Trowel and Error

[Derek Nimmo]

It looks amazing, you are absolute nails If also a horticultural masochist!

[Mountain Goat]

You really are nails! I bet you would have done my gravel section without half of my whining. :lol:

Thanks, I thought as much. I won't have time to do anything much until after next weekend so they've got a week to show themselves (and I've got a week to forcefeed everyone even more saag aloo/spanokopita type dinners to use up some of the greens). My trees of chard (which are about as tall as me at this point) are starting to bolt so I'm going to go very suddenly from too.many.greens to no greens.

I've just done a load of fertilising, back and bloody forth with that watering can. And more planting. I swear that front/side garden is some sort of black hole, I have put in so many seedlings and yet there are still so many gaps. And everything's still there, it's not like it's getting eaten. It's just a tardis of space.

[Disco]

I've just put some rainbow chard seeds out as my plants from last year have just started bolting. They last so well though and give good colour and I dotted them throughout the border to fill them out and add colour.

[Mountain Goat]

That's a nice idea and I should do that too. I don't actually have any chard seeds now (mice ate all my seeds from last year, I have a proper mouse proof box now though) but I should get some more, I need foxgloves too. Annoying we went to the garden centre today and I forgot I also wanted seeds.

[Derek Nimmo]

Evening peony watch pays off Finally!

[Mountain Goat]

Gorgeous. The first one is so vibrant and the second is a real classic and pleasingly ROUND.

[Disco]

Beautiful!

[absley]

Hurrah, Del! They're beautiful. And thanks for the warning about washing up liquid, Disco. As ever, I'm so impressedy by your labouring, Baa. And I can't believe you are already harvesting Goat.

I have succumbed to organic slug pellets and something called strulch which is also anti slug, so the strawberries, and my remaining courgettes and pumpkins are protected; I'm hoping the other veggies will also have a better chance. Apparently anti-slug nematodes are also good, so they might be next on the list! I have one veg bed left for planting out into but my kale is too small and I need to resow peas & beans. I'm half minded to use it for cut flowers as those seedlings are coming on well!

[Cerise]

Oh do, absley! It will look beautiful!

I love foxgloves but they are so poisonous to cats that I daren’t have any.

[Mountain Goat]

I got a job lot of strulch last autumn, can't remember the specific reason, but I used it for all my mulch needs and it did its job very well.

The dahlias in my new bed are looking a bit odd, the older leaves are brown in patches, one dahlia is a bit yellow. Google can't decide if this is over or underwatering, virus or pest, they're all on the table. I had a gentle dig around as this bed is on ex grass and while I've piled on a tonne of organic matter of various sorts and dug big holes for them, the earth underneath the ex lawn is very compacted and I was afraid of root rot. But they look fine. To me the marks look like they might be scorch marks, maybe I splashed them with fertiliser they didn't like on their leaves? They're brown in random patches rather than progressive from the edges. There is lots of healthy (for now) new growth. I guess I'll just keep an eye on them.

Re the foxgloves, Moo is an indoor cat these days. We do get a very occasional cat visitor, a lovely Bengal, but there are other foxgloves between my house and hers, including in her own front garden.

[absley]

I picked my first strawberries and raspberries last night - so exciting. Apart from them and the potatoes though, things seem v slow.

Is Moo indoors through choice, Goat? I hadn't thought about foxgloves being poisonous for cats.

[Mountain Goat]

Oh that's exciting! All my flowers are slow, I'm itching for things to open. It's just a mass of foliage and not much else at the moment.

He's been indoors since he went missing for a week well over a year ago. It's a point of contention between me and J. :)) I would prefer for him to go out, J feels strongly about him not going out, and I don't want to push for him to go out in case he then does go missing again, and it be my "fault". Not that he has said this, but I would feel it. Moo rarely shows any inclination to go out (but I think it's out of resignation rather than because he's not interested). And by this point, I have all my regular birds bringing their babies here because it's safe and letting a massive cat loose would be awful. We discuss it every so often but when it comes to it J always changes his mind back to keeping him indoors, so after this long I don't see it happening.

[absley]

Tricky, Goat. I completely understand the tensions you're feeling, but if J is resolute then does simplify things.

All the birds (and frogs) is also what stops us getting a cat.

[Mountain Goat]

It helps that Moo doesn't seem bothered too (though if I opened the door I think he would be delighted). On Sat he noticed J and his brother sitting outside, did a double take, but rather than then ask to go out, he just turned around and continued to ask me for food. :lol:

It is a worry, cats and wildlife are not a good mix.

We had guests at the weekend so I didn't get much gardening done other than a quick weed/deadhead but I did want to show you my ridiculous Tree of Chard before it gets removed (it's bolting). Taking the height of the raised bed into consideration, it's about as tall as me. It has served me well for almost a year.

tree of chard.jpg

[absley]

Tell me about the plants you have netting over, please, Goat. I was wondering if I need a solution other than stakes for my peas as they still seem to be struggling to grow up them.

The strulch is doing a good job with the strawberries and I made a couple of small.jars of jam with my first haul - a three day process but it was so good! The raspberries, on the other hand, mostly seem to be there to feed the baby magpies who I watched yesterday pick and discard the green ones before triumphantly flying onto the shed roof with red ones.

[Disco]

I’ve read about painting a few stones red so when they peck at those they learn to leave red berries alone.

[Disco]

If I read that on this thread then sorry for regurgitating.

[Mountain Goat]

I love that idea.

The jute netting on the left? That's got peas, broad beans, borlotti beans and cucumber. Some lettuce/marigold interplanting. It's a bit haphazard as it's not quite big enough a piece but they seem to be muddling along well enough on it. I just made a frame for it out of long bamboo canes and tied it on. The most annoying thing about it is trying to get my watering can rose through it to fertilise them (it fits, but I splash plenty on the ground trying to jostle it in).

[absley]

I love that too, Disco, and didn't know it. I'll dig out my red nail varnish!

And yes, that's it Goat. Thanks, maybe I need similar, I shall ponder it.

[Mountain Goat]

I'll say mine could do with being taller though I then wouldn't be able to reach anything. :))

The weather this weekend was nuts! I had a few plants damaged from the winds and went round madly staking with random twigs when I ran out of anything proper, and then did an emergency Amazon order. But then the rain/sun combo also kicked everything off (finally) and suddenly I have some tiny tomatoes, some tiny peas, another tiny cucumber, some beetroot that look ready, more potato flowers, and to my great surprise, a little Romanesco cauliflower I didn't know I had planted. :lol: ( last year I got a mixed pack of random brassica plug plants, I thought I only had purple sprouting broccoli left).

I've cut down, steamed and frozen a big load of the Tree of Chard and the unsprouting broccoli greens, but there is still loads. I'm leaving a bit of the chard to go to seed as I don't have any chard seed at the mo.

Also did nearly 4 hours of weeding, staking and planting out the front/side. I reckon it's 2-3 weeks away from hitting its stride (though I don't think it will be until next summer that it really comes into its own). I've grown to love working out there as I get all the gossip. :)) That's why it takes 4 hours.