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Chit Chat Garden ( 2017 )
Chit Chat Garden ( 2017 )
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Nice dog Screaming
 One water butt might just be enough for 1 raised bed during dry season (and we will get one spell of 2 or so weeks without rain) but there is 7 raised beds around my area, a polytunnel and 12 or so raised beds in the new area to look after. If there is a water mains about the site then (illegally) we could top up the water butts from that. Only a quick glance couldn't find one. There's a large roof collecting area to the back of the main building. If we could get an old oil tank or similar that would be ideal but it would only help a bit. There's plans for a disabled toilet in the same area so when that starts I've already hinted about getting a water tap put in. I don't know however when that will happen. The pear and plum trees are blossoming! I think we will have some fruit this year  |
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Good stuff. Any opportunity to put barrels to catch roof run off rain water will be a good thing. It's amazing how much water is collected.
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Screaming - no my toms are F1 cherry (Sweet Million). I will keep them separate and see how they compare later on.
I planted half my Cornflower seedlings along the length of my new fencing this morning, they are going to be in a battle with lots and lots of Ivy coming from the other side of my fence  |
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I am potting my Runner Bean seeds (Lady Di) today. On my windowsill to start them off and then into the polytunnel before planting out into 3 foot tubs.
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Screaming's dog
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All my spuds are out now , last pink fir apples in a bag.
Gardeners World this week said put lots of spuds in a bag ........after decades of saying don't put more than one or two in . |
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You just get lots of smaller spuds when you put more in. I've 3 and 2 in 2 bags, got another 2 bags to grow in earlier but I noticed spuds at 89p in Home Bargains so I'll pick a main crop variety and another early variety to plant later in the year. In my broad bean pots I've 5,4,3 and 2 beans per pot. I'll monitor which produces the most for next year. Same with peas, I've 9 and 4 peas per pot of 2 varieties, again to monitor which works best. I'll do the same with the spuds, maybe try 5 chits per bag.
I put a small slit in a 3L coke bottle and a hole in the other end. I turned it upside down and put it into one of my pots to release a slow drip, drip into the pot. That might help with my water situation. I'll monitor how it goes. I'm also gonna buy some wood chips or tree bark to put on top of my pots, this should help with water retention. We may be able to put 3 water butts to each drainpipe. I was looking earlier and had the brainwave. Whether there's enough rain to fill 3 is another matter but there's more than enough rain to fill one. A 210L water butt kit costs £33 in B&Q, might find them cheaper with some searching. |
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Depends on the area of roof feeding the guttering and drainpipe. You only need 1 inch of rain falling on an area of roof 27 feet by 10 feet to fill three butts that size to overflowing.
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The church would easily be that size. I measured it last year but have lost the dimensions. There are 2 drainpipe on my side of the building and maybe 3 on the other side with 1 to the rear. I know to halve/ third those dimensions to work out what I need. Yes it could be a solution for the 7 or so raised beds next to the building along with the Polytunnel. I've asked/ hinted at an outside tap on many occasions but as I say I'm not in the inner circle so my opinion weighs little.
That new area is another matter but it's owned by the people who run the building attached to it. I think once they realise the water shortage, they will get it sorted. There must be £5k spent on doing it up, another hundred or so won't dent their wallets although I suspect they didn't spend too much of their own money. I keep nicking their soil though, that is some great, fiver a bag in B&Q stuff and there's tons of it   |
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Sorry I've not been paying much attention here lately.
Just put six Gardeners Delight (tomato) seeds into a mushroom punnet. Put it into a Tesco bag, loads of water & into the airing cupboard. Peppers have taken off, though quite spindly. How do I prick them out without hurting their roots? Two each in mushroom punnets. Ta |
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^ 2 inches tall.
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Would it be OK just to leave them in the punnets and grow them on as is?
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I don't think there will be enough space in the punnet for the roots to develope, I'd transfer to a 10 inch pot or a grow bag cut in half. Let them get established in the punnet first. In future you should buy some peat pots and grow in these, it's just a case of putting the whole peat pot into a bigger pot.
I'd just pull what you don't need out and leave the strongest one or 2 seedlings to grow on. Plants are pretty resilient and will quickly establish themselves if you do happen to damage the roots. Over crowding in the punnet would cause more damage imo. |
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Yes. You'll definitely need to transfer them to something bigger and deeper. Mine get transferred from a yogurt pot to an approx. 8" flowerpot filled with compost and perlite and mulched with lawn clippings. The soil always falls to pieces when I pull them out of the yogurt pot, and then they look horribly limp for a day or two in their new home, but they soon perk up again, every single time.
If you're reusing a flowerpot, it's worth giving it a swish with boiling water to destroy any lingering germs before filling with compost. And if you have some canes, stick one in each flowerpot at the same time as planting the seedling. That way, if you do need to tie up the plant later, you can do so without damaging the roots. |
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Thanks guys. I usually use peat pots but I think I'll just let them develop and cut them in half and re-pot as decscribed.
Yes, I'm always very careful to wash last year's pots carefully. |
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I didnt realise tom seeds would start in an airing cupboard - thought light was needed
everydays a school day .... |
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Things are getting a shift on now in the garden.
My Hosta has put 5" on since Friday. I must have had this plant 20 odd years ! I have dug it up each time i have moved house, the last time, a couple of years ago, i had to split it into 3 because a couple of mates wanted some of it  Also my Clematis that i cut right back to the ground last year has put on about the same amount since Friday, maybe even more looking at the amount of ties i have put on it already. |
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That's the Delights on the window ledge and 2 punnets of 6 x Sweet Babies gone into the airing cupboard for 24 hours. They gave me KILOS of yield last year ... amazing considering the seeds are lass than the size of a pinhead
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less
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I don't always put my heated propagator in a position where there is light when my tom seeds are in there, this is usually because the power outlet is in a dark place of my workshop.
As soon as they show i turn the heat off and then move to a place where the best light is. |
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Glorious day yesterday allowed me to get the potatoes planted and ridged. That's the hardest job of Spring out of the way, thank goodness.
Next job will be sowing parsnips, broad beans and carrots but waiting for the soil to warm more first. |
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I dont believe in ridging potatoes - laziness really
but in reality just plant deeper and also you dont get the ridge falling away in dry weather greening exposed spuds tried flat last two years - best results .. |
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would add only plant after last of frost tho ...
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Garlic growing well in the Spring sunshine
 Pelargonium and Begonia seedlings. On course for planting out next month.  I love tulip blooms when they reach the stage of colouring up before opening.  |
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I remember you doing an experiment growing potatoes with no ridging two or three years ago, Delta. Pleased it went well, good man I'll try and remember next year.
I mulch between the ridges, gradually infilling with leaf mould and grass cuttings in order to conserve moisture and prevent greening. The mulch rots down and is eventually dug in when the potatoes are harvested. I've never had to water potatoes since doing it this way. I could still mulch without ridging and that would save a lot of work. |
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seeds in tonight
Cucumber - Zeina - [previous excellent recommendation by blackbarn of this parish] Pepper - Lipstick and Quadrato D'asti Rosso Chilli - Ring of Fire potted, propagator cover on, in conservatory! , fingers crossed tomorrow nights task - Beetroot! |
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Some pics of stuff in my garden today.
This is that "leggy" tom i potted on deep.  My well travelled 20+ year old Hosta.   This is that fast growing Clematis growing up the front of my workshop/man-cave.  And a few more from around my garden today...........           |
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Any tips on getting rid of ants organically? Last time I had my potatoes in bags they invaded and ate the plants
 I have tried baking soda and homemade pepper spray. |
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Water [boiling variant
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Beetroot in
Rhonda and Detroit Bolivar |
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great pics Smar Tarse
your garden is looking in great shape! |
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Cheers Delta, but I can't do that as my veg is at my allotment
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Had a quick glance at this thread earlier and went and bought more seed potatoes, cucumber, courgette and peppers.
I wasn't going to grow these from seed but I thought about supplying each raised bed with things that can be propagated in the Polytunnel and moved outdoors in June like the Courgette plant. Tomatoes will still be bought from small plants probably this weekend or over Easter. Great pics Smart Arse.... *jealous |
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So far only one of my Courgette seeds have germinated, not a sniff of life from the other 5 pots i did
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Isn't it a myth about ants eating potatoes? It's slugs, or some other pest, which eats them, and then the ants move into the nice, dry, hollowed out spud afterwards. When you lift the potato, it's the ants you see nesting there, and you assume they're the ones who did the damage.
There's always ants on my veg patch when it dries out in the summer heat, but as far as I can see they do no harm. If anything, their tunnelling aerates the soil. Had my first harvest of rocket today.  Not sure why I'm lucky with it, while Foinavon hasn't been. Perhaps being able to sow that bit earlier in the West Country means it gets established before the slugs do (though you can see where one has been active at the bottom right). Or maybe the fact I don't thin it out means that I don't notice the damage. I always use seeds saved from the last year's crop, and just pour heaps of them into the soil, shells and all. The container might help, but I grew it in the veg patch last year, and the results were fine. |
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I tried some rocket [wild] in the poly - planted October last year - been cutting it since the start of the year and it rattling along like a good un still now
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Agree with you about the ants, Screaming. They do more good than harm on the allotment as they eat many insect larvae pests. The only downside is they protect aphids but they are easy to rub out as soon as you see them.
Your rocket looks good and this year I'm going to try sowing them in a grow bag surrounded by coffee grounds to deter the slugs. If I do this at home I can keep a close eye on the watering. |
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I GROW SOME NICE MINT ,LOVELY WITH NEW POTATOES
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I like ants, just not in my potato bags. There weren't any slugs it was just ants eating the stems. I had a close look to see if it was anything else, but it really was just the ants doing the damage.
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