Free's Baby Steps

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Freeranger
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Free's Baby Steps

Post by Freeranger »

Now, I'm a bit of a strange one - in oh so many ways - because, in gardening terms, I know what I know and I know bog all about the rest. So, quite comfortable with tomatoes as my grandad used to grow them, but very unconfident with everything else that appears in my garden. I'm also not confident that the tomatoes will do well here.
A green-fingered friend, B, in her late 80s tells me I overthink things and try too hard, as all plants want to grow if at all possible. This has not been my experience.
I live up a hillside in Scotland, where we've just had snow, and the heavy frosts may be around for a while yet. The soil varies between wet and clayish, or gorgeous woodland tilth. It is wet, due to a combination of heavy rain, being close to the water table level, and neglect. You will think I'm late doing everything, but we're so far behind you (we have 1 full daff so far, buds and greenery) that Monty's tips on what I should be doing this weekend are well previous.
We have some land, but I'm making a start with the garden first.
My objectives are:
1) Tidy it up and stop it looking such a tip
2) Make it easier to maintain
3) Create a very naturalistic garden
4) Grow veggies and fruit
5) Shame myself by going public into doing the work
6) Benefit from your knowledge and moral support.
So, I have declared my intent. No going back now....
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Mo
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

Post by Mo »

Good luck with it.
of course, it's not all luck, determination comes into it too.
It was a very early season in Cheshire - when are your daffs out normally, we don't usually have many if any out by St David's day (which is when the Welsh like to see them), but most were this year. What's the wildlife like - will you have to protect against deer as well as rabbits?
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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lancashire lass
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Freeranger wrote:You will think I'm late doing everything, but we're so far behind you (we have 1 full daff so far, buds and greenery) that Monty's tips on what I should be doing this weekend are well previous.


Now that we now, I think it's permissible to be later than everyone else ... on a garden forum I follow, our Scottish friend would often make comments when somebody was "harvesting" stuff somewhere in Cornwall that he hadn't even planted them yet. He did mention he lived in Aberdeenshire and the east side of Scotland can get a lot milder than you might expect being so much further north, something I have noticed when watching weather forecasts. It's all about climate zones rather than latitude. You will also have a big advantage between spring and autumn equinox of benefiting from longer daylight hours so not all bad news.

I think the main thing is to look at what others grow in your area - Scotland is well known for growing raspberries so there's a fruit you should be able to grow successfully outdoors. A greenhouse or a polytunnel might be useful if you have not got one already. Sometimes the weather plays a big role - last year was unusual not only for the heatwave (that I personally don't particularly enjoy) but the long periods of uninterrupted sunshine over several weeks. But for the downside of a drought, the UK as a whole should have had an exceptional successful growing season.

Anyway, just wanted to welcome you to the diary section - to start off, how about some "before" photos so that we can all see what challenges face you and hopefully by the end of the year you will have some positive "after" photos to post )t' Best of luck on your gardening venture.
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Mo, I've been out this morning and the sunshine has tempted a bit more showiness from the daffs - about a dozen are half-out by lunchtime, and I think the others will follow if the sun stays with us. I did find another clump properly out in a bit I haven't been to recently.
We do get deer here, but they are usually in the field and tend not to stray to the "garden" which is close to the house - except for when it's snowy. I've only ever seen one rabbit here. We've seen prints in the snow, but again not close to the house. We have all kinds of wonderful creatures, but I've never lost anything to them during my sporadic efforts. Birds, however....
Thanks for the tips and the bright side, LL - I need to be reminded. And for the welcome. Our biggest challenge is really the height that we are, which means it's so much cooler than even our nearer neighbours who are just a few metres lower. We have a burn running through the land, as well as being wet, so it can be a bit of a frost pocket and quite windy. I know I need to to break it up a bit and create little localised micro-climates, and to improve drainage in specific spots.
Today I have been putting newspaper down over an area of scrappy lawn, then tipping out loads of 4yr-rotted horse manure on it. Not exactly the peasiest easy, but instant flower beds! Most is beautifully friable and full of confused worms who've just been dragged half way across the Borders and turned upside down, but some bits were quite compacted and claggy still with obvious lumps of straw. Hopefully, letting it weather for a short while should be enough to render it 'safe' to plant in. If not, please shout!
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Forgot to mention that I do have some fruit bushes - blackcurrant, gooseberries and rhubarb. There were rasps there, but they've become very leggy and have leaves just sporadically along very long stems. No idea whether summer or autumn. I'll be asking your advice on all of these later!
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lancashire lass
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Freeranger wrote:There were rasps there, but they've become very leggy and have leaves just sporadically along very long stems. No idea whether summer or autumn. I'll be asking your advice on all of these later!


