How does your garden grow?

[SteamyTea]

18 minutes ago, Jilly said:

fruit and veg area.

Just plant fruit trees.

Preferably fruit you like.

15 minutes ago, Onoff said:

imagine that would keep the temperature up even through winter

Then put an A2AHP in it.

Move your inflatable spa, a sunbed (I can deliver that) and a massage table (can deliver that as well).

Then charge the locals to enjoy the facilities.

Put in a couple of webcams and @pocster will be entertained for hours.

[Jilly]

Yup, fruit is the way to go for beginners. How ever badly you neglect the plants, they usually manage to produce something tasty. 

[patp]

12 hours ago, Jilly said:

I've run out of money for the garden so was going to get loads of manure dumped to kill the grass and make a simple no dig fruit and veg area. I've done it previously with just straw bales which worked OK. 

That's an interesting solution. We have access to both of those resources. My only problem would be that the following year might be a difficult one? We are getting on in years and really don't want a lot of work. We are thinking of a wildflower garden which would mean the opposite to your solution. We would need poor soil which would mean disposing of our heap of topsoil. Seems such a waste  I suppose we could try a half and half solution by making one half wild flower meadow and the other a more productive area. Our garden wraps around the bungalow.

[Onoff]

Found these gardening gloves. Funny how different products share the same name, eh @pocster?

 

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, Onoff said:

Found these gardening gloves. Funny how different products share the same name, eh @pocster?

 

Oh what memories they bring back !

 

Do you remember the automated neutral analysis localiser I used on you ? ( for dumb asses that’s A.N.A.L ) 

[Onoff]

52 minutes ago, pocster said:

Oh what memories they bring back !

 

Do you remember the automated neutral analysis localiser I used on you ? ( for dumb asses that’s A.N.A.L ) 

 

No memory of that, it got wiped straight after.

[SteamyTea]

Did I leave those gloves in the box of bits I dropped off, the one with the long, temperature controlled, glass dildo.

[Pocster]

https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/16/oklahoma-lorry-full-of-dildos-and-lube-overturns-and-spills-its-load-17387874/?ito=article.mweb.share.top.email

[SteamyTea]

2 minutes ago, pocster said:

https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/16/oklahoma-lorry-full-of-dildos-and-lube-overturns-and-spills-its-load-17387874/?ito=article.mweb.share.top.email

Did the driver have a semi when he spilt his load, alone.

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, pocster said:

https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/16/oklahoma-lorry-full-of-dildos-and-lube-overturns-and-spills-its-load-17387874/?ito=article.mweb.share.top.email

 

How typical, stories like that are right up your street!

[markc]

Think the thread needs a name change

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, markc said:

Think the thread needs a name change

Must be because the growing season is over.

No seed spreading till spring.

[SteamyTea]

Environment

How to make leaf mould to nourish your garden

Autumn leaves provide a free and easy way to make leaf mould, a useful growing medium and soil improver, says Clare Wilson

14 September 2022

 

By Clare Wilson

Deborah Vernon/Alamy

WITH the dry summer the UK has had, some trees are already shedding their leaves. To me, that means one thing: leaf mould. This unappealingly named substance, made by collecting autumn leaves and letting them rot for a year or two, can be used as a growing medium and soil improver and is easier to make than garden compost.

Compost heaps are a great way to get rid of garden and kitchen waste, but they take work to build up and feed with the right mix of materials, and turning them over can be heavy going. Dry autumn leaves, though, can be collected in just a couple of hours.

As leaves turn brown in autumn, the tree is reabsorbing many of their nutrients. By the time they fall, they have a much higher carbon content relative to nitrogen than fresh leaves do. This means that autumn leaves can’t be broken down by the bacteria that feast on green garden waste, and are instead broken down by fungi.

Dry autumn leaves therefore take longer to rot than fresh leaves, which is why it isn’t a good idea to add them to compost bins in large quantities. But, once collected, you can more or less leave them to it.

If you have the space, you can build a small cage for storing the leaves, using chicken wire for the walls and a post at each corner. An easier option is to store them in black plastic bin bags.

Leaves from most deciduous trees are fine, but bigger and thicker ones, such as those from horse chestnuts, take longer to decompose. One solution is to shred them before bagging. If the leaves are lying on your lawn, run your lawnmower over them and tip the grass box straight into the bin bags. It doesn’t matter if some grass clippings are mixed in.

I have previously “harvested” leaves from the street, where they were conveniently swept into piles. But don’t take them from busy roads in case they harbour pollutants. Nor should you take leaves from forests – the woodland soil needs them more than you.

Fill the bags about three-quarters full and dampen the leaves with water if they are dry. Tie the top, then stab with a garden fork so air can get in. You can help the decomposition by shaking the bags a couple of times per year.

It takes a good two years for the contents to rot down into leaf mould, which is a dark-brown, crumbly and light-textured substance. Once sieved, it is good for sowing seeds in, unlike home-made garden compost, which would be too dense. For potting on young plants, mix one part leaf mould with one part garden compost and one part horticultural sand.

If you can’t wait so long, after one year you can use the partly rotted leaves as a general soil improver or an organic mulch, a substance used to cover the soil around the base of plants to reduce moisture loss and keep down weeds.

What you need

Black plastic bin bags

A garden fork

Storage space

Autumn leaves

Clare Wilson is a reporter at New Scientist and writes about everything life-science related. Her favourite place is her allotment @ClareWilsonMed

These articles are posted each week at newscientist.com/maker

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

Environment

How to make leaf mould to nourish your garden

Autumn leaves provide a free and easy way to make leaf mould, a useful growing medium and soil improver, says Clare Wilson

14 September 2022

 

By Clare Wilson

Deborah Vernon/Alamy

WITH the dry summer the UK has had, some trees are already shedding their leaves. To me, that means one thing: leaf mould. This unappealingly named substance, made by collecting autumn leaves and letting them rot for a year or two, can be used as a growing medium and soil improver and is easier to make than garden compost.

