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Trough renovations
I finally got round (only a few years late) to emptying out my 'wildflower trough' so that I could bore holes in the bottom of it with a heated skewer to provide some drainage and shan't need to tip it up to empty out the standing water after every thunderstorm! Nothing has been thriving in there this year, with the corn-marigolds in particular looking deformed and failing to flower at all -- I had assumed that it was all horribly pot-bound, but in fact there didn't seem to be that many roots in there and quite a lot of free soil. I emptied the whole lot out anyway, although 'out' just means 'into another old compost sack', so it will get reused at some point in the future when it will, I hope, have rotted down a bit.
I ruthlessly uprooted all the greenery, saving only the self-sown buddleia, which is now several years old and I am hoping will eventually flower if I can keep it 'bonsai' -- I saw someone else with a flowering buddleia in a small hanging basket, so apparently it can be done, and they do have a glorious scent. The camomile was just (finally) starting to come into flower, but to be honest it is always pretty ragged and unimpressive, and the corn-chamomile gives a better display and is easier to handle. I think I do have a couple of small self-sown camomiles in other pots, although it can be hard to tell the difference! True camomile is denser and has fine-leaved foliage, and apparently has a more creeping habit, although some of these have sent up tall stalks. I'm a bit sorry to lose the speedwell and toadflax, but they do tend to take over (especially the latter), and I suspect they will come back of their own accord -- one reason why I am sequestering the soil in the darkness for six months or so!
In the newly vacated space (having moved the buddleia down to one end of the trough) I have planted out five or so of my pak choi seedlings, which have been growing with enormous vigour and which I don't have anything like enough pots to house individually. So I hope to get an actual harvest out of it this year. I spread a few more pak choi into a large strawberry punnet, and the rest had to go back into their original pot; I ought to thin them by eating them.
I also tucked in a couple of my nasturtium seedlings in the corners beyond the buddleia, as they are likewise flourishing far beyond what their current container will sustain. I had to do quite a bit of root damage to get them out, so we shall see if they survive. The rest still need to be split and repotted somehow -- I did thin out a couple of the smallest.
The tomatoes have now reached the mystical 'second truss' stage after which I am allowed to apply the specialist tomato fertiliser :-)
I ruthlessly uprooted all the greenery, saving only the self-sown buddleia, which is now several years old and I am hoping will eventually flower if I can keep it 'bonsai' -- I saw someone else with a flowering buddleia in a small hanging basket, so apparently it can be done, and they do have a glorious scent. The camomile was just (finally) starting to come into flower, but to be honest it is always pretty ragged and unimpressive, and the corn-chamomile gives a better display and is easier to handle. I think I do have a couple of small self-sown camomiles in other pots, although it can be hard to tell the difference! True camomile is denser and has fine-leaved foliage, and apparently has a more creeping habit, although some of these have sent up tall stalks. I'm a bit sorry to lose the speedwell and toadflax, but they do tend to take over (especially the latter), and I suspect they will come back of their own accord -- one reason why I am sequestering the soil in the darkness for six months or so!
In the newly vacated space (having moved the buddleia down to one end of the trough) I have planted out five or so of my pak choi seedlings, which have been growing with enormous vigour and which I don't have anything like enough pots to house individually. So I hope to get an actual harvest out of it this year. I spread a few more pak choi into a large strawberry punnet, and the rest had to go back into their original pot; I ought to thin them by eating them.
I also tucked in a couple of my nasturtium seedlings in the corners beyond the buddleia, as they are likewise flourishing far beyond what their current container will sustain. I had to do quite a bit of root damage to get them out, so we shall see if they survive. The rest still need to be split and repotted somehow -- I did thin out a couple of the smallest.
The tomatoes have now reached the mystical 'second truss' stage after which I am allowed to apply the specialist tomato fertiliser :-)