How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Keith 66]

Our lawn is a disaster, very uneven & one corner all ripped up where the hound corners tight when he gets the mads & tears round the garden. I have mowed it twice now & planed the top off several anthills. Its full of clover, dandelions & plantain which the tortoise likes to eat.
Garlic i planted in november is growing really well. Chillis & Tomato seedlings are doing well in the propagator.

 

[bigegg]

I rough rotavated my lawn last month, and spread wild flower seeds on it.

At least when I don't cut it this year, it will look planned.

 

[Anguz]

I rough rotavated my lawn last month, and spread wild flower seeds on it.

At least when I don't cut it this year, it will look planned.

best thing i ever did to my lawn..... cut once a year with the hedge trimmer

 

[My Old Landy]

Best thing I did was remove both front and rear gardens!
Rear has a ramp down to the path. Makes my home fully wheelchair accessible

 

[Onoff]

Managed to get out and start digging over my little veg patch. Dug in the couple of bags of manure I'd had sat in bags a couple of years. Put a jumbo bag's worth of cherry leaves through a shredder plus the old bean vines. A bit clumpy so I'll finish the digging tomorrow.

https://flic.kr/p/2pGaekb

https://flic.kr/p/2pGacWK

Really need to knock up a little tool shed.

This year the aim is to double the veg patch size with another, sleeper bordered section to the right.

 

[RichardM]

^^^^^ I did mine during winter. Carrots and onions planted last month and are starting to show through.

 

[Farside]

>pumps up sprayer<
>assembles brushcutter<
Bstad gardening.

 

[DanZac]

Mines still like the Somme. Most of its underwater still.
At this rate the only thing I'll be growing this year will be rice.
Has anyone got any water buffalo I can borrow.

 

[DAPPH]

Managed to get out and start digging over my little veg patch. Dug in the couple of bags of manure I'd had sat in bags a couple of years. Put a jumbo bag's worth of cherry leaves through a shredder plus the old bean vines. A bit clumpy so I'll finish the digging tomorrow.

https://flic.kr/p/2pGaekb

https://flic.kr/p/2pGacWK

Really need to knock up a little tool shed.

This year the aim is to double the veg patch size with another, sleeper bordered section to the right.

Remember no long root crops in freshly manured /fertilized ground as the high nitrogen will make them grow more roots that a cows udder's got tits. No manure or fertilizer on /in the ground for three years for them /

 

[oldbikedavey]

Look after your soil microflora, and they'll look after you.
Effective drainage and attention to soil crumb structure are primary requirements.

 

[Onoff]

From my vantage point upstairs, "sat" with the window wisely open , I note I didn't clear the moss off half the flat tiled roof this year. Can that go and be dug into the veg patch? Or is it better going in the compost bin?

https://flic.kr/p/2pGa6EZ

 

[Onoff]

I only got into gardening following the death of my Dad a couple of years back. Basically the Tubeclamp bean frame I made him years ago needed a home. I didn't think any further than "beans" so no real planning went into the veg patch other than a bean trench. That little patch is thus rather weird now in terms of soil make up.

The base ground is clay / flint over a chalk bed with scant topsoil though it's very rich being in the bottom of the valley. Trust me I then picked a patch which was made up ground from I guess the house build in the 30's. Full of rubble and chalk.

The 3' wide bean trench I had dug out up the middle, is 2-3' deep and as aforementioned "layered" with ash, grass cuttings, sifted soil, compost, repeat. It's served well for 2 years running growing beans.

The 1' wide, 18" deep trench to the left and similar L shaped trench was dug out and filled back in with sifted soil / horse manure last year.

The shaded area is undug.

https://flic.kr/p/2pGgp7x

Beans are a given this year, in the same spot. Probably more beans up the side and squash again in the L shape but earlier.

I really want to do some spuds.

Best I get out there and carry on!

Got to decide whether to re-erect the frame over the whole lot. Every 3D printed connector failed when the wind blew it over. My own fault as I'd not finished fitting the metal plates at all the joins

 

[droopsnoot]

I planted onion sets before Christmas as instructed on the packet, five or six of them were showing but they've all gone now. They're in a chicken wire tunnel so I don't think anything has taken them, probably just the weather did for them. I planted some potatoes in another tunnel alongside them, I think there's one showing, but not as advanced as the two or three potato plants coming up elsewhere in the patch. The patch that I dug over and cleared out so that I'd know where stuff was coming up.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I thought we would get out for a drive in the old Merc today, sun forecast all day and reasonably warm 12degC, so I did an inspection first thing only to find that the roads were salted again last night. :cry:

Instead, a bit of weeding/gardening then relaxation. My wife normally does the weeding but since she broke her shoulder and damaged her ACL skiing last Sunday it was down to me.

