Spring and summer 2014

[Wolferz]

A place to post your gardening adventures and other warm weather minutiae after a very brutal winter.

Yesterday I completed a battery repair on my lawn tractor and got 'er fired up to cut my grass. That's when I discover that two of the tires have no atmo in them. The only air pump I have available is one that plugs into a car cigarette lighter power socket. So I tried to bring the tractor around the house to where my truck is parked and dagnabit I rolled two tires off of their rims in the process. Removed the rims from their axles to cart them to an air station at a local gas hole. One of the rear tires was popped off the bead and the air compressor at the gas hole was one of those automated jobbies that couldn't force the bead back on the rim. So I did the next best thing...
Went in the store and bought a can of starting fluid. Sprayed it into the void and lit it. POP! The tire was remounted in an instant.:up: Returned home, remounted the wheels to the axles...
It starts raining.:wah:

[STEED]

I want to kill my garden asap without chemical or biological products any ideas?

[Betonov]

A gardening thread, lovely :)

I got about 20 seedlings of different kinds of chilli and a couple of seedlings of tobacco. The tomatoes, basil, bell pepper I'll buy next week.
There's still a cold front here and I'll wait until Monday when nights are warmer than 1'°C.

The trees I planted in autumn are all rooted in successfully, the pears might grow a fruit this year.

The neighbours horse is providing me a steady supply of manure and I produce my own fetrillizer from stinging nesttles.

[Admiral Halsey]

I want to kill my garden asap without chemical or biological products any ideas?

That's easy. Just use fire and it'll be dead in no time.

[STEED]

That's easy. Just use fire and it'll be dead in no time.

Not sure the neighbors go for that one...

999
Fire engine please a crazy neighbor has set fire to his garden..:har:


OK slight change to the question...WEEDS DAM WEEDS.

[Jimbuna]

Had my front garden laid with patterned concrete (cobblestone design) a few years ago and at great expense.

In the meantime I'm contemplating the rear of the prperty which is at least three times the size...the wife is getting a bit weary of being the only gardebner in the family.

[u crank]

I just took down my Christmas lights. :har:

Also put battery in lawn tractor and fired it up. It's a miracle. It started without using any voodoo or obscene language. Lawn is getting green but not ready to cut. And a sure sign that summer is comin'. The first cruise ship of the season arrived today. :sunny:

[Tango589]

Gave the front and back lawns their first cut. Damn grass was tall enough to lose a badger in. There are some flowers on the dwarf apple tree for the first time, the dwarf plum tree is in full leaf but not flowering yet, the olive tree is still surviving and there are signs of the first bunches on the grape vine. All I have to do now is keep the bloody starlings from stripping the vine bare when it's in full fruit. Last year I lost 15-20 bunches of red grapes to the little sods! Any ideas?

When the weather gets drier I'll start planting seeds in the veg strip and potting up a tomato plant, chilli plant, pepper plant and growing herbs.

:sunny:

[STEED]

Gave the front and back lawns their first cut.

WHAT!...I have given mind five cuts now. :stare:

[Oberon]

It's raining...so that's summer sorted then. :yeah:

Swallows have started nesting down on the sea front, earliest I've seen them.

WHAT!...I have given mind five cuts now. :stare:

Bear in mind Tango didn't say what he cut the lawns with...

http://www.agriaffaires.co.uk/img_343/combine-harvester/combine-harvester.jpg

[Tango589]

Not sure the neighbors go for that one...

999
Fire engine please a crazy neighbor has set fire to his garden..:har:


OK slight change to the question...WEEDS DAM WEEDS.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-vinegar-salt-weed-killer-49329.html

Apparently salt and vinegar solution works as a permanent solution, plus any left over can be sprayed on your chip supper! :up:

[Jimbuna]

Last year I lost 15-20 bunches of red grapes to the little sods! Any ideas?




http://s1.postimg.org/mmwdypsx7/image.gif (http://postimage.org/)

[STEED]

Bear in mind Tango didn't say what he cut the lawns with...

http://www.agriaffaires.co.uk/img_343/combine-harvester/combine-harvester.jpg

Man that is a lawn mower. :)

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/use-vinegar-salt-weed-killer-49329.html

Apparently salt and vinegar solution works as a permanent solution, plus any left over can be sprayed on your chip supper! :up:

Thanks I'm going give that a spin. :up:

[Tango589]

http://s1.postimg.org/mmwdypsx7/image.gif

:har:

I think I need something a bit more police-friendly! Maybe a frame with netting around it will do the trick.:hmmm:

[Jimbuna]

Nice one...me too (or should I have said the wife) :sunny:

[Jimbuna]

http://s1.postimg.org/mmwdypsx7/image.gif

:har:

I think I need something a bit more police-friendly! Maybe a frame with netting around it will do the trick.:hmmm:

Yeah, sorry...but if you lived on a farm you'd be okay :03:

[Tango589]

True, although I'm not sure the Guv'ness would let me loose with a firearm...:o

[Jimbuna]

Then your only other option would be to borrow a certain item of her underwear....NOT TO WEAR....and use as a sling shot :03:

[Aktungbby]

I want to kill my garden asap without chemical or biological products any ideas?

