The compost heap - off topic thread

Jim_Hodge

fryup wrote: »

well in a raised bed amongst the veg i suppose vinegar with salt and washing up liquid?



yes, vinegar wouldn't be in the stratosphere as roundup...(or would it?)

Are you serious? A raised bed of veg and you'll spray salt, soap and vinegar?

Just weed the damned thing!

fryup

i'm too lazy

Jim_Hodge

fryup wrote: »

i'm too lazy

Then veg growing is not for you.

fryup

where can i get mexican feather grass? (i'm in the mid-west near Limerick)

Jim_Hodge

fryup wrote: »

where can i get mexican feather grass? (i'm in the mid-west near Limerick)

Future forests do them.

Bawnmore

We're having our garden levelled (was a mess in general) at the moment and have a layer of topsoil coming to top it today. We're in Connemara and the landscape is probably best described as bog.

We'll be looking at seeding for lawn next and the digger driver has suggested we use agri seed instead of lawn seed. The natural landscape is wild anyway, so we're not at all hung up on having perfect delicate lawn (dog and kids etc also) so are more interested in having a usable, tough garden that can put up with abuse.

Is the digger driver right here? Or should be looking specifically at lawn seed?

The Continental Op

WRONG!

Agri seed is for feeding stock its the wrong type of rye grass!

Get a lawn seed mix for a hard wearing lawn that will have dwarf rye grass in it.

Bawnmore

The Continental Op wrote: »

WRONG!

Agri seed is for feeding stock its the wrong type of rye grass!

Get a lawn seed mix for a hard wearing lawn that will have dwarf rye grass in it.

Glad I checked here now - thanks. So something like No. 2 or the multipurpose seed from here maybe - https://seeddirect.ie/lawn-seed.html ?

The Continental Op

That or the Multipurpose would be the sort of thing to use.

Bawnmore

Another question - picking stones out tonight and was planning to spread seed tomorrow. I had intended to pick up a seed spreader during the week but it never happened. Would I be better off waiting or should I be OK to spread it by hand? It's about 1/2 acre in total.

The Continental Op

Did it by hand for years but its a bit of a knack. Have to admit there were always a few spots with too much and too little but all worked out in the end.

Eventually got a cyclone spreader and that was much better.

Best thing I can say is try and sow from as many directions as you can and try and ignore previous passes. Divide seed up into two lots (can be more) and sow each lot at right angles to the other. If you have a lot of seed you can sometimes do 4 passes.

That said some people can get it just right in one pass - not me.

Then I used to brush the seed in with a broom. Just gently moving the broom enough to cover the seed, you may need to hold some of the weight of the broom, the main action is pulling the broom towards you a bit like raking out, while doing that you can flick thick clumps of seed into areas where there is too little.

looksee

Here's an odd thing, I wonder if anyone else has seen this happen. I planted a couple of slips from a spindle tree last August, and in due course this spring they produced buds then leaves and even a few flowers. They were pushed in the end of the raised veg bed and I wanted to pot them on out of the way, but when I carefully dug them up, expecting a little root ball there was nothing, not a single sign of anything resembling a root. I had taken them with a heel and planted them quite deep, but nothing at all suggesting a root. I know willow can do it up to a point, but I always regard willow as an exception.

I have put them into a pot and will leave them to see what happens.

Jim_Hodge

looksee wrote: »

Here's an odd thing, I wonder if anyone else has seen this happen. I planted a couple of slips from a spindle tree last August, and in due course this spring they produced buds then leaves and even a few flowers. They were pushed in the end of the raised veg bed and I wanted to pot them on out of the way, but when I carefully dug them up, expecting a little root ball there was nothing, not a single sign of anything resembling a root. I had taken them with a heel and planted them quite deep, but nothing at all suggesting a root. I know willow can do it up to a point, but I always regard willow as an exception.

I have put them into a pot and will leave them to see what happens.

I haven't done Spindle but I've had that with viburnum. Buds and leaves with no root. Ultimately they failed though.

