The gardening thread

[two sheds]

I did bits today. Put in the native woodland seeds in one of the areas I cleared of ivy, trod it down a bit and watered it hopefully is going to rain tomorrow to water them in properly. Plus cut and weatherproofed the stakes I'll be using to put in the picket fence at the front to stop Frankie chasing squirrels into the path of oncoming traffic (not many cars but the idea gives me the heebies). And sorted out my other seeds to plant round the other areas I cleared of ivy and in pots and things.

Will be nice to do them so I can get onto other things on my April list.

 

[gentlegreen]

The craziness has started ...
I can't believe I just sowed another batch of nasturtiums ...

Not surprisingly my 25p oeillets d'Inde are erupting after only 3 days of mollycoddling ...

 

[Artaxerxes]

no, don't ! - goats do not eat grass, they are browsers and will practically starve rather than eat grass.

If they do eat grass they'll rip out the soil to and fuck it right up.

 

[gentlegreen]

If they do eat grass they'll rip out the soil to and fuck it right up.

And they'd decimate everything else that wasn't fenced -off - though who knows, I might find myself plagued with rabbits in any case ...

 

[Leafster]

And they'd decimate everything else that wasn't fenced -off - though who knows, I might find myself plagued with rabbits in any case ...

The grazing pets of choice around here appear to be Llamas and Alpacas. I 'think' they're less destructive than goats so I'd opt for an Alpaca or two as they're smaller than Llamas.

 

[DownwardDog]

no, don't ! - goats do not eat grass, they are browsers and will practically starve rather than eat grass.

They'll definitely eat grass clippings with gusto after you've cut the grass. I used to chuck mine over the fence into my neighbours garden and they loved it.

 

[DownwardDog]

Mrs DA has told me I've got to do "something" with the front of our rural property. Though fuck knows what I could do with it. Olives? Lemon trees? Bonus wedgetail in the top right waiting for me to kill myself with a chainsaw so it can feast on what remains.

 

[TopCat]

So I got on with edging beds and the path.

 

[gentlegreen]

I found a datum point in my garden.
I dug down to cut off a concreted-in line post and found the path that I never saw in all the 38 years I've been here.

I vaguely remember the path being relatively level, but when I dug it up for a lawn decades ago it had been used to bury a whole load of crap - not least ancient fire-irons ...

To start with I plonked a brick on it and started using a spirit level to set in stakes ...
Is there a sensible strategy for this ?
The fencing materials are arriving tomorrow but we won't be doing anything until the weekend ...

 

[two sheds]

Is it Roman?

 

[gentlegreen]

Is it Roman?

I must look and see where the nearest Roman stuff is around here.
It was all fields and market gardens around here into the 19th century ...

 

[two sheds]

And a bit late for Time Team

There's actually a plaque up the roadish from me marking a Roman something.

 

[Leafster]

And a bit late for Time Team

There's actually a plaque up the roadish from me marking a Roman something.

If my house had existed 2000 years ago and if I was somehow sitting in the room I'm in now and if I looked out of the window I would have seen a Roman road on the hillside opposite.

Assuming there weren't trees on the hillside as there are now!

ETA: Having looked at the research done by Ivan D Margary in the middle of the 20th Century it would appear that part of the Roman road (or at least it's path) is under the modern road I can see on the hillside opposite.

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm only a stone's throw from the Bristol Avon, but the villas are right next to it and several miles apart.
Where I live was clearly always peasants ...

 

[mrsfran]

I sowed lots of seeds today. Green and yellow courgettes, 2 types of cucumber, cucamelon, broccoli, butternut squash, brussel sprouts, edamame and sweetcorn. My windowsill is full.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Getting a bit of plant envy, haven't touched the plot since September as intending to move this year and letting it go. Need to get on the waiting list soon as I move.

 

[gentlegreen]

I sowed lots of seeds today. Green and yellow courgettes, 2 types of cucumber, cucamelon, broccoli, butternut squash, brussel sprouts, edamame and sweetcorn. My windowsill is full.

How do you get on growing Brussels sprouts ?
My soil here is very light.
My one great success with brassicas was a heavy clay allotment up the road that grew Autumn Kings the size of my head .. my other allotment was nearer and similarly sandy and one year I had more beetroot than I could use - perhaps I should grow some of those too ...

Since I eat so many sprouts I'm tempted now since I appear to be doing what I should have done years ago - throw all my creativity into the front garden and stuff the back garden full of veggies for maybe one last winter before I turn the whole thing into a lawn to sell it ...

 

[StoneRoad]

Is it Roman?

In my neck of SW Northumberland ...
Dig a hole, and you are quite likely to find Roman - and as an extra bonus, Viking - remains, plus a few other eras.
Within "biscuit toss" of my back garden, there's the remains of a Roman Road which predates Hadrian's Wall. That's a little bit further north. Slightly closer, to the west is a large marching camp.

 

[Ron Merlin]

Must have planted these tulips over ten years ago, and they keep showing

(Excuse the weeds - the strimmer's coming out soon )

 

[gentlegreen]

Must have planted these tulips over ten years ago, and they keep showing

(Excuse the weeds - the strimmer's coming out soon )

cleavers = spring vegetable for some

 

[Ron Merlin]

cleavers = spring vegetable for some

Oh right, cheers! I'll have a look

 

[gentlegreen]

Oh right, cheers! I'll have a look

And you can make a love potion with it - I think you have to get them to drink it.
It's slightly related to coffee.

 

[StoneRoad]

Jealous of those tulips Ron Merlin !

Too windy up here for anything other than dwarf varieties, and too many got broken / eaten by wildlife. So, I don't bother.

[When I'm fully retired, I might try some in containers ...]

 

[Calamity1971]

Oh right, cheers! I'll have a look

I got tangled up in that once,it bloody hurts when it gets stuck to ya skin.. don't get me started on my long haired cat and my nightly De bobbling later in the year.

 

[Calamity1971]

cleavers = spring vegetable for some

Or ' sticky willy'. That one's for two sheds

 

[two sheds]

I got tangled up in that once,it bloody hurts when it gets stuck to ya skin.. don't get me started on my long haired cat and my nightly De bobbling later in the year.

Aaaaaaaaah of course I never related the bobbling type things I had to pick off Cosmo with cleavers even though I've seen them on the plant.

 

[StoneRoad]

Oh, don't remind me !

I get goose-grass / cleavers / sticky-willie here.
It's a blasted pest in parts of this garden.

 

[Calamity1971]

Aaaaaaaaah of course I never related the bobbling type things I had to pick off Cosmo with cleavers even though I've seen them on the plant.

Takes me half an hour every night. Her ladyship helps by pulling them out herself and spitting them on my couch. Awwww

 

[Calamity1971]

Oh, don't remind me !

I get goose-grass / cleavers / sticky-willie here.
It's a blasted pest in parts of this garden.

Did you or anyone find it was really bad last year. I've never seen so much before.

 

[two sheds]

I've also got wild onions which seem to be spreading madly. I'd eat them but they're quite deep and quite small. I may go and strim them. And the bloody spanish bluebells which I must soon attack with a garden fork to pull them up where possible.