Gardening Thread

[fishman65]

Hullo. And welcome to Gardener’s World

[Darksky]

Well that was a very satisfying few minutes. Hosed out my lupins and seeing all the little devils float away in a puddle was a joy indeed. Much more fun than a squirty bottle of poison.

[fishman65]

The thing with pesticides is that they get into everything. The water system, the ground, the 'pests' we're spraying, the predatory insects that will eat those pests, and ultimately us.

My brother worked for Anglian Water for a long time. Metaldehyde, the chemical used in slug pellets, cannot be removed by water treatment methods. I remember in my very early days of gardening, Mrs F's BIL used to get us a few trays of bedding plants from a chap he knew. He advised me to put down slug pellets as the young plants, mostly French marigolds, would get massacred.

I did so and next morning all these slugs and snails lay dead. I swore never to use chemicals again and haven't.

[Darksky]

The best thing I’ve found for slugs are wool pellets. They are made of sheeps wool and when they get wet they expand and form a barrier around the plants and the fibres irritate the slugs and snails, so they don’t climb over. They smell of soggy sheep but apart from that I do like them.

[fishman65]

Darksky, if I've said it once I've said it a million times. Frogs!!

So where's that spade?

[Darksky]

So where's that spade?

Wrapped around your neck and tied in a pretty bow.

[fishman65]

Well managed to get a few things done after seeing my Dad this morning. Have been pulling up campion left, right and centre. While I really appreciate it as a woodland species, I'm sure every single seed germinates. And with enough shady spots it loves the growing conditions.

A robin followed me around, must have thought I was a wild bore

[Darksky]

We have a lot of campion here too.

My sister has a ‘tame’ blackbird which follows her round when she’s trowelling. It checks her work out for worms.

[Darksky]

Attachment 5901

This is my solitary Hollyhock. This little cluster of buds has been here for literally weeks. It shows no sign of opening into flowers. Impatience? Yes, by the bucketful but is it actually going to open. I love Hollyhocks and so want it to flower.

On a more successful note. My newly purchased Penstemon is a great hit with the bees. They are busy burying deep inside each flower. I tried to get a photo but wildlife never cooperates with me.

[Carnation]

The attachment won't open for me darksky, it might just be me though.
My lupins never luped. I put it down to the strange weather.