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The Green Thumb Thread!
message 51:
by
Patti (baconater)
(new)
Oct 12, 2014 05:29AM
Watched that Harry Potter just the other night.
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Kath wrote: "They reckon you have to cover your ears when pulling a mandrake because they scream and the sounds sends you mad. With me, who'd notice? ;)"Find it strange that mandrake was so powerful in various ways for so long and yet it is something that does not seem to be grown any more.
I think it was just that 'sympathetic magic' theory, like lungwort looking like a diseased lung (the leaf is spotted). Mandrake with its forked root was said to look like a human male so it was a dead ringer to be used in magic. I think the root contains hallucinogens and it's still used in Wiccan ritual. I believe!
Whenever I hear the word parsnip, I want to reach for a gun:)God bless the Parsnip weevil - my favourite insect.
Those sea urchins are 'oursin'. Really quite popular in season. One afternoon I saw my elderly neighbour happily stripping feathers from tiny 'grieves' and was quite upset I didn't want to try some. Squeamish? Moi? Yep!
Not sure whether mandrake would do more than ease the passing.Josephus the Jewish turncoat saw four people he knew crucified, appealed to the Emperor, a friend of his, who ordered them taken down, gently.
From memory, even though they'd only just been nailed up, three died.
Remember that the standard end to Crucifixion was that they broke your legs to hasten death and save them having to pull an all-nighter guarding you
Would prefer to have mandrake, rather than nothing, especially if it makes you unconscious.
I'd take mandrake over parsnip any day of the week.
I didn't know mandrake was real. I'd only ever seen them in a Harry Potter film. Embarrassing or what lol.
Have a look at the google images for them, Vanessa. The roots are a rude laugh but some have the most stonking flowers.
I remember seeing an old book in the Chelsea Physic Garden which had a drawing of a mandrake on one page...and a womandrake on the facing page.
Throwing some manure in here for Claire.
Thanks Patti :) I'm back from the garden centre with a boot full. Think I know what to do with them! I signed up for the Dobbies reward card while I was there, got a free orchid, pari of gloves and a magazine for it as well as discount on everything I bought! Some Pansies for the pots out the front, two cherry tomato plants with a growbag (at least I think it'll work as a grow bag, big bag of compost anyway!) and a cucumber plant as well as a lavender bush. oh and a trowel and spade to get planting! Fingers crossed I've got a little bit of my mum's green fingers in me :)
Don't put the toms out till June, up there! I don't put mine permanently in the unheated greenhouse until June. Those late May northern frosts are vicious!
Oh dear. .. I've planted them... I'll see how they go, I'm not overly optomistic that they'll last for long as it's my first attempt at growing them without my mum keeping an eye on them to rescue them!!
Dodgy up north - so the southerners all say! We could be lucky but you gamble if you plant them in the open.
Someone please tell me about purselaine (perslaine?) My sister brought some up which we ate like a salad leaf. (Also called Miner's Lettuce she said). Slightly fragrant taste on its own, but lost amidst a mixed salad with dressing.
I've grown purslane. It's different to anything else I've experienced. It's easy to grow - just sprinkle the seeds onto a patch of ground that doesn't get too wet. The leaves are fleshy with an odd taste - salty and sour. The reason that it's different is that the flavour depends upon when you pick it. Overnight the leaves produce malic acid. Early in the morning they taste very sour, but the sourness reduces through the day. In theory the leaves can be cooked like spinach, but I found that cooking made them disgustingly slimy.
Thanks - I definitely won't try cooking the remainder then!
Hi everybody!Does anyone have any experience in caring for Bonsai Trees?
I really want to get one but all the information i find online about care is quite technical. I am looking for a "Bonsai care for dummies" sort of thing?
Are they particularly difficult to care for? I have had one before but it seemed to die even though i was following the instructions.
Are you keeping it indoors Lindsay? Because the main thing to remember is that trees basically want to be outside, (I'm assuming it's not a n exotic type of tree) so you need to make them feel as much like they're outside as possible ie lot of light, not too hot, and let it get a bit dormant in the winter (put it in a cold room). Don't water every day, but give it a good proper soak when you do. And don't wait until the soil has dried out completely though because it won't like that. You'll need to feed it with fertiliser during the 'growing' season ie spring to autumn. You should be able to get that where you bought the tree :)
Thanks Rosemary!! you're awesome!I haven't bought the tree yet. I wanted to make sure i knew what i was doing first.
I like the conifer, fir tree type ones. They look really nice.
One of my uncles grew bonsai trees for years. He'd grow them from scratch. Apparently, my cousin now has a few that her dad had been growing for over 50 years.He grew them in the back yard. Garden to you lot. He'd over winter them in his green house. The Canadian winter would kill them as their root systems are so shallow.
