The Potting Shed - come on in, the kettle's on!

Ken68

Yes Primrose got some runners 4" tall, will put them out anyway,later on, take a chance. Some more just in, and shall sow main crop 1st week in May.

GarnetLady

Hi everyone.

What a fab thread!

It's a lovely day here. Just been out to see what I can do today and I have a nice little list.

But first lunch and a big cup of (sweet) tea. My mum calls me a tea jenny these days :rotfl:.

I got my garage tidied yesterday (it's intergrated and fab for potting in until I get the shed put up as it's not too cold, even with the horrible weather we had yesterday), and sowed lettuces, chives and broad beans. Fingers crossed they germinate...

Dustykitten

Primrose - my runners are ready to go out. I've been hardening them off in the codl frame for a fortnight. How far south are you? As mine are only in the front garden if it is forcast very cold I shall wrap a bit of bubble wrap around for the night.

Primrose

You runner bean growers have spurred me on so I've just sown a few Enorma runner beans and Blauhilde purple French beans to get me going and sow the rest of my Cobra & Blue Lake French climbing beans at the end of next week. I grow mine up a single row of canes in front of a south facing fence so if there's a cold spell when they're ready to plant out I can fairly easily tie some fleece around them.

Optimisticpair

Sally_Davies wrote: »

Crumbs I too have run out of water butt water entirely! Not a thing I can recently remember happening in April, and certainly not in soggy Somerset. At least that means there are no bloomin' slugs

Off to make a brew then stand in the garden drinking it and pondering. Tea always tastes better in the open air, no?

Too right no slugs - nice change. Tastes better outdoors but I see a little job needs doing and I forget to drink it.

irishwexford

I found it awkward covering my carrot and parsnip with fleece expecially as we have taken on another allotment so have loads of room and beds are getting bigger so planted onions in between rows. I have also made up a mixture of nettles which will stand for three weeks (got this from a gardening mag) then spray them with this. It worked for the lady who wrote in so hoping and keeping fingers crossed. Last year we erected a 2ft fleece barrier but now my bed is so big I am growing carrots for England so would be a bit expensive. I do argue that carrots are so cheap to buy that it is a waste of time but then when I dig up my first ones and they taste so good I do have a change of mind.

WestonDave

Not a lot of actual gardening going on here today - concentrating on getting the outdoor maintenance jobs done while the weather is fine, so over the last week or so have painted the shed and gate with treatment, painted the porch woodwork, and today painted the garage door - hopefully once I've done a second coat on the garage door that and the porch stuff will be fine for a few years. (Slightly worried at the moment as my white paint appears to be drying with a definite green tinge - maybe it'll cure out over night - if not Hammerite will be getting an email!).

Water butt nearly empty (mainly due to the kids using it for water fights) - as long as I can keep the blueberries watered the rest will have to make do with tap water.

Cleared out the kids sand pit that they never use any more (and is just a home for slugs etc), picked it up to tip the last bits out and found the biggest slow worm I've ever seen under it - I thought it must be two together at first. Took him in a container to show the kids and then carefully put him back - guess where all the slugs are going if I find any! Beautiful creatures - sorry to those not liking snakey things!

hex2

Hi everyone,

Primrose, My boys sowed some runner beans in the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago but they appear to have cooked in the heat rather than germinated. Same with my first peas. I need to sneak out and plant some more when the boys aren't looking.

I have free range chickens who trash the veg plot so most of the seedlings are in the greenhouse in modules. My potatoes are in, as are a few onions and some early carrots - all fleece covered as a chicken and frost defence. I noticed the first few asparagus pushing through. This is the third spring since I planted them, and if we don't get some edible growth this year I will be taking them out and starting again.

The highlight of today for me was realising that the cyclamen in my woodland border have had lots of babies :j:j:j .

snowball2103

Optimisticpair wrote: »

I'm disappointed with my Elephant garlic I had four bulbs in the same container. They were doing nothing so I had them out and sure enough only one had roots. The proper garlic is going nicely though.

I'm looking forward to my first new potatoes soon.

My Elephant Garlic is doing exactly the same, nothing! Trying to decide wether to leave it or dig it up and use the container for something else.

Snowball

Primrose

WestonDave - how lucky for you to find a slow worm in your garden. I've only come across them twice in our garden in thirty years. Yes, it's easy for the uninitiated to think they're seeing a snake but they're perfectly harmless, beautiful creatures and so good for eating slugs and snails. They like nooky hiding places like under wood piles or corrugated sheets which attract the heat. Just wish we had a spot in our garden to give them a permanent habitat.
As I type there's a welcome show of rain falling, not sufficient to refill our water butts I suspect but as the soil is so dry, anything is welcome. We have had a very dry spring and I wonder if that means the resevoirs will be starting to empty later on if we have a dry summer.