Gardening thread 2022

[Brian Freeze]

Seeing as I can't find the old one I thought a new one for the new season might be good.

So far we've had a flower on the money tree which we've never seen before and also have a flower coming on a venus fly trap which is another novelty for us.

Planted a rowan on the cats grave and saw the first snowdrop flower yesterday.

How bout you?

[Mr Eggs]

Battered it with Roundup ProActive to get rid of Crocosmia.

Goin full Scabious and encouraging assorted grasses for moth foodplants.

And fuck Monty Don.

[Attila]

The plan is to have an allotment bonfire this evening. Made the attempt last weekend, but stuff was a bit damp, and whilst Mr Attila's attempt to get things going by dousing the materials with a heavy dollop of petrol led to a satisfyign WHOOMP and initial fireball, nothing really caught (although I would argue it's because he kept shoving too much stuff down into the initial flames).

Meanwhile, the woad in my dye garden is starting to change shape, as in its second year woad loses its dye-laden state and bolts. Each will have a giant triffidy stalk shoot up which will burst into loads of dainty yellow flowers. I'll have loads of seeds for next year. The madder is asleep under a blanket of waste-wool leftover from carding/spinning, and the dyer's camomile is dormant til everything warms up in spring. I'd like to take over another section of the allotment that's just scrubby at the moment to put in a row of woad and weld that can be properly netted -- cabbage white caterpillars just about destroyed by woad last year. I'd like to add more dyer's camomile, and I have a small tansy and woodworm that can go into the dyer's camomile section as all three plants produce yellow.

And I'll probably augment the madder bed with a new plant or teo, as madder needs to be harvested in 3 year cycles, so you start with one plant, next year add another, then a third, then you can go back to the original year one to harvest the next year. With three sets of plants you can then cycle through collecting for dyes while allowing other sections then to recover.
I've also got some pennyroyal to go into the dyer's sections which will help hold back weeds, but also be nice dried as moth-repellents and that.

Last spring I dug out the 6 remaining shabby strawberry plants Mr Attila had in the allotment, all nearly strangled by weeds -- they didn't produce much this year, but grew and spread like crazy now that all the weeds have been hacked back. So I'm hoping we have a better harvest this year.

[Buelligan]

Can you get Gariguette (the strawberry variety) in England?  I've grown it here and it's undoubtedly not only prolific but superb taste-wise.  Try to get some to augment your crop for maximum joy.

Your dyer's garden is something I greatly covet.  Thank you for the updates, its such a joy to read about.

HERE'S A LINK TO THE OLD THREAD - https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=86218.0 - just for completeness, for orderly people who need these tidinesses, to keep them relaxed (like me, heheh).

[NattyDread 2]

Got the kids to scrub the algae from my plastic greenhouse last weekend. They did a cracking job and I was getting excited about the coming growing season.
Woke up this morning to find the whole thing had blown right over to the other side of the house. It's in bits so I'm hoping I can get connectors for the poles and not have to buy a new one. It somehow managed to get over the car so I should probably count my blessings that it didn't twat it.

I grew some Aja chillies last year that were supposed to be pineapple and lemon flavoured. They didn't come on quickly enough to get much fruit though so I've tried over-wintering them in the house, hoping for a good early start with them.

Snails destroyed a load of my crops last year so the plan this year is to try and grow a load more in the hope that there's enough to go round. Possibly also bring stuff on a bit longer before planting out. Need to better protect the blueberries from blackbirds too, the crafty buggers.

[Attila]

Can you get Gariguette (the strawberry variety) in England?  I've grown it here and it's undoubtedly not only prolific but superb taste-wise.  Try to get some to augment your crop for maximum joy.

Your dyer's garden is something I greatly covet.  Thank you for the updates, its such a joy to read about.

HERE'S A LINK TO THE OLD THREAD - https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=86218.0 - just for completeness, for orderly people who need these tidinesses, to keep them relaxed (like me, heheh).