Cover with easily obtainable 1000 sq ft. black sheet plastic (cheap); Used it to kill tough nasty Bermuda (heat and no sunlight) grass prior to rolling fresh bluegrass sod. Works great as poor man's pool heater too; floats directly on surface and black just absorbs solar energy actually too well. Good to have on hand to keep firewood dry and in one worst case scenario, a temp fix (held with bricks from old earth-quake chimney) after a neighbors' gutted-roof fire.:salute: Just installed frames for planter box veggies with auto timed sprinklers and drip irrigation; added strawberry/raspberry planter box this year and have all the potted and hanging plants on sprinklers too.

[Aktungbby]

All I have to do now is keep the bloody starlings from stripping the vine bare when it's in full fruit. Last year I lost 15-20 bunches of red grapes to the little sods! Any ideas?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71oeM8ab%2BuL._SL1500_.jpg These: with moving wings and head should be intimidating; this also gets used in Napa for same grape problem with Xmas tinsel http://www.boddingtonsonline.com/products/mesh-and-netting/anti-bird-netting/anti-bird-netting-plastic.php (http://www.boddingtonsonline.com/products/mesh-and-netting/anti-bird-netting/anti-bird-netting-plastic.php)

[Tango589]

Fix the owl to the shed and drape netting over the fruit trees and I should be well away. Thanks!:up:

[Wolferz]

Time for a trip to Lowes. Wanna come, Frau K? :D

I need some landscaping pins to hold down some plastic and fabric and keep the weeds from sprouting in the front flower beds. I noticed while cutting the grass that the Dogwood tree is in full bud. I've been expecting the thing to give up the ghost but it keeps hanging on.:up: The wife has a big Lilac bush in the back corner of the lower fourty. It appears to be dead, dead, deadski.:up: I hate the thing because cutting the grass back there always fills the back of my shirt collar with flower petals. I think our neighbor out back may have sprayed it with a herbicide. I'll have to discreetly thank him.:D

[Wolferz]

I want to kill my garden asap without chemical or biological products any ideas?

Salt it. Be advised that nothing will ever grow there again until you remove and replace all of the sodium contaminated soil.
If you're not looking for a permanent ban on flora, clear or opaque plastic will allow the sun to cook the vegetation to death.

[Aktungbby]

http://cdn.gohistoric.com/img/10/43/60/gohistoric_10436_z.jpg or wait a few thousand years! Carthage: after the Romans salted the earth. Third Punic War!:O:

[Wolferz]

http://cdn.gohistoric.com/img/10/43/60/gohistoric_10436_z.jpg or wait a few thousand years! Carthage: after the Romans salted the earth. Third Punic War!:O:

Natural erosion and the laying down of new soil cured the Roman Foliday.:hmmm:

[Tango589]

Great. I come back off holiday and the hose watering the apple tree came adrift so the tree didn't get nearly enough water. The soil was dry, quite a few of the leaves have curled up and I the flowers have gone. I gave it a good dousing, but I hope the situation is redeemable. Any suggestions?

[Jimbuna]

Stick a spoonful of that (comes with the spoon) in a full watering can...has worked for me in the past.

http://www.tesco.com/direct/miracle-miracle-gro-plant-food-1kg/370-4890.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=370-4890&sc_cmp=pcp_GSF_Planting%20%26%20Growing_370-4890kpid=370-4890&sc_cmp=ppc_g__&gclid=CLPWx8D33b4CFccSwwodhAMAIA

[Tango589]

I've given it a dose of Tomorite, so we'll see how it fares. Fingers crossed.

[BossMark]

Spring and summer in England :har::har::har:

[TarJak]

:timeout: Its winter now. :O: Blooming northern hemispherians thinking the world revolves around them.

[Sailor Steve]

:timeout: Its winter now. :O: Blooming northern hemispherians thinking the world revolves around them.
Wow. Seems like it was only yesterday that you were laughing at us and bragging about all your wonderful sunshine. Couldn't have been more than...what? Six months ago? :O:

[TarJak]

When I say winter I mean it's 23C and sunny just like it always is except in summer when it gets up to 40C.:sunny:

[Jimbuna]

When I say winter I mean it's 23C and sunny just like it always is except in summer when it gets up to 40C.:sunny:

Time to put an extra vest on then :)

[AVGWarhawk]

Garden adventures.....let's talk the nasty mite knows as a TICK. The little blood suckers have come out in force this year. We have the Texas Lone Star tick. Better then the Deer Tick as they carry lime disease. The Lone Star gives you a nasty rash sometimes. Anyway, how do you combat the nasty mite? Thus far we use Advantage drops on out pups. This kills the tick if they bit into the dog but does not repel them. Of course then the ticks come in the house via the dogs. I have sprayed the yard and this works for a bit. I'm looking to get a professional exterminator as the critters are overly abundant this year.

[Wolferz]

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb295/Wolferz_2007/The-Tick.jpg

I'd want to keep this guy away from my dog and my yard too.:O:

[TarJak]

Time to put an extra vest on then :)

Just about nippy enough.:haha:

[Garion]

My new Petrol Chainsaw arrived... BROOOoOOooooM!!!!

Zombi tree apocalypse, woohoo I can heat my house for free. :arrgh!:

Cheers

Gary

[Tango589]

I've just found the perfect thing for keeping wildlife, burglars, kids off your property.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QcfZGDvHU8
:yeah: