I've got rid of bindweed twice. Once when I had an allotment, and once here. It takes about 4 years, pulling up every bit of bind weed, digging into the soil to get as much root out as possible, everytime it is spotted. Then once a week time spent actually searching it out.
It gets going again later in the season than most weeds, so you can think you've seen it off till one sunny spring morning there it is!
I still get it coming under my neighbour's fence, and this morning there some was, looking very strong and lively after its winter rest.
I have 3 black bins with drainage holes drilled near the bottom where I put bindweed and other nasty weeds. I empty the oldest bin in spring and use that bin for that year's weeds. If anything looks as if it hasn't rotted down enough it is popped into one of the other bins. So the bindweed pulled up today will be feeding my tomatoes in 3 years time!
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Will popularity of Boris Bikes lead to a critical mass of cyclists?
Today in Victoria Park, Hackney, there was someone obviously on a ride for pleasure on a Boris Bike. Last weekend I saw 3 women on Boris Bikes out cycling together on the towpath. Great!
I notice if I go out to the shops at lunchtime (near Euston station) not only all the Boris Bikes but more other bikes as well.
It would be wonderful if this rise in cycling could continue until the authorities will play more than lip service to the safety and eof cycling and we could be like Denmark and the the Netherlands with masses of people regularly cycling (and in ordinary clothes!)
I notice if I go out to the shops at lunchtime (near Euston station) not only all the Boris Bikes but more other bikes as well.
It would be wonderful if this rise in cycling could continue until the authorities will play more than lip service to the safety and eof cycling and we could be like Denmark and the the Netherlands with masses of people regularly cycling (and in ordinary clothes!)
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Amaryllis ago go
Because my amaryllis are in an unheated conservatory, experience has taught me there is no point repotting them in January. I wait till the first leaf shows through - which happened last weekend.
Tonight, with the conservatory light on and the potting tray on the ground just outside the conservatory door I repotted them, disturbing the roots as little as possible. I also repotted the begonia and some small bulbs which give orange flowers in late summer.
One of the bulblets growing on the main amaryllis bulbs was big enough to break off and repot on its own. I put in a metal plant marker so I would know this was its first year and not expect too much of it.
One colleague who took one of the seven spare amaryllis I took into work last year reports that his has flowered well this year.
Tonight, with the conservatory light on and the potting tray on the ground just outside the conservatory door I repotted them, disturbing the roots as little as possible. I also repotted the begonia and some small bulbs which give orange flowers in late summer.
One of the bulblets growing on the main amaryllis bulbs was big enough to break off and repot on its own. I put in a metal plant marker so I would know this was its first year and not expect too much of it.
One colleague who took one of the seven spare amaryllis I took into work last year reports that his has flowered well this year.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Plum awkward
Last year I got 2 plum trees (a Country Living offer, I think). They weren't designed for pots but, as they were not going to grow very large, I thought I would try.
One is a mass of blossom, the other has not a single flower!
I can't remember if they are self-fertile, but, as they were sold as a pair, I doubt it.
So no plums this year then. Fingers crossed for next year!
One is a mass of blossom, the other has not a single flower!
I can't remember if they are self-fertile, but, as they were sold as a pair, I doubt it.
So no plums this year then. Fingers crossed for next year!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where my daffodils iz?!
Spring is sprung.
The grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies iz?
The bird is on the wing.
But that's absurd -
the wing is on the bird!
(Nonsense rhyme from my childhood)
The daffodils in the long flower bed have very few flowers. But they have been there 15 years so I should dig them up and spread them out a bit (been meaning to do this for a few years!). The early daffodils by the pond, which have only been there a few years, have had only 3 flowers. And the new ones under the rotary clothes dryer which have been there hardly any time at all don't seem to have grown at all! At least that will mean there is somewhere to put the paperwhite daffodils I have had indoors.
The grass is riz.
I wonder where the birdies iz?
The bird is on the wing.
But that's absurd -
the wing is on the bird!
(Nonsense rhyme from my childhood)
The daffodils in the long flower bed have very few flowers. But they have been there 15 years so I should dig them up and spread them out a bit (been meaning to do this for a few years!). The early daffodils by the pond, which have only been there a few years, have had only 3 flowers. And the new ones under the rotary clothes dryer which have been there hardly any time at all don't seem to have grown at all! At least that will mean there is somewhere to put the paperwhite daffodils I have had indoors.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Will Olympics be a barrier to my blackberries?
Yet another public space being taken from the public. This time on Leyton Marshes where they are building (within weeks of it first being made public) practice court, though the sign on the wire fence says Olympic village.
I ride up the side of Leyton Marshes,then under the railway bridge, to pick my blackberries. If where the fence is now is the outer edge, then I'll be OK - as long a security doesn't block yet further our rights of way.
I ride up the side of Leyton Marshes,then under the railway bridge, to pick my blackberries. If where the fence is now is the outer edge, then I'll be OK - as long a security doesn't block yet further our rights of way.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Rosemary, where are your flowers?
I like Rosemary as it flowers early which is a help for insects out early in the year.
My new rosemary bush - in the front garden - in its third year has yet to have a single flower, but I noticed this morning that a rosemary in the front garden around the corner has flowers on. This is later than I remember the rosemary bush I had in the back garden used to flower.
You are not supposed to feed and water rosemary too much, but one year my neglect went too far and the rosemary in a pot in the back garden died. I had another, newer, rosemary that a fox used to sleep on, so it looked like a postrate variety, and then it got covered up by a large geranium and that died too!
Not much for insects in the front garden but crocus, primroses and primulas, a few wall flowers, and daffodils just beginning to open in the back garden. My neighbours forsythia which is right by my fence is also just beginning to break into flower.
My new rosemary bush - in the front garden - in its third year has yet to have a single flower, but I noticed this morning that a rosemary in the front garden around the corner has flowers on. This is later than I remember the rosemary bush I had in the back garden used to flower.
You are not supposed to feed and water rosemary too much, but one year my neglect went too far and the rosemary in a pot in the back garden died. I had another, newer, rosemary that a fox used to sleep on, so it looked like a postrate variety, and then it got covered up by a large geranium and that died too!
Not much for insects in the front garden but crocus, primroses and primulas, a few wall flowers, and daffodils just beginning to open in the back garden. My neighbours forsythia which is right by my fence is also just beginning to break into flower.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)