The gooseberry is thriving but hasn't produced fruit this year (too late in the ground, perhaps).
The runner beans are finally thriving and racing up sticks. There must be about 2 doz which are in the race.
The cabbages are growing nicely, as are the Brussels sprouts. The caulis are only recently planted and were weedy specimens but 5 are picking up nicely and one...isn't.
The peas have had a growth spurt and I put pea sticks in tonight.
I have 94 onions from seed which aren't doing much; also 50 leeks from seed, some of which are growing and some of which ... seem slower (can't see down their deep holes).
Garlic is sprouting; like the onions and leeks, needs to move faster.
The beetroot didn't do anything but the seed was quite old.
The salad leaves and the Little Gem lettuce are doing nicely. The radishes came up but I think the slugs got most of 'em.
The courgettes are getting a little leafier.
The squash has only just gone in but it's the same size the courgettes were so the growth of the latter is evident.
The rhubarb is thriving after 2 years dumped in a plastic bag. No picking this year so that it is strong for next year.
Sowed a row of chard this week. Experimental.
All this jammed into a tiny plot about 10 ft x 15 ft.
Slugs (huge long mid-brown ones - shudder, shudder) are a real problem here. However as it's a new plot and my ground prep was thorough, I have disturbed eggs and extraneous foliage so have suffered considerably less damage than expected. Or maybe that's because it's been so very dry here. Need rain!!!
3 tomatoes all different varieties in a very large tub.
An aubergine/egg plant still in a pot on the window sill.
Capsicums (indoor) deceased.
Oh and some little strawberries in the herb garden. Four small ones so far. Very tasty.
Basil (2nd lot) now indoors.
Coriander (2nd lot) also died off.
Thyme and lemon balm and parsley all thriving.
Looking forward to getting my teeth round some of this stuff.
We've had an unusually cool spring, plus a few storms with very high winds and hail so the garden has taken a hit. i killed yet another purple basil! And most of my sunflowers broke in the wind. The rest of the herb garden is fine, even the caraway that is so tall and spindly. I don't know that we will have good tomatoes or peppers this year. We've protected them with pvc arches and plastic but they have not grown much due to the cold weather. Perhaps we will get an extended hot fall like we had a few years ago.
I know its been awhile since someone posted in the topic, but gardening is my thing! I love it.
We a rainy cold summer. My tomatoes mildewed, bell peppers are still 2 inches high, but my leek are doing wonderfully! Winter is setting in and am hopeful of a warmer summer next year!
All we had this year are volunteers--too busy---but we had 3 beautiful sunflowers the sprung up in the plot--and potaoes and tomatoes grew in the compost!! LOL
Kim, Tom can grow an amazing garden--however, I am the designated weeder--funny how that works.
Yeehaw, a fellow composter. Volunteers mean you did not use hybrids. Good thing. I save seed year after year. I pick flowers and just drop them on the ground and they come up year after year.
We have been composting for years. The only thing I don't like is the Fisher Cats love the compost. They used to come when we had it out behind the barn, but now we moved it to the garden area---they leave it alone. We have those black compost maker thingys.
Are you kidding? Tom's favorite topic--compost. Doesn't do much for me though.
Volunteers are just plants that came up on their own. At least that is what I call them. We usually have some--squash--tomatoes--potatoes.
The sunflowers were a joy though.
Wish I knew how to post a picture of the plot--very pretty area--lilacs and willows screen it and the soil is so rich--none of that red clay! LOL
The kids used to have a roadside stand--they did good with it--but again--mom did all the weeding.
Kimberly, I compost too and have done for years :) This year I'm having problems. Its my first year of composting since I've moved and I don't have enough grass to add to it, so it doesn't get as hot as it should. I don't like the shape of my new bin, it makes it too hard to reach the bottom to turn.
geisha, my compost bin is hidden by a trellis which in the next couple of years will be covered by ivy. I'm hoping my yards will look good come spring. I have tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, bluebells, crocus, lilies, irises and anemones planted in the front and back yards.
gc, you don't just need grass but any kind of vege waste. Prunings, kitchen stuff, whatever. Forsythia won't compost (I tried one year and it just rooted in the compost bin!). I don't use my grass clippings because of the dandelion fragments in it (they'll grow!).
This time of year is good for making leaf mold - stuff black bin liners with leaves, poke a few holes in the bin liner, and leave for a couple of years.
