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The Green Thumb Thread!
Have to make sure it's not too cold or the sod roots will die before they take, though.I read that there's a heck of a cold snap coming to the uk.
So I believe. It's been very cold aside from this week and it's due to be near freezing tonight so maybe I'll just hang on until summer decides to appear. I'm not patient enough to wait beyond this season though so we'll either be buying turf/the fake stuff/paving it.Actually checked out some fake samples and was very impressed.
leave grass seed on top, or only cover it very lightly indeedWork the soil up so it's nice and light. Rake the top gently. Sow the grass seed, then roll.
And roll again
Grass seed needs rolling.
With this birds never seem to be a problem
They say you should trample the seedbed to make it nice and tight. Poor man's equivalent of a roller.
Looked at the fake turf but it was quite expensive for a decent one. Ended up having some real turf last year to cover small areas that wouldn't work with seed ... would have to be after the cold snaps are over and you have to water it every night for about 3 weeks.
I certainly don't have access to a roller. But I could manage some trampling. That said, given the bizarre weather I'm not sure I'll gain much at the moment. It's freezing over night and the ground is saturated from all the rain.So this afternoon I'm going to start my save the tree project! It doesn't get enough water, despite the rain, so I'm going to get a hose and stick that in the ground and see what happens. I will, of course, connect the other end to a tap!
round here you'd only need to connect the other end to a funnel
Jim wrote: "round here you'd only need to connect the other end to a funnel"Got damp sheep today, Jim?
Jim wrote: "round here you'd only need to connect the other end to a funnel"Yeah, we're certainly seeing some rain. Howling wind here today as well which is nice. Really helps the water get in my leaky roof.
Yes rain here too, and I don't really need it as the water butt is full.If it is dry tomorrow I will line and start filling the new wooden corner planter that my brother in law made for me. I'm debating whether to leave them or colour stain them. Then I can put the various plants in them instead of the plastic pots that they are currently in. And decide what else to get to put in them.
Then a bit of rearranging and I might have enough room for a vegetable patch.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Jim wrote: "round here you'd only need to connect the other end to a funnel"Got damp sheep today, Jim?"
damp is the least of it. You see lambs bound forward, stop, shake themselves like dogs, and then bound forward again.
When their mothers shake themselves with a full fleece you can see the great cloud of water come off
Jay-me (Janet) wrote: "Yes rain here too, and I don't really need it as the water butt is full.If it is dry tomorrow I will line and start filling the new wooden corner planter that my brother in law made for me. I'm d..."
If you don't colour stain, you might have to put a clear protective varnish on to preserve the wood as with all the rain we have these days, things are rotting more in my observation.
Thrilled to see blossoms on the fan shaped(? Espadrille ) Victoria plum tree I bought Phil some years ago,this is the first time it's flowered.
Espalier? Hope you get fruit! It depends on the bees.
Thanks Kath, we have lots of big bees at the moment so here's hoping. Love plums!
We always seem to have plenty of bees. Chubby offerings in the main. Seem happy enough. I've also spotted a butterfly or two fluttering round the garden. So despite the lawn situation, it's not all bad.
There have been a couple of massive bees buzzing around my front door recently - so loud I thought it was a motorbike!
When we cleared my father in laws garage I unrolled a pice of old carpet and disturbed bumble bees. They really did defend their but if carpet I had to run indoors, there were about a dozen but they were really well organised and quite scary.
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "When we cleared my father in laws garage I unrolled a pice of old carpet and disturbed bumble bees. They really did defend their but if carpet I had to run indoors, there were about a dozen but the..."That would've been the hive, Lynne; bumble bee colonies are a lot smaller than honey bee ones.
