GreenFly - A 'flylady style' gardening thread with weekly tasks to tame your garden

-taff

Doing a quick walk around your garden once a day [ mine's a very slow one and numerous times] will tell you what is urgent, not so urgent and can be left.

Yesterday I hoiked out my compost form one bin and mixed it with the spent mushroom compost in two beds. Word of warning, if you're getting that stuff, mix it with something because it's too alkaline and the plants don't like it [for the most part, the nasturtiums seem to be ok with it]

Today is check if anything needs potting on, planting out, p ricking out, digging out and replacing. Maybe retail therapy.

Greenfly...ha! I did chuckle Arb...

Farway

-taff said:

Doing a quick walk around your garden once a day [ mine's a very slow one and numerous times] will tell you what is urgent, not so urgent and can be left.

The old saying, the best fertiliser is the gardeners shadow

So true

ArbitraryRandom

Struggling a bit with motivation today as it's yet another grey day and the coldest it's been for a while. 

Just did my (hopefully becoming) habitual quick wander around. Dug out another 5 bindweed shoots. Starting to have a bit of a problem as digging down to get them out is risking/actually disturbing the roots of my veg. Not sure if there's a decent solution for that other than to be as careful as I can this year and properly cover/smother the beds as soon as the crop is harvested and for as long as possible. Not something I'm going to be able to address quickly by any method. 

Brie

Ah!! compost!!

How long should one leave it?  What happens if it's left too long???  Can't remember if there's one dalek or two behind the shed.  It's very brambly back there so I rarely take a look about but the previous owners had them quite full before they moved out.  That was over 6 years back.  I expect the contents are either useable or completely past it and full of mice or something.  maybe I can let the gardener's lad give it a poke the next time they visit.

ArbitraryRandom

Brie said:

Ah!! compost!!

How long should one leave it?  What happens if it's left too long???  Can't remember if there's one dalek or two behind the shed.  It's very brambly back there so I rarely take a look about but the previous owners had them quite full before they moved out.  That was over 6 years back.  I expect the contents are either useable or completely past it and full of mice or something.  maybe I can let the gardener's lad give it a poke the next time they visit.

I think as long as it's kept covered it should be fine. The biggest 'risk' is that as it matures/stops cooking weeds can move in (using the nutrients) or if it's open to the air then the rain slowly washes the goodness out of it into the surrounding area - at which point you've basically got rock free soil  

cherie1122

I struggle with gardening as I have arthritis but I did 15 minutes of weeding today (combined with dead heading the peonies).  If I can do that every day (if it's not raining) then it should look a lot tidier.  At this time of year I try and cut the lawns every week - that takes half an hour.

-taff

This is why I don't want lawns..or any grass at all...We haven't got kids or dogs, the cats poo wherever they like, so there's no reason to keep it. Plus there'll be more room for plants or another geenhouse...or something good...

Brie, it'll be fine, if they're covered they shouldn't have weeds in there, so you've basically got something most people would have to pay for

greenbee

Managed to give away 5 tomato plants today, top up the hotbin (I need to empty the bottom section), and added some brown into the compost heap to mix with the grass on the top of it. 

Then it started raining, and by the time I'd finished work (about 6.30) it was pouring. So no more gardening today. 

Slinky

@Brie the robins should be gone very soon. Ours went from eggs to fledged in about 3 weeks.

LessImpecunious

ArbitraryRandom said:

Dug out another 5 bindweed shoots. Starting to have a bit of a problem as digging down to get them out is risking/actually disturbing the roots of my veg. Not sure if there's a decent solution for that other than to be as careful as I can this year and properly cover/smother the beds as soon as the crop is harvested and for as long as possible. Not something I'm going to be able to address quickly by any method. 

From personal experience smothering unlikely to work - they just bide their time and wait until any covering is removed... I lever (rather than dig) out bindweed shoots (ideally as soon as they appear) and as much root as possible with a narrow pointed trowel (any long pointed implement would do), avoids too much disturbance to nearby plants, and over time weakens the plants until they (mostly) give up...