How Does our Garden Grow?

Sandy_123

I'd set garden on fire with a torch gun  @WelshBlue lol I'm waiting for warmer weather next week 

Albus_Scope

ooh thanks for the tip! The soil has been enriched for the last 3 years, but it's still sprouting up everywhere. So maybe I'm just not using enough fertilizer haha. 

Be gentle with yourself @WelshBlue little and often is the way! 

onedayatatime

@Albus_Scope , that stuff grows everywhere!!! It's taken over the garden at the front and totally smothers everything! Some of the sruff seems to grow like a trailer and takes root all along it's vines. I was daft enough to think I had some sort of wild strawberry growing when it first appeared 😂 I also confuse it with buttercup or cinquefoil which I also have. A neighbour explained to me about counting the leaves or petals, but I gave up. I've previously tried the covering in cardboard thing, but it all just seems to lay dormant and pops straight back up.
It all seems to grow spectacularly well in the dry clay of my garden. I've decided to embrace it as 'ground cover' and and plant amongst it with taller plants I've grown like cosmos and wildflowers or I smother it with nasturtiums that trail over it. 
I've seen those weed burners @Sandy_123 , the ones where you buy the cannisters. Reckon I'd need a proper flame thrower to deal with the amount that's out there. 
Once the plants I've been growing have got a bit bigger, I'll plant amongst it and hope for the best.

JW77

michael57 said:

Albus_Scope said:

We have a major infestation of tormentil (Potentilla erecta) in our area, it's the bane of my gardening existence as it grows everywhere and if you don't get every tiny bit of their super long tap root out, they just regrow. If anyone has any tips for getting rid of it quickly, I'm all ears!

you could try covering with a layer of cardboard then a thick layer of bark but you hit the nail on the head about getting the tap root out good luck 

Its a rhizome plant so if your going the weedkiller way you could look for more specific weedkillers.

It has some interesting uses as a red dye and addition to a liquor in Bavaria and an alchoholic beverage in Ukraine (according to wiki) 

Cardboard/woodchip/bark really does make weeding easier tho, and keeps the soil nice and moist.

Shops & hospitals/delivery pallet liners are great big print free sheets.  

JW77

After much searching, getting a design done, the designer having to find a new contractor, we are getting the garden done. Raised beds, better access, and thankfully a housing association that is pretty much giving us free reign (Although we might be pushing it asking for permission to place 

The bumpy green lawn is the hazardous, really wet in winter, and full of ant hills (and recently moles!).

The marked out with hardcore/is the paths and starting to outline the raised beds.

Better for the girls wheelchair IF she ever gets to the point she needs it in the garden, and raised beds for growing easier for us.

Bittersweet in some ways, the funding is coming from inheritance from my brothers estate:(  

battery storage for the existing solar panels) 

Rosie_Scope

Looks like they've made a good start @JW77, those plans sound great. Although it's sad that the funding is from your brother's estate, what a nice tribute to him that you're creating a lovely space to be enjoyed   

Sandy_123

Main thing growing wild in my garden at the moment is the grass

WelshBlue

Sandy_123 said:

I'd set garden on fire with a torch gun  @WelshBlue lol I'm waiting for warmer weather next week 

Been there done that last year Sandy.  In my wisdom I decided to use the Japanese art of wood preservation on a fence panel.  Shou Sugi Ban, essentially charring the wood.  I underestimated how thin the slats were    I think I breathed a bit of arsenic in that day.   A lot of smoke and flames.  Not one of my better thoughts

@Albus_Scope ... thanks.  I've been taking it easy this week,  not much choice when I can't move without squealing lol

@onedayatatime ... it's my understanding that potentilla erecta and erect cinquefoil are one and the same ? 
I could be wrong.  

@JW77 ... looking forward to seeing it's progression    In a way the hard landscaping of gardens interests me more.  Is self-binding gravel going on the hardcore for a smooth path ?

I haven't done much gardening, started some mini cucumbers, some dwarf french beans.  I've cheated this year and bought tomatoes, they should have been sown mid-february.  I started some Osteospermum a few weeks ago.  They're going great, but they're definitely not Osteospermum.  It will be interesting to see what they are 

birdwatcher

Sort of garden related. Well they're running round it so must be!
Rats! No  , I'm not cursing😁. Has anyone else got an issue with them? One neighbours seen a lot apparently, I'd only seen a few. But the top side neighbour replaced their fence and now I've seen more. I think they disturbed a nest. I've got a part bred greyhound so she's really interested in them. One had a lucky escape the other day in fact. 
What does anyone suggest? Because of my dog I won't put poison down. I don't want to kill them anyway,  , they have as much right to life as I have. But it's a bit of a concern that I've seen a couple about six feet away from the house.  Don't want lodgers!  And don't know what to do about them. Wondered if anyone's got any ideas?
I think I should have started a new thread. But don't know how to so must apologise. 

steviepoolman

I have a big back garden as I live in an end terrace. It is getting too much fo me to maintain due to my disability. I have a nice guy that comes over once a month to mow the lawn for £20 a time. I plant my own flowers and do all the weeding myself. I will post some pics soon. I have only just joined so it's really nice to meet you all 

