Chicken bald back

[Daphne]

You do have my sympathy, its so discouraging isn't it? Like SJP I haven't suffered slugs damage to toms, I was under the impression that the hairy leaves/smell put them off, but I suppose young plants don't have either, what a nuisance

 

I started to dig over the land at the weekend, this is the third season, so one bed in particular is like an old friend. The sun was out, I was sitting on the earth, dressed in old trews and a stupid hat to keep the sun off, with the smell of the soil mingled with the waft of my mint beds (oh and I forgot, I planted a pot of Lidl chocolate mint outside last year, the sort you'd have indoors and it has taken, I get a fabulous hit of minty choc, its super fresh and strong to eat and will make a good mint tea ) and I felt perfectly happy, it just washed over me. Needless to say the feeling of wellbeing washed off hours later as I was in a different bed, fighting deep stemmed dandelions.....

 

My neighbour does have onions virtually ready to pull - they are some sort of fat spring onion, a bit like what we used to call Welsh onions I think. I have sowed quite a bit of flower seed, which is germinating well, although the dahlia tubers I brought out from England are sulking. I have bought some more compost as I ran out, so am going to get the courgette seeds in, its very late, but I think I'll get a crop before it gets too dry, and I'll do a sprinkle of basil and lettuce. I shall look for tomato/pepper plants next time I am near a shop, because I have had better success with native varieties than UK ones and you can buy a plant for 5c! You can buy tiny veg plants everywhere - hardware shops, corner shops, florists, you name it. We have had a bit of wet the past few days but its set fair from tomorrow, up to mid 20s for the next 2-3 weeks, so I expect everything to romp away.

[Christian]

Out of 60+ pea seeds I sowed, I have 7 plants, so think the mice have been at them. Planted another couple of rows last week and they are all up Might as well dig up the first sowings and replant....

 

Parsnips, carrots, chard and beetroot are all up, but the bed is so full of weeds I can barely see them. Delicate hand weeding is needed. On a positive note, the rain has nearly filled my 200 litre water butt Not that it will last long.

 

Squashes, pumpkins etc all doing well in the conservatory, but need some time outside now to harden them off. Dahlias were doing well, but slugs have had a go at them

 

My lovely crab apple that I planted for Mum on Mother's day is beautiful. Lots of blossom

 

Potatoes (variety unknown, from a neighbour) are looking good too. Plus the sweetcorn seedlings are around 2" tall now.

 

Happy so far....

[Valkyrie]

Lovely news peeps.

Glad your mum's apple is coming on nicely. Lots of jelly this year then.

 

Vinegar kills off most weeds - including grass. We dug up a load of weeds in the middle tier path. Although we had membrane down underneath stone chippings, they have long gone and the membrane has been folded up with chickens eagerly hunting for things underneath. I still have to finish my dry stone walls.

 

Found a toad the other day tempting fate down by their dirt bath! I have removed him to the back of the greenhouse and hopefully he will take up residence in the unused stones - or under the bricks holding the water butt. Nice and damp along there.

 

I'm guessing our butts have been filled - stormy session gave a jolly good downpour a while ago. I expect I'll have to swap over the nettings so that the slugs and snails don't have a happy time sliding over the fleece like a fluffy skating rink. OH has fixed the planks along the side of my deep beds - they had come apart and the soil was dropping through onto the path. They are now bracketed together. I'll be able to finish off the onions in there. I'll still have enough room for the leeks to go in too.

[Alis girls]

Having moaned about nothing germinating - all but one pot is growing a courgette,pumplkin or cucmuber plant or 3!!! Sadly all mixed up so pot luck - but hey who cares

[Valkyrie]

That will be a nice surprise. Wouldn't be the first time I've meticulously labelled everything only to pot them up and forget who belonged to what. Even in the garden the rows tend to merge if I'm growing different sorts of the same thing. The only time I knew which leeks were different were because they had purple leaves!

[Christian]

Glad things are coming up for you!

 

Now, do I risk planting out the squashes and pumpkins this weekend? Hmmm

They've been in the cold conservatory for a couple of weeks and i'm struggling for space in the cold frame. Although the cosmos plants are doing really well I could take those out?

 

Waiting for a neighbour to drop off well rotted horse dung and then I might plant them out. I have a couple of cloches that will give them protection. A few other plot holders have had their pumpkin plants out for a couple of weeks, but I noticed they were yellow and dying.....(the plants, not the plot holders...)

 

Sunflower plants have been staked as they were falling over....need to plant some more I think.

[Daphne]

I don't know what your cosmos seedlings are looking like - mine are a bit leggy, they always are, as they grow so fast, so I always seem to plant them out in the ground whilst they look rubbish but I have found that they are pretty resilient and good doers - both in the UK and in Portugal. I would take them out of the coldframe to harden off for a few days (and poss put them back in at night and/or if heavy rain is forecast, they are easily beaten down) before introducing to the soil.

[Cinnamon]

Things are going great guns here - toms have their first truss of flowers on them, my gorgeous Mini Munch cucumbers are ready for the greenhouse & today I finally planted my onion sets....... then my back went, so no more gardening for me this weekend

[Christian]

I've never really grown flowers from seed before, but the cosmos are looking good. Still got 30 plants to prick out but I'll get there. Not too leggy, but lots of leaf so far. They were left in the cold frame since day one, so are pretty tough now I think. Calendula is also looking ok and should go out soon really. The zinnias are looking dreadful, think it might be too cold for them, so I'll start a batch indoors.

 

 

Sorry about your back Sarah, take it easy. I was forking over the squash bed today and felt a twinge, so stopped. I have another 2 weeks off and so much needs doing but with my back I have to take it slow. Hope it's better soon!

