I'm back and have a new garden! -good and bad :-S

[Super.Niki]

Hello all! Sooo glad to be back, have just moved into my new rented place, a little terrace in Leicester getting ready for thenext year at uni!

Best things so far:
-no more halls!!!
-a real sized kitchen!
-Noodle (bessie friend who's staying for a week) likes it (she's next to me, says hello)
-it's a nice size for the 3 of us livng there (in September that is)
-have it to myself until September!!
-nice bathroom -I HAVE A BATH!!...I know I know they use up so much extra water... but there's nothing like relaxing in a bath on a Sunday evening!!
-I have a compost bin! Well... ok it's a reclaimed incinerator bin... but close enough!!

Bad things so far:
-NO internet!!!!.... however.. should be fixed middle of next week, so I WILL be back!!!
-No telly!! Am missing an adaptor for the arial... waiting for the landlady to fix it!
-the garden!

I don't know WHAT the previous tenants were like but that poor garden! There's growing spaces along the sides and a little at the back (I think) the space at the side I'm working my way through weeding (and putting Noodle to work... well she's gotta earn her keep!!! hehe) but the back is terrible!! The previous tenants used it as a rubbish tip, rotting chairs, hundreds of used fireworks, plastic bottles, old boxes and a MOUNTAIN of smashed glass everywhere.... it looks like a landfill site!!

Have no fear, however, I'm working through clearing it all up and my mini-garden (see blog) will have a new home very soon!!

Ihave however found a useable bucket, the incinerator bin (which is beig used as a copost bin), a watering can and either 2 or 3 hanging baskets (they're under the pile of rubbish).... so it's not all bad! I also have a small shed too... so once I get thelandlady to get rid of the junk (that I can't use) that's in there, I can start brewing!!!

So... any suggestions for what to do with the soil? Fee suggested digging in some of the stuff that kills off pathogens and bits (can't remember what it's called, I'm sure she'll post it when she reads this...). Anyone have any other ideas? I'm just a little worried about what they previous tenants MIGHT have put on the garden... it's a bit... how do we say... icky!!

Will keep everyone posted though on it's progress... when I get internet back at home (I'm in uni's library at the moment... very scary place... only ever been here once!!!) I'll post some before and after shots!

wish me luck!!

[mrsflibble]

container gardening, honey.

[Super.Niki]

I did container gardening in the old place but me (thinking nothing would grow) planted loads of stuff and... after plying them with plant feed and daily doses of heavy metal... they grew... and grew... and grew... and are now sitting on the gardentable looking at the arden expectantly...


does anyone else personify their plants? Do your plants have a personality?? Or am I a little ?

[mrsflibble]

Mine do. My garlics are fairly laid back, they know they take nearly a year to grow so why hurry. my lettuces are a bit like speedy gonzales, rushing into growth, my chillis are quite happy little soles, aways stretching and producing fruit at a phenomenal rate and my tomatoes are like deliquent teenagers growing places they shouldn't, enjoying tomato food like some teens enjoy white lightening. My potatoes are grumpy old men and my carrots have yet to gain a personality.

[red]

wb niki (hi Noodle)

get yourself some heavy duty gloves.. you dont want to hurt yourself with other people's rubbish.

otherwise... well you could just not think about what might be thrown down too hard? best option I have thought of...

[Jobi1canobi]

Red beat me to it - I was gonna say - if your having a Ground Force day, I can help you...by lending you some gloves.

But seriously - I'm South of Leicester so if you reeeeaally need some help - give me a shout.

Enjoy!

[the.fee.fairy]

It was the EM bran that i suggested - the stuff for Bokashi composters. I figure that its designed to break down pathogens in meat, so it should break down pathogens in the soil, and because its for a composter, it should be ok for the veggies too!