How does your garden grow?

[Clem H Fandango]

Invested in alpines before summer for the borders and by god its made a difference! Indestructible fuckers that don't need watering/maintenance constantly.

2 massive water butt's that would last a month with my requirements dried up 2 weeks ago. Tomatoes have gone mental but no sign yet of any ripening.

Next year tomatoes will be grown outside and cucumbers and melons will go on the greenhouse.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Saw a hummingbird moth in the garden today. It was flitting round a Buddleia that's growing out of a crack in some old patio paving. Been meaning to chop it down, but it can stay now.

 

Apparently the moths are quite rare.

[Captain Willard]

2 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

Saw a hummingbird moth in the garden today. It was flitting round a Buddleia that's growing out of a crack in some old patio paving. Been meaning to chop it down, but it can stay now.

 

Apparently the moths are quite rare.

Good spot. I saw one earlier this month. Not a great picture but the little shit wouldn’t stay still. 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

1 minute ago, Captain Willard said:

Good spot. I saw one earlier this month. Not a great picture but the little shit wouldn’t stay still. 

That's much better than the snap I grabbed with my phone. As you say, they don't exactly sit still.

 

Might try staking out the plant tomorrow evening with a better camera, in case he comes back.

[Champ]

On 10/08/2022 at 08:19, Babb'sBurstNad said:

My soil's very poor, so I've taken to accepting that certain smaller finicky things are going to die off in my garden in this heat. No point fighting a losing battle if this is going to be a yearly thing. It's made me focus on what I really want to keep.

 

The Acers, black Elder, Worplesdon - in short any shrub or tree that'll grow to a size to offer the beds a little shade.

 

Water butts (6) are almost empty though. Come on rain.

How did I miss this first time round…

 

…You said your soil’s very poor. In what way?

[Babb'sBurstNad]

12 minutes ago, Champ said:

How did I miss this first time round…

 

…You said your soil’s very poor. In what way?

The garden is situated on what was old heathland, so the soil (if you can call it that) is incredibly thin, sandy, and absolutely full of rocks.

 

Every time I empty the compost bin onto a patch I feel like I'm sending the worms off to die.

[Champ]

54 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

The garden is situated on what was old heathland, so the soil (if you can call it that) is incredibly thin, sandy, and absolutely full of rocks.

 

Every time I empty the compost bin onto a patch I feel like I'm sending the worms off to die.

Is your house nailed down all right?

 

Assuming your home is not in danger of falling down…you garden sounds like a bit of a challenge but on the bright side, maybe you don’t get many dandelions 

[Captain Willard]

It’s been a shit dry summer but I managed to get a few Dahlias to bloom on my allotment.  I’ve actually joined the local dahlia society which has made me feel very old. 

[Section_31]

On 03/08/2022 at 16:12, Section_31 said:

Any advice on  this?

 

Our apple tree toppled over, fat cunt had 180 apples on it despite being about 4ft. It uprooted itself basically, cut off from the roots briefly. I've put it back in the ground, trimmed it back and put a support thing in to keep it straight. Leaves are drying up and going brown now though. Is it dead or will it come back next summer or what?  

Been watering and feeding the motherfucker since this happened. The leaves are all dead but under the branch bark is green. Dead or just freaked out?

[Champ]

2 hours ago, Section_31 said:

Been watering and feeding the motherfucker since this happened. The leaves are all dead but under the branch bark is green. Dead or just freaked out?

See how it comes through the winter and then you’ll know.

Gardening is a long game

[easytoslip]

It doesn't I haven't got a garden unfortunately but every indoor plant I get dies I got me mums Yucca plant and thought thatll be OK as it doesn't need watering and after a few weeks it collapsed and the first verse on Love Lies Bleeding sprang mind. 

I don't know why it happens because indoor plants are great, maybe they are just meloncholy being in my vicinity, even the Cacti look pissed off. 

[Dave D]

12 hours ago, easytoslip said:

It doesn't I haven't got a garden unfortunately but every indoor plant I get dies I got me mums Yucca plant and thought thatll be OK as it doesn't need watering and after a few weeks it collapsed and the first verse on Love Lies Bleeding sprang mind. 

I don't know why it happens because indoor plants are great, maybe they are just meloncholy being in my vicinity, even the Cacti look pissed off. 

Made me chortle did that

[A Red]

Parts of my garden are an ongoing battlefield which the badgers are winning with the moles a close second and the rabbits, by sheer weight of numbers, continue to ruin the fucking place.

[Captain Willard]

15 minutes ago, A Red said:

Parts of my garden are an ongoing battlefield which the badgers are winning with the moles a close second and the rabbits, by sheer weight of numbers, continue to ruin the fucking place.

Get a little hunting dog, a terrier or a beagle. The smell of it will deter all other wildlife. I haven’t see a fox, cat or squirrel in my garden for years. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Get a few of these mothers

[Captain Willard]

I’ve taken to leaving work earlier and sitting on my allotment for 30 mins just to wind down before going home. I don’t do any gardening just sit and  enjoy watching nature come to the end of another day. Here are parakeets eating my neighbour’s sunflowers. 

[A Red]

2 hours ago, Captain Willard said:

Get a little hunting dog, a terrier or a beagle. The smell of it will deter all other wildlife. I haven’t see a fox, cat or squirrel in my garden for years. 

I've got a terrier cross and he's fucking useless. Foxes, cats or squirrels are more preferable than badgers, moles and rabbits.

[YorkshireRed]

2 hours ago, Captain Willard said:

Get a little hunting dog, a terrier or a beagle. The smell of it will deter all other wildlife. I haven’t see a fox, cat or squirrel in my garden for years. 

Buddy dog is only part Beagle. This explains why I’m regularly woken up by Foxes screaming the place down in our garden, while he remains in the land of nod on the sofa. The useless blighter.

[Captain Willard]

19 minutes ago, A Red said:

I've got a terrier cross and he's fucking useless. Foxes, cats or squirrels are more preferable than badgers, moles and rabbits.

Ha ha. That’s a thread right there, which species of British wildlife do you hate the most ? 

[Captain Willard]

46 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

Buddy dog is only part Beagle. This explains why I’m regularly woken up by Foxes screaming the place down in our garden, while he remains in the land of nod on the sofa. The useless blighter.

Ha ha. Our dogs bark the house down for anyone walking past or any wildlife sneaks into the garden but one of my son’s friends comes over so regularly the dogs ignore him now. He came over on Christmas Day. 

[Captain Willard]

53 minutes ago, YorkshireRed said:

Buddy dog is only part Beagle. This explains why I’m regularly woken up by Foxes screaming the place down in our garden, while he remains in the land of nod on the sofa. The useless blighter.

Sandy beagles. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

1 hour ago, Captain Willard said:

Ha ha. That’s a thread right there, which species of British wildlife do you hate the most ? 

Rats.

[Captain Willard]

1 hour ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Rats.

Very clever resourceful animals. I hate them but in theory they shouldn’t be so vilified. 

[cloggypop]

On 03/08/2022 at 17:12, Section_31 said:

Any advice on  this?

 

Our apple tree toppled over, fat cunt had 180 apples on it despite being about 4ft. It uprooted itself basically, cut off from the roots briefly. I've put it back in the ground, trimmed it back and put a support thing in to keep it straight. Leaves are drying up and going brown now though. Is it dead or will it come back next summer or what?  

Maybe pick the apples

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

14 minutes ago, Captain Willard said:

Very clever resourceful animals. I hate them but in theory they shouldn’t be so vilified. 

They are but they give me chills, my daughter had a pet one.