The gardening thread

[Leafster]

Ah, iona, I found I really got off on having rows and rows of identical small square pots (haven't used round pots for years). Looking at a coupla hundred perfectly matched pots is definitely part of my enjoyment...as is reaching over into the box of 1000 shiny, new 2inch pots -they are a perfect size for pricking out and growing on until I get them in the ground...somewhere. I am a cheapskate, so understand the reluctance to spend cash on giveaways but I admit, I am never going back to random containers. Seed trays were banished years ago - I sow seeds in 4inch, half-litre pots and upend them for pricking out.
I would love, love, love to work in a plant nursery, tbh. Propagating, and even a bit of hybridising is my true horticultural interest. I only really grow vegetables out of a misplaced sense of duty.
I have a horrible almond/peach hybrid at the allotment which I only keep for the blossom. gentlegreen. Always the very first to bloom (then plums, cherries and finally apples) - lights up the plot during grim February gloom. I ignore the inevitable peach leaf curl.

I think the square pots are great. I've got loads from when I planted up the garden and they're definitely the ones I use first.

When I was a kid, my parents used to visit a fuchsia specialist a couple of times a year. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of uniformly sized pots with rooted cuttings of every conceivable fuchsia in regimented lines in all of the greenhouses. It looked 'just right' so even now, when I'm potting on my handfuls of plants, I like to keep them looking neat and tidy too.

 

[iona]

I definitely want rampant nasturtiums in a future potager ...

One of the houses on my road had a ridiculous nasturtium rambling right up through a big rose bush and over the wall into next door's garden last year. This winter's been so mild that it's still going, though it's been cut back a bit and not flowering at the moment. Took this picture last night

 

[gentlegreen]

One of the houses on my road had a ridiculous nasturtium rambling right up through a big rose bush and over the wall into next door's garden last year. This winter's been so mild that it's still going, though it's been cut back a bit and not flowering at the moment. Took this picture last night

I did so well with nasturtiums one year I brought a couple of lengths into the bathroom, rooted them in my bubbler and and trailed them around the window

 

[andysays]

Every. Fucking. Year.

I find modules trays work really well.

I used to use cheap flimsy ones from Homebase, but for the past couple of years have been using these (as recommended by Charles Dowding)



They are relatively expensive, but work really well, and sturdy enough that they will effectively last forever.

 

[iona]

I find modules trays work really well.

I used to use cheap flimsy ones from Homebase, but for the past couple of years have been using these (as recommended by Charles Dowding)

View attachment 316744

They are relatively expensive, but work really well, and sturdy enough that they will effectively last forever.

We've had this conversation before

I usually use those, just occasionally stuff ends up in seed trays or other things for reasons. Think this time I was at work and looking for stuff to do while I was in the shed hiding from the rain.

 

[andysays]

We've had this conversation before

I usually use those, just occasionally stuff ends up in seed trays or other things for reasons. Think this time I was at work and looking for stuff to do while I was in the shed hiding from the rain.

Every. Fucking. Year.

I thought we probably had, but I couldn't find my previous post on the subject

Anyway, the recommendation is still good for anyone who hasn't discovered them yet

 

[iona]

Every. Fucking. Year.

I thought we probably had, but I couldn't find my previous post on the subject

Anyway, the recommendation is still good for anyone who hasn't discovered them yet

If we're recommending peat-free composts, I've been using Carbon Gold for a few years now, both seed and all purpose.

It's a mix of coconut coir, biochar, seaweed, mycorrihizal fungi, wormcasts and vegetable based nutrients, and it's easy to handle and gives good results.

After trying various seed trays, modules, and individual pots for sowing in, I'm a recent convert to professional grade multi cell propagation trays like these as recommended by Charles Dowding.

View attachment 268984​

The trays come in a standard size, but with a range of different cell numbers/sizes depending on how big a plug you need.

They are the easiest to use of anything I've tried, especially when it comes to removing the seedling from the tray to plant out.

Unfortunately they are so popular that they seem to be out of stock of many sizes ATM, but well worth getting some when they do become available again.

 

[bimble]

Being a horribly impatient person and learning the joys of gardening are in some ways a great combo but i've totally done it again, put way too many seeds in too many trays far too early so now the house is stuffed full of seedlings that shouldn't really exist for another month or so and its frosty outside and i have no more windowsills
campanula a bunch of stuff is growing thats the grandchildren of your 2020 plants : )

 

[iona]

Weather is stupid I nearly missed my train yesterday because I was making little bubble wrap hats for the tomato plants I needed to bring to work and leave in a shed till I could drop them off for another customer at lunchtime.

 

[campanula]

tomato plants! Cripes, mine are still skulking in pots without a sign of a sprout. I am brutal with my seedlings though - no warm windows or heated propagators - they sit (for months) in the freezing greenhouse. Quite a few hardy types are up though - primulas, flax, hesperis, ipomopsis and such but tagetes, tithonias and such won't be up for another coupla weeks. Sowing shitloads is a cure for impatience as there is always something new to see, most days. Inevitably, all the greenhouse space is filled with pots. One single pot of cowslip seedlings led to 3 dozen small pots (or 2 full standard trays) so the majority of seedlings are going to have to miss out the pricking out and take their chances in the ground, despite being no bigger than thimbles. I am hopeful of keeping at least enough space in the garden to actually sit in it...but I am back to stacking smaller pots on top of larger ones before a single visit to a nursery has been attempted (doing 2 this weekend, supposedly just to buy pond lining and customer shopping but...).

