How does your garden grow?

[TheHowieLama]

You built the shed last year didn't you?

Get a solar panel, a few oscillating fans and a couple rain barrels on premises. Then a bicycle to retrieve ice and lager.

 

Downsizing - smart.

[Paulie Dangerously]

[Redder Lurtz]

Chilli seedlings repotted. Hopefully the fun begins now. 

[Chip Butty]

Who’d of thought one man, could love a cucumber, so much. 

[Captain Willard]

2 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

You built the shed last year didn't you?

Get a solar panel, a few oscillating fans and a couple rain barrels on premises. Then a bicycle to retrieve ice and lager.

 

Downsizing - smart.

It’s a little space that’s just mine. I share a house with 4 and sometimes 7 other people so it’s nice to have a tiny plot to hide away on. 

[A Red]

The good news is the moles have fucked off for the summer, god knows where they go, but have been replaced by about 3000 rabbits. We can sit in the house and watch them sunbathing whilst the cats wander past them, they're only interested in the baby ones the lazy twats.

 

In a few years I will have shifted every bit of top soil in the garden from the mole hills to fill in the rabbit holes. 

[Dave D]

19 hours ago, Captain Willard said:

My allotment is coming along nicely in this weather. However it’s becoming less popular as a hobby and the number of empty plots is increasing. I haven’t had a neighbour for years now. 

 

This made me curious so I emailed the local allotment site near me yesterday evening- they replied straight back (which was surprising given it was about 10pm) informing me there was an 18month waiting list.

 

I have no intention of having one- the lady even invited me down this Saturday to fill out a form to go on "the list"

 

I might go    

[YorkshireRed]

My eldest starts at Keele University in September.
 

Apparently the students can apply for an allotment on campus, so they can grow their own food.

 

I’ve encouraged him vociferously to do this. Anything that saves me money is fine by me. 
 

No doubt this will come back to bite me when he uses it to grow cannabis, gets arrested, and I have to pay his legal bills. 

[Captain Willard]

3 hours ago, Dave D said:

 

This made me curious so I emailed the local allotment site near me yesterday evening- they replied straight back (which was surprising given it was about 10pm) informing me there was an 18month waiting list.

 

I have no intention of having one- the lady even invited me down this Saturday to fill out a form to go on "the list"

 

I might go    

It's worth being on the list. The plots turnover quite quickly as people give up. The thing is nature is remorselessly unrelenting so if you don't regularly maintain your plot it gets covered in weeds very quickly. A common occurrence is a new person takes over a very overgrown plot, works like crazy for 2 weekends to clear the weeds and assorted shit that has been dumped there, plants a few things then neglects it for weeks because they are now exhausted and sick of gardening. The weeds just bide their time and come straight back, the new person revisits their plot after say 2 months of absence, sees all their hard work has been undone, loses heart and gives up. I see this pattern every year. You need to go every few days if only for 5 minutes to keep the fucking weeds under control. 

[Dave D]

2 hours ago, Captain Willard said:

It's worth being on the list. The plots turnover quite quickly as people give up. The thing is nature is remorselessly unrelenting so if you don't regularly maintain your plot it gets covered in weeds very quickly. A common occurrence is a new person takes over a very overgrown plot, works like crazy for 2 weekends to clear the weeds and assorted shit that has been dumped there, plants a few things then neglects it for weeks because they are now exhausted and sick of gardening. The weeds just bide their time and come straight back, the new person revisits their plot after say 2 months of absence, sees all their hard work has been undone, loses heart and gives up. I see this pattern every year. You need to go every few days if only for 5 minutes to keep the fucking weeds under control. 

 

Who provides the water- I assume the allotment people? Must have to go every day in this heat 

[Captain Willard]

4 minutes ago, Dave D said:

 

Who provides the water- I assume the allotment people? Must have to go every day in this heat 

There are taps about every 6 plots. Appropriate allotment tap etiquette is a thread all of its own. 

[Captain Willard]

11 hours ago, YorkshireRed said:

My eldest starts at Keele University in September.
 

Apparently the students can apply for an allotment on campus, so they can grow their own food.

 

I’ve encouraged him vociferously to do this. Anything that saves me money is fine by me. 
 

No doubt this will come back to bite me when he uses it to grow cannabis, gets arrested, and I have to pay his legal bills. 

Tell him to grow flowers, goes down very well with the opposite sex. 

[Champ]

6 minutes ago, Captain Willard said:

Tell him to grow flowers, goes down very well with the opposite sex. 

A few assumptions there, Captain *winky smiley emoji 

[Captain Willard]

14 minutes ago, Champ said:

A few assumptions there, Captain *winky smiley emoji 

In my experience, women like men who like flowers. Probably too small a sample though. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

7 hours ago, Dave D said:

 

Who provides the water- I assume the allotment people? Must have to go every day in this heat 

 

7 hours ago, Captain Willard said:

There are taps about every 6 plots. Appropriate allotment tap etiquette is a thread all of its own. 

