The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.
Discussion
Gardening is a lot to do with learning, experimenting and being at the mercy of the weather.
I've experimented with starting my toms off early which has pros and cons, they all seem to have come to a natural end from about a month ago now. I got given some compost for them, but have since realised it hadn't been composted properly. I've had Foxgloves and other tomato plants springing up in the greenhouse. I pulled the Foxgloves, but thought 'why not?' of these new tomato plants. So as the 'proper' ones died back, the interlopers have taken over.
There seems to be 3 varieties, some relatively normal looking round ones:
A perfect truss of Cherry type:
And some small baby plum type, not pictured. I've been lucky with the weather I think, if Summer wasn't having it's current glorious final burst they wouldn't be so far on.
We will have moved house before some of the veg has fully matured so have pulled some to make use of it before we go. Carrots have been good, but the Parsnips look like they've been grown near Chernobyl. Sadly no pics as yet, but the main body of the thing had loads and loads of quite thick roots coming from all over it, quite like this:
Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
I've experimented with starting my toms off early which has pros and cons, they all seem to have come to a natural end from about a month ago now. I got given some compost for them, but have since realised it hadn't been composted properly. I've had Foxgloves and other tomato plants springing up in the greenhouse. I pulled the Foxgloves, but thought 'why not?' of these new tomato plants. So as the 'proper' ones died back, the interlopers have taken over.
There seems to be 3 varieties, some relatively normal looking round ones:
A perfect truss of Cherry type:
And some small baby plum type, not pictured. I've been lucky with the weather I think, if Summer wasn't having it's current glorious final burst they wouldn't be so far on.
We will have moved house before some of the veg has fully matured so have pulled some to make use of it before we go. Carrots have been good, but the Parsnips look like they've been grown near Chernobyl. Sadly no pics as yet, but the main body of the thing had loads and loads of quite thick roots coming from all over it, quite like this:
Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
Harry Flashman said:
One more met its end this morning, as it was digging a hole in my lawn.
Apologies for thread derail here - I have become slightly obsessed with the destructive little sods. Particularly as I want to plant bulbs soon, which they will probably treat as a winter food source...
Are they like wasps - when you kill one, the others all come over for a look...Apologies for thread derail here - I have become slightly obsessed with the destructive little sods. Particularly as I want to plant bulbs soon, which they will probably treat as a winter food source...
you might be increasing the number visiting your garden - though one assumes that there will come a point when you have removed the UK population
I have eaten squirrel in the past - looked a bit like road kill - but you can BBQ it - though not a lot of meat on the body (mainly fur!)
Harry Flashman said:
One more met its end this morning, as it was digging a hole in my lawn.
Apologies for thread derail here - I have become slightly obsessed with the destructive little sods. Particularly as I want to plant bulbs soon, which they will probably treat as a winter food source...
What I find they get up to is to relocate your bulbs into the lawn. I've had to relocate a few sprouting crocus back into beds when mowing the lawn.Apologies for thread derail here - I have become slightly obsessed with the destructive little sods. Particularly as I want to plant bulbs soon, which they will probably treat as a winter food source...
Evoluzione said:
We will have moved house before some of the veg has fully matured so have pulled some to make use of it before we go. Carrots have been good, but the Parsnips look like they've been grown near Chernobyl. Sadly no pics as yet, but the main body of the thing had loads and loads of quite thick roots coming from all over it, quite like this:
Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
Not celeriac??Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
Evoluzione said:
... the Parsnips look like they've been grown near Chernobyl. Sadly no pics as yet, but the main body of the thing had loads and loads of quite thick roots coming from all over it ...
My first attempt at growing parsnips too - never had the right soil until we moved last year. Did you grow them in situ? I gather they fork if you try to plant out indoor-raised seedlings or transplant from a cold frame, but they are a bugger to germinate outdoors otherwise. I tried the paper-towel way where you keep the seeds damp indoors on paper, check every day with a magnifying glass, and plant out in situ as soon as a rootlet appears. Haven't lifted any yet (first frost is recommended) so no idea what they look like.
Bill said:
Evoluzione said:
We will have moved house before some of the veg has fully matured so have pulled some to make use of it before we go. Carrots have been good, but the Parsnips look like they've been grown near Chernobyl. Sadly no pics as yet, but the main body of the thing had loads and loads of quite thick roots coming from all over it, quite like this:
Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
Not celeriac??Are they supposed to look like that? It certainly doesn't resemble a supermarket one, but maybe they've been trimmed?
Nimby said:
My first attempt at growing parsnips too - never had the right soil until we moved last year. Did you grow them in situ? I gather they fork if you try to plant out indoor-raised seedlings or transplant from a cold frame, but they are a bugger to germinate outdoors otherwise. I tried the paper-towel way where you keep the seeds damp indoors on paper, check every day with a magnifying glass, and plant out in situ as soon as a rootlet appears.
Haven't lifted any yet (first frost is recommended) so no idea what they look like.
Well they tasted like Parsnips! I sowed them straight into the ground on tape. I know it's a bit early, but don't have much choice, although I think i'm going to have to leave the sprouts behind for the new owners of the house.Haven't lifted any yet (first frost is recommended) so no idea what they look like.
I'll put a pic up of the next ones I pull, but I was expecting something sort of like a wide carrot like they are in the shops.