My Brussels sprouts are struggling on - the caterpillars got the main leaves, so there isn't much to provide nourishment for the little sprouts but they are still growing, slowly.
My Savoy cabbages are doing well. Leeks are also growing. One Kale is doing fine, the others also suffered from caterpillars and are even now less vigorous. My chard (perpetual spinach) is thriving and I am having to give it away. The runner beans are gone now, of course, perished with the first frost, and the browned pods are still hanging there with stock for next year :-)
I have acquired lots of apples which I have stored and hope to be able to keep for a few months.
gc, you don't just need grass but any kind of vege waste. Prunings, kitchen stuff, whatever. Forsythia won't compost (I tried one year and it just rooted in the compost bin!). I don't use my grass clippings because of the dandelion fragments in it (they'll grow!).
This time of year is good for making leaf mold - stuff black bin liners with leaves, poke a few holes in the bin liner, and leave for a couple of years.
My Brussels sprouts are struggling on - the caterpillars got the main leaves, so there isn't much to provide nourishment for the little sprouts but they are still growing, slowly.
My Savoy cabbages are doing well. Leeks are also growing. One Kale is doing fine, the others also suffered from caterpillars and are even now less vigorous. My chard (perpetual spinach) is thriving and I am having to give it away. The runner beans are gone now, of course, perished with the first frost, and the browned pods are still hanging there with stock for next year :-)
I have acquired lots of apples which I have stored and hope to be able to keep for a few months.
Still have to put the daffs and tulip bulbs in - should have been in at least a month ago.
I may be able to extend the vege garden a little for next year, having removed 4 leylandii from my "shrubbery" but I might plant other taller stuff there instead - screening from the road for my lawn, patio and kitchen.
Twinky, I've got the kitchen waste going into my bin, no problem. But I have so little grass going in that its not heating up like it should. So its taking much longer to break everything down than it should. :( As far as the prunings go, when I moved here the garden had two trees, one rose bush, one fuschia and way too many crocosmias. Nothing to prune.
I love the idea of leaf mold, and yes, I've got that going too. :)
It sounds like you have a nice veggie garden going on. I've got leak also, they did wonderfully this year. I have a couple of green onions (spring onions) left and chives. My broccoli leaves were eaten by catterpillars, my tomatoes had mold, my bell peppers refused to grow taller than 4 inches, my carrots and parsnips were stumps, but tasty and I only got a couple of beans off my bushes. But, I've got high hopes (sings about the ant) for next year.
I was watching the Gardener's World program for November and one of the gardeners said the best time to plant spring bulbs is in November. The reasoning was that if you planted them in september then there was a good chance that the bulbs would come up too early and the tips could freeze. Which is exactly what is going to happen to one pot of daffs I planted in September. I have 7 little tips showing in a pot and winter isn't here yet. :(
No allotment, just a garden that used to be a lawn. It measures about 10ft wide by 14 ft long and everything is crammed together.
Just removed 4 leylandii from the shrub border adjacent to the vege garden. They were mature trees with big root balls. I have filled the area they came from with hoss muck and garden compost and am letting it over-winter while I decide what to do with it. The shrub border (and hence the leylandii) provided a screen/eye distraction from the road, which is higher than my kitchen, so I feel a bit "obvious" now. But the extra space would be nice for a few additional veges next year.
Might put up a bit of trellis and train a clematis, jasmine, honeysuckle or similar up it. They don't take up much room and grow readily.
You can put all your garden prunings at this time of year, autumn tidy-up, into the compost bin. YOu may also wish to put a handful of lime in, from time to time; helps break down the compost. Remember to shovel some ordinary garden soil in, several inches of compostable material and a couple of inches of soil. The bacteria break the compostable material down. If I am gardening and find a lot of worms, I drop them in the compost bin too. The leaves from the crocosmias will go in the bin, as will the rose and fuschia prunings. Your stunted veges, too.
You can sign up for a weekly email from Gardeners' World and that contains a list of "to do" recommendations for the current week. Useful website.
You could try covering the daffs with a "blanket" of some sort to keep the frost off. A bit of carpet, an old sheepskin rug, scrunched up newspaper, a cardboard box. Must get my own daffs and tulips in pretty soon.
Thanks for the composting tips. The Daffs coming up really can't be covered since they are in pots with cold weather bloomers. One can be carried inside when it gets too cold, but the others in the stone planters :unsure: Live and learn.
