Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
-
If you haven't yet, we highly encourage you to check out our Recovery Resources thread!
Yes! Of the four that had grown the actual fruit one was ripe, they ate that and then the next night ate the other 3 that weren't even ripe
although I still have 4 in the ground and six tops growing roots before I transfer to soil, so there is hope.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
The area is fully mulched now. It's crazy how quick a big project can come along with a little help!
Updated pictures coming soon.
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
Absolutely beautiful! We've had alot of humming birds on some of our flowered trees this year. I just love being a part of the process.
Looking great. You are so lucky to have so much space to play with. I've now finished the bank plot for this year. I've only planted hardy stuff that should come back again in the spring. Most of it will stay bare until next year.
I'm contemplating moving onto the next plot of spare land now!
NB. Are those comfrey plants in the foreground?
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
Oh I'm definitely grateful for all the space. My last place only had a parking lot for my "yard" lol.
Looking damn good on that bank! An yes it's comfrey, you have a good eye. It's a very useful plant for permaculture!
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
I have an addiction with pink. The mothers day after my son died my ex bf & I were headed into walmart. so I said to him lets go in through the garden section I bet there is something from J there for me. I bee lined for the clearance flower and on a shelf across from them were pink ruellias. I had only seen a purply bluish ruellia EVER. I said to my ex bf see I told you there would be something for mothers day for me- and I bought one of those pink ruellias. This is one of them. I ended up going back and buying 2 more and I had NEVER seen pink ones. My bro is blown away by them as he had never seen pink either.
Attachments
I have several plants to harvest for compost and comfrey tea. Plus the bees love it!
RC90
Experienced
- Sep 13, 2020
- 297
Wish I had a hobby like that. But have no hobbies at the moment.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
Of course you'd make tea out of it
. Can I get that recipe sometime tho? You should find something that interests you and just go for it! It can be a good distraction.Wish I had a hobby like that. But have no hobbies at the moment.
Just don't drink it yourself! It's only for the plants remember! Mind you, wouldn't be the first time on here someone has ingested some weird shit...Of course you'd make tea out of it
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
That's what I thought. We had plans to use it as compost and to enrich the soil. My buddy is the expert here though, I just enjoy being a part of it.
It's excellent for compost and plant food but the tea smells hideous. All the flies in the county will descend on you and your garden will smell like turds for day if you use that stuff.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
That's what I've heard but you mentioned tea and it confused me a bit lol.It's excellent for compost and plant food but the tea smells hideous. All the flies in the county will descend on you and your garden will smell like turds for day if you use that stuff.
The weather has turned and fall is here now. We've just been digging out new pathways and flower/garden beds for next year at this point.
The fire pit is done now and just waiting on the gravel. Hopefully we can get that done pretty soon so we can enjoy it this year.
Yeah the tea thing is misleading, it's a plant food, ffs don't actually drink it lol you couldn't it's disgusting. I used it today.
Next I'm making leaf litter for leaf mould next year and for winter mulch for the containers. So my trips into the woods will consist of bring back sacks of leaves. I'm researching what sorts of leaves give what nutrients and rot the fastest. Interesting learning about trees. Favouring beech at the moment.
Ive been collecting deadfall branches to cut into stakes to build a cage for the leaf litter. Instead I've been turning them into staves and I now have a small collection of seven foot quarterstaves in the corner of my kitchen.
Next I'm making leaf litter for leaf mould next year and for winter mulch for the containers. So my trips into the woods will consist of bring back sacks of leaves. I'm researching what sorts of leaves give what nutrients and rot the fastest. Interesting learning about trees. Favouring beech at the moment.
Ive been collecting deadfall branches to cut into stakes to build a cage for the leaf litter. Instead I've been turning them into staves and I now have a small collection of seven foot quarterstaves in the corner of my kitchen.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
But...but... you've got me craving tea now!
We're lucky enough to have a wooded patch of land. I was considering using the leaves for compost as well. Now that fall is basically here it should kill off the underbrush and make it easier to access.
Let me know what you find out about your research on the subject. Maybe we can trade some notes.