New Home

I remember when my grandfather was coppicing, he used to pile all the tree trunks (esp. willows and robinia pseudoacacia) to let them dry out, usually in autumn/winter. The following spring, most trunks would have fresh shoots. He used to say that it would happen because the trees had been felled with a waxing moon, which had to be done because cutting and even pruning a tree with a waning moon would cause the sap to "stagnate" and if done three years in a row it would kill the tree.

I wonder could this be something similar?

CelticRambler

I've had it happen with roses - often the bits that I've pruned in the autumn and thrown in a heap somewhere with no intention of growing them on.

New Home

This was supposed to be a wedding cake, but I thought it'd fit better in here.

CelticRambler

Reckon I've earned at least two slices of that, this weekend.

New Home

I posted this in the "tomato" thread, but I don't know if anyone has seen it. Would anyone know what the cause could be? I checked carefully and I can see no red spider mites anywhere.

magicbastarder

is it a mildew?

New Home

It doesn't look like it, but I honestly don't know. The leaves start getting discoloured, then they shrivel and die. I'll see if I can get a pic of the actual tomato plant.

The Continental Op

TMV? Looks a little like Tomato Mosaic Virus to me? Now while there are specific symptoms the plants are often so weak they succumb to something else so you see more than one disease.

I was over checking out the weather forum, please don’t shoot me but I love hearing that rain is on it’s way early next week I can retire the watering can for a few days! :pac::pac: I do have a strange but positive outlook on life :pac: :pac: :cool:

CelticRambler

Not strictly gardening, but it is about grass, for which the number and length of threads about lawns and mowers on boards.ie suggests there's more than a passing obsession with that particular weed! :pac:

‘The Silicon Valley of turf’

Warning: contains references to soccer and other sports!

CelticRambler

One of my nephews sent me a link to this FarmBot device today, which looked pretty cool on a quick first pass. Thought it might help me out during some of my longer absences.

But my second thought was: "hang on a sec ... 'Take back control' - all you need is a permanent power source ... and an internet connection ... and a permanent water supply ... and a tablet/phone/computer ... and ... ... ... how much??? :eek: "

Yeah, right. Think I'll stick with the auld spade and a bucket for now. :pac:

Went on a farm walk to day of a local organic farm.

Came back and prepped a bed for sowing some seeds over the weekend.

New Home

CelticRambler wrote: »

One of my nephews sent me a link to this FarmBot device today, which looked pretty cool on a quick first pass. Thought it might help me out during some of my longer absences.

But my second thought was: "hang on a sec ... 'Take back control' - all you need is a permanent power source ... and an internet connection ... and a permanent water supply ... and a tablet/phone/computer ... and ... ... ... how much??? :eek: "

Yeah, right. Think I'll stick with the auld spade and a bucket for now. :pac:

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it take out most of the pleasure of gardening/growing your vegetables, too?

magicbastarder

when you want that industrially grown veg feel in your own allotment!

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't it take out most of the pleasure of gardening/growing your vegetables, too?

Yep. There's a lot to be said for getting your fingers dirty! Not to mention the satisfaction of seeing things come right when you've nursed them through all kinds of climatic insults. I can't imagine such a programmed, mechanised system would be much of a time- or labour-saving aid if the raised bed wasn't already well-protected from the elements.

looksee

Does it do weeding?

New Home

It looks like it does - it's shown pretty early in the video, it repeatedly stabs and drills into them - looks quite cruel, if you ask me.

It could be useful if someone wanted to grow a certain type of crop... for glaucoma, like.

CelticRambler

New Home wrote: »

It could be useful if someone wanted to grow a certain type of crop... for glaucoma, like.

It very much looks to me like the kind of setup that's destined for the not-a-gardener market - places like schools, where one enthusiastic teacher can have a great raised-bed programme, but it collapses as soon as they leave because no-one can be bothered to do the tedious stuff.

