Rhubarb Appreciation Society

[Blackpuddingbertha]

Going with Rhihaf's thread name suggestion, following on from the first rule of gardening club is thread.

Pull up your kneeling pads, crack open the elderberry wine and the blackberry gin and come and join us. No real experience or gardening know-how needed.

Would you cloche bertha? I think you are right its still a bit early for these little seeds to be outside without shelter.

All of my outdoor sown seeds are currently cloched. Weather just not predictable right now. Even with cloching, or plastic greenhousing, I have nothing germinating outside yet

Fine tilth... I was going to use that as a name change last year I think, but didn't get round to it. Or maybe Tyne Filth (I was born in Newcastle). There's just something a little bit naughty sounding about fine tilth, I think.

Ooh Wisley alpine house was looking lovely. I have a hankering for some saxifragas. I have a low wall that currently hosts roses and some sad looking lavenders. I may have to sacrifice the lavenders and replace them with alpines.

Nice to Echium pininana getting a mention too - one of my favourite plants. Grew some splendid ones in London, I shall have to see if they can survive here too.

I also snorted at the full Monty

Nice to see Echium pininana I mean. Typing with one eye closed and it doesn't really work.

::snort:: at wildflower chappie with it without gilet and TyneFilth. It's certainly getting very earthy round here, in every sense of the word.

We've just been to a plant auction and have filled the car with bargains. Ooh err.

A plant auction? Sounds great! We just went to a craft fair and I bought a lovely bird bath. Which dd then broke within 10 minutes of getting home. It hadn't even made it out to the garden.

I'd need a boat to get to a plant auction or craft fair. Can you stick the bird bath back together Rhubarb? It's spring Maud (allegedly) and the sap is rising !

I really want to go to Wisley after watching GW and definitely want some saxifrage . How do I find a local plant auction ?

Checked on my Aquaponic system yesterday. No fish casualties yet, aphids reduced since predators arrived and I nearly have enough for one whole lettuce sarnie. Hopefully as temperature improves and light levells the fish will eat more so more nitrates are produced and the plants will grow faster. The plan is to turn the greenhouse pretty much over to Aquaponics.

It was, Rhubarb. We are only limited by the size of the car, otherwise I would really have let rip.

How sad about the bird bath. Is there any hope of mending it and placing a plant strategically to hide the join?

I am becalmed by a hungover unwilling DH, hopefully only temporarily. We and the boy have so far relocated the euphorbia minus some of its more mature stems which I have jabbed around the edge of a couple of pots a la Carol in my head and I planted my berberis (Red Pillar not Helmond as it turns out) and dug up Rosa 'Open Arms' and taken some sections of stem also for growing new ones. Planted the two remaining RHS purchases from last week (Eryngium and Knautia) and realised that three pink Astilbe plants should be coming up in the same area. I think I could do without two of them really. When I first planted up these beds I put things in in threes (slightly expensive but instantly effective!). Now I am better at buying perennials that look like they are ready to be divided anyway.

Wynken, tell us more about your aquaponic system - it sounds fascinating. I didn't realise they involved fish, I thought it was just growing in water with nutrients added.

The bird bath is now superglued. As are my thumb and ring finger.

Glad the bird bath is back together - not so good about your fingers Rhubarb. Lexy, have you got decen weather ? It is just bucketing here still.

The Aquaponic system is basically a mini ecosystem which combines hydroponics and aquaculture. In hydroponics the water needs dumping regularly to deal with the build up of nutrients. With Aquaculture the water builds up high levels of nitrates that need dealing with.

An Aquaponic system consists of a fish tank with a growbed /growbeds on top or by the side depending on design. The water from the fish tank containing the fish waste is pumped through the grow bed which acts as a filter. Bacteria in the grow bed breaks down the fish waste to nitrites which then get converted to nitrates. The plants in the growbed are able to take up the nitrates and use them for growth. The water is then effectively filtered and returned back down to the fish tank. there are also worms which live in the water in the grow bed and breakdown some of the fish solids and plant roots.

