This photo of our Tyre Mound Birdbath is for The Joyful Homemaker at Mrs McGregors Garden to show her what it looks like right now with all the plants grown!See this link on Doc's Blog to see how it was built!
The Pigface plants have grown well without any additional irrigation during the 4 years they have been there. In fact they need a good trim back!!!
The empty tyres are part of the front yard re-vamp!
this is excellent thanks so much for showing me this..im thinking about doing as you have done and growing strawberries..thanks again
ReplyDeleteHi, longtime lurker here.
ReplyDeleteI just put in lots of raised wicking beds a couple of months ago, using sand as a base and bought compost. The plants I put in looked happy at first but are now yellowed and dying. I took a ph sample and it was 10. Some strong words were said as the test turned more and more purple...
Considering that a wicking bed is a closed system, do you have any ideas as to how to correct the ph imbalance without poisoning the bed with too much sulphur? I thought I'd ask before I dived in and accidentally did even more damage.
Thanks, Frogdancer
Good luck JHM hope it goes well just watch the strawberries don't get too hot in summer!
ReplyDeleteMmm Frogdancer
First off, I have read the comments on your blog and you have been given good advice there.
Meanwhile if you intend to keep growing the plants in the beds feed them with liquid fertilizer. Worm cast brew would be good or Charlie carp (fish emulsion). You could try mixing in some acidic potting mix just around the plants but that gets expensive.
As you now know you have to be very careful with bought in composts, especially mushroom type composts. You can't be sure what is in them.
I believe that suppliers should be made to show pH readings of their mixes and nutrient content. There is a strong market out there at the moment for ready made composts.
Amending the problem will be a huge job and I hope you get some help/feedback from that supplier!!
Start making your own compost for future top ups. If you haven't already get a worm farm too!
Thanks. Yes, I have a worm farm and intend to make a bigger one from an old freezer I have that died recently. I approached the supplier yesterday and he's going to make enquiries from where he bought it from and get back to me. To what end? Not sure, but hopefully it'll save someone else from what I'm going through...
ReplyDeleteI'll do what you and others have suggested and document the progress. Maybe this'll turn out to be a good thing in the long run, as then we'll all know what to do/what not to do if this happens to someone else. (*sigh* Still can't help wishing it didn't happen to me though!)Thanks so much for replying.
Creative!!! I would love to get a birdbath for my garden and watch the birds splash in them. One thing to work on...:)
ReplyDelete