The zombie army COVID-19 Gardening thread.

[RichB]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

RichB said:

What a lovely project. Yes, hard work, but that looks terrific. Please keep posting pics as you do stuff.

The woodland walk is coming on nicely, I'm adding bits to it and will cut through some more of the forest of shrubs soon. Meanwhile the rhododendrons are putting on a stunning display of colour. We're so lucky to live in an acid soil area. Also I know you all love a compost bin, these must be the most floriferous

[RichB]

Working at the top of the garden today, lots of stuff to do around the greenhouse and I replanted an ironstone urn that forms a feature in the rose garden.

[CharlesdeGaulle]

That's a lovely garden RichB. Nice work.

[Alex L]

Had a few bags of compost delivered today..

Untitled by Alex L, on Flickr

[Sway]

Nice! Is that peat free?

Considering the last few weekends of digging out, riddling then shifting allotment compost from the defunct communal plot - I dream of nice, simple bagged stuff!

[Alex L]

Sway said:

Nice! Is that peat free?

Considering the last few weekends of digging out, riddling then shifting allotment compost from the defunct communal plot - I dream of nice, simple bagged stuff!

Pass, the other half ordered it but looks like it's just matured horse muck. Hopefully it'll last us a little while.

Came from these guys with quite a cool number plate

Untitled by Alex L, on Flickr

Edited by Alex L on Thursday 26th May 18:06

[Sway]

That's the perfect personalised plate!

It likely will be then. I think a lot of producers are replacing peat content with rotted manure.

Surprised you didn't get a bulk bag!

[Evoluzione]

Sway said:

Nice! Is that peat free?

Considering the last few weekends of digging out, riddling then shifting allotment compost from the defunct communal plot - I dream of nice, simple bagged stuff!

Sleep easy under your eco friendly halo though

I answered a free ad for some mulch and filled the whole van with it, right from floor to roof. Then got a load more free horse manure too. IIRC this is the perfect hot compost mix, it's just a shame it's come now and not Autumn as I'd like to try and heat the greenhouse with it.

I've been pondering over the processing of compost. Maybe i'll do some proper research into how it's professionally made, but the bagged stuff does come with big bits in it too of a varying degree. If you make your own you could consider putting the raw material through a mulcher before making the compost.
I wonder if the pros dry it after it's complete then put it through a mulcher or something to get it to a certain size or standard before bagging it.

[Sway]

Evoluzione said:

Sway said:

Nice! Is that peat free?

Considering the last few weekends of digging out, riddling then shifting allotment compost from the defunct communal plot - I dream of nice, simple bagged stuff!

Sleep easy under your eco friendly halo though

I answered a free ad for some mulch and filled the whole van with it, right from floor to roof. Then got a load more free horse manure too. IIRC this is the perfect hot compost mix, it's just a shame it's come now and not Autumn as I'd like to try and heat the greenhouse with it.

I've been pondering over the processing of compost. Maybe i'll do some proper research into how it's professionally made, but the bagged stuff does come with big bits in it too of a varying degree. If you make your own you could consider putting the raw material through a mulcher before making the compost.
I wonder if the pros dry it after it's complete then put it through a mulcher or something to get it to a certain size or standard before bagging it.

It's more the fact it's all free, and getting me major brownie points for clearing it - which I'm hoping very soon will lead me to get a proper 'full plot' plus a bit...

I got a load of 'free' mulch from the clearance of my front garden delivered to the site - this year it finished covering all my paths, plus some brown for the compost heap. Plus some more brownie points with some of the other plot holders (I really, really want this full plot!).

Was amazed at what came out of the pallet built bin we filled last spring and left all year. There's another now full, plus a grass bin the wardens keep topping up. Gonna mix it all together. Anything I riddle out gets thrown in the hedges!

[Alex L]

I'm not entirely sure why she bought 70 bags of the stuff when I have a trailer and my 2 neighbours both own a number of horses

[Evoluzione]

Alex L said:

I'm not entirely sure why she bought 70 bags of the stuff when I have a trailer and my 2 neighbours both own a number of horses

Probably doesn't realise. What is it, £5 per bag x 70? For something you can make at home for free and help save the environment.
Make some and show her. It isn't that difficult, a bit of research, Youtube whatever, find a way which suits you and crack on. Equal amounts of brown and green as it's known, choose a composter, or just lob it in a pile somewhere. Either turn it to make it quicker, or just leave it to do it's own thing for a year or so.

[Alex L]

Evoluzione said:

Probably doesn't realise. What is it, 5 per bag x 70? For something you can make at home for free and help save the environment.
Make some and show her. It isn't that difficult, a bit of research, Youtube whatever, find a way which suits you and crack on. Equal amounts of brown and green as it's known, choose a composter, or just lob it in a pile somewhere. Either turn it to make it quicker, or just leave it to do it's own thing for a year or so.

£399 delivered!! We’ve got the means and the space to make our own.

[otolith]

This has been a little ongoing project - thought I had already posted it but maybe not.

So there is this bottom corner of the garden. It’s under a lime tree and a yew, and there’s a little bit of paving there. It was basically a dumping area, unused and unloved, and because of the shade and dryness the grass was thin and poor.