 

More sweet corn seeds planted today

[Alis girls]

Dithering on whether to put pumpkins and courgettes in ground but Christian's thread made me think prob leave till end of May.

[sjp]

Glad things are coming up for you!

 

Now, do I risk planting out the squashes and pumpkins this weekend? Hmmm no to much risk of frost at night at the moment end of the month is soon enough They've been in the cold conservatory for a couple of weeks and i'm struggling for space in the cold frame. Although the cosmos plants are doing really well I could take those out?

 

Waiting for a neighbour to drop off well rotted horse dung and then I might plant them out. I have a couple of cloches that will give them protection. A few other plot holders have had their pumpkin plants out for a couple of weeks, but I noticed they were yellow and dying.....(the plants, not the plot holders...) a few on our site planted their runners out a couple of weeks back then we had 2 or 3 heavy frosts and all that gale force wind last week the plants went from green to brown in a few hours

Sunflower plants have been staked as they were falling over....need to plant some more I think.

[Alis girls]

Point taken SJP will wait.

[Valkyrie]

Yep, my runner beans are going bonkers in the greenhouse - really romping away but I need them to wait a bit longer. The winds the other day blew one of my broad beans over - and they are in a cold frame - without a lid but things strategically placed over the top to prevent nosy chooks hopping in for a scrabble. No chance now as I've netted it all off, but will stake the beans before taking the frame off. The last lot of onions are almost ready to go in the bed, so quite happy with them. I'm beginning to feel I've missed something out and I don't know what it is!!! There isn't room for anything else!

[Alis girls]

I blame Christian for making me put a packet of pea seed in my trolley this am. I have never grown them - i love peas raw from pod but not that keen on cooked - but will give em a go. Strange my runner beans are next to wall of garage - pretty sheltered and ok so far. Found a slug on my courgettes today wouldnt mind but had put some pellets down. Grrrr.

[Christian]

Moved the peas that didn't do well - I suspect mice and replanted some more seeds.

 

Bed dug over and covered with black fleece to warm up for the sweetcorn More hoeing of weeds and digging up thistles. Cosmos prickled out, just 30 more plants to do ( I found another seed tray with a different variety in)! sweet peas planted out, plus a couple of pots kept back just in case and I couldn't live without sweet peas...

 

Hand weeded the parsnips, beets and chard, that's a job my back hates.

 

All in all a good day, lovely weather and a content terrier...

[Christian]

Thanks SJP, think I'll wait for another week or so until I plant the squashes. Managed to snap a couple of plants when I moved them to the cold frame Have planted a couple more seeds and hope they'll come up quickly?

 

Got another tubtrug of horse much yesterday, so will fork that into the squash/pumpkin bed today (subject to back) and prick out yet more cosmos seedlings, plus my tomatoes need potting on too.

[sjp]

unless the toms are in really small pots or there's more than one in the pot the it won't do them any harm to be a bit pot bound in fact it can make the fruit a bit earlier in that they tend to put out a flower stem closer to the seed leaf than if they are growing in fresh fertile compost/soil

[Daphne]

Two of my dahlia tubers are poking through the soil, the rest are still below ground in pots, but I'm still hard at it just digging the garden. I have bought a few lettuce plug plants, and 10 green peppers and half a doz toms so I can plant them out and become heartened that something at least is growing, other than mint. Basil seed has germinated along with cosmos which I am hardening off, but the other flower seeds are lagging. No sign of the courgette or aubergine yet either although I am probably being impatient on the plus side, I left some gladioli in the ground after last year and they are a good 6 inches high despite being scalped by an overkeen neighbour during the May strim (most people do this to get rid of Spring wild flower and grass growth as it becomes a fire hazard as it dries out in the heat of the sun) and have discovered a row of onions that somehow I forgot to pull last year not sure how good they will be, especially as I tried to dig them up, thinking they were weeds

[chickencam]

Our broad beans are flowering including some crimson flowering ones

 

We have little gem lettuces nearly ready to eat and all of the seedlings are coming on well. Potatoes are now romping away too.

[Christian]

3 to a pot sjp, so will need repotting.

[sjp]

3 to a pot sjp, so will need repotting.

I had to pot on about 12 plants yesterday due to the pots having 2,3 or 4 seedlings in them some were late germinations others a late sowing not a bad year for toms for me only had 4 varieties fail 3 were old seed the other Idil but I'd sown a 2nd pot from another source and all 3 seeds germinated

also had to pot on some cucumbers pumpkins and the ornamental Gourds only had a pot of Marrow and a pot of vegetable Spaghetti fail. the Marrow wasn't a shock through as the same one failed last year

just sowed 14 6 cell modules of beans hope fully 5 varieties of French climbers through I think 4 lots are the same just the seeds have come out different variations of the same colour combo then there's Churchfield Black runner beans and Trail of Tears a climbing bean from the states

[Christian]

I only planted my runners and borlotto beans a few days ago but they're up

 

The Rhonda di T.......? Round courgette seeds are all up, too!

 

My next door neighbour is making me a second cold frame

[Daphne]

It all sounds brilliant A bit like hatching chicks

[sjp]

I only planted my runners and borlotto beans a few days ago but they're up

 

The Rhonda di T.......? Round courgette seeds are all up, too!

 

My next door neighbour is making me a second cold frame

 

do you mean COURGETTE TONDO DI PIACENZA Emilia Romagna ?

I found that the courgettes germinated quick this year

It all sounds brilliant A bit like hatching chicks

I find it a lot less stressful than waiting for eggs to hatch and a dam sight quicker to start off replacements

[Christian]

That's the one! Close wasn't I? The seed packets are all in the allotment shed....memory is failing me....

 

Gave in and bought some Nicotiniana (sp) Domino Lime for my cutting patch, as I like the foliage for vases etc. Will plant them out later this month if I get a chance.