Who else likes gardening?

[ecomama]

Hi everyone

I hope you're staying well today.

Who else likes gardening? I would love to connect with people here who are happy to share their gardening adventures.

For me I know that gardening helped heal my soul during tough times. I hope it will again.
Then with other things going on, it became a jungle.
I'm part way into rediscovering it again and doing A LOT of hard yakka atm, when I am motivated.

I have new dreams and ideas to put into the many bare places, as I remove thickets of lantana etc. This will all be on a tight budget and I'm ok with that.

I want to create a peaceful place where I can be.
I would like to grow food again (tell 'er she's dreamin' atm lol).
I would like to re-establish my worm farms and compost heaps.
Autumn is such a beautiful time of the year in the garden.

I'm 'alone' in my gardening journey and would love to share and hear about other's gardening antics. Hopefully we can troubleshoot any issues in our gardens and talk about any healing we're feeling too. There's a lot of knowledge we can share. I hope this thread can brighten your day!

Love Ecomama

Please

[Boudica]

Oohh how interesting! I will have to try your air layering technique. Thanks Mark

[Matchy69]

It is really fun experimenting with different propergation methods.It is always exciting when you have success.It is always a learning experience and you never stop learning.

[Boudica]

Good Morning,

As I don't have a lot of space, but I still want to grow fruit trees, so I have been experimenting with espaliering fruit trees. I have a long narrow garden leading next to the front door, so I have put in 2 pomegranate trees that I am going to train flat like a trellis, and a young nectarine tree that I am training into a fan shape. I'm not 100% sure that they will get adequate sunshine, but I hope so. I also have a dwarf lemon that is a few years old now and has for the first time produced the tiniest baby lemons at the moment - any tips on encouraging lemon production would be most welcome!

[Matchy69]

Hi Boudica lemons take at least 3 years to get good production.Give them plenty of water in spring and summer.Give a good ferliser and Phosphorus will encourage flowering and fruiting .Don't to prune to much as the fruit will set on the end of branches.And watch out for stink bugs on citrus as they suck the goodness out of branches and cause fruit drop.

Happy Gardening,

Mark.

[Boudica]

Hello Peeps,

Thanks Mark, I didn't know that lemons set fruit on end of branches (this is my first ever lemon tree). That is critical information for me. My lemon tree was attacked by gall wasps when young and I have had to counter attack with the shears to get rid of them, so that probably impacted the fruiting situation. All clear now though.

I want to find opportunities to also produce fruit that may be preserved for later use (both bottling and drying). I am trying to get a zante currant, so I can graft it onto existing grape vines so I may grow my own currants. I am having trouble obtaining the plant due to quarantine restrictions in SA though. I have also planted a white shahoot mulberry, as the description said that the fruit was well-suited to drying as well as eating fresh. Does anyone have any experience with drying fruit? We used to dry apricots naturally by spreading them on mesh screens on the tin roof in summer, but they dry quite hard.

[Matchy69]

Hi Boudica gall wasps can be a pain on citrus trees and the only realethod of getting rid of them is removing effected branches and destroying the galls.When a tree is infected with galls it will reduce the trees growth and fruit production.The gall wasps them selves are only small about a couple of mms and lay their eggs in the bark and when they hatch burrow deeper into the branch to feed the tree reacts by producing more cells in that area making the galls.

The Shahtoot Mulberry comes in white and a red one which produce long sweet fruit.I have grown both as well as the English black Mulberry.Mulberries make the best jam.

I haven't done much drying of fruit just mostly tomatoes but it is a great way to preserve fruit.I really like dried Mango and Jackfruit.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[Matchy69]

Boudica I was going to mention a Zante currant is the grape Black Corinth which is a seedless grape.

[Boudica]

Greetings gardenfolk,

Mark as a man who grows his own fruit then makes his own jam, you must be very in demand! I am very impressed! My ex can barely make his own sandwich. I really admire people who are practical and self sufficient and it is something I always strive towards. I feel that many have lost touch with how satisfying it is to make things with your own hands rather than buy them. A gift that someone has put their own labour into has so much more meaning too. In summertime I like to pick wild blackberries to make jam. Scones with blackberry jam and whipped cream - very old fashioned but yum.

Have you been making it out into your garden at the moment? What is happening there?

[Matchy69]

Hi Boudica my mum had my brother and I in the kitchen cooking.We always had a mulberry tree loaded with fruit in spring and we use make mulberry piex and bottle them and I asked her if their was anything else we could do with them and she said we could make jam so that's how the jam making started and now make over 50 different ones.My brother liked making bread and buns and scones and things.

I don't know about me being in demand but my jams are in the craft shop I sell them in especially my mulberry jam and Rosella jam.I have my ex wife a jar of mulberry jam when I first met her and she said it was unusual for a man to be making jam.

I haven't done much on the garden of late.I need to do some pruning when things are dormant.I have got some broadbean seeds to go in that I will try and do in the next week.I did pot up a few grleranium cuttings last week that had set good roots.I grow my cuttings in an old laundry tub.

Most mornings I pick some mandarins and sit out in the sun and eat them.I will make some marmalade out of some when I have chance.

Happy gardening,

Mark.

[Guest_1055]

Hi Em and all

Em you wanted me to keep you updated on these pumpkins at our place.

Well I had a look, the grassy ground was quite boggy. The ground where the vine is sprawling over. The soil does not have good drainage. After reading what Mark and you said. I decided to lift the pumpkins off the ground. Then I placed bricks under all the big ones. They were all a yellowy/whitish colour on the underneath of them.

Quite heavy some of the bigger ones. The little ones look adorable.

Anyway that is where they are up to