Rosie_Scope

@birdwatcher We have (or had? not sure if they're still there!) Rats living in our derelict garden shed at the end of our garden. We also have a dog in our house and lots of cats and foxes living nearby so didn't want to put poison down either. We ended up mostly just letting them be and they never became too much of a problem, but that's just one experience. The cats and foxes seemed to work hard on population control based on some unhappy discoveries in the mornings

If you're worried about them being there, apparently they like routine, so moving things about in your garden along the places where they move about can make them feel unwelcome. You could try the solar-powered deterrent machines that make a high pitched noise, but I'm not sure if that would affect your dog. I'm team let-the-rats-live too, but like you I get that slight uneasy feeling about them being too close to the house and didn't want to encourage them! But then in my experience, they stayed put outside.

@steviepoolman Welcome! Feel free to share some pictures whenever you're ready

Sandy_123

@birdwatcher get a cat lol or entice all the neighbourhood cats in your garden shake a packet of dreamless. Cats are great catching them

onedayatatime

Rats! Oh yeah! @birdwatcher A lot of neighbours have decking and several neighbours demolished old garden sheds. During some building work a few houses down, a massive rat nest was found and  disturbed with so many tunnels and holes!  Quite a few of us have bird feeders and we've also got a few student houses who's gardens aren't well kept with the grass growing to knee high in the summer. I give the students a friendly heads up because the foxes rip their rubbish bags open for food, they have decking, long grass and leave their patio doors open. Previous students have had mice and rats in the house which has caused problems along the entire row of terraced houses. I've  watched a 'squirrel with no tail' sit in the middle of the garden in broad daylight until I finally registered it was a rat! The magpies show a lot of interest in them! We've a healthy fox population which some neighbours don't like but I'm quiet thankfully for. Anyways @birdwatcher , my dog is too old and lazy to help. He's had a mouse sit directly in front of him and been more interested in the broom next to it,  but I think the council might be able to help and advise. I think it's the environmental department.
Now I just feed the birds suet pellets and mealworms so there's no mess left. Rats don't like change apparently, so perhaps move pots and things about. Gawd, I've just remembered my dear old mum pulling up what she thought was a big weed from her flower pot only to be left holding a dead rat by its tail which the fox had buried. 😂 I'm gonna give you nightmares so I'll stop now.!!
@WelshBlue , I really don't know. Some of the ones in my garden grow on long vines that trail and even creep over concrete while there's another much bigger, upright and thicker one and another that's like a single strawberry plant. Perhaps they are variants from the same family? Whatever they are, they lay dormant but grow back very aggressively!

birdwatcher

Sandy_123 said:

@birdwatcher get a cat lol or entice all the neighbourhood cats in your garden shake a packet of dreamless. Cats are great catching them

It's a nice idea but my dog would go nuts! She's a horror with cats, very high prey drive
The only thing that makes her move quicker than seeing a rat is seeing a cat in the garden😁
I can't remember  any rats when I did have my cats although thinking back one used to leave my neighbour ' presents'. Lost my last cat about twelve months before I got my dog. I couldn't have one now
But the dreamies ideas great! Knowing my luck I'd have a queue of rodents line up thinking I'm treating them😄

Sandy_123

Haha @birdwatcher that did make me laugh. I don't own a cat any more but I have the neighbourhood cats in my garden and encourage them. 1 neighbour asked everyone not to encourage him as he goes away for days. Then I got stalked as he was having non of it lol. 

Albus_Scope

We've spied a couple of rats in our garden, cleaning up after the birds, so we're trying to put down the "no mess" bird food. The neighbours garden is fairly overgrown with decking and a couple of sheds, so it's ideal for them to live in.  It's unfortunate as the young rats look really cute and I want to be their friend, but I'm sure over time I'd have far too many friends. 

I've also just bought some slug killing nematodes, so hopefully the garden wont get eaten again this year. I like the natural approach. :

michael57

Albus_Scope said:

We've spied a couple of rats in our garden, cleaning up after the birds, so we're trying to put down the "no mess" bird food. The neighbours garden is fairly overgrown with decking and a couple of sheds, so it's ideal for them to live in.  It's unfortunate as the young rats look really cute and I want to be their friend, but I'm sure over time I'd have far too many friends. 

I've also just bought some slug killing nematodes, so hopefully the garden wont get eaten again this year. I like the natural approach. :

just plant a few extra job done 

Albus_Scope

My entire veggie patch was demolished by slugs last year @michael57 nothing we tried worked against the mob. We unfortunately have the invasive species of slug that seems to breed stupidly quickly and has quite the appetite.   

michael57

run copper pipe around it that will detract them crushed egg shells wool pellets or sharp horticultural grit will help 

WelshBlue

I've had a running battle for 20 years with slugs ... tried everything ... I swear they're SAS trained

It's not unknown for me to be out in the garden in just my boxers and holding a torch after rain, slug hunting.  Not sure why my neighbours think I'm weird ...