3: Gardening Diaries ...

[BigC]

You're going to tease gardeners with a line like that? C'mon, man, do tell!!

If you do, would you be willing to start a thread (with pictures!) (I love pictures!) showing your method and results? It's a subject I don't know very much about, and I am ever curious.

I'm not going to go head long into a full setup including reservoirs, pumps and fish etc..I'm getting too lazy to concoct a large setup just for what I have..But I've seen a guy who grows Chillis (or at least starts them off in Rockwool once they have germinated into cage cups who's roots are left dangling into a pool of nutrient liquid..the results are astounding so I will start a thread once these darn things germinate lol....But I did have an aquarist friend who grew plants with their roots dangling into the fish tanks....the fish waste fed the plants and the fish spawned amongst the root system...So its nothing new...except today they bottle it up and sell it for a premium.....I have all the fish I need being an aquarist and breeder

 

[alp]

@alp they still look great.

Thank you.

Ah, I have worked the whole day. Roasted aromatic duck for dinner. Whole duck cost £3.99 in Farm shop. Was thinking of leaving it as they were on the small size. Well, the first one was.

Went out to weed one area and edge the patch and guess who turned up?

My meconopsis x 3 - all three of them.

So pleased. Will take a mister to them when it's getting dry here!

 

[alp]

@alp the baby lilly beetle are hiding under the poo!!!! Wash it off quick

I will look again tomorrow. I have just had a bath after a very messy aromatic duck with pancakes.. Sauce dripping everywhere. Thank heavens that @Zenji warned me in advance. I know the look of the poo, but didn't expect they are very favorite as well.

Took one in so that the flowers will look perfect. Hate it when the flowers have part missing because of the SS brigade!

I guess if you have a fish tank, hydroponics makes sense. I don't like it. In the soil, there are numerous nutrients. How could hydroponics replace all the nutrients in soil itself? I do know fish tank makes good propagating nursery, with the airing stones aerating the water and fish poo as nutrients and warmth from the heater. But long term, it's not my cup of tea! Also, I don't like the whiff of fish tank.

Yes, all sorts of scents to keep the house smells nice. Coffee, vanilla extracts in baking cookies. Whenever I walked into Lidl, I just love the smell of baking .. vanilla and all that. Very enticing and subliminal.

 

[alp]

How's your job, @MaryMary ? Any more defection?

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Snakes Heads have opened finally.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Oops meant to post the pics!!

 

[alp]

Wow! That's early. Well done. I really like them. I haven't sown any seeds. I think I will give it a miss this year. Too much to do. And tomorrow it's going to rain. I have used some jiffy pellets to take cuttings. Some for salvias and some for magnolia.

Ah, so nice! Are they quaint and mysterious?!

 

[MaryMary]

How's your job, @MaryMary ? Any more defection?

I haven't put in my notice, and I haven't applied anywhere else, so I guess I'm keeping it a bit longer!

I specifically asked for Mondays and Tuesdays off at my main job because the manager at the new one said those would be the two he'd need me the most, and here I am, off on a Tuesday! I haven't gone to him to complain, because it's hard to ask for more hours when the job is so boring!!

I find it very bizarre. The manager told me that they are going to be "getting rid of some dead weight," (his words,) and firing two of the cashiers, which he named to me. ( One of which is his daughter!!) If they are not working as hard as they should, why not give the hours to someone who will? (And why did he name them? Weird.)

For now, I'm just giving it a mental shrug and telling myself that it's $100 a week I wouldn't have made sitting on my butt at home. Once the weather gets nicer and I want to play outside in the garden, I don't know how I'll feel about it.

 

[Logan]

I've always heard that when selling a house, it should have the smell of baking cookies!

I suppose anything that's baking

 

[alp]

Mary - The boss is not a nice person. If he says that to you, imagine what he says about you to someone else. Sit tight and wait as the weather will be bad next week for you too. So you won't miss much. Keep an open mind though. Don't like the sound of the boss.

Logan: Not sure about any baking as some ingredients used do smell very nice.

 

[MaryMary]

Sit tight and wait as the weather will be bad next week for you too.

alp, I like the way you think!!

It is about five weeks 'til I can safely plant anything outside. I've been doing some spring clean-up already, but ooh, it's still chilly for that! (If he continues to give me one day off a week, I'll be able to get everything done before it warms up.)

I don't think I've mentioned it, but it is at a farm supply store. As an employee, I get a 10% discount. There's a 30 pound bag of cat food I noticed. I also noticed a 40 pound bag of bird seed. They have a fairly nice selection of seed packages, and they have gotten in some raspberry canes and lemonade blueberry bushes and various herbs and vegetables... So, yes, you're quite right, I might as well stay until it warms up outside!!

I think part of the problem with getting hours is that I am not "farm-y" enough. Almost all of my co-workers have chickens. One of them has a stable full of horses. Two of them raise show goats. One of them goes to the rodeo and rides bulls, and another went to college to be a farrier. I know nothing about these things!

I will say, they don't know much about plants and gardening. They have started calling me to help the people that come in looking for seeds. (None of them make compost!! .) As the plants have started coming in, I've been asking my co-workers if we'll get hydrangeas, and... they don't know what a hydrangea is!!

 

[marlingardener]

MaryMary, I hope that the manager of the farm supply store realizes what an asset you are. When we moved to the farm 10 years ago, we had no idea what anything was nor how to deal with it. As we learned, we relied on the local feed store (which has a lot more than just feed) and hardware store. I'd state my request/problem, and someone would steer me in the right direction. It wasn't always the same person who answered our questions--a broad range of experience among the employees certainly covered everything we asked. If your store has herb and vegetable plants, and seeds, you are definitely an asset!
P.S. Riding bulls is not a sign of intelligence nor good judgement. I am a fan of bull riding, but eight seconds on the back of a ton of unhappy bull does not qualify a person to be a Mensa candidate.

 

[Perki]

Been a productive afternoon in the GH, lots of seedling pricked out and potted on. Fuchsia and pelargonium cutting potted on and more seeds sown. windowsills mostly full, hopefully I will move some in the GH this week.

 

[MaryMary]

MaryMary, I hope that the manager of the farm supply store realizes what an asset you are. ...(snip)... If your store has herb and vegetable plants, and seeds, you are definitely an asset!

Thank you!!

He may be starting to realize it as the plants come in. The strengths I have that my co-workers do not are plants and bird feeding supplies. He is one of the people that referred a customer looking for seeds to me. Also, I informed him that some of the veggies were wilting (and that I had stuck my finger in the soil,) and they needed watered. (Someone watered them by the end of my shift.)

P.S. Riding bulls is not a sign of intelligence nor good judgement. I am a fan of bull riding, but eight seconds on the back of a ton of unhappy bull does not qualify a person to be a Mensa candidate.

Oh, heavens, no! He showed me a video of him at a rodeo. He got slammed forward into the bull's head, and while he was dazed and bent over the bull, it lifted its head and hit him again!! He casually said, "I think that was my tenth concussion." Then he regaled me with the tale of how he got the back of his head split open by a horn, and the doctor told him if it had gotten him two inches lower, he'd be dead!!

He can't wait to do it again!

 

[Logan]

Morning all