Plans for planting

[jenkinsbrynmair]

How does it work?????

a decent sized one can produce quite a bit of 'worm tea' which is an excellent plant food. as well as a fair bit of compost in time

 

[pargyle]

How does it work?????

They have a number of levels with mesh floors ... the worms eat all the kitchen vegetabke waste and turn in into beautiful fine compost - really fertile stuff - great for seed compost. At the same time they produce worm pee which collects in the bottom container and that's really good plantfood - full of minerals.

They don't take a lot of looking after and reproduce at an incredible rate ... bit dormant in the winter but now it's a little warmer they are really getting going. You can make your own with suitable containers and buy a package of worms but I've got ths one:

https://www.wormcity.co.uk/
They are nearly as fascinating as the bees but less high maintenance ... they don't swarm but they are escapologists given half a chance.

 

[Nannysbees]

They have a number of levels with mesh floors ... the worms eat all the kitchen vegetabke waste and turn in into beautiful fine compost - really fertile stuff - great for seed compost. At the same time they produce worm pee which collects in the bottom container and that's really good plantfood - full of minerals.

They don't take a lot of looking after and reproduce at an incredible rate ... bit dormant in the winter but now it's a little warmer they are really getting going. You can make your own with suitable containers and buy a package of worms but I've got ths one:

https://www.wormcity.co.uk/
They are nearly as fascinating as the bees but less high maintenance ... they don't swarm but they are escapologists given half a chance.

That is brilliant!!!!!

 

[Nannysbees]

They have a number of levels with mesh floors ... the worms eat all the kitchen vegetabke waste and turn in into beautiful fine compost - really fertile stuff - great for seed compost. At the same time they produce worm pee which collects in the bottom container and that's really good plantfood - full of minerals.

They don't take a lot of looking after and reproduce at an incredible rate ... bit dormant in the winter but now it's a little warmer they are really getting going. You can make your own with suitable containers and buy a package of worms but I've got ths one:

https://www.wormcity.co.uk/
They are nearly as fascinating as the bees but less high maintenance ... they don't swarm but they are escapologists given half a chance.

Do you feed them the same scraps as a composit bin?

 

[pargyle]

Do you feed them the same scraps as a composit bin?

Yes ... basically any vegetable peelings, eggshells, a few scraps of cardboard occasioally ,,, I usually whizz the peelings up in the food processor although they will nibble away at anything. It is the same stuff that normally goes in the compost bins but my wormery just sits outside the kitchen door and I like the fact that the stuff they produce is not infested with weeds or seeds or anything else for that matter and the worm pee is a real bonus for house plants and things like peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse.

 

[Nannysbees]

Yes ... basically any vegetable peelings, eggshells, a few scraps of cardboard occasioally ,,, I usually whizz the peelings up in the food processor although they will nibble away at anything. It is the same stuff that normally goes in the compost bins but my wormery just sits outside the kitchen door and I like the fact that the stuff they produce is not infested with weeds or seeds or anything else for that matter and the worm pee is a real bonus for house plants and things like peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse.

Marvellous, do you dilute the wee?

 

[Hairy]

The list of what they can and can't eat at the bottom of the link pargyle gave is, um, diverse to say the least!

 

[pargyle]

Marvellous, do you dilute the wee?

Yes 10:1 seems to work ....

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Marvellous, do you dilute the wee?

you need to - it's far too strong otherwise

 

[JamezF]

Planted out some of my tomatoes in the polytunnel at the weekend. Earlier than I wanted so I'll have to keep an eye out for frost, but they were looking like they wanted a bit more room to spread their roots. I've got all my potatoes in the ground too, and made a first sowing of parsnips. Whilst there's an element of fun in growing enormous parsnips, this year I'm going to leave the plants closer together and sow in succession with the aim of getting slightly smaller and rather more practical roots.

