Breaking Through, Travelling On

Karmacat · 2 June 2017 at 10:09PM

edinburgher wrote: »

Well, any form of digging would seem to be a no no, as that makes the plant root more! Systemic weed killers like glycophosphate are also apparently useless. It would appear that all I can do is nip all sprouting shoots as soon as they appear and mess up its photosynthesis.

Apparently it survived the last ice age and was around with the dinosaurs :rotfl:

Systemic are useless? :eek: Wyevale said differently ... where did that come from, Ed?

And I can well believe the dinosaur thing

So its cockroaches, buddleia and horsetail that are going to survive a nuclear holocaust :rotfl:

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Knit_Witch · 2 June 2017 at 11:58PM

edinburgher wrote: »

Well, any form of digging would seem to be a no no, as that makes the plant root more! Systemic weed killers like glycophosphate are also apparently useless. It would appear that all I can do is nip all sprouting shoots as soon as they appear and mess up its photosynthesis.

Apparently it survived the last ice age and was around with the dinosaurs :rotfl:

Oooh good luck with that! (errr fire?)

Suffolk_lass · 3 June 2017 at 12:48AM

edinburgher wrote: »

Well, any form of digging would seem to be a no no, as that makes the plant root more! Systemic weed killers like glycophosphate are also apparently useless. It would appear that all I can do is nip all sprouting shoots as soon as they appear and mess up its photosynthesis.

Apparently it survived the last ice age and was around with the dinosaurs :rotfl:

I also checked a link that says you have to bruise the leaves before using a systemic weedkiller. If there is nothing else nearby I would use the extra-strong glyphosate that is advertised for stump-killing and keep repeat applying.

It may be awful but it's not as bad as Japanese Knot Weed...

Karmacat · 3 June 2017 at 9:01AM

SL, I agree - it's a slow process, nature is just doing what nature is supposed to do, and our interruptions for our own convenience are sometimes dratted well *in*convenient!

Looks like early stage plans will have to be rejigged before I've even bought the train tickets, as my lovely Norfolk rellie is very ill, and we need to go visiting. He dropped everything when we told him how ill my mum was, unfortunately its time to return the favour

Confirms me in what I did for Diana's Dresses - (1) do stuff that you want to do, and (2) be very careful about buying tickets that aren't refundable.

In more particular mse stuff:
- just did another yougov survey, up to 4,400 points now, not long to go.
- got to hold fire on the finances as that ISA has now opened

so I need to wait till its closed. Though I can still go ahead and open a "normal" current account to act as a sacrificial lamb. Not sure I'll do that today, but need to remember it.
- might just carry on with the "tidying" that means I can live in more pleasant surroundings and also start to focus more on actual writing and start to actually earn, as I talked about briefly with Verbatim a few days ago, or booger off to a local sculpture trail.

[Deleted User] · 3 June 2017 at 9:21AM

No advice to offer you, edinburgher on your horsetail dilemma, sorry. We have almost half an acre of garden and have battled myriads of interlopers over the years. As we don't use any 'killers' we have had to rely on manual methods which have had very mixed success rates despite the hard graft and time involved:mad:

Looks like the latest Election catchphrase from the Conservatives is no longer 'strong and stable' but seems to be 'money tree' when describing Labour's spending proposals:rotfl:. How I'd like one of those to magically take root in my garden:j. Oddly, a self-seeded creamy-yellow foxglove plant has taken root in a crack between the house wall and driveway. No soil in sight so it must have very penetrating roots:eek:. Also, the nearest house is several hundred yards away and whether they have any foxgloves growing I have no clue. The one we've got is a cultivated variety by the look of it and not a weedy wild one, where it came from heaven only knows. The strangest thing though, it seemed to spring up almost overnight. We never noticed it and then suddenly it was about half a meter tall:eek:.

OH likes it, it's a lovely-looking plant and he insists on leaving it there as he reckons any damage to the house will have already been done. It's like Jack's beanstalk though and already much taller than me, the main flower stalk reaches to about 2.25 meters. Every morning it's grown a noticeable amount. There are 4 tall flower stems of various heights up to the 2.25 meters, plus another 15 at various stages of development:eek:. The leaves at the bottom nearest the concrete are looking increasingly withered now so maybe the whole thing has had it's day.

I remember as a very young child having my first experience of gardening and planting 4 sunflower seeds in my grandparents' garden. Only one ever grew but it was a monster, very much taller than my Granddad who was over 6 feet tall. It was quite near their kitchen window and it scared me as a child to see what looked like a huge face looking through the window at me:o

Karmacat · 3 June 2017 at 1:17PM

That sounds really interesting, CBC - though personally, I'd take seeds from the foxglove and dispose of the plant itself - I've had enough intrusive root systems to last me a life time. I guess seeds get spread through bird poo? And your sunflowers sound fantastic - I've never grown them, but they sound so attractive to birds if you let them dry.

I can't get to the local sculpture exhibition - no pavements to walk on, just busy rural roads, no public transport and the footpaths available make the route half as long again, and its not *urgent*, as its on till October. So I'll have a little pootle about on the footpaths and turn back when I fancy. And I may pop into the Sainsbo and buy some live basil plants

Karmacat · 5 June 2017 at 9:24AM

Ug, I nearly caused a real problem for myself on Saturday - that walk, I did it, but it was too long

I was exhausted the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday. Still don't feel on top of things, and I have to be okay for London tomorrow, plus a thing on Thursday. Need to take it easy today, but I also need some frozen veg and some pesto :eek:

So, no gardening. And no bonfiring. Instead:
- go get frozen veg and pesto
- I *can* drop off some unwanted cat ornaments at the same time.
- buy some bereavements cards for the adult offspring of my lovely Norfolk rellie who's in such trouble

- tidy.
- check trains for tomorrow.
- check visits and transport arrangements in light of our Norfolk news.

Otherwise, its a day for taking it as easy as possible, biggest exertion might be finishing off the evacuee letters, don't want to do anything big.

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