My sweetpeas have sprouted! I think I might put in another set down for good measure, don't think you can have too many of those. And my spinach are sprouting too. I want to put in some beans also.
Don't know about your peas. Think you will have to treat them very tenderly and protect from frost.
As to beans, these are very frost susceptible and usually aren't planted out until about May. They may be started indoors a little earlier than that but really, even if you plant later straight outdoors, they catch up.
Spinach is good - a fresh green vege at this time of year. I have LOTS of chard ("perpetual spinach") which is growing faster than I eat it. I found a recipe for spinach soup the other day. Sounds weird but hey, why not try it at least once? But somehow it doesn't seem as appetising as pumpkin soup.
I have lots of tiny seedlings where the leylandii were removed. They would only be "weeds" so they can sprout all they like and I will just keep knocking them back (or the frost will). Get 'em before they constrict my desirables next year.
I've read that you can plant broad beans in the UK in November in the milder areas. Plymouth is pretty mild. I'll just have to watch the wind that blows up through our back yard. Time will tell all! :unsure:
The peas are sweetpeas. I usually plant them in Fall for a spring showing.
My husband was going to build a cloche for me since I don't have a greenhouse. We went to B&Q to look for materials and found a "sun tunnel" there. That's what I'm using to house my seedlings and cuttings through the winter. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Once you try the spinach soup, let me know how it tastes :) I have a recipe that I picked up from one of my favorite restaurants, Olive Garden, called Tuscan Garlic Chicken. It calls for 1/2 lb of whole leaf spinach. I cooked it for my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. She ate every bite! When I moved here she was hesitant to try my cooking as she likes "English food". This was one of the dinners that changed her mind about my non-English cooking. If you want the recipe let me know.
I've read that you can plant broad beans in the UK in November in the milder areas. Plymouth is pretty mild. I'll just have to watch the wind that blows up through our back yard. Time will tell all! :unsure:
The peas are sweetpeas. I usually plant them in Fall for a spring showing.
My husband was going to build a cloche for me since I don't have a greenhouse. We went to B&Q to look for materials and found a "sun tunnel" there. That's what I'm using to house my seedlings and cuttings through the winter. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Once you try the spinach soup, let me know how it tastes :) I have a recipe that I picked up from one of my favorite restaurants, Olive Garden, called Tuscan Garlic Chicken. It calls for 1/2 lb of whole leaf spinach. I cooked it for my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. She ate every bite! When I moved here she was hesitant to try my cooking as she likes "English food". This was one of the dinners that changed her mind about my non-English cooking. If you want the recipe let me know.
gc
Hi I just thought I would say hello I am new here to the cafe but I am an avid gardener. I am using a black bin for compost this year for the first time. I am not sure if I like it yet or not. it is hard to turn everything in it but I am hoping to have a full bin of good dirt in the spring.
I live in a warm state (US) so our daffodils bloom in January. They actually stand up to a good frost as long as it isn't sub zero Fareinhite
and I am getting ready to plant my winter spinach and cabbage and some lettuce.
Becasue we get lots of fog where we live I have found that the best beans for my area are any of the bush varieties... and they are definately a summer crop. IF you find your beans do good where you are thru the winter can you repost? I am always up for trying new vegetables.
Hey Leafytwiglet, welcome! I will let you know how the beans do :) Nice to have another gardener around.
what did you use for composting before the black bin?
Spring in January, sounds like home...no place like home, no place like home...
gc
Hai!!!
before the black bin we had it in a big pile but the chickens would just scratch it all over and make a big old mess. I tried to coral it a bit. and we were looking at building a compost bin but this one was so much cheaper than the built one I pounced on it and I will have to go get a second one to make it more viable. I need to go look as they should be on sale again with the end of the gardening season here. We have an acre so one bin really isn't enough.
With an acre you can have plenty of compost bins and a couple of wormories and some bags making leaf mold and not have to put up a screen! Must be nice. :) Do you have a large veggy patch?
NOT gigantic but pretty good sized it is Aprox 30 X 70 feet I have 6 4X8 Foot raised beds... TO protect all vegetables from a host of gophers and voles and moles.
They keep the majority out.
I also have black berries and baba berries (a respberry blackberry cross that will grow and fruit in our non frosting area) and two plum trees in there and three wine barrel halves with flowers in them.and the mulch pile so plenty of room.
I want to maybe add a little herb bed in there too. Maybe this spring.
