3: Gardening Diaries ...

[Upsy Daisy]

....at least my alerts to you didn't get lost in the post!!!

.!! What's happened to your knee! Doesn't sound good at all!

 

[alp]

Morning all, cloudy and light breeze.
Lovely pics @alp
Had a great day at keiths yesterday, doing die cutting on his machine.
Not doing much today either, the wallflowers are growing well.
Yes watched gw yesterday and monty is making a topiary of Nell. He's already done one of Nigel.

Topiary is such a time consuming art form. I bought a spiral for £10 and because it is a Thuja instead of Leylandii, this saves me a lot of constant trimming. I have a cone in form of box. I must take more cuttings. Talking about cuttings, wonder where my Sarcococca has gone! Saw tons of them in a big heap yesterday!

 

[alp]

....at least my alerts to you didn't get lost in the post!!!

.!! What's happened to your knee! Doesn't sound good at all!

I was filming the water feature which ran from the top of a slope to the canal right at the bottom - a step rock made me realise how bad it was. I had to drag my leg the day before. I went with a knee support bought from ex. It's a heavy duty one and must be quite expensive. Any way, this smelly patch will leave my leg in pain when removed. It is pretty useless as it refuses to stay on. One shower will see it on the bathtub! They must be quite costly. I prefer to exercise, but the bike is out in the lean to and it's impossible to use it when watching TV. But on the whole, I shouldn't complain. Migraines are much worse! Thank heavens that I have never had it. Oh, crumbs! Have I tempted fate!?

 

[alp]

I'm still not quite sure what you actually do with a wormery.....is it the pee that you collect and use then??

Sorry to sound daft....too late in the day to change now!!!

Yes, pee for watering! Some people use molass and warm running water to simulate the multiplication of good bacterias and use it for watering as well. So many tricks ..

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Thanks for that @Leeski .....never too old to learn something new

 

[Leeski]

Have been reading up on worm castings and compost think I have it all worked out now just need about 20 bin bags of dead leaves shouldn’t be an issue as autumn is on route by spring I should not have to buy any compost at all
I was wondering how I was going to get the worms out of the castings thought I may have to do it by hand (big job )
But apparently if i spread my compost/castings out on large plastic sheeting about 3 inches thick on a warm sunny day and leave wet news paper in the middle all the worm will head to the news paper leaving me worm free compost simple !

 

[alp]

Incidentally, I have found out that coffee and teas are expensive. £2.95 for tea or coffee and £3 for hot chocolate. It's a shame that we have run out of our Capri Sun and it's inconvenient to take a hot water flask. Last time we did it, the whole flask shattered into hundreds of fragments even before we started the car.

In the end, we spent £3 on a bottle of apple juice! We had our own lunch from organic and the Rustic Country flour of which I still have 14!

 

[alp]

Have been reading up on worm castings and compost think I have it all worked out now just need about 20 bin bags of dead leaves shouldn’t be an issue as autumn is on route by spring I should not have to buy any compost at all
I was wondering how I was going to get the worms out of the castings thought I may have to do it by hand (big job )
But apparently if i spread my compost/castings out on large plastic sheeting about 3 inches thick on a warm sunny day and leave wet news paper in the middle all the worm will head to the news paper leaving me worm free compost simple !

I watched videos and people get their kids to grind their oats, bananas, egg shells to feed the worms. I did it a few times and after that, I haven't really bothered.

 

[alp]

Have been reading up on worm castings and compost think I have it all worked out now just need about 20 bin bags of dead leaves shouldn’t be an issue as autumn is on route by spring I should not have to buy any compost at all
I was wondering how I was going to get the worms out of the castings thought I may have to do it by hand (big job )
But apparently if i spread my compost/castings out on large plastic sheeting about 3 inches thick on a warm sunny day and leave wet news paper in the middle all the worm will head to the news paper leaving me worm free compost simple !

I must try this as the compost is now fairly old! One year old or more OOops!

 

[Upsy Daisy]

Oh dear @alp that doesn't sound good. I'm with you on exercise.....we've moved our bike out to the hall now as where it was before wasn't right. Now we walk past is so often, you can't forget to use it !!!!!

We always take a flask and lunch too when we go NT visiting. We have a backpack kitted out with everything....so we're always ready to go. I plated up two quiche and mixed salad meals on Thursday and wrapped the plates individually with cling film.

 

[Upsy Daisy]

I know all our compost bins/ piles are absolutely teeming with red worms....are these the ones you are using @Leeski ? Or are they the ordinary garden worms?

 

[alp]

Oh dear @alp that doesn't sound good. I'm with you on exercise.....we've moved our bike out to the hall now as where it was before wasn't right. Now we walk past is so often, you can't forget to use it !!!!!

We always take a flask and lunch too when we go NT visiting. We have a backpack kitted out with everything....so we're always ready to go. I plated up two quiche and mixed salad meals on Thursday and wrapped the plates individually with cling film.

Whoa! You're so health conscious. As we had a long drive, I quickly cooked some chicken pieces and no fruits or veg and no water either. Fancy paying £3 for a tea / coffee. No wonder people in the City use the retention or recruitment of bar workers to argue against Brexit! Can't believe we don't have locals to do the jobs!

Back to gardening - loads of stalls but the displays not half as good as those seen in Hyde Hall a year ago. That was joyous and funky display. Wonder when it's free to go in RHS flagship this year!

Every year, they have a day for free entry. you should go even though they are usually in the dead winter season!

could be 2nd October!

https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/articles/autumn-free-day

 

[Leeski]

I should be good for plant pots for the rest of my life lol love freegle the guy even dropped them off for me I gave him a bacon butty turns out he’s a land scape gardener and tree surgern so he’s dropping off some wood chippings and saw dust

 

[Leeski]

I know all our compost bins/ piles are absolutely teeming with red worms....are these the ones you are using @Leeski ? Or are they the ordinary garden worms?

The worms I have are tiger worms they are small and red earth worms aren’t good for composting if you have loads sounds like you have the right worms

 

[Upsy Daisy]

That's another plan for today.....maybe
Sorting and organising the greenhouse and storage area......my pots have been up to mischief and have been breeding profusely too