The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.
Discussion
Crumpet said:
AC43 said:
Thanks. If you mean the one on my side of the fence it's a conifer of some type that was already here. Thatand the (decidous) hawthorn two along were the only things in the entire garden.
To the left of the hawthorn I've plugged one gap with a laurel. Between the hawthorn & conifer I've stuck in a large photintia. Amazingly heavy that was.
Over time the laurel & photinia will grow a lot larger.
That Photinia is pretty much what I need. I wanted a Magnoila Grandiflora but for decent sized one they’re rather pricey! I’ve just chopped down a massive Eucalyptus so have a gap to plug - although I did wonder about just letting the Eucalyptus regenerate and staying on top of it. It must’ve been 20m tall with a 12” trunk, all grown in seven years. To the left of the hawthorn I've plugged one gap with a laurel. Between the hawthorn & conifer I've stuck in a large photintia. Amazingly heavy that was.
Over time the laurel & photinia will grow a lot larger.
That photinia was 500-ish. It came abut 4m tall inc root ball. It looked spindly but weighed A LOT.
The laurel was a lot less.
All three grow vigouously with a nice big crown of flossy waxy leaves. In two years mine will have doubled.
After that it's just a caseon keeping them in check with regular loppping
Yesterday was one of our hottest days this year, so I decided to get my spade out, dig up the concreted in old washing line ground screw, dig a new hole and fit a new 2ft. long washing line ground screw into post-crete.
My garden is clay, so pretty solid at this time of year, but I was surprised how quickly I was able to dig a hole 35cm x 35cm x 45cm deep - then I hit heavy, solid grey clay, and it took me an hour to do the last 15cm needed!
You know what holes look like, so I won't bother with pics now....
I've another project starting today, building a "garden screen", measuring 3m wide X 1.6m tall. It will be home to climbing plants on horizontal stainless steel wires, within wooden uprights and concreted in. I've already used Curpinol slate grey wood stain on the pressure treated timber to suit the house exterior and patio furniture.
I will be mostly digging holes today .... A mate delivered a post digging spade yesterday afternoon, so it'll be easier to do.
It's a public holiday here - Luxembourg's national day - so I'm not to make too much noise whilst digging.
My garden is clay, so pretty solid at this time of year, but I was surprised how quickly I was able to dig a hole 35cm x 35cm x 45cm deep - then I hit heavy, solid grey clay, and it took me an hour to do the last 15cm needed!
You know what holes look like, so I won't bother with pics now....
I've another project starting today, building a "garden screen", measuring 3m wide X 1.6m tall. It will be home to climbing plants on horizontal stainless steel wires, within wooden uprights and concreted in. I've already used Curpinol slate grey wood stain on the pressure treated timber to suit the house exterior and patio furniture.
I will be mostly digging holes today .... A mate delivered a post digging spade yesterday afternoon, so it'll be easier to do.
It's a public holiday here - Luxembourg's national day - so I'm not to make too much noise whilst digging.
seiben said:
I know we're supposed to be looking at the gardens, but that is a beautiful house!
Thanks! It’s a weird house and is pretty from some angles but less so from others - currently trying to rectify that as we’re two years into a renovation (I’ve a build thread on here somewhere). My family has lived in it for a hundred years or so and all three generations of owners (me included) have managed to stamp our bodges on it! 
In 1940 it had a beautiful cottage garden....
But it seems my Grandad ripped it out in favour of low maintenance lawns. So I’m trying to put a bit back in, this border also being this weeks work.....(I’ve a feeling I’ve planted stuff a little close to each other but we’ll see. Gardening is new to me so it’s going to be trial and error!
I love that that is an ancestral home! it is really pretty.
For those of you following the Hotbin compost saga, this thing is mental. It eats waste at a ridiculous rate, the level of the pile sinking significantly each day. And it sits at above 60C constantly - I think the grass clippings and vegetable peelings are supercharging the process. I can't actually seem to slow it down, so am just mixing in plenty of cardboard/paper and wood chip to aerate it and stop it getting soggy. Delivery boxes are all being shredded and composted, and given how much we have delivered these days, that is a good thing.
Next problem - mini-pond is full of mosquito larvae. I have some mosquito dunks lying around, so have applied one. But is this an excuse to buy a goldfish and aeration pump? Pond sits right near an outdoor socket...
For those of you following the Hotbin compost saga, this thing is mental. It eats waste at a ridiculous rate, the level of the pile sinking significantly each day. And it sits at above 60C constantly - I think the grass clippings and vegetable peelings are supercharging the process. I can't actually seem to slow it down, so am just mixing in plenty of cardboard/paper and wood chip to aerate it and stop it getting soggy. Delivery boxes are all being shredded and composted, and given how much we have delivered these days, that is a good thing.
Next problem - mini-pond is full of mosquito larvae. I have some mosquito dunks lying around, so have applied one. But is this an excuse to buy a goldfish and aeration pump? Pond sits right near an outdoor socket...
Tiny - old wine barrel, with liner so just a foot deep.
I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
Harry Flashman said:
Tiny - old wine barrel, with liner so just a foot deep.