Then I have a huge flower garden it is 50 X 100 Ft and I am working on getting some gopher resistent (as if there really are any) flowers and plants in there. The flower garden also has a nectarine tree and an apple tree in it.
WE also have other fruit trees scatered around the property.
TIP: GOPHERS LOVE DAISIES...
Other plants that will keep your gophers thriving and expanding their little colonies.
Pretty much any daisy variety.
Dahlias are gopher crack. They come from miiles away for these.
and english lavender But they will leave French and spanish lavender alone. Not sure why.
Also tasty treats for gophers: Gladiolas, Petunias, Cosmos, chrysantemums pansys and johnny jump ups. Oh yeah and chocolate mint?????? goofy little buggers
Things they will leave to eat until they are starving but will still mow down if given half a chance
Coreopsis, Sweet Williams, and Lots of bulb plants actually too numerous to mention.
Proven unedible to gophers
Daffodils, narcisus which goes with out saying.... Irises, pincushion flowers and periwinkle. mexican posies, morning glories, and holly hocks.
also agapanthis (Sp?) Digitalis, and of course gopher purge which is a singularly ugly plant and contrary to belief will not protect anything they just dig all around it eatting things next to it.
NOT gigantic but pretty good sized it is Aprox 30 X 70 feet I have 6 4X8 Foot raised beds... TO protect all vegetables from a host of gophers and voles and moles.
Then I have a huge flower garden it is 50 X 100 Ft and I am working on getting some gopher resistent (as if there really are any) flowers and plants in there. The flower garden also has a nectarine tree and an apple tree in it.
WE also have other fruit trees scatered around the property.
This concludes our study of Gopher husbandry
::Smirk::
30 X 70 is huge! :) My entire back yard is about 35 long X 24 wide which includes a side walk that runs the length and a washing line with concrete stand. The front yard grassy area is, hmmm maybe 8' X 10', then there is a pretty raised 2 tiered walled garden that my husband built.
When I moved here the back garden was all lawn with two smallish trees and a number of dead bushes. My husband is NOT a gardener. Now, we still have one of the smallish trees, a blackthorn, but we've added a young cherry tree. Since the yard slopes downward, I've begun tiering. I've gotten one stone wall built and am working on a second (the dirt is in place) :) I've put in a small border and started a fuschia hedge along the bottom end. Its small, but I've packed it with plants and pots and even managed an area for cuttings and seedlings. Its far from looking like a "pretty garden", but it now looks like a garden. One thing I'm delighted with, it takes no time at all to cut the grass!
I have no problem with wildlife. Besides magpies, crows and seagulls, very little wildlife visit here, yet. There wasn't much for them to get excited about in this yard. But I'm changing that.
30 X 70 is huge! :) My entire back yard is about 35 long X 24 wide which includes a side walk that runs the length and a washing line with concrete stand. The front yard grassy area is, hmmm maybe 8' X 10', then there is a pretty raised 2 tiered walled garden that my husband built.
When I moved here the back garden was all lawn with two smallish trees and a number of dead bushes. My husband is NOT a gardener. Now, we still have one of the smallish trees, a blackthorn, but we've added a young cherry tree. Since the yard slopes downward, I've begun tiering. I've gotten one stone wall built and am working on a second (the dirt is in place) :) I've put in a small border and started a fuschia hedge along the bottom end. Its small, but I've packed it with plants and pots and even managed an area for cuttings and seedlings. Its far from looking like a "pretty garden", but it now looks like a garden. One thing I'm delighted with, it takes no time at all to cut the grass!
I have no problem with wildlife. Besides magpies, crows and seagulls, very little wildlife visit here, yet. There wasn't much for them to get excited about in this yard. But I'm changing that.
gc
I love tiers... Our yard is flat as a pancake.
WHen we lived in the big city we had a tiny yard too. you could mow teh lawn in the front yard and back yard in 15 minutes tops with a push mower.
LOL
Now we have about 1/4 of an acre of just lawn. What I like the best about the acre yard is you are not on top of your neighbors any more so you don't have to listen to their music tv shows etc through the walls. We used to live in Silicon Valley.
I have some garden reorganisation to do before Spring. My back (only) garden comprises a long thin strip of land, concrete path on the right edge, lawn, then a narrow border on the left. I love cut flowers and want to widen the border, perhaps make it curvy, and put some nicer bushes and flowering plants in there. This part of the garden slopes up and away from the rear of the house and the expanse of lawn, being sloping, appears bigger than it is.
