The Gardening Bed

[thebish]

herb salad baby-leaves now ready for daily snipping

will start a new batch now..

[Gooner Girl]

My dad weeded my vegetable patch today looking forward to some raspberries soon now I can see the canes again from under all the weeds...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

About five years ago I planted some bamboo in the far reaches of my garden after I’d cleared out the brambles. The brambles have since grown back but I can see a grove of bamboo dense enough to hide pandas! I must clear the brambles back and explore. Anyone got a pith helmet?

[Always hopeful]

About five years ago I planted some bamboo in the far reaches of my garden after I’d cleared out the brambles. The brambles have since grown back but I can see a grove of bamboo dense enough to hide pandas! I must clear the brambles back and explore. Anyone got a pith helmet?

Good luck if you ever decide to clear the bamboo. It'll be an absolute nightmare.

We brought a 'bucket full' of bamboo from our old house as a memory of our former residence and planted it in our new house's garden 11 years ago. Well, let's say it spread. It spread everywhere. Along the bed I planted it in. Under the concrete path and into the lawn. Under the fence and into next door's.

We decided it was time to dig it up.

What a job. The roots don't necessarily go deep, but they form a solid mass that needs hacking and hacking and hacking to break up.

Eventually, after a lot of back breaking work, I got rid of it............ or so I thought.

I had to nip next door's the other day and noticed that it's still there. Taking over their beds, their lawn, their garden, despite them trying to prune it with little effect.

My advice to anyone tempted to think about putting bamboo in their garden is to think long and hard about it. Either be sure you never want to get rid of it, or move house before it takes over your garden (which come to think of it, is precisely what the owners of our previous house did).

[Lost Leopard Spot]

About five years ago I planted some bamboo in the far reaches of my garden after I’d cleared out the brambles. The brambles have since grown back but I can see a grove of bamboo dense enough to hide pandas! I must clear the brambles back and explore. Anyone got a pith helmet?

Good luck if you ever decide to clear the bamboo. It'll be an absolute nightmare.

We brought a 'bucket full' of bamboo from our old house as a memory of our former residence and planted it in our new house's garden 11 years ago. Well, let's say it spread. It spread everywhere. Along the bed I planted it in. Under the concrete path and into the lawn. Under the fence and into next door's.

We decided it was time to dig it up.

What a job. The roots don't necessarily go deep, but they form a solid mass that needs hacking and hacking and hacking to break up.

Eventually, after a lot of back breaking work, I got rid of it............ or so I thought.

I had to nip next door's the other day and noticed that it's still there. Taking over their beds, their lawn, their garden, despite them trying to prune it with little effect.

My advice to anyone tempted to think about putting bamboo in their garden is to think long and hard about it. Either be sure you never want to get rid of it, or move house before it takes over your garden (which come to think of it, is precisely what the owners of our previous house did).

I had no idea it was so invasive. However, it cannot do much harm where it is in my garden. The boundary at the back is fuzzy to say the least and runs into woods. I wouldn't mind it being reinforced with an impenetrable bamboo forest. And it can't do much harm in the 'cultivated' areas as that is seperated by a twenty foot drop down a sheer rock face - I don't think even Japanese knotweed could overcome that barrier. The bloody brambles have managed to, mind you. And the fecking bindweed.

[Bruce Rioja]

The green shoot jobbies on my spuddies have grown so tall that they can no longer stand up properly. Am concerned that all the growth has gone into them rather than into the spuddies themselves

[Lost Leopard Spot]

The green shoot jobbies on my spuddies have grown so tall that they can no longer stand up properly. Am concerned that all the growth has gone into them rather than into the spuddies themselves

You want to cut them off before they drain your spuddies of all vitality.


(No, Bruce, i was only kidding.... oops)

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Home grown radishes. Yum yum yum yum, eating the juicy little beggars at work as an horses hoof before I get stuck into a bag of sweets.

[ChrisC]

A little different to planting but I need some advice and this is the closest topic to what I need

The driveway down the side of my house extended into the back garden and took over some of my lawn. Whoever had put this drive in using flags must have just thrown them down any old way and jumped up and down on them They was all over the show!

Anywayyy.. I have took them all back up, re-flagged the bit I want to keep as a path and now I want to put my lawn back to how it use to be.

Question one.. Does anybody know anywhere in Bolton that sells good quality lawn turf?

Second question.. The soil is full of small stones (the type you put on driveways between flags etc) Do all these need to come out? or can I get away with making sure there is no big stones and just compact the soil as you should and then lay my turf?

I'm not after a show stopping lawn, just something that looks acceptable and will blend in with my existing lawn.

Any help is much appreciated guys

[Lost Leopard Spot]

A little different to planting but I need some advice and this is the closest topic to what I need

The driveway down the side of my house extended into the back garden and took over some of my lawn. Whoever had put this drive in using flags must have just thrown them down any old way and jumped up and down on them They was all over the show!

Anywayyy.. I have took them all back up, re-flagged the bit I want to keep as a path and now I want to put my lawn back to how it use to be.

Question one.. Does anybody know anywhere in Bolton that sells good quality lawn turf?

Second question.. The soil is full of small stones (the type you put on driveways between flags etc) Do all these need to come out? or can I get away with making sure there is no big stones and just compact the soil as you should and then lay my turf?

I'm not after a show stopping lawn, just something that looks acceptable and will blend in with my existing lawn.

