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

greenbee

I'm finding this weather very draining.

I've weeded the asparagus bed - some of the crowns are clearly dead, but some are showing signs of life so hopefully there will be something growing next year. I've also potted up 4 cucumbers and a few more cosmos. And shoved some stuff in the hotbin. Oh, and potted up some basil - some outside by the kitchen, some in the greenhouse between the tomatoes and aubergines. I think maybe I should pot up the peppers soon too, even if they are pretty tiny at the moment. Then the greenhouse 'crops' will be sorted, even if not in final positions (that requires sorting out of the annuals I'm growing in there and clearing/tidying a bit so there is space to move things round and possibly even take down some staging over the summer. 

I did get the strimmer out, but the battery seems to have died and not be charging. I'll leave it a bit longer - and test it to make sure it's not just the light. I may need to order a new one and clear the ground for the squash with the long-handled shears instead. 

It looks like tomorrow should be warm and dry, so I'll aim to get some weedkilling done in the long grass and mow the short grass. (As well as doing all the veg plot/greenhouse stuff on my list). 

Cherryfudge

greenbee said:

@Cherryfudge - I found persistence worked with ground elder. Keeping cutting it back/digging it out/poisoning it depending on location, and eventually it gave up. 

Thank you @greenbee, it's very encouraging to know I might eventually win the day! I've done 15 minutes on the ground elder today (it grows back so fast I'm going over the same ground most days), 15 pruning a couple of shrubs (with limited success as the sun was in my eyes) and about 10 hacking down nettles in the back lane so DH could get the green wheelie bin round the block and to the front garden. It gets collected once a fortnight and next time is on Tuesday which is handy as it's nearly full.

The battle isn't just the ground elder, it's the herb bennet and ivy as well... last year I had an all-out war on the herb bennet because those little hooked seeds get into everything, but you'd never tell from how much there is again this year. Perhaps some seeds waited a year or two to germinate. Ivy is only being tackled where I come across it, which means there are places it's probably rampant.

On the positive side, there is a beautiful fox glove self sown very neatly on the corner of the lawn near the kitchen door, and there are wild roses in the lane at the back. The white geraniums are nearly finished, the pink ones are blooming and the blue ones are in bud. The raspberries and gooseberries are headed in the right direction and there are likely to be plenty of blackberries later on.  

kazwookie

Greenbee happy to come when ever it suits you, just pm with days etc

First pot unturned and I found these, just under 1kg.

redofromstart

My word KazW I could eat those drowned with butter until I was sick. 

greenbee

redofromstart said:

My word KazW I could eat those drowned with butter until I was sick. 

Come over on the same day as KazW. She can bring potatoes, I can supply radishes. 

KajiKita

Cherryfudge said:

KajiKita said:

They were yellow, violently so! 😂

Yellow vetchling? Broom?

Not Broom - I know the leaves of broom and these weren’t green or narrow - more a weird metallic green and quite pea looking texture of leaf. The flowers were quite lupin like, I think. 

Not yellow vetchling - that looks elegant and pretty - this thing was a thug with thick, tough, roots that needed a machete to remove at times - ran just under the surface, all over the bed. 

I never have identified it! 😂

Managed a bit more clearing this morning, but not enough to be worth sharing with you. Then chores and a long lunch with a friend took over. Tomorrow I will do more 😊

KK

KajiKita

@kazwookie, bravo on the spuds 😊
I have LOTS of volunteer if you want some to boil with them! 😉

KK 

Sun_Addict

Just popping in to say glad you started this thread after we all hijacked your diary with garden stuff 😆 The only garden type thing I’ve done today is view Japanese Knotweed in the process of being eradicated at a local park. I’ve never seen it before and was fascinated. It was barricaded off with a warning note 😬

redofromstart

@kazwookie I'm on my way...

Cherryfudge

KajiKita said:

this thing was a thug with thick, tough, roots that needed a machete to remove at times - ran just under the surface, all over the bed.
I never have identified it! 😂

Oh no! That's going to bother me now.  

*Googles* 'thug with thick, tough, roots that needed a machete'... gets crime stories.
*Googles* 'thick tough roots with yellow flowers'... gets dandelions.

Might it be on here?