The Gardening Splinter Thread

Discussions worth keeping around later.
User avatar
Gulliver
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 2:58 pm
Location: The West Country
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Gulliver »

I've just built a raised bed! I only paid for the nails, so that's good. I'm going to build another one soon, and I need to get my hands on some more free compost, as mine has been mined as much as was possible.

God tupping dammit, shoveling compost is hard work. I'm trying to gather the energy to waddle over to the fridge for beer.

User avatar
ol bofosh
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1169
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:30 pm
Location: tʰæ.ɹʷˠə.ˈgɜʉ̯.nɜ kʰæ.tə.ˈlɜʉ̯.nʲɜ spɛ̝ɪ̯n ˈjʏː.ɹəʔp

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by ol bofosh »

Gulliver wrote:I'm trying to gather the energy to waddle over to the fridge for beer.
God, you must be tired!

A few days ago I did some work on my garden. I now have carrots, cucumbers, corn, nasturtiums and pumpkins.

My rocket, radish and spinach in the first section are doing very well. A bit patchy, though. Perhaps in some places there was too much mulch, in others, too little, and in others the ground may not have been soft enough. In these areas I'm going to plant other stuff (got some more carrot seeds lined up) just to fill up the gaps. I planted a few garden nasturtiums in these spaces. One I dropped and couldn't find.

Speaking of which, just outside the border of my garden I found some little lettuces growing amongst the grass, so I've put some stones around them. I must have dropped them before. If they're anything to go by, the lettuce seed I did sow can't have worked, because I can't see them.

Everything else isn't growing. There was a second section of radish in which I haven't seen a sigle radish growing. There's been enough months, so I planted carrots with less mulch on top (and it wasn't much, but still too much- "light sprinkling" should be enough, with hands). I really must not put so much mulch on top; just enough to protect them from birds. And if there is low grass already, the seeds will be protected by them.
It was about time I changed this.

User avatar
Ketumak
Lebom
Lebom
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: The Lost Land of Suburbia (a.k.a. Harrogate, UK)
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Ketumak »

That's a lot of vegetables for February! You're in Spain, yes? All the same, I'm impressed.

Here on our northern hill, the snowdrops and crocuses are out and that's about it. I put in some more purple crocuses last year and a load of them have come up. The mild winter must have helped.

User avatar
ol bofosh
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1169
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:30 pm
Location: tʰæ.ɹʷˠə.ˈgɜʉ̯.nɜ kʰæ.tə.ˈlɜʉ̯.nʲɜ spɛ̝ɪ̯n ˈjʏː.ɹəʔp

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by ol bofosh »

Ketumak wrote:That's a lot of vegetables for February! You're in Spain, yes? All the same, I'm impressed.
Yes, and we're up on the mountains. Things are still a ways off from being harvested, but perhaps next month the radishes will be ready.
Ketumak wrote:Here on our northern hill, the snowdrops and crocuses are out and that's about it. I put in some more purple crocuses last year and a load of them have come up. The mild winter must have helped.
We have daffodiles growing up. They usually come up about now, sometimes even earlier (I miss snowdrops, and bluebells for that matter).

Has it been incredibly wet and floody where you are?
It was about time I changed this.

User avatar
Ketumak
Lebom
Lebom
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: The Lost Land of Suburbia (a.k.a. Harrogate, UK)
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Ketumak »

Daffodils are another month away here, but you see a lot when they do come, even on roadside verges.

We missed the floods, fortunately. They're mostly in the Thames Valley, along the Severn and over the Somerset Levels.

User avatar
ol bofosh
Smeric
Smeric
Posts: 1169
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 5:30 pm
Location: tʰæ.ɹʷˠə.ˈgɜʉ̯.nɜ kʰæ.tə.ˈlɜʉ̯.nʲɜ spɛ̝ɪ̯n ˈjʏː.ɹəʔp

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by ol bofosh »

My family lives in Kent. Their town got flooded, but they live on the side of a hill, so they missed it themselves.
It was about time I changed this.

chris_notts
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 275
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:05 am
Location: Nottingham, England
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by chris_notts »

Gulliver wrote:I've just built a raised bed! I only paid for the nails, so that's good. I'm going to build another one soon, and I need to get my hands on some more free compost, as mine has been mined as much as was possible.

God tupping dammit, shoveling compost is hard work. I'm trying to gather the energy to waddle over to the fridge for beer.
Where did you get the wood from? I know where I can get treated wood for decking (length 3.6m) for about £5 each, so I was thinking of making some raised beds of size approx. 2.6m x 1m. The total cost would be about £20 given the depth I want (depth = 2 boards), excluding the cost of acquiring top-soil and/or manure and/or compost to fill it with.

I also bought a lemon tree recently to keep in the conservatory. My wife is from Seville and loves the smell of orange/lemon blossom in spring. On the same trip I found a young Amelanchier 'obelisk' for about £10, which is cheaper than I've seen elsewhere. I like fastigiate plants because it means I can easily fit a more diverse array of shrubs into the same space.

Image
Try the online version of the HaSC sound change applier: http://chrisdb.dyndns-at-home.com/HaSC

User avatar
Gulliver
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 433
Joined: Mon May 05, 2003 2:58 pm
Location: The West Country
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Gulliver »

It's a mixture of fencing I got off freecycle as firewood and broken pallets. My local Wicks has a box of free scrap timber out the back, and I got a carload of broken pallets out of a skip in a reclamation yard by asking nicely.

Do you know any builders or plumbers? Anyone who usually has to pay to get rid or scrap wood will almost certainly give it to you for free.

chris_notts
Avisaru
Avisaru
Posts: 275
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:05 am
Location: Nottingham, England
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by chris_notts »

Gulliver wrote:It's a mixture of fencing I got off freecycle as firewood and broken pallets. My local Wicks has a box of free scrap timber out the back, and I got a carload of broken pallets out of a skip in a reclamation yard by asking nicely.
Really? I've never seen free scrap wood at Wickes before. I'll have to have a look.
Do you know any builders or plumbers? Anyone who usually has to pay to get rid or scrap wood will almost certainly give it to you for free.
I do, but they all have wood burners in their houses! Now gas prices have gone up, burning wood to heat your house has become a lot more common. Of course some things you can't burn because of paint / chemicals... but I think you have to be careful about building a raised bed out of that if you don't know what the chemicals are. I know that using old tires to plant in became cool a while back, but I've read that they can contaminate the soil in them with some fairly nasty things you don't really want to be eating.
Try the online version of the HaSC sound change applier: http://chrisdb.dyndns-at-home.com/HaSC

User avatar
Ketumak
Lebom
Lebom
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2003 3:42 pm
Location: The Lost Land of Suburbia (a.k.a. Harrogate, UK)
Contact:

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Ketumak »

ol bofosh wrote:My family lives in Kent. Their town got flooded, but they live on the side of a hill, so they missed it themselves.
Good to hear they missed it. It's times like these when living on a hill brings peace of mind - knowing you're not likely to get flooded.

User avatar
Melend
Sanci
Sanci
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2013 1:36 am

Re: The Gardening Splinter Thread

Post by Melend »

We had a very long winter here, to the point that roughly a week ago we still had below-freezing weather. Not frost, mind you, but round-the-clock weather. Then, suddenly, the winds became warm and the sun came out to stay. It's been bizarre, but pleasant.

Tomorrow I brave the chilly winds of Spring to start the planting!

Post Reply