And I can see how it would be useful for growing masses and masses of bedding plants for later transplanting, something bordering on the "industrial" scale which I need to do but still haven't got organised (came close last year with marigolds, and this year with Swiss Giant pansies, but it's all very hit and miss)

But 6000€ for 18m² max? Ah, here ... :pac:

Bawnmore

Is there sweet spot for pressurized garden sprayers or am I storing them wrong maybe? I've bought a good few €10 - €30 sprayers and get a few uses out of them before the inevitably start leaking. I'm thinking that it might be something I'd doing as the failure rate just can't be this high.

looksee

Been there, done that, got a load of half usable sprayers. I eventually bought one that cost about 60 and while its a bit gimcrack and temperamental it has been used a few times now and is still working. Its a pain to fill though you can't just pour water into it, you have to pour in a bit then pump it down (I don't think it was like that originally), and of course if there is weedkiller in it it makes foam and you are faffing about waiting for the foam to settle. And the trigger is a mingy little thing that gradually slips to the off position and gives you cramp in y our fingers.

If someone comes up with a suggestion of one that works I would also be interested, don't need it very often, mostly for paths and drive, but one that works would be great.

fryup

got a very active wasp's nest behind the facia board😯

how much do rentokil and the like charge? ballpark figure

Bawnmore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117616138#Comment_117616138

Not just me then at least. Would happily take a recommendation also. Probably only used 2-3 times per year.

New Home

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117613742#Comment_117613742

Wash them thoroughly and let them soak in vinegar or some type of limescale remover or other - it's possibly a build-up of limescale, and if the water can't get out of one side, it'll find another way out.

New Home

You just reminded me of something, though. Those spray bottles (e.g. to treat fungus on roses): the sprayer itself gets stuck all the time, you've to press the trigger 5 or 6 times to get a measly spray out of it, then back to square one. I've at least three bottles (different brands) and they all have the same problem, then they leak from the opening where the "gun" part is attached. I only found out two days ago that to get them to work somewhat, I've to keep them at 45 degrees on their side - I guess the straw inside is too long, or something, and when they bottles are kept vertically they touch the base of the bottle forming a seal.

looksee

Has anyone noticed what an extraordinary lot of ladybirds there are around this year? And no aphids!

magicbastarder

not up our way anyway!

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118032894#Comment_118032894

Have seen good numbers of ladybirds about in the garden this year but not that many that I would call it extraordinary. Only significant aphids I have seen have been on some indoor peppers and cooking herbs where I suppose the ladybirds can't get to eat them.

looksee

We seem to have had a lot, you'd see half a dozen or more on a plant and them landing on you, and a few coming into the house. There was a ladybird plague a few years ago, literally swarms of them, but nothing on that scale, just a lot of them all around the place.

magicbastarder

anyone else catch 'the wild gardener' on BBC2 on friday? was a lovely watch; colin stafford johnson (himself the son of ireland's first telly gardener) decides to turn an acre his family owns in wicklow, into a wildlife haven. it's beautifully shot, as you might expect.

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118208787#Comment_118208787

Got to see most of the program and there was some very good photography in it alright. Nice idea as well to turn an area like that over to supporting wildlife.

Thanks for the heads up, is it a weekly show? Nice to have something to watch over the long winter months!

secman

Think its only a 2 parter program 🤔

magicbastarder

part 1 is repeated on BBC1 NI tonight at 10:35 AFAIK, in case you missed it.

Something else to keep us entertained over the next few weeks Monty has announced a few winter special episodes of Gardener’s World starting next Friday.

I’ve really enjoyed the Wildlife Gardener on BBC so far, thanks for the heads up! another 2 episodes left. There’s something very endearing about Colin Stafford Johnson, what a magical oasis he’s creating……!

magicbastarder

i think the wild gardener is only a two parter, both already aired?

I was checking the info on bbc and it said episode 2 of 4? He’s only gone as far as the end of year 1 yet I think it was meant to be a two year project. Hopefully we don’t have to wait till this time next year to see ‘year 2’! I’m looking forward to seeing how he manages his meadow after year 1 once the annuals have done their thing.

magicbastarder

you are correct! i'd read somewhere it was a two parter, that was wrong.