tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post7436054905709766078..comments2023-10-17T12:05:26.540+01:00Comments on Razor-blade of Life: Gardening memeZhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-73842512206385322312007-08-13T00:04:00.000+01:002007-08-13T00:04:00.000+01:00I've spoken before of going from a half acre eden ...I've spoken before of going from a half acre eden to a postage stamp size yard. So, this post and the subsequent comments are pulling me both ways. I have planted a lilac bush, three lavendars, a French terragon, thyme; another lilac and a red Japanese maple, both of which croaked. I'll be thinking about this meme and let you know if I ever get around to it.luckyzmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04176703683321469118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-47589529876501792632007-08-10T16:51:00.000+01:002007-08-10T16:51:00.000+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-14476748600898208672007-08-10T16:50:00.000+01:002007-08-10T16:50:00.000+01:00When I start to write about the past, I find mysel...When I start to write about the past, I find myself remembering things I didn't realise I still knew - I put down, once in a while, things about my parents' and grandparents' lives, which has been for my daughter as much as any other reason, and I've been surprised how much people have enjoyed them. We all do seem to love to read about past times and people's lives.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-86123122846637046422007-08-10T16:33:00.000+01:002007-08-10T16:33:00.000+01:00This was absolutely fascinating. How wonderful i...This was absolutely fascinating. How wonderful it is to blog, and learn about these little slices of life that we may never know...little thingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05028628349988276117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-41650214783548622072007-08-09T21:51:00.000+01:002007-08-09T21:51:00.000+01:00I use a mixture of compost and manure to pot on in...I use a mixture of compost and manure to pot on in, but there are weed seeds in there. I'll use compost next year with the larger seeds, like beans, and take it from there.<BR/><BR/>We don't have shops like Ikea round these parts, BW, I must be one of the few Ikea virgins in the country. I haven't put any new low-energy bulbs in very recently - the bloody things last for ages - but I've not been satisfied with the ones I have used up until now. Evidently the thing to do, as you say, is to buy a wattage up - but why don't they label them honestly in the first place?Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-13478212376499576222007-08-09T19:21:00.000+01:002007-08-09T19:21:00.000+01:00This year we just used our own garden compost for ...This year we just used our own garden compost for the seeds. It worked just as well as anything else and was totally free. Sterilising? Stuff and nonsense. Nutrients? Add some chicken plops to the heap.<BR/><BR/>I've just this minute put a new low energy bulb into a fitting 12 years to the day after first inserting one. While the old one certainly had a delay to warm up, the new one is super instant! The cheap new ones (IKEA and the like) are still less good than old-style bulbs, but the new Philips ones are excellent. Buy the next wattage up from the equivalent of an existing bulb for the same performance. There are low-energy bulbs in our nearest vilalge hall and no-one even notices the difference.<BR/><BR/>We've got LED floor lights in the studio. They did cost a fortune but will last forever and 15W an hour runs 12 bulbs. LED lights are the future. They're using them on cars now too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-79758359969219542022007-08-09T08:19:00.000+01:002007-08-09T08:19:00.000+01:00Hello, Linda and welcome. I know a lot about the ...Hello, Linda and welcome. I know a lot about the practicalities of gardening...in theory. I'm lax about getting down to the hard graft. Many friends know far more about plants than I do, I'm pretty ignorant there.<BR/><BR/>I have lots of lavender here too, as it does well in dry conditions and poor soil.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-30018167122116939702007-08-09T05:58:00.000+01:002007-08-09T05:58:00.000+01:00You sound like a professional level gardener. Mayb...You sound like a professional level gardener. Maybe it's because your parents knew so much and you learned it growing up. I came to gardening late and love having flowers in my yard but, oh my, the weeds. Here in Provence, where I live, they don't believe in mulch that I can see. They just dig up weeds and do alot of hoe-ing. I have lots of lavender-a very low maintenance plant-except for weeds around them.Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07041872314763651462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-65844769720832954172007-08-08T20:49:00.000+01:002007-08-08T20:49:00.000+01:00I bloody well clicked twice on my own comment. I ...I bloody well clicked twice on my own comment. I despair, I really do.