Bonsai is so cool.
I bet there's a few forums dedicated to growing them.
I love Bonsai Trees, they just look awesome.There are a lot of forums but it is hard to know where to start sometimes.
I know I wouldn't know where to start.
I've never grown them myself. It feels like binding a baby's feet. Cruel. But those I've known to grow them with success have let them spend much of the year outside - on a table or shelf. Incidentally, regarding the yard/garden debate, you can tell a Brit didn't start this thread. We have green fingers.
I am definitely going to buy one.But first i need to make sure my peace Lily stays alive
If my fingers (or thumbs) were green, I'd be off to see the doc pronto!
I didn't know you lot had a different saying for it.One day I'll be fluent in British English. One day.
Oh and yes, my uncle would always have them on a table or shelf. I vaguely recall him saying they didn't like to be on the ground. No idea why.Perhaps something to do with their delicate roots.
I understand the attraction, Lindsay. Those tiny trees looking like perfect miniature replicas of ancient trees are almost irresistible. I've managed to resist only because I have the suspicion that having one would carry the same sort of responsibility as having a pet. I've come across several retailers that run training courses, which could be a sensible first step.
Did you ever get your parsnip seeds, Patti?
Yep.We grew lots of parsnips in the kindergarten garden last year.
Think the kids are in the midst of planting right now. I've not been up to that part of the school in a couple weeks.
B J wrote: "I understand the attraction, Lindsay. Those tiny trees looking like perfect miniature replicas of ancient trees are almost irresistible. I've managed to resist only because I have the suspicion tha..."Ooh that is a good idea BJ. I will have to have a look around at what is available.
Just nipped out and got a Dwarf Rhododendron Ginny Gee. covered in pink and white flowers. Low growing and evergreen.I managed to plant this one my self. But I am coming fast to the conclusion my active gardening days are over. Relegated to sitting and enjoying it now instead.
https://www.goodreads.com/photo/group...
That's so pretty, Pat. Our soil here isn't sufficiently acidic to grow those. Our newly-opened Netto store has loads of lovely, good quality rhodies and azaleas. Nobody in Head office looked at the geography of the area! Those not in the know will buy them and wonder why they sicken, go yellow and die off.
I think the ' for Dummies' series of books actually published one on growing bonsai. I need to stop buying daft ornaments for our garden it's starting to resemble Steptoe's Yard.
Does anyone know if a wind damaged Cordyline is likely to revive? It's still green in the middle but the fronds have turned brown. It's one of a matching pair and quite large, the other one is fine.
I've got two big cordylines, they were in the garden when we bought the house. The fronds make quite a mess after a gale but they do come back. The only thing that upset mine and we had to cut the old trunks down was when we had a very cold easterly wind and a hailstorm and the ice lodged in the leaves for days, that did damage them. Mine have all sprouted from the bottom so when they start to touch the windows upstairs too much, husband saws them down. Mine must be about 16 -20 feet high.
Great to know its likely to come back Lynne,I think it may be difficult to buy another the same size.
I wouldn't say they'll ever be the same if you're looking for a balance, but they do come from the bottom (eventually). I'd get rid of mine but we are a cream painted house in a row of cream houses so I always say to visitors it's the one with the palm trees. There are some further along in the gardens that must be 40 feet high and their garden is a mess when all those leaves fly off.
My in laws had one of those big palms in their front garden. It broke off near the base in a gale. It shot out new growth from the stump before they could arrange to have it removed.It wasn't the prettiest of trees afterward. They had it removed when they tarted up the place before they sold it.
Morning all. Grass seed query. My lawn is utterly awful due to the winter rain/storms/gales coupled with the fact that our Pointer was very energetic but also very ill. Sadly the dog is no longer with us but we are left with the lawn. I'd happily exchange!Anyway, I've tried raking off dead bits and loosening the soil, then flung grass seed all over it and raked that in. No joy. As such, I'm wide open to advice although paving is working it's way up the list!
Did you mix some fertiliser in with the grass seed before you flung it? Birds shouldn't have eaten the seed if you raked it in.
How long ago did you fling it? Perhaps you're being impatient?
Not sure. I've dug up (for flower and veg beds) more lawn in my life than I've sown. Received wisdom is that you leave it on the top rather than stir it in.
Is it, Kath? How do you stop the birds from getting at it then?
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Is it, Kath? How do you stop the birds from getting at it then?"Sit there with a shotgun and a bottle of vodka.
GL's solution sounds more fun.
This time of year most birds seem to be collecting wiggly things, anyway.
