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

Primrose

I was looking at my 4 year old strawberry plants yesterday. Many of them are already in flower and have virtually taken over one of the borders in the front garden where they're planted, having run out of space in the back garden. Has anybody got elderly strawberry plants? I know they're only supposed to be kept for 3 years before they apparently grow weak and stop yielding and I'm wondering how long I can risk keeping them,. I've got about 40 plants now so it will be quite expensive to dig them up and start again. Plus, I've got literally nowhere else I can put them.

Lotus-eater

About 4 years is the limit. Take runners this year and transplant in August ish to new place you will find from somewhere.
Then decide what exciting thing you are going to put in the old strawberry patch.

boultdj

Hello Bod's,I'v put kettle on again do'es any1 want a cuppa? Pulled some rhubarb this morning and got some more salad out of my pot's, then got on with sorting pot's out for my seedling's,got some big 1's 4 the cougett's or triffid's as OH call's 'em, a nice wide 1 to put the dwarf runner's into and lot's of inbetwen's, so been up to my elbow's in soapy water making sure there clean.

annie123

afternoon all, just popped in from the garden for a cuppa and to give my ears a rest.
New neighbours seem to be under the impression that the rest of the road would like to listen to their music:eek:, they are very much mistaken!
Never had anyone do this before (well, not since my son lived here with his electric guitars but he moved out 10 years ago:D) so I hope this is not a habit. They are both early 30's no kids so can't even blame teenagers.

Had rain on and off for the last 2 days and everything is looking soooo much better for it.:j
Running out of space to pot things onto now, happens every year and every year I promise myself that I won't sow so much next year but I always do.
Problem is my daffs are still sitting in my planting areas, when they have died back then there is lots of room for my veggies at the right time for planting in their final areas, but until then my garden looks like steptoe and son (some of you will remember them;)) got involved in plastic recycling:rotfl:

Off to find earplugs and finish potting on before the big dark cloud working its way closer decides to rain here again.

Primrose

I was interested in Ginyknit's comment about her marrowfat saoup peas shooting up so well. Has anybody else grown them from this source. I imagine they are less expensive to buy than the named varieties from garden centres and wonder what they're like to taste and whether they turned out to be a dwarf variety, or the tall ones? Ginnyknit - please do report back in due course because on Alys Fowler's 'Edible Garden' programme a couple of weeks ago she was advocating these marrow fat peas for growing for pea shoots for salads and stir fries..

tootallulah

I've just moved my plants that are hardening off on the patio and found a toad sitting in a gravel tray. What a treat, I hope s/he stays as they eat slugs and my garden is slug heaven. It is COLD today, but between today and tomorrow I have to plant up everything that is ready to go because I am away for the next three weeks and the seedlings need to get in the ground otherwise nothing will survive. I haven't planned my cultivating and my holidaying very well this year. Next year it's back to holidaying in January when nothing matters!

Primrose

tokotallulah - that's the problem with being a keen gardener. There is never a good time to take a holiday except in the miserable cold months of January and February because there's always sowing, thinning, transplanting, potting out, etc. to be done. We went away for a few days at Easter and I was continually fretting about all the seeds I'd sown indoors, worrying whether they would have dried out, etc.
We have now got the summer holiday watering problem down to a fine art by installing an automatic hosepipe/watering system in the tomato & bean border and the vegetable patch but I've yet to find the magic solution to caring for young seedlings indoors.

Dustykitten

It has rained here most of the day so the 2 empty butts are full to the brim again which is great.

Yesterday we took the old trellis fencing between our driveway and next door down. Then realised we will need permission to put something else up (conservation area) so now deciding what we want - I want to plant more fruit bushes in the bed which is only about 2' wide so I could get away with posts and wire supports or go for posts and just a couple of rails.

Harvested a couple of leeks. They have been a real disappointment in terms of size this year and are showing signs of going to seed so I'll need to dig them all up and freeze them soon. This years have not germinated yet.

Hoping for a few dry days this week to get a lot more things moved and planted.

Also found a chest of IKEA little drawers in the loft. I have brought it down and I am going to use it for all my seed packets - a drawer for each month of sowing.

Primrose

Fewer of my leeks went to seed this winter - possibly because of the cold weather, but I used them anyway, chopping out the thick core and using the remainder of the plant to make soup for the freezer. I find that throwing in some of the green leaves or a small handful of Swiss Chard or Spinach leaves improves the green colour.

Interesting to learn how different people store their seed packets. I thought about storing mine in order of date sowing but find this doesn't work so easily if you use successional sowing. So mine are filed in two plastic clip-it boxes marked 1 & 2 in alphabetical order. But then I have the dilemma of whether to file Endive under E for Endive, or L for Lettuce And do I store Peppers under C for Capicums or P for Peppers ?

Optimisticpair

Primrose wrote: »

We went away for a few days at Easter and I was continually fretting about all the seeds I'd sown indoors, worrying whether they would have dried out, etc.
We have now got the summer holiday watering problem down to a fine art by installing an automatic hosepipe/watering system in the tomato & bean border and the vegetable patch but I've yet to find the magic solution to caring for young seedlings indoors.

I once had to go on hols at the wrong time and stood my houseplants on a wet towel in the bath. I didn't have capilliary matting. So could you do that? If necessary use cling film across the bath to seal in moisture? Crackers idea I know but meself I'd rather live in hope than be worrying.