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-26388407894006818072007-08-08T19:29:00.001+01:002007-08-08T19:29:00.001+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-39841663135389283162007-08-08T19:29:00.000+01:002007-08-08T19:29:00.000+01:00What do you use Blue Witch? Because I haven't fou...What do you use Blue Witch? Because I haven't found anything, in practical terms, that is better.<BR/><BR/>John Innes is too heavy to carry in the amounts I need, and it tends to pan. I have, in the past, mixed it with grit and stuff, but I do not have time for all that any more. I could sterilise compost and add the correct nutrients, but I'm not that dedicated. I tried, a few years ago, the coir composts, but they were not very good and they had been transported thousands of miles. <BR/><BR/>If you've got a better idea, I'll try it. But it has to be practical for me, or it will be a one-season wonder.<BR/><BR/>Sure, I use low-energy light bulbs, in places that don't matter much. Because, though better than they used to be, they are still a bit rubbish. The so-called 100-watt equivalent do not give as much light as 60-watt ordinary ones, so I need a lamp as well and it's still not as good a light. And they take a while to start working - not as long as they used to, but a noticeable time. So one is more likely to leave them on when leaving a room. <BR/><BR/>In the church room, we are replacing light bulbs as they blow with low-energy ones. In one room, there are still 3 100-watt bulbs and 1 "100-watt equivalent". The light is dim in that corner. Extra lamps are not an option. I suspect that the decision will be reversed when we can't read our papers at meetings and the flower-arranging club and art group start to complain. Or else we will have to replace the fittings with three-bulb ones. Makes little sense to me.<BR/><BR/>I've been waiting for you to challenge me on these points, dearest BW. I appreciate it, too.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-4747020735212220042007-08-08T19:15:00.000+01:002007-08-08T19:15:00.000+01:00Wonderful memories. But...because peat-based comp...Wonderful memories. But...<BR/><BR/><I>because peat-based compost is best for seed-sowing</I><BR/><BR/>*makes disbelieving noises*<BR/><BR/><I>The cable is 150 watts, so it's like having 2 lightbulbs on at night </I><BR/><BR/><I> </I>That's 10 or 15 light bulbs worth. But only if you use low energy bulbs... Baaaad girl ;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-10092729299096467442007-08-07T16:10:00.000+01:002007-08-07T16:10:00.000+01:00But you grew out of it by the time you were 18 or ...But you grew out of it by the time you were 18 or so, yes?<BR/><BR/>I'll add a photo of ground elder to the next post, Martina.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-29151498162374501462007-08-07T15:47:00.000+01:002007-08-07T15:47:00.000+01:00Like you I love gardening but not weeding. The des...Like you I love gardening but not weeding. The descriptions in your story were excellent very easy to visualize. The nasty invasive plants here are the ivy that my next door neighbors planted on our common fence 15 years ago. They also have a wild fennel planted next to the fence that is now 8 ft. tall and sows seed everywhere--thank goodness for vinegar and a weeding fork. Other weeds are buttercups, dandelions/hawkweed, clover, chickweed and some wierd single stalk weed with a tiny purple blossom that sends ground shoots. What does elder weed look like?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-64894015640422911642007-08-07T12:22:00.000+01:002007-08-07T12:22:00.000+01:00Yes I was naughty. And yes there were fairy rings....Yes I was naughty. And yes there were fairy rings. I went through a stage where I got up early in the morning to inspect the garden for fairy evidence.y.Wendy.yhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10630727119097764058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-58088113222412083972007-08-07T12:11:00.000+01:002007-08-07T12:11:00.000+01:00You were a naughty little girl, I suspect, Wendz. ...You were a naughty little girl, I suspect, Wendz. <BR/>Do you get fairy rings in the grass in South Africa?<BR/><BR/>I could have made this post at least twice as long, WG. There was so much more I could have said.<BR/><BR/>I used to try hard with the ground elder, but never could eradicate it and it's disheartening. I knew someone who put salt in the cracks in her paved path and then poured on boiling water, to keep bindweed at bay.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-55678191847732613732007-08-07T12:07:00.000+01:002007-08-07T12:07:00.000+01:00I enjoyed reading about those who have been influe...I enjoyed reading about those who have been influential in your life as you grew up, perhaps leading you to becoming an organic vegetable grower. Thanks for sharing :)<BR/><BR/>Sometimes pouring boiling water regularly over the ground elder helps, though I have to dig mine up, slowly and painstakingly, when it has come up through other plants, like hostas. Strangely enough, I find it easiest to come out when it's fully grown. The whole plant seems to just ease out of the ground. I always use a fork and not a spade as it slices though the roots, which then multiply...A wildlife gardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08261817184002496844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-77080849410084427612007-08-07T12:05:00.000+01:002007-08-07T12:05:00.000+01:00Oh goody - a meme I can do with ease.1. My mother ...Oh goody - a meme I can do with ease.