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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Feb 05, 2021 1:58 pm

Need to look online again as obviously not going to Tottenham Hale until they decide about the 501 (South African) Covid in the area

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby aero280 » Fri Feb 05, 2021 2:28 pm

I haven’t posted in any gardening thread anywhere before now. I generally avoid sources of pollen because of my asthma.

However, OH bought some herbs in Sainsbury’s last week and they came growing in pots! Basil and coriander. I have watered the basil and after a wilting start, it seems OK. The coriander, on the other han is just drooping over the sides of the pot. I watered it an a couple of shoots went skywards, but the rest seems alive but is limp. Is this normal? What do I need to do?


One other query. I bought an amaryllis four or five years ago. It’s been fine. It has just sprouted again this year. It has only ever been watered. Should I find some “plant food”?

If I leave everything to OH the plants will die! :o She doesn’t seem able to grow anything green...

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Feb 05, 2021 9:42 pm

I am afraid I never have much success wtih coriander - either from the supermarket, from a garden centre or grown from seed. Hopefully someone will have some good advce.

Basil should last a good while. You can split them to get more plants. (They are actually lots of plants grown in a single pot.) Really easy to grow from seed too.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby PatsyMFagan » Fri Feb 05, 2021 10:03 pm

I had some success in the summer with coriander seedlings that had been swapped for some tomato seedlings I had managed to grow. However, that was outside, not indoors ..

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby halfateabag » Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:09 am

Last year we had a garden area where we scattered wild flower seeds. In amongst them (when they were growing) I discovered coriander plants. We very much enjoyed the herb in lots of salads over the summer. I had previously tried growing it in pots in the GH with hardly any success. Also in the seed pack was dill which also flourished with good success. We still have some seed left for this year, very much looking forward to more coriander and dill.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Earthmaiden » Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:40 pm

Has anyone ever had a weed eater like this which burns weeds? I want it for my section of a communal path outside my back gate which is not used much these days and attracts the horrible kinds of weed that take hold (a thick bramble appeared last year :evil:). I want minimal work without resorting to weed killer. At this time of year when new growth is just starting it would seem a good time to start zapping and I would be more likely to do that than heavy weeding which I find most unappealing.

https://www.scottsofstow.co.uk/bergman- ... nUEALw_wcB

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Feb 06, 2021 2:53 pm

i think coriander needs a lot of light - it seems to grow better outdoors than even on a sunny windowsill for me. most potted herbs like being watered from below - especially basil.
the supermarket pots might also have little nutrients in the compost. they are usually used as cut and throw away rather than an ongoing crop.
maybe adding a bit of organic, high nitrogen feed when you water might help bulk them up.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby aero280 » Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:11 pm

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Indoors at the moment, we live in a frost pocket and it's very cold here overnight.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:22 pm

i wouldn't put it outside now - it would need too much gentle hardening off. find the sunniest place in the house (although glass cuts out much of the necessary spectrum) - or get a grow light with a good light wave range!

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Busybee » Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:33 am

Herbi - an extract from The Telegraph’s gardening section this morning re serious drainage issues.

If you have a serious drainage problem, an environmentally friendly solution is to dig trenches and backfill them with gravel so they, in effect, create linear soakaways. These will hold water in the winter which is then slowly taken up as plants use it in the drier months. These trenches are dug parallel to the slope about 40-60cm deep and 2-3m apart. This is unlike a traditional perforated plastic pipe drainage system, which is laid to the fall of a slope in a herringbone pattern.


Hope this helps

BB

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:26 pm

Thanks BB. I have done quite a lot of reasearch. I think we really do need to get the opinions of a few experts.

I contacted two but only got one reply and they have gone silent on me.

I do suspect that trenches will not be enough.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby aero280 » Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:00 pm

Does your garden only flood when it rains? If not, the source could be from a leaky pipe.

If your garden is wetter than your neighbours, are you at a low spot? If you are at a low spot, the water won’t flow away by gravity. If you are on clay, it won’t soak away.

If you have porous ground, it’s likely that the flooding is down to a high water table level, in which case a land drain won’t do anything.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Feb 07, 2021 10:06 pm

Yes, definitely rain related. Also , yes to being a bit lower. I think that neighborues may have raised theirs a bit in the past.

Raising ours could be an option or it could turn it into a bog.

Also yes, on London clay.

I think we may need a pump.

We have had a lot of rain. Even the top half of the garden, which slopes slightly, is a bit squelchy with some surface water. I hope my bulbs don't rot.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:40 pm

I just rigged up something to suspect my new grow lights from. It's a somewhat Heath Robinson Affair (although not particularly complicated.) The seedlings seem to prefer it to the old grow light. Ones that are under the gap between one and the other are leaning towards the new ones. Does that mean they are better? And if so, in what way? They are certainly brighter.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:55 pm

Brighter is probably enough I'd have thought, mist plants crane towards the sun

I have a question - when should I plant my chilli seeds? I sat down and read the instructions, and I will do it much earlier than I have done in the past, but when? The instructions don't say anything about it, which is slightly odd really

I probably should look at grow lights

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pampy » Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:52 am

I've always planted chilli seeds in Late January/early February.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Fri Feb 12, 2021 3:51 am

Stokey Sue wrote:when should I plant my chilli seeds?

now - seeeing as you can't do it a fortnight ago.

herbidacious wrote:Does that mean they are better? And if so, in what way?

most plants are phototrophic. they'll grow towards any light - whether it has the right wavelengths or strength - or not. if they are growing towards one rather than the other it may mean that they're just brighter. there are some good lights that concentrate more on specific parts of the spectrum either for producing better leaf growth or for flowering or switchable for both. it may be worth checking on the specification of your lights to see if they are the right wavelength for what you want.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Pepper Pig » Fri Feb 19, 2021 8:39 pm

Could someone talk me through sweet pea sowing. My friend Kay who runs the Church Gardens near Pat is talking about sowing hers this week. Isn’t it a bit early?

https://www.churchgardens.co.uk/our-story

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:54 pm

You can sow sweet peas any time from autumn. There is a lot of info about sowing them earlier resulting in stronger, more disease resistant plants. If you sow them really early they grow more slowly and are more tolerant of cold temperatures, even freezing ones, so they can go outside sooner - before the risk of frost has passed.
I am not sure what the science is, behind them being stronger plants, if indeed there is any, or if this is just anecdotal.

Things to bear in mind if you sow early: 1. you need to keep them cool/cold once they've germinated. Partly because you don't want them to grow too much - unless you've got loads of room and/or don't grow many. And also because being cooler should mean they can tolerate going out earlier. I am not sure if I will dare put mind out before risk of frost is over though. I have bought some deep pots in case I need to pot them on.

2. There may be issues with not enough light at this time of year.

My December-sown batch is leggy. I think this was me leaving them in the propogator for too long. Batch two (New Year sowing) is less leggy but still a bit etiolated, inspite of being taken out of the propagator as soon as they germinated. They also have grow lights.
You don't need a propogator if you are patient. I noticed that a few that did not come up from the December batch (I sowed 2 per rooot trainer) are now coming up.

You don't really need all this info. (? Not sure it really is info...) Bottom line is that it's not a bad time to sow as long as you have somewhere with plenty of light to put them and enough room, and ideally low temperatures.

Last year I sowed mine March 17th and got into a terrible pickle with them. They grew very very fast and they really needed to be potted on or put into their final positions i.e. go outside long before I could if following the frost rule. I didn't pot them on as had read you shouldn't disturb their roots. The plants weakened and once they finally went outside, they succumbed to mildew within a month. So I decided to try sowing early in an attempt to avoid both of these eventualities.

Sarah Raven has a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fphcmBmkmE

This FB site is interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/YorkshireSweetPeaSociety

Ask your friend where she is growing them? I suspect she will have them in a greenhouse.

I have been told mine could go out in a cold frame nowish, but I am not convinced. The temperature inside my cold frame doesn't seem to be much different from outside it. (Two thermometers, but will test this again.) I suppose I could experiment with a few.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Fri Feb 19, 2021 9:55 pm

My seedlings do not look like the ones in any of those links I posted :(

I do need pinch some of them out now though.

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