SipSop
Arcanist
- May 7, 2020
- 483
The best compost is 50/50 green waste (vegetables and shredded garden waste) plus brown waste (woody stuff, bark chips, old leaves). This gives a mix of nitrogen rich things (plant matter) with carbon rich stuff (woody material). It needs to be kept moist and if it has airflow, it will rot aerobically and thus faster (hot composting). If there is no oxygen then it rots anaerobically and smells, plus takes longer (cold composting). This is why turning it every few months helps, that and having woody material to add air pockets.But...but... you've got me craving tea now!
We're lucky enough to have a wooded patch of land. I was considering using the leaves for compost as well. Now that fall is basically here it should kill off the underbrush and make it easier to access.
Let me know what you find out about your research on the subject. Maybe we can trade some notes.
Comfrey leaves and and liquor/tea add good nutrients to the mix as comfrey has very deep roots that stretch down through the subsoil to the geology and absorb more minerals. Also pretty essential are red compost worms (not earthworms, which eat soil). The best place to get these is from rotted horse manure and hay. These are the critters that will eat all the decaying vegetable matter and poop out nutritious casts. There's a host of tiny organisms that live in the compost which will help too. Unfortunately, turning the compost to allow air in destroys their pathways but they build them back up again pretty sharpish. Good compost from hot composting, I'm guessing about a year, with mulch available in six months.
Fresh fallen leaves have more nitrogen in them, but old fallen leaves have less nitrogen and more carbon and so count as brown waste. However, building a leaf litter pile is worth doing as well as a compost bin. All you need is a bin or a cage to add the shredded leaves to, keep them wet and turn them occasionally. Even stuffing them in bin bags with holes in them will do. A massive amount of leaves will rot down into a small amount of carbon rich compost but it can take up to 2 years, though mulch should be available in around six months or so. The final leaf mould is rich, brown and smells earthy. To add more nitrogen for a more balanced compost, add lawn trimmings. In fact the best way to collect leaves is to mow fallen drifts with a lawn mower. Then they are collected in the bag, shredded and contain lawn trimmings.
You can't buy leaf mould, you can only make it.
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
more of my memorial garden for my son. I painted the angel. He had a passion for blue and had a black cat as a kid he loved. The one pic is of flowers that will grow up the trellis and hoping to meet up on the middle of the top so the arch is all flowered. @Brick In The Wall hows your garden going?
Last yeah I bought 2 milkweed plants. This is crazy! Their seed pods open and off fly the seeds. New plants aren't supposed to bloom for 2-3 yrs. Mine bloom after 4 months. They are a main food source for Monarch butterflies. Every time I go outside a monarch flys by me- I say Hi buddy taking it as a sign my son is the butterfly. I watched a monarch laying her eggs. Here are the milkweed and a monarch caterpillar- year they chowed my plants down to nothing but they came back. It was fun watching the entire cycle- The monarch visiting my plants laying her eggs, the teeny tiny baby caterpillars hatch, they chowed down my plants and got bigger, than I found a chrysalis and watched it turn into a monarch and fly off
Last yeah I bought 2 milkweed plants. This is crazy! Their seed pods open and off fly the seeds. New plants aren't supposed to bloom for 2-3 yrs. Mine bloom after 4 months. They are a main food source for Monarch butterflies. Every time I go outside a monarch flys by me- I say Hi buddy taking it as a sign my son is the butterfly. I watched a monarch laying her eggs. Here are the milkweed and a monarch caterpillar- year they chowed my plants down to nothing but they came back. It was fun watching the entire cycle- The monarch visiting my plants laying her eggs, the teeny tiny baby caterpillars hatch, they chowed down my plants and got bigger, than I found a chrysalis and watched it turn into a monarch and fly off
Attachments
Last edited:
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
That's absolutely fucking beautiful in more than one way. Your loss is so sad, but the hope and memorial you've created for it is a beautiful memory.
My gardening has shifted gears now that fall is here. I've still been very active, but only in preparing for the next year.
It can be very strange building for a future project, that you may or may not see.
