How about a gardening thread?

[DantesDame]

I never see the fish during the summer. They must hide deep under the lily pads and do whatever it is that fish do. But yesterday I saw four of them and they were really active near the surface. After a bit of pondering, I think I know what they were up to....

I have two rain barrels that have overflow hoses that drain into the pond (I figure that it was a good use of the "extra" water ). But with the lack of rain we'd been having, their level was getting low and the mosquitos had been taking advantage of it (despite having a net over it, they still sneak in somehow). But now we've had some really good rains, enough to raise up the water level and flush the water - and mosquito larvae - through the hoses and into the pond. Where the fish had quite a feast.

Anyway, that's my guess and I'm sticking to it

[DantesDame]

And my unique Tower of Lettuce

[curley]

Maybe you should take that net off the pond. I believe the fish too don't know what to do all summer as you keep their food and fun away.

	Quote:	DantesDame
	And my unique Tower of Lettuce

That is pretty cool. If you cut off a portion, does it keep growing?

[DantesDame]

It was a surprise to see that my potato plants are producing seeds`I'd never seen potato seed pods before, and according to this site, it just might be worth trying to grow them next year. It'll be a fun experiment, if nothing else.




And as this is just my second season with this garden, I continue to "learn as I go". This time I learned how to prune the blackberry bushes and they are producing lots of lovely and LARGE berries - on well-ordered branches (how very Swiss of me, right?)






I also learned how to prune the raspberries, so next year's harvest (and possibly a second harvest this fall) should be exponentially better.

[roegner]

And I´m dumb..... all the radishes that I pulled out today.... were beetroots....

Oh well, next try next year

Note to self: put up a marker where you planted what...

[curley]

	Quote:	roegner
	And I´m dumb..... all the radishes that I pulled out today.... were beetroots.... Oh well, next try next year Note to self: put up a marker where you planted what...

ROFL.

Can't you just stick them back in?

[DantesDame]

	Quote:	curley
	ROFL. Can't you just stick them back in?

I had to laugh at that too. But I suppose by now it would be too late to rebury them.

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	curley
	That is pretty cool. If you cut off a portion, does it keep growing?

It looks like it has bolted- reached maturity and getting as large as possible before going to seed. It would be bitter to eat at this stage. Looks really cool though..

I just harvested 7kg of cassis, 2 kg currants, a kg of blueberries, and a bit of johannisberries. That's it for the cassis and currants this year except for one late hybrid called 'vierberry' that is just ripening now...I'll be turning these into juice- after the previous harvest we've already made cassis syrup, cassis chutney, and various sorbets with different currants- stachleberry, jostaberry. And a huge jug of creme de cassis is infusing bythe window. Blueberries.are looking good this year. I'll freeze a bunch for sourdough blueberry pancakes.

Blackberries are just getting ripe here, had my first one today.


It's berry madness, I tell you!

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	curley
	Any ideas what that is? Attachment 133256

Bacterial infection:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomonas_cichorii

[DantesDame]

	Quote:	curley
	Maybe you should take that net off the pond. I believe the fish too don't know what to do all summer as you keep their food and fun away.

The nets are on the rain barrels, but anything the lands in the pond is fair game

[DantesDame]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	It looks like it has bolted- reached maturity and getting as large as possible before going to seed. It would be bitter to eat at this stage. Looks really cool though..

Oh yeah, I left this here just because it looks cool. The "real" garden salads look like this:

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	DantesDame
	Oh yeah, I left this here just because it looks cool. The "real" garden salads look like this:

Looking good.. nary a weed in sight! This year my allotment has been overrun with milky thistle- it's like a damn Hydra, pull one out, and 7 more pop up in it's place from the roots. We hardly had any strawberries this year due to the competition. Now nearly all of the annual beds need to be renovated, and every last scrap of milky thistle roots eradicated. Not fun..

[greenmount]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	Looking good.. nary a weed in sight! This year my allotment has been overrun with milky thistle- it's like a damn Hydra, pull one out, and 7 more pop up in it's place from the roots. ..

It's defo not fun but maybe you can make some "lemonade" (a way of saying). This is a medicinal herb - Heilpflanze in German....some might be willing to buy this thing.

[pilatus1]

Ok

	Quote:	greenmount
	It's defo not fun but maybe you can make some "lemonade" (a way of saying). This is a medicinal herb - Heilpflanze in German....some might be willing to buy this thing.

Unfortunately for me, I got confused when I typed the previous post. We do have some milky thistle, but it's no big deal. The weed which has overtaken my garden is hoary cress, aka whitetop, aka the devil. It makes me wish it were thistle.



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidium_draba

[greenmount]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	Ok Unfortunately for me, I got confused when I typed the previous post. We do have some milky thistle, but it's no big deal. The weed which has overtaken my garden is hoary cress, aka whitetop, aka the devil. It makes me wish it were thistle. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepidium_draba

Hehe, that has also a couple of healing properties but it's a very resilient weed and it's a real pain when invades gardens and crops. If she's on the roadsides or land pastures, that's fine. Back home we call it cow's cheese because it usually grows on the grazing fields.
I suppose you don't want to use herbicides. Hoeing? Done it very often, maybe. This is how my grandma got rid of this stuff.

[DantesDame]

Potato seeds!!!




Everything I read online says that planting the seeds can result in unexpected potato types. But hey, I'm willing to give it a try!

[st2lemans]

	Quote:	DantesDame
	Potato seeds!!!

Potato FRUIT!

Tom

P.S. Yes, they are poisonous, and yes, they contain seeds, and no, they will not be true to type.

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/what_ar..._potato_plants

[curley]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	Bacterial infection: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomonas_cichorii

Thanks. When I asked about this back then, I picked the infected leaves off and ever since the problem is gone and the basil is happily sprouting.

And who said, it was too dry? I got mushrooms growing in my flower-pots


Wonder if they are edible? Or "smokeable"? Or of any other use?

[catrich]

	Quote:	Tom1234
	Clematis don't really like being in pots - they like cool roots so try and keep the pot in the shade (but not the plant!). Just water it once a week now and perhaps twice a week when it's warmer. One good soaking a week is much better than a few dribbles from a watering can over a week.

Sorry as it's a bit late to chip in here but clematis in pots can be a huge success, depending on the variety. Pots can be a huge advantage if your garden soil isn't clematis friendly.
Thorncroft nursery in UK -clematis specialists- have an incredible variety and just as importantly a lot of info on care, etc.

[Tom1234]

	Quote:	catrich
	Sorry as it's a bit late to chip in here but clematis in pots can be a huge success, depending on the variety. Pots can be a huge advantage if your garden soil isn't clematis friendly. .

They can be grown in pots but they need to be deep pots and as you wrote, the right variety of clematis.
(I've got one growing in a pot).

They grow better if the roots are cool and that can be difficult in a pot.