Topic: The RAWK Gardening Thread. (All Questions Answered)

[Sarge]

I just bought a Magnolia Stellata from Lidl for the amazing price of £3.99
As this is a 'small' variety, growing to a maximum of 4.5 m, I am considering planting it in the front yard, not too far from the pavement. I live in a Close.
Any advice RAWK gardeners?

Very slow growing mate.

[Sarge]

That is the Garden sorted for another year, up to you mother nature to make it look even better than i have. ‪‎Gardening sure its grand.

[dnkw]

Sarge, sorry to be a pain, would you know what's up with these tomato plant leaves? My Dad gave them to me to try to grow and they look like they've gone wrong!

Many thanks!

Dan

P.s. they were out in the sun most of the day today, could that be it? Thanks again. 

[bigbonedrawky]

Sarge, sorry to be a pain, would you know what's up with these tomato plant leaves? My Dad gave them to me to try to grow and they look like they've gone wrong!

Many thanks!

Dan

P.s. they were out in the sun most of the day today, could that be it? Thanks again. 

Not an expert but lack of magnesium / too much potasium in the soil...maybe.   

[Sarge]

Not an expert but lack of magnesium / too much potasium in the soil...maybe.   

Sorry just seen this, you could be correct Porky.

dknw what are they in?

[dnkw]

Thank you, both!

Sorry I took a while, I've been down in the depths of the bin to fetch the bag the soil was in.

They're planted in the contents of a Levington Gro-bag (plus the small amount of soil they were in from their original pots, not sure what that was), and I gave them a single treatment of Chempak (standard) tomato food about a week ago.

Gro-bag as per this link: https://www.lovethegarden.com/products/growing/levington-original-gro-bag

Chempak as per this:  http://www.thompson-morgan.com/garden-supplies/fertilisers/chempak-soluble-tomato-food/kww2558TM

[redbyrdz]

Might be water damage - tomato plants don't like being watered on the leaves.

http://www.vegetable-gardening-with-lorraine.com/watering-tomato-plants.html

[dnkw]

Might be water damage - tomato plants don't like being watered on the leaves.

http://www.vegetable-gardening-with-lorraine.com/watering-tomato-plants.html

Thank you.

They were certainly outside in the downpours at the start of last week.

Edit: So the question would be, are they fucked?

[Sarge]

Sorted so

[Sarge]

Didn't know there was a gardening thread

Here's a question for you: I've just got the keys for my new house and at the back of the incredibly overgrown garden (neighbours don't think it's been tended to since 1996!) there is a really solid breezeblock shed. The roof is in good order and the footings have been built deep into the ground.

However, when I first braved going in (after clearing the cobwebs out Indiana Jones style) I fell straight through the bloody floor because it was so rotten. Can I just replace the floor with some thick (15mm/20mm) plywood or is there a better way to do it? I'm fairly confident that the floor wasn't supporting the walls.

Jesus i am no builder bar a basis knowledge but i think a ply floor is a no no due to water/rain/damp and so on. Any builder lads in here?

[bigbonedrawky]

Didn't know there was a gardening thread

Here's a question for you: I've just got the keys for my new house and at the back of the incredibly overgrown garden (neighbours don't think it's been tended to since 1996!) there is a really solid breezeblock shed. The roof is in good order and the footings have been built deep into the ground.

However, when I first braved going in (after clearing the cobwebs out Indiana Jones style) I fell straight through the bloody floor because it was so rotten. Can I just replace the floor with some thick (15mm/20mm) plywood or is there a better way to do it? I'm fairly confident that the floor wasn't supporting the walls.

I reckon the joists under the floor are sat on the ground or in water Pull it all up get some of these... http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-50mm-Speedy-Minor-Joist-Hanger/p/240107
so you can hang these...  http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Treated-Kiln-Dried-C16-Regularised-45x95x2400mm-Single/p/166403 off the ground then cover with these... 
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-General-Purpose-OSB2-Board-11-x-1220-x-2440mm/p/110024

[Sarge]

Not to worry hopefully its nothing bad.

[L666KOP]

Sorry mate, I was just using amateur hour language there - I just meant thick board of some kind.

Thanks for this mate - will investigate tomorrow when I'm back at the house.

Check the joists, if there are any. If they're rotten, the easiest way is to hire a cement mixer and spend a weekend, and a few quid filling the void with concrete. It can be done on a fairly 'easy' budget. Fill with hardcore, to a depth of 6 inches below what will be FFL. Pour concrete. Job done.

If joists are okay, give them a good dosing of a wood preservative, leave 3 days then repeat. You can then lay flooring that's been treated. T&G/Decking etc.

If the shed is in good overall nick, I'd prolly go with option 1, mate.

[Damo58]

Not so much a question but just raising something a bit strange. I should point out that I don't know the first thing about gardening but know that this seems a bit weird.

