The Garden Shed

[NaokoSmith]

While I care about environmental stuff, I usually only practice 'greenie' methods when they benefit me. I've got a couple of small garden plots in my small yard, and I am awesome at growing armies of slugs to eat my green leafy goodies, but I do try fairly hard to get this stuff to turn out favorable for me.
...
The bigger benefit is that I now make some massively healthy food for my pants that somehow out-pace the herds of slugs that never go away.... The only downside is that this method takes at least half of a year for you to get good compost, but it's totally worth it.

I'm definitely going to start composting. Here we can put all our garden waste in a green bin and the local authority gladly hauls it away to use themselves for compost. I've had to wave goodbye to two whole bins of lovely grass rakings and mowings already! when I have this poor soil in my vegetable patch because it's underneath trees (yes yes, I should not put it there, but it's the only place for a vegetable patch). I already identified a good space behind the shed where I can tidily tuck away a couple of compost bins.

My local authority used to offer cut price compost bins, to encourage us to be green. I'm just waiting till I get a car then I can finally go and get one, if they are still available *legs ... I mean fingers crossed*.

Thanks for all the great tips!

 

[NaokoSmith]

I'd advise figuring out what to do with your garden the same way, more or less, you find a good hairdresser. Walk around the neighbourhood until you find a garden you like. Ask that person for help and keep your fingers crossed they aren't the curmudgeonly sort.

I have a very unusual garden for the neighbourhood. Mine is much bigger than anyone-else's, even though my new home is very small, just a flat really. All the other gardens have a small but perfect lawn mowed in Wembley stripes with one well behaved tree in the middle - and no untidy fallen leaves! I'm the only one in the neighbourhood with a shed!!

However everyone walks past my garden as it's right by the park, and gives me advice over the very low wall around it.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I'm jealous of your lovely garden, Naoko. Here in California we are in the midst of a horrible drought, I think this is our fifth year. We don't water our lawn anymore. It's just weeds now, anyway, and we keep it cut short, that's about all we can do. I do water the roses, and some flowers in the flower beds and a few pots, but that's all. Seriously considering having the front yard xeriscaped, but my husband isn't yet convinced that's the way to go.

Sympathy!

Here there is so much rain (as HP's recent posts testify), that we export water, LOL. No no, we do pipe it over the border to England! and when they have hosepipe bans, we laugh as we put our umbrellas up. Last year, we officially became the wettest city in the country!
(no umbrella emoticon! )

 

[NaokoSmith]

If you want to discourage neighborhood pets from entering, planting alliums (ornamental onions) or marigolds will both help that. Edible onions are also a possibility if you like to eat them.

Thank you for all the tips about flowers to plant! I will come back when I have dug out the flower bed.


I think the main pest here is going to be the squirrels, although like CaesarBoobage, I used to suffer terribly from slugs. I've hardly seen one since I got to this new place, to my great pleasure. They used to even come in on the bottles of milk in the morning.

My main weapon against the squirrels is going to be my pussy . The cats are already watching them closely. (The marmalade man at the weekly farmers' market has a recipe for squirrel too!)

 

[NaokoSmith]

There is over here a product (originating from Skandinavia, I think) called SADOLIN.
See HERE.

That sounds great! as soon as I get a clear day ... and time to do the lawn again, which I must do before it gets too long again, and the other bit of lawn, and plant some things which the birds will eat , I'll turn my attention to the shed *puff pant*.

Oh dear, I was hoping to tell my story about the rake! I'm coming back soon, Ogg. I was a bit poorly, so I couldn't get out into the garden. Also I have signed up for a course with the Noble Institution of Learning where I teach. I love being a student instead of a teacher, I behave very badly and say lots of smarty-pants things that make the other students giggle, but it's not my problem because the teacher is supposed to keep control.

I've been good on this course though :angelemoticon:. I mean, I went in the Welcome thread where you are meant to say Hullo, and in the post above was a nervous student saying how nervous they are and the tutor had said he would be gentle with them. I had great difficulty restraining myself from posting to say Would he be gentle with me too, please. But I managed to sit on my hands and not do it!

 

[glynndah]

That sounds great! as soon as I get a clear day ... and time to do the lawn again, which I must do before it gets too long again, and the other bit of lawn, and plant some things which the birds will eat , I'll turn my attention to the shed *puff pant*.

