Is it worth it?

Megansmum

Well, one tomatoe plant has been left out of the greenhouse a few days now and looks really wilted and sad for itself!

I have sprayed the others and left the doors open day and night so fingers crossed!!

The in-laws will come every other day to water - i'll just have to hope that's enough. I will be giving everything a good drenching tomorrow before we wing our way on our hols!

Three weeks later we go away again for a fortnight, so if it's hot here i'm gonna have to bribe them to come daily! :rotfl:

Finally got back up to the allotment today....

Potatoes coming on nicely,

sweetcorn looking good:D,

blueberry plants still have fruit but i reckon the birds have had a few :mad: ,

spring onions coming on well,

seed onions BLOOMING MARVELOUS!!

Pear tree finally has some leaves (rather than a bare twig),

But I lost ALL my brussels :mad: Some creatures had a party with them and all the leaves have been eaten!! :sad:

Oh,well - for the neglect that place has had i am grateful ANYTHING is still growing! When we get back it's time to get up there and weed weed weed!! :eek:

tidy_sum

Yeah, it definitely is worth it - just read how pleased and proud you are because you're seeds have germinated - just wait until you're eating the crops and how self-satisfying that will be.

As for the bugs, I was probably quite like yourself at first, running away and shuddering for a while, lol, but I found it got much easier to deal with over time - I can pick slugs off of plants (as long as I'm wearing gloves) but even if I don't have gloves on, I've found I can use a small stick or plant label to remove them and place them on the bird table... And I know the worms are my friend...

Megansmum

thanks tidy.

Well got back from the hols and everything survived! Got my first 4 cucs off the plants and OH assures me they are really tasty! (i don't eat them myself )

I have a new question for you guys please OH dug out an area in the garden today for me to grow veg in next year. It has sand and soil and i will dig it through and add compost etc...but.... behind it and partially in it is mortar and cement as it backs onto our fence and driveway - so the driveway hardcore etc is pretty deep and runs under where we have the new plot (is this making sense?? )

I heard/read (can't remember where - probably on here) that you can't grow veg in soil that is on mortar cos the mortar seaps through and they will just die.... Is this true? If so, is there any fruit/veg i can grow in there that likes mortar/cement?

Thanks all and happy growing!

Megansmum

rhiw ... i put one tom plant out of the greenhouse and it has just withered and looks pretty dead! I assume this means my variety are greenhouse only?? I don't think ANY of the tom plants will do anything this year as the flowers are still just dying off before any toms start forming :sad:.

Oh well, at least the cucs etc are coming on well. Can i lift my blueberry plants from the allotment and replant them at home or will they die now they've been in the ground a couple of months??

olly300

Megansmum wrote: »

I heard/read (can't remember where - probably on here) that you can't grow veg in soil that is on mortar cos the mortar seaps through and they will just die.... Is this true? If so, is there any fruit/veg i can grow in there that likes mortar/cement?

Thanks all and happy growing!

That's what raised beds and pots are for.

Megansmum

olly300 wrote: »

That's what raised beds and pots are for.

well it is a kind of raised bed.....the fence is behind (with the cement etc at it's base ) .... there are sleepers in front where the garden starts to slope and the soil / sand is inbetween....

I KNEW i didn't explain it right....tomorrow i'll take a photo!

Lotus-eater

I've never heard you can't grow anything next to mortar.
It can and does suck the moisture out of the soil, so you may have to water more often.
All that matters is how deep is your soil, if the hardcore is at 6 inches down in the bed, then it isn't going to grow very well. If it's 14 inches down and only on one edge, I would just ignore it.

Megansmum

Here are a couple of photos of the area i want to use for a raised bed:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt212/Megansmum_album/2009_06290002.jpg

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt212/Megansmum_album/2009_06290003.jpg

Megansmum

here is a link to show the wilting tomato plants:

http://i613.photobucket.com/albums/tt212/Megansmum_album/2009_06290004.jpg

Lotus-eater

No problem in the area, get the soil as good as you can, same as always.
Looks a lovely area btw. Good space and walls to tie things up to.

The toms don't look very good, do they?