Thank you so very much for sharing what you've been working on! You have a greener thumb than most of us here. It takes a special touch to make life flourish in such a way, and you're a special soul
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
That's absolutely fucking beautiful in more than one way. Your loss is so sad, but the hope and memorial you've created for it is a beautiful memory.
My gardening has shifted gears now that fall is here. I've still been very active, but only in preparing for the next year.
It can be very strange building for a future project, that you may or may not see.
Thank you so very much for sharing what you've been working on! You have a greener thumb than most of us here. It takes a special touch to make life flourish in such a way, and you're a special soul
thank you so much for the kind words. I really hope you get to see the benefits of your garden come spring. You've been working so hard on it. You have such a massive area to you can grow so much!
That's really lovely and poignant. What a great way to offer memorial.
I have now been offered an allotment/garden plot in the back field. It's a stone's throw from my back gate. There are zero facilities on site (that's not strictly true, there's a standpipe in the bushes that's not meant to be there, shush, don't tell anyone), it's just bare land.
And sparse land at that. A thin layer of colluvial silty clay subsoil/hillwash over a huge dump of what appears to be orange Pleistocene Boulder Clay. Really tough to work and harder to grow stuff on without bringing in soil from outside.
I don't have the resources to cultivate an allotment like the others are doing up there, machining, terracing, building beds etc, as all my materials are scavenged. However, I'm contemplating renting it and just keeping it natural, turn the soil, enrich it maybe and put down some yellow rattle and wild flower seed next spring.
I'm not sure though.
I wonder if it would be better to give preference to someone who will actually build an allotment and grow stuff. I've suggested to the council that they do this and get back to me only if they have plots that won't go, then I'm not taking anything away from anyone. As usual though the council couldn't give a shit, they just say "Take it or leave it." They don't care what anyone does with it as long as they get their money.
Tempting.
But I don't want to bite of more than I can chew. In the mornings, I remember that I'm unwell and struggle. I only have a short time in the afternoons where I sometimes forget that. It's easy for me to over stretch my grasp:/
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
If you take this plot let us see how it progresses. Is there anything in particular that would grow in that clay? You can maybe set a goal of Ill work x amount of time 2 or 3 days a week until you get your groove on.
I would probably just seed a wildflower meadow mix, then bring in some more interesting plants from the surrounding area, stuff that would thrive on sparse soil in full sun. Maybe some alpines if found any that people were chucking out; I could build a little rockery, that would involve dragging rocks back there.
I'd probably use earth from tilling it to dump in banks and berms to create some landscaping and texture.
I'd ideally like to put a pond in, but that's work and expense as it would need digging through clay and using a proper liner. The chap in one of the allotments has dug a pond and the water just drains away, as it would. Also, the delinquent geese would trash a pond:/ as there would be no fences/enclosure.
*shrugs* Damn I'm already making plans, it's a commitment though and one I'm note sure I can take on. I may leave it till next spring and see how I feel and take a plot only if no-one else has.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
Getting the pit filled in. Just need to get the last layer of gravel on top and rake it out a bit. Once that's done we'll finish the center. The cats were helping oversee the project.
Sinkinshyp
Paragon
- Sep 7, 2020
- 947
that cat is just to adorable.. is it going ot be a fire pit? sit around and roast marshmellows?
Hahaha brilliant shot of the cat, probably thinks all the gravel is one big litter tray. One question...why the membrane under the gravel, is it to counter weeds?
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
You got it! We're going to roast some hotdogs and have a few beers to celebrate tonight.
Yea the fabric underneath is meant to deter weeds. Since we let the lawn grow naturally the weeds can take over an area quickly. Letting the lawn do its thing allows more diverse plant growth and enriches the soil. Plus we don't have to mow the whole thing, just a few spots.
Brick In The Wall
2M Or Not 2B.
- Oct 30, 2019
- 25,158
I think the next project will be the outdoor kitchen and seating area for the outdoor projector screen we have. It's late in the year and we can't do too much else until spring.
Similar threads
- j1nxxb0yjj4ke
- Suicide Discussion
Suicide Discussion
Praestat_Mori