Behind that is a little row of rocks and the garden levels off and there is the "shrubbery" (currently being reduced in content) with the vege garden behind.
Some screens or eye-distraction devices half way up (where the garden levels off) could look nice but whatever is put there doesn't need to limit but to enhance the garden layout.
The upper part of the path needs re-laying (paving slabs uneven) which is my Autumn project but so far hasn't happened yet.
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kimberly
gc, black eyed peas are for luck and collard greens are for dollars. I plant enough collard greens the end of August to last us all winter long. Oh, honey everybody, I have maters and more maters.
kimberly
Bramble, so sorry about your garden. Our weather has been crazy too. This time of year we are accustomed to the feeling of a hot wet towel wrapped around the face when we are outside. But it has
kimberly
When referring to the herb garden I meant the annuals. I broke down and watered/fertilized the dill and basil. I am hoping for a comeback. The perinnial's (sp?)are forging on. Nothing seems to f
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Shellon
I applaud those of you that go this stuff, get out there every day and care and tend and love your plants.
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Twinky
The raspberries have given up.
The gooseberry is thriving but hasn't produced fruit this year (too late in the ground, perhaps).
The runner beans are finally thriving and racing up sticks. There must be about 2 doz which are in the race.
The cabbages are growing nicely, as are the Brussels sprouts. The caulis are only recently planted and were weedy specimens but 5 are picking up nicely and one...isn't.
The peas have had a growth spurt and I put pea sticks in tonight.
I have 94 onions from seed which aren't doing much; also 50 leeks from seed, some of which are growing and some of which ... seem slower (can't see down their deep holes).
Garlic is sprouting; like the onions and leeks, needs to move faster.
The beetroot didn't do anything but the seed was quite old.
The salad leaves and the Little Gem lettuce are doing nicely. The radishes came up but I think the slugs got most of 'em.
The courgettes are getting a little leafier.
The squash has only just gone in but it's the same size the courgettes were so the growth of the latter is evident.
The rhubarb is thriving after 2 years dumped in a plastic bag. No picking this year so that it is strong for next year.
Sowed a row of chard this week. Experimental.
All this jammed into a tiny plot about 10 ft x 15 ft.
Slugs (huge long mid-brown ones - shudder, shudder) are a real problem here. However as it's a new plot and my ground prep was thorough, I have disturbed eggs and extraneous foliage so have suffered considerably less damage than expected. Or maybe that's because it's been so very dry here. Need rain!!!
3 tomatoes all different varieties in a very large tub.
An aubergine/egg plant still in a pot on the window sill.
Capsicums (indoor) deceased.
Oh and some little strawberries in the herb garden. Four small ones so far. Very tasty.
Basil (2nd lot) now indoors.
Coriander (2nd lot) also died off.
Thyme and lemon balm and parsley all thriving.
Looking forward to getting my teeth round some of this stuff.
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Bramble
We've had an unusually cool spring, plus a few storms with very high winds and hail so the garden has taken a hit. i killed yet another purple basil! And most of my sunflowers broke in the wind. The rest of the herb garden is fine, even the caraway that is so tall and spindly. I don't know that we will have good tomatoes or peppers this year. We've protected them with pvc arches and plastic but they have not grown much due to the cold weather. Perhaps we will get an extended hot fall like we had a few years ago.
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gc
I know its been awhile since someone posted in the topic, but gardening is my thing! I love it.
We a rainy cold summer. My tomatoes mildewed, bell peppers are still 2 inches high, but my leek are doing wonderfully! Winter is setting in and am hopeful of a warmer summer next year!
gc :)
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geisha779
All we had this year are volunteers--too busy---but we had 3 beautiful sunflowers the sprung up in the plot--and potaoes and tomatoes grew in the compost!! LOL
Kim, Tom can grow an amazing garden--however, I am the designated weeder--funny how that works.
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kimberly
Yeehaw, a fellow composter. Volunteers mean you did not use hybrids. Good thing. I save seed year after year. I pick flowers and just drop them on the ground and they come up year after year.
Tell Farmer Tom I am proud of him.
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geisha779
We have been composting for years. The only thing I don't like is the Fisher Cats love the compost. They used to come when we had it out behind the barn, but now we moved it to the garden area---they leave it alone. We have those black compost maker thingys.