Once the system has cycled as you would when starting up a normal fish tank, maintenance is low. Every so often the water level needs topping up and you need to keep an eye on the pH as it needs to be a certain level for the bacteria to keep working and for the plants to be able to take up the nitrates. I chuck shells into the grow bed to keep the pH steady. There aren't any weeds to worry about and the plants can be planted much closer than in the ground so higher yield from small space. The fish do need a handful of food chucked in daily but that's pretty much all I have done since the New Year when the cycling completed.

There are 6 little Koi in the tank, they will get too big eventually so I'll get a bigger tank or sell them. In the grow bed I've a couple of climbing beans, garlic, leeks, lettuce, red cabbage and oriental greens at the moment. My colleague started with a couple similar to mine but has a big polytunnel. After major success with chilli plants in it last summer which has led to a small but expanding chilli sauce business, he's expanded. He's dug out a pond and is going to have 12 or 14 grow beds which hopefully will give him all the chillis he needs. It's quite big out in Oz I think and that's where the main forum is, with people from all over the world. Quite addictive, it's usually a matter of when you expand the system rather than if !

Sorry, that is very very long.

Amazingly after the amount I typed I forgot an important bit. We're using ornamental fish but most people use fish they eat, so Tilapia, Silver Perch, Trout etc. That way there's a source of fresh fish and vegetables. I'm settling for the veg for now as I don't like fish, DH is veggie and the DC's would never forgive me.

That's fascinating Wynken - if I had the space I would love to do all these sorts of things. I think with the small size of my garden there is often a sense of not being able to 'do it properly', which has been the reason I've sometimes lost my mojo towards the end of the summer, or lost entire trays of seedlings by first forgetting to go and water them, then thinking "well I never had space for them all anyway..."

It is now pouring rain here. I have left the rose in the toy-size wheelbarrow collecting rain with a couple of potfuls of compost covering the roots. We'll plant that tomorrow. I managed to keep the boy interested for about 20 minutes in the shed putting seed compost into modular trays. I've done lettuce, quite a few James Wong exotic veg, the remaining Cosmos Rubenza from a pack I got at last year's Hampton Court (sown direct in the ground in July, did ok but stunted a bit by the cool wet summer), and lots of random seeds I have collected off my own and other people's plants. Morning glory, iris sibirica, honesty, hellebore, etc... who knows what will come up!!

Managed to spend 3 hours in the garden this afternoon while DS was sleeping. DH finished the gate and hung it. Still needs to be sanded and painted (and have a catch put on) but it looks awesome!

I cut back the dead reeds and hacked away at the shrub/bush that I hate in the back garden (it has really nasty thorns and even the leaves are prickly). Still needs digging out but I?ll be glad to get rid of it and put something else there. It?s a relatively shady spot and that shrub always gave me the creeps Now I want to look for something pretty

Also started clearing up old strawberry bed (not sure if the plants have given up the ghost yet ? quite a few of them haven?t made it through the winter) and have sowed my sweet peas, some tomatoes. DH started joining in as well and he raked up lots of old leaves and got out the trimmer for some of our bushes/hedges. DBIL also delivered tower/slide so we need to hurry up and sort out that area as well!

Hoping to get out tomorrow afternoon as well for a few hours.

Wow, Wynken, that sounds absolutely fantastic! I LOVE the idea of having fresh fish on tap in addition to veggies. I think even dh could get enthusiastic about that. I took the kids to the aquarium this afternoon and dd spent the whole time pointing at fish and saying "Can you eat that one?" We are a fish and seafood loving family.

Wynken that sounds amazing.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah - thank you Monty. We don't get GW here in Wales until Saturday night due to regional rugby on a Friday.

Didn't realise some of the plants I put in my new front border were sedum - they look like succulents and are bright green/yellow, does that sound right?