So, having explained to a sceptical other half what I had in mind, I dug a trench round the perimeter, filled it with hardcore and smacked it down, and started constructing a pergola in the corner. That proved a pain in the arse, because the paving is on a slope. Got it reasonably square in the end, but I can still see where it’s out. Never mind.



Made up a frame for the water feature (later levelled it and cemented the gap underneath and marked out the path in spray paint.





Marked out and planted a load of spring bulbs



Put down some bark chippings, planted some shrubs, ferns, primroses.



Took delivery of 1000kg of slate. Made the “wall” round the edge, on top of the compacted hardcore.




Constructed the water feature and the path. Used slate chippings instead of stepping stones.









Gave up on B&Q ever getting more pergola beams in, made some that were close enough and painted it all.



SWMBO wanted some lights, so I obliged.

[Evoluzione]

Alex L said:

Evoluzione said:

Probably doesn't realise. What is it, 5 per bag x 70? For something you can make at home for free and help save the environment.
Make some and show her. It isn't that difficult, a bit of research, Youtube whatever, find a way which suits you and crack on. Equal amounts of brown and green as it's known, choose a composter, or just lob it in a pile somewhere. Either turn it to make it quicker, or just leave it to do it's own thing for a year or so.

399 delivered!! We’ve got the means and the space to make our own.

Do it, thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Harry Flashman]

Serious work going on here, people!

I am enjoying flowers.

[Evoluzione]

After pontificating with Skyedriver in the Greenhouse thread about Mother Nature, I came home to find all my runner beans had vanished:




Cocksucking bd wkstains!

Pheasant? Grouse? Slug? Out with the Trailcam to find it was a rabbit.

It clearly had a taste for them as the French beans and other stuff started vanishing the next day:





Put some fencing up and hope that's stopped it



You can also see a Pest squirter thing there, it didn't work. They probably can be made to work, the problems are:
It leaks at the top, water gets behind the PIR cover, it condensates and reduces the effectiveness.
The wind blows the water all over the place.
You can't go near the veg patch without triggering it, so you turn it off to do do some stuff. Then forget to turn it on again when done.

[Sway]

Otolith, that's a lovely job there! Given me some inspiration, so thanks!

Our back garden is awful. We've had some challenges with my other half's health, and all the focus has been on some heavy grunt work in both the front garden and Allotment. Really would like to find the time and cash to get it sorted into the lovely entertaining area it could be...

[otolith]

Sway said:

Otolith, that's a lovely job there! Given me some inspiration, so thanks!

Cheers! I'll extend the planting to the left once we've got rid of that horrible metal shed. We need the shrubs to get established and to figure out the right combination of shade loving herbaceous plants (foxgloves are doing well now). The spring bulbs were pretty good and will be nice next year. I obtained a few sticklebacks to keep the mossies from breeding in the water feature which seem to be doing the trick.

My OH is delighted with it, which is good because she was extremely sceptical when I started the project at her house - we've only been together about four years, and she hasn't really seen me make things before. I was quite amused that we had some of her old med school friends round when I was putting the pergola up, who seemed amazed at "middle class bloke able to use tools and things"

Sway said:

Our back garden is awful. We've had some challenges with my other half's health, and all the focus has been on some heavy grunt work in both the front garden and Allotment. Really would like to find the time and cash to get it sorted into the lovely entertaining area it could be...

Yeah, it's finding the time, especially in the winter when it's dark early. To be honest, I haven't kept track of how much it cost, probably not a good idea to calculate too accurately. Off the top of my head, I think I spend a couple of hundred quid on wood for the pergola and about 30 quid on wood stain. 50 for a pond pump, 30 for a liner & underlay. 220 for 1000kg of slate rockery stone. Then a few quid here and there on plants, probably more than I imagine if I add it up!

[Sway]

I've also been the subject of bemused looks when the office boy with soft hands isn't entirely useless wielding big tools!

Instead of sticklebacks, which will need some form of filtration and water changes to manage nitrates (although I'm pretty sure I recognise you from the aquarium thread - so sorry if teaching to suck eggs!) - check out a solar powered air pump/stone - if the water surface is moving/'broken' they can't survive as they can't breathe. Might have to run a remote solar panel to where it can get some sun.

[otolith]

Sway said:

I've also been the subject of bemused looks when the office boy with soft hands isn't entirely useless wielding big tools!

Instead of sticklebacks, which will need some form of filtration and water changes to manage nitrates (although I'm pretty sure I recognise you from the aquarium thread - so sorry if teaching to suck eggs!) - check out a solar powered air pump/stone - if the water surface is moving/'broken' they can't survive as they can't breathe. Might have to run a remote solar panel to where it can get some sun.

Yeah, it's got a mains powered Swell 1400 submersible pump running the waterfall, which I had hoped would create too much flow for the wrigglers, but the bloody things were there aplenty. There are inevitably dead spots in the design because of the rocks covering the liner up at the back, and they were accumulating in those. I still see a few, but most of them have been eaten.

The sticklebacks are about half a dozen wild caught fish, less than an inch in size and probably an inch and a half at maturity, negligible bioload in 285 litres of water. I'm not intending to feed them so there will be no nitrate input and there should be enough exposed surface area of rocks and liner in the waterfall and pond to handle their ammonia. They're tough little buggers, and likely to breed, but shouldn't overpopulate.