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Polish plantlife and similar flora where you live.


wildrover 98 | 4,438
16 Jun 2009 #31
I have hundreds of really nice pics of the forests and lakes , but i don,t know if i can face shrinking em all down...Besides , tomorow a film crew arrive at my farm to make a film , yes me a star...sometime in the future you wil see me , my forest , my cats and my Harley in Polish cinemas...but thats for another thread....BISON....
sadieann 2 | 205
16 Jun 2009 #32
tomorow a film crew arrive at my farm to make a film , yes me a star...

wildrover
That sounds like a great future thread for PF.. "Wildrover," On the big screen. Too cool! Another time for the pictures...
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
16 Jun 2009 #33
This is my friend working with the Bees.

There are lots of bee keepers around my area, small bee farms of about 20 each.

I see that your friend grows plastic bottles, I always wondered where they came from:)
What are the plastic bottles for?.
I presume that the bottoms are cut off and they are protecting something while germinating but why and what I don't know.

Cherry (culinary)

As opposed to wild sour cherries?.

with Tulips

Nice tulips, so this is what you look at while having a cigarette :)

Various climbers on wire (Grape, honeysuckle and Clematis)

I'd be interested to see the grapes when they are ripe.
I never had grapes before now.
The climbers here, look completely dead (hibernate) during winter, minus 15 will do that to most plants.
What's in the green house?.

tomorow a film crew arrive at my farm to make a film , yes me a star...

What are they filming for?, not that filming your good side would not be enough of a good reason :)

I have hundreds of really nice pics of the forests and lakes , but i don,t know if i can face shrinking em all down...

Pick a few and put them on, shrinking photos gets easier with practice.
davidpeake 14 | 451
16 Jun 2009 #34
I Sean, we have just started planting some trees on our block, a couple of different fruit trees, 80 or so tuje's. Some others im not sure of, i enjoy gardening also, we are hoping to biuld this year, so when we get some water connected i am going to have a vegie patch and hopefully put some more trees in, grape and normal. Apparently the soil we have is great. will try to post some pics.



OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
16 Jun 2009 #35
will try to post some pics.

Do, please.

There is something very cool about having a vege patch, eating the fruits of your labour.

planting some trees on our block

I often think that the blocks of flats here would look a million times better with arched trellis' out the front, so you can walk through it, with a grape vine all over them.

It'd take away from the square concrete look and it doesn't cost the moon.
I know the climbers can weaken mortar in walls, so a special structure would do well.

planting some trees

Those trees are lovely when older, they are the tall thin ones, aren't they?.
A very pleasant natural boarder :)
I am going to plant almost a thousand of them around a project I am doing here in Poland.
davidpeake 14 | 451
16 Jun 2009 #36
These one's grow to about 3-4 metres i was told, 80 in so far, 1 fence line, got another 3 to do, plus the 60 metres drive way.
Ironside 53 | 12,423
17 Jun 2009 #37
Why do you think that Ironside?.

During proper winter in the forest you don't have insects, mud and you have nice animal track visible on the snow surface !
Forest during a winter time is much more open for human, and I like it))))))))very cozy, protecting against the wind!
Forest in every season has it advantages and disadvantages but I like the most forest in winter!
Grow great garden for your grandchildren to enjoy ))))))


Wildrover a film star ????
hmn ........)))))
Good Lack Robert !
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
17 Jun 2009 #38
Forest during a winter time is much more open for human, and I like it))))))))

Like Dat's photograph on the PF photo contest, very poetic :)
Barney 15 | 1,597
18 Jun 2009 #39
plastic bottles

They act like mini green houses. In this case they are protecting sweetcorn mainly from wind. Wind damage is a much underestimated problem with all plants.

The climbers are doing well I've built a wire "cage" so that they can reach the house. I've had ripe grapes but they are tiny so I'm training some of the vine into the greenhouse. The Tomatoes, Peppers and Cucumbers wont be bothered.

Now is the right time to take climber cuttings. Choose a piece not too soft, not too hard and poke it into soil/compost mix and keep wet. It should root easily.

I stare into space a lot when smoking at the back door. One has to learn the art of looking at nothing and everything. It helps to get the wee wheels in your head going the right way.

From my plot: Why Strawberries are called Strawberries.

The straw is to keep the fruit off the soil, retains moisture in the soil and stops slugs/snails from eating them.



wildrover 98 | 4,438
19 Jun 2009 #40
Here goes....another try at a pic of the forest...TOO BIG....i really can,t be bothered with messing around trying to shrink em.....you will just have to imagine it....
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
19 Jun 2009 #41
In the bottom left of your computer screen (where you switch off your computer), in the start menu.
Click "programs", then click "accessories", then click "paint" then click "flie" (top right) then open your picture.

Then go to "image" and "resize" it to 25% vertical and Horizontal.
Then save it on your desk top (save as.) and attach it on here.

Come on WildRover, you can do it!.

sweetcorn

This is a very popular crop here and it's great with butter for barbecues :)

Tomatoes, Peppers and Cucumbers

Nice, allotments or small vegetable patches are very popular here.
The builders I work with, usually want to get home before sunset, so they can work on their vegetables.

One has to learn the art of looking at nothing and everything.

:)

The straw is to keep the fruit off the soil, retains moisture in the soil and stops slugs/snails from eating them.

Straw must be one heck of an obstacle course for the slugs and snails.

The heavy rain and local floods have (drowned?) damaged the cherries.
Half of them have rotted.





OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
3 Jul 2009 #42
My tasty beautiful cherries are half destroyed.

Remember to pick off the underdeveloped apples at the end of the season or they stay on the tree and can go rock hard and even host pests and diseases.

I know this was for apples but I imagine that I should also pick these rotting cherries off so they don't breath disease?.
The heavy rain must have drowned the poor plants causing them to rot?.

But on the other hand the grapes are coming along nicely :)
I hope to have my first bunch this summer :)


  • 50% rotten cherries



  • Grapes
z_darius 14 | 3,964
3 Jul 2009 #43
Where I live (Niagara Region, Ontario) some landscapes are very similar to those in Poland but where it ends is the detail. The devil's always in the detail. Venturing into a forest may yield nasty surprises - a skunk, a rattle snake, at times even a lost bear. But even without those I can't imagine myself, for instance, picking mushrooms. I wasn't brought up here and I don't have the feel for the mushrooms so I end up buying them in Polish stores.

Going up North is even worse. Once you go past flesh eating black flies, the flora is very different - even if the forest you are entering looks much like Polish ones from afar.
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
3 Jul 2009 #44
Do you have a garden z_darius? or do you grow anything?.

Where I live (Niagara Region, Ontario) some landscapes are very similar to those in Poland but where it ends is the detail. The devil's always in the detail.

:)
I was shocked when I was travelling Ecuador.
I was trying to take photos but they all looked like Ireland, lush green fields, with hedges and milk cows :)
But as you say up close it is very different.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I think most of the plants of Ireland and Poland are similar.
Ireland has all year round hedges and all other plants, that don't "sleep"/"die" in the winter.
So the regular grass in Ireland is green all year round but most deciduous trees loose their leaves.
Ireland has palm trees.

Poland has much warmer summers so the fruit plants bear more, I think?.
I am a city boy and i have not seen cherries, grapes and peach trees, grow in Ireland the way they do here in Poland.
z_darius 14 | 3,964
3 Jul 2009 #45
I do have some real contact with a little piece of Polish flora. For the 8th year I have been seeding and successfully growing yellow baby tomatoes. My mother in law sent me the seeds a while ago.

OK, now I admitted a crime of importing foreign plants from abroad. If someone from Agriculture Canada reads this I'm fried. They will come over, eat all of my little tomatoes and I will be branded a grow-op operator :)
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
3 Jul 2009 #46
I have been seeding and successfully growing yellow baby tomatoes.

Is it easy?, how much work does it take?
Do you use insecticides, pesticides and other things to keep the bugs at bay?.
scrappleton - | 829
3 Jul 2009 #47
If someone from Agriculture Canada reads this I'm fried.

I think with Canada they're more concerned about the little green plants being exported not imported. I'm sure those choppers are still dropping garbage bags. One job not hurt by the recession.
z_darius 14 | 3,964
3 Jul 2009 #48
Is it easy?, how much work does it take?
Do you use insecticides, pesticides and other things to keep the bugs at bay?.

Not much really.
You seed inside the house around the end of February. Still the seeds in some tiny containers, plastic yogurt ones will do. Water to keep the soil moist but not wet. Keep exposed to natural light. Moving the plants outside depends on the climate. You don't want them to be bitten by morning frost, which sometimes happens in warmer months.

When the plants are somewhat bigger plant them outside. If you don't have a backyard a balcony will do. Replant them into bigger pots - 2 or 3 gallon ones are just fine. For one person., I'd say that on average 1 to 3 plants will yield enough tomatoes to have a steady supply daily till at least the first half of September in my climate.

Similar process (remembering that the devil's in the detail) can be applied to cukes, lettuce, radish and all the other little poopsies.

Oh, no -cides of any kind. I can get those on store bought veggies. The difference in taste is very obvious.

I think with Canada they're more concerned about the little green plants being exported not imported.

It's not really Canada's problem as most of it is exported anyway.
Barney 15 | 1,597
3 Jul 2009 #49
My tasty beautiful cherries are half destroyed

Yep removing the rotten ones is a good thing to do. You can apply a natural fungicide called "Bordeaux Mix" its a copper based product so natural and approved by the organic society. It comes as a powder you mix in a sprayer then apply, it may help, but removing rotten cherries by hand is the best way.

I use this on Potatoes to prevent blight. It's the only spray I use.

On a side note there is a variety of Blight resistant Potato from Hungary that it starting to take off here.

You really dont have to use insecticides, pesticides or weed killer I find that they are more of a costly problem than a benefit. Old time gardeners tend to be like Chemical Ali cos that is what they were taught. My Polish friends tell me that there is a more enlightened attitude among veg growers there.

now I admitted a crime of importing foreign plants from abroad

I did the same with an Aronia (Choke berry) bush from Poznan, it's doing very well.
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
4 Jul 2009 #50
"Bordeaux Mix"

I will look for it, it might have a different name here.

You really dont have to use insecticides, pesticides or weed killer

I have never grown anything that needed them.
z_darius 14 | 3,964
4 Jul 2009 #51
I have never grown anything that needed them.

No plants need them.
Those who sell them do.

Below some examples of what you can do if you have limited space, all plants in pots:

The straw is to keep the fruit off the soil, retains moisture in the soil and stops slugs/snails from eating them.

This is a pretty common technique around here too. People buy cedar mulch to keep the weeds and slugs out, and moisture in. I do woodworking in my garage as a hobby so I get a couple large bags of cherry wood shavings every now and then. I also get a lot of black walnut shavings but those I put those in the gardens of my enemies ;-) The chemistry of walnut wood is not very friendly towards other plants since it changes chemical composition of the soil by introducing some kind of toxins but I forgot what they are called.





OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
4 Jul 2009 #52
Below some examples of what you can do if you have limited space, all plants in pots:

Very nice, is that your space?.

I do woodworking in my garage as a hobby

What do you make?.

I also get a lot of black walnut shavings but those I put those in the gardens of my enemies ;-)

Ha ha ha ha, do you pee on the trees of your friends to help them grow? (helping the trees i mean, not your friends :)

I have been taking off the rotten dead cherries.
It is worse than I feared about 90% loss.
There are still a few buckets of good cherries to be picked, man these two trees produce a lot.will be ripe in a about a week :)

t
z_darius 14 | 3,964
5 Jul 2009 #53
Very nice, is that your space?.

used to be, about 7 or 8 years ago. I moved to a bigger, better place where the grass is greener.

What do you make?.

Whatever wifey wants :)Working on a small blanket box right now.

do you pee on the trees of your friends to help them grow?

Nah, I use my viciously cute cat for that.





OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
5 Jul 2009 #54
I moved to a bigger, better place where the grass is greener.

Was it on the other side of the fence :)

Working on a small blanket box right now.

Nice, I have been "building" a cupboard at home for the past year and a half. ha ha ha ha, I have a prioraty list and somehow it fell to the bottom of that list.

Nah, I use my viciously cute cat for that.

The one in your avatar thingy?.
ShawnH 8 | 1,491
5 Jul 2009 #55
Working on a small blanket box right now.

Nice work.
z_darius 14 | 3,964
5 Jul 2009 #56
SeanBM

Nah, it's quite a few fences away but in the same general area. The cat's happier too and I now have a space to store lumber before I dress it up. I buy rough cut wood from farmers and I dimension it and dress it up by myself. More work but comes significantly cheaper and the dimensions are more consistent.

That blanket box is some remnants of cherry I prepared to make a kitchen table but wifey changed her mind. Having seen a little walnut stool I made for her she now wants a walnut table :)

Yesterday I bought a few raspberry and red and black currant plants yesterday. I guess I won't be able to open a fruit stand this year but I hope to have a jar or two of preserves next year.

OK, gotta go to a hardware store. Clamps are on sale, and you can never have too many clamps.
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
11 Jul 2009 #57
First photo is of the grape vine, it is loving the new trellis I put up for it to support it :)
You can see the section of the older plant on the bottom right.
I planted this section from a much bigger grape vine last summer.

Grapes are coming along nicely, I think, never had them before.

Last two photos of are of the raspberry bush also planted last year, some of the berries have ripened but still a bit to go.









OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
6 Dec 2009 #58
wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen growing on trees is a great indicator of how fresh the air is.

I love the colours on the trunk of the trees.
Would I be correct in assuming that the (bleach?) brown on the left, which is more or less south facing, is from the sun? and the green on the right side is from the cool moist mossy forest side?









Barney 15 | 1,597
6 Dec 2009 #59
The orange/rust looks like Trentepohlia Algae.

The Green looks like Pleurococcus.

You are right, aspect determines the type of algae growing. The reddish could also be one of a number of types of lichen

Lichen do provide an extremely good indicator of air quality. It's possible to determine almost the exact sulphur dioxide content of the air by noting the type of lichen growing.
OP SeanBM 35 | 5,797
6 Dec 2009 #60
The orange/rust looks like Trentepohlia Algae
The Green looks like Pleurococcus

Excellent, thank you for that.

The Green looks like Pleurococcus

Pleurococcus is a genus of algae, in the family Chaetophoraceae.[1] Purported to be the most abundant creature on the planet at ten trillion trillion.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleurococcus


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