Ask Doug!-- our Garden expert in the Snug!

[Bucklerclan]

I am a long way from being green fingered and my veg garden is a disgrace compared with those orderly and verdant allotments you see.

I don't believe in spending much money on growing veg. I usually get seeds as pressies for Christmas and birthdays. I don't like to use chemicals and my liquid fertilizer is horse manure shovelled off the road and put in a 10 gallon barrel of water. My slow release fertiliser, buried deep, is currently seaweed off the nearby beach.

Cats and the marauding gang of 13 wild chickens are kept at bay with smelly tar strings, spiky hawthorne clippings and my violent displays of zero tolerance. It has worked so far.

[Annie]

Cats and the marauding gang of 13 wild chickens are kept at bay with smelly tar strings, spiky hawthorne clippings and my violent displays of zero tolerance. It has worked so far.

Hi Bucklerclan what is smelly tar string , I use moth balls which they hate , but the moths balls don't last long once it rains on them.

Annie

[Bucklerclan]

Hi Bucklerclan what is smelly tar string , I use moth balls which they hate , but the moths balls don't last long once it rains on them.

Annie

It is a general purpose gardeners jute based twine called Nutscene Tartwist ( mine is brown but they did a green version too ). It smells very strong and perfumes the entire garden shed with an evocative aroma of kippers but without the fishy smell. Like many other of my gardening tools and sundries, I inherited my twine and I cannot begin guess how old it is but the label has almost faded to nothing.

I checked and find it no longer listed by Nutscene . Health & Safety one wonders ?? Anyway other makes are available though some are not as fine as mine, Do a Google for tarred twine and you should find some and there is some unbranded tarred twine that looks similar to mine on Ebay. I will write to Nutscene and ask because theirs is so strong and fine and never tangles out of the packet but it will eventually biodegrade and is safe to compost.

[Annie]

Thank you Bucklerclan I will google like you say and see what turns up.

Annie

[gardener]

Vegetables in Shady Gardens

According to the seed packets I am the only person with a shady garden or does someone else have the same problems?

I used to have a shady garden too - the shade stopped the winter ice from thawing as well so there were still clumps of ice in it at the start of June!

Now I have a lovely sunny patch with nasty acid soil

NL, perhaps you could take up Squarefoot Gardening? It promises bigger crops from less space with no digging

[Bucklerclan]

Vegetables in Shady Gardens

According to the seed packets I am the only person with a shady garden or does someone else have the same problems?

Now I have a lovely sunny patch with nasty acid soil

Here the farmers reclaim acid land by dressing it with crushed sea shells ( scallops ). In England lime is more usual. I am glad I do not have your snow problem.

[gardener]

Here the farmers reclaim acid land by dressing it with crushed sea shells ( scallops ). In England lime is more usual. I am glad I do not have your snow problem.

Mm, you can get bags of crushed shells here too, I used it once. Now I'm going to build a raised bed and fill it with lovely weed free mix No doubt the drifting dandelion seeds will pounce on it come the summer but I hope to have zero tolerance in place by then!

[Bucklerclan]

Hi again Gardener. Ash is very good too and I hear that you have a surplus in Iceland at the moment but drifting south ! !

[Northern Lass]

Ok Daffodils.....they are now spent....can we cut them all down, or do we have to tie em with elastic bands
what is the procedure?

[a5baggie]

Tie them up till the leaves die off, but feed the
bulbs to help them recover for next years growth.

[Annie]

Thanks for all the advice on my plum tree which I followed it is now packed full with blossom and looks very healthy, so hope we get plenty of plums this year.

I have now got some cherry vine tomato , radish, spring onion and lettuce seeds which i would like to grow in a container , when is it time to plant the seeds please.

Annie

[Northern Lass]

Tie them up till the leaves die off, but feed the
bulbs to help them recover for next years growth.

Quite the little gardener aren't you!
thanks A5

[Bucklerclan]

Ok Daffodils.....they are now spent....can we cut them all down, or do we have to tie em with elastic bands
what is the procedure?

I was always brought up to "dead head" them i.e. remove the dying flower before the seed head develops too much but leave the rest to die down, so the energy gets stored into the bulb for the following year. Tie the leaves if you want to be very tidy. If they are in the way of the mower then mow them down when the leaves are half dead otherwise they linger all summer.

I am told that in Holland, when the tulips are in full flower and at their very best, a machine chops all their heads off. The bulb growers do this for two or three years to develop good size bulbs.

I have everything planted now so it is feet up time until the grass need cutting.

[gardener]

I am quite happy if that ash stays away from me, it seems to make sludge when it meets the rain.

My son and I worked really hard on the weekend so now I have a flatish veg garden and two raised beds ready to put in place. I hoped to get that done yesterday but it poured with rain. Plenty of time still as May is really the planting season. Would be good to get the potatoes and carrots in now though.

Out daffs are only just in bud and tulips don't flower until the end of next month so you can see we are much later.

[grangers14]

My hubby dashed to get the bedding plants out before he went back to work earlier this week. They are now all wilted after being nipped by the cold nights
Whats the saying?
Dont cast a clout till May is out.

Jo