Sir Mixalot offers some excellent advice on allotment water conservation.

[Karl_b]

21 hours ago, YorkshireRed said:

My eldest starts at Keele University in September.
 

Apparently the students can apply for an allotment on campus, so they can grow their own food.

 

I’ve encouraged him vociferously to do this. Anything that saves me money is fine by me. 
 

No doubt this will come back to bite me when he uses it to grow cannabis, gets arrested, and I have to pay his legal bills. 

 

It's a lovely campus Keele, I've designed a couple of buildings there. It needs a bit of investment in some of the 60s buildings but the grounds and landscape are a nice place to be. They have plans to improve a fair bit of the campus too, your son might see some of the benefits of that whilst he's there.

[YorkshireRed]

13 minutes ago, Karl_b said:

 

It's a lovely campus Keele, I've designed a couple of buildings there. It needs a bit of investment in some of the 60s buildings but the grounds and landscape are a nice place to be. They have plans to improve a fair bit of the campus too, your son might see some of the benefits of that whilst he's there.

I went with him last Friday for a look around.
 

The grounds and landscape were very nice. You’re right about some of the older  buildings but none of it was too bad. 

 

All the newer ones seem the business, so thanks and good job. 
 

I just hope he settles. He’s a bit introverted, like his dad (although less than me) and a bit ‘away with the fairies’ (otherwise known as very creative) like his mum. He got sacked from his temporary job as a dinner lady yesterday for not being a team player. Spends too much time staring into space, rather than dishing out vegetables. 
 

He could do amazing things could my eldest, but there might be bumps along the road. 
 

Keele does seem like a nice, inclusive, environment though. Better than the shit hole I went to a thousand years ago. 

[Captain Willard]

2 hours ago, YorkshireRed said:

I went with him last Friday for a look around.
 

The grounds and landscape were very nice. You’re right about some of the older  buildings but none of it was too bad. 

 

All the newer ones seem the business, so thanks and good job. 
 

I just hope he settles. He’s a bit introverted, like his dad (although less than me) and a bit ‘away with the fairies’ (otherwise known as very creative) like his mum. He got sacked from his temporary job as a dinner lady yesterday for not being a team player. Spends too much time staring into space, rather than dishing out vegetables. 
 

He could do amazing things could my eldest, but there might be bumps along the road. 
 

Keele does seem like a nice, inclusive, environment though. Better than the shit hole I went to a thousand years ago. 

On the positive side, being sacked as a dinner lady is  a good thread title, “ what’s the worst job you’ve ever been sacked from ? “ 

[Champ]

3 hours ago, YorkshireRed said:

I went with him last Friday for a look around.
 

The grounds and landscape were very nice. You’re right about some of the older  buildings but none of it was too bad. 

 

All the newer ones seem the business, so thanks and good job. 
 

I just hope he settles. He’s a bit introverted, like his dad (although less than me) and a bit ‘away with the fairies’ (otherwise known as very creative) like his mum. He got sacked from his temporary job as a dinner lady yesterday for not being a team player. Spends too much time staring into space, rather than dishing out vegetables. 
 

He could do amazing things could my eldest, but there might be bumps along the road. 
 

Keele does seem like a nice, inclusive, environment though. Better than the shit hole I went to a thousand years ago. 

Wishing him all the very best, mister.

 

I’m not sure I got it right with mine but they seem to get there in the end

[YorkshireRed]

7 minutes ago, Champ said:

Wishing him all the very best, mister.

 

I’m not sure I got it right with mine but they seem to get there in the end

Thanks and let’s hope so. I’m sure you did your best. Sometimes, that’s all we can do. 

[Captain Willard]

First dahlia of the year and it’s a cracker. I’m not at all religious so the idea that evolution has produced something as intricate and beautiful as this is an astonishing almost miraculous idea. If you garden you see a lot of everyday miracles. 
 

[elvis]

On 27/06/2023 at 20:38, Captain Willard said:

It’s a little space that’s just mine. I share a house with 4 and sometimes 7 other people so it’s nice to have a tiny plot to hide away on. 

I also have a little summer house/shed to hide away in , the wife gate crashed it yesterday with her wine drinking friends much to my horror. 

Ending up fucking off in my little DIY camper for the night. 

She says she wants a divorce. 

Fuck 'er

[Captain Willard]

1 hour ago, elvis said:

I also have a little summer house/shed to hide away in , the wife gate crashed it yesterday with her wine drinking friends much to my horror. 

Ending up fucking off in my little DIY camper for the night. 

She says she wants a divorce. 

Fuck 'er

Sounds grim. “My wife’s drunk friends” is a thread all its own. 

[nimrod]

Technically challenged Pic, but you get the scene.

[Captain Willard]

My allotment dahlias are coming along. I’m really pleased with the purple dinner plate one which is a new plant. I highly recommend growing dahlias.