Re: Gardening Thread.

**Sabot** Sat May 12, 2012 11:42 am

Oh My. What an influx of posts. I normally console myself with the number of Views. Something to do with the fact that I think I am boring. But I am pleased that some of you want to comment. I also hope that some of my advice is of use.
I do tend to use this Thread as my own personal platform, so I hope you will forgive me for that.

PS. I am a Moon person. Endlessly fascinating because her pattern is less than obvious. But we've got one of them yellow things here at the moment. Kiss, Kiss.

**bb1** Sat May 12, 2012 11:49 am

It's interesting, Sabot, and I share your windows problem. I have secondary sash double glazing on the original windows, but that won't last forever. But you can't just go bunging plastic double-glazed windows on mid-19th century houses...apart from anything else, the local authorities have by-laws about that sort of thing.

I will worry about that when I have to do something about it, I think. All's well window-wise for now. sunny

**Sabot** Sat May 12, 2012 12:16 pm

Local Planning don't generally interfere around here, Bonny, except when it comes to those Roof Windows which are called Veluxes, and then only the size is questioned.
I still have the original Roof Lights which I have no intention of changing.

Most Brits around here can't wait to put in that dreadful plastic stuff which stands out like a sore thumb and looks bloody awful. It changes the whole character of old houses.
You can get quite good wood windows made, but they are horrifically expensive, and don't really come up to scratch. And I have never been a fan of Double Glazing anyway.
So like you, I shall wait until I absolutely have to do something. But in the meantime, keep slapping on the paint. And probably go to Emmaus to see what I can find.
Emmaus also have the old sinks and lavatories, so you can actually renovate without destroying. Someone lived in my house once upon a time, a family who built the house, and about whom I now know quite a lot since their great grand children still live here. I don't know what they think, but I won't be destroying their heritage.

**Maggs** Sat May 12, 2012 12:50 pm

I was given a brilliant tip last year, to keep slugs out of pots, Sabot.

Spray a ring of WD40 all round the pot about half way up, and the slugs can't get into the pots. I tried it and it worked really well.

**Sabot** Sat May 12, 2012 1:27 pm

Maggs wrote:I was given a brilliant tip last year, to keep slugs out of pots, Sabot.

Spray a ring of WD40 all round the pot about half way up, and the slugs can't get into the pots. I tried it and it worked really well.

Wow. Why didn't I think of that. And thanks, Maggs. I shan't bother to ask if WD40 is Toxic because I don't want to know at this stage of the game. I might look into that later, like next Autumn.
I just scatter empty Sunflower Seed husks that I rescue from under the bird tables and scatter them around plants, but this doesn't always work. Which is why I go out every night with a torch to catch The slugs and the snails
Really, I only worry about the rest of the wild life in my garden, and I do know that Song Birds become Sterile from even Green Slug Pellets which rather defeats the object.

Incidentally, four of my Runner Bean Plants lost their heads for reasons unbeknown to me, but today I noticed that they are all growing new shoots. I very nearly uprooted them, but with me, hope always springs eternal.

**Sabot** Mon May 14, 2012 11:56 am

I have just has such a lovely surprise. I don't know if I told you that a brought a Sycamore seedling here with me some twenty years ago. It is the only one around here. I planted it on a piece of land alongside the front of my house. This piece of land could belong to me, or to my neighbour, no one is actually arguing about it. But every Summer she comes down from Paris and cuts it down. And every year it recovers. It is currently a healthy bush.
Anyway, this morning I suddenly noticed a Sycamore Tree poking above my garden wall. It is about six feet tall, perfectly straight, and very beautiful. I can't go and look at the whole tree because her gate is locked, but please God she won't cut it down. It will give me endless pleasure over the years to come.

In the heart of a Sycamore Key,
Lies the future,
Of a Tree.

