxes now has a bee colony in it
either Bombus lucorum or B. hortorum
If one will perch long enough for me to get an image, I might be able to decide which I have ...
 
I am waiting for my yarn (Corriedale and Polworth) to arrive and getting ready for dyeing. I hope to be able to cut the first harvest of indigo next week and am drying the anthemis flowers in the greenhouse.Also cut back the madder so I am getting a bit feverish with excitement at the thought of growing colours. Will probably wait till I have the three grand-daughters during the first week of the summer holidays, so we can do the dyeing at the allotment. (and get them on the sewing machines). I doubt I will be able to wait till then before doing the first indigo harvest...which I am going to do after the latest 'gathering' in the woods this weekend.
I have been reading about eco-printing so will be collecting eucalypts, birch bark, maple leaves and rhus...
A summer of colour will definitely make up for the woefully chaotic allotment and dismal garden. Time to haul out the spinning wheel as the idea of seed to sweater is catching alight (and we have sheep in the wood, courtesy of my neighbouring farmer). Might even buy some habotai silk...
 
I am new to gardening ,in fact having a garden is new to me .Lockdown has brought about a zest to do all sorts of jobs around the garden. i have recently Doug new posts holes and put up a fence also started a raised bed for flowers .my question is .... can i put my spoil from digging out posts into raised bed then top it up with loam soil to keep cost down and rid myself of the spoil or am i asking for trouble re weeds etc
 
O Congratulations, pieandmashfirm ...and absolutely, of course you can use the spoil. My whole garden is raised beds and pots, filled with an absolute mish-mash of stuff. Weeds are not really anything to worry about, especially if you are going to get extra topsoil. My main issues concern drainage, soil compaction and shrinkage. And watering. Have you thought what you want to grow? If I was starting over, I would have been a bit more patient, as I immediately planted mine up and never really managed to get the balance (or levels) quite right.
This is a lovely thread, btw - no shortage of keen interest.
 
After my moaning, a furious afternoon of hacking and now I am back in love with my garden. I did take pictures and will ask offspring for help so I can post some. I feel this will fortify me for the inevitable next episode of dismay.
My favourite thing to do, in all of horticulture, is to grow a new plant from a seed...and if it is a plant completely new to me, then that is the most thrilling. This week, I am waiting for a little bulb, albuca shawii to flower, which I have only seen in books.
 
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