Are you kidding? Tom's favorite topic--compost. Doesn't do much for me though.
Volunteers are just plants that came up on their own. At least that is what I call them. We usually have some--squash--tomatoes--potatoes.
The sunflowers were a joy though.
Wish I knew how to post a picture of the plot--very pretty area--lilacs and willows screen it and the soil is so rich--none of that red clay! LOL
The kids used to have a roadside stand--they did good with it--but again--mom did all the weeding.
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gc
Kimberly, I compost too and have done for years :) This year I'm having problems. Its my first year of composting since I've moved and I don't have enough grass to add to it, so it doesn't get as hot as it should. I don't like the shape of my new bin, it makes it too hard to reach the bottom to turn.
geisha, my compost bin is hidden by a trellis which in the next couple of years will be covered by ivy. I'm hoping my yards will look good come spring. I have tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, bluebells, crocus, lilies, irises and anemones planted in the front and back yards.
gc
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Twinky
Oops, somehow a double post with the following.
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Twinky
gc, you don't just need grass but any kind of vege waste. Prunings, kitchen stuff, whatever. Forsythia won't compost (I tried one year and it just rooted in the compost bin!). I don't use my grass clippings because of the dandelion fragments in it (they'll grow!).
This time of year is good for making leaf mold - stuff black bin liners with leaves, poke a few holes in the bin liner, and leave for a couple of years.
My Brussels sprouts are struggling on - the caterpillars got the main leaves, so there isn't much to provide nourishment for the little sprouts but they are still growing, slowly.
My Savoy cabbages are doing well. Leeks are also growing. One Kale is doing fine, the others also suffered from caterpillars and are even now less vigorous. My chard (perpetual spinach) is thriving and I am having to give it away. The runner beans are gone now, of course, perished with the first frost, and the browned pods are still hanging there with stock for next year :-)
I have acquired lots of apples which I have stored and hope to be able to keep for a few months.
gc, you don't just need grass but any kind of vege waste. Prunings, kitchen stuff, whatever. Forsythia won't compost (I tried one year and it just rooted in the compost bin!). I don't use my grass clippings because of the dandelion fragments in it (they'll grow!).
This time of year is good for making leaf mold - stuff black bin liners with leaves, poke a few holes in the bin liner, and leave for a couple of years.
My Brussels sprouts are struggling on - the caterpillars got the main leaves, so there isn't much to provide nourishment for the little sprouts but they are still growing, slowly.
My Savoy cabbages are doing well. Leeks are also growing. One Kale is doing fine, the others also suffered from caterpillars and are even now less vigorous. My chard (perpetual spinach) is thriving and I am having to give it away. The runner beans are gone now, of course, perished with the first frost, and the browned pods are still hanging there with stock for next year :-)
I have acquired lots of apples which I have stored and hope to be able to keep for a few months.
Still have to put the daffs and tulip bulbs in - should have been in at least a month ago.
I may be able to extend the vege garden a little for next year, having removed 4 leylandii from my "shrubbery" but I might plant other taller stuff there instead - screening from the road for my lawn, patio and kitchen.
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gc
Twinky, I've got the kitchen waste going into my bin, no problem. But I have so little grass going in that its not heating up like it should. So its taking much longer to break everything down than it should. :( As far as the prunings go, when I moved here the garden had two trees, one rose bush, one fuschia and way too many crocosmias. Nothing to prune.
I love the idea of leaf mold, and yes, I've got that going too. :)
It sounds like you have a nice veggie garden going on. I've got leak also, they did wonderfully this year. I have a couple of green onions (spring onions) left and chives. My broccoli leaves were eaten by catterpillars, my tomatoes had mold, my bell peppers refused to grow taller than 4 inches, my carrots and parsnips were stumps, but tasty and I only got a couple of beans off my bushes. But, I've got high hopes (sings about the ant) for next year.
I was watching the Gardener's World program for November and one of the gardeners said the best time to plant spring bulbs is in November. The reasoning was that if you planted them in september then there was a good chance that the bulbs would come up too early and the tips could freeze. Which is exactly what is going to happen to one pot of daffs I planted in September. I have 7 little tips showing in a pot and winter isn't here yet. :(
Do you have an allotment?
gc
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Twinky
No allotment, just a garden that used to be a lawn. It measures about 10ft wide by 14 ft long and everything is crammed together.
