God I love growing our own

[Erichalfbee]

Recursion, chaos and fractals?

Ok. You’ve got me there.
I can spey a cat blindfold though…. Or I used to be able to. Never tried it though let me assure you.

 

[enrico]

Just got into growing your own although it is my wife who is the driving force behind it. Got an allotment site nearby in August last year for an apiary and some growing. Moved three hives there a few weeks back and now making plans for what to grow this year. Garlic already planted and most of it is growing well. We managed to get the plot next to this as well as both plots are right at the end and shaded more than the rest. Plan to put some more raised beds and a poly tunnel on the other plot. Need to acquire some more free scaffold boards.
View attachment 38937

Great to see. Well done. Make all your raised beds the same size so that hoops and nets are interchangeable. I use commercialy bought hoops at 1.5 metres wide.

 

[enrico]

Anyone else having trouble with germinating their onion seeds. Two packets of red onions and nothing

 

[roche]

Ok. You’ve got me there.
I can spey a cat blindfold though…. Or I used to be able to. Never tried it though let me assure you.

Scary - I don't wanna be a cat...

 

[E&MBees]

Any recommendations for where to get fleece and netting at a good price. I need to replace all of mine this year. I need to replace the supports too. Thought I might try blue water pipe. Anyone tried that?

 

[JamezF]

I use blue water pipe that was left over from projects or builders' waste. It's ok, but not brilliant. The smaller diameter stuff isn't that stable and even in the larger diameter's it's a bit wobbly for large beds.

Netting, fleece and suchlike I've bought from these people or these, who seem to be ok and may in fact be the same business. Larger sizes seem to work out much cheaper for some items, so it's handy if you can find someone to split the purchase with. It's often recommended that you get the heavier weight of fleece as it's a bit more robust and keeps the heat in better.

James

 

[E&MBees]

I use blue water pipe that was left over from projects or builders' waste. It's ok, but not brilliant. The smaller diameter stuff isn't that stable and even in the larger diameter's it's a bit wobbly for large beds.

Netting, fleece and suchlike I've bought from these people or these, who seem to be ok and may in fact be the same business. Larger sizes seem to work out much cheaper for some items, so it's handy if you can find someone to split the purchase with. It's often recommended that you get the heavier weight of fleece as it's a bit more robust and keeps the heat in better.

James

I’ve got raised beds and had wondered about putting brackets in the corners to hold the pipe in place to stop it wobbling.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Scary - I don't wanna be a cat...

I’m retired

 

[roche]

I’m retired

I'm sure any cat would have been in very safe hands. And on the whole I would prefer to be treated by a vet than a doctor...

 

[almostBees]

Fibonacci

if you like bees and Fibonacci, try this link

 

[JamezF]

I’ve got raised beds and had wondered about putting brackets in the corners to hold the pipe in place to stop it wobbling.

I'm sure I've seen that done before now. What I've found is that the hoops need to be relatively close together (probably less than 1m) so they don't bend over at the top.

James

 

[Moobee]

around here they do that in attics or unoccupied buildings

Those special five leaf ones that smell funny!

 

[Moobee]

Yes I’ve grown them. For me they were nothing special.

Agree. OK for sauce but flavour not that special and not particularly prolific either.

 

[Erichalfbee]

if you like bees and Fibonacci, try this link

Love it.

 

[alancooper]

Love it.

Aaagh Fibonacci - brings back painfull memories of additional maths.

 

[JamezF]

Not as much time to spend in the garden today, which was a shame as despite being chilly it's been a lovely day -- lots of sunshine for a change instead of the grim heavily overcast skies that are mostly what we've had of late. Had to finish writing a first draft of my CV, too. That was pretty strange. I've worked for so many companies over the last twenty years and it's all been word-of-mouth, even the multi-nationals. It's possibly the first time I've written a CV this century. Then I'm told I need to play with Linked-In. *shudder*

Anyhow... I cleared some space indoors so I could set up my "spare" propagators as I'm sure I'll need them next weekend. One of them is looking really quite tatty. I'm quite tempted to build my own in the greenhouse using a soil-warming cable. I reckon I could do it for not much more than the cost of a new propagator and have four times the space. And it wouldn't be in the house where light levels aren't as good.

After that I got a bit more weeding done. Three and a half beds down, four and a half more to go...

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Those special five leaf ones that smell funny!

they must grow a lot of that in Croydon, just got off at East Croydon station half an hour ago and that's all I can smell!

 

[roche]

if you like bees and Fibonacci, try this link

Following on from that, about 40 years ago, a lecturer gave a really interesting spiel on the maths of plants. It covered all sorts of things like the pattern of branches from a trunk to leaves on veins. Unfortunately he covered gound very fast, and I never really kept up...but I think he did refer to one or two books on the subject. Eventually, some years later I threw my notes away, but now I would be sort of interested in reading a little more. Given the erudite nature of the forum, I wouldn't be surprised if someone had some good ideas about where to start...

 

[Erichalfbee]

I found this. Fascinating.
https://www.cosmic-core.org/free/ar...geometry-of-plants-part-1-fibonacci-sequence/

 

[pargyle]

I’ve got raised beds and had wondered about putting brackets in the corners to hold the pipe in place to stop it wobbling.

I use blue water pipe ... the way to stop it wobbling is to put a brace across the top (I use white UPVC water pipe) and have at least three hoops of the blue water pipe. I use cable ties to tie it all together. I find the 50mm water pipe to brace the hoops is kinder to whatever goes over the top, fleece or netting. I also have some old 22mm copper pipe which I attach to the bottom of the netting which holds it down on the ground. I use these clips to hold the fleece, netting in place, cheap as chips.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203532030965?epid=1239165726&hash=item2f637453f5:g:jlkAAOSwRaVjoJJT

Mine are galvanised but I see they now make stainless ones for very little more:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325146222277?itmmeta=01HPFC8BPPJMWGE52R2BE2YHPW