There's a couple of things to do which ideally would be better done now rather than later when it might be too late. First, so long as you don't mind the possibility of no fruit this year (but hopefully will have a bumper crop next year) is to trim all the canes right back to about 6 inches from ground level. If they are autumn fruiting then you'll be laughing as they fruit on new canes but summer ones produce fruit on older wood so it will be next year. Secondly, give the soil a good feed - dump loads of compost on the surface and water in (maybe add some fish, blood & bone fertiliser in case the soil is nutrient low). Sometimes a feed of potash might help as well (helps with bud and fruit development) - if you would rather be a little more organic, you can dig in some banana skins, kelp or water in seaweed extract. The other (last resort) is to dig up the raspberries and divide up in case they are too crowded - ideally do this late autumn/winter rather than spring but being further north you might just get away with it now if they are still dormant.
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Oh heck, LL! Had a look in the light of what you posted (thank you), and they're going to be a whole subject in themselves!
Can't do any more for the next couple of days but will post pictures after that.
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Rasps are near the top of the list of things to do, but have been away and very busy so things starting to get ahead of me now....
I tried to do a bit more landscaping yesterday but it was way too hot to do much at all. Relocated an ox-eye daisy plant that was struggling (I moved it because it was thriving and growing into a stone path, and split it into several new ones that I've placed around the garden - varying degrees of fortune), and made a start on a rampant catoneasta. It had grown so heavy it broke its mooring to the wall and fell forwards shrouding everything else. I rescued one shrub that can now breathe again.
I just need to tame the catoneasta, but need to keep i as we have masses of wild bees that just adore it when its in flower. The whole wall hums, and for me its one of the best bits of summer. I didn't do it in the autumn because the birds rely on it for berries. My secateur thumb is quite sore now.
It's still very hot, so gardening today may involve a few short ninja trips to do specific things.
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Mo
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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Freeranger wrote:I tried to do a bit more landscaping yesterday but it was way too hot to do much at all. It's still very hot, so gardening today may involve a few short ninja trips to do specific things.


Yes, here too. Not bad after about 7.
Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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I've been a bit on and off on the gardening front, TBH.
I moved a couple of struggling plants and hacked back my catoneasta enough to reveal two more shrubs, one of which has been struggling for a couple of years. The catoneasta grows like billy-o so although there's a massive pile of trimmings, it still looks like a big forest with two shrubby archways cut back through it.
I want to take cuttings from the unidentified shrubs, then use them to populate the rather sparse garden. I can then prune everything back into shape without worrying that I've killed it all off.
The good news in the garden is that stuff is growing again, and that I keep finding new things that have established themselves (like polyanthas in 'the what I call lawn'). We've had some rain, which has revived a few things and wet the newspaper below the instant not-yet-flower bed which means that sowing can commence. The weather brought out all the daffs, which have been magnificent, but earlies, lates and tulips all out at the same time rather than in succession - the bees are confused. The erratic weather means the daffs are a bit cowed, and I wonder what Bella will do to them.
The rain stopped me getting back out in the garden (wuss, I know) but I have been to collect yet more manure that is humming nicely until I get it all out of the car. There is still quite a lot more to come. Indoors, my remaining (after I left them out in a heavy frost going into the winter) geraniums are recovering nicely and have been potted on, the cuttings from my fallen shrub have taken root ready for planting, the hydrangea I thought hadn't made it is now about 5" tall, and I have a saucer full of brussels sprout bottoms that are trying to grow me a new dinner. I have recently discovered 're-growing', which has been very successful with celery and is now being tried out with the sprouts and some parsley. My tomato seedlings, started mid-feb, now just have their second leaves and are still very tiny. They won't do much unless I can get them under glass - making a high/steep cold frame is on my list of things to do.
Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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So, two more trips later and all the **it shovelling is done with - at least it's all now collected and the last is sat outside waiting to have something done with it.
I just bought 2x 150l bags of all purpose compost for £7.49 each at Be&queue, but needed the help of a burly gent to load them. Will sprinkle some over the flower seeds I'm about to sow in my instant beds to try and make them less attractive to the birds. I also fell for a tray of hot pink bedding plants for instant colour but £3.25 wasn't too bad a splurge for 10. They are, appranetly, in tea bags.
I'm not sure having a diary here is all positive - I'm starting to feel very inadequate compared to the other diarists, and still fee very hesitant about everything.
You may remember the fallen-over shrub that I pruned brutally - it's going great guns and budding from all kinds of places I thought wouldn't support green growth again. In my confidence, I hacked a bit more crossed growth out of the one I've been trying to re-shape, and am keeping the cuttings in water to root and propagate. As I'm about to make another small bed around the base of some other shrubs, I pruned out the damaged, crossing and central branches of a small silver shrub I was given a while back (silver birch type bark, cat willow type fluffy bits on the branches) - a huge pile of cuttings, but a tree that looks so much more like a tree. A goblet shaped one, anyway. And I'm rooting some of the cuttings as well. My ox-eye daisy also looks happier, but unfortunately my chives do not. I did have a strawberry, but I've lost it - somewhere under the effing buttercups, I think. Most of the things I've been given are doing OK, but can't say anything actively flourishing so far.
My next job is to make another of my instant flower beds, and to prune other shrubs/trees. I am also going to use pallets as instant raised veg beds, dig a couple of trenches for potatoes that I can earth up, and finish edging the beds and garden/driveway border. There, I've said it now - that means I have to do it, right?
By the way, is there anywhere that dock leaves won't grow? In the middle of my new flower bed is taking the p**s!
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Mo
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

