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The Green Thumb Thread!
message 151:
by
Kath
(new)
May 14, 2016 02:33AM
If you really want a grassed area trashed, you need a few chickens!
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I wish I'd known that eight years ago!
We've decided that if lawn doesn't look better after this year we're going to explore alternatives. Pulling the blind down on the kitchen window might be the cheapest option.
Fret not Jamie. You just need to do what we do: admit defeat.The 'lawn' is the dog's playground, so we just leave it at that. It's full of weeds and currently very soggy. But it stays green and him indoors runs a mower over it when he is feeling macho.
Mines so lovely at the moment but then we go away for a few weeks and it's knee high when we come back. We can just see the tip of a spaniels tail. So he mows it, it goes yellow, dies off in high summer (if we get one). Then the annual farce starts again. It all makes work and money for the horticultural industry I suppose.
Kath wrote: "I'm talking pot-holes here."Ready-dug planting plan?
With tufts of grass amongst - and nettles - I have to dig up so many nettles. You know how they say that in old settlements, the midden areas have the huge nettle clumps - it's the quantities of chicken-poo that ensure the nettles are really well-fed.
I must admit, I thought that chickens were the organic terminators of garden pests.There appear to be disadvantages though.
No pests. Not many plants - not in their bit, anyway!
Been away for a week and hubby forgot to water my tomato plants. I only realised earlier this afternoon. Just been out to water them. They looked great! The greenhouse is falling to bits so am thinking maybe the rain is getting in, must be that.The grass is a disgrace but hubby mows it and it appears okay if you stand well back and don't look too closely.
Jamie wrote: "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 t..."
When we first moved into the house, a few years back, I got all carried away and had raised beds for veggies. I tried for years but I hated the weeding part and then I wouldn't know what was a spring onion or lettuce shoot compared to a weed. I was very, very good at growing radishes but I don't like them that much.
Working full time coupled with limited knowledge is not going to result in an award winning plot. All I'm after is somewhere not unpleasant to sit on the handful of evenings each year when its warm. But I do live opposite the village pub so I could probably give up and just sit over there. Ive got a retired pro gardener coming tomorrow so I may have a more positive report.
My daughter came home laughing last week. A colleague's parents went away on holiday and asked him to water the greenhouse for them. This is true story not a joke, their 30 something son duly watered the greenhouse for them. The plants inside were all well dead on their return but the greenhouse had been watered daily ( outside).
Brilliant Lynne!Someone in our village has laid their full lawn with fake grass and it looks terrific.
There's a lawn like that in the French village where we go. I can understand it there as it gets so dry in summer. We walk past it up a slope so we are on eye level with it at one point, one day we saw moving lumps under it. Their children had crawled underneath and were having a great game chasing their little dog.
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "My daughter came home laughing last week. A colleague's parents went away on holiday and asked him to water the greenhouse for them. This is true story not a joke, their 30 something son duly water..."Brilliant - keep seeing it in my head and laughing.
Love the idea of kids and dog playing under the grass instead of on top of it,hehe. Great fun when the weather is wet.I didn't believe Phil initially when he said lawn was fake and had to go check it out myself, it's so realistic.
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "My daughter came home laughing last week. A colleague's parents went away on holiday and asked him to water the greenhouse for them. This is true story not a joke, their 30 something son duly water..."Brilliant! Buffoonery of the first order.
Philip (sarah) wrote: "Brilliant Lynne!Someone in our village has laid their full lawn with fake grass and it looks terrific."
I am leaning towards the fake stuff. Just removes all the hassle of maintenance so the garden can be enjoyed. We got a few samples and to my untrained eye you'd struggle to spot the difference.
Actually, theres a chap lives in the village has fake grass and he's had a four hole putting green built in. Holes, flags etc. I havent seen it but the wife says it looks great.
I know one widowed lady who had a small bit of lawn out the back which a friend happily mowed for her.The problem was everything then had to be carried through the house to the front for disposal (where there is no lawn)
She has had the lawn replaced with fake because it's so much less hassle for her.
There's talk of replacing our grass sports field with fake stuff. Makes me want to cry.
We have an in-built watering system for our hanging baskets.Phil built it into the cladding under the eaves (?soffit board) when he designed the building. It saves lots of time and energy.
Lawn update. Retired pro gardener came today, planted peas, sweet peas etc. Commented on lawn coverage. Had a good look. There is new grass growing. Not everywhere, but still. Advice is to keep watering, mow it in about a week and stick at it. I can't help but feel pretty chuffed.
Congratulation Jamie, I think a party is called for I'll make the 'keep off the lawn signs' ;@)Because our system operates from the garden tap we can control the flow from a drip to a deluge Charlie. It was really cheap to set up.
Just back from a week in the Cotswolds that included visits to two inspirational gardens: Abbey House Gardens in Malmesbury and Prince Charles' garden at Highgrove House, Tetbury - such uplifting places.
This might make you laugh (if I've done the link properly)https://www.facebook.com/groups/22153...
Oops I didn't realise the profile picture would appear but it's not me honestly!!!
You've linked to porn and profanity, Lynne?Well done! More of that, please!
It was the slug thingy I wanted you to see! Woukd you believe that's a site for the Archers listeners and there is at least one other member of this group on there : o)I read and laugh but don't post
I was surprised to see such things on an Archers page.I'm afraid to look at the gardeners question time page. ;)
Lynne (Tigger's Mum) wrote: "This might make you laugh (if I've done the link properly)https://www.facebook.com/groups/22153...
Oops I didn't realise the profile picture would appear but it's n..."
Love the slug thing and soooooo true!
Hi All,I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on keeping a Boston Fern alive?
I have one for my office desk. I can have it in either shade or full sun.
Any advice would be gratefully received
Generally speaking, ferns like shade. They grow in cracks between rocks (grykes) and in forests. Moist and shady.
My sister in law has good luck with Boston ferns.She says 'out of direct sun, keep moist but not wet and mist lightly daily if the air is dry from climate control. They like to be by an open window on pleasant days'
I've had a look and I think that's the same fern that I've got in my garden. I didn't even plant it - so no choice for me as to where it went. It is on the shadier side of my garden though and is flourishing at the moment. I think it must have been bird droppings that started it off - as it wasn't here until about 4 years ago and seems to have appeared from nowhere. Guessing from this - they must be pretty hardy and don't require any care. All I do for mine is cut it back when it gets too big.
Have quite a few self setting ferns in shady areas but don't think it's that one.
B J wrote: "Take a look here, Lindsay: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/house..."Sez almost exactly what my SIL said. :D
Do you lot get edible fiddle heads in the uk?They're delicious.
It's the shuttlecock fern Patti? It does grow here but I don't think many folk eat it
T4bsF (Call me Flo) wrote: "Triffids !!!!"LOL!
I used to love that book.
There's a few edible varieties, apparently. I looked at the wiki earlier.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddl...
Here's a pic I took of some. Might spoil the display if I ate them though!https://www.facebook.com/NorthBerwick...
Shall I change the thread title to 'The Purple Finger Thread'?
Rosemary what's that coming over the hill wrote: "Here's a pic I took of some. Might spoil the display if I ate them though!https://www.facebook.com/NorthBerwick......"
Doesn't look edible.
No, I wasn't tempted. Not even a nibble.
I only found out last year that Nasturtiums were edible.
