Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi, i have started parsnips in toilet roll inserts which has worked well, with little stumping (if that is the right word). I tried direct sowing but with such a bad strike rate, i am going back to the roilet rolls. You need to plant them out by plantimg the whole thing into the ground when there are two or three leaves, but by then they have a chance against my slugs. I tend not to totally fill the rolls with compost so that there is a little barrier above the soil. Well worth trying.
In terms of wildlife friendly area, what about creeping thyme? I have put it in actually quite an unsuitable area (too much shade) but it is doing great. You mow it a couple of times a year, you can walk on it (smells amazing) aand it should be great for the bees when it blooms. It is thick enough to stop weeds. The version that has worked for me is Wooly (or woolly) thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus).
Seemingly, you can eat the young leaves as a salad leaf – when I was googling for my Mum on how to get rid of it, one blogger claimed that she had got rid of it by eating all the young leaves and it eventually died. My Mum wasn’t convinced.
Hi Khadeejah,
It takes ages for the cardboard to break down.
I have had the cardboard on top and underneath (two different gardens). When it is on top it tends to dry out and can blow away so it needs to be weighed down. When it is underneath compost, it stays put. I put a maybe 2 inch layer of mushroom compost over cardboard in January and the cardboard is still there underneath but there are loads of worms in action and only dandelions have poked through.
I think just go for it. Charles knows what he is talking about and it will work, strange and all as it may seem to some gardeners.Can I echo everyone’s thanks? When I tell others about your incredible support of us, that you answer queries personally every morning, they are rightly gobsmacked. Thank you so much, for sharing your experience with us and for your great books. Hope to make it for a course sometime….
The other alternative is to get used mushroom compost which you can normally get for free but i guess transport would still be a problem, assuming that there is a mushroom grower near you.
Is this spam?….
Sure what could be more fun than midnight slug and flat worm hunting in the back garden? Maybe it’s time to get an allotment……
Agh, Don, I was hoping beyond hope. Anyone have a magic solution? I do still have ordinary earthworms, and tiger worms from the wormery are working away on my new beds and in the main compost bin as well, but obviously I need to keep on top of the nasties. Anyone got experience of them?
RuthWhizzat, which type of flatworms do you have? I have moved to a new garden and found flatworms which terrified me. A bit of research showed that they are Australian flatworms which are seemingly fairly common around Dublin and aren’t as nasty as their NZ cousins. I regularly find them under my cardboard mulch but I do still have worms, thankfully. Does anyone have any solution other than trying to collect them?
And hopefully counter Christine’s remark that she had tried it for the first time this year (due to a bad back) but found it very expensive, needing between 2-3 inches of compost and having to buy compost in. She did, sideways, say that her yields were great, but the overall focus of what she said was that it was a very expensive way of gardening. Looking forward to hearing you on it, Charles.