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The gardening thread

gentlegreen said:
I know, but I wanted to grow sunflowers as a political thing - and because they're pretty ...
I would grow corn if it made naked multicoloured cobs .... I am after all a giant grass person - bamboo, miscanthus, pampas ...
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There's a fella at my allotment that had them growing up Jerusalem Artichokes a couple of years ago. I don't know how it panned out. It was fairly early in the season when we talked about it, plenty of flowers and height but too much foliage I reckon.
 
contadino said:
There's a fella at my allotment that had them growing up Jerusalem Artichokes a couple of years ago. I don't know how it panned out. It was fairly early in the season when we talked about it, plenty of flowers and height but too much foliage I reckon.
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Yes - that would have been logical in a potager :)
And I'm long overdue trying fartichokes - but it's done now - I sowed 40 seeds in a 10 foot row and will thin them to 18 inches and I was thinking of guerilla gardening the thinnings ...
I even sowed the left over seed in a pot so I have 7 more !
 
My squashes and courgettes are getting a head start and are a decent distance away in free-draining soils so we'll see.
Since my squah bed is mirrored, it will be an interesting experiment.
I will still produce far more than I can eat ...

Just where to put those purple-podded french beans ...
I'm trying not to mix and match with the runners ...

I'm trying a crazy number of new things this year and steadily learning about them afterwards :oops:
 
contadino said:
Those aren't Cosse Violette, are they? I grew those a couple of years ago. So prolific that the community kitchen that normally take my excess suddenly cut me.
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:D

Just Wilko "violet podded" ... all the other beans peas and carrot seeds I bough there are familiar named varieties ...
I bought "Blue Lake" too ...
But I have five metres ( :D )of "Scarlet Emperor" and I actually prefer runners - not least because they're rarely sold ... and I have mange tout peas for scrumping ...
I'll give them away ...

I bought Autumn King carrots too - not sure why - but I sowed them anyway - along with the salady ones ...
 
So it turns out you can use sweet peas in hanging baskets, so I will hedge my bets and not try too hard to send my sad efforts up the front house wall - but have them cascade over my rustic planters - though I ought to have a plan B for that ...apparently when I pinch them out, the bits I chop off will root... so I may still try to use a few bits in the back garden - I need maximum smelly things with the nicotianas likely to end in tears...
 
Why did I not know there's a pink, fragrant snapdragon ? :p
I'm having those next year ...



EDIT:-

Of course I'm going to order some and start sowing now on the offchance - though the ones I already sowed are proving a bit slow ...
 
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I finally got my planters level and central - hopefully ...
I had to add significant extra wood because the path slopes all over the place.
Even with the bottom third packed out with bricks, they ate a lot of "New Horixons" compost - plus the lovely hearty soil I sieved from my carrot planting ...
After a good soaking with potentially 40 kilos of wet compost in them, they feel a lot more solid :)
Tomorrow I finally get my morning glories and cobea scandens heading for the wall - and I will get the sweet peas in there before they get rootbound .

plantersready.jpg
 
StoneRoad said:
Managed to snap a cucumber plant's main stem, just above soil level as I was about to plant it out. [Very annoyed with self]

However, OH has managed to find me a couple of replacements ...
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Darn - root the tip as a cutting ?
I snapped one of my tomatoes and I'm doing that - not that I actually need any more tomatoes ...
 
StoneRoad said:
Managed to snap a cucumber plant's main stem, just above soil level as I was about to plant it out. [Very annoyed with self]

However, OH has managed to find me a couple of replacements ...
Click to expand...
Oh, I feel for you. I did the same with a gherkin, so now have 3 cucs on one side and 2 gherkins on the other. D'oh!
 
contadino said:
Oh, I feel for you. I did the same with a gherkin, so now have 3 cucs on one side and 2 gherkins on the other. D'oh!
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MY OCD is so problematic I sow crazy numbers of everything and hang on to backups till the last minute.
I direct-sowed runner beans only 9 days ago and am poised to get another packet because emergence is sporadic :rolleyes:
I've just joined a morning glory forum to work out if I'm going to double up on every plant on the front house wall so things are guaranteed to remain reasonably symmetrical :facepalm:
 
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Tomorrow is planting time in the front garden climber planters and I have so many spare ...

My original vague notion was to have erected a crude pergola by now and cover it with climbers, but I was never certain where I would launch the climbers from and I have timber and a spare 5 metre by 1.7 metre length of netting and I'm rather afraid I'm going to build a frame and hang it across the end of the garden.
I'm already informally sending my "Pearly Gates" in that direction. and it would be nice to have some colour ...
I had visions of hanging a projection screen, but I would need to buy a new lamp ...

