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Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Flatlander Sep 2017 7:25pm, 19 Sep 2017 849 posts	Quote Pin Flatlander That's some dedicated earth shifting going on there AR. I dug up last of my early potatoes this afternoon and as expected, it was quite a good yield. I've still got loads of main crop to harvest sometime.
alpenrose Sep 2017 9:16pm, 19 Sep 2017 28,705 posts	Quote Pin alpenrose There's another lorry load gone today - I'm not actually doing the work.
Velociraptor Oct 2017 7:54am, 7 Oct 2017 36,952 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor Good morning, wise plantspeople Can any of you put a name to the shrub with these pretty berries? And can I give it a ferocious pruning without killing it? It's getting spindly. I haven't touched it in the six years we've lived here.
Fierce and Fearless Fleecy Oct 2017 8:14am, 7 Oct 2017 37,612 posts	Quote Pin Fierce and Fearless Fleecy Is it this? rhs.org.uk No idea what pruning group 2 means, but it sounds like it grows quite tall. Can you tie it back against the fence?
alpenrose Oct 2017 8:48am, 7 Oct 2017 28,980 posts	Quote Pin alpenrose "Pruning: Cut back old and damaged wood and straggly branches in spring, just after new growth commences."
Velociraptor Oct 2017 11:36am, 7 Oct 2017 36,953 posts	Quote Pin Velociraptor Thanks, Fleecy Yes, that's the twin of mine. I wonder if it'll grow to 4m and fight the adjacent buddleia for territory if I feed it. And alpenrose, I'll hold the secateurs till spring and then tidy it up.
Wobbling Nov 2017 10:23am, 18 Nov 2017 5,695 posts	Quote Pin Wobbling Our bedroom over-looks the village allotments. Last Autumn a chap, let’s calm him Kevin, took over several plots. He had a mate come by with a tractor and ploughed his plots. Over the year we’ve watched him work his five/six plots, several of which were laid out to pumpkins. He’s a single man so we suspect he’s growing stuff to sell on. He’s always on the allotments and that’s good because keeping them worked means they can’t be built on. But I really object to his methods. He throws money at tools and plants, working the plots like a small industry. Every Sunday morning a gaggle meet at his shed to smoke and drink larger. At the end of the summer one of his mates took over the plot next to ours. We came home one evening to find they’d ripped out the brambles that mark the edge of the allotment and plonked a brand new shed in the space. I wasn’t happy, I appreciate the brambles encroach but you can lop them back without destroying them and the habitats they provide for the local wildlife. Today we woke to find Kevin and mate have a mini-digger and they’re pulling up the bramble hedge behind another two plots. It strikes me as totally against the allotment ethos; let’s bring in heavy machinery and destroy everything without thought. One of the things I love about living so close to the allotments is the bird life we have. Yesterday I watched a kite hovering over the allotment, we often have a kestrel too. I’m worried tearing out the hedges will drive away the small prey that brings these birds here.
alpenrose Nov 2017 10:56am, 18 Nov 2017 29,855 posts	Quote Pin alpenrose I thought there were usually long waiting lists to get allotments so how come he was allowed to have so many? Sounds like you've got to get the committee doing some work.
Wobbling Nov 2017 11:00am, 18 Nov 2017 5,696 posts	Quote Pin Wobbling About 1/3 of our allotments are unworked. There are other allotments in the neighbouring village that have a waiting list but these ones aren’t as popular, probably because there’s no water on them.
alpenrose Nov 2017 11:04am, 18 Nov 2017 29,856 posts	Quote Pin alpenrose I've just remembered that I didn't post a pic of when I got back from my holiday of the "After". I've got lots of digging and planting to do yet.