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I've had a garden or two. Edge your garden w/marigolds and w/mint - keeps the bugs away (just watch the mint, as it can take over). Also, planting basil near your tomatoes gives them a nice flavor.
We always bite off more than we can chew with our garden and end up letting it get overgrown, so I may not be the best to give advice.
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I'm wearing jeans by gap, slim fit. I'm pretty happy with the colour, it's like a dark indigo wash I think, they fit too, they are 31w and 32 leg, which is a pretty odd size I guess. I got some black vans on, fresh and new, bought yesterday. Suede, Lo-tops, getting a bit dusty already actually. They're like plimsolls (sp?) but actually they're a lot sturdier than the battered converse I've been wearing. Got a shirt on too, bought it from H&M, dark grey, rolled up sleeves, epaulettes (sp) on the shoulders. I like epaulettes, gives it a military feel.
I need a haircut, I feel like going shaved on the back and sides and longer on the top, maybe. Need inspiration. I wouldn't mind having japanese dudes hair, but their hair is 4 times thicker than UK hair, so that won't work.
For lunch I had a breakfast in a sandwich, frankly it was terrible and desperate, at one point it felt like I was eating sausage garnished with cigarette ash. Gave it a realistic Lorry Drivers cafe kind of feel. I ate it all because I was hungry. Then I had a Mars Delight, they're ok, and an Oasis which was red.
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I grew/attempted to grow things last year and am doing the same this year.
The garden was absolutely teeming with slugs and snails and, no matter what I did, couldn't keep them away. I tried almost everything, even picking the little bastards up and lobbing them over the fence. I'm hoping I beat them down enough that they won't cause too many problems this year.
I found that some things grew better than others. Anything with an onion flavour (onions, spring onions, leeks, garlic) grows with almost no problems at all because nothing apart from humans likes the taste of them.
Similar for tomatoes, snails'll only have a go at those if they're desperate, and even then give up pretty quick and just go to sleep on the leaves instead. Lob 'em over the fence.
Potatoes did really well too, and they're brilliant because they grow underground and you harvest them by digging over the soil and picking them out... but you always leave one or two in there by mistake and they continue to grow and, months later, when you've forgotten all about them, you dig up enough nice-sized potatoes to use as a side-dish. Neat!
I tried sewing carrots several times but the nearest I got to success was a few I planted too early when I was overkeen to begin planting and about 5 of them (out of a packet of 200 seeds) survived a reasonable length of time.
I planted lettuces in hanging baskets which did absolutely fine until they reached a certain size where I decided that they should go in the ground. I planted them in 4 or 5 neat rows and they looked ace. Then I dusted off my hands and waited for them to finish growing.
You know when you watch a cartoon where Donald Duck or someone is growing veggies and some pest comes along and ruins everything? They burrow under the surface and yank the entire veg under and eat it on the spot? It was a bit like that: every day I came back home, one more - and for some reason the snails targeted just one at a time - had been eaten, leaving nothing more than an unappetizing stump. Slimy little wankers. I lobbed them over the fence for that.
Oh, and don't waste your time with peas or spinach unless you like getting frustrated.
I'm having a go with parsnips this year. Not sure how well they'll fare, but cross yer fingers, will ya?
quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: Oh, and don't waste your time with peas or spinach unless you like getting frustrated.
I disagree. I tend to have the most success with peas. Plus they're the earliest thing I can plant in my neck of the woods. I also don't really know what your climate is like, or your soil for that matter.
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And therein, B.M. lies one important lesson: take advice from other people with a pinch of salt, because there are so many variables that what works for ralph definitely doesn't work for me might work pretty well for you etc.
Try whatever you like. Plant where your heart leads you.
It is splendid at that - despite the mollusc-based irritations I do heartily recommend it.
If you're looking for good flowers then the previously-mentioned marigolds are brilliant and so are sweet peas.
Try planting the marigolds so they're in a bit of a bunch so each one can hold up another, because they can be a bit spindly, the tall ones, and lean over your pathways where they are then squashed. Which isn't good.