It faces east like my house front wall ... and it won't shade the garden any more than the neighbours' sheds already are ...

A few more - especially the fragrant ipomoea alba "moonflower" I would put on the sunny fence and see what they can do with a southern aspect ...

newcliberidea.jpg
 
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Well I'm pretty much planted out now. I put a couple of dozen tithonias, 10 gretas, 30-odd marigolds, a tray of coleus and a dozen or so mixed bedding plants in this morning.

All that remains are a batch of leeks, a tray of nastertions that need another week and a couple of dahlias that popped up during the week that won't be ready for a while.

There's quite a few things going on on the greenhouse bench, but mainly for next year.

It's an odd feeling - one of the tipping points on the calendar. Maybe the actual switch from spring to summer for me.
 
I'm currently failing at that .. I keep discovering new seeds / plugs / tubers I can just about get away with sowing / planting :facepalm:
I'm probably in danger of firing up a 250 watt HPS if I reckon it will do better than the sun in terms of speeding things up...

But yes, generally - hundreds of litres of compost - 7cm pots washed and being used a second time - where the hell are all the plants that grew in them ?
 
Any tuberous begonia growers in the house ?

Such a range of growth rates.
Of this year's, one is about to flower, the others are limping along - and such a range of foliage colours - at least that proves it's not a nutrient deficiency - and the fast ones are growing in the same compost ...
 
I could never have been a parent - though I suppose kids grow up a bit like their parents .. my neighbours have two small boys and dad is sporty so the little bit of garden that isn't rough grass and sandpit doesn't stand a chance.
I would never be where I am without him helping with the fence and I would love to help them have a nice garden - I have spare plants - but I'm struggling to see how it can be achieved - I'm worried about balls coming over into my garden - let alone the damage happening over there ...
 
Let the race commence - four climbers each side and hopefully heading skywards.
I hope I can keep them from choking each other ... but any fiddling has to stop around 3 metres off the ground.

Meanwhile in the back garden I appear to have become some sort of football fan :facepalm:
To get sufficient tension in 4 metres of rope without bending, I am having to use two 3x2s screwed together at right angles ...
I am hoping to avoid having to use cross-members or diagonal bracing ...

startingline.jpg




backnet2.jpg
 
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The rain and wind nearly did real damage to my Joe Pye - thankfully I only lost one stem - a monster thing a metre long with roots - currently sitting in a vase ... campanula do you suppose it would root ?
I was thinking of hedging my bets and chopping the top off and using that as a softwood cutting as well as planting the rest and hoping it would make sideshoots - though they're all flowering shoots ...
I think maybe I should chuck some compost on top if the plant - I probably should have planted it deeper ...
 
Urban ipomoea (morning glory) growers ...

When did yours flower ?

I'm worried now that I've found they're all short-day - though apparently seed-selection can make a difference ...
And mine spent their first month under 24/7 lighting, so perhaps that will make a difference ...

I'm trying to get advice from a specialist FB group but they're somewhat American-biased ...
 
gentlegreen said:
Urban ipomoea (morning glory) growers ...

When did yours flower ?

I'm worried now that I've found they're all short-day - though apparently seed-selection can make a difference ...
And mine spent their first month under 24/7 lighting, so perhaps that will make a difference ...

I'm trying to get advice from a specialist FB group but they're somewhat American-biased ...
Click to expand...
Mine certainly aren't flowering yet, but are going out today.

Bit worried that they will be destroyed by slugs!

PXL_20220604_104754998.jpg
 
My containersised ones out the front got metaldehyde last night.
With the ones along the back fence, I used metaldehyde between it and the wall behind.
Iron phosphate elsewhere ...
 
gentlegreen said:
My containersised ones out the front got metaldehyde last night.
With the ones along the back fence, I used metaldehyde between it and the wall behind.
Iron phosphate elsewhere ...
Click to expand...

I put barrier pellets round them, but it's still likely they'll be attacked from any point where they touch the frame. If they're destroyed, so be it. They were decided on more as an extra/afterthought, and I have enough other climbing plants to take up space.
 
Now that the back fence has become a focal point rather than a dumping ground for random bits of hop and ipomoea "pearly Gates", I am having to improve the whole strip - it's currently the worst bit of soil in the garden ...

EDIT:-

Several bags of compost and much sieving of stones, I have more or less replicated the front wall of the house - albeit with the addition of my "Pearly Gates" at the ends.

I still have 8 Grandpa Otts (purple), five albas and a lobata ("Spanish flag "- red / yellow / orange) to accommodate.

I also potted up my "4 O clock / miracle of Peru" into two 20 litre tubs.
 
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Has it rained much Gentlegreen? I regretted giving some plants a bit of a soak on Thursday before leaving as it looks like it hammered down Friday.
 
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