This is Haiku. Written by a nine year old English boy many years ago. It always makes me cry. Silly old fool that I am. If it is given time to seed, which mine obviously must have done once upon a time, then I will grow another to plant somewhere where she can't cut it down.

**bb1** Mon May 14, 2012 3:09 pm

If it's made it to 6 feet, hopefully your neighbour will let it grow...

I am trying to do some gardening, but keep being driven indoors by downpours.

**Sabot** Mon May 14, 2012 3:52 pm

bb1 wrote:If it's made it to 6 feet, hopefully your neighbour will let it grow...

I am trying to do some gardening, but keep being driven indoors by downpours.

The Tree is in a rather obscure and neglected part of her garden, Bonny, so I am hoping that she won't notice.
I lived in a very run down part of Plymouth for nine years, and my only real natural pleasure was a small crop of Sycamores that some idiot planted, and the yobs never got around to destroying, so my seedling was very important to me because I watched them grow throughout some very bad years for me. And they were still only babies when I left. My little tree was the only thing that I wanted to bring with me. And now my tree has got a baby of it's own.
You could all say a quick prayer for my tree, if you don't think that this is silly.

**Lamplighter** Mon May 14, 2012 4:16 pm

I have been out rescuing my tenants, a colony of big snails that live in what was the old kitchen garden and is now a wilderness. I hate slugs, but I have always liked snails. My snails tend to wander across the concrete paths and I am worried someone might step on them so I collect them and return them to the wilderness. During the winter I collect the shells which are left behind. Okay, so I am weird, but I'm a Happy Fella!!!! LL

**Sabot** Mon May 14, 2012 4:34 pm

Slugs are really interesting, LL. So many different kinds. And some of them are quite beautiful if you really look at them, which I do, before I throw them over the wall. Although I do have a suspicion that some of then crawl back.
Some of mine get to the size of Sherman Tanks before the Summer is over. No, Really.

**Lamplighter** Mon May 14, 2012 5:01 pm

A couple of shots today of my tenants, taking the air - and the rain! LL

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**bb1** Mon May 14, 2012 5:05 pm

They're pretty, LL! No, I am not a fan of slugs, either. I have to remind myself that everything has a place in the Circle of Life. Even slugs.

**Lamplighter** Mon May 14, 2012 5:10 pm

Sabot wrote:
Slugs are really interesting, LL. So many different kinds. And some of them are quite beautiful if you really look at them, which I do, before I throw them over the wall. Although I do have a suspicion that some of then crawl back.
Some of mine get to the size of Sherman Tanks before the Summer is over. No, Really.

We have huge slugs here, ma petite, they're called Tiger or Pharoah slugs, big, some black and some speckled grey/white. Yes, a sherman tank is a good description! LL

**Sabot** Mon May 14, 2012 5:33 pm

Some of them have beautiful markings, LL. I find myself getting quite fond of them, when they aren't eating my plants. But that's the whole interaction of throwing them over the wall.

**Lamplighter** Tue May 15, 2012 9:23 am

Especially for Sabot, this little fella was out all on his own!!

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I love this one, small but determined not to be outclassed by the big guys!!

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**Lamplighter** Wed May 16, 2012 9:46 am

A pretty one for bonny! LL hug

**bb1** Wed May 16, 2012 10:06 am

Oh, isn't that one pretty! My snails just seem to come in camouflage brown.

I am happy to report that, for the second day in a row, the big yellow thing is in the sky, so fingers crossed I will get grass-cutting etc., done today sunny

**Sabot** Wed May 16, 2012 10:30 am

We are going to get massive amounts of rain from Friday until Forever. So nothing new there.
As it happens it nicely ties in with New Moon on Sunday and my intention to try grass seeding a small strip of dirt, which I will be doing on Monday once the New Moon has gone into Pull Up Seeds Mode. And the ground will be nice and wet by then, if not an actual mud patch, which is looking more likely.