Oh dear, I was hoping to tell my story about the rake! I'm coming back soon, Ogg. I was a bit poorly, so I couldn't get out into the garden. Also I have signed up for a course with the Noble Institution of Learning where I teach. I love being a student instead of a teacher, I behave very badly and say lots of smarty-pants things that make the other students giggle, but it's not my problem because the teacher is supposed to keep control.

I've been good on this course though :angelemoticon:. I mean, I went in the Welcome thread where you are meant to say Hullo, and in the post above was a nervous student saying how nervous they are and the tutor had said he would be gentle with them. I had great difficulty restraining myself from posting to say Would he be gentle with me too, please. But I managed to sit on my hands and not do it!

I can just picture the instructor looking out into the classroom and catching a glimpse of your smiling face. He startles and, after a deep breath and a promise to treat himself with a restorative and totally necessary pint or two when it's all over and a reminder to never, ever make eye contact with you, begins his lecture.

 

[RedStarFic]

Here there is so much rain (as HP's recent posts testify), that we export water, LOL. No no, we do pipe it over the border to England!

For which we are grateful!

Except for those times when we beat you in the five nations, then the water often tastes funny and takes on a slightly yellow hue... not sure why that is...

 

[Handley_Page]

For which we are grateful!

Except for those times when we beat you in the five nations, then the water often tastes funny and takes on a slightly yellow hue... not sure why that is...

One good reason to Never Drink processed welsh water.

 

[NaokoSmith]

One good reason to Never Drink processed welsh water.

That processed Welsh water is called beer.

Except for those times when we beat you in the five nations, then the water often tastes funny and takes on a slightly yellow hue... not sure why that is...

Don't talk to me about the Six Nations, you sassenach .
There's always next year. *sigh*

I can just picture the instructor looking out into the classroom and catching a glimpse of your smiling face. He startles and, after a deep breath and a promise to treat himself with a restorative and totally necessary pint or two when it's all over and a reminder to never, ever make eye contact with you, begins his lecture.

LOL, it's worse than that. We had our first class yesterday. It's done online. You don't have to have the video function switched on, and I never do! Even my avatar on there I just posted a picture of my thermos flask and course books on a train travelling to teach. It's bad enough when I go in to teach and the receptionist invariably says: "the tutor will be here soon," and I have to say: "No, I am Dr. Smith, the tutor." The sexist/racist behaviours of my senior managers are the stuff of legend.

But ... we do have to talk in the online tutorial. Maybe I might have an audio story or two up on here, and get complimentary remarks on my voice sometimes . So I say that in my view the pedagogic practice of e-learning is considerably diminished by technical problems and the limitations of broadband from private internet providers. There is a long silence (possibly some soft grunting and moaning in the background?) and then we go on to the next exercise.
*sigh*.

 

[oggbashan]

I'm definitely going to start composting. Here we can put all our garden waste in a green bin and the local authority gladly hauls it away to use themselves for compost. I've had to wave goodbye to two whole bins of lovely grass rakings and mowings already! when I have this poor soil in my vegetable patch because it's underneath trees (yes yes, I should not put it there, but it's the only place for a vegetable patch). I already identified a good space behind the shed where I can tidily tuck away a couple of compost bins.

My local authority used to offer cut price compost bins, to encourage us to be green. I'm just waiting till I get a car then I can finally go and get one, if they are still available *legs ... I mean fingers crossed*.

Thanks for all the great tips!

Composting?

I use a product called 'Garotta' which helps the composting process. I just sprinkle a cupful over each layer. There are similar products e.g. Verve.

Garotta and the others help compensate for beginners' errors in composting e.g. too wet; too dry; not aerated properly...

One hint. Do not leave the Garotta pack in a damp place or exposed to morning dew. I lost almost a whole boxful to condensation.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Composting?

I use a product called 'Garotta' which helps the composting process. I just sprinkle a cupful over each layer. There are similar products e.g. Verve.

Garotta and the others help compensate for beginners' errors in composting e.g. too wet; too dry; not aerated properly...

One hint. Do not leave the Garotta pack in a damp place or exposed to morning dew. I lost almost a whole boxful to condensation.

Good tip! I am coming back to post about the lawn, I must go and mow it now. I raked it yesterday. Luckily my DVD of Poldark has arrived, so I can see how Demelza does it ... I mean the raking and mowing, not waving her cleavage about

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Composting?