Just removed 4 leylandii from the shrub border adjacent to the vege garden. They were mature trees with big root balls. I have filled the area they came from with hoss muck and garden compost and am letting it over-winter while I decide what to do with it. The shrub border (and hence the leylandii) provided a screen/eye distraction from the road, which is higher than my kitchen, so I feel a bit "obvious" now. But the extra space would be nice for a few additional veges next year.
Might put up a bit of trellis and train a clematis, jasmine, honeysuckle or similar up it. They don't take up much room and grow readily.
You can put all your garden prunings at this time of year, autumn tidy-up, into the compost bin. YOu may also wish to put a handful of lime in, from time to time; helps break down the compost. Remember to shovel some ordinary garden soil in, several inches of compostable material and a couple of inches of soil. The bacteria break the compostable material down. If I am gardening and find a lot of worms, I drop them in the compost bin too. The leaves from the crocosmias will go in the bin, as will the rose and fuschia prunings. Your stunted veges, too.
You can sign up for a weekly email from Gardeners' World and that contains a list of "to do" recommendations for the current week. Useful website.
You could try covering the daffs with a "blanket" of some sort to keep the frost off. A bit of carpet, an old sheepskin rug, scrunched up newspaper, a cardboard box. Must get my own daffs and tulips in pretty soon.
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gc
Thanks for the composting tips. The Daffs coming up really can't be covered since they are in pots with cold weather bloomers. One can be carried inside when it gets too cold, but the others in the stone planters :unsure: Live and learn.
My sweetpeas have sprouted! I think I might put in another set down for good measure, don't think you can have too many of those. And my spinach are sprouting too. I want to put in some beans also.
gc
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Twinky
Don't know about your peas. Think you will have to treat them very tenderly and protect from frost.
As to beans, these are very frost susceptible and usually aren't planted out until about May. They may be started indoors a little earlier than that but really, even if you plant later straight outdoors, they catch up.
Spinach is good - a fresh green vege at this time of year. I have LOTS of chard ("perpetual spinach") which is growing faster than I eat it. I found a recipe for spinach soup the other day. Sounds weird but hey, why not try it at least once? But somehow it doesn't seem as appetising as pumpkin soup.
I have lots of tiny seedlings where the leylandii were removed. They would only be "weeds" so they can sprout all they like and I will just keep knocking them back (or the frost will). Get 'em before they constrict my desirables next year.
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gc
I've read that you can plant broad beans in the UK in November in the milder areas. Plymouth is pretty mild. I'll just have to watch the wind that blows up through our back yard. Time will tell all! :unsure:
The peas are sweetpeas. I usually plant them in Fall for a spring showing.
My husband was going to build a cloche for me since I don't have a greenhouse. We went to B&Q to look for materials and found a "sun tunnel" there. That's what I'm using to house my seedlings and cuttings through the winter. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Once you try the spinach soup, let me know how it tastes :) I have a recipe that I picked up from one of my favorite restaurants, Olive Garden, called Tuscan Garlic Chicken. It calls for 1/2 lb of whole leaf spinach. I cooked it for my mother-in-law's birthday dinner. She ate every bite! When I moved here she was hesitant to try my cooking as she likes "English food". This was one of the dinners that changed her mind about my non-English cooking. If you want the recipe let me know.
gc
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leafytwiglet
Hi I just thought I would say hello I am new here to the cafe but I am an avid gardener. I am using a black bin for compost this year for the first time. I am not sure if I like it yet or not. it is hard to turn everything in it but I am hoping to have a full bin of good dirt in the spring.
I live in a warm state (US) so our daffodils bloom in January. They actually stand up to a good frost as long as it isn't sub zero Fareinhite
and I am getting ready to plant my winter spinach and cabbage and some lettuce.
Becasue we get lots of fog where we live I have found that the best beans for my area are any of the bush varieties... and they are definately a summer crop. IF you find your beans do good where you are thru the winter can you repost? I am always up for trying new vegetables.
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gc
Hey Leafytwiglet, welcome! I will let you know how the beans do :) Nice to have another gardener around.
what did you use for composting before the black bin?
Spring in January, sounds like home...no place like home, no place like home...
gc
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leafytwiglet
Hai!!!
before the black bin we had it in a big pile but the chickens would just scratch it all over and make a big old mess. I tried to coral it a bit. and we were looking at building a compost bin but this one was so much cheaper than the built one I pounced on it and I will have to go get a second one to make it more viable. I need to go look as they should be on sale again with the end of the gardening season here. We have an acre so one bin really isn't enough.
