Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 terryd,whats the bottles on sticks for.? Rattling in wind supposed to scare birds,also stops you bending over an poking your eye out on stick ,lol Ha ha!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 We had a huge 1970s type stone hearth removed last year and I used the stones to make a makeshift raised bed. We have lettuce and cabbage growing really well in that. I did the digging but it's the wife's domain really. In the greenhouse we have beans, peas, tomatoes, cucumber and courgette and beetroot. I am amazed at how well it's all doing and next year I would like to build lots of raised beds using wood and also grow rhubarb. We only moved in in October so I have loads of work to do on the garden but I cannot seem to get any time off work at the moment and every day everything just grows even bigger. I have a new Petrol multi tool strimmer/hedge cutter/chain saw and a woodchipper on order which I cannot wait to get because I have about 8 or 9 bushes to remove and a few trees to trim, one single giant holy bush took 3 half days to cut down with a Makita and loppers lol and disposal has taken 2 weeks to get rid of just 1/3 of it, I even stayed up till 4am burning the bugger and barely seemed to make a dent. This gardening lark is going to be fun once I get on top of it all but it's a lot of work 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryd 8,414 Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 (edited) Plot 2 this morning for an hour. Pulling the garlic is all ways a nice day as you can't go wrong really but the white rot got me this year but we managed to salvage a few every thing else on target Edited June 4, 2017 by terryd 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tyla 3,179 Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 Planted up my beds a couple of days ago and added some beans, kindly donated by Sussex, this evening. No idea what I'm doing but the process of learning by my mistakes has started. The strawberries we inherited with the house have started producing as has the rhubarb and the spinach we planted early on is mostly done 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 Right then...I have to actually ask what could be the stupidest question ever asked. What actually is the point of raised beds? Is there any reason not to just remove the top layer of grass and put down down manure and compost in winter and turn it over for the following year. Are they just for tidiness or is there another reason? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryd 8,414 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 manageable sections I guess and ease of access. One of my plots had a couple of raised beds but they were riddled with bind weed and I could not get it out. So I demolished them so I could just dig through with out obstacles. Saying that now I am trying the no dig I have started a few beds but with no sides 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 manageable sections I guess and ease of access. One of my plots had a couple of raised beds but they were riddled with bind weed and I could not get it out. So I demolished them so I could just dig through with out obstacles. Saying that now I am trying the no dig I have started a few beds but with no sides Thanks Terry it was looking at your pictures that made me think, it would be less hassle and cost for me as well. By the way what I do with Bind weed is I put a garden cane in the ground so it has something to climb and not our flowers or veg and then give it a good treatment of glyphosate/round up. I think there isn't any other way to get rid of the bloody stuff and even glyphosate isn't 100% effective but I had very good results with is this technique at the old house....unfortunately we have bloody loads of it in this garden. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tiercel 6,986 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 manageable sections I guess and ease of access. One of my plots had a couple of raised beds but they were riddled with bind weed and I could not get it out. So I demolished them so I could just dig through with out obstacles. Saying that now I am trying the no dig I have started a few beds but with no sides Thanks Terry it was looking at your pictures that made me think, it would be less hassle and cost for me as well. By the way what I do with Bind weed is I put a garden cane in the ground so it has something to climb and not our flowers or veg and then give it a good treatment of glyphosate/round up. I think there isn't any other way to get rid of the bloody stuff and even glyphosate isn't 100% effective but I had very good results with is this technique at the old house....unfortunately we have bloody loads of it in this garden. Get a pair of marigolds cover them with cotton gloves and dip your hand in a container of round up, then rub it into the leaves. The leaves of convololus have a waxy sheen on them that inhibits the take up of the Glyphosate if you rub the leaves with the cotton soaked gloves it breaks the sheen and the bindweed can absorb the Round up. TC Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryd 8,414 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 yes we are not allowed weed killer so its just been a case of digging it all out. Right pain as you turn you back and it creeps in from the edges so I try and maintain a trench down both sides of me plot Quote Link to post Share on other sites
air gun ant 1,666 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 Got me a greenhouse! So will be better prepared for next year now lol ? had a visit from landlords agent last week and after seeing the work I'd done to stop the old cattle barn falling down, he's given me the nod to access the derelict part of the house ? I've to put an access in to the old greenhouse (that was only accessible from inside previously, in the part of the house that is now bricked up) on the condition that I repair and use the greenhouse. Whoop whoop! And as a bonus I've discovered that there's an office and an old workshop inside that are completely useable! He did say that if I felt it was "unsafe" at all then come out and board it all up again! (Or repair it) is what I think he wanted to say! Lol ? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 5, 2017 Report Share Posted June 5, 2017 manageable sections I guess and ease of access. One of my plots had a couple of raised beds but they were riddled with bind weed and I could not get it out. So I demolished them so I could just dig through with out obstacles. Saying that now I am trying the no dig I have started a few beds but with no sides Thanks Terry it was looking at your pictures that made me think, it would be less hassle and cost for me as well. By the way what I do with Bind weed is I put a garden cane in the ground so it has something to climb and not our flowers or veg and then give it a good treatment of glyphosate/round up. I think there isn't any other way to get rid of the bloody stuff and even glyphosate isn't 100% effective but I had very good results with is this technique at the old house....unfortunately we have bloody loads of it in this garden. Get a pair of marigolds cover them with cotton gloves and dip your hand in a container of round up, then rub it into the leaves. The leaves of convololus have a waxy sheen on them that inhibits the take up of the Glyphosate if you rub the leaves with the cotton soaked gloves it breaks the sheen and the bindweed can absorb the Round up. TC Thanks TC I'll give that a go as well Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DIDO.1 22,717 Posted June 6, 2017 Report Share Posted June 6, 2017 This wind is flattening my veg, my spuds have snapped and I'll be surprised if my plastic greenhouse is still standing Quote Link to post Share on other sites
terryd 8,414 Posted June 6, 2017 Report Share Posted June 6, 2017 (edited) yea checking my lot tomorrow fingers crossed. Expecting my peas that i took the netting off at the weekend to have taken a battering Edited June 6, 2017 by terryd Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Nik_B 3,790 Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 We're in a valley and get a lot of protection from the wind depending on it's direction although be lost a few fence panels last winter and next doors lost his solar panels lol Anyone got any tips for getting rid of brambles? Because the garden was left overgrowing for a few years before we bought this they have become very established and growing through bushes. I have cut them back to stumps and removed what I can and been ripped to shreds in doing so but I cannot dig them out and I'm not sure I should use glyphosate or even if it will work. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sussex 5,777 Posted June 7, 2017 Report Share Posted June 7, 2017 manageable sections I guess and ease of access. One of my plots had a couple of raised beds but they were riddled with bind weed and I could not get it out. So I demolished them so I could just dig through with out obstacles. Saying that now I am trying the no dig I have started a few beds but with no sides Thanks Terry it was looking at your pictures that made me think, it would be less hassle and cost for me as well. By the way what I do with Bind weed is I put a garden cane in the ground so it has something to climb and not our flowers or veg and then give it a good treatment of glyphosate/round up. I think there isn't any other way to get rid of the bloody stuff and even glyphosate isn't 100% effective but I had very good results with is this technique at the old house....unfortunately we have bloody loads of it in this garden. When I bought this place the one thing that grew in abundance was bind weed , it took me three years of constant poisoning to finally get rid of it . Same as Nik I grew it up canes till it was four or five feet high with plenty of leaf then hit it with the roundup , by the third year I'd just about had it sorted . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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