God I love growing our own

[Bryang]

Planted 24 sweetcorn only one sprouted.

I usually put mine in the airing cupboard ( in the dark) and when I see a shoot showing I put it on a warm window sill.

 

[enrico]

What variety are you growing?

Charlotte are in the tubs. Charlotte and sagitta in the ground

 

[enrico]

Tescos own label for us ... Mind you, I dont have a polytunnel so I can't start my potatoes that early - even chitting in thre greenhouse they didn't get going to the point where they worth planting out until a few weeks ago. My Sagitta are about 18" above the tops of the potato bags now and the Charlottes have been earthed up for the last time but I'm weeks away from any sort of a crop from them. Gave in on any hopes of germinating sweetcorn in time for a crop and bought 18 plants from my local nursery and got them planted out.

We have just planted about 8 sweetcorn. That was all that came through

 

[JamezF]

We have just planted about 8 sweetcorn. That was all that came through

I had just over forty plants in all. Planted them out and the deer have eaten the tops of a number of them and now I don't have quite so many. As a result they're under cover until they get a bit taller and tougher.

James

 

[pargyle]

We have just planted about 8 sweetcorn. That was all that came through

I don't know what happened to mine .. I tipped all the of them out of the pots and some had started to germinate but had clearly died off other seeds just had not germinated at all. It was this years seed, John Innes peat free compost with a little seived soil added ...something I did was wrong.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Charlotte are in the tubs. Charlotte and sagitta in the ground

I have both in bags started in the tunnel, all now outside and some have flowers. Must have a poke around in the Charlotte.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Tescos own label for us ... Mind you, I dont have a polytunnel so I can't start my potatoes that early - even chitting in thre greenhouse they didn't get going to the point where they worth planting out until a few weeks ago. My Sagitta are about 18" above the tops of the potato bags now and the Charlottes have been earthed up for the last time but I'm weeks away from any sort of a crop from them. Gave in on any hopes of germinating sweetcorn in time for a crop and bought 18 plants from my local nursery and got them planted out.

I don't earth up any more. Just plant potatoes in the bottom and fill up with compost to the top of the bag.

 

[Moobee]

Just ordered a massive roll of chicken wire. The puppy thinks the beds are her playground, using the current mesh netting as a trampoline, chewing the plants and digging holes.
Her fun will shortly be curtailed as I’m going to make cages for the beds so all the veg in waiting in the greenhouse can go out without fear of being trampled, eaten or dug up! Butter wouldn’t melt…..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

shortly be curtailed

docked is she?

 

[enrico]

Just ordered a massive roll of chicken wire. The puppy thinks the beds are her playground, using the current mesh netting as a trampoline, chewing the plants and digging holes.
Her fun will shortly be curtailed as I’m going to make cages for the beds so all the veg in waiting in the greenhouse can go out without fear of being trampled, eaten or dug up! Butter wouldn’t melt…..

Yep! We have the metal farmers posts with netting round any beds with veg in. The flower areas don't always appreciate him laying in the middle. We open for the NGS so we have to try and keep it neat. Bless him!

 

[Rob H]

Just ordered a massive roll of chicken wire. The puppy thinks the beds are her playground, using the current mesh netting as a trampoline, chewing the plants and digging holes.
Her fun will shortly be curtailed as I’m going to make cages for the beds so all the veg in waiting in the greenhouse can go out without fear of being trampled, eaten or dug up! Butter wouldn’t melt…..

So what youve actually done is set her more of a challenge! Looking at her she is possibly from working stock and I suspect will love the game.

 

[pargyle]

Here's my little allotment area. I love it when it changes almost by the hour ...

 

[MillMeadow]

Here's my little allotment area. I love it when it changes almost by the hour ...

That looks very organized and beautifully maintained!

 

[pargyle]

That looks very organized and beautifully maintained!

It looks better from a distance !

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yesterday we made a cage to lift on and off the strawberries and I tied some tomatoes up.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Here's my little allotment area. I love it when it changes almost by the hour ...

Very neat

 

[pargyle]

Yesterday we made a cage to lift on and off the strawberries and I tied some tomatoes up.

My strawberry cage is still on to of the hen run ... I need to get it down tomorrow to keep the blackbirds from scoffing them but the main problem I face is snails and slugs, the garden is rife with them. I use Nematodes in spring but it's been so wet this year that I don't think it has had any effect. I have some bags of wood ash from all the tree branches I chopped down this year and I'm thinking of scattering that around the pots that the strawberries are in to see if that discourages them. I won't use slug bait and the copper tape only works whilst it is still shiny. I have some of those slug traps that you put in the ground and fill with beer but I've never used them ... might give them a try ... never ending battle..

 

[markb2603]

My strawberry cage is still on to of the hen run ... I need to get it down tomorrow to keep the blackbirds from scoffing them but the main problem I face is snails and slugs, the garden is rife with them. I use Nematodes in spring but it's been so wet this year that I don't think it has had any effect. I have some bags of wood ash from all the tree branches I chopped down this year and I'm thinking of scattering that around the pots that the strawberries are in to see if that discourages them. I won't use slug bait and the copper tape only works whilst it is still shiny. I have some of those slug traps that you put in the ground and fill with beer but I've never used them ... might give them a try ... never ending battle..

I found the beer/ale traps effective last year in terms of quantity caught but my plants kept getting mown down. I then read that the beer has the effect of attracting lots of local slugs but not all end up in the trap! In the end, I switched to slug stop (Growing Success Slug Stop Barrier Pouch 2.25kg - Organic Gardening - Arboretum Garden Centre) which was very very effective and essentially creates a difficult to cross barrier for the slugs and doesn’t kill them off. The chickens do that job.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The only slugs we are really bothered with are the little ones that live in the soil and eat potatoes. So all of them now go in bags. We reorganised the strawberry bed this winter. all the plants were removed and sorted. Weed roots removed, replanted in large pots with the bottoms out and put back in the starwberry bed. The plants are kept off the soil which can be easily hoed.

 

[Bettenham]

My sweetcorn failed as well and I'm off today to see if there any plants left in the garden centre. Father in law is blaming peat free compost for all the gardening woes at the moment. I think it is a lot harder to maintain the right sort of moisture for germination. I did try some directly to the ground which lasted all of about 6 hours before something had a sweetcorn snack overnight!