The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.

The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.

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Harry Flashman

Original Poster:

19,282 posts

241 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
So, we are all at home, for quite a while, in the growing season.

In the Flashman house, this also means both working parents are entertaining an energetic 18 month year old. For those of us lucky enough to have gardens, I suspect that being outside and working on the garden will become a welcome diversion and source of entertainment even for young children. Our daughter has been following me around whilst I do things to the lawn, plant things, weed etc.

I have become a keen but amateur gardener after we bought a house with a decent outside space, so am always happy to learn things.

Of course, I have also realised that I have left all sorts of lethal things all over the place, so priority one is a bit of a clear up and organisation mission.

But I thought that here, we could post what we are doing (and pictures), and tips/tricks and general things to plant. We can't go and buy things, and I am not sure how much ordering of garden stuff online will be possible as people are retasked to delivering essential items)

So my first job has been lawn stuff. I have already posted in the lawn thread, so won't duplicate. But here's a pic of the garden.

Things are happening, as this is a great time of year.

- Damson trees have bloomed. Crabapple seems to be just starting, apple trees are coming into bud.
- various bulbs I planted last winter have thrown up green leaves, hopefully in preparation for flowering
- everything evergreen is growing
- various plants have died over winter, so I know that those species don't like those location


Things to do
- plant some summer bulbs I have lying around, hoping that some will flower
- continue dealing with my patchy lawn
- prune some evergreen shrubs and trees
- sort out the giant patch of weeds to the left of the patio with some wildflower meadow seed (have covered it, but may just nuke it with gylphosate soon as I am impatient)
- sort out my garage, which is full of junk

These are weird days, as we work for a few hours, childmind for a few hours and try to do jobs round the house. My regular working day has disappeared as I work mostly with US markets, and so tend to now be online in the evenings. So I am going to religiously deal with daytime jobs around the house whilst our child has her 2 hour nap in the middle of the day. All ideas, resources and pictures appreciated. This should be like a PH garden diary!

Here's ours, this morning. I am hoping that the rather sad looking beds will start coming up nicely soon.

20200324_092817 by baconrashers, on Flickr


Edited by Harry Flashman on Friday 19th June 18:00

devnull

3,745 posts

156 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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Lovely looking garden.

I do wonder how you handle waste management? My garden looks about half the size as yours and generate a ton of cuttings, which the piddly green bin can't really deal with. Thinking of getting a chipper to mulch it all down a bit smaller. Im being inadvertently dragged into gardening just to keep on top of it all, not something I've normally had an interest in as an engineer!

Pheo

3,324 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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devnull said:
Lovely looking garden.

I do wonder how you handle waste management? My garden looks about half the size as yours and generate a ton of cuttings, which the piddly green bin can't really deal with. Thinking of getting a chipper to mulch it all down a bit smaller. Im being inadvertently dragged into gardening just to keep on top of it all, not something I've normally had an interest in as an engineer!
Uh, compost heap?

ATG

20,480 posts

271 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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My wife trained at Kew. I therefore get told what to do. Last weekend I was told to provide a heated seed tray in the greenhouse. This requires electricity so I've been digging a trench. I was due to collect my click-and-collect order from Screwfix today, but that plan is now looking a bit buggered, so trench is now nothing more than a trip hazard and power will be delivered by a semi-lethal extension cable arrangement.

Other recent gardening excitement: unloading 20 bags of horse manure and stacking 60 bags of pretend-peat compost.

On the horizon: (1) make more compost bays out of pallets. (Have recently found an infinite supply of pallets, which is very exciting.) (2) repair the st wood chipper. (3) Big treat. Cut grass.

Harry Flashman

Original Poster:

19,282 posts

241 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
Pheo said:
devnull said:
Lovely looking garden.

I do wonder how you handle waste management? My garden looks about half the size as yours and generate a ton of cuttings, which the piddly green bin can't really deal with. Thinking of getting a chipper to mulch it all down a bit smaller. Im being inadvertently dragged into gardening just to keep on top of it all, not something I've normally had an interest in as an engineer!
Uh, compost heap?
Good question (and observation).