Weeded all the beds then put down a couple of bags of compost and calculated I'd need another 16 bags to do a good job. The banana plants are still in the porch, will leave it till the end of April before I put them out.

The invalid boss watched on.

I think she is going to be out of action for three months, that's a lump of bone hanging off.

Next round to the veg plot that's not been looked at since last year, still a bit of purple broccoli there for tonight's dinner.

 

[RichardM]

I thought we would get out for a drive in the old Merc today, sun forecast all day and reasonably warm 12degC, so I did an inspection first thing only to find that the roads were salted again last night. :cry:

Instead, a bit of weeding/gardening then relaxation. My wife normally does the weeding but since she broke her shoulder and damaged her ACL skiing last Sunday it was down to me.

Weeded all the beds then put down a couple of bags of compost and calculated I'd need another 16 bags to do a good job. The banana plants are still in the porch, will leave it till the end of April before I put them out.

The invalid boss watched on.

View attachment 443972

I think she is going to be out of action for three months, that's a lump of bone hanging off.

View attachment 443973

Next round to the veg plot that's not been looked at since last year, still a bit of purple broccoli there for tonight's dinner.

View attachment 443974

She looks quite comfortable. Is that a pacemaker showing up?

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Comfortable as long as she is not moving, agony otherwise. Yes it's a pacemaker, she got heart block a few years ago out of the blue.

 

[RichardM]

Hope the recovery goes well.

 

[DAPPH]

From my vantage point upstairs, "sat" with the window wisely open , I note I didn't clear the moss off half the flat tiled roof this year. Can that go and be dug into the veg patch? Or is it better going in the compost bin?

https://flic.kr/p/2pGa6EZ

The spores of the moss will stay in your ground for years and present you with a nice green carpet of all sorts of moss if the weather stays overly damp .. guess how I know ?
I'll never ever again add removed moss or path cleanings to the beds or compost heap.

 

[DAPPH]

I only got into gardening following the death of my Dad a couple of years back. Basically the Tubeclamp bean frame I made him years ago needed a home. I didn't think any further than "beans" so no real planning went into the veg patch other than a bean trench. That little patch is thus rather weird now in terms of soil make up.

The base ground is clay / flint over a chalk bed with scant topsoil though it's very rich being in the bottom of the valley. Trust me I then picked a patch which was made up ground from I guess the house build in the 30's. Full of rubble and chalk.

The 3' wide bean trench I had dug out up the middle, is 2-3' deep and as aforementioned "layered" with ash, grass cuttings, sifted soil, compost, repeat. It's served well for 2 years running growing beans.

The 1' wide, 18" deep trench to the left and similar L shaped trench was dug out and filled back in with sifted soil / horse manure last year.

The shaded area is undug.

https://flic.kr/p/2pGgp7x

Beans are a given this year, in the same spot. Probably more beans up the side and squash again in the L shape but earlier.

I really want to do some spuds.

Best I get out there and carry on!

Got to decide whether to re-erect the frame over the whole lot. Every 3D printed connector failed when the wind blew it over. My own fault as I'd not finished fitting the metal plates at all the joins

Read up about making a hot bed for veg . use chicken poop , straw bedding ( not hay ) & cow muck sprinkled with pink gypsum plaster powder ( makes heat when damp and helps break down the compostables ) fork it in along the bottom then put 18 inches or more on top before covering in a good 35mm of the wet news papers as the water / nutrient rich moisture sponge bank . Top to a 9 inch high flat topped mound along the whole trench with fine fibre rich sifted soil .
Consistent moisture & nutrients will give you outstanding results .

I lived in Bulford near Salisbury in 1975 the garden was loads of shallow top soil and very old composted grass cuttings & privet hedge cuttings , stacks of chalk & plenty of rubble from demolished buildings from the 1950's. tin cans and little else .
Like you I double trench dug / cleaned it to a depth of about 30 inches deep , put five or six old fashioned big baby prams of well aged sun dried cow pats in the bean & pea trenches , had amazing crops . Next year things were rotated and the same applied to the new bean 7 pea trenches ..... it was an amazing garden .

 

[Onoff]

I can get cow, horse and chicken poo, as much as I want.