h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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I have been a nation state for several months, I have recently moved to Hootooers Harbor.

And what country are you?

Could those of you that have joined Nation states, please pop by the h2g2 verision of Hootooers Habor - U547996 and introduce yourselves. Oh go own I'm glad we're getting big.

And I love the respsonsiblity of being your UN delegate.

Z, I've visited the page. Left my info.

I'm very terse today, for some reason.

Well that's finally over for another year

Christmas Eve was interesting. I finally got to spend a full day with the g/f, the only problem being that I was shopping for her Christmas present at the same time. Now I find shopping difficult at the best of times - town centres to me are wild expanses of commercial thingness that I don't understand, punctuated with little oases of book and record shops - so to have to go shopping with her in tow in a strange town where I don't know where anything is was to say the least rather stressful. The strategy was I would walk past a shop that I thought looked promising and tell her to b*gger off for 10 minutes and I'd meet her, well somewhere, ie probably right back here where I'd be the one standing around looking rather lost so please come and collect me, please. Anyway it all seemed to work out fine in the end so that is OK.

The big day itself was spent at her parents house a further along the coast in Poole. Unfortunately they are into the whole sparkly, tinsely, fake snow and santa version of Christmas, which I most emphatically do not enjoy. Fortunately her sister plus husband came along for the day bearing their baby son. So there was a bit of a distraction in the house which meant that I could escape from time to time to get a little peace.

Now I am safely back home again, albeit with a rather poorly computer. And I'm winding down from a long trip up North where I went to watch the old game.


It's nice to be back

Z, Jodan has been making fun of me for nearly running over F. He lives in Ohio. The reference is to that.

What do you want to grow? Flowers, herbs, veggies? With a roof top garden, I would think it would take some planning. Better to get some graph paper and create a design fiorst. Don't just start bringing things in.

Hi Grey Desk. Welcome back.

And I can tell you it is nice to be back (together with my PC's quietly smoking motherboard )


Right, who's up for a coup d'etat to dispose Z as our UN representative?

a coup? me? no, never.

I am Zomnkeria, of course. LOL.

Well as the UN representative for hootooers habor I will happily support any proposal any hootooer asks me to, I'll even hold with missing out a letter in harbour . But if you want to have another UN representaive all you have to do is endorse them.

H - re the roof garden, I'm so glad to get help from a real gardener! Ben has seen the roof concerned and it's not enormous, niether is it ours, it's rented. But we're the only people in the block who use it so it would be nice to have some planted tubs.

Things restricting me are

Size - I would be bringing all the materials home on the so I cant' go for very big tubs. Also the landlord keeps saying he'll resurface the roof, our landlord is the opposite of most landlord's he keeps doing repairs whether or not they need doing. He made a new shop unit out the back, then asked the current shop if they fancied expanding. He just likes builiding. If he does get around to this it would help if the contains could be moved to the side of the roof he was working on.

I've mentioned that. I don't want to spend a great deal as I'm only renting and whilst I'm hoping I'll be able to stay when I graduate I am planning on buying somewhere of my own eventually. I quite fancy herbs, I like chives in potateo salad, and I like other herbs as well. Other editable things seemed too much of a big deal to me.

I really like LTP's idea of a natural rocky sort of garden. I love old mossy rocks, and they are obtained from parks!

If I had my own garden I'd go for lots of ediable things, and some chickens so that I'd get eggs as well. I wouldn't eat the chickens I'll bury them when they die of natural causes. If I live in the country I want a goat as well, because I'd like some goats milk. Obviously we are dealing with a roof in Birmingham, so I can't really get either of these things. I'd like to make it look nice and colourful.

I think I'll have to get an informative book from the libary as I know nothing at all about gardenring. My Dad refuses to mow his lawn as an act of rebelious artistic expression, or somat, so I didn't learn anything from him.

Herbs can be a bit difficult to grow. Remember to pinch the tops back on basil, etc, otherwise they get woody.

I'd recommend just going online and looking up how to grow herbs. Chives are relatively easy, as is basil (if you remember to pinch it back). I don't recommend mint, as it gets rather weedy and can take over your whole space. If you don't want to get big tubs, try small pots arranged in the rocks.

The question would remain is where would I put the rocks if I need the whole caboodle to be moveable.

Thanks for the tips, do any Salonista's manage to grow herbs? and how easy would they be for someone who knows nothign whatsoever about gardening?

Tips:

1) Basil won't grow outdoors in the UK climate without protection. You'll need glass cloches to boost the heat during its growing season in the summer, otherwise you'll get no flavour in the herb.

2) If you grow mint or chives keep them in their own little pots or they will take over whatever planting space you've got.

3) Is the roof strong enough to take the garden? Pots, soil and water can be pretty heavy you know.

4) Drainage - the guttering off of the roof can get blocked by soil washed out of your roof garden. Before starting anything make sure that you have full access to the guttering so that you can clean it out and thus stop any blockages occuring.

Welcome back, Greydesk!

I've grown various herbs throughouts the years, Z. Mint, as previously stated, will take over anything, as will catnip - a close relative thereof. Parsley was always quite easy for me, luckily enough. Other than that, basil grows well, but rosemary can be a pain to get started.

Thanks GreyDesk, this is all looking less and less fesablie I'm I have no idea how strong the roof is. I think I may go for "a few pots with some plants in" rather than "a roof gardern". I could get some plastic pots with some small, but colourful plants to brighten things up. Sort of the size of hanging baskets, but not hanging. And some herbs would be tasty.

That shouldn't be a problem as I'm growing them seperatly in seperate containers!

Z I have about 40 different varieties of herbs in my garden. But I live in a completely different climate than you do. Herbs in general do well in pots, aren't fussy about soil and are a joy to grow. Other edibles that do well in pots are lettuce, kale, spinach, scallions, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant and corn, believe it or not. But you need large containers for most of them.

You can get my e-mail address at OTD. Send me your address and I'll mail you seeds and directions for starting the different varieties. I always have enough to share.