Last year my sprouts suffered from a mildew that ruined them but it was caused by the plants too close together. I'll take your advice and plant towards the end of May. One pot will hold 1 plant so at most I'll only use 2 pots.

Ovalman. 26 Mar 17 12:00 Joined: 29 Nov 02 | Topic/replies: 14,089 | Blogger: Ovalman.'s blog
I've no interest in growing flowers, if you can't eat it I won't grow it

If you're referring to Crippen's advice re nasturtiums, then they are not just edible, they're delicious, both the leaves and the flowers, lovely peppery taste.

I can't believe anyone has trouble with radishes, whatever the situation. Nothing seems to stop them growing. It's why I concentrate on them. Some varieties are better suited to summer than early spring, which might be what's causing problems. Generally I find that the round ones, like sparkler, are best for early March and cool weather, while the elongated ones, like french breakfast, are more suited to late spring and early summer. But that might just be coincidence.

But what I like is that even when they fail, you can still eat the greens, so you always gat something (in fact the greens is where most of the goodness lies).

The first things I planted when I had to move here was a row of sparkler radishes, and a few weeks later I was cursing next door's cat when I found half of them scattered. Never mind, just salvage the green remains, so all is not lost. It was only while digging them up for dinner that I found the bone I'd given the dog the previous day.

The dog and I had a full and frank discussion with regard to that one, and she's a clever dog and she now takes her bones next door to bury,

I buy my tomato plants from a nursery because their always in great shape (and I can buy different varieties) but I've never had luck with toms from seed yet they are probably the easiest to grow. I guess we all have problems. It's never an exact science but it's usually (but not always) foolproof, plant a seed and it grows.

Loving this thread BTW but come on guys show some pics

the dog has weed on them stinging nettle leaves screaming' ...

Growing tomato plants from seeds is dependent on keeping them warm.

If you put the young seedling outside to try and harden them off and the temperature drops a tad that's enough to wipe them out. 

I start them off in the house until they're growing quite strongly before I even move them into the greenhouse.

I don't have a greenhouse , so grow tomatoes and chillis in the two empty bedrooms we have.
Worked well last year , tomatoes are about 3 inches in height at the moment.

I spent 30 minutes on my site, I nicked some of that soil so I'll finish my raised bed tomorrow and then start into other peoples beds, there's mountains of it and I think it's for our use anyway.

I planted some seed potatoes in 2 bags, that's my first earlies started. I'll get a main crop in another 2 bags and then keep some more first earlies for a late crop. I've no space for any more around my raised bed but I could use other parts of the Church to put the bags, they won't need any light until they are well topped up with soil so they can be stored almost anywhere, we'll see.

Put some seeds in ground yesterday,spinach red veined and sweetcorn

20 degrees today


thats made the tom seeds pop thru

Peppers. I used just some perlite and home-made compost this year. None of your specialist seed compost with added John Innes and whatnot. Curious to see how robust the seedlings are when I transplant them. That won't be a while, with cooler overnight temps being forecast.



Rocket in a south-facing belfast sink

The rocket looks good, Screaming. I've tried to grow it outside and either it gets stripped by slugs (if wet) or bolts if dry. Perhaps growing it in a large container somewhere protected is the way to go. I love rocket but the shop-bought stuff doesn't stay fresh for long.

* chitted 

The ones in the picture were from seeds marked Lepidium sativum, which, according to wikipedia, is "sometimes referred to as garden cress to distinguish it from similar plants also referred to as cress". So I assume it's the real McCoy. In any case, it tasted fine, which is all that matters.

It wasn't expensive enough to notice. I know this, because otherwise
1) I wouldn't have bought it, and
2) it wouldn't have been on sale in Lidl in the first place.

when did you start them Peppers Smar '  - they look very good!

Delta - 08th of Feb, and from my notes they first poked through on the 18th of Feb.

Well they looked really good last year Delta, but didn't produce anything really, neither the ones i kept in the polytunnel or the ones i left outside up against a south(ish) facing wall.

This is a different variety this year, time will tell i guess.

^ about 20p

Thanks for that

The new section was officially opened today. Half of it is for foodbank use, the other half is for residents of a building attached to it.  They've only 1 water butt, they will suffer in hot weather. The soil is for everyone so I took some more

I planted broadbeans and peas in those pots I linked to. Carrots and rocket in smaller pots (carrots are small golf ball type.) Beetroot, parsnip, radish and turnip in my raised bed. I watered the polytunnel. idk who's looking after it but there's a load of veg popped through. I'm hoping Lidl have strawberries soon (they usually do) as I don't want to pay extortionate prices in a garden centre. I'm growing alpine strawberries but I need 20 or so regular plants.

My raised bed is the only one that has had any work done to it

An interesting thing about my toms, i kept half in the house on the windowsill and put the other half in the polytunnel on the top of that bench i built. Now the polytunnel temperature got down to just above freezing at least twice !

The seedlings in the polytunnel look just as good as the ones in the house

They are doing well, Screaming. Since the leaf buds have opened I would leave them alone. If you take another cutting the sap demand of those leaves would be difficult to meet without roots and stripping them off might not work. You will be able to take plenty more cuttings in the autumn.