Cheers on the dye garden! I used to have a good-sized plot when I had my own house, so I've been trying to recapture some of that look here -- it's helpful for Mr Attila, as he works full time, and can't always get all of the spaces in his allotment into cultivation. Even me filling in a small section with marigolds would be part of dye production, as they are great for vivid yellows (and the flowerheads can be frozen to do dyepots in winter).

If we go down this evening I'll take some photos -- it's all a bit muddy and dormant at the moment, but why not :)

I'll ask him about the strawberries -- dunno what variety he has to be honest. They were just choked by weeds after a couple years neglect, so during spring lockdown last year I went down to weed in anger and to get away from screens of a morning. The funny thing is, several of the plants really rallied with the TLC and chucked out berries in the autumn; I know they're a spring variety, so this was a nice little bonus. The only problem with the strawberries is they start to come into season just as hayfever hits me -- dunno what it is here in the south of England, but it makes me miserable as heck for a few weeks around strawberry season (unless it rains and washes the pollen out of the air).

I started my woodworm and tansy in pots here in the back garden, but they really need to be plunked into soil to grow into the tall and spreading plants they can be. Wormwood has lovely silvery stalks and leaves, and when I harvest tansy I have a brief frenzy where I go nuts from the sap in the cut flowers and leaves (it's a brief high, but always gives me a crashing headache). I never learn to use gloves when handling it...

If you would like some vicarious dye garden fun, Rita Buchanan has two books on the subject,

A Weaver's Garden --  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0934026289/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tu00_p1_i5

and

A Dyer's Garden -- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dyers-Garden-growing-natural-Growing/dp/1883010071/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2U7BNSBMR6TIG&keywords=a+dyers+garden&qid=1643460009&s=books&sprefix=a+dyers+garden%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1
2.

[Buelligan]

Really looking forward to the pics.  It would be great if all our gardeners with cameras did some this year - maybe once a month or once a season or whatevs, just for the pleasure. 

I'm sure you know wormwood is quite toxic (and used in the making of absinthe) but I think you'd need to eat bales of it to get sick - don't try it though! 

I have Wild Colour by Jenny Dean - don't know if she's a great dye person, just collected it in my travels, I've always been interested in plants and their uses.  When I was really small I used to collect wool from barbed wire on Dartmoor and bits of old cotton cloth and my grandmother let me experiment with things like bilberries, blackberries, onions and so on.  I used salt as a mordant.  Made the resulting into little clothes for homemade dolls that lived like Dumnonii on the mountains.

[Attila]

I haven't read Dean, but she always comes up in connection with Buchanan's books -- I need to check her out!

Apparently woodworm makes dogs and men nervous. I'd often thought of potting a cutting up and keeping it next to my ex's side of the room.

Like tansy, it tends to walk -- my original plants ended up several feet from where they'd been planted, as they'd send up new shoots in spring and the centre bits died back.

Ahhh, that's lovely, your childhood wool-gathering and dyeing! Onion skins are great dyestuffs. We had something called pokeberries at home that stain a terrific reddy-purple, but it's sadly not colourfast, even with mordants.

[confettiinmyhair]

I've been influenced quite a bit by Charles Dowding and his no dig methods. I've got better prepared this winter. Picked up loads of manure from a local paddock and have got all my raised beds ready to go. Probably won't start sowing until mid March, but I'm certainly all set.

[Attila]

Mr Attila is still at the allotment getting kippered, but I'm back.

Some photos - all a bit sleepy at the moment.

Woad drawing up; the big stalk will shoot up out of the centre. In its first year, woad spreads out like a big dinner plate, with wide leaves full of dye.



Dyer's camomile, which needs cutting back.



Madder tucked under waste wool



Madder roots showing near the surface. It will produce a creeping vine, but there's no real dyestuff in the stems and leaves.



Strawberry bed



I made a corn dolly form leftover dried up corn on the ground, an old apple, and some of the wool from the madder bed.



Corn dolly in sinister sepia filter



Corn dolly going up in flames.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Will you be using the woad for any Braveheart style shenanigans, or is it just for dying fabric?

[Attila]

Will you be using the woad for any Braveheart style shenanigans, or is it just for dying fabric?

As much as I'd like to annoy the English Mr Attila with a lot of CRY FREEDUUUUUUUUUMs, I've not a Scottish bone in my body (I like Scotland a lot, tho, and wish we could move there). I more than make up for it by being relentlessly American when he bugs me, though.

I use woad for dyeing wool and yarn. It's a pain in the backside, but rewarding when I get it right.

[monkfromhavana]

I am going to be co-owning a house with a garden for the first time in a couple of weeks. The garden already looks OK, but I fear that 3 weeks after we move in the grass will be 3ft high, the shed will have burnt to the ground and there will be a car on blocks leaking oil everywhere.

My family are all gardeners, so I'm hoping I have a long-dormant gardening gene that will leap into action, but if that doesn't happen do you have any tips on creating a reasonably non-fuss garden?

[Ferris]

I'll be doing hop planting: year two now that the back yard isn't covered in 2 tons of rubble and broken glass.

What should I get in the veg garden? Would love to have another crack at tomatoes. Potatoes are always winners, has anyone given sweet potatoes a go?

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Chillies. I'm growing some again this year (Chocolate Habaneros) and we could compare notes.

[Ferris]

Tried jalapeños last year and it was the only thing that refused to grow.

I'm definitely willing to try again though.

[Buelligan]

Fantastic pic Atilla - hope they're the first of many!

[Attila]

Fantastic pic Atilla - hope they're the first of many!

It's pretty quiet down the allotment (for us) at the moment, but I've got my eye on the bigger neglected section! Mt Attila is still recovering from a major hand/wrist injury at xmas, but in a few weeks he should be ready to help me get that new plot ready for cultivation. It's the section that will be netted so that the cabbage whites don't destroy my woad crop again. I'm also thinking of putting in weld along with the woad so that I can dye some proper Saxon green.

I'm also thinking about buying some cotton seeds to see if we can't grow a couple of plants. It needs warmer, sunnier weather longer than we could ever get here in the south of England, but he's got a greenhouse with the warmers & lamps and stuff where he propagates his vegetable seeds, so I'm going to ask if he'll help me with a cotton project! I have a collection of charkha wheels and really, really like spinning cotton on them.

[Brian Freeze]

HERE'S A LINK TO THE OLD THREAD - https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=86218.0 - just for completeness, for orderly people who need these tidinesses, to keep them relaxed (like me, heheh).

Thanks for finding that. If anyone wanted to ask Neil to merge the threads then please feel free to crack on.

[Ferris]

Can you get Gariguette (the strawberry variety) in England?  I've grown it here and it's undoubtedly not only prolific but superb taste-wise.  Try to get some to augment your crop for maximum joy.

Your dyer's garden is something I greatly covet.  Thank you for the updates, its such a joy to read about.

HERE'S A LINK TO THE OLD THREAD - https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=86218.0 - just for completeness, for orderly people who need these tidinesses, to keep them relaxed (like me, heheh).

What a nice thread, enjoyed (re)reading that. Thanks for digging it up!

I quite like Gardening being a perennial thread that pops up in spring of each new year but I'm not the boss of gardening.

If I can get chillies growing this year, I'll ferment them and make a hot sauce so I can enjoy the fiery fruits of my labour all year round.

[Buelligan]

I agree, I really like the idea of having a new gardening thread each year but because I'm obsessive and have a dislike of lost but relevant material, I think it's also worthwhile to link to the previous thread - just a clicky - so's people kind find what they're looking for easily. 

We try to do it in the dreaded Labour Threads and I think it's a good tradition.

[Ferris]

Yeah it's nice to have it all in one place. I'm looking forward to gardening and some sunshine - another foot of snow last night and it's -15c outside (the warmest it's been all week).

I'm going to give potatoes a go, possibly pumpkins as well. I'm tempted to build some raised beds as well. Bookmark this post for when I inevitably get busy with other projects and achieve about 10% of my intended garden goals.

Spoiler alert

I find the current state of labour too depressing so I've given those threads a miss. I'm getting taken off the voting register before the next election anyway (expat) so I think I've had my fill of British politics.

I'm onto the far more boring (although occasionally very interesting) Canadian politics. Did you know the Canadian constitution was out of print for a few years in the mid '80s and nobody noticed until a legal researcher tried to buy a copy? Compare that to the Americans who get it on tea towels and things.

[close]

[Emma Raducanu]

After all the love I gave my garden last year, mine is currently FUCKED.

Storm Cunt blew one of my beloved trees down. It offered privacy from our neighbours as well as providing a beautiful canopy that made you feel enveloped by nature. Gone now. Should I contact an arborist to remove the trunk. I want to plant a new tree in its place.

Also my lawn goes to shit in winter too. I guess I need to incorporate some sand into the ground or something. It's good in spring and summer but suddenly becomes strikingly bald in winter and I fear its also suffering with phimosis.

[TommyTurnips]

I'm going to be growing hops when the time is right. I think April will be the time to plant some rhizomes in a pot.

The only other plant that's in the garden is a bamboo plant that the previous owner planted and is trying to take over the garden so I've chopped it all down and now I'm in the process of cutting the roots out of the ground with a big blade on the end of a thick steel handle. Then I'm covering the area with tarp and rocks to suffocate it in case it grows back. Don't plant bamboo folks. It's very invasive. On the plus side though I now have some canes to build a trellis for my future hops to grow on.

[Ferris]

In the UK, early April should be fine to plant hops. Plant the rhizomes horizontally about 2" deep and cover with soil. As much sun as you can get and a shitloads of nutrients and you're laughing. When they get going, they really get going so having something to trail them up is useful just so you can direct them a bit, though they don't need much help climbing.

Mine are still sitting under a foot of snow, I hope they've survived. I'm putting them in the ground about the same time so I'll race you.

[TommyTurnips]

The garden faces north so hopefully they will get lots of sun. So yes, I'll grow some hops and depending on how much I yield I'll pick them and get them into a brew asap and make a harvest ale with the wet hops. Even if I only get enough to make a five litre batch of beer.

[Pink Gregory]

Also my lawn goes to shit in winter too. I guess I need to incorporate some sand into the ground or something. It's good in spring and summer but suddenly becomes strikingly bald in winter and I fear its also suffering with phimosis.

You want an autumn lawn fertiliser that's higher in potassium - good for hardiness.  Aeration and top dressing will help but unless you're getting like surface water then the fertiliser's probably the easier thing

[Pink Gregory]

I am going to be co-owning a house with a garden for the first time in a couple of weeks. The garden already looks OK, but I fear that 3 weeks after we move in the grass will be 3ft high, the shed will have burnt to the ground and there will be a car on blocks leaking oil everywhere.

My family are all gardeners, so I'm hoping I have a long-dormant gardening gene that will leap into action, but if that doesn't happen do you have any tips on creating a reasonably non-fuss garden?

Just choice of plants really.  Just avoid any annuals or anything that needs dead heading - use membrane and a woodchip mulch to cut down on the weeding, herbaceous perennials don't need much work.

Are we talking patch of lawn, couple of borders, that sort of thing?

[Brian Freeze]

Battered it with Roundup ProActive to get rid of Crocosmia.

We were thinking of getting a load of assorted Crocosmia bulbs for a bed.

How come you annihilated yours? Will we regret planting ours?

[Emma Raducanu]

I have some crocosmia within a mixed border. They stand out like flames and look beautiful but an entire border of crocosmia would surely be a bit wild looking?