I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
Mossies will breed in any stagnant water. Options are to put something in to kill them (a film of oil or a few drops of detergent will both suffocate them) or put something in to eat them. I'd rather go for the latter. Goldfish will survive the summer in a foot of water but there's a good chance a hard winter will do them in. If you could bring them in for the winter that would work. I think personally I would try to get my hands on some sticklebacks. They're small, native, tough, interesting little things, and they devour insect larvae.I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
http://www.carpco.co.uk/sticklebacks-spine-small-p...
Harry Flashman said:
Tiny - old wine barrel, with liner so just a foot deep.
I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
Way too small for fish... I had some Mosquito Dunks left over from a job lot I bought in the US for chucking into next door's pond as it was stagnant and breeding mosquitoes whilst the house was neglected - new owners are doing lots of maintenance so haven't had to use them this year. So I have used one in the interim. Should really have chopped it up as a whole one for this mini-pond is overkill.
But would like a more permanent solution - fish/aeration etc.
However, a nice air stone/pump (perhaps with lights) will sort the issue and look nice.
Alternatively, a small solar powered fountain/etc. will create enough surface movement to prevent the problem.
ChocolateFrog said:
I picked one up a few weeks ago and same happened. It’s still sprouting new leaves though so assumed a combination of both. Had a notification last night that I’d won a water feature on eBay for £20. That I don’t recall bidding on. It was only a few minutes from work so picked it up this evening
I thought it’d probably end up shoved under a bush unused and binned in a few years. But then I found this water feature I had under a bush that I’ve had for probably twenty years and am thinking of fashioning something like this
Just need to find out some weather proof paint to spruce it all up. Not sure whether to go white or grey
ChocolateFrog said:
I've had the same issue with some Lavender that was shipped to me. Basically it had been in transit for to long. Lesson not to use people like Gardening Express or Bakker who ship from abroad. My best plants have come from small nursery eBay sellers, one of whom messaged me to cancel a shipment of salvias, with a photo, claiming that they were not in good enough condition to post. That is proper service - and as the plants are in stock, they arrive in days. Lesson learned.In the meantime, wildflower seed has started to come up. Not exactly a thick carpet of plants, and in one bed where I used too much seed the plants are stunted as they compete with each other too much. But some of the flowers coming througfh are lovely. Where I did not crowd the seed too much, plants are over a foot tall now from my May sowing.
These, whatever they are, are dominant at the moment.
IMG_20200624_095424 by baconrashers, on FlickrBut others are coming through.
IMG_20200624_095514 by baconrashers, on FlickrChocolateFrog said:
Acer? From memory they aren't keen on being repotted at this time of year, but if they are in a spot they like, they will thrive after an initial splutter. I took one from my sons garden last year and it's gone nuts this year, can only conclude it's happy where it is.I've been out this morning. Utterly knackered. Mowed all around the pond and the back. Back garden was just fence to fence lawn, and the lawn won't win any prizes as it's meadow turf. There wasn't a plant anywhere when we bought this house. Nobody had really bothered with doing anything other than mowing the grass.
I've been adding beds along the fence line and planted a few things along there. Bit of Fargesia bamboo for screening, a small cherry tree, a golden elm, wisteria etc, along with lots of border plants my Mother In Law gave me. I will add I've never gardened until we bought this place so it's all a learning curve.
Unsure what to do with the other side really as due to the trees it's always in shade. Tempting just to leave it as lawn. I've still got the stepping stones to go in down to the arch but far too hot today for that task.
After a brief post-spring lull it seems the garden is back to flourishing again. Lots going on both in terms of flowers and fruit:
New wildflowers in bloom (a project of mine is to find the species list soon, look them all up and then check off what we still have)
Some comfrey under the apple tree
The apple tree (well one of - my son has a patio one as well)
Not sure what this monster is - been here 8 years and I've never looked it up! I've always assumed it was an Achillea of some sort.
Himalayan honeysuckle
Campanulas
We have a lot of Genovese Basil growing - seeds donkeys years old that we sowed all of as we thought we wouldn't have much success! These are about half of them...
My son's first stab at growing potatoes. Going well so far. These were just some leftover commercial jobbies we chitted. Might try another container with some local cheshire potatoes we've got.
Our runner beans - again an old pack we decided to use up. Got 6 on the go.
A small punnet of strawberries (and some rasperberries for good measure). Getting about 1 small punnet every other day - normally away at this time of year so it's the first time in a while we've actually been able to enjoy them.
And lastly some spring onions, regrown from the cut ends. Started in water to get the roots going and then planted out.
New wildflowers in bloom (a project of mine is to find the species list soon, look them all up and then check off what we still have)
Some comfrey under the apple tree
The apple tree (well one of - my son has a patio one as well)
Not sure what this monster is - been here 8 years and I've never looked it up! I've always assumed it was an Achillea of some sort.
Himalayan honeysuckle
Campanulas
We have a lot of Genovese Basil growing - seeds donkeys years old that we sowed all of as we thought we wouldn't have much success! These are about half of them...
My son's first stab at growing potatoes. Going well so far. These were just some leftover commercial jobbies we chitted. Might try another container with some local cheshire potatoes we've got.
Our runner beans - again an old pack we decided to use up. Got 6 on the go.
A small punnet of strawberries (and some rasperberries for good measure). Getting about 1 small punnet every other day - normally away at this time of year so it's the first time in a while we've actually been able to enjoy them.
And lastly some spring onions, regrown from the cut ends. Started in water to get the roots going and then planted out.
Edited by Swervin_Mervin on Wednesday 24th June 23:43
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