What have you done in the garden today Part 4 Spring 2024.

[MereDintofPandiculation]

What have you done in the garden today? What went well? What surprises have you had? What could have gone better?

This weather! Have been wide awake since 4am worrying about my flimsy polytunnel/greenhouse thingy up at my allotment 😩Need to do an emergency recce before work I think - bet the bloody thing's blown away... I only put it up a couple of weeks ago and it's been so handy but it's probably a pile of knackered plastic now.

Have ordered two more star jasmine for the backyard pergola, some raspberry canes for the lotty and half a tonne of erigeron karvinwhatsit for absolutely everywhere, cos I luffs it.

No, I don’t think you’re being over cautious. That’s the sort of age I remember having free unsupervised access to the whole (rather large) garden with its laburnums and cherry laurels.

I’m a bit cavalier about pruning Euphorbia, and as a result I have a patch of skin on my leg which sports a rash in June before it gets used to the sun. Not painful of itchy so it doesn’t worry me.

Teaching kids appropriate caution is definitely a good idea. We happened to visit Alnwick castle when DD was 6, the poisons garden there is instructive - I think there are similar elsewhere. Out and about on walks and other outdoor activities too. Look and think before you leap into the vegetation!

I love the poison garden at Alnwick, absolutely fascinating.

Teaching kids appropriate caution is definitely a good idea.

I agree. We grew up being told 'Don't eat that it's poisonous', so we didn't.

I'm a poor gardener because as soon as the first insect lands, I take the side of the insects and let them have the plants.

As a contrdiction, i see veggies grow and feel terrible for picking it to eat it.

I'm happy to take leaves here and there, but not kill the whole plant!

I'm autistic, if that explains my thinking a bit.

My message was more like 'dont eat or touch anything unless you've explicitly been told you can.

I don't think tolerating insects (to a certain extent at least) is necessarily seen as poor gardening now. It's about balance - so the idea is to try to encourage other insects, birds etc to come and deal with the pests as much as possible. Got greenfly? - you need ladybirds. Got snails? Thrushes are your friend.

With edible plants ... being tasty to humans could be seen as being a massively good survival strategy, I'm sure there are lots more carrots and cabbages in the world now. And of course some plants have evolved to have tasty parts to encourage seed spreading though maybe we don't want to follow that train of thought too far in the context of gardens.

I’ve become a “no kill” gardener, with the exception of lily beetles. I was won over by the argument that zapping all the insect life disrupts the garden’s ecosystem and, actually, by laziness - I no longer have to buy products and prowl around the garden looking for infestations. I also gave up on the slug traps because I couldn’t face the festering contents, and now leave the frogs to it.

Omg yes the fucking Lily beetles (i don't swear on mn, that's a description. At least you can nearly always get two at once). Even without the damage, their offspring are truly revolting.

Exactly! Life as a lily beetle is a non-stop orgy and the damage they do is impossible to hide.

@SwordToFlamethrower many plants have evolved to be periodically chewed to the ground and they just regrow, so don't fret about picking them 😁

When I was a student, the lecturer ran her own plant nursery and I asked her once what she did about infestations and she said 'Nothing' and that they let the insects sort it out amongst themselves. Saying that, I don't think they stocked lilies otherwise the answer might have been different.

Lily beetles really don't belong in the North of England. We didn't used to have them for the first decade or so that I lived here.

I gave up on lilies (they set off my hayfever anyway so no great loss).
My insect nemeses are Scale Bugs on my blackcurrants and Rosemary Beetles. I kill hundreds of each every year and still they return.

I am mostly killing ivy today. Well, wishing I could kill. Maybe "setting it back six weeks" would be more accurate.

Ugh, yes. I’ve noticed ivy popping up in all sorts of unwelcome places so need to launch a search and destroy mission.

Generally, I think the insects do sort it out amongst themselves - and the tits are a great help - but, as you suggest, Vegemite, the lily beetles seem impervious. I knew we were in for a bumpy ride when, many years ago, our neighbours waxed lyrical about the beautiful red beetles they’d found in the garden, but we get relatively few of them now.

We went to the garden centre to look at sheds this morning. How big do we need? DH is pushing for 8x10 feet but it looks huge. The one we are replacing is 8x6. Bear in mind we also have a 6x10 brick shed and a garage.

Managed not to buy any plants. Came back and did a bit of weeding, pruning and cutting back dead things. Sunny for a change but there’s a very cold sharp wind.

That reminds me to take some cutters to DMs later as I’ve promised to cut back the ivy/ brambles that are closing over from next door and attacking her lovely wall.

You’re not alone, fructarians base their diet on not killing anything, so peas and spinach are ok, but potatoes and carrots aren’t. Difficult to stay healthy on such a restricted diet, so I’m not recommending it.

you’re a better gardener than you think, you’re not damaging the ecological web by taking out one layer, and instead leaving the bugs to support those higher up the food chain

We have lots of blackcurrants and lots of lavender and rosemary but no scale bugs and very few rosemary beetles. Is it because we have lots of birds?

We have lots of birds but they don't seem to be able to prise the scale bugs off the stems, and once the bugs go woolly it's too late. Rosemary beetles drop to the ground as soon as you touch them so birds don't tend to bother with them. I catch them with a jug of soapy water under the branch as I poke them out of place.

I am thawing out and pulling out the prickles from my fingers after a session of retraining and retying a couple of rambler roses with vicious thorns. They should, hopefully, grow in a nice ‘S’ formation up the sides of a very large shed.

I’m glad to have got the job done before they start romping away but I think I could have picked a day without such icy gusts of wind.

As it is dry today I have mowed the front and back lawn with the blades set high

Valid point and a better stance! Shall follow your lead on that! We live in the middle of nowhere with a decent bit of land where they will get lots of free reign so they absolutely need to understand the dangers. (Thankfully even nursery taught this from a young age so it's all just reinforcement).

I’ve definitely got something predating the rosemary beetles….if not birds I wonder what else?