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The gardening thread

The39thStep said:
spinach is good in shade
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At the moment I'm going for robust non-fiddly things in the ground - kale, broccoli and squash - but I have two hydroponic experiments planned for this year and I have gone as far as buying red chard seeds - but when I grew rainbow chard in 2014 for largely ornamental reasons, it was instantly attacked by massive leaf-boring maggots ... my mini salad unit is going over my east-facing front porch but the larger NFT unit on the red hot south-facing fence so I don't know how spinachy things will fare there - even with unlimited irrigation ...
 
Callie said:
Can you do a before (full throttle pampas n foxes) Vs after gentlegreen ??
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I wish I'd taken decent large photos of the "before" over previous years - but it was a scary jungle with a failed greenhouse and building project ...

Here are a couple of videos I made last autumn ... firstly when the reclusive vegan vocal coach was still there ..



And later on when my new gardening neighbour was moving in and starting on the garden .....

 
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Things nicely underway at the allotment. None of the inevitable or unexpected disasters have occurred yet. The rhubarb split and replanted last year has sprung up nicely and is cropping well. Blueberries looking good. Carrots seemed to have germinated very well for once. I'm trying spinach and Pak choi but not really sure about them. I'll try my usual method of doing it right once I've exhausted all other possibilities.
 
mrsfran said:
I'm trying pak choi this year too. Prone to bolting apparently.
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My allotment neighbour is from China and says that I keep planting it at the wrong time of year. He says you should plant in sept rather than June (last year) and march (this year).
 
I will be trying hydroponic pak choi this year.
I'm hoping I can use it a bit like spinach - added to hot food at the last minute.
 
So what do people think ?
Should I sow the whole area with mange-tout peas - to fix some nitrogen and add a little structure - harvesting shoots or peas depending on when the ground will be needed for broccoli \ kale \squash ?
I can't think of anything else to do this late ... I suppose next year I may have sown broad beans where the squashes were ...

4 metres x 8 metres ... :hmm:

With wood pigeons nesting next door and town pigeons appearing out of the blue the other day, I probably need a fake hawk or a scarecrow :hmm:
 
gentlegreen said:
So what do people think ?
Should I sow the whole area with mange-tout peas - to fix some nitrogen and add a little structure - harvesting shoots or peas depending on when the ground will be needed for broccoli \ kale \squash ?
I can't think of anything else to do this late ... I suppose next year I may have sown broad beans where the squashes were ...

4 metres x 8 metres ... :hmm:

With wood pigeons nesting next door and town pigeons appearing out of the blue the other day, I probably need a fake hawk or a scarecrow :hmm:
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Traditionally, the first year crop for a new plot should be spuds, followed by rotating the crop groups ...
The "manuring" and digging involved, plus the "shading" out of weeds is supposed to give the ground / soil development a kick up the rear. YMMV as other techniques / crops are available.

e2a - whatever you decide to do - make sure to leave enough access routes and watch the shade created by crops. I got caught out that way many years ago, some very dense & tall runner beans.
 
I'm not quite no-dig yet. More lo-dig. I use horticultural paper to cover beds and composer on top. Later planting through the paper, or this year, experimenting with sewing into the compost on the paper. I am noticing that the less I dig, the less weeds I have to deal with.
 
This was a scruffy area of garden so sorted it out during lockdown as a project/sanity etc. Built this flower bed and fence last year, now planting it up and would like loads of colour and at different times {perennial} any advice and or suggestions would be greatly received
 

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StoneRoad said:
Traditionally, the first year crop for a new plot should be spuds, followed by rotating the crop groups ...
The "manuring" and digging involved, plus the "shading" out of weeds is supposed to give the ground / soil development a kick up the rear. YMMV as other techniques / crops are available.

e2a - whatever you decide to do - make sure to leave enough access routes and watch the shade created by crops. I got caught out that way many years ago, some very dense & tall runner beans.
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It would depend on whether Wilko have any first earlies when I go for compost and pots later in the week but it will have to be peas on the squash bed...
 
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Can anyone give me some advice?

We have a Japanese maple in a container.

We went to move the container yesterday and there are roots that have established themselves under the container into the ground, one of the roots is quite long. We don't want the maple to grow any larger.

How much damage would I cause the maple to cut through the roots outside the container?
 
Hi pieandmashfirm
At this time of year, semi-tender annuals are absolutely the best value, along with hardy annuals such as lavatera, nasturtium (but avoid the rampant trailing ones) and cornflowers. You could do worse than sow a bunch of cosmos, zinnia, tithonia, cleome, red flax, dimorptheca and annual phlox, all direct sown and of varying heights. No need to fuck about with pots and such, just straight into the ground where you want them to flower. I would, however, avoid those mixed packets of seed as the results are always a bit spotty. Premier seeds have a whole range for 99p a packet.
 
cesare said:
Can anyone give me some advice?

We have a Japanese maple in a container.

We went to move the container yesterday and there are roots that have established themselves under the container into the ground, one of the roots is quite long. We don't want the maple to grow any larger.

How much damage would I cause the maple to cut through the roots outside the container?
Click to expand...

If you're happy with it's current location then you could limit it's growth by pruning from the top.
You'll have to wait until winter though!
 
BoatieBird said:
If you're happy with it's current location then you could limit it's growth by pruning from the top.
You'll have to wait until winter though!
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I'd like to be able to move the container too, do you think I could cut through this root without killing it?
 
cesare - if you root prune [which is how Bonsai works] then you will need to provide extra water & nutrients to the remaining roots / container. The risk is it becoming pot-bound - more roots than soil/compost. And, as with Bonsai, branches also need to be regularly pruned to keep the shape.
 
StoneRoad said:
cesare - if you root prune [which is how Bonsai works] then you will need to provide extra water & nutrients to the remaining roots / container. The risk is it becoming pot-bound - more roots than soil/compost. And, as with Bonsai, branches also need to be regularly pruned to keep the shape.
Click to expand...
Oh that makes sense, thanks so much. Would the best time to do this be autumn/winter?
 
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