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Gardening thread 2021

Started by Ferris, April 05, 2021, 02:26:54 AM

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Attila

Really crap colour here (I should take the photo outside, and not on my desk in bright sunlight), but I dug out some of my dyed skeins, speaking of dye gardens.

The blues are from a woad bath -- the wool gets lighter and lighter as the bath gets exhausted.

The darker yellow is goldernrod; the lighter one marigold.

It's come out all washed out, but the long skein is a spring-green grass colour, marigold overdyed with woad.

The reds are a cheat, though -- that's cochineal (the paler pink yarn is from the exhaust bath).

I used alum on the yellow wools (it's all wool). Woad doesn't need a mordant, and I don't remember if the cochineal did -- I haven't used it in a long time, and probably won't again at Mr Attila's request.



Bleah -- seeing this on my screen shows just how washed out the photo is -- the colours are a lot richer in real life. I'll have another go when the light is better in the morning.

Ferris

Those are amazing! Thanks for posting.

I'll contribute with a photo of my fava beans[nb]not a euphemism[/nb] in a sec.

Sherringford Hovis

Quote from: IsavedLatin on April 11, 2021, 06:50:53 PM
Feeling a bit twitchy that the agapanthus up by the front wall may not get enough light, fuck it.

Agapanthus is very resilient - I've got maybe 25 metres length, 1.5m thickness 2.2-2.4m high of it on a roadside verge; about 6 metres of it is sandwiched between the back of a shed and a close-boarded fence, and there's no visible difference in verdancy or fecundity of berries between the lit bushes and the dark bushes. I mercilessly hack it back every Autumn, it receives no care or attention from me other than eradicating the occasional sucker that pokes through a gravel path.

There's so many different types of euphorbias - I've got maybe 4 sorts in different locations that all get treated with indifference and seem to do alright without me messing with them.

Buelligan

Are you sure you're talking about Agapanthus[nb][/nb][nb]Don't mean Pyracantha, do you[nb]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyracantha[/nb]?[/nb] Hovis?

Marvelous balls you have, Attila.  Inspirational.

Ferris

What image hosting site do people use these days? Imgur seems to have removed its mobile functionality for some mad reason.

Dex Sawash

Postimages.org

But, you can do desktop mode in your phone browser with imgur

Sherringford Hovis

Quote from: Buelligan on April 13, 2021, 07:02:00 PM
Don't mean Pyracantha, do you[nb]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyracantha[/nb]?Hovis?

Bollocks, of course I mean Pyracantha. Thorny bastard. If it isn't edible, I've only got a vague idea of what things are.

Buelligan

That's a shame really, you might have been an Agapanthus millionaire.  Wanted some, looked at them in the shop - 25€ a pop for an ungenerous 15cm pot.  Fuck it, will steal or cadge some when the opportunity presents itself.

Ferris

Quote from: Dex Sawash on April 13, 2021, 08:25:30 PM
Postimages.org

But, you can do desktop mode in your phone browser with imgur

Behold!


bgmnts

My basil and rosemary have done fuck all. Bit gutted to be honest as we've had lots of sun.

Gardening career over.

Jittlebags

Found this twat in the garden this morning. Nibbling away at my plants.


Buelligan

That's really lovely, he looks really wise.  Worth a few nibbled oriental poppies or curly kale, IMO.  Look after the poor wee critter, trace his family maybe?

Brian Freeze

I thought you'd had a yoof inna hoodie nibbling your plants from first glance and you'd blurred his face for data protection. It is a very large ear.



Brian Freeze

Genuine gardening question - we had a much loved perennial wallflower that didnt survive this winter and wanted a replacement but wondered about the suitability of popping it into the space vacated by the old one when we pull it up?
It was about eight or nine years old and we think it was just the minus six temps that done for it.

Buelligan

That's an interesting question.  Obviously, roses should never be planted in the soil vacated by a rose.  Either wait a fair few years or dig out the soil to a fair depth and replace it.  But never heard that for erysimums. 

Again, obvs, when any plant leaves us for the great border in the sky, their hole should be dug over, refreshed with compost and so on and it is true that erysimums are distantly related to brassicas - cabbages and the like - who do suffer from soil borne ailments - club root and so on - this means you should never plant them in the same spot in consecutive seasons.  So, don't know but guess, as they're pretty bomb proof, as long as you dig over and compost, you should be fine.  What's the worst that can happen?

Nine years old is old for a wallflower, very good going, they're perennials but not long lived ones.

Brian Freeze

Thankyou for the advice, we got another for the same spot. We have attempted to drown it as per advice earlier in the thread. Haven't had much/any rain for quite a while now.

I did confuse perennial with immortal, especially after it did so well in a pot in a back yard for several years. It had only been in the ground eighteen months. Will take cuttings off this next year. Such a popular plant with the bees and butterflies here.

Dex Sawash

My Purple Driveway Things are blooming fully now. Hard to keep weeds out and the daft bastards spread out onto the concrete yet still die off in patches in the soil. The pines have shat in them this week.


Buelligan

Bit difficult to tell but that looks to me like Dianthus alpinus (ALL-PENIS, HEHEHEH, laughs Frank).  They like lots of sun and dry feet which is probably why they love your driveway.


Ferris

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on April 13, 2021, 09:03:26 PM
Behold!



Beans going like mad now.



Re-potted the carrots, tomatoes, cilantro, sage and mint. Also found some spare pots so picked up some garlic and onions to grow - even had left over garlic that I planted in the central verge thing over the road.

