Anyone Buying New Seed ?

Despite lots of muttering along the lines of 'S*d it, why should I be doing everything round here', no doubt I'll be going frantic again come March, trying to keep on top of lawn, ornamental garden, orchard, polytunnel and veg plot. The only seeds I'll sow this year are pete's Acnistus, a few chillies and some Ricinus. To anyone thinking along the lines of using geotextile weed-suppressant fabric...go for it! It can transform your life Far fewer weeds, far less watering and plants get established much more quickly, soon covering it. The only drawbacks are that it's useless if you want to grow lots of bulbs or self-seeding annuals.
The key to complete happiness here will be getting some sort of semi-automatic watering system set up on the terrace. With around 50 big pots and barrels, including my mobile citrus farm, all needing to be watered every day between March and November, it would make such a difference to have an effective drip system! Anybody fancy an all-expenses-paid trip to SW France? Spanners provided....

 

Oooooo...I hope you're intending to post photos of the local vegetation! Will you have land out there, @ gks?

 

Agree Lori I often escape our greenhouse with my music and a mug of Hot Choccy during the winter, doesn't take much to warm in up. My little haven.

 

I'm in!

You know those low flow irrigation systems are easily hooked up and you can attach timers just as you would with an inground system like the golf courses have.

I set mine with valves for different areas. I can stand in one spot and open and close them which I do manually. About 5 minutes does all of the pots, another 5 the back garden, and on and on. I do this every morning from late spring on.

You can also hook up a fertilizer injector. I feed my injector about once every forthnight and it automatically sucks into the water and distributes evenly.

Some of my lines are buried and some are attached to the backs of railings where they can't be seen.

Too much fun!

 

Sounds good, Lori I've got metal pergola frames over most of the terrace and I'm thinking of running the pipes along the tops of those, then down the uprights to the pots, fed by the current 3000l underground tank and pump. The pressure is way too strong for hosepipe watering directly into pots, but it would probably be good for what I want to do. My only reservation is that I've heard bad reports about drip system nozzles blocking quite regularly.

 

Oh that's easy peasy. You don't use drip. Well, you can but I prefer to use weeny little sprinklers and sprayers. They are also less noticeable.

here is a link to show the various configurations:

https://www.leevalley.com/OnlineCatalog.aspx?id=801dc33c

You can use your pump system but put a valve (ball type) and adjust the pressure up or down to accommodate the area you want to water. The longer the run, the more pressure you need.

 

Thanks very much for the link, Lori, and the advice

 

About 10 minutes are moaning about my non-delivery from Chiltern, the letter box rattled and there it was.

 

That would be the plan, self build. A foreigner can't actually own land in Thailand, so it would have to go in the Mrs name or I would need to do a lease. Probably have an outdoor pool, plus a garden to keep me occupied.

 

Ohhh that sounds wonderful! It sounds like a similar set-up to India, regarding property ownership. Top priority will be a good internet connection, so we can drool over your photos of the exotics

 

Finally took in the 22 Chilterns catalogue from the small pile of left-for-a-whiles at the front door, and did the usual page-by-page asterixing maybes before checking online what they looked like. Most of the maybes made the final cut, some will again become what-was-I-thinking-of-at-the-time, and a clear from runner for that is the Puya alpestris. Six years in the making, attention seeking levels of care, unknown numbers of storms and moments of neglect to survive through, and then it’ll die after flowering. Here’s hoping that, in the probably unlikely event of making it all the way to flower, the bees won’t give it a wide berth, if any bees are still around then with all the climate change!!

 

You've bought quite collection there @Malus Aforethought . The asclepias may take a few years to get to flowering stage as well . I've got a Puya Alpestris plant upstairs I am hoping it isn't monocarpic but that more in hope than reality, its vicious if it snags another plant it rips it to bits and it digs into your hand as well .

I've grown mirabilis before supposed to be scented in the evening never smelt a thing, I am trying Dictamnus this year also . Tried dolichos lablab for the last two years they never get big enough for me to get to flowering stage.

 

That’s great you’ve got the Puya up and running, Perki. It does sound a vicious individual and worthy of an Attenborough film crew seeing what it gets up to. It might actually come in handy siting out near to where the birds nest springtime to dissuade neighbourhood cats from a ground assault.

If it’s that sharp, there’s no way it’s going in the bathroom in the winter!!


The Dolchios is for a coffin corner up at the back, hoping it scrambles up a sprawling Rowan up there and a better bet than the honeysuckle. I’ve tried the vitalbis clematis three times with no joy raising anything. Hit and hope time again to give the Dolchios company.


We’ll see how we fare with the Dictamnus. My money’s on you, given my not-always-that-great hit rate!!

 

Nothing as exciting as others here but I was very happy these arrived today!