Gardening!

[Stew]

I assume most of us here are keen gardeners and was wondering what everyone is growing, style of garden, fruit veg flowers and so on.
Myself I'm into exotic style plants bamboo, bananas, cannas. Always trying to jungle up the back garden with interesting plants and the great thing is they all love a mulch with the homemade compost!

[Dawnie4101]

I have a traditional garden but my raised beds are veg suppliers using the square foot method to maximise my yields in small spaces. I have literally just chopped the greenhouse inn half so it is now 7'5 x 10' which is all we need now the kids have left home. My hot bin hopefully will produce enough compost that I won't need to buy it anymore!

[Spadelessade]

Hi Stew, I have an allotment which I manage using Charles Dowding's no dig methods. This means I need all the home made compost I can make, as each year every veg/fruit bed requires an inch or two of mulch spread on top. Well rotted manure is also good to use so I get as much of that as I can and I also have 'cool' compost bins which still produce good stuff, although of course not at the speed of the Hotbin! So I don't grow any of the stuff you grow - are you actually in the UK or not!? Interesting to hear you're growing such exotic stuff. I grow the usual things (veg, fruit) plus have 4 apple trees, also a Japanese Wineberry, and I just love those little fruits!

[Wilks]

Hi, am wondering where everyone is?! I have just got my bin - started yesterday filling it up. I have a small garden and also an allotment with soft fruit, veg and a poly tunnel. I also follow Charles Dowding so hoping to boost my compost production. I have been quite successful with ordinary compost where my bins/heaps get really quite hot for a short while. I was given a tumbler but not had much success with it. I stick to 20:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio if I can. I can get coffee grounds and wood chips free locally if I fetch them. With aid of the hot water bottle the Hot bin is registering just over 40. Think must leave till tomorrow. All very exciting! My main reason for getting the bin is my worm bin slows down a lot in winter - even with protection. I have a lot of veg trimmings etc and it is sometimes just not convenient to lug buckets the 600 yds to the allotment in bad weather. I need lots of compost as Spadelessade says.

[Plectronius O’Seaweed]

Yes I do like gardening, it’s all a work in progress, and I’m fighting with very heavy clay which is unworkable both in winter and in dry summers. Soil contains a bacterium which gives off a feel-good chemical, so it’s not just about the plants. I’m also looking at Carbon gardening, to store carbon in the soil and try to emit less through fertilisers, etc. That seems to entail either getting rid of the normal lawn and either converting it to wildflower meadow or putting down more beds.