Compost heap #2 has pretty much reached the point of being full now grass and weeds seem to be growing like crazy so I need to get my finger out and extend the compost bays a bit. We have three and I want at least four so there's room to turn each one into its neighbour later in the year. My father-in-law asked what the temperature was in the first bay we filled. I didn't actually have a clue because I've all but ignored it for more than four months, so I went out to measure them both. The one we're currently filling had got up to a shade over 62°C which is possibly a little too hot, though quite handy if you want it for cooking your dinner The older one, despite having no new material added for over four months and having already broken down to less than half its original volume was still just over 23°C on a day when air temperatures didn't get over 10°C! Clearly we can solve all of this troublesome dependence on oil and gas for heating by building lots more compost heaps

James

 

[Nannysbees]

What

Planted out some of my tomatoes in the polytunnel at the weekend. Earlier than I wanted so I'll have to keep an eye out for frost, but they were looking like they wanted a bit more room to spread their roots. I've got all my potatoes in the ground too, and made a first sowing of parsnips. Whilst there's an element of fun in growing enormous parsnips, this year I'm going to leave the plants closer together and sow in succession with the aim of getting slightly smaller and rather more practical roots.

Compost heap #2 has pretty much reached the point of being full now grass and weeds seem to be growing like crazy so I need to get my finger out and extend the compost bays a bit. We have three and I want at least four so there's room to turn each one into its neighbour later in the year. My father-in-law asked what the temperature was in the first bay we filled. I didn't actually have a clue because I've all but ignored it for more than four months, so I went out to measure them both. The one we're currently filling had got up to a shade over 62°C which is possibly a little too hot, though quite handy if you want it for cooking your dinner The older one, despite having no new material added for over four months and having already broken down to less than half its original volume was still just over 23°C on a day when air temperatures didn't get over 10°C! Clearly we can solve all of this troublesome dependence on oil and gas for heating by building lots more compost heaps

James

What a good idea, bit smelly for heating a house but why not!!! Think I planted some of my plants out a bit early as some have turned a shade of blue with the cold, but next year I'll put the seedlings in newspaper pots but make bigger ones and there wasn't enough soil in them to maintain the level of nutrients they needed so I planted out too early, never mind lesson learned. The wildflower border is looking really good with thick swathes of green im popping cosmos in to fill the gaps so should be quite a display. I've planted more zinnia,basil and mimulus. My tomatoes are in their pots but have another 12 going begging so I thought I'd pop them in pots and try them outside, not sure how successful that'll be, anyone grow Tom's outside?

 

[JamezF]

I find that outdoor tomatoes suffer too much from blight here so I've given up trying. Even in the polytunnel they get it eventually though at least we can get a decent crop first in that instance. If I recall correctly, high humidity is one of the contributory factors to the spread of blight, and "warm and damp" wouldn't be too far off as a description of much of the weather in the south west.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

I find that outdoor tomatoes suffer too much from blight here so I've given up trying. Even in the polytunnel they get it eventually though at least we can get a decent crop first in that instance. If I recall correctly, high humidity is one of the contributory factors to the spread of blight, and "warm and damp" wouldn't be too far off as a description of much of the weather in the south west.

James

What's that look like James, mouldy?

 

[simonwig]

[QUOTE="Nannysbees, post: try them outside, not sure how successful that'll be, anyone grow Tom's outside?
[/QUOTE]
Hi
Usually have 4 or 5 outside (north of Leeds). Don't put them out too early and probably get a smaller crop. Mine get good sun and fairly sheltered which probably helps.

Simon

 

[JamezF]

What's that look like James, mouldy?

Blight? Not that different from how it looks on potatoes really. They're the same family of plants. The leaves go dry and brown first, then it can work its way into the stems which blacken in patches, and the fruit which turn brown and rot.

There are two problems really. The spores can travel great distances on the wind, and there's pretty much no non-industrial scale treatment. As far as I recall, potato farmers get notified when conditions are likely to spread blight and have a short window (possibly a small number of hours) to spray their crops to try to fight it off.

