The Potting Shed

[Lisa]

hopefully summer is coming now so i can put my viola's and lobelias out in pots. They are screaming for sunshine. Need to sort my baskets out too. Plus find out how much it'll cost to patio top level of back garden and front garden too.

[Tâf]

Violas and Lobelia don't mind a bit of damp cold.

What sort of patio are you after? Slippy wooden decking or boring slabs?

[Lisa]

slab's.
cheaper.

[Tâf]

For them, the ground must be 100% stable and packed down, or you'll get "sinkage and wobblage".

[Lisa]

it's down the line anyway.
won't be this year

[Tâf]

Prepping the ground for a few years will help it to stabilise.

[Lisa]

prep it how?

[Tâf]

If it's all mud and gunge, you could start adding aggregate (aka hardcore, ballast or subbase) to the surface over a membrane. It'll help with drainage too. But once it's down, you can forget having a lawn without loads of work digging it all out again. And if it's sharp, you'll have to watch E on it in case he tumbles. It needs to be tamped down or simply walked on for a fair while for it to stabilise.

This page gives you the idea

http://blog.lisacoxdesigns.co.uk/tag/mot-type-1-sub-base/

[Tâf]

I've been sowing in modules in the greenhouse: Tagetes, Aubretia, Chrysanthemums, and 2 types of giant sunflower (Sunburst and Mongolian Giant).

The cats haven't touched the pots I sowed in the other day... they must have understood the eviction warning.

I shall negotiate with the missus about starting some chillis on the kitchen windowsill... but she's already narked by the Stevia seedlings there. 

[Tâf]

Transfered the Naga Jolokia and Paper Lantern chillis to the "aquarium" in the living room... they need warmth to get going.

[Tâf]

Sowed another dozen pots of beans (Enorma and Moonlight) that are destined to be given away.

Cleared space in the chilliarium so the stray cats can sleep in there as I need the greenhouse space now.

[Tâf]

Repotted a very unhappy rhubarb crown from a 10 litre pot to a 50 litre one.

Sowed peas and climbing French beans straight into the raised beds.

Shifted a concrete trough a mate gave me to its final position. Too heavy to lift so I did the old rollers thing.

Repotted blackberry seedlings that appeared in the raised beds.

Despite all the rain, the long trough out the front was bone dry, so I gave it a good soaking.

[Tâf]

Received 20 Frau Schindler strawberry plants in the mail and potted them in immediately. They look a little bit scrawny, but they should be OK.

Most of the seeds sown in the greenhouse are up now, the Chillis indoors need a little more time.

[Tâf]

Everything is up and growing well in the greenhouse, apart from the cowslips... I may put them outside as it may be too hot in there for them.

Peas are up, potatoes earthed up, kiwis about to flower, strawberries forming. Even last years dahlias are coming back... they are only supposed to be an annual variety.

Cut back the tulip and daff leaves as they were very yellow.

The Quince sapling is still producing sickly-looking leaves, so I shall have to carry on watering it for a while longer and hope it picks up as decent roots form.

The chain-hung basket was full of weeds, so I cleaed it and changed some of the compost. No idea what I'll grow in it this year.

Sowed lavender and mixed salad seeds that I found in a drawer... best by 2011, but we'll see.

Last year it was snails, this year it's ants everywhere! I've never seen so many. Blackfly and aphids are building up too, but there are loads of ladybirds to nom them.

I found a 2" cockchafer beetle earlier.... it was eating greenfly as well.

[dogsmum]

cockchafer

Now that just sounds painful!