Today in the Garden

[cedarblue]

interesting...keep us up to date risker.

[cobweb]

Hemlock your garden plans sound so fantastic!

[Hemlock]

Today we just found out something interesting! last years sweet peas and ordinary peas we grew up a frame we made from bamboo and the whole lot was eaten alive by slugs, snails etc and never even got a chance to produce any flowers.
This year we let them ramble through shrubs and they are totally untouched by predators and have big flower buds on - not even a nibble.
has any one else noticed this?

[snivelingchild]

I got everything I need for my second bed today; I am going to make it soon sinced my cucumbers are ready to go in the ground!

[cedarblue]

don't delay sniv!

polytunnel done







beds




chives





i'll take some of inside the tunnel over the weekend.

[cedarblue]

whilst nosing in the garden with my binocs today i spotted a great spotted woodpecker (never seen one before) and a lovely red bullfinch.

[Aradia]

Ate my first sugar snax carrot yesterday ... it was soooo sweet.

[Ginger]

Just been potting up my peppers and chillies and planted up a trough of herbs
We seem to have a lot of biting ants this year.

[cedarblue]

today when it was lovely and warm i replaced a couple of toms in the tunnel that the slugs had eaten the growing tip out of, potted up a couple more cukes, un-netting-ed the radishes, tied up some tom plants - then it started raining and hasn't stopped since come on sunny days!! - the rain is slug heaven.
i plucked 10 of them hiding under pots etc.

[Risker]

Try the garlic wash I mentioned, cedar, it seems to work really well, none of my plants have been touched since I started using it. If you've got alot of slugs that would be a good test of it.

[cedarblue]

yes, thanks for reminding me - i'll make some up.

[emmapresley]

your garden is looking fab cedarblue..really great



^ this unruly beast is my back garden.
bear in mind that the long grass to the right is what has grown through all the paving slabs that i took up last year, but obviously didn't work out how to stop teh couch grass (??) from thriving.

middle centre is a gate..err..where? there is a really nice fuschia bush somewhere in there and a path leading down the gate. and a compost bin. apparently.

i can't even get down there
i'm really concerned about squashing a billion snails..but the public posting of this pic makes me accept it is time! time to hack back!

[cedarblue]

thanks emmap!

may be if you just strimmed or sheared not too low, you could rescue any beasties, then cut lower then mow?.

actually i think thats a lovely picture, shame about the hard work connected with it!

[emmapresley]

that is just one corner of it..the rest is as wild. i think there are rose briars that are almost as high as the lowest bit of the roof..they just seem to have sorted themselves out in an intertwiney way.

i've threatened this before but i'm going to have to get someone to come do all the hardcore cutting back cos on it's own it terrifies me. (and actually i sort of quite like the total privacy of it)

[cedarblue]

could you organise a work party of friends/relations? maybe supply a soup and roll + cake lunch for all.

[emmapresley]

i have a couple of folks who might help out for cake!

plus i think i'm gonna need to go round and tap off my neighbours to borrow their garden waste bins for the fortnight

[cedarblue]

mr kevster has been know to travel for cake! he'll kill me!

[snivelingchild]

tons of grass removed
raised bed built and placed
10 cucumbers in ground
2 eggplants in ground
3 "I forgot what I planted"s in the ground

[cedarblue]

3 "I forgot what I planted"s in the ground

- that's like a can of food with no outer wrapper!!

good work sniv - out of 6 cukes, the slugs have finished off 4, 2 left to try. i'm bringing them in overnight now to save the growing tips being eaten courgettes are getting a nibble too, but not so bad.

spring onions popping up and beets too. seeded more peas & french beans and have been potting out geraniums & calendula today & potting an ailing plant from my mum and putting in a buddlea (sp?) cutting from my neighbour.

[Aradia]

I've just been snipping the heads of my garlic and saw that I have rust on them and the onions!

I've sprayed it with Bordeaux mix and will hope for the best. I caught it really early so it should be OK.



On the plus side, I'll be eating my first courgettes tomorrow and the first tomatoes have appeared.

Happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy joy (anybody remember that??)

[emmapresley]

today was hack up the garden day!

it didn't take very long (to do this one corner)..but the other side of the fence where the ivy is has about the same amount again as what has been chopped off today!!
it looks soo much more spacious already!

if it isn't too soggy tomorrow that'll get done then..otherwise, it's fridays job.



we found this little fella..and then loads of his mates, who went for a little trip down the lane





also hacked back the majority of the bottom of the huuuuge bay tree. it's almost as tall as the roof.