Wynken - amazing-sounding set up, did you see the hydroponic-tomatoes that Raymond Blanc went to see on his last series? Surprisingly interesting....

Spring is DEFINITELY coming [excited jiggling up and down]; as well as my aforementioned radicchio seedlings, I now have purple sprouting starting to peep through! and my TM perennial collection are starting to get a spurt on

Lexy - [bows down in reverence] you are blessed to be able to chuck stuff in and have it actually grow

This is long. Sorry. I have had and Monty. Lethal combination.

Spring is finally starting to spring here too rhihaf! The tulips in the front garden are budding up. The weeping pears that we have moved are coming into leaf (this is a relief). The agapanthus are sprouting. A few stray blossoms are showing themselves. All the alliums are still there, they were just holding back, unlike last year. Alchemilla mollis is greening up everywhere.

I wish it wasn't pouring with rain though.

It is bright sunshine, though windy here!
There are butterflies in the garder! 2 red fritillaries are gambolling in the air, then settling on the choisya (no blossom yet) then dancing again up into the oak tree. Quite lovely.

The anemone blanda got planted out last night and this morning has put out another mass of flowers, and looks stunning next to the deep burgundy hellebores. It must be the organic peat free compost I got on special offer- a 'Which' best buy it is called New Horizon. I am going to spread the rest of the 10 bags out this afternoon if I have the energy.

This has been a good year for hellebores. The ivory 'double Ellen' has also been stunning and will go into the beds with species primroses. So nice to hear of everyone else's spring. There are mostly narcissi in the front gardens round here, which are cheery. The blossom on cherry trees is out!

Wynken your very upmarket fish pool is wonderful! I saw a picture of those the other day and thought I might have one if I won the lottery. Can you grow water lilies in them?.

Lexi I too have had a seed tray disaster, mine is with the courgettes. I'm not sure whether to sow more into egg boxes trays or straight out into the trough.

Spring is happening here but sunshine definitely isn't . No cherry or apple blossom yet. I've just had a final splitting of geraniums and sedum plus threaded some of the Naga Chillis to dry properly - wasn't careful enough washing my fingers, ouch !

Engel, I would give the strawberries a bit longer before giving up on them, they are usually very hardy and it has been so cold.

Very jealous of those of you with Hellebores. I had an accident with the ones here originally then the one planted last year didn't survive. I just found earlier a little seedling from the original one.

Nasty moment earlier when I shut the cat in the greenhouse. She's found the fish but didn't manage it get the lid off.

We've planted the rose out the front, attached plastic sheet over canes along my veg bed and completed the shed guttering. I think that those jobs plus yesterday is reasonable compared to my to do list. I haven't found the tension bolts and wire I need for my raspberry canes. I've definitely got them somewhere, but don't know where. The sheeting is catching the wind so I hope it survives... I probably should tie in the stems of the rose to the fence though - I nearly bought a 6ft obelisk for it in tesco this morning but thought it would probably be cheap and nasty. Oh well, off to the gardening suppliers' websites I go...

Well done with what you've done Lexy, happy shopping.

Beechgrove Garden on BBC 2 tonight, Chris Beardshaw makes pleasant Sunday evening viewing.

Love the sound of the aquaponic system.

DH has made one planter to go by the arbour, hopefully he'll manage to get the second one done tomorrow. I'm itching to get the jasmine & clematis in and getting it starting to look less bare.

Trimmed out the old stems of the sedum today. Been reluctant to do it as the old flower heads add some nice structure to an otherwise pretty much bare bed! Still, things are finally starting to sprout so hopefully it will fill up soon.

The snake's head fritillary I planted last year are up. Not quite flowering yet and they are a bit on the short and feeble side but I'm focusing on the positive! No signs yet of the bluebells that DH mowed last year .

Went to the first BBQ of the year yesterday. It was rather wet!