EADD Gardening Club: Ploughing FUBAR's infertile Fields

[Sadie]

Great idea but my aunt lives in another country. I doubt the wee thing would survive the transport.

I seem to stay put on average about 3 years. Been here the longest (5 years this past November )


I like your Jasmine story. Such a fragrant flower. Just lovely

 

[effie]

Effie - toms & chillis will love being on a south facing patio. The last 2 years all my tomatoes got wrecked by blight due to all the rain , fingers crossed for a better year this year. You can find cosmos seeds anywhere, but if your containers are small try & find a dwarf variety.The flowers are lovely, but the foliage is also nice, really frothy & green & looks great in pots. Dwarf green beans, sugar snaps, carrots, salads & new pots all do well in containers. Your main job will be keeping it all watered Seed potatoes are in the shops now, blink and you miss em.

Ahh excellent, thank you! I do fancy some potatoes actually, and Mr Ef just got pretty excited about sugar snaps. Be lovely to make use of the outdoor bit and grow something tasty, was pleasantly pleased how well the herbs did as I've never really tried growing anything before. I reckon I can manage the watering, as you say after all the hard work you can chill and enjoy the results %)

Somniferum are a piece of piss, grow like weeds, don't need any care really. And every year they spread and spread :D

effie, Rainbow Chard is a beautiful plant which has a long growing season, is attractive, can be picked and picked throughout the year, grows well in a big pot, tastes great cooked as spinach, the ribs can be chopped and cooked like pak choi, and the leaves are okay in salads even.

Haha that looks amazing I like the sound of a spinach/pak choi/salad style plant too, thank you :D

 

[koneko]

Thanks for the nice comments about my garden B&W

Some great suggestions for planting here. I had no success with chillies and peppers last summer - we just don't have the light here I think, that and it gets a lot of wind coming off the sea

I've spent the last few hours digging over my borders - my backs killing me already and there's ohhh sooooo much more to do...

Was planning on digging a new trench up the back near the trees (where the prayer flags live ) to plant my wild flowers. Though I'm looking a the size it and thinking, this is going to be hard fucking work

Apart from more flower beds, I'll be planting more patio pots and herbs. Possibly a little "zen" pebble area - do fancy a wee fat Buddha out there too :D

 

[effie]

I fancy a fat Buddha too, my parents have got one sitting overlooking their pond need some more prayer flags too I think, got two strings up but my outdoors bit is far too beige and grey for my liking.. tempted to dangle some off the balcony but not sure what my neighbours would think!

Going to get some seed potatoes on the go v soon I think, don't want to miss the boat...

 

[koneko]

Aye prayer flags lose their colour don't they - apparently you're not supposed to take them down or have them touch the ground.

All round agreement on chubby Buddha garden presence - I have a perfect wee hidden place in mind. So it'll not embarrass Felix too much when his mates come to stay and think he's living with some old hippy lol

Springtime's when all the hard work has to go into preparation. Bet your own home grown tatties will taste lovely %)

Right that's my tea / BL break done, back out there now!

 

[effie]

I knew they were supposed to be able to fly freely, didn't know about not taking them down - makes sense though when you see the millions flying around Tibetan houses and temples! Mine aren't toooo faded but they are pretty threadbare from being buffeted around in the wind. Might just put some more up alongside them I'll see if I can dig out a pic of my mum's fat Buddha, he looks so content nestled in amongst plants overlooking the pond %)

Anyone have any recommendation for seed potato varieties? Going to get a kit thing with some bag planters as I don't have anything to plant em in, can't decide which variety sounds best. From what I can gather I've got a bit of time to think about other veg, but tatties need sorting soon. Bit worried Mr Ef will eat them all and all my hard work will be in vain 8)

edit: How's your garden looking Kate? Looked gorgeous in the pics last year! Imagine it takes a lot of hard work though, my folks always got a bit dispirited at this time of year when everything has died down and you realise just how much digging etc you need to do.. am glad I'm starting with a mini patio garden, build myself up to the real thing!

 

[koneko]

^
Alas my prayer flags have been taken down (bought them in Kathmandu, cotton and hand-blocked printed - so they were something special to me) but they looked awful after a season here. Was a Buddhists nun I know who told me about how they should be treated...so I'll know next time I'm going to buy nylon so they won't fade so quickly. Wish I'd gifted my original ones to the Holy Isle project as they'd have appreciated where they came from came from and my "intent" - they'd still be flying out there on the isle with all the other flags and stupas :D

Would be great if you could upload a pic of your folks garden Buddha - I'm looking for some inspiration on how to get that one right!

Haven't a clue about tattie varieties - never grown veggies and tbh I don't think I could cope with the time & effort they'd require

Our garden is so big, I have found it difficult enough this last year to cope with

Thankfully it has a lot of trees and mature shrubbery, it just looks beautiful naturally Though the lawns and other hard-core garden work I need help with and had a gardener to help last year 8)

Aye it's looking like a garden that's just had winter take it's toll on it, but I'm well chuffed with my recent efforts to tidy up. I'm especially pleased with today's digging n' tilling my flower borders :D

Funny how happy n' satisfied one can be with looking out at the work that I've put into digging n' my planters these last few weeks. My back is killing me after today's work and all I've achieved is "happy soil" lol...ready and waiting

My garden makes me so happy and contented %)

Chuffed to bits to see this thread moving n' alive again

 

[badandwicked]

Chuffed to bits to see this thread moving n' alive again

I like this thread a lot, I'll post some pics when I can. Kate I know you work full time so I can imagine its a hell of a lot of work, but once the veg beds are established and seeds sown there's not that much work, other than hoeing down the lines every now and then. All the hard work is now, get that man of yours to dig you some beds when hes home and leave the grass & shrubs to the gardener I know you like to cook, Im the opposite I like to grow them but never cook so give it all away 8)