Also, with sweet peas, look for a variety that grows on long stems not short - they're easier to put into vases then - and cut them every two or three days when new flowers come out. They smell sweet and you can decorate your house with lurvely flowers for weeks and weeks!
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We grow spinach, and it seems to go quite well. I say 'we', but really I don't have anything to do with the veg in the garden. Octavia goes out there with a trowell occasionally, and then after that there's spinach with every meal.
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quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: We grow spinach, and it seems to go quite well. I say 'we', but really I don't have anything to do with the veg in the garden. Octavia goes out there with a trowell occasionally, and then after that there's spinach with every meal.
I'm quite keen to avoid this sort of thing, and I have no idea how much stuff a plant will yield. I don't want to spend months chewing my way through a fucking mountain of indigestible kohlrabi, or whatever the fuck else we misguidedly plant, because it sounds exotic. How much ground should you give over to each 'crop'?
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And when you start planting seeds indoors, be warned that it all grows rather bigger than you might first anticipate. What starts out as a living room windowsill full of supermarket-plastic meat trays filled with soil and seedlings surprisingly quickly becomes:
- every window sill you've got packed with young plants. - the part of the floor in your bedroom that gets a lot of sunlight gets a lining of newspaper and more pots - some pots go outside which you're not happy about because it's still too cold out there
You get the picture.
-------------------- Black Mask: Have a good weekend, TMO!
quote:Originally posted by Black Mask: How much ground should you give over to each 'crop'?
That varies from crop to crop. We always grow as many tomato plants as we can because the fruit can be turned into sauce and preserved for use throughout the year. Same thing with strawberries and blueberries. You can't really save leafy greens for any great length of time, so I would suggest a staggered planting to ensure you have the longest possible harvest time.
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That sounds worrying, Licky. We've got a garden, which is basically for barbecues, backyard wrestling and target practice, and we've got an allotment which is where the growing will (hopefully) be taking place. I don't want to be humping stuff all round the neighbourhood because it needs special treatment at home. Fuck! What have I done?
No advice on the crop-yield thing then? No? Anybody?
[ 15.02.2008, 10:11: Message edited by: Black Mask ]
quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: You get the picture.
Yeah.
So what's your climate like? When is the suggested date for outdoor planting in your area? When we first moved to the boonies, we didn't realize that tomato plants needed to be put out as late as the end of May. We put a bunch in the ground in mid-May, only to have them all killed by a six inch snowfall. Live and learn I suppose...
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posted
I knew I should stagger crops from the beginning, but I'd recommend planting one more line of them every 2 weeks. Right from when you first start planting.
I was about to type that I was going to do that this year, but I've just realised that I've already run out of space.
When we move I'm looking for another garden, though.
EDIT: outdoor growing? Probably around March/April. But I've had the onions/garlic out since December 'cos they can manage it.
And an allotment is a designated area of land where Ingerlish people grow things.
quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: EDIT: outdoor growing? Probably around March/April. But I've had the onions/garlic out since December 'cos they can manage it.
Wow, you've got a much longer growing period than I would have guessed. I'm a little envious!
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quote:Originally posted by Lickapaw#2: He's going to end up with a shitload of plants, isn't he?
Probably. And even though he's being childish and ignoring me, I'll still continue to post helpful advice.
That's very big of you.
Mind you, having too many plants is no bad thing - you get to pick out the big, strong ones and plant them.
But then you have to take your stunted, deformed little babies and twist them in half and throw them onto the compost heap. Then turn your back on them, never too think of them again.
Which feels a heartless, but you end up doing it. And you do end up with a plot full of healthy plants.
Note also, B.M. There's an innate feeling of voluptuousness that comes with growing vegetables, and I think part of it is that you're growing these things and they're getting bigger and bigger and rounder and firmer and brighter in colour and you can see your food for the winter there in the soil and anticipate the warm glow of putting them in your mouth and feel the satisfaction that they're yours, to do with as you please.
As a woman I can equate this with having fantastic tits.
-------------------- Black Mask: Have a good weekend, TMO!
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