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Gardening resources and tips, etc.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Amber » Sat Nov 13, 2021 1:19 am

Hmm, not sure if this is any use or not……

In the package I received today (from bubble & bathe), there were a lot of what I thought were polystyrene noodles (like large wotsits), except they weren’t, they were water soluble. I’m still trying to think of alternative uses for them. I suppose it depends how quickly they dissolve?

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sat Nov 13, 2021 1:44 am

The packages wotsits are starch blown up with air, I think even the water given off by the tuber as it dries out could turn them to wallpaper paste?

I haven’t tried, just a guess

I think the point is they are so harmless you don’t need to reuse them, you can sling them in the bin

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sat Nov 13, 2021 6:34 pm

yes, if you put one of the 'wotsits' in a glass of water you will see it dissolve very quickly.
they are safe to compost (if you have the facility) bury in the garden or put in the green waste bin.
if you put them in the landfill bin they'll add to the methane load at the dump like other organic matter..

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby liketocook » Sat Nov 13, 2021 9:27 pm

We can add them to our food waste bin so I've done that when I've had them. They do break down fairly fast in a damp environment.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:47 am

They'd probably be ok in my Hotbin. Not sure if I have had any. Do they look very different from polystyrene?

I might try to tackle the dahlias tomorrow :? I have been so lazy these last two days. Done nothing in the garden which part of the point of taking Friday off. (Other part of the point was to enable me to go a whole without having to go in the office, which is very sad. I will probably have to do 3 days in the coming week which will be a shock to the system.)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:17 pm

herbidacious wrote:They'd probably be ok in my Hotbin. Not sure if I have had any. Do they look very different from polystyrene?

They don’t look very different to polystyrene but the surface is smoother and they handle differently because they are so very light

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Sun Nov 14, 2021 3:02 pm

they don't look like the type of polystyrene made up of little balls, they really do look like wotsits but without the colouring and flavour powder so a sort of creamy white - if you've ever used the spray foam filler the smoother surface looks a little like that (when it's dried).
before that sort of packing material came on the market we used to use popcorn to send off delicate things.

if you get any and are not sure if it's the starch variety or polystyrene - put a bit in a glass of water.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Nov 15, 2021 1:27 pm

Morning, I have a question about my apple tree!

It's about 4 or 5 yrs old and produced apples for the first time last year. It has grown into a really weird, gangly shape.

Presumably it's ok for me to prune it to a more conventional shape once it has shed its leaves - are there any hints, tips or no-nos you'd pass on? (or should it be no-no's? :? :? Or is that an incorrect use of the poor, misused apostrophe? I'm ok on straight plurals, not needing one, likewise "its", but wonder about other uses as you can kind of get used to the grocer's apostrophe :oops: :oops: :? :? )

thx all :thumbsup

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Mon Nov 15, 2021 1:56 pm

find out if it's a tip or spur bearer - that would have a say as to how you decrease the 'ganglyness'. cut off the tips of a tip bearer and you get no fruit next year! otherwise pruning basics are the three d's (yes - there is a place for the apostrophe sometimes!) dead, damaged or diseased. there is also the need to take out twigs/branches that cross so that rubbing (and therefore potential disease) doesn't occur.
prune to an outward facing bud so that new growth produces a more open centre (and decreases the chance of rubbing branches).
try not to do radical shape pruning all in one go - do a third a year.

leave it a few more weeks after leaf shedding - you can prune any time before it starts sprouting again next march. i would do it in january or february.
don't do this for plum trees - you'll lose them. only do light pruning on a dry, sunny, summer day.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby KeenCook2 » Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:19 pm

Ah, thank you scully, that's really helpful! I've now not only found out what the two different sorts of apple trees are but established that my James Grieve is more typical spur bearing :thumbsup

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Stokey Sue » Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:55 pm

A gardener once told me to prune anything that needs doing when dormant between Christmas and St Valentine's Day, but in a cold season you can keep going a bit later, it's just easy to remember

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:08 am

My kitchen basil plant is hosting the start of whitefly - never been bothered before - anyone know how to get rid of them? ( without chemicals obviously)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Tue Nov 16, 2021 10:41 am

Put a couple of squirts of washing up liquid /Ecover/soft soap in a bowl of lukewarm water.

