Posted by nodosa on 2015-04-08 20:44:00 UTC
PermalinkIt is only the beginning of my gardening adventure, and there are ups and downs but overall, I'm already finding it fulfilling. The honeyberries (ordered from a farm, about 25cm in height) are already flowering and greatly enjoing the transition. From that farm I had also ordered goji, amelanchiers and blueberries, some do better than others but then again it is the very beginning and nature takes it's time to work it's magic.
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Being in a fairly moist climate (a 100km from the coast and on the edge of a large regional national park), we have heaps of peat moss growing over various areas of the garden, which is what i mainly use for mulch, it's free and does a hell of a job keeping my soil moist. My real gold is the partly composted peat moss that lives under our very large pine tree, that is riddled with fallen needles and has the consistency of a sponge. I sample sparingly so as to not deplete this valuable ressource, but it has done wonders around the roots of my berry shrubs.
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It is the first time that I plant so much from seed and it's a little nerve wracking, the waiting I mean. I do a happy dance every time a seedling sprouts. So far, my first sproutees include, coriander, red kuri squash, basil, parsley, coriander, arugula and radishes. I hope the others follow suit soon, or I'll plant a second round.
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I use a broken (there's a hole in the hull) cake-storage tupperware as a makeshift greenhouse. It's working so far. I'm also big on repurposing items. Cut milk bottles as little pots, fruit trays from the store and the like either as containers or upside-down as tiny green houses. They do need to be weighed down with a stone though.
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My cats are defecating in my planting beds and it's quite frustrating but I don't quite know what to do about it.
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Large portions of the garden are overrun with ivy, some of my trees and ground cover. I'm not too sure how to get rid of all of it without resorting of a chemical method. I tried clearing a patch yesterday, I was at it for over an hour, but i barely removed half a square metre. it is sometimes 5-10cm deep. HELP.
I have more hazel trees than I know what to do with, but the upside is that the soil around them is fantastic. my artichokes love it.
In conclusion,
Wait and hope.
2 comments
Spiky things will make your cats stay out of the beds. They make plastic things but I've also heard of using the spiky husks from chestnuts.
As far as ivy goes, yes, it's going to take a while to do the first cleanup. Go at it each day until it's cleaned up. Then check every week like clockwork, pulling out any attempts it makes at coming back. Do not just leave it alone for a month or (eep!) a year. If you get desperate, glyphosphate (Roundup) works on ivy with a few applications (because the leaves are waxy, it might not do enough the first time).
I'm also dealing with my ivy by hand. It's running through the bottom of a 40' long hedge, covering most of a tall fence, 5" deep on about 60' of rock wall, and choking a rhododendron and a juniper tree in different parts of the yard. At the rate it's going I probably have at least 20 hours of work ahead of me, but at least it's kind of therapeutic to hack away at it. There's so much that I can't fit it all in my city's yard waste collection bins – may end up trying to rot it under plastic and compost myself.