soapdragon Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Is it a tad early to sow my broad beans...they are Eleanora and I plan to soak for 24 hours 1st then into John Innes no 2 on the windowsill before going into grow bags? MH, your post has fired me up; you are very organised but I don't have a greenhouse and the soil is heavy clay so all get grown on in growbags or pots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 I don’t grow broad beans because OH and I don’t like them but I think now is the perfect time to sow them. I only have a small un-heated greenhouse - a lot of my seeds are on windowsills in cheap propagators 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Ha...the half bag of John Innes 2 turned out to be some leaf compost from last year so I need to get to a garden centre for grow bags and multi purpose! That will teach me to be complacent! Broad beans on hold for a few days - doh! Guessing they'll be OK in grow bags when they are bigger? Sadly have lost a lot of terracotta pots this winter to frost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Really, really cross that a mouse has been in my greenhouse and eaten every single one of my sweet pea seeds and my sun flower seeds that I sowed a couple of weeks ago. They were quite expensive seeds too. The sunflowers were miniature ones especially for pots and the bees. So annoyed !!!!! He/she will be shocked to find some nippy little traps set before I go and buy some more seeds. I've never had this happen before, pesky, little creature. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 Soapdragon - my understanding is that they do better in the ground, with the added benefit that if you leave the plants in for as long as you can bear, they transfer nitrogen to the soil for the next crop. I think I would choose a short variety if I could as my crops are about 3 ft high at maturity. Its a pain about terracotta, maybe buy some cheap ones for veg and hide them behind your pretty ones! Luvachicken - how annoying, I have never forgotten nuturing a bunch of celeriac seeds, and planting them out, to find not a single plant the next morning (slugs), and last year I lost virtually all my peas to mice/voles. So, I have got my revenge by planting them in a raised bed with hard sides on a patio, so no scope for digging in this year! Also, with your sweet peas, you can buy pots of seedlings which are good value and which you can plant out, ideally now and into April. I had some good fortune on Tuesday, a neighbour brought round about 30 strawberry runners, which I have planted out today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 56 minutes ago, Daphne said: Luvachicken - how annoying, I have never forgotten nuturing a bunch of celeriac seeds, and planting them out, to find not a single plant the next morning (slugs), and last year I lost virtually all my peas to mice/voles. So, I have got my revenge by planting them in a raised bed with hard sides on a patio, so no scope for digging in this year! Also, with your sweet peas, you can buy pots of seedlings which are good value and which you can plant out, ideally now and into April. I had some good fortune on Tuesday, a neighbour brought round about 30 strawberry runners, which I have planted out today. Yes, I was thinking I might cheat and get some sweet peas ready planted from the garden centre. Hubby is going to get the traps from the loft for me. How kind of your neighbour to give you some strawberry runners - hopefully you should get loads of strawberries from them 🍓 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Daphne, sadly we have very heavy clay and lots of slugs hence me 'potting' everything so as to give them the best chance! Those strawberries sound wonderful - roll on summer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Forgot to add that I always dump the 'pot soil' from any beans or peas back onto the garden to try and inject some goodies into our clay!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Hope you have better luck with your strawberries than us Daphne. We've taken the whole row out because the lizards ate them before they ripened, so we spent a lot of time for nothing. I think the mistake was to put weed membrane down and then plant in holes cut through it. This created a perfect habitat for the lizards and a field vole. Seemed like a good idea at the time because it meant we didn't have to weed. Perhaps we'll try again and with a different variety, because we had too many flowers which never became fruit, despite all the bees on them. Planted the early potatoes (Agata); two 6 metre rows in just an hour. Found a rather useful gadget in a tray in the garage which speeded things up considerably. It's a spring loaded vertically split cylinder of two halves, about 3" diameter marked in 1" increments for depth up to 4". Push it into the soil with a half rotation, lift out the plug of soil and release it by squeezing the handle which opens the sides of the cylinder up. Put the potato in the bottom and back-filled with compost, because our clay soil when dry is almost impenetrable (except for weeds). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 Perhaps somebody needs to investigate the superior survival instincts of weeds..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mullethunter Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Weeds are growing in their native environment so they are perfectly adapted to it. In contrast, most things we’re growing on purpose are from somewhere else so they’re always going to be at a disadvantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Luvachicken, the mice decimated my greenhouse last year so I put down bait boxes this year. I don’t like doing it but otherwise I can’t use the green house so what’s the point. My calendula seeds came up a few days ago - for companion planting - and the mice ate all the leaves yesterday and left the stalks, I’m raging........ I did find a really bright purple paint to do the shed though, that’ll cheer the neighbour up 😆 and yes, tomorrow’s job is scrubbing the algae from the green house...... glad I have all the beds weeded, planted broad beans, radish, parsnip, shallots and lettuce seeds today. Plus I finally used the Kelly kettle I bought 10+ Years ago and it makes a lovely cup of tea. im tempted to bring the sweetcorn that I planted this week home. Can’t risk the mice getting it. 4 days and so far no sign of them touching the pots of corn but I think I’ve just tempted fate...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 Wow...just looked up your cafe on Facebook (via the link from your blog!) Amazing! Can't wait to visit! Good luck with your re opening. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 21, 2021 Share Posted March 21, 2021 21 hours ago, Christian said: Luvachicken, the mice decimated my greenhouse last year so I put down bait boxes this year. I don’t like doing it but otherwise I can’t use the green house so what’s the point. My calendula seeds came up a few days ago - for companion planting - and the mice ate all the leaves yesterday and left the stalks, I’m raging........ I did find a really bright purple paint to do the shed though, that’ll cheer the neighbour up 😆 I love the colour of your shed !!! I have also planted calendula so I'm now going to go and rescue them before anything happens to those. I managed to buy a pot of ready done sweet peas today and although not the same sunflowers, a packet very similar to what I had, before the mouse ate them. We did catch one little mouse on Friday night but luckily nothing last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 On my many Lockdown walks last year, I collected some Oriental Poppy seeds and saved them in my little shed. I sowed them, along with the sweet peas and sunflowers that got nibbled, and today I found lots of teeny seedlings sprouting. I am really pleased, as I didn't really hold out much hope for them as my mum said they were difficult to grow, and it makes up for the fact my other seeds got eaten, plus these were free 😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted March 22, 2021 Author Share Posted March 22, 2021 Well done! I've just had to throw out a batch of non-germinated seeds - I'd left the trays in the sun too long and the top layer of compost is rock hard, no way for any seedlings to get through, so I am feeling particularly annoyed with myself. Oriental poppies are so beautiful and they are perennial, so if you are lucky and they thrive, you will have them year after year. How exciting. I don't know if they come true from seed, but I shouldn't think it matters too much, poppies are always delicate and beautiful.😀 I have some self sown poppy seedlings coming up; but the cat has taken to rolling all over the freshly disturbed soil, and squashing them, grrrr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 14 hours ago, Daphne said: Well done! I've just had to throw out a batch of non-germinated seeds - I'd left the trays in the sun too long and the top layer of compost is rock hard, no way for any seedlings to get through, so I am feeling particularly annoyed with myself. Oriental poppies are so beautiful and they are perennial, so if you are lucky and they thrive, you will have them year after year. How exciting. I don't know if they come true from seed, but I shouldn't think it matters too much, poppies are always delicate and beautiful.😀 I have some self sown poppy seedlings coming up; but the cat has taken to rolling all over the freshly disturbed soil, and squashing them, grrrr. Maybe I have muddled up my flower knowledge - these are the tall, pretty poppies, sometimes frilly, rather than the more squat red ones with the big black bit in the middle. I thought they just grew from seed they have dropped. I didn't know they were perennial. I'm not really too bothered as long as they have lovely flowers. Funny how cats love rolling just where you don't want them to 🙄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 We are both right @Daphne You are right that they are perennial and I did have the right name - I looked them up on Sarah Raven 😊 It will be fab if they all grow and survive for years to come. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Runner and Borlotti beans planted in pots and a batch of swede in modules done. I’ve spent so much time at the allotment over the past 2/3 weeks that it’s all done....every weed is gone 😂😂 I’m just waiting for warmer weather so I can get planting..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Well done @Christian !! Meant to be getting cold at the end of the week so don't be too tempted to plant out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 I’ve checked and the 7th of May is supposed to be the last Frost date for my area. I’ll wait another week after that as have been caught out before 🙄😂 shame as I start back at the Café on the 18th May, just when everything needs doing but I need to get back to work....😂😂 I have metres of fleece handy....😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 My view on plants is: if you can’t deal with a bit of frost, you really shouldn’t have turned up to the party... survival of the fittest at its best! 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 19 minutes ago, Cat tails said: My view on plants is: if you can’t deal with a bit of frost, you really shouldn’t have turned up to the party... survival of the fittest at its best! 😂 I wouldn't last long if I was a plant 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 We have no option but to plant out early, because watering becomes a big job later in the season and we have to use expensive tap water. Bought enough fleece to cover all the main beds and it's surprisingly cheap here. Even more surprising is the stuff we have bought is made in England. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursula123 Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 @Beantree you and lots I know here say tap water is expensive but for us it is so much cheaper than the UK, my annual bill is approx what I used to pay a quarter in the UK. I’m with you @Cat tails if it’s daring enough to be out now it should be able to cope. I have planted out my tomatoes, onions, garlic, and strawberries. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
