Plans for planting

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I think rich soil can cause the parsnips to branch, the same I suppose if the soil is to hard for them to go straight down
I remember my grandfather telling me a story of two old old duffers (and expert gardeners) having a bet who could grow the longest parsnip. They shook hands and agreed on an evening to meet in the club at the end of the season with their prized roots.
One turned up and proudly placed his two foot plus root on the bar (ooh err missus!) then the second strolled in, smoking his pipe, but no parsnip. Asked if that meant he was conceding, he just smiled and reached into his waistcoat pocket and took out something which, at first impression looked like a Catherine wheel for a fireworks display and began to slowly unroll it. It was in fact a very long but exceedingly thin parsnip! Needless to say, he won his bet; I can't recall my grandfather telling me how long it was, but what the old boy had done was planted the parsnip in the small gap between two of the old railway sleepers covering an abandoned mine shaft not far from his house. The parsnip had just grown down to the bottom of the gap and then just continued to grow downwards looking for more sustenance!

 

[Nannysbees]

Why!!!!!!!!!
When the dandelions are just coming out

 

[Curly green finger's]

Sown peas, onion sets, nasturtium, armeria, French marigolds, calendula, lobelia, pitunia, impatiens, lavender.
Cuttings - rambling Rose
Potted up Budleia cuttings and 20 blackcurrant cuttings.
Cleaned tank ready for the frog spawn.

 

[Erichalfbee]

All I managed was coriander

 

[JamezF]

I'm going to give coriander a go outdoors this summer. In the greenhouse or polytunnel it always seems to run to seed too fast during the warmer months. Sadly I also failed to get the timing right to have much over this winter too. I sowed two batches about a month apart. The first went straight to seed and the second germinated, grew a couple of leaves and then sulked all winter

Such a nice herb, but a pig for getting the timing right, especially when our weather no longer has a clue what it's going to do from one day to the next.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Sown peas, onion sets, nasturtium, armeria, French marigolds, calendula, lobelia, pitunia, impatiens, lavender.
Cuttings - rambling Rose
Potted up Budleia cuttings and 20 blackcurrant cuttings.
Cleaned tank ready for the frog spawn.

Wow busy day, last few years not much frog spawn in our pond, not sure why!!!

 

[Nannysbees]

Calendula and phacelia sown

 

[Moobee]

I planted peas in the raised border today along with lettuce and carrots in troughs.Phacelia seed arrived didn't realise it can grow to 1.2m!!!!!! Have to plan carefully where that can go, Richard noel had it last year but I think he planted near enough a field, should be interesting

It tends to flop over so good down between things. Self seeds too!

 

[Moobee]

Planted out lettuce (black seeded Simpson), beetroot and spring onion plants under cloches from seeds sown early winter in the greenhouse.
Sowed carrots, parsnips and red onions under fleece.
Going to kick off more stuff in the greenhouse later this week - more varieties of lettuce, spring onions, tithonia, calendula, rudbeckia.
Pricked out squash and tomatoes.
Bought two specimen viburnum tinus in the sales for two awkward corners of the garden and planted a buddleia globosa and some giant hyssop that I grew from seed last year.
I’m knackered now….

 

[Nannysbees]

It tends to flop over so good down between things. Self seeds too!

Thank you for the tip

 

[Nannysbees]

Planted out lettuce (black seeded Simpson), beetroot and spring onion plants under cloches from seeds sown early winter in the greenhouse.
Sowed carrots, parsnips and red onions under fleece.
Going to kick off more stuff in the greenhouse later this week - more varieties of lettuce, spring onions, tithonia, calendula, rudbeckia.
Pricked out squash and tomatoes.
Bought two specimen viburnum tinus in the sales for two awkward corners of the garden and planted a buddleia globosa and some giant hyssop that I grew from seed last year.
I’m knackered now….

