How does your garden grow?

[Various Artist]

Out of interest, how many tomatoes will your plants need to yield to offset the cost of building that whacking great high-security compound for them? I imagine it taking about 20 years to recoup it in savings on shop-bought tomatoes.

I know this isn't strictly relevant as it's not the whole point of growing your own. Hence the superficially insane amount of effort gone into Fort Knoxing your toms makes perfect sense, really, of course.

[Sits]

It's a valid question, but as the guy who built it said, if we ever get bored of tomatoes we can always get a macaw.

As the chard/silverbeet in the nearest bed attest, these are now bloody good beds, so I expect our four tomato seedlings (and one pepper/capsicum in the middle) to crop pretty well, properly protected against the critters and with us actually present for the picking. Unlike this time last year.

In the end it is more that it "feels" good than the economics I suppose, although we hope to be self-sufficient in lettuce, chills and many herbs this season.

[Sits]

During the festive break I've built this bench in the new shed, using leftover timber from the deck. It wouldn't bear much scrutiny from WOM, but it's solid. This is Mrs. S' half of the shed for seedlings etc. I will eventually do myself a sort of workbenchy one on the opposite side.

[Sits]

Everything is starting to grow in the reworked garden and with summer in full swing. Here's a shot from the proximity of the new veg beds towards the nice new shed.

The observant of you might just notice that above one of the veg beds there is a delicate and understated anti-possum frame for tomatoes. Can you see it, readers?

Since the Tomato Edificice was completed I've been a bit ashamed of the extremely amateur cover I made for the lettuce bed (see in the above pic). So this weekend I replaced it, using more solid timber, better joints and copying the wire attachment methodology of the pros. It is hinged with a hook to keep it up and a handle - lucky as it's bloody heavy.

Open:



Closed:



There's a double layer down the middle where the two pieces of wire 90cm wide overlap. I wanted to cut them and attach them down the middle strut but Mrs. S preferred it this way.

Some of the herbs have grown well, especially the Thai Basil which the bees love, and the Basil. The tomatoes in the big frame are the same ones as I'm the original photo eight weeks ago. By the time we were able to plant them it was way late in the season and it's been a very hot summer. The veggie guru at work says they don't like it too hot and once it cools they will pick up again.

[Various Artist]

Ooh, that's a lovely bit of work Sits. I do like how it complements Camp Tomato just the other side of the demilitarised zone with the herbs. Very neat fit too, I hope your lettuces thrive.

I hadn't seen the previous pic with your shed before, either – also great stuff. I trust Mrs S is making good use of her bench for seedlings etc.?

[SouthdownRebel]

Man, I need me a garden, you lucky buggers! Until he passed away (when I was 14) my grandad’s garden was one of my favourite places - full of fruit and veg and garden birds and slow worms. My dad’s short-lived allotment was also enjoyable, albeit with fewer birds to enjoy. That was 25 years ago and I’m just reaching a point where a “proper” house with a garden is a feasible option - at least, that’s the plan for this year.

Sits, I salute your low-key APF - keep up the good work.

[Various Artist]

Sits, I salute your low-key APF - keep up the good work.

Association of Professional Futurists?

Incidentally Sits, it strikes me on looking again at the inside of the shed, if Mrs S hasn't yet colonised the bench in front of the windows then pull up a reasonably high stool or chair and you've got a pretty decent hide there for birdwatching in relative comfort.

[SouthdownRebel]

Association of Professional Futurists?

I was thinking Anti-Possum Frame, but that works too

[Sits]

Ah right, yes I'd just been Googling and found this lot:

Acronym Definition
APF Association des Paralysés de France
APF Annotated Pratchett File (Terry Pratchett fansite)
APF Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie (French)
APF Asia-Pacific Foundation (UK)
APF Assigned Protection Factor (US OSHA; respiratory protection)
APF Anti-Privatisation Forum
APF Appropriated Fund(s)
APF Advanced Policy Firewall (computer security)
APF American Porphyria Foundation
APF Australian Parachute Federation
APF American Psychiatric Foundation (Arlington,VA)
APF Naples, FL, USA (Airport Code)
APF Application File(s)
APF Associação para o Planeamento da Família (Portugese: Family Planning Association)
APF Authorized Program Facility
APF Asian Packaging Federation
APF African Peace Facility (est. 2004; Africa and EU)
APF Atlanta Police Foundation
APF Association for the Propagation of the Faith
APF Adaptive Project Framework
APF Atomic Packing Factor (the fraction of unit cell occupied by atoms in material science)
APF All-Pass Filter
APF Animal Protein Factor
APF Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary
APF Auxiliary Particle Filter
APF American Psychoanalytic Foundation
APF Asia Partnership Fund (est. 1981)
APF Associaçao Portuguesa de Fisioterapeutas
APF Automatic Purge Filtration (KitchenAid)
APF Advanced Productivity Family (Applied Materials, Inc.)
APF Aircraft Prototype Facility (US Navy)
APF Automatic Pressure Filter
APF All PINs Fail
APF Apple Preferred Format (graphics file format/extension)
APF Advanced Particle Filter
APF Asset Protection Forum
APF Advice of Project Funds
APF Active Path First model (reliability)
APF Associated Press Financial News
APF American Philatelic Foundation (Los Angeles, California)
APF Advanced Planning Funds
APF Availability Planning Form
APF Air Procedures Flight (Ramstein Air Base, Germany)
APF American Premier Funding (San Diego, CA)
APF Alien Play Field (gaming)
APF Application Processor Frame
APF Analyst Private File
APF Adequate Public Facilities
APF afloat pre-positioning force (US DoD)
APF American Pain Foundation
APF American Pakistan Foundation
APF Active Power Filter
APF Americans for Prosperity Foundation (Arlington, VA)
APF Afloat Prepositioning Force
APF Amazon Products Feed
APF Another Pretty Face (band)
APF Advanced Printer Function

I quite like Automatic Purge Filtration, a Death Metal band. Or are they Screamo?

Thanks both. There are now seedlings, and my own bench on the non-window side is the only remaining project currently on he agenda.

Edit: possible use as a bird hide is hindered by the presence of a large German Shepherd cross bounding about the place.

[SouthdownRebel]

Ah yes, Google - that Algorithmic Procrastination Facilitator

[caja-dglh]

DPZ. De Possumized Zone.

[Various Artist]

APF American Psychiatric Foundation (Arlington,VA)
APF Americans for Prosperity Foundation (Arlington, VA)

What? Nothing to do with me, honest guv.

I quite like Automatic Purge Filtration, a Death Metal band.

Automatic Purge Filtration does kind of describe its job, too! Likewise All-Pass Filter/Auxiliary Particle Filter and indeed Asset Protection Forum. All to prevent your Authorized Program Facility (for the growing of salad crops) becoming an Alien Play Field.

I'd certainly say by the look of it you've built yourself a nice Adaptive Project Framework at any rate, Sits.

[SouthdownRebel]

Have an Active Power Filter on stand-by in case the possums escalate.

[Sits]

Our bionic and proliferating Thai Basil plants continue to be the most bee-friendly plants we've ever grown. They are so alive with friendly Honey Bees (or similar) I thought a photo would capture quite a few. So just four was a bit of a disappointment. Of course there could be more, and I've missed them:

[slackster]

Shed a tear this morning as I dug out our 2 specimen lollipop bays with spiral trunks, that were a victim of the Beast From The East last month, when temps of -10c and vicious easterly winds got them. I’ve been watching them go browner the last few weeks and hoping they might get by with some tlc, but they are as dead as a doornail.

Only put them in last autumn as our feature plants in the front garden raised beds so they hadn’t got well established. Gutted on many levels, but not least because that's 700 quid down the shitter.

I’ll replace them with standard privets at a fraction of the cost: can’t afford to take a chance on having a repeat loss next year.

[Various Artist]

Blimey, just read the above, slackster. Commiserations on your expensive loss. Bays are rather fragile things when they're young and/or potbound, so you were particularly unlucky that the Beast struck this winter – another year or two and they might have been OK. Once they get their roots down good and deep and establish themselves properly, they're relatively unstoppable.

