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The gardening thread

I was just about to ask about Carbon Gold :)

though thinking more about the fertilizer than the compost itself.

That's Charles "no-dig" Dowding right?
I don't have any experience of the fertilizer or other additives.

Yes, Charles Dowding is the pioneer of No-Dig gardening, and I've found his methods and general advice to be very useful.

For anyone interested, here's his you tube channel.
 
Going to try and grow some bamboo and also a black magic plant in a boggy planter. We'll see.

Anyone recommend mulch you can buy? Or best way to do this? We can't compost here sadly. I usually put a bit of compost out in the spring is this what it means? I've never actually bothered before, but thought I'd have a try. My bamboo seems to be managing the cold at the moment.
 
worth putting bamboo in a container :) I found it difficult to get going but once it did get going it really fucking went for it - it'll go through foundations of outbuildings if you're not careful.

Leaves are good mulch or leaf mould if you've collected it.
I had a gardening job back end of the season to remove bamboo. It was beating me until I got hold of a friend and two pick axes to get it out. It had lifted block paving and a path! I took some to put in a pot because I don't like totally killing plants.
 
eta:

  • Bark, Shredded or Chipped
  • Pine Needles
  • Grass Clippings
  • Newspaper
  • Shredded Leaves
  • Straw

I've just added some straw to my <ahem> new magnolia to protect it a bit against frost, too.
 
worth putting bamboo in a container :) I found it difficult to get going but once it did get going it really fucking went for it - it'll go through foundations of outbuildings if you're not careful.

Leaves are good mulch or leaf mould if you've collected it.
I put them into oak barrels. :) Took ages to drill the holes hence I am thinking I will try a bog plant in the second barrel.

Thanks! I'll collect leaves next year. Have thought about buying bark.
 
I had a gardening job back end of the season to remove bamboo. It was beating me until I got hold of a friend and two pick axes to get it out. It had lifted block paving and a path! I took some to put in a pot because I don't like totally killing plants.
yes I've put some in pots and they're doing well. I've actually used roundup :( to kill off the bamboo I put in next to one of the sheds. Only other thing I've used it on is japanese knotweed - both times just cutting the stem, touching some roundup on it and covering it with a piece of plastic to seal it.

Is a shame because first time I came to Cornwall in the early 70s I was stunned by a bamboo plantation and would have loved one.
 
There's a big clump of bamboo happily growing in the middle of a freshly resurfaced pavement just down the road from one of my work gardens. They've chopped it down before and relaid the path and it just grows straight back. Makes me laugh every time I walk past.

BristolEcho what are you wanting to mulch and why? How bothered are you about stuff like cost or how it'll look?
 
Going to try and grow some bamboo and also a black magic plant in a boggy planter. We'll see.

Anyone recommend mulch you can buy? Or best way to do this? We can't compost here sadly. I usually put a bit of compost out in the spring is this what it means? I've never actually bothered before, but thought I'd have a try. My bamboo seems to be managing the cold at the moment.

You can buy stuff of course, but if you have enough dead matter in your garden, shrubs or hedges you're pruning etc, you can just chop it all up and spread it over the ground. Doesn't need to be chopped too finely either. Makes a wonderful home for insects (and thus all wildlife that feeds on them) and will be mulching down, retaining water and releasing nutrients by spring when it's needed for the plants.
 
Snowdrops and crocuses coming out here, but also one of the tulips(!) It's clearly very confused with the climate, hopefully it doesn't die off, but it seems unlikely it'll do well coming up this early.
 
Anyone here grow anything that isn't strictly lawful? :hmm:
You know, those plants you hide from the neighbours?

Would appreciate some outdoor strain recommendations, by PM if you'd rather not out yourself
 
Still tidying up after the stormy weather and the chopping off of branches by the maniacs from the electric board. This years visit was particularly messy, partly because I said I wanted the brashings ...
But far less so than letting them deal with them, the ground is so very soft that dragging branches around & moving a shredder would have really ripped up the garden.
Those piles have produced some firewood and loads of wildlife heaps ...

I've still got half a dozen good sizes branches hung up in other trees. I do have an insulated pole saw that I should be able to pull them down with, if the wind doesn't knock them out.
 
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I'm not a great grub identifier but know enough that most of these are just slugs! I think only one is a leatherjacket 😣

20220214_080532.jpg
 
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