Since I was losing the plot with the start of lockdown. I took the opportunity to level the garden
My rough estimates was 5 days and 5k
The garden was never level and years of shrub growth and not being touched for 5 or more years, the garden was in a state. We went about cutting back and removing the self seeding plants and trees.
We had a friend over and we agreed to start
Sourcing bricks was tough as everything had shut shop. Luckily we got our hands on 9 pallets of bricks and blocks.
Anyway, we cracked on and was hoping for 5 days for the dig
Started well but then the rain hit and it didn't stop. It rained and rained. In the end 7 days was the dig time.
7 muck aways and we still weren't clear. We asked for the rest to be dumped in the middle and we would attempt to sieve it to save some money.
We sieved and moved many many tonnes of soil. Sieving had its own issues. Creating now tonnes of stones and clay waste.
14 cubic meters of cement was delivered to site only for the site level to fail. Luckily we sourced a spare just in time to correct 150mm of cement which had to be dug out and put further down the trench to correct the level.
The wall went up in 3 days.
12 weeks working all weekend and evening we conceded to get the final 2 muck aways. It was actually 3 by the time we were flat.
Having it now flat with a huge amount of rain, we found flooding/drainage issues.
I fitted a land drain in the end to aid drainage with a couple of tonnes of pea shingle and sharp sand
24 tonnes of top soil and within a week the wife and I shifted it all to the back garden
What an underestimation we made. Mammoth Job.
Now we are waiting for the grass to grow.
In the end. The highest point was 800mm from the level so thinking about it, it's a lot of mud to remove...
My rough estimates was 5 days and 5k
The garden was never level and years of shrub growth and not being touched for 5 or more years, the garden was in a state. We went about cutting back and removing the self seeding plants and trees.
We had a friend over and we agreed to start
Sourcing bricks was tough as everything had shut shop. Luckily we got our hands on 9 pallets of bricks and blocks.
Anyway, we cracked on and was hoping for 5 days for the dig
Started well but then the rain hit and it didn't stop. It rained and rained. In the end 7 days was the dig time.
7 muck aways and we still weren't clear. We asked for the rest to be dumped in the middle and we would attempt to sieve it to save some money.
We sieved and moved many many tonnes of soil. Sieving had its own issues. Creating now tonnes of stones and clay waste.
14 cubic meters of cement was delivered to site only for the site level to fail. Luckily we sourced a spare just in time to correct 150mm of cement which had to be dug out and put further down the trench to correct the level.
The wall went up in 3 days.
12 weeks working all weekend and evening we conceded to get the final 2 muck aways. It was actually 3 by the time we were flat.
Having it now flat with a huge amount of rain, we found flooding/drainage issues.
I fitted a land drain in the end to aid drainage with a couple of tonnes of pea shingle and sharp sand
24 tonnes of top soil and within a week the wife and I shifted it all to the back garden
What an underestimation we made. Mammoth Job.
Now we are waiting for the grass to grow.
In the end. The highest point was 800mm from the level so thinking about it, it's a lot of mud to remove...
Edited by Too Late on Wednesday 16th September 19:08
Cheers chaps
We have some tools like a large Howard rotavator and a huge soil sieve which we no longer need so will be sold. We might make £800 - £1,000 on selling both.
Glad it's over and I am sure when we have grass it will be great, but there were lots of talks, late at night, while shoveling mud into a sieve. Getting a barrow of top soil to every 2 barrows of stones was sole destroying. Hopefully the grass will take in a few weeks
ChocolateFrog said:
That's some effort, well done.
How much over your original 5k estimate were you?
Total spend was just shy of 14.6k. That is everything to materials, day rates, hire, tools, and even the grass seed.How much over your original 5k estimate were you?
We have some tools like a large Howard rotavator and a huge soil sieve which we no longer need so will be sold. We might make £800 - £1,000 on selling both.
Glad it's over and I am sure when we have grass it will be great, but there were lots of talks, late at night, while shoveling mud into a sieve. Getting a barrow of top soil to every 2 barrows of stones was sole destroying. Hopefully the grass will take in a few weeks
Good luck. I have shared this before, but it should give you some hope. Ours is only 100feet by 50 feet, and was a load of work! The garden still has a slight slpe away from the house - on reflection, I wish I had levelled it.
78 back garden by baconrashers, on Flickr
78 rear view by baconrashers, on Flickr
During
Untitled by baconrashers, on Flickr
After (and still a work in progress, but planting and shaping now, rather than landscaping)
20200609_150755 by baconrashers, on Flickr
78 back garden by baconrashers, on Flickr78 rear view by baconrashers, on FlickrDuring
Untitled by baconrashers, on FlickrAfter (and still a work in progress, but planting and shaping now, rather than landscaping)
20200609_150755 by baconrashers, on FlickrHarry Flashman said:
I have posted this elsewhere, but squirrels have been ripping my carefully curated garden to shreds.
Being a mature type of chap, I have taken a reasoned and proportionate response to this, and am using the right tool for the job.
IMG_20200907_170055 by baconrashers, on Flickr
Shot 7 in 3 days. None have returned in a week.
TosserBeing a mature type of chap, I have taken a reasoned and proportionate response to this, and am using the right tool for the job.
IMG_20200907_170055 by baconrashers, on FlickrShot 7 in 3 days. None have returned in a week.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff