Compost and horse manure
 

HI,

In the small patch of shady soil which I've cleared of the huge pink weeds (of which I have posted another question) I would like to start growing veg/flowers.. anything really.

I am lucky enough to own a horse, her waste (from the field so no shavings etc) usually goes down to the allotment. If I were to dig some of this manure into my soil, how do I know it's broken down enough? I put some in a plastic bag about 6 weeks ago and now its totally dry and crumbly and very light brown. Should I dig this in with my soil? How much would I need? The patch of soil is about 1m2, the bag of manure about the size of a black sack.

Many thanks

Fi

Plant identification help
 

fimonkey wrote:
Hi All,

I'm looknig for some help with identifying an enormous weed/plant that
grow at the bottom of my garden in thick soil under 24 hour shade of a
camelia tree.

I moved in to my new flat last August when the weed was in full bloom.
Large pink 'tissue paper' flowers on the end of large stalks that
'wafted' (i.e not as rigid as a sunflower stalk). It was bout 6-7ft
high, and had large non shiny leaves. It covered about 1m2. I pulled
most of it up and covered the ground with a groundsheet as I wanted to
use the rest of the ground for veggie growing this year.

The stuff I left behind (up against a fence so useful screening) died
down to nothing. Now it's started to grow again where I left it, very
large green leaves (larger than a hand) at this stage and it's only
about 1/2ft high so far. the leaves kind of remind me of a hand shape.

Any ideas please?

Much appreciated.






You don't really give enough to go on. In cases like this a picture or two
will make all the difference. But given your description I'd guess either
1) poppy (yes, the opium sort) although the height really seems out of
scale with anything I've seen or 2) hollyhock with the latter seeming more
likely. The only problem with my guess is that both of these plants usually
want to be in full or at least no worse than partial shade. Those are my
guesses and I'm stickin' to 'em...

Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hollyhock.JPG and see if
it rings any mental bells.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

Plant identification help
 

"Jangchub" wrote in message
On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:10:36 -0400, John McGaw
wrote:

fimonkey wrote:
Hi All,

I'm looknig for some help with identifying an enormous weed/plant that
grow at the bottom of my garden in thick soil under 24 hour shade of a
camelia tree.

I moved in to my new flat last August when the weed was in full bloom.
Large pink 'tissue paper' flowers on the end of large stalks that
'wafted' (i.e not as rigid as a sunflower stalk). It was bout 6-7ft
high, and had large non shiny leaves. It covered about 1m2. I pulled
most of it up and covered the ground with a groundsheet as I wanted to
use the rest of the ground for veggie growing this year.

The stuff I left behind (up against a fence so useful screening) died
down to nothing. Now it's started to grow again where I left it, very
large green leaves (larger than a hand) at this stage and it's only
about 1/2ft high so far. the leaves kind of remind me of a hand shape.


You don't really give enough to go on. In cases like this a picture or two
will make all the difference. But given your description I'd guess either
1) poppy (yes, the opium sort) although the height really seems out of
scale with anything I've seen or 2) hollyhock with the latter seeming more
likely. The only problem with my guess is that both of these plants
usually
want to be in full or at least no worse than partial shade. Those are my
guesses and I'm stickin' to 'em...

Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hollyhock.JPG and see if
it rings any mental bells.

Poppies six or seven feet tall? If anything the description is that
of hybiscus, the hardy variety, not the tropical which has smaller
flowers and shiny dark foliage.
Victoria

Tree Dahlia????

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies. It has different leaves to the poppy or hardy hibsiscus. shall try to take a phono of the leaves so far and post them on here.

Much obliged.

Fi