Anyway, thought it was a good time to post the below pic, snapped this afternoon up the Bramley tree and representing arguably my favourite moment of spring:



The blossom has really burst fully into life these past few days, after rain and sun in good quantities both. The lilac in the background is also just coming out, so the smell of that will be joining the apple blossom in adding to the all-round fragrance imminently.

[Muukalainen]

Spring is way behind, up here. The temperature's been around the plus a few mark until just a few hours ago, and there are still some substantial patches of snow around, though where it's clear of snow the grass is already turning green. The beds are still solid ice -- I was trying to dig one a couple of days ago and couldn't get the fork in at all. The main casualty of the winter was a fir tree, rather sadly, since we planted it as a sapling about a decade back, and it was about 6 metres tall come last winter. The weight of snow got to it and bent it almost double, and the top half is now tied to its neighbour in the vague hope that it might recover.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Blimey, just read the above, slackster. Commiserations on your expensive loss. Bays are rather fragile things when they're young and/or potbound, so you were particularly unlucky that the Beast struck this winter – another year or two and they might have been OK. Once they get their roots down good and deep and establish themselves properly, they're relatively unstoppable.

Anyway, thought it was a good time to post the below pic, snapped this afternoon up the Bramley tree and representing arguably my favourite moment of spring:



The blossom has really burst fully into life these past few days, after rain and sun in good quantities both. The lilac in the background is also just coming out, so the smell of that will be joining the apple blossom in adding to the all-round fragrance imminently.

Beautiful photo VA, what do you use?

[MsD]

It was naked gardening day today, and I've had at least 6 people in my newsfeed participating.

[Various Artist]

Blimey. I wasn't naked up the tree, I hasten to clarify.

Beautiful photo VA, what do you use?

Thanks Kev, although the nature of your query makes me feel a bit of a fraud now. It's just my phone camera, which I elected to use since I was slightly startled to notice the other week that it's sharper than my actual camera – I only cottoned on after I took pictures of my local church in the snow with both from the same spot at the same time.

For what it's worth, it's on a Motorola G3, which has a 13 MP main lens (there's also a 5 MP front-facing lens for selfies, which I'm not in the habit of using); the model is from 2015 I think, though I got it second-hand off eBay the other month for around £80.


This doesn't compare with Muuk's experience, of course, but spring is clearly late here (south Wales) too this year. I've just dug out some equivalent photos I took last year, and found they were shot on April 19th.

[Pérou Flaquettes]

Thanks for the reply VA, interesting. I used to take better photos with my crappy 13 year-old Fuji in my 20s (bought for £40) than with the £400 Pentax that I subsequently bought, too many functions for me and things to work out (aperture, speed etc.). I love listening to people talk about photography though, I'm in awe of good photographers.

[Various Artist]

Yes, there's certainly a case to be made that all the bells and whistles can distract from the real knack of taking a good photo, which is essentially to point the lens the right way. As you found, even a basic one will get good results if it's held at broadly the right height, right distance and right orientation in the right light at the right time. Clever camera features can make up for deficiencies in some of these, but plenty of people (some of them with all-singing, all-dancing high-end cameras) don't get very decent results because they still have no idea about the composition of a shot.

Which is not to suggest the latter is some impenetrable art, and I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but to take the photo above I had to at least make sure the sunlight was of suitable brightness and direction, the foreground and background worked reasonably harmoniously, my balance and hand were steady and my focus was on the right thing. Well, that and climb into the tree to take the picture from right in front of the blossom. If I'd snapped it from the ground it wouldn't have been nearly so effective. But I think the only thing I did 'in-camera' was to ensure the white balance was set for 'daylight', as opposed to 'fluorescent light' etc.

[Sean of the Shed]

Tip for anyone with a Pampas grass, don't leave it 10 years before getting round to chopping it back. I've spent all afternoon cutting it back and have enough waste to fill my green bin three times over.
I'm also completely bollocksed as a result.

[MsD]

All those swinging years taking their toll.

[Sean of the Shed]

It's been a few years since I last swung.