 

[gentlegreen]

((((sub-tropicals))))

I'm the opposite. Artificial lighting, thermostatic heating ...

It's going to take a lot of learning to master hardy annuals and perennials in a future garden ...

 

[two sheds]

I find modules trays work really well.

I used to use cheap flimsy ones from Homebase, but for the past couple of years have been using these (as recommended by Charles Dowding)

View attachment 316744

They are relatively expensive, but work really well, and sturdy enough that they will effectively last forever.

I looked for these on the web earlier in the year but they all seemed ridiculous prices and then I remembered that it's the sort of thing I've seen in Wilko. They've also got some cheapish capillary matting which I wish I'd seen before.

 

[zenie]

The world is your oyster

Got a tonne of plants and now we're expected a first Sunday and Monday so can't put them outside yet

Also searching for .eu or polish version of somewhere like Thompson Morgan

 

[gentlegreen]

Got a tonne of plants and now we're expected a first Sunday and Monday so can't put them outside yet

Also searching for .eu or polish version of somewhere like Thompson Morgan

where roughly are you located - relative to coast etc ?

 

[gentlegreen]

Bloody hell - that's only 41p Sterling ...

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[zenie]

where roughly are you located - relative to coast etc ?

Quite inland - about 120miles.

Thanks for the link GG - yes Poland is very cheap when you look at the €/£ conversion!

 

[gentlegreen]

Since my only vaguely local garden place closed, and with Aldi's compost being awful even when they have any (I got stem rot from one batch and the next lot murdered seeds and starved mature plants) , I'm going to have to either walk or cycle somewhere next week - sadly it will probably have to be Wilko ...

My Premier seeds order just turned up - only ordered on Thursday !
Crazy number of seeds for 99p a packet !

So I need to get my finger out this weekend and re-engineer my bathroom window frame using the spur shelving and brackets I have available so I can house up to 3 troughs depending on the stage of growth.

And the weather reminds me I will need to supply light and bottom heat to some of my seedlings in spite of the increase in electricity prices ...

I finally got around to printing out and filling in my local council's old-school bank mandate to get a green bin.
I could probably have got my pile cleared in the 6 months since I last tried to do it ...
Now I have to find some way to post the damn thing.

My share of the fencing order came to £620 - but it's good quality stuff and I'm getting expert help out of the deal - and it cost me £400 just for a skip last year ...
And I will be here for at least two more years while I get myself sorted ... a shame I have to plan for it to all be lawn.
I'm definitely going to plant out a load of broccoli and kale for next winter though ...

 

[two sheds]

Can you not get compost delivered? As I recall delivery charges weren't too bad when I got mine.

 

[gentlegreen]

Can you not get compost delivered? As I recall delivery charges weren't too bad when I got mine.

I don't know...
Annoyingly I had to put off my first Wickes order - I would have put a bag or two on that ...
I don't need a colossal amount - I can get by with what I can carry on my bike ...

 

[two sheds]

Fair play - although if you need a colossal amount the delivery charges tend to reduce proportionately

 

[two sheds]

eta: I've just ordered some wood from Wickes as it happens, delivery of £10 for 3m long 2x2 timber which I thought was very reasonable.

 

[gentlegreen]

eta: I've just ordered some wood from Wickes as it happens, delivery of £10 for 3m long 2x2 timber which I thought was very reasonable.

That sounds remarkably cheap - I'm sure delivery was 30-odd quid last time I checked ...

 

[BristolEcho]

Some early pictures. We have bought some switch grass in to add some height and some more ferns. There was a tree by the lavender but landlord thankfully took it out when they installed a fence and so we are building up around it. That lavender is a beast not sure how many more years it has left. Slugs decimated our Susan already little fucks.

 

[Johnny Vodka]

Lifted more turf for a 2nd wildflower patch today. Have my eye on a 3rd area, but might wait and see how these two turn out. Also found some forgotten carrots while sorting out some pots.

 

[mrsfran]

I've got my gardening mojo back! Hooray! This year's seeds arrived today.

 

[mrsfran]

This my allotment. It's 30m x 9m (100ft by 30ft in old money). Lots of 2m x 4m beds with a winding grass path between them.

And look! Asparagus! I planted them 3 years ago so this year will be my first harvest.

 

[Calamity1971]

I've got asparagus envy. 2 failed attempts at growing it.

 

[TopCat]

frost this morning. my tulips have caught it.

 

[gentlegreen]

I managed to drag my geraniums and begonia into the hall when I got home yesterday - still not sure how the frost compares to what they endured months back, but my outdoor thermometer certainly read lower last night than the previous few nights.
A local weather station gave similar results, the Met office sensor on top of an office block in the city centre showed much lower temperatures both nights ...
I suppose it's eager young growth that's the issue.
I hope my lilies are OK. My Joe Pye and filipendula haven't shown themselves yet ... maybe they knew what was coming.

Predicted to return nearer to normal from tonight ...

 

[two sheds]

yep bit of a ground frost, doesn't look like too much damage though. Weather looks warmer/rainier over next couple of weeks I'll start putting more seedlings out tomorrow.