When we first bought the house three years ago, it had been abandoned for nearly a decade, so the garden was heavily pruned back and skiploads of matter removed.

Since then, I have used a Robomow, which mulches. It is also totally useless due to relentless foxes digging holes, which act like a tank trap for the mower, and ripping up the perimeter wire. Foxes are a whole other topic for this thread as they cause a great deal of damage to my garden; mainly digging up plants/lawn and chewing through wires (so my low voltage lighting system is totally borked). I am hoping that a constant daytime presence will keep them out, but damned if I know what to do at night.

Anyway, I have decided to do a compost heap as we are luck to have the space, and I found an old compost bin hiding in a disused corner. I wa thinking of buying a hot compost bin as they work so much faster.

But composting, as I read, seems as much a faff as any other part of the gardening experience! You don't simply chuck stuff in and hope forthe best, apparently.

rfisher

5,024 posts

282 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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I kill all stuff that won't fit in the garden waste bin with fire.

Big and hot so there is very little smoke.

Started with a bit of diesel.

I have a fire pit dug for this purpose.


Swervin_Mervin

4,429 posts

237 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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We're going to have to learn how to compost very quickly. Our LA have stopped collecting green waste (helpfully after a week of everyone filling them up) and closed the tips.

So what's best/easiest? We have the space to have a "heap", or I've also got one of those massive blue food barrels lying around (well, stood up and full of rainwater at the moment) that could perhaps be modified and made use of.


jagnet

4,094 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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It really depends on how much space you can use for compost and how quickly you want it. The more space and time the easier it is since it'll all decompose of its own accord eventually.

The three bin method works well. One bin for fresh material, one composting, and one fully composted. If the bins are large enough to cope with a year's worth of material then they're pretty much fill and forget so long as you can shred the woody material first.

Harry Flashman

Original Poster:

19,282 posts

241 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
All tip[s appreciated.

I have a spare water butt that I am thinking or repurposing for some project. Too big for growing potatoes, so perhaps compost bin it is?

DBSV8

5,958 posts

237 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
never liked the high hedges we had when we bought the house and they have covenants so cant remove , so decided to cut back just above door mirror height suprising how much extra room this made ,
then as we have open fireplaces and use a fair bit of wood , I cut back the hedge and built a wood store inside it,

original with gravel drive



hedges cut with wood store






anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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I'm going to build a little interior two foot cruising fence to create some kind of quarantined safe zone for the little one. No dogs, viruses or danger allowed inside.

There are farms that sell seasonal plugs which are great for just whopping in the ground. I assume they will still be delivering. Good quick veg includes things like spinach and beans.

Probably going to take down a shed to two also. But it seems the local tips are shut so not sure if I'll have much opportunity to dispose.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 24th March 14:28

paulrockliffe

15,639 posts

226 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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Same position, my wife is working 05:30 until 2 and I'm working after that, so we have childcare for our two.

Had a big list of garden jobs to do that I was expecting to get sacked off until I've finished the loft, but made a start digging in a new flower bed with my helpers this morning.

Next job is turning a pile of sleepers into a fence/raised bed combo to stop the kids sprinting out into the street. I suspect i'll come unstuck at some point when it comes to getting hold of stuff to actually plant, but at least it's getting stuff done.

I've stopped bothering pandering to the Council and their ridiculous waste strategy; if you have a garden you pay extra for the green bin despite the Council Tax system taking that into account already. I bought a mulching mower and the lawn has never looked better. I have a chipper for dealing with prunings and anything else I'll just take to the tip or put in the main bin.

8-P

2,756 posts

259 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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Emptied my well matured compost heap on Sunday. That took longer than planned but, it does now mean itll be months before I have to go to the tip!

That and I have loads of free mulch/compost so various shrubs etc are well fed.

