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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby karadekoolaid » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:11 pm

I´ve got 15 different tomato plants growing nicely - Peach Blush and Sun Sugar Cherry. I´m looking forward to the first fruit in about a month.
I´ve also got Rocoto , Chirel,and Naga Jolokia chile plants coming through, as well as a few Mexican tomatillos.
The peas seem to be growing nicely, and the re-cycled onions are doing just great! I´ve already re-planted 3/20, and today I´ll be planting about half a dozen more.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:12 pm

nah, don't worry about them. they'll most likely be ok, seedlings often look like that unless they've been grown outside or in a greenhouse. many plants can be potted up to their leaves when you pot them on - like brassicas and tomatoes etc.
why not try putting a few of your 'spares' in the lean-to with the glass roof - if they survive you know that the others can, too. if you have some big plastic bags you could always use them as overnight insulation - like mini indoor greenhouses - as long as they get ventilation during the day.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:22 pm

See earlier post. No spares now :( Will have to start again with quarter of them. v fed up.

My mother used to grow herss on a big table next to a window. No more light than me.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:39 pm

well, think positively. pot them all back up (well, the ones that aren't broken) and put those into the lean-to to see if it'll be ok for all your new seedlings when they've germinated.


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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Apr 03, 2020 2:58 pm

I had a little cry. Still fed up, though. I seem to be so very accident prone at the moment. Will sow some more tomorrow. I think leave the ones I put back into pots where they are rather than subject them to further change (in temperature.)
tbh I think they weere doing fine. But as I said, not very experienced in this.

I suppose if I started them off in the lean to, that might make things eaier. I have electricity in there.

On the bright side, some more tulips are coming out. And I just saw a goldfinch.
Last edited by herbidacious on Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:16 pm

Herbi :newhuggy don't worry ... I'm not sowing mine until tomorrow so you're well ahead of me. I usually sow toms around 15/4

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:29 pm

Herbi - hug. I'm sure you'll rescue some and anything new can be sown gradually whilst your wrist heals.

I had to smile at the article. I have been putting off cleaning my kitchen window (because its awkward to reach and I hate cleaning windows), but have just put a couple of trays of freshly sown seeds on the sill. Guess what I'm going to do now!

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:50 pm

EM ... STEP AWAY FROM THE WINDOW!!! There's been enough accidents on here for the time being .............. :shock:

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Apr 03, 2020 3:55 pm

Oh dear Herbi, I’m sure you’ll catch up, but take it gently

Way ahead of you earthmaiden! :lol: Just been into the attic, cleaned the relevant window and raised the seedlings closer to it by putting them on a crate. Can’t really do any more

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Apr 04, 2020 10:05 am

Feeling a little more optimistic today. The sun is coming out.

I want to sow sunflowers (as well as replacements for yesterday's fatalities.) I suspect it's better to put them where you want them to be. i.e. sow outside. Any advice? How do you stop slugs from eating the seedlings?
I (we!) need to construct the cold frame that came yesterday. It's a bit rubbish. Possibly a waste of money. Might have to order another more robust one.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:15 am

I had one of my 'Norfolk Greenhouses' cold frames over the plot completely dismantled by the recent windy weather. The twin wall 'glazing' was scattered over several plots and the framework is now a pile of aluminium sticks.

Luckily the weather forecast (for here at least) is now for mild nights after Monday - if correct, tender seedlings should do OK in a cold frame. I'm putting tender stuff in the greenhouse during the day and the kitchen at night until it gets milder.

Pots of seedlings can be protected from molluscs by standing them in a tray of water. Essentially a moat. An extension of this idea is the 'Butcombe box' http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/faqs/sl ... tcombe-box

On a larger scale you could try traps and mulches but I prefer to raise seedlings and put them out when they are big enough to survive a bit of damage. I will use ferric phosphate pellets if I have to, but I space them out about 9 per square foot on a mild night, enclose the area under fleece or mesh, collect pellets and molluscs the following morning and put them in an enclosed compost bin.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:37 am

I meant if I sow directly outside. I have grown sunflowers in pots, but they are really not happy being transplanted. But I suppose sulking is different from dying :)

re pots, my best solution is to put them on a metal table/chair/shelves. It's not fool proof but really helps. I did thing that snails and slugs could swim/survive water dunking, but maybe they want to avoid it.

I would ideally like to give the cold frame a bottom. Might attempt to tape plastic to the bottom. I fear this is such a crappy one that this might be logistically very difficult. As in try to lift thee damned thing and it will collapse. V cross with self. I am usually careful about seeking out reviews. £43 for a load of plastic and flimsy aluminium. I reckon about £10's worth of component parts.
I ordered a hopefully more robust one which was actually a bit cheaper and had good reviews. Might be a bit smaller though.
My reason for suddenly really really wanting one was that I found a kit for a tiny Ikea one which I constructed. The two plants that have been living in it have thrived. Semi scientific exercise as one of the plants has a twin that was two tall to go in it. Both started with two desultory leaves. Cold frame plant now has 10 big healthy leaves. Non-cold frame plant has 4 pusillanimous ones, one of which looks decidedly unhealthy.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:52 pm

I understood you meant that you were intending to sow direct but (rightly or wrongly) I believe that sowing indoors and planting out gives plants more of a chance against the little devils.

Mrs B is something of a galanthophile. She won't spend hundreds on a single snowdrop plant but others can and it only takes one hungry mollusc...

The point of the above is that she has recently, i.e. over the last two years, taken to using 'Strulch' as a mulch around her plants. It seems to work as a mollusc barrier.

I find sowing in modules reduces root disturbance when transplanting. Just about the only thing I don't sow and transplant are root veg like parsnips and carrots, though I now do with beets, celeriac and turnips.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Sat Apr 04, 2020 3:04 pm

If you want to sow the sunflowers direct into the ground you can get some large plastic bottles ... cut the base off and take the caps off ... put them over the individual seeds, pushing the cut edge of the bottle into the soil a couple of inches. By the time the sunflowers reach the top of the bottles they should have hairy stems which deter the slugs and snails ... if you think they still look vulnerable then cut the tops of the bottles off at the shoulder and replace over the plants ... they can stay there for the life of the plants.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby jeral » Sat Apr 04, 2020 4:00 pm

I was going to suggest 2-Litre plastic bottles also, but hesitated due to the need for cutting them. Might be better delayed until both hands are well and truly in sync and more bottles have been collected and emptied ;)

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Sat Apr 04, 2020 4:02 pm

Good point Jeral ... there've been enough injuries lately. :shock:

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sat Apr 04, 2020 5:01 pm

Sorry BM. I hope I wasn't rude.
I sowed some sunflowers in pots in the end. Plenty of seed left to sow more in situ. I have a few packets of other seeds which definitely need sowing straight outside. I suppose cloches would help but don't have any. Not sure where I'd get large plastic bottles either, even with the cessation of recycling collections... ;) Great idea though.

On the recycling front, the council have announced that they are going to reintroduce the coronacancelled brown bin collection. Not entirely sure if my sign up for it was successful though. The council website is crap. I tried to log in, but it wouldn't accept my (correct) password. I wrote to them, then a month later they sent me an email to say that they had passed the email on to someone else. Three weeks later I got a letter telling me how to reset the password. Meanwhile, I had long since just set up another account. So fingers crossed.

OH has just traipsed through the house three times with a lot of garden waste, so I am guessing the brown bin is now full :?

btw I am being very careful with all sharp tools after my recent run of bad luck. Bread knife cut from Tuesday was a bit oozy this morning too...

Need to update my spreadsheet now :) Conscious that I am not sowing enough edibles. Pea and bean seeds arrived this morning. Will sow some raddishes for fun tomorrow, maybe, and carrots if I have any seed. (I have a lot of free seeds so I may have some. Ohterwise some is on order.)

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sat Apr 04, 2020 11:32 pm

You weren't rude Herbi. I apologise if I gave you that impression.

All the advice you've been given is perfectly sound, but tbh there have been times I've lost plants to slugs and snails however I've raised them. There are tricks that tilt the odds in your favour but sometimes the little herberts win. Given that a spell of dry weather is forecast, they might not be too bad for a while.

I'll be sowing peas tomorrow. I've got some 'Champion of England' maincrop and 'Golden Sweet' mangetout. I thought I had 'Tendrilla' petits pois but didn't find the seed today.

Happy growing everybody.

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Re: gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Apr 05, 2020 8:48 pm

Some years are worse than others for slugs, aren't they? It feels like there is always something, though, that makes gardening not quite come out the way you want it to. If it's not slugs, it's mildew or blight, or aphids... or drought or wind etc. I often think it’s a good thing I don’t depend on what I grow for food…

I need to sow peas. I usually start some of inside, but the ones grown outside from the outset seem to be better. I also usually grow just a few in a deep container. Would like to grow more this year so need to think about this. I have a 12 inch deep wooden trough that should do if I can work out where to site it.
Back to starting them off indoors... I was looking up when I can put my sweet peas outside and one site said end of May :shock: the roots are already coming through and out the end of the biodegradable tubes, and the house would be like a greenhouse if I keep them inside along with everything else I want to grow from seed for that long.
I guess the bottom line is after the last frost. I suppose they can go in the crappy cold frame OH constructed today (crappiness not his fault) if I can find a way to stop it collapsing and blowing away) earlier than the end of May. Roots coming through the tubes is still an issue?

I have been putting things out in the sun during the day then bringing them inside.

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