How about a gardening thread?

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	John_H
	Our local Landi is still open and selling "essentials" only .. They destroyed all of their plants because they were not allowed to sell them.. what a shame!

Same with our Landi.

i was there the last day; they were giving away free plants to try to limit the waste. Several customers had suggested just leaving the plants outside with an honor box, but the employees said that that suggestion had already been made and rejected. (Whether by corporate or the authorities I do not know.) The staff I spoke with, mostly ardent gardeners or from farming families themselves, were pretty upset.

Such a shame, so much waste.

[curley]

	Quote:	John_H
	Our local Landi is still open and selling "essentials" only .. They destroyed all of their plants because they were not allowed to sell them.. what a shame!

Why did they do that?! I wouldn't mind at all buying them bigger and already blooming later.

[DantesDame]

The garden will suffer greatly this year

[curley]

Having a look at my few m2 garden .... my Morrocan mint has not only survived the winter, it is already delivering! The lavender I left outside looks it's best green, the one I took inside looks dead now.
My blue potato bush looks dried out and dead. I thought maybe I could wake it up by cutting it .... strange idea maybe but when I did, the inside of the dry looking branches were green! So I left it alone, it probably knows about the "Eisheilige" and wants to go traditional. To my surprise one out of four geraniums definitely survived and is sprouting leaves. They are not meant to survive outside so who I woke up a spider who almost seemed to radiate how much "not funny, mate" it found that. Looking pissed off (seriously, it did LOL) it ran all the way to the grass just in case me and my broom would have an other one of those stupid ideas.

Throat, nose and eyes already reacting, I set my mind happily on the fact that at least I did not sneeze yet. (okay, that was already incorrect by the time I finished writing). If I carry on like this, I won't enjoy the garden much this summer.

Coming back in, washing hands producing brown water as an obvious result that it made sense to do so, made a nice change to all the other times these days.

Now let the leafs come out to give my little patch the privacy I like and the 20°C that omtatsat promised roll in.

[doropfiz]

In lastest press conference of the Swiss Federal Council 03.04.2020, they mentioned that a solution has been found for Garden Centres.

They are not allowed to be open to the public.

They are, however, permitted to receive orders, whether online or by phone. They are then are allowed to prepare the shopping basket, such that the customers may collect this "drive in", without entering the shop or the display grounds.

This is now an extra exception to the shopping rule. It is now permitted to leave one's home to shop for food, medication and gardening supplies, in the way described.

For the rest, the message was, with some emphasis and repetition: "Dudes, it's serious. Just Stay At Home!". And: "Don't go to the Ticino. In fact, don't go anywhere. Not even on a sunny day, and not over Easter. Just Stay At Home."

[Blueangel]

Gardeners are allowed to work. They need access to supplies. The public who grow fruit and veg, or who have allotments, also need access to supplies. This would alleviate a little of the pressure on food shops. Makes sense to me.

[curley]

	Quote:	DantesDame
	The garden will suffer greatly this year

So, Dame, how are you coping? Is there a solution for this now? As it sounds like it's one of this places one just steps from Basel into a patch of France without anybody noticing that in normal times.
Can you write yourself a paper every day or better still: Tell them when you're on your patch you're home as you rented it?

A young friend and his partner have just opened a new garden centre. What timing- but they have organised contactless payment and pre-order - so if in the Morat/Yverdon/Fribourg region - they are for you.

La Pépinière d'Agnens in St Aubin (FR) - they have a Facebook site and www.pepiniere-agnens.ch

La vitrine sur Facebook, nouveau concept: présentation de plantes en vente à la Pépinière d'Agnens (self service). Paiement TWINT ou par carte sur demande

[DantesDame]

	Quote:	curley
	So, Dame, how are you coping? Is there a solution for this now? As it sounds like it's one of this places one just steps from Basel into a patch of France without anybody noticing that in normal times.

I miss going over there and watching spring take full effect. I can see from walks around the neighborhood that the lilac will soon be in full bloom, that the raspberries are putting out their leaves, that the grape vines are budding...

There really isn't much for me to do: the city says "no", and I can't expect them to make exceptions. The border isn't patrolled here, so I could very well sneak in and take care of some things, but I'd rather not take a chance on getting into trouble. Besides, if all of us gardeners though that way, it would be chaos!

For now, I have this on the kitchen table, and I watch the leaves unfurl as I work.


I'm just glad I had it as prepared as I did when the notice came up!

[marton]

My balcony Geraniums survived the Winter and are now blooming nicely; I am the envy of my neighbours who, as usual, trashed their Geraniums in Autumn.

now that is climate change for you ... !