Jobs you can do:

Scarify lawn(soon but not just yet imho)
Edge lawn
Seed lawn
Feed lawn
Prune shrubs and hedges where required
Plant new stuff
De-stone borders
Dig beds
Improve beds
water stuff
feed stuff
Buy stuff online to grow - seeds, bulbs,plants
Buy a shed
Buy a green house
Build a compost heap

The list goes on

Watch gardeners world
Watch old gardeners worlds


XCP

16,875 posts

227 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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[quote=DBSV8] never liked the high hedges we had when we bought the house and they have covenants so cant remove , so decided to cut back just above door mirror height



Must be annoying when someone goes and dumps old bangers on your nice drive!







RichB

51,429 posts

283 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
jagnet said:
It really depends on how much space you can use for compost and how quickly you want it. The more space and time the easier it is since it'll all decompose of its own accord eventually.

The three bin method works well. One bin for fresh material, one composting, and one fully composted. If the bins are large enough to cope with a year's worth of material then they're pretty much fill and forget so long as you can shred the woody material first.
I built my own compost bins when we moved in 3 years ago, each is approx one cubic metre and we churn out finished compost about once or twice a year. As HF says though, it's not just a chuck it in and forget job, I also bought a sizeable petrol mulching machine (which I managed to bust last week) and a petrol tiller that I use to chop up all the prunings and stuff generated by the garden. It is a process in itself but I quite enjoy returning everything from the garden back into compost that is then used on the garden. It is also cost effective because a 1 x m2 bag of compost is probably about £100 and so far we've generated about 5 bin fulls from them.


Bill

52,472 posts

254 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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Already built some raised beds in the fruit cage. We've also had some tree taken down and crowns lifted, so had a big fire to clear the brush and today logged the branches and started building a round log pile.

At some point I'll get to the bank behind the pond that's had black plastic sheet over it for over a year! redface

Harry Flashman

Original Poster:

19,282 posts

241 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
RichB said:
I built my own compost bins when we moved in 3 years ago, each is approx one cubic metre and we churn out finished compost about once or twice a year. As HF says though, it's not just a chuck it in and forget job, I also bought a sizeable petrol mulching machine (which I managed to bust last week) and a petrol tiller that I use to chop up all the prunings and stuff generated by the garden. It is a process in itself but I quite enjoy returning everything from the garden back into compost that is then used on the garden. It is also cost effective because a 1 x m2 bag of compost is probably about £100 and so far we've generated about 5 bin fulls from them.

Rich - share your thoughts/instructions on the process? I notice three bins...

RichB

51,429 posts

283 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
Harry Flashman said:
RichB said:
I built my own compost bins when we moved in 3 years ago, each is approx one cubic metre and we churn out finished compost about once or twice a year. As HF says though, it's not just a chuck it in and forget job, I also bought a sizeable petrol mulching machine (which I managed to bust last week) and a petrol tiller that I use to chop up all the prunings and stuff generated by the garden. It is a process in itself but I quite enjoy returning everything from the garden back into compost that is then used on the garden. It is also cost effective because a 1 x m2 bag of compost is probably about £100 and so far we've generated about 5 bin fulls from them.

Rich - share your thoughts/instructions on the process? I notice three bins...
Hard to remember exactly but it was built mainly with treated timber all delivered by Travis Perkins, loads of long bits of 6x1 that I used to make the back, sides, dividers and fronts that slot in piece by piece. The supports are 4x4 fence posts and the rest bits of scrap pallet (they seem pretty indestructible). I didn't bother to sink the gate posts because the weight of it all is heavy enough to stop it going anywhere! I just drew it all out on paper and then got cutting and screwing it together.

Here's a photo without the fronts.



Bill

52,472 posts

254 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
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And we've acquiesced to my soon to be 10-y-o daughter's request for ducks. So we've borrowed an incubator and I need to renovate the chicken run. cry

XCP

16,875 posts

227 months

Tuesday 24th March 2020
quotequote all
Bill said:
And we've acquiesced to my soon to be 10-y-o daughter's request for ducks. So we've borrowed an incubator and I need to renovate the chicken run. cry
Ducks are great at getting rid of slugs and snails!