Pick up the pot and spread your fingersover the top of the pot between the stems and turn upside down and swoosh it around in the water a bit. Turn upright and leave to drain. That'll sort 'em. It may need repeating throughout the winter but it won't harm the basil. 8-)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Lusciouslush » Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:55 pm

Thanks Suffs, I'll try that :crossed - I know washing up liquid works on some garden plants but thought it might taint the basil - I want to nip the beasties as they've only just appeared & it is such a healthy plant I've had for ages, would be a pity to lose it now.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Tue Nov 16, 2021 5:45 pm

You only need a little squirt of the washing up liquid … just enough to weaken the surface tension of the water and therefore the whitefly can’t cope with being wetted by it. I’ve never known it to taint the basil.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby scullion » Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:07 pm

this afternoon, i spent a small fortune on next year's seeds (and seed potatoes). hopefully a load of them will last for the year after, too... (not the seed potatoes, obviously!)

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby herbidacious » Sun Nov 21, 2021 11:57 am

I just can't seem to do potatoes. The slugs and snails eat all the foliage. Undoubtedly because I grow them in containers. I don't have room to do them in the ground.

I am going to sow some broad beans this morning. Would it be unwise to sow some in the greenhouse? The packet says Jan - March for greenhouse sowing. (Now, for outdoor sowing.) Ditto early peas?

I have bought a few seeds, but most of this year's should be viable (according to the best before date, at least) next year. I probably spent a small fortune this spring, though. I should go through the seed properly. I started making a spread sheet which highlighted ones that needed using up asap. But it was a bit tedious and I didn't put everything on it in the end. if only one could scan seed packets' bar codes to get this information. I did research it (I do own barcode scanner) but no...

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Badger's Mate » Sun Nov 21, 2021 12:16 pm

Broad beans are pretty forgiving. They might get a bit leggy if you sow them indoors now, but you could take a chance on planting them out when they're big enough and they might well be nice and early. I won't sow them directly in the ground as they tend to be mouse food here, but usually put them in modules early in the New Year.

It's always worth sowing old seed early in a propagator to try and get an early crop, but don't wait too long in case they're not viable. I need to go through my seeds now, there are quite a few odds and sods that might be a bit iffy; old packets, seed swap stuff, self-saved ones.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby ZeroCook » Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:23 pm

.
Throwing out a couple of cultivation questions.

I'm overwintering four Caribe chili plants indoors - they're of the capsicum annum species - the most common type of chili. They came up very late and barely began to flower and I didn't have the heart to let the frost kill them. I've read about chilis being perennial in tropical climates - has anyone overwintered chili plants with any success?

And a seed and variety-crossing question. I bought a couple of large what were supposed to be Flat White Boer pumpkins, a cucurbita maxima variety, which are supposed to be very sweet. Surprisingly they were watery and quite bitter, so didn't eat, but saved the seeds. If varieties cross for any reason, are the results of the cross seen in the current/planted year fruit or the following planting year fruit? Trying to work out if the bitterness was from the grower crossing inadvertently crossing variety types or whether it was the growing conditions.

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Re: Gardening resources and tips, etc.

Postby Suffs » Sun Nov 21, 2021 7:51 pm

A few regulars on the Gardeners World forum have overwintered chilli plants indoors in the past … the main problems seem to be whitefly and aphids.

As for plants/seeds … following cross-pollination the resulting seed will carry the genes of both parents …. but the fruit containing the seed only has the genes of the plant it is growing on.

Does that make sense?

There have been more reports of disappointing squashes over the past few years. Consensus is that some of the seeds sent out are the result of accidental cross pollination when plants are open pollinated … possibly due to more squashes being grown so the bees are coming across more varied pollen.

I would not save the seeds from a disappointing squash. The results are unlikely to be better than the parent.

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