On top of weeding here- and 3 of my 4 veggie beds are sown - but I have to water as we have not had rain for quite a while. Tomatoes and peppers in trays by the kitchen window - hope they won't disappoint.

Pheewww, making the most of staying home.
All 11 high rise beds were made ready; turning the soil, replenishing with our own compost, imviting a trillion (so it seemed) cockchafer grubs to a bathing session at the deep end of the 'pool' , the new pots were readied too and 1st seedlings from Landi arrived and got planted (self sown ones are growing nicely
in the conservatory) .
I use tunnels on my beds and thus I can start a tad earlier.

Yesterday, I mowed and thatched the lawn, waiting for the predicted rain over Easter to bring out feed and grass seeds.....

It is coming on nicely and a pleasure to watch all kinds of critters out and about in the garden.

Love it!!

Emptied 2 of our large composts this week- and there were 100s of golden cetony larvae, small head, big bum. They are really useful in the compost bin, so I put them in the other bins - and they are beautiful deep iridscent green small beetles and totally harmless- and as said, actually very useful. It would be a shame to destroy them. Cetonia aurata, or rose chafer (they do NOT feed on roses).

Cockchafers have big head, small bum ...

[meloncollie]

Have to give Hornbach a shout-out.

I ordered geraniums online for the first time - usually get them from a special nursery, where I would want to inspect and carefully choose every plant. (A nod to the Geraniumpolizei. )

Placed the order over the weekend, they arrived today. Plants were well protected for shipping, arrived in good condition. Actually, outstanding condition - these are some of the nicest geraniums I've ever bought! (Lilac, double bloom, hanging.)

And the price can't be beat - CHF 1.45 per plant. I usually pay in the CHF 5 range.

---

Of course you all know what this means. Now that I have my lovely geraniums all ready to go...

... it will snow.

[olygirl]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	Of course you all know what this means. Now that I have my lovely geraniums all ready to go... ... it will snow.

April has become a deceptive month....gorgeous almost summer-like days and an energy in the air that encourages you to plant things much earlier than you should.

And just when you've got your gardening set up, then come the Eisheiligen....Mamertus, Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius and Sophie.

Eisheilige 2020 (Schweiz)
Montag, 11. Mai - Freitag, 15. Mai

[meloncollie]

	Quote:	olygirl
	April has become a deceptive month....gorgeous almost summer-like days and an energy in the air that encourages you to plant things much earlier than you should. And just when you've got your gardening set up, then come the Eisheiligen....Mamertus, Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius and Sophie. Eisheilige 2020 (Schweiz) Montag, 11. Mai - Freitag, 15. Mai

Ah yes. I know all too well the heartbreak of spring gardening in Schwyz.

To wait, or not to wait, that is the question. Wait, and run the risk that the season will be too short, plant early and run the risk of getting hit with a killing frost.

I've done both, and every variation in between.

This year we have a temporary greenhouse set up on the patio, the geraniums and various veggie starts are in there during the day, hopefully getting some sun and acclimating. The trays then come inside in the evening.

Normally this isn't too much of a hassle, but during these abnormal times when suddenly the house square footage seems to have shrunk in half, my plant nursery vying for space with OH's office makes for... interesting times.

But at least geraniums are a sign of hope.

[olygirl]

I think that's what spring is about, isn't it? Hope.

My zucchini seeds have already sprouted and have become quite sizeable. However, I have a wintergarden so they're protected from the cold nights. I've also discovered a festation of plant lice on my strawberries. I find blowtorching the aggressive critters works best and also satisfies my pyromaniac urges.

[curley]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	Have to give Hornbach a shout-out. I ordered geraniums online for the first time - usually get them from a special nursery, where I would want to inspect and carefully choose every plant. (A nod to the Geraniumpolizei. ) Placed the order over the weekend, they arrived today. Plants were well protected for shipping, arrived in good condition. Actually, outstanding condition - these are some of the nicest geraniums I've ever bought! (Lilac, double bloom, hanging.) And the price can't be beat - CHF 1.45 per plant. I usually pay in the CHF 5 range. --- Of course you all know what this means. Now that I have my lovely geraniums all ready to go... ... it will snow.

At Fr. 1.45 you can enjoy them now and replace them after "Eisheilige".

[MusicChick]

I fed all our plants some plant food I found at home, the food is for herbs, though. I wonder if monsteras, palm plants, ficuses, bamboos will be ok with that.

[curley]

	Quote:	MusicChick
	I fed all our plants some plant food I found at home, the food is for herbs, though. I wonder if monsteras, palm plants, ficuses, bamboos will be ok with that.

They'll all become edible.