Not easy this gardening lark, but think how fit you are going to be

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I'm going to give coriander a go outdoors this summer

always planted mine outdoors - same with basil, never had an issue with them.

 

[Nannysbees]

always planted mine outdoors - same with basil, never had an issue with them.

I planted out last year but have sown calendula inside this year!!

 

[fizzle]

I grow about 1000 plugs of wildflowers every year, I collect the seed in the autumn and get the seeds going in the Spring then plant out after the meadow has been cut in August. For the garden I prefer perennials but I do grow some annuals for bees - nasturtiums, borage and calendula. Find once you've grown a couple of seasons providing you're not too tidy late summer, the seeds will germinate in the ground the following year, so I don't start seed from scratch each Spring. Here’s some pics of my efforts. I was a gardener long before a beekeeper.
Hope your propagation goes well this Spring! Looks a nice set up

I think I need to report you for serious content...lol

 

[JamezF]

Today I finally managed to finish going through all the beds to remove weeds that probably blew in as seeds last year and are already growing. Now I need to go back and do the first couple again because even more sycamore seedlings have sprouted I've also removed all the plants from the beds, greenhouse and polytunnel that have reached the end of their useful life, so the current compost bin is looking rather more full than it was this morning.

I was happy to see that the new blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes are starting to show some leaves, but it was also a very pleasant surprise to see buds starting to break on a couple of gooseberries. I ordered a (green) gooseberry bush that hasn't arrived yet, but I also discovered a red variety growing in the top of a wall last year and decided to move it into the bed where the others are going to grow. In the process of getting it out I actually split the plant completely in two, but decided that nothing could be lost by planting both halves and it looks like they both might have survived the move despite my heavy-handedness!

Otherwise it feels like quite a low point at the moment, with lots of plants coming out of the increasingly bare plot and very little ready to go back in. I must remember to take a photo. Depending on how many broad beans we get this year I might plant them as a catch crop in as much empty space as possible in the autumn and then scythe them down as we get into Spring next year, leaving the roots in the ground.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Today I finally managed to finish going through all the beds to remove weeds that probably blew in as seeds last year and are already growing. Now I need to go back and do the first couple again because even more sycamore seedlings have sprouted I've also removed all the plants from the beds, greenhouse and polytunnel that have reached the end of their useful life, so the current compost bin is looking rather more full than it was this morning.

I was happy to see that the new blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes are starting to show some leaves, but it was also a very pleasant surprise to see buds starting to break on a couple of gooseberries. I ordered a (green) gooseberry bush that hasn't arrived yet, but I also discovered a red variety growing in the top of a wall last year and decided to move it into the bed where the others are going to grow. In the process of getting it out I actually split the plant completely in two, but decided that nothing could be lost by planting both halves and it looks like they both might have survived the move despite my heavy-handedness!

Otherwise it feels like quite a low point at the moment, with lots of plants coming out of the increasingly bare plot and very little ready to go back in. I must remember to take a photo. Depending on how many broad beans we get this year I might plant them as a catch crop in as much empty space as possible in the autumn and then scythe them down as we get into Spring next year, leaving the roots in the ground.

James

Sounds like a good plan, what do you make from your gooseberries? Have you ever thought of putting a hive at your allotment?

 

[Moobee]

The tender seedlings (tomatoes, chillies, aubergines, basil, squash) are spending the day in the kitchen as the greenhouse is a bit chilly today.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I’ve not sown squash yet. Cucumbers and melons doing well on sunroom windowsill under growlights Must pot on some tomatoes

 

[Nannysbees]

Tomatoes now sprouting in the greenhouse thought they had rotted!!! Cucumbers shooting. Lots of flower seedlings starting to get a bit leggy.

 

[Moobee]

I’ve not sown squash yet. Cucumbers and melons doing well on sunroom windowsill under growlights Must pot on some tomatoes

They need space to ramble and good sun but store brilliantly. We’re still eating butternut squash harvested last September.