I have a ground floor flat with a small yard and I will use grammar to draw a plan


-------------------                       Back wall
                    __[                     Back gate
                 _[__                      Outhouse/shed
                [                             Flat wall
                [
                [
-------------                              Entrance to yard


The back wall is about 3 foot high and there is a bushy tree set about a foot back from it for privacy. The yard is about 10 metres in length.

Anyway, I went away for one night and when I came home the back tree has grown over the wall, past the back gate, past the shed and is now nearly touching the doors on the entrance to the yard. It is really thick and bushy and basically my garden has turned into a scene from Jumanji in 24 hours.


That cant be right, surely? Anyone else lost their garden to a tree so quickly?!

[Sarge]

Odd that.

[Damo58]

Odd that.

Innit. I've got frozen mince in the freezer in the outhouse i cant get to.

[Lawnmowerman]

Elderberrys grow real quick at this time of year, but haven't seen one that grows that quick

[Sarge]

Elderberrys grow real quick at this time of year, but haven't seen one that grows that quick

There is quick and their is fucking plain weird

[redbyrdz]

Maybe it fell over?

[Nice Guy Davey]

Damo can you post a picture of it ? Be interesting to see what it is

[Damo58]

Damo can you post a picture of it ? Be interesting to see what it is

I've had the landlord round (it's a rented flat) and he thought I was exaggerating until he saw it. It hasn't fell.

I'm not techie at all but I've emailed a pic from my phone to my account so when I get to my laptop I'll try and post it. It was actually quite hard to get a pic because it was pressing me into the corner of my yard.

[Sarge]

Jaysus i want to see this, no before pic no?

[bigbonedrawky]

I've had the landlord round (it's a rented flat) and he thought I was exaggerating until he saw it. It hasn't fell.

I'm not techie at all but I've emailed a pic from my phone to my account so when I get to my laptop I'll try and post it. It was actually quite hard to get a pic because it was pressing me into the corner of my yard.

When i first read of your problem damo my initial thoughts were the following :
1 You've come "home" drunk to the wrong house, possibly a neighbours ...it happens. 
2 You've been spiked with LSD and things will be back to normal in the morning.
3 You've been Rip van Winkled and you think its 1996 or something.
4 It's The Day of the Triffids and we're all f*cked.

[Damo58]

I can find a before on Rightmove because the flat is up for sale so I will post that, then monstrosity that I came home to and then, even weirder, I woke up this morning to a man chopping away at it. There's no way into the garden because the back gate is locked and was behind 20 foot of mystery bush and I have no idea who he was.

I just let him get on with it and I will post what I have just come home to.

That's if I can upload photos from my phone...

Give me a few minutes. 

[Damo58]

Before




During. Quite hard to see whats actually happened as I couldn't get far enough away from it but you can see the white of the back wall.




After

[CHOPPER]

Hammer House of Horrors mate. Get out and stay out.

[Hudson66]

Could do with some advice here. I am a complete novice when it comes to gardening. I try my best to keep it tidy and this year decided to tackle the multiple brambles growing in various places. I had read online that I could use glyphosate weed killer to kill them off. So I was cutting them back and applying the weedkiller to the cut branchs.

Under three conifer trees that separate mine and my neighbours garden was the biggest clump out there. Multiple branches. Again I cut them all back and started applying it to the cut branches. Problem here is that I knocked over the open container of glyphosate and a fair amount (guessing 250-500ml, neat) spilt into the soil under the trees.

Now it's been about three weeks since the spill, the trees have browning leaves pretty much from the top to just above half way, drooping at the tops as well. They are each around 15ft high and well rooted. I am wondering are they now doomed to die or could they recover?

I now know a great deal more about glyphosate and will probably prefer to dig them all out rather than use it again. Lesson about using chemicals in the garden, well and truly learned

[Nice Guy Davey]

Damo, I can only see the first picture you posted mate. Any chance of a closer one of the leaves. May be able to tell you what the plant is then. Cheers 

[Lawnmowerman]

That's looks a massive ivy bush. Probably looks like it hasn't fell over but it's more than likely cracked at the base from being top heavy. It looks like a lean already on it in the first pic.

[Damo58]

Damo, I can only see the first picture you posted mate. Any chance of a closer one of the leaves. May be able to tell you what the plant is then. Cheers 

Should be working now. I spoke to the fella who chopped it down. He's the landlord of a flat a few flats down and was doing a good deed after my neighbour saw what had happened. He said the main branch didn't looked like it had fell but it's hard to tell what happened because he doesn't know what it looked like before. It's a mix of plants. There's ivy in there, thick bramble and a few others. 

[Sarge]

Damo, I can only see the first picture you posted mate. Any chance of a closer one of the leaves. May be able to tell you what the plant is then. Cheers 

Same Damo.