I only discovered last year that blight needs a live host to survive, so putting infected material on the compost heap is fine because it all dies. Apparently one of the major contributors to it spreading is infected "volunteer" potatoes which obviously are still live in the ground over the winter and then regrow the following season to spread the disease. I've been religiously digging up any volunteer potatoes that have sprouted this Spring so it will at least have to come in from elsewhere rather than having a permanent presence in the veggie plot.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Blight? Not that different from how it looks on potatoes really. They're the same family of plants. The leaves go dry and brown first, then it can work its way into the stems which blacken in patches, and the fruit which turn brown and rot.

There are two problems really. The spores can travel great distances on the wind, and there's pretty much no non-industrial scale treatment. As far as I recall, potato farmers get notified when conditions are likely to spread blight and have a short window (possibly a small number of hours) to spray their crops to try to fight it off.

I only discovered last year that blight needs a live host to survive, so putting infected material on the compost heap is fine because it all dies. Apparently one of the major contributors to it spreading is infected "volunteer" potatoes which obviously are still live in the ground over the winter and then regrow the following season to spread the disease. I've been religiously digging up any volunteer potatoes that have sprouted this Spring so it will at least have to come in from elsewhere rather than having a permanent presence in the veggie plot.

James

Ah OK thanks for that, really informative, not something I've grown, potatoes in my garden but next door has so could possibly infect my tomatoes if they have had it, I've got so many tomatoes in the greenhouse I'll put some out and if they fail they fail. I've been really lucky with box hedging in my garden, had it for quite a few years and escaped blight thankfully

 

[Nannysbees]

Very pleased with the Wildlife border so far.

 

[JamezF]

Some photos of my own...

The broad beans are flowering already. I've even seen bumble bees visiting them. They're not very tall though. I suspect the weather so far this spring has confused them a bit. Hopefully they'll grow more and we'll get a decent crop. They are at least tillering out nicely. Most plants have produced three stems from a single seed.

The perennial kale seem to be doing very well and is producing new leaves. This photo probably makes it look far larger than it is.

It has been "raining" spent sycamore flowers today (which are the green things on the ground in the above photo), but this one of the asparagus bed perhaps gives a better idea of what it's like. I've weeded this very recently, so the only green bits are asparagus stems and the sycamore flowers.

Twenty-eight of the thirty asparagus plants have now made an appearance. Hopefully the remaining two will get above ground soon.

The outdoor garlic.

The ones in the polytunnel are even bigger, but they're hidden a bit by the initial planting of peas for shoots which will be coming out shortly as they're starting to produce pods.

Shallots.

This is some of the last of the kale that I left to flower whilst I didn't need the space. The honey bees and bumble bees both seem to love it (and there's one right in the middle of this photo).

They also like the PSB flowers, though that's pretty much over now.

And finally, this week I've made my first attempt this year at getting a pineapple top to root. I must have tried at least half a dozen last year but was only successful once. That plant is still growing well, producing what I assume to be three new plantlets, and has been in the house over the winter. I shall move it out to the greenhouse later this week if the weather appears to be staying warm.

James

 

[Nannysbees]

Our sycamore is behind yours the flowers are only just opening. Your pants are looking really healthy. Do you think you'll ever have a pineapple . My raised borders are a tad smaller but the peas and lettuce seems to be doing OK. The campanula loves our garden and literally takes over the areas it's planted, the bees love it

 

[JamezF]

Perhaps if I can create an environment that's warm enough for long enough I might get a pineapple. After all, the Victorians managed it. I've seen a breakdown of the materials and labour involved however that suggests each pineapple they grew cost the equivalent of £1,500 in today's money.

Here's the one I managed to grow last year.

The more silvery leaves in the centre with brown tips are the original pineapple. The brighter green leaves belong to new plants. There's a third new one tucked in behind the one on the right.

Sadly most of the ones I tried last year rotted in the centre. Possibly that's down to the weather at the time, but it could perhaps also be related to the condition of the pineapple once it reaches the supermarket shelves. They're not always the best.

James