<BR/><BR/>1. My mother made me weed the lawn as punishment for being cheeky. In revenge, I dug up large clods of grass with the weeds.<BR/><BR/>2. I liked the garden - it was large enough for me to run away from my mother when she was cross and chasing me around the flower beds brandishing a hair brush.<BR/><BR/>3. The rose garden was endowed with spectacular thorns - this made my mother wary of following me in. I like roses too. They smell lovely even if they are thorny. It was the perfect fortress.<BR/><BR/>4. Early morning dewy grass always shows the footprints of the fairies that had a party there during the night. I can vouch for this.<BR/><BR/>5. Overgrown jasmine bushes are wonderfully romantic...I received many a long wet kiss next to that Jasmine bush.<BR/><BR/>6. When I was 7 I planted a few Marigold seeds...and then got tired of it and sprinkled the entire packet over the flower bed. It was a spectular show when they all bloomed. My mother called it Poor Man's Gold.<BR/><BR/>7. I am very good at killing plants. My latest achievement is killing the potted Basil in my kitchen. Rotten Basil stinks, btw.y.Wendy.yhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10630727119097764058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-69195133697189010752007-08-07T11:34:00.000+01:002007-08-07T11:34:00.000+01:00Oh, and if you do this meme, do let me knowOh, and if you do this meme, do let me knowZhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-9729897868881760842007-08-07T11:32:00.000+01:002007-08-07T11:32:00.000+01:00Most of my flowers are in containers, Dave, becaus...Most of my flowers are in containers, Dave, because of the ground elder. But it's not the same, is it.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-48740095238138637142007-08-07T11:30:00.000+01:002007-08-07T11:30:00.000+01:00Knot weed must be the worst problem to have in any...Knot weed must be the worst problem to have in any garden.<BR/><BR/>Loofahs are a gourd and look and grow exactly like cucumbers, though they are inedible. When they stop growing and start to turn yellow, you have to dry them off very slowly and the skin drops away to show the fibrous skeleton.<BR/><BR/>What I most miss from my last garden is the lovely big lawn, where we could play croquet. Here, there's only a small lawn and it gets a bit mossy. It's not really possible to alter the layout of the garden without a major redesign, but if I could, I'd have a lawn where the tennis court is, which is in a silly place (but wasn't when it was put in 60 years ago, when it was hidden by an elm hedge that was later killed by Dutch Elm disease.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-55013129381512132672007-08-07T11:29:00.000+01:002007-08-07T11:29:00.000+01:00When I retire, I want to be able to garden properl...When I retire, I want to be able to garden properly (not just in containers, as I'm forced to here).Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08403853324345062446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-74331619730439534712007-08-07T11:21:00.000+01:002007-08-07T11:21:00.000+01:00Hmm, don't have ground elder, but have managed to ...Hmm, don't have ground elder, but have managed to contain (with much effort) some knot weed in a corner of the garden.<BR/><BR/>You can grow loofahs? Blimey, I thought they were a sea sponge thingy.<BR/><BR/>I am envious of your greenhouse. Living on a hill, the one place we can put one lives in the shade of the house, so is useless. The one thing that could tempt LL to move would be more land and a proper walled kitchen garden.The Boyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06052411992134880131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-55207623191059217142007-08-07T10:48:00.000+01:002007-08-07T10:48:00.000+01:00Really? I'll have to try that next spring. It's ...Really? I'll have to try that next spring. It's all in shrubs, herbacious plants and in the roots of the laurel hedge, so I can't clear the ground and start again without a lot of difficulty.<BR/><BR/>No change to the wall, but when we start we'll get going speedily. There's a feeling in the air.Zhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00822383355869390919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21602861.post-21571308310709222232007-08-07T10:42:00.000+01:002007-08-07T10:42:00.000+01:00Ground elder - a solution I have heard of, but not...Ground elder - a solution I have heard of, but not tried, is to sow turnips very thickly over the area. Why turnips, I don't know - perhaps they give off some chemical?<BR/><BR/>And how is the wall coming on?stitchworthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04827825336666824765noreply@blogger.com