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The May garden Hca_button


The May garden

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The May garden Empty The May garden

Post by Chilli-head 1st May 2019, 12:44 pm

How's the year going so far for you ?

I still have some tidying / sowing for the long weekend ahead.  Some promising signs; my brassica sown in a nursery bed in the kitchen garden at home have germinated well enough to give me the plants I need, sweetcorn is coming up, and a few butternut squashes.

On the allotment, what a lot of ladybirds there are this year ! I'm hoping that means the aphids will have a difficult season.


Last edited by Chilli-head on 4th June 2019, 12:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
Chilli-head
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Post by Ploshkin 1st May 2019, 4:53 pm

Ooh, I've seen one ladybird this year which is one more than usual.
Thank you CH (April garden thread) I didn't know that creeping buttercup was compostable.
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Post by Dandelion 1st May 2019, 6:44 pm

From my short walks round the garden, my score is:
Creeping buttercup - lots
Ladybirds - nil
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Post by Chilli-head 20th May 2019, 2:34 pm

What do you know - I turn my back on my chilli plants for 4 days to go walking the hills, and come back to find the greenfly have found them. Spraying them off with some soft soap will be tonight's job.
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Post by Dandelion 21st May 2019, 11:11 am

I wonder if it's going to be a bad year for aphids? I discovered patches of wooly aphids on an apple tree - it had to look it up as I hadn't seen it before. Soapy water was the suggested treatment, scrubbing the patches off the bark. Fortunately it's a very small tree so I was able to reach easily.(one of my daughters planted it in a pot about ten years ago, then moved out, forgot about it, then said she didn't have room. It was either get rid of it or plant it, and I did find a little patch of ground for it as it has beautiful red fruit.)
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Post by Chilli-head 21st May 2019, 11:37 am

I find a blast with the hose at wooly aphids on my apples knocks most of the little b****rs off.

I was expecting aphids this year, because of the mild winter. I have got them on my blackcurrants, but there are an army of ladybird larvae feasting on them, so I'll leave them alone and it should soon be sorted Very Happy

Some rain might be nice for the garden now. Water butts nearly dry ...
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Post by Ploshkin 21st May 2019, 12:22 pm

I've seen a lot of ladybirds this year. I hope we don't end up with a plague like we had about 10 years ago on 2 of our fields. There were huge patches of spindly, yellow grass in them and thousands of ladybirds (the blackbirds could have been feeding on something else that was killing the grass but we never found anything).
Unusually, it's very dry here. We haven't had more than half a dozen days with rain (and not very much) since the beginning of April.
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Post by Dandelion 22nd May 2019, 5:23 pm

Similar here - I've just been into the front garden, which I haven't been to inspect since I had my knee done as there are pebbles to walk over which wasn't very comfortable. The front garden is heavy clay (not so bad in the back thanks to years of cultivation - our house is built on an old orchard). But the soil in the front is like concrete, and the aquilegia and hellebores are covered in aphids. No sign of any ladybirds though...
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Post by Chilli-head 28th May 2019, 11:05 am

Busy long weekend in the garden for me, catching up for a couple away. Planted out squashes (cue weather turning cold !), beans, lettuce etc. I still need another trip to the allotment to do some weed control - as ever.

Oh, the blueberry ! having threatened it with banishment from the patio to the allotment, it is now covered in set fruit ! I think actually it is not so much fear of our threats, but that we've been pruning it wrong. I have made the same mistake with my blackcurrants last year, left it too late after harvest to prune, so there's not enough time for new wood to grow from low down to bear the next year's crop, so effectively I've pruned away a fair bit of the fruiting wood. Pruning is always confusing to me. I watch someone do it on TV, think I've got it, then stand in front of my tree still feeling a bit baffled !

Grape vines are looking promising. Lots of little bunches forming. I've had to extend my wires for training them further along the wall - if they get much bigger they will be round the corner and back up the trellis at the other side ! It is amazing to me how much growth they put on in a single year. Must try Dolmades (Greek stuffed vine leaves) some time.
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