Any help is much appreciated guys

Firstly, if you insist on putting turf down, then the small stones won't matter.
But, I'd personally urge you to consider grass seed rather than turf.
Turf might be a quicker alternative but it ain't necessarily the best option.
Putting topsoil down, raking it and then sowing grass seed (which you can get from Amazon) is almost as easy, and gives you a better result.
If you do go with turf, I'm not in Bolton so cannot advise on sourcing the turf - sorry.

[ChrisC]

A little different to planting but I need some advice and this is the closest topic to what I need

The driveway down the side of my house extended into the back garden and took over some of my lawn. Whoever had put this drive in using flags must have just thrown them down any old way and jumped up and down on them They was all over the show!

Anywayyy.. I have took them all back up, re-flagged the bit I want to keep as a path and now I want to put my lawn back to how it use to be.

Question one.. Does anybody know anywhere in Bolton that sells good quality lawn turf?

Second question.. The soil is full of small stones (the type you put on driveways between flags etc) Do all these need to come out? or can I get away with making sure there is no big stones and just compact the soil as you should and then lay my turf?

I'm not after a show stopping lawn, just something that looks acceptable and will blend in with my existing lawn.

Any help is much appreciated guys

Firstly, if you insist on putting turf down, then the small stones won't matter.
But, I'd personally urge you to consider grass seed rather than turf.
Turf might be a quicker alternative but it ain't necessarily the best option.
Putting topsoil down, raking it and then sowing grass seed (which you can get from Amazon) is almost as easy, and gives you a better result.
If you do go with turf, I'm not in Bolton so cannot advise on sourcing the turf - sorry.

I did plan to use grass seed LLS, but I have a little girl who is never out of the garden at the moment and she would be messing before I knew it

Turf is the best option all round at this moment in time

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Fairy nuff. As I said the stones won't matter. You could always spread a bit of sharp sand down (doesn't have to be deep), to even out the bumps and dips before having the turf laid.
This weather's not too great for turf laying either - I'd do it in the evening to help the grass settle in.

[ChrisC]

Fairy nuff. As I said the stones won't matter. You could always spread a bit of sharp sand down (doesn't have to be deep), to even out the bumps and dips before having the turf laid.
This weather's not too great for turf laying either - I'd do it in the evening to help the grass settle in.

I thought the blazing sun might be a problem. Will lay late on as you say

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

I managed to re-seed some of the bare patches in my lawn in 40c heat and desert sun. Lay it in the evening and then make sure it gets a good watering. My lawn gets 10 minutes twice a day with the sprinkler and it just about survives 50c+. When I was re-seeding, those parts got an extra dousing from the hose every evening.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Well I've got mixed results in the veggie patch
This year so far:
Strawberries - a disaster, they are ripening too quickly, slugs and birds been at them and when I can get to them before the pests they are tasteless, even though last year (same variety) they were gorgeous.
Radishes - fxcking brilliant, best radishes in the world.
Spuds - too little, too hard, not enough (test dug one up this weekend)
Beans - doing great, but I hate beans anyway (they are there because the missus insisted)
Peas - are looking ok ish but it's too early to say
Chives- struggling, they aren't really a desert plant at all!
Nasturtiums - having the time of their lives, rampant little buggers
Edible, non-stinging nettles - wilting in the heat, but at least the butterfly caterpillars have found them, so I've sacrificed them to nature this year.
Tomatoes, cherry - lots of growth, lots of flowers, but nothing set yet
Tomatoes, other - ditto
Lettuce - decimated by something unknown - I think it might be ants! but then again they just might be lurking in the wrong place. I've dug out a red ant's nest from the corner of the lettuce patch so we'll see.
Rocket - I think it's in there but I planted too close to the nasturtiums and they're drowned out
Spring onions - fine
Onions - coming along nicely
Garlick - struggling badly
Asparagus (third year) - decimated, nowhere to be seen, dead, absent.
Sage - It's like a jungle in my sage patch, enormous leaves, flowers in profusion everywhere. I've got four different varieties, green, yellow, purple, and variegated.
Rosemary - I lost my bush to builders three years ago, and every time I plant a new one (this is my fourth attempt) something is turning its leaves yellow with brown blobs which then dehydrate and drop off leaving a bare dead plant. Frustrating.
Basil - I've given up and just buy it from Sainsburys.
Last winter's sprouts - just don't know when to give up, I'm still cropping them (although they're beginning to look a bit pathetic mind, the plants not the sprouts themselves). (also they are really potent - if you want a good fart they are guaranteed to provide).
Bay - (in pots either side of front door) two plants, one going strong and very healthy looking, the other getting crinckles on the edges of the leaves, some leaves turning yellow then brown, and about a quarter the size of the other plant.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

How're the bicycle enhancement supplements (mushrooms) Bruce?

[Bruce Rioja]

How're the bicycle enhancement supplements (mushrooms) Bruce?

They quite simply didn't happen, Spotto. My fault, I think. I mixed two of the ingredients together when it looks like I should have put one on top of t'other.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

How're the bicycle enhancement supplements (mushrooms) Bruce?

They quite simply didn't happen, Spotto. My fault, I think. I mixed two of the ingredients together when it looks like I should have put one on top of t'other.

Oh dear

[Bruce Rioja]

Anyone had any spuddies out yet? I haven't had many flowers. Might have a mooch around in the soil - or is it still a bit too early?

[thebish]

Anyone had any spuddies out yet? I haven't had many flowers. Might have a mooch around in the soil - or is it still a bit too early?

had some of mine yesterday - the missus rooted them out - yummy!

when it stops raining, will empty a bag and see what the whole crop is like...