[cobweb]

good work, missy!

[Risker]

Excellent job EmmaP, that's alot of work for 1 day.

[RubyDuby]

very impressive emmap!

[Aradia]

OMG EmmaP - you have a path!!!!




I've just harvested my first potatoes (Charlottes) ... dead exciting like. I'm going to boil them and toss them in a French dressing with some wholegrain mustard ... isn't it great eating food you've grown yourself.

[cedarblue]

oh dear!

lovely!!

..and no!!!!


ooooops, this is a reply to a previous aradia post.

good work emma - snail are cute when they're not eating my veggies

[rantipole]

Arrgh. I didn't read the instructions on some fertilizer carefully and burned up my peppermint and cilantro. I hope the honeysuckle doesn't die, but it looks bad. Does anyone know of anything that will help?

In better news, the poblano peppers, corn, nasturtiums, and marigolds look great.

Cheers,
rant

[Maisiepaisie]

Does anyone know of anything that will help?

Lots of water to dilute the effect maybe? I got some liquid fertilizer on my skin this morning and it burns like hell.

[rantipole]

Lots of water to dilute the effect maybe? I got some liquid fertilizer on my skin this morning and it burns like hell.

I did try that. I think it has saved the honeysuckle. The peppermint is past hope. I will always thoroughly read the instructions on fertilizer in the future. And to think that this was organic fertilizer. I hate to think what the nasty conventional stuff could do.

Thanks!

Cheers,
rant

[emmapresley]

^ arrgh grim.
hope your honeysuckle is ok.

here is tomorrows hack up job..a stack of ivy and a very overgrown fuschia bush, topped by vicious rose briars. that path is about twice as wide again. will post an after pic when finished.

[bryzee86]

what a large overgrown bush you have....

[whalespace]

Go EmmaP, [ fearless garden guerilla].


You made that sound like a recipe .

[veganbikerboy]

Me & PR made some progress in my garden this weekend. put some more strawberries in and cleared some areas that had become over grown.

I desperatly need to cut the lawn but there must have been about 100 (i am not exaggerating!) baby frogs hopping about so i havent been able to do it, we cleared some of the duckweed from the pond. It looks like I have frogs and toads, also these other weird looking things I am not sure if they are newts or some sort of dragonfly?

My pond lilly is doing fab

Also my wild flower garden is just starting to flower; it is only its second year and it looks fantastic

a couple of questions -

anyone know of an organic way to keep duckweed away?? (or reduce it?)

Should i 'trim' my lily? it is huge, taking over the pond a little?

[veganlinda]

lovely view from your garden Emmap!

I did lots of hacking at the weekend and now need to cut up lots of twiggy bits so they will fit into green bags... repotted my tomato plants and have them outside now and did a few hanging baskets. Another couple of days work to go though. But myd my wild strawberries are ripening so a nice incentive!

VBB I envy you your pond and froggies ... is your cat leaving them alone!

[rantipole]

Well, I think the honeysuckle is dead. The cilatro looks like it will survive.

A cool thing is that I scattered a bunch of old seeds I wasn't going to plant into my tortoise pen, figuring if any sprouted the tortoises could eat them. I now have about half a dozen watermelons, lots of nasturtiums, and some type of lettuce growing in there. Yea! Food for me and my critters.

Cheers,
rant

[snivelingchild]

one out of 3 eggplants died, and my cucumbers have black spots. *crosses fingers* The tomato plants are nice and big though, and a couple lettuces are coming strong.

[Aradia]

Fennel .. .did you know that if you cut it off at just above ground level, rather than pulling up the whole root .. .you should get a second crop of itsy bitsy fennel.

Same with cabbages .. cut if off, then cut a cross in what's left and you'll get baby cabbages. (with cabbages, cut off what you need, then wrap the rest in foil .. it will keep much better on the plant than in your fridge).

My spinach bolted yesterday

If you have spuds in the ground, plant stuff like lettuce and spinach in between .. the shade will help stop them bolting.

[whalespace]

Thanks. I hadn't thought of using aluminium foil; easily recyclable too. I try to take the big outer leaves from lettuce and cabbage, leaving the plant to continue growing and opening. Also, plucking selectively at a row of lettuce, dropping the chopped size bits in a rinse bowl, can let light in to the remaining parts...and possibly leave a bitter response...and a non attractive prize for opportunistic shoppers.

Lots of things keep for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages in the garden [if they are still alive]. The garden is also the sensible place for dressing, and rinsing vegetables... leave the mud, grit, and compost outside, and get some fresh air [maybe some birdsong].

I have half realised some tiny drying huts... which the mice will love .

[Mr Flibble]

My pond lilly is doing fab

I should hope so, it has had some very special fertilizer

[Hemlock]

To our horror we have ground elder everywhere, it is killing the apple tree. We've been digging trenches to get rid of it. It's all in the grass too and short of rotovating the entire lawn and starting again we will never be rid of it.
Our options are to kill it all with poison which we don't want or rotovate the entire garden and start again. We may well do that as the grass is extremely poor quality.
There is no question of planting anything untill it is all gone - this really is a disaster!!!

[whalespace]

I like a spot of mattocking. and I'm not sure I've ever been to the South Downs....
If you can't find a rotivator, but you can supply green molasses tea through a hose pipe, then I might be able to help you.
No promises.

[Mzee]

Hemlock,
Yes, get rid of the lawn! It was the best thing I did with my garden. Growing veg is actually less work than looking after a lawn and you get free vegan organic food!
You'll never get rid of the ground elder unless you do. I suppose mulching with black plastic for a year might work (better than using poisons!), but you'd then need to re-seed the lawn and there'd be no guarantee that the ground elder wouldn't come back.

VBB
What variety of water lily do you have? They come in such a range; some need a deep lake, others will behave themselves in a small pond. I wanted a native species and my pond is small. I eventually managed to get hold of the Fringed Water Lily, Nymphoides peltata, which is small and dainty. It sends out runners, but it's not hard to keep under control; I just remove the ones I don't want.
None of my pond plants are in pots; I put some fine soil in the bottom of the pond and the plants do much better in that. Also, when the water level drops in dry spells, I don't see the pots sticking up out of the water.

[moggy]

Cedarblue, your garden looks amazing.

VBB, I envy you all those frogs.

I've only just started posting on this site, though I joined a long time ago.I've only just found this gardening part- brilliant, just what I'm searching for.

[rantipole]

Does anyone have any ideas for vegen slug control? They are devastating my garden. Thanks!

Cheers,
rant

[Risker]

Does anyone have any ideas for vegen slug control? They are devastating my garden. Thanks!

Cheers,
rant

Yes - http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...&postcount=483

[moggy]

A brief(ish) summary of my plant growing.

This year I'm trying tomatoes, (though the bad weather is meaning the outdoor tomatoes are still indoors), broad beans (both inside the polytunnel and outside), runner beans(again in and out the polytunnel), potatoes, and on the fruit front, strawberries(inside)and raspberries (outside)

I'm 800 ft above sea level on a north facing Welsh hillside- not exactly good for growing, hence the polytunnels. I have unlimited amounts of manure due to the presence of 2 pigs, 2 sheep, and 2 horses (all permanent residents, not destined for the plate)

I also grow hundreds/thousands of plants to sell in a charity shop for cat rescue- its the only way I can fundraise whist my dogs get to play in the field.

I am pretty crap at growing plants- there's usually a high rate of failure. Basically in winter the polytunnels are full of plants for fundraising because winter is so harsh here they wouldnt survive outside whilst in plantpots, and then in summer I use the polytunnels for the tomatoes etc.

I'm skint, but if I can scrape together the money I want to buy walnut and apple trees- there a place not too far away that sells local varieties suitable for even this area.

My garden area is not good due to the pigs and sheep constantly breaking in and eating everything.

[Maisiepaisie]

The garlic wash works but I don't always do it as often as I should. I put bits of wilted lettuce near my growing veg and the slugs seems to prefer that and leave my good veg alone.

Putting gravel around plants and veg helps too. The slugs usually don't like to go over it.

[RubyDuby]

In the movie Bernard & Doris they put apple slices down away from whatever the slugs are eating and they go for the apples instead. similar idea to the wilted lettuce leaves.

[rantipole]

Yes - http://www.veganforum.com/forums/sho...&postcount=483

I'll try this! Thanks!

Cheers,
rant

[whalespace]

Regarding #456: moggy;


That sounds busy moggy.