I use a product called 'Garotta' which helps the composting process. I just sprinkle a cupful over each layer. There are similar products e.g. Verve.

Garotta and the others help compensate for beginners' errors in composting e.g. too wet; too dry; not aerated properly...

One hint. Do not leave the Garotta pack in a damp place or exposed to morning dew. I lost almost a whole boxful to condensation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens

For 2014 I tried Black Soldier Fly Compost (see article), and my own compost creation. The fly larvae make manure immediately, and devour 500 pounds of organic garbage quickly. Hog farms use them to make quick work of pig manure.

My creation is simple and quick. I pile garbage atop a garden spot and cover the pile with sand. In 90 days the garbage is totally transformed into nutrients by the heat the sand creates from Sun light. At the end of the 90 days I simply spread the pile around its adjacent space.

 

[glynndah]

LOL, it's worse than that. We had our first class yesterday. It's done online. You don't have to have the video function switched on, and I never do! Even my avatar on there I just posted a picture of my thermos flask and course books on a train travelling to teach. It's bad enough when I go in to teach and the receptionist invariably says: "the tutor will be here soon," and I have to say: "No, I am Dr. Smith, the tutor." The sexist/racist behaviours of my senior managers are the stuff of legend.

But ... we do have to talk in the online tutorial. Maybe I might have an audio story or two up on here, and get complimentary remarks on my voice sometimes . So I say that in my view the pedagogic practice of e-learning is considerably diminished by technical problems and the limitations of broadband from private internet providers. There is a long silence (possibly some soft grunting and moaning in the background?) and then we go on to the next exercise.
*sigh*.

This?

 

[NaokoSmith]

This?

Excellent! At last I will be able to make my voice into a light tenor with serious undertones. I'll probably even get offered teaching contracts if I can get them to do my interviews by telephone instead of flash meeting (which even my line manager thinks is one where you get your bits out and show them off )

 

[NaokoSmith]

The Rake's Tale

I had a moss problem at the back of my lawn close to the garage where the sun rarely shines.

I used a wide sprung rake like this:

It removes thatch (dead grass) and moss.

I raked gently once every couple of weeks and applied EverGreen 4 in 1 feed and weed. It is fairly expensive but effective. My lawn will never be like a bowling green because it is the grandchildren's play area, but it is much better than it was.

I wanted a rake like that. I identified it in the hardware store and was figuring out how to get it. The trouble is that the hardware store is in the other village near Piglet's school, not the village where we now live. I was wondering how to strap the rake to my bicycle (jutting up between my legs?) and get it home, when I had a brilliant idea and asked the Fella if he would pick it up for me on his way over to pick Piglet up one time. He kindly agreed, but he brought me one like this:

This was all the more odd, as he has been in charge of the lawn at the old house for years, using a wide sprung rake like Ogg's, which I bought for the purpose, so I had supposed that he would know what sort of rake I needed.

What do you think? Will the unsprung rake do the job? I find it tears up a lot of green grass as well as collecting leaves and dead grass. I suppose I will have to go and get the sprung rake and strap it to my bike and cycle along with a big long handle poking up between my legs Yes, HP, you may come and take pictures.

I have just mowed the lawn for a second time, and it actually looks quite nice even though there are several brown patches, it's very bumpy and it's full of weeds. I think this illustrates my thoughts on it, although the lawn is nothing like this:

 

[NaokoSmith]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetia_illucens

For 2014 I tried Black Soldier Fly Compost (see article), and my own compost creation. The fly larvae make manure immediately, and devour 500 pounds of organic garbage quickly. Hog farms use them to make quick work of pig manure.

My creation is simple and quick. I pile garbage atop a garden spot and cover the pile with sand. In 90 days the garbage is totally transformed into nutrients by the heat the sand creates from Sun light. At the end of the 90 days I simply spread the pile around its adjacent space.

That also sounds good. The sand seems like an additional bonus for me, with my clay-ey soil.

 

[oggbashan]

...

What do you think? Will the unsprung rake do the job? I find it tears up a lot of green grass as well as collecting leaves and dead grass. I suppose I will have to go and get the sprung rake and strap it to my bike and cycle along with a big long handle poking up between my legs Yes, HP, you may come and take pictures.

I have just mowed the lawn for a second time, and it actually looks quite nice even though there are several brown patches, it's very bumpy and it's full of weeds...

The ordinary rake will do the job as long as you are gentle with it.

Think stroking pussies or gently de-tangling hair, not scratching an opponent's face.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

That also sounds good. The sand seems like an additional bonus for me, with my clay-ey soil.

I keep gardening simple.

 

[NaokoSmith]

The ordinary rake will do the job as long as you are gentle with it.

Think stroking pussies or gently de-tangling hair, not scratching an opponent's face.

Hahaha! Stroking pussy ... I think I can do that

In the forum of the course I'm studying, there is a thread where you're supposed to introduce yourself but I felt unable to do this. The post above the one I would have written was the tutor saying to a nervous student that he would be gentle with them. I started to think about writing: "Will you be gentle with me too?" and then I started laughing too much to post so I have just had to get on with my studies without introducing myself.

 

[karaline]

yep, I'm crazy about gardening

I think good vegetables to start with are courgettes, and beans -both runner beans and french beans and beetroot is very easy to grow too. Salad is very cost effective, if you think in terms of those bags you buy from the super market for a quid. And there are lots of interesting varieties you can grow that you can't buy in the shops.

although Potatoes and Tomatoes are in theory easy to grow, there is the risk of blight - which will decimate your crop over night if given the right conditions (and wales will frequently have the right conditions) you should be ok if your growing an early variety of potato, if not then you would do well to learn about blight and how to prevent it.


As for ornamental plants I guess thats a matter of taste.

 

[NaokoSmith]

I think good vegetables to start with are courgettes, and beans -both runner beans and french beans and beetroot is very easy to grow too. Salad is very cost effective, if you think in terms of those bags you buy from the super market for a quid. ....
although Potatoes and Tomatoes are in theory easy to grow, there is the risk of blight - ...

Excellent, thank you! Salad is a good idea, I can plant that late and still harvest lettuces and hopefully the evil squirrels won't be so interested. (The slug population here seems smaller.)

I will check up about the blight. I remember one year all Piglet's violin teacher's potatoes were wiped out by blight.

 

[karaline]

Knew I was forgetting something, Chard and kale are also very easy to grow, I don't like the taste of chard so much, but it comes in some great colours so I grow it anyway. I love Kale but its hard to the kids to eat it. my favourite variety is the italian black leaved variety Cavolo nero, but they're all nice -you'd have to sow it pretty sharpish for a winter harvest of greens (although you can sow and eat the baby leaves any time).

Generally speaking the rest of the brassica family is pretty tricky to grow, but Purple sprouting broccoli is well worth the effort.

Yeah, blight. Sorry to be pessimistic, but its better you know about it now, before it hits so you can think about preventative measures.

PM i you want any advice, seriously. Sometimes I wonder why I write erotica. I should probably just blog about vegetables.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Knew I was forgetting something, Chard and kale are also very easy to grow, I don't like the taste of chard so much, but it comes in some great colours so I grow it anyway. I love Kale but its hard to the kids to eat it. my favourite variety is the italian black leaved variety Cavolo nero, but they're all nice -you'd have to sow it pretty sharpish for a winter harvest of greens (although you can sow and eat the baby leaves any time).

Generally speaking the rest of the brassica family is pretty tricky to grow, but Purple sprouting broccoli is well worth the effort.

Yeah, blight. Sorry to be pessimistic, but its better you know about it now, before it hits so you can think about preventative measures.

PM i you want any advice, seriously. Sometimes I wonder why I write erotica. I should probably just blog about vegetables.

Naaah. Broccoli and cauliflower are temperature sensitive but the leafy things are simple to grow.

 

[karaline]

Naaah. Broccoli and cauliflower are temperature sensitive but the leafy things are simple to grow.

In my part of the world what with the slugs and the flea beetles and the cabbage white butterflies I do struggle with them. I'm very selective in which parts of that family I bother with now. I'm very committed to growing organically though, maybe they're easier if you spray.

 

[NaokoSmith]

JBJ has a great recipe for collard greens (spring cabbage).

I buy the rainbow chard from the farmers' market! It looks lovely but Piglet won't eat it. She eats cabbage tho'. I'll have a look at some cabbage, we would enjoy that.

I try to be organic too, although I was sufficiently realistic never to plan to feed Piglet all organic food as a baby! That's a recipe for stressing yourself and every childcare provider out beyond reason, LOL.