All this rain will bring out the army of slugs and snails that I just know are lurking somewhere. There hasn't been much sign of them as yet, although I did catch a whopper last night. He looked familiar, by the way. And he had spots and stripes, and answered to the name of "Got Ya, You Slimy Bugger." So I feel sure we have met before.

I will be cutting my own grass later today.

**Sabot** Wed May 16, 2012 1:50 pm

Just had a quick and partial hack at The Ivy. I do this twice a year, in May and October because it grows like buggery.
I don't actually have anything against Ivy which I have long suspected is holding up my end wall, and it certainly hasn't done any damage to the rendering over the years But I get a bit worried when it starts crawling under the roof slates.
But I have got it down to a fine art now. I stick a fairly narrow wall paper striper underneath three of four strands, at my shoulder height, pull it away from the wall, and then jerk it down. This leaves the bottom bit to bush out, but pulling the top bits away from the wall provides a small gap which the rain gets down. Then after three or four years the bottom bit falls down all by itself in a blooming great mat. And then off we go again.
There is no really hard work involved in this method, except perhaps in disposing of the mat which can be quite heavy, but my neighbour usually helps me with that.
In the meantime it harbours bounteous wild life of which I am no longer much afraid.

**Sabot** Wed May 16, 2012 3:37 pm

My Good Deed For The Day.

I have just rescued four fairly fat Lizards from my depleted rain water buckets. Quite by accident as I suddenly decided to water my Gogi Berry Plants.
They have all survived, albeit a bit water logged, and probably a bit tired from keeping their heads above water.
I feel really good about this.

**Lamplighter** Wed May 16, 2012 3:53 pm

Sabot wrote:
My Good Deed For The Day.

I have just rescued four fairly fat Lizards from my depleted rain water buckets. Quite by accident as I suddenly decided to water my Gogi Berry Plants.
They have all survived, albeit a bit water logged, and probably a bit tired from keeping their heads above water.
I feel really good about this.

Well Done! thumbsup

Did you like the pic I posted up yesterday of the slug?

**bb1** Wed May 16, 2012 3:54 pm

Oh, you are lucky, having lizards - don't they eat slugs? I am taking a break from my labours, and praying I can get the grass looking less like an Amazon rain forest before it rains again....

**Sabot** Wed May 16, 2012 4:19 pm

Lamplighter wrote:
Sabot wrote:
My Good Deed For The Day.

I have just rescued four fairly fat Lizards from my depleted rain water buckets. Quite by accident as I suddenly decided to water my Gogi Berry Plants.
They have all survived, albeit a bit water logged, and probably a bit tired from keeping their heads above water.
I feel really good about this.

Well Done! Did you like the pic I posted up yesterday of the slug?

Yes I did, LL. And thank you. Can you do a picture of the striped and spotted variety, please? The Sherman Tank ones.
I am a teansy bit annoyed with myself because I can't do pictures, so I went off and had a quick sulk.

I also have a lot of those little, stripey snails, although certainly enough of the ordinary ones. But all of them have depleted in quantity in the five years that I have been throwing them over the garden wall, so perhaps they are getting the message.

**Sabot** Wed May 16, 2012 4:25 pm

bb1 wrote:Oh, you are lucky, having lizards - don't they eat slugs? I am taking a break from my labours, and praying I can get the grass looking less like an Amazon rain forest before it rains again....

Goodness me. I didn't know that. Perhaps that was why they were looking a bit fat, and why my slug population has gone down. Certainly, this is the first year that I have had that many Lizards.
But you can see why I don't ever use slug pellets. And I do have a lot of birds as well.
But if you poison the slugs then you poison everything that eats them.

**bb1** Wed May 16, 2012 4:27 pm

I don't use any chemicals at all, Sabot, which is probably why I have such a lovely ground elder crop. I work on the theory that if you don't use it, you can't have any accidents with it.

The most chemically thing I use is diluted bleach if I am cleaning stone slabs, for instance.

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