Hops are planted but nothing much happening yet. I live in hope.

Buelligan

You really need to get all of those fellows in the ground.  I'm sure you know that - either really really enormous pots, half barrels or something, copiously fed and watered or open ground or accept this year it's just a bit of fun. 

But beware, those beans (because they've grown all coddled indoors), need hardening off.  Normally, you'd sow direct outside, so you wouldn't need to do this.  You can see how they're all a bit tall and floppy - that's because they've not been harshed by reality.  If you plant them out like that, in the real world, they'll get thrashed to buggery by the wind and rain.  I suggest, if you want to grow them on, cut them down to just above a leaf joint by about half.  Keep them in for a day or so after that and water them, feed them, love them.  Then, if it's not appallingly cold and windy, put them outside in a  sunny sheltered spot in the day, making sure they're well fed and watered, keep doing that for a week or so, bringing them in at night or if the weather's really cold.  Whilst you're doing that, prepare them some ground and get them in soon as they've toughened up.  Keep watering for a week or so after planting or if the weather gets dry. 

Ferris

Yeah we had a trip to the garden centre planned for giant pots today until everything locked down. We're still going to plant them today or tomorrow but likely directly in the ground now - the weather is mild so I'm going to stick them outside and let them harden themselves up or perish.

No coddling in this house/garden.

IsavedLatin

Quite worried that my agapanthuses are shagged and not thriving where they are. Should I hold my nerve (considering it's only really starting to warm up here now) or take evasive action and put them into a different spot?



Also the rancid discolouring on my soil is chilli powder, which is my desperation attempt to get every cat within five miles coming round to mine for their biggest shit of the day. Thoughts on better strategies for deterrence are most welcome.

Buelligan

I hope people don't mind me replying to all these questions!  I'd say you can't really tell but generally plants aren't mad on being dug up repeatedly, so unless you have a real need to move them, probably better to leave them be.  There doesn't look to be much wrong there - the one on the right looks to be planted a bit deep (the tulips and euphorbia do too).  That's only picking holes, I'm sure it'll be fine.  Only reason for caution on the depth of planting is if you get wet weather some plants, especially plants that are normally happier in well-drained positions can rot off if their crowns are too wet or lack air flow.  With most plants, you're best off planting them in the ground at the same depth they were in the pot.

The way I use to put cats off is not to let them see nicely dug fluffy fresh inviting earth.  I keep half an eye on a neighbour's holiday garden and I just leave flat stones anywhere there aren't plants, it looks OK, keeps the soil warm and holds in water (very necessary here), suppresses weeds and of course, the cats are too feeble and lazy to move them.

Jittlebags

Finally got potatoes planted down on the lotment. Not without incident as when I arrived, I spotted what looked like a dead rabbit, but turned out to be a dead giant rat, with all flies flying round it. Chucked it into the hedge where it joins several of it's brethren. Quite a few cats from the surrounding houses like having a stalk around, so I assume one of them is responsible. Better than killing birds, which they also do.


Brian Freeze

Quote from: Buelligan on April 24, 2021, 07:45:41 PM
I hope people don't mind me replying to all these questions! 

Please carry on, this is an excellent thread.

We helped take down a thirty foot run of chicken sheds today to make way for a Heath Robinson thirty foot long homemade greenhouse from old windows and doors. Thats a lot of tomatoes potentially.

Still no rain.

Brian Freeze

Fake edit : we got home from the dismantling job and found a big dead rat on our lawn. Hope the rest of them are ok.

Attila

My madder is going crazy, and we'll soon be building its raised beds down in the allotment -- I spent about 4 hours down there earlier this week clearing out two sections that were overgrown with weeds. Everyone who has plots there seems to be retired, so they have endless amounts of time to create these perfect, enormous plots; Mr Attila still works full time, and the creepy jobsworth who oversees the whole allotment was threatening to evict him because of these weedy patches. I was rather hoping he came along for a surprise inspection when I was down there, given that I was armed with various forks and a knife (to cut through the weed blanket.)

My woad is bursting with yellow flowers at the moment, so I will have lots of seeds for next year. This year I'm going to cheat and just buy 1/2 doz plants when my stockist has them again.


Buelligan

That's just weird.  Hope I'm not upsetting Frank saying that.

IsavedLatin

Quote from: Buelligan on April 24, 2021, 07:45:41 PM
I hope people don't mind me replying to all these questions!

I really appreciate your wisdom here, Buelligan; I'm a complete know-nothing who, left to my own devices, is liable to make all sorts of (costly) mistakes.

Quote from: Buelligan on April 24, 2021, 07:45:41 PM
There doesn't look to be much wrong there - the one on the right looks to be planted a bit deep (the tulips and euphorbia do too).  That's only picking holes, I'm sure it'll be fine.  Only reason for caution on the depth of planting is if you get wet weather some plants, especially plants that are normally happier in well-drained positions can rot off if their crowns are too wet or lack air flow.  With most plants, you're best off planting them in the ground at the same depth they were in the pot.

Good point! I think this is just my inexperience/lack of skill showing through. The foxgloves I've planted in the back garden are, if anything, standing a bit proud of the ground -- so hopefully my planting will even out with practice.  (I think for the tulips, the bulbs were put in at the end of the year at whatever the recommended depth was, then I mulched the bed with manure in spring, hence their subterranean look.) Every day is a school day at the moment!

Rather pleased to find some bluebells that I planted last year in the back garden, which never did anything last year and about which I then completely forgot, are now putting on quite a nice show.