[Sarge]

Could do with some advice here. I am a complete novice when it comes to gardening. I try my best to keep it tidy and this year decided to tackle the multiple brambles growing in various places. I had read online that I could use glyphosate weed killer to kill them off. So I was cutting them back and applying the weedkiller to the cut branchs.

Under three conifer trees that separate mine and my neighbours garden was the biggest clump out there. Multiple branches. Again I cut them all back and started applying it to the cut branches. Problem here is that I knocked over the open container of glyphosate and a fair amount (guessing 250-500ml, neat) spilt into the soil under the trees.

Now it's been about three weeks since the spill, the trees have browning leaves pretty much from the top to just above half way, drooping at the tops as well. They are each around 15ft high and well rooted. I am wondering are they now doomed to die or could they recover?

I now know a great deal more about glyphosate and will probably prefer to dig them all out rather than use it again. Lesson about using chemicals in the garden, well and truly learned

Just get the head down and run riot on them, forget the chems mate, just tear in.

[Sarge]

Garden looks great if I do say so myself, wish I could enjoy it now but all I need is the rain to fucking stop.

[Sarge]

So any Budding Gardeners?

Budding, get it, get it.

[Filler.]

One day I might do a full write up of my trials and tribulations with garden. I might not tho - I'll spare you.

In short - our old house - a 15 x 4m townhouse garden. Small veg plot. Manageable (almost). Moved 3 years ago. Lived with in-laws for 2. New garden... large. Builders in... we hired diggers. Mounds of earth 2m high in garden. Now covered with weeds. Old pig pen at the back - desrtoyed by crap tree surgeon. Weeds... 4 foot high. No lawnmower. We borrow one for each mow. Fuck me I can't even do a brief write-up. The front is a mound of earth now covered in weeds.

We bought it for the garden (well, it was the one saving grace for me - I found the move to a villiage quite hard), and one day, I'll be on top of it - got the house to do too (got no kitchen). You'll laugh, but I want a croquet lawn. Fuck me, you should see the 'lawn'. Just been out there now again, dreaming of it. Takes up many hours of daydreaming.

But, it's my first year here proper, and I had no herbs growing here at all. None. Now got rosemary, thyme, chives, parsley, chervil, lemon grass (have a small greenhouse which is nice... chillies, basil, and 'erb in there too). Got spinach, tomatoes, beans, raspberries, loganberries, tayberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, gooseberries, apples (grafted by me ages ago and still in bloody pots)... my sunflowers are tall. Some fruits we inherited. The birds are enjoying it all. But happily... so might some hedgehogs which I've seen about the place. Also got a bees nest, some mason bees, and I want a small pond for the toads we come across. Also want to sink a 1000 litre receptacle for rain water into the ground. Plus an outdoor kitchen, pizza oven, studio, new shed/outdoor workspace, new 4x3 greenhouse. All electrically connected. 

Got some flowers too. Stuff is on the go... slowly.


While I'm here... been looking at these 5 in 1 type garden machines... strimmer/brush cutter/chainsaw/hedge trimmer things etc. Any recomendations?


EDIT: Fuck, forgot to mention my asparagus. Planted them far too late... but two out of the six have sprouted. They're my babies. And didn't mention Puck, a baby duckling that waddled into my garage one evening. We looked after him or her for two nights, but thought better about keeping it. We wanted to. It died later on in its new home.

[Sarge]

Jesus thats the short version Filler

[Filler.]

Jesus thats the short version Filler

I could knock off 10,000 words and I'd still forget to include things.

I reckon if I could work full time on the garden, it would take me a year to get where I want to be with it. Plus about £30,000. Then I'd be able to enjoy it. I'd have a working studio that I could studiously work in (insulated, connected to water/electricity), a big greenhouse growing aubergines, gherkins, tomatoes, my Mary's, chillies, cucumbers, herbs etc, a shed for tools, an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, the garden is flat, healthy, true and beautiful, a veg patch, wildlife running free.

As ever, I'll be doing a thrifty version, but the ambition is there.

[19th Nervous Title]

I collect and propagate Cycads.

Amongst the oldest living things still in existence. Pre dating dinosaurs, they have been on the planet for 50 - 60 million years.

Male and female cone bearing plants. They are Gymnosperms, that is, plants which bear naked seeds. Females carry more monetary value.

Be sure to check them out next time you're at Kew Gardens. You either get them or you don't.

[Filler.]

Would love to grow a few Cycads. Different temps in England. Would they work in England?


Zucchino Rampicante

Going to try and grow these next year. Want them dripping in between something.



Bought a round courgette plant from France. It's got tendrils... do I really need to build a frame for them or do they just get on with it?
.

[MichaelA]

Leggy Lavender. Discuss.

It's in it's 3rd or 4th year, I haven't cut it back properly and there is a too much twiggy length before the fresh growth and flowers. It looks terrible in the winter, and has outgrown it's place and purpose in the garden. Can I cut it right back at the end of the season or do I need to start over with new plants?