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

EssexHebridean

Oh serious pea envy going on here - lovely! I can't really complain about our plants mind - they cost 43p and were thoroughly battered and sorry for themselves - frankly I am surprised we got the handful of pods we did! 

Our toms have masses of flowers, but barely any fruit setting as yet - although the little bush ones (minibelle, I think) seem to be leading the way. Hopefully a few days of sunshine will perk them up. 

Brie

I shall be taking that picture out to show my reluctant sweetpeas how it's supposed to be done.  I have one tiny tomato showing on the money maker plant.  The tiddly tomato plants are massive and covered in flowers but no fruit as of yet.  Probably waiting for me to go on holiday.  

EssexHebridean

I've long since lost track of which of my "full sized" tomato plants are which - I have Moneymaker and Gardener's Delight as well as the Minibelles - I will be planning on getting more adventurous next year!  I am hopeful that the seeds with our Kitchen Garden mag subscription might help there, in fact - I know they used to sometimes log out some interesting tommie varieties in the freebies.

More woolly slug pellets now ordered as the Big River has them at a slightly more reasonable £26.99. I will also be able to empty the remains of the current 5l tub into the new 10l one as well, meaning we gain another large plastic pot once some holes have been put in the bottom of it. 

Working_Mum

My friend gave me a T3sco bag of sheep's fleece a couple of years ago - I have used it around the base of plants which slugs love - it's been great. I basically tear off a chunk and fashion it into a ring to place around the base of the  plants.

I've found this website which sells it and doesn't seem super expensive either.

https://romneymarshwools.co.uk/products/2536-pure-british-romney-raw-fleece?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwqMO0BhA8EiwAFTLgICrmkl0Ul9nejnxIutcv5qNlme0vgLtjUMZjN-hwcDwPjD-xV6X2kxoC2PcQAvD_BwE

PS my hands are always super soft after I've worked with it because of the lanolin 

redofromstart

Thanks @Working_Mum - I will have a look into that

my suggestion for this weekend is 'drive by' appeal. How does your garden look to passers by? Are you ok with it, and what could you change in the time you have available this week?

I am very lucky to have a mature wisteria on the front of our long stone house, but it gets very untidy if you don't do the Jan and July prunes. I filled half a green waste bin pruning the bits I can reach without a ladder. I can now see out of the ground floor windows and the two paths are usable again.  I also stripped the ivy off the crab apple as it was choking it, and did a very light prune of the pyracantha hedge so you can see the wisteria from the road side. I chopped out some bigger weeds so the front looks pretty if you don't look closely. 

Tomorrow I really must sort the two road side beds even if I just strim and top dress with bark. There  is a village history walk in the week and they always stop and talk outside our house. Need to weed the drive too. 

KajiKita

I am defeated by what needs doing in our garden for drive by appeal but clearing the path to the potting shed / cellar is a must do today - there is rosebay willow herb growing in the raised beds around the is route and they are flopping onto the path and holding huge volumes of rainwater to then have to get past - a free shower 🚿 every day! 😉😂

KK

Cherryfudge

It's been too wet to do much recently, though the tomatoes are setting fruit and the rescued rhubarb likes its new home and is growing healthily. The slugs have finished off my pepper plants, alas, and I've brought the basil indoors as it was going the same way.

The green bin is fairly full (fortnightly collection on Tuesday) from hedge trimming, but there's still lots to do as I didn't get to the tops.

I don't think I would win any prizes for kerb appeal, but that reminds me there's a tiny holly by the gatepost that needs attention. It's growing to cover a scarp of fence but has to be kept in line.

SandyShores

Our dwarf apple tree has become a giant this year, so I had a go at pruning it this the weekend following this pruning guide as it was blocking the path.  Luckily I noticed a ladybird on one of the leaves I'd chopped so moved her/him back onto the tree.  I couldn't see any ladybird eggs so hopefully they have all hatched by now or are elsewhere.  We've finally after 4 years got a bit of an apple crop.  The apples are starting to go red - not sure when they are ready to eat or even what I'll do with them when they are ready.  

I lost a basil in a pot to slugs last week, its obviously one of their delicacies .  I kept one inside  (half the pot of supermarket basil - not a slug) and used it in a tomato sauce last week so just waiting for it to regrow. But its not growing very fast at all.

redofromstart

@Cherryfudge you said to sit and wait on the slug ravished baby fig tree, pleased to say we have two new leaves though today so it may recover. 

greenbee

I've shoved the last couple of trays of seedlings randomly into patches of bare earth. Just one last lot of verbena bonariensis to go in. 

Fed the greenhouse, outside tomatoes, and courgettes.

Tiny bit of weeding done. 

Need to give the hotbin some TLC as it's not hot at the moment. And find some time to build more of the veg plot.