Compost heaps are a great way to get rid of garden and kitchen waste, but they take work to build up and feed with the right mix of materials, and turning them over can be heavy going. Dry autumn leaves, though, can be collected in just a couple of hours.

As leaves turn brown in autumn, the tree is reabsorbing many of their nutrients. By the time they fall, they have a much higher carbon content relative to nitrogen than fresh leaves do. This means that autumn leaves can’t be broken down by the bacteria that feast on green garden waste, and are instead broken down by fungi.

Dry autumn leaves therefore take longer to rot than fresh leaves, which is why it isn’t a good idea to add them to compost bins in large quantities. But, once collected, you can more or less leave them to it.

If you have the space, you can build a small cage for storing the leaves, using chicken wire for the walls and a post at each corner. An easier option is to store them in black plastic bin bags.

Leaves from most deciduous trees are fine, but bigger and thicker ones, such as those from horse chestnuts, take longer to decompose. One solution is to shred them before bagging. If the leaves are lying on your lawn, run your lawnmower over them and tip the grass box straight into the bin bags. It doesn’t matter if some grass clippings are mixed in.

I have previously “harvested” leaves from the street, where they were conveniently swept into piles. But don’t take them from busy roads in case they harbour pollutants. Nor should you take leaves from forests – the woodland soil needs them more than you.

Fill the bags about three-quarters full and dampen the leaves with water if they are dry. Tie the top, then stab with a garden fork so air can get in. You can help the decomposition by shaking the bags a couple of times per year.

It takes a good two years for the contents to rot down into leaf mould, which is a dark-brown, crumbly and light-textured substance. Once sieved, it is good for sowing seeds in, unlike home-made garden compost, which would be too dense. For potting on young plants, mix one part leaf mould with one part garden compost and one part horticultural sand.

If you can’t wait so long, after one year you can use the partly rotted leaves as a general soil improver or an organic mulch, a substance used to cover the soil around the base of plants to reduce moisture loss and keep down weeds.

What you need

Black plastic bin bags

A garden fork

Storage space

Autumn leaves

Clare Wilson is a reporter at New Scientist and writes about everything life-science related. Her favourite place is her allotment @ClareWilsonMed

These articles are posted each week at newscientist.com/maker

 

For BHers I'd say use bulk bags that materials came in. Fill with leaves, possibly stack up 2 high, and leave for 18 months-2 years.

 

It contains little nourishment, and is good for soil structure - which is why I'd guess the person quoted suggests mixing with compost.

[saveasteading]

I've just been reading about this. I'm not disagreeing with the article as such, but putting a different slant.

 

Woodland lives on very low nutrient levels provided by fungi breaking down leaves and fallen timber.

Adding any extra nutrient encourages alien plants and kills the woodland very quickly, then it takes 300 years to recover.

Taking leaf mould away from woodland is a bad thing.

 

Meanwhile, leaves similarly provide negligible nutrient to  a garden, as the trees have already sucked back the sugars etc.

The fibre isn't that useful either  but is better than throwing the leaves away, or burning them.

 

Leaves in woodland...leave them alone.

Leaves in garden: I have given up on leaf mould, and just add them to the compost, and they will be broken down by the spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[saveasteading]

The beans are poor, with insufficient pollination / too hot being the issues I think.  The tomatoes are mixed, but one is stunning. This confirms my strategy of having several varieties, one of more of which will do well according to the circumstances. These are all about 75mm and 4 already harvested.   And note the threaded rod for support.. recommended.

[Thedreamer]

Swede harvest time.

 

[saveasteading]

I'm pretty sure we used to call them turnips, until the posh and tasteless white ones became more available.

When Safeways arrived, it was a thing of wonder to see the exotic offerings such as peppers.

How are the haggae coming along to go with it?

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

How are the haggae coming along to go with it

Probably still attached to the nether regions of a ram.  When they are the colour of tartan, it is time to cut them off.

[Onoff]

Still picking runners here:

 

 

 

[SteamyTea]

1 minute ago, Onoff said:

Still picking runners here:

Just as well because the air lift from Thurrock won't start for a few more days.

Edited October 18, 2022 by SteamyTea

[Onoff]

6 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Just as well because the air lift from Thurrock won't start for a few more days.

 

The only good thing to come from Essex is the road back here.

 

(This from a man who only just found out his forebears are from Latchingdon!)

 

Anyway you can't eat white stilettos and fake tan. Or can you... 👅?

[patp]

Wildflowers will grow on good soil but they get smothered by grass and other plants that like it too. Yellow rattle is parasitic on grass so might be worth considering?

[Cpd]

Not been keeping up with the forum as I have been so busy all summer…. One of my long standing projects is the construction of my polly tunnel, 8 years ago I planted the wind brake and last year I excavated the site and this year I got the frames up, hopefully get the rest of the structure up In feb and plastic on in April. 

[Onoff]

50 bean seeds planted. 47 new seeds and 3 saved from last year. Rather than last years paper mache/compressed  cardboard pots, I've used compostable espresso cups I got given for nothing.

 

 

I just punched a single hole in the base. It's taken 13 days for the seedlings to appear as opposed to 9 days last year. Not helped by the cloudy and wet month we've had here along with some morning frosts still.