A few years ago in France we had a swarm of honey bees in our street. It was enormous. My husband came home with the dogs and said there was a water leak somewhere underground as he could hear all this water gushing. I was puzzled and came outside to listen and then we looked up. It was a swarm on the neighbour's house opposite. We phoned her to tell her to shut her windows and not come out her front door. One of the council workers was passing and he knew who to contact and eventually they got a beekeeper to deal with it. In the meantime they put plastic incident tape across the road to keep people out of the street. The day after the bees had gone the firemen went in the house and cleared up for her and they took out two bin bags full of dead bees. It was unbelievable. For days afterwards the geckos were feasting on the few remaining bees on the walls.
We took the kids on a field trip to a tomato 'farm' a few weeks ago. They had loads of cardboard hives in the greenhouses.Bees everywhere.
I was very pleased to have the opportunity to explain to the kids about how endangered they are, etc.
They went from being petrified they'd be stung to very concerned about their welfare very quickly.
Right then. Bought more grass seed yesterday. Mowed, raked, sowed, flattened and watered last night. My (hopefully green) fingers are crossed.
Fingers crossed for you Jamie!This month's edition of gardener 's world has a card which allows two for price of one to hundreds of gardens around the UK, great savings if you like nosing around beautiful gardens.
I'm hoping mine will eventually fall into that category. Its more "builders yard" currently.
Okay, I'll just turn right around and mosey on out of here. You chaps are a teensy weensy bit advanced for me. I just grow tomatoes in the green house - shedloads of them. and use the green ones at the end of the year in my chutney. Bye x
Kelly wrote: "Okay, I'll just turn right around and mosey on out of here. You chaps are a teensy weensy bit advanced for me. I just grow tomatoes in the green house - shedloads of them. and use the green ones ..."
Greenhouse. Homegrown tomatoes. Witch craft. I can't even grow grass!
It's World Naked Gardening Day!I hope wellies and gloves are allowed.
Lovely day for it. I can't get the wife in the garden at the best of times. I don't think asking her to be naked will improve her attitude to weeding.
Well not if you have nettles, anyway
With the amount of nettles we have (for the butterflies) and the bird-sown brambles we have to keep digging out of the shrubbery, that's not going to happen here!
Hands up everyone who thought 'Ni' after reading Kath's post!
I just kicked a dandelion in my pyjamas. Does that count?
Why you got dandelions in your jammies?
Patti (baconater) wrote: "Why you got dandelions in your jammies?"I KNEW you'd say that. You're getting predictable in your old age.
No, you just know me too well.
Patti (baconater) wrote: "No, you just know me too well."That too. Put down the vodka bottle and do some washing up!
Local Homebase is closing down. I've grabbed several boxes of grass seed and compost for next to nothing. I have my eye on a pressure washer and a strimmer too.
I don't want to get carried away. But I think grass may be growing in my garden.
You'll be less pleased when you have to mow it, I bet.
Fair point. To be honest I never thought I'd become the sort of person who would be checking every evening for lawn growth.
With the amount of rain you lot seem to get I'm surprised you haven't got paddy fields instead of grass ;0)
Not rained here for a while, Vanessa. It mizzled yesterday but not enough to wet more than the top of the soil.
Paddy field? I have one. And even the dog won't walk on it. He skips from paving stone to paving stone.On the upside I have lots of lovely things in tubs. But don't ask me what most of them are. Except the 'dwarf' jasmine that is now eight feet high!
Its certainly an ongoing challenge. On the plus side, now we're minus dog, once the lawn does grow it will be fine. That said, I'd rather have the dog.
I'm in the same situation Jamie, my dog used to leave 'fairy rings' being a bitch, now it's lovely and green and no burnt bits. I've still got little dog but she doesn't make such big puddles. I'd rather have my dog than a bowling green lawn.
Green-fingered diligence should be rewarded Charlie - I'd have been willing to pay you what we're about to spend this weekend at the local nursery. Just hoping they have a few things left I can put in our veggie plot.No dog, and no lawn - a dog is impractical at the mo' because of work, and I banished the grass. We have a paved circular seating area instead which is surrounded by my wonderful perennials (and a few stray veggies and herbs).
Plan is to buy some fancier looking seed and have another crack at it.