Good thing the eggs taste so good. LOL
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gc
With an acre you can have plenty of compost bins and a couple of wormories and some bags making leaf mold and not have to put up a screen! Must be nice. :) Do you have a large veggy patch?
gc
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leafytwiglet
NOT gigantic but pretty good sized it is Aprox 30 X 70 feet I have 6 4X8 Foot raised beds... TO protect all vegetables from a host of gophers and voles and moles.
They keep the majority out.
I also have black berries and baba berries (a respberry blackberry cross that will grow and fruit in our non frosting area) and two plum trees in there and three wine barrel halves with flowers in them.and the mulch pile so plenty of room.
I want to maybe add a little herb bed in there too. Maybe this spring.
Then I have a huge flower garden it is 50 X 100 Ft and I am working on getting some gopher resistent (as if there really are any) flowers and plants in there. The flower garden also has a nectarine tree and an apple tree in it.
WE also have other fruit trees scatered around the property.
TIP: GOPHERS LOVE DAISIES...
Other plants that will keep your gophers thriving and expanding their little colonies.
Pretty much any daisy variety.
Dahlias are gopher crack. They come from miiles away for these.
and english lavender But they will leave French and spanish lavender alone. Not sure why.
Also tasty treats for gophers: Gladiolas, Petunias, Cosmos, chrysantemums pansys and johnny jump ups. Oh yeah and chocolate mint?????? goofy little buggers
Things they will leave to eat until they are starving but will still mow down if given half a chance
Coreopsis, Sweet Williams, and Lots of bulb plants actually too numerous to mention.
Proven unedible to gophers
Daffodils, narcisus which goes with out saying.... Irises, pincushion flowers and periwinkle. mexican posies, morning glories, and holly hocks.
also agapanthis (Sp?) Digitalis, and of course gopher purge which is a singularly ugly plant and contrary to belief will not protect anything they just dig all around it eatting things next to it.
This concludes our study of Gopher husbandry
::Smirk::
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waysider
Gophers
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gc
30 X 70 is huge! :) My entire back yard is about 35 long X 24 wide which includes a side walk that runs the length and a washing line with concrete stand. The front yard grassy area is, hmmm maybe 8' X 10', then there is a pretty raised 2 tiered walled garden that my husband built.
When I moved here the back garden was all lawn with two smallish trees and a number of dead bushes. My husband is NOT a gardener. Now, we still have one of the smallish trees, a blackthorn, but we've added a young cherry tree. Since the yard slopes downward, I've begun tiering. I've gotten one stone wall built and am working on a second (the dirt is in place) :) I've put in a small border and started a fuschia hedge along the bottom end. Its small, but I've packed it with plants and pots and even managed an area for cuttings and seedlings. Its far from looking like a "pretty garden", but it now looks like a garden. One thing I'm delighted with, it takes no time at all to cut the grass!
I have no problem with wildlife. Besides magpies, crows and seagulls, very little wildlife visit here, yet. There wasn't much for them to get excited about in this yard. But I'm changing that.
gc
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leafytwiglet
I love tiers... Our yard is flat as a pancake.
WHen we lived in the big city we had a tiny yard too. you could mow teh lawn in the front yard and back yard in 15 minutes tops with a push mower.
LOL
Now we have about 1/4 of an acre of just lawn. What I like the best about the acre yard is you are not on top of your neighbors any more so you don't have to listen to their music tv shows etc through the walls. We used to live in Silicon Valley.
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Twinky
Gophers! Wow!
And I thought slugs were a problem.
I have some garden reorganisation to do before Spring. My back (only) garden comprises a long thin strip of land, concrete path on the right edge, lawn, then a narrow border on the left. I love cut flowers and want to widen the border, perhaps make it curvy, and put some nicer bushes and flowering plants in there. This part of the garden slopes up and away from the rear of the house and the expanse of lawn, being sloping, appears bigger than it is.
Behind that is a little row of rocks and the garden levels off and there is the "shrubbery" (currently being reduced in content) with the vege garden behind.
Some screens or eye-distraction devices half way up (where the garden levels off) could look nice but whatever is put there doesn't need to limit but to enhance the garden layout.
The upper part of the path needs re-laying (paving slabs uneven) which is my Autumn project but so far hasn't happened yet.
GC, I need your eyes on this!!
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