Effie - without wanting to state the obvious, go for a new potato variety. Charlotte is good. I just bought a 2 kg bag from homebase. How many are you planting? I grew them on a patio once, I used black builders buckets with holes in the bottom, one plant per bucket. I learnt you only get a small handful off each one so you may only get two meals worth but it will be worth it. We had steak with garlic butter and new pots & salad just picked and i remember it to this day

 

[badandwicked]

This was last summer. I need to move everything around this year.



and then totally out of control mid summer

 

[pinkpapaver]

now that is beautiful!! would ya like to come and help me out here? i never know where to start and just have soooo much to do, things never go quite right

what are the best somniferum to buy tho? theres absolutely loads of different ones, some lookin a bit too fancy for my liking

 

[badandwicked]

^ thanks pink.

You just need any that the packet says in latin name papaver somniferum. They're ornamental so lots are very showy and all sorts of colours, but when the petals drop all the seed heads look the same and do the same job. So what ever suits your eye or taste. You'll have limited choice in somewhere like B&Q but if you order off a online seed catalogue you get more range. You only need to buy em once as you can harvest seeds (obviously) so a couple of quid for 300 seeds aint bad.

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flow...s/papaver-somniferum-blackcurrant-fizz/4678TM

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flow...eeds/papaver-somniferum-danebrog-laced/6571TM

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flow...en-seeds/papaver-somniferum-applegreen/6972TM

The classic big red ones are out there but I couldnt be arsed to look. They're just like our field poppies, but much bigger. Little red field poppies arent somni by the way.

They all look so different but are basically the same. Good luck, post pics if you do it


Where to start - dig some beds and put some compost in. Buy seeds. Sow. Sit back. Thats about it

 

[Riklet]

Ahhh looking forward to a proper garden so I can do some pottering about n grow some spuds n 'erbs and veg at least....

Yours looks lovely kate, well jealous!

The prayer flags are meant to fade and fall apart though surely? They have 'all hail to the jewelled lotus' written on them and as they disintegrate the wind carries the words away constantly, etc etc. Woahhh, deeeeep maaaann. :D

 

[Busty St Clare]

I just planted my Autumn crops of yellow beans, climbing cucmber, leeks, broccoli and a few types of lettuce. Had to construct a cover to deter the fucking possums, flying foxes and water rats that otherwise decimate my vegies. I have also stepped up round the clock patrols, no fucker can out run Thor's mighty hammer.....

 

[effie]

Effie - without wanting to state the obvious, go for a new potato variety. Charlotte is good. I just bought a 2 kg bag from homebase. How many are you planting? I grew them on a patio once, I used black builders buckets with holes in the bottom, one plant per bucket. I learnt you only get a small handful off each one so you may only get two meals worth but it will be worth it. We had steak with garlic butter and new pots & salad just picked and i remember it to this day

Oops missed this reply! Thank you B&W, I got a starter kit thing (felt like I was cheating a bit) with big bags to plant them in, 3 different varieties of potato and step by step instructions - I got Charlotte, Duke of York and Maris Peer. They are all sat in an egg tray on my shelf at the mo waiting to sprout. I've got 6 of each - I'll just be happy with one meal for my first attempt!

Was like Christmas when they arrived %)

Going to plan my other veg soon, the sunshine is inspiring me

 

[koneko]

^
Nice one effie

B&W your veggies look amazing, lush and fresh %)

You lot are definitely tempting me to grow some eatables, maybe some salad things. I already have herbs so that would make a nice addition.

I'd like to get out in the garden today, but the weather is dreadful here Which is a pity as I have my MIL staying and I'd like to take her on a tour and get her to teach me how to prune some of those shrubs n' bushes out there

Last weekend I had several fights on with bramble roots and started hacking away at the "under growth". I have arms covered in scratches - they look like I've been self-harming!

Least I dug out my new border for the wild flowers and poppies :D It still needs a lot of work...forking, weeding, hoeing, raking...before seeding later this month.

 

[koneko]

Sitting reading the packets of my wild flower bed seeds

• Calendula - daisy mix
  
• Nasturtiams - dwarf compact mix +strawberries & cream variety
  
• Wild flower mixes - including buttercup, foxglove, cowslip, cornflowers, marigolds, poppies etc

Tempted to germinate and bring on the seeds indoors, but since they're for the wild part of the garden I think it's only fitting I sow them in tilled soil and see where nature takes them %)

The seeds I picked are to attract wildlife, bees and butterflies



Edit: seen the fox again tonight.

 

[effie]

Do you think wildflower seeds would grow in pots? Saw a big fat fuzzy bumblebee buzzing around my outdoor bit just now, hardly saw any last year..

I saw a fox in my street a week or so ago. Pretty cool

In seed potato news, they seem to be sprouting pretty quickly :D

 

[badandwicked]

Saw a big fat fuzzy bumblebee buzzing around my outdoor bit just now, hardly saw any last year..

Someone put some plastic flowers pinched from a pub in my garden and ive seen several bees bumbling round them, I felt guilty. But definitely a good sign. I saw a program about all the people who keep bees on roofs in new york, if I liked honey its something that I'd try & get into. bees.

 

[Mailmonkey]

Lovely sunny and warm here, finished work, had some lunch and a couple of pints of tea, off down the allotment with a newspaper and a couple of beers and some hash :D

EDIT, maybe wrong thread, not much gardening gonna get done today, just need a relax.

 

[badandwicked]

^ I reckon you've got the right idea mailmonkey