Is there a lockdown gardening thread?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

It can’t be just me who is not a regular gardener and who is wondering how on earth to get the garden into shape now I have spare time to do it, but nowhere to put bits of pruned bushes, mown grass and weeds. Not to mention no trips to the garden centre for anything, including compost and plants. My garden is too small for a compost bin. I already have to have the lawn mower in a plastic shed thing so dont want to add another unsightly thing like a compost bin into the mix.

I live in a a suburban semi with small front and back garden but LOTS to cut back. Our green bin collection is on hold. All my green garden bags are full and the local waste centre is closed. (I really thought it might stay open as I thought people mainly just sit in their cars in a queue, then get out and dump their waste without really getting close to anyone else.

I think, apart from anything, I’m just wondering what everyone is doing differently to normal than what they would normally do on an Easter bank holiday weekend. Which I’m guessing is visit the garden centre!

I don't think you can transplant root vegetables once planted - you're supposed to plant them straight in the veg patch, and thin them out as they grow! Once you pull them out of the ground I doubt you can restart them elsewhere.

My ever knowledgeable DH does say you can probably move the squash though?

My aubretia seeds turned up and I have duly planted them in my windowsill propagator. Wish us luck.

No sign of anyone acknowledging or putting together my garden centre order for collection that I placed a fortnight ago.

I have some squash (courgette type) that's come up and you plant them out or in bigger pots when they have a few leaves.
Carrots you just thin out though.

You can transplant them, though it's not the normal method, and it's not ideal.

The particular problem with carrots is carrot fly, which are attracted by the smell, so damaging the roots on transplanting releases the smell. That's why you are advised to sow them thinly in a drill and thin them out by very gently pulling up the excess seedlings - if you've sown them thinly enough, you can delay the pulling until they're "baby carrot" size.

Carrots and parsnips don't need to be protected from the cold, so next year try sowing them direct. Parsnips are slow to germinate, so you can mark the row by sowing a radish seed every inch - they grow quickly, and meanwhile mark where the parsnips are meant to be, which makes weeding easier.

Bugger, something has got to me hosta. I'm convinced it is already nestled - whether tiny snail or slug - WITHIN the giant container it's in. I've got serrated copper tape all around it, so however it got in there, I doubt it is bothering to travel down to snooze underneath the pot during the day.

It hasn't decimated it, just made holes in some leaves, so there can only be a population of one. It ate the tops of the shoots when it first started growing too. I put some lettuce stalks in there which it's been eating instead of the leaves for now.

How can I zap the bastard without putting my nosey puppy at risk? Is it torch at 10pm time? Bloody hell, the hosta is pretty big, it'll be a nightmare...

Slugs and snails seem to return to the same feeding spot, so first place to look would be where the current holes are.

My PlantSavers order arrived today - 3 weeks after I placed it! Looks good, 5 types of plants.

In the meantime, I planted out 4 butternut squash plants and only one of them is still alive . One has clearly been dug up by the little fluffy bastards who have also been digging in the lawn (squirrels) and I'm not sure what got the other two. Plus slugs have eaten one of my broccoli seedlings. Is it worth buying nematodes? I've seen them recommended before but never used them!