Post by Mo »

Sounds like you are doing more than me - I'm just counting and cheering every time a new spud pops its head up.
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Freeranger
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

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A very strange afternoon in the garden yesterday.
Firstly I cleared weeds from the 'drain' at the side of an extension, and found it was just a pile of rubble - a soakaway - with no actual drain present. Another job for the list.
Then, seizing a moment while OH had power tools handy, made a start on my catoneasta pruning. I'd intended for it to be just a superficial job for now to maximise flowers for the bees, but crikey what a bunch of spaghetti I found. Branches weren't so much crossed as macramed together with obvious signs of damage. Wish I'd taken photos to catch the drama of the occasion, but now have about 10m run of clear wall that had been covered up to about 3' from the eaves. Bees were swooping in and birds telling us off the whole time. I have left a big patch for them that is also a mess and I'll cut hard back later in the year, but meantime the house seems so much lighter!
This uncovered three poorly shrubs that I'd partly cleared last week, so I went through them cutting out just the dead wood for now. I think I will let these straggly things flower and then do a 'restorative' prune later, taking cuttings as I go.
I found the dreaded moss all over the bases, and much bark damage on all f them, with actual powdery mildew in the worst spot. There's tons more air and light getting through now, but a weekend job will be to pull or spray the moss to remove it, and spray after with a clove oil/water spray to get rid.
As I was working so close to the house, I stayed out while the weather did its thing - I'd just taken off a fleece because I was too hot in the beating sunshine when it started to rain. Back on with the fleece. Then it hailed. Then sunshine, then snow, then back to glorious sunshine. We had snow overnight, meaning the pruning was beautifully timed, not. But everything seems OK this fine sunny morning.
I put my tomato seedlings on the dashboard of the car in order to try and generate a bit of growth. They love it.
I find myself getting ridiculously sentimental in the garden. I feel guilty for pruning things or digging them up - it all seems a bit abusive after it's tried so hard to flourish, and I feel especially bad if it's something I know the wildlife like. I'm telling myself 1) to stop being stupid and 2) that I am actually helping the 'good' plants to thrive. Surprisingly, my guilt does not extend to nettles, nor to ground elder. I have just seen a recipe on Beechgrove for using both in a soup, so the scyth's coming out again.
My plans are changing as I'm spending more time outside. I noticed a reed warbler emerging from a patch I was intending to tidy, so I'll leave that now until at least a bit later in the year, and try to work with it to leave a nesting site.
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Mo
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

Post by Mo »

I know that Macramé feeling, so well.
I read that Clematis Montana didn't need pruning unless I outgrew the site. So I left it till it was attacking the garage roof, then found that I wasn't sure if the bits I was cutting were 'downstream' of the bits I was leaving. Had to prune in stages, removing dead stuff after a few days. I now have a wire a couple of foot below the slope of the eaves and anything above that gets chopped annually, plus trimming it back so that it doesn't get too thick. But it has ventured off the wall and is all over plants in the shrubbery. Very pretty though.
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Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
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lancashire lass
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Re: Free's Baby Steps

Post by lancashire lass »

Freeranger wrote:I find myself getting ridiculously sentimental in the garden. I feel guilty for pruning things or digging them up - it all seems a bit abusive after it's tried so hard to flourish, and I feel especially bad if it's something I know the wildlife like.


I felt the same - my neglected garden had attracted lots of birds but after savagely hacking back the trees and privet hedge (and exposed lots of old nests during the winter trim), I haven't seen that many blackbirds around and even the robins have disappeared. However, next year I am sure the hedge will not only be better for it and with my other plans, the garden will be even more attractive to birds and other wildlife.
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