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

[Deleted User]

Its amazing how ideas can come into your head when asleep. I have been wondering about the best place to put a few cucumber plants, considering how big they get and how brittle they are. I have had a brainwave as the marketmore variety can sprawl and I have a very sunny terrace which is covered in slate chippings, so Bobs your uncle and I`ll be putting 2 growbags up there :j I am very chuffed and have decided to grow 4 as we have an old greenlife juicer and are always juicing veg. Cucumber juice is very cooling and will be perfect if summer is hot

Primrose

kITTIE - You may have to get one of those demister sprays as cuccumbers thrive best in a fairly moist atmosphere. I once tried growing them in containers on a hot sunny patio. They really wilted with the concrete reflecting up the heat until somebody suggested I keep spraying them to create a humid atmosphere around them. They really perked up after that, so you may find that if it gets really hot your slate chippings may also have a drying/wilting effect on your plants, especially as the heat could permeate into the compost where the roots are.

Incidentally, have your ever tried growing the Mini varieties? They are so prolific and deliciously crunchy that I've stopped growing the ordinary long varieties now.

D&DD

Is there a thread on here for cold greenhouse growing? I've done a search but couldn't turn up anything thanks

boltongirl1

Well today I have put my tomato seeds in yoghurt pots (in the kitchen) will now wait for them to show they are the gardeners delight variety hope to get better results than last year.(Thank you to Primrose for the info).

I have also recieved my T&M flower seeds and Peony tree which I have planted in large pot and put in the greenhouse for now.

I will put my flower seeds in around the middle of March and then I will have some lovely tubs for the summer (dont have borders due to our two dogs who use the back garden and what seems like every cat on the estate using the border in the front garden).

I am going to lay some turf over the front border (13'x2') next month and hopefully get rid of the cats as they dug up almost all my 200 bulbs last year despite placing approx 150 wooden skewers in the soil to deter them, any other ideas are welcome.

Primrose

boltongirl1 wrote: »

Well today I have put my tomato seeds in yoghurt pots (in the kitchen) will now wait for them to show they are the gardeners delight variety hope to get better results than last year.(Thank you to Primrose for the info).

Boltongirl - are your tomatoes destined for growing outdoors? If they are, I fear you have sown them too early, as they'll get awfully leggy by the time it will be warm enough to plant them outdoors in June, which is the earliest time the nights will be warm enough for them to thrive. If you've got a greenhouse then it shouldn't be a problem, but I don't sow my outdoor tomatoes until mid April, having at long last learnt from experience that sowing early doesn't mean you get an earlier crop from outdoor tomatoes because it's simply too cold for them to survive an early attempt to plant them outdoors.

boltongirl1

Primrose my tomatoes are going into the conservatory and then into the greenhouse

annie123

Primrose wrote: »

kITTIE - You may have to get one of those demister sprays as cuccumbers thrive best in a fairly moist atmosphere.

Now thats got me thinking, I have a small pond which gets sun in the summer from 1-4pm and 6pm onwards (a neighbours big sycamore blocks the sun for 2 hours) but its a bright location except first thing in the morning.
Cue's in pots/in ground at the back of the pond might work? and once taller than 3' they would get morning sun too.
Any thoughts on that idea welcome.

boultdj

Well I'v made a start on this year's planting, just done my pepper's, chillie's, parsley and some thyme. Can't wait till they start to germinate.

Keiss_21

I sowed my tomato and pepper (both sweet and chilli) seeds last Wednesday (23rd Feb), and most of them are up already!!!

I have a new windowsill propagator (Xmas pressie from DH :heart2:), and it is obviously doing a much better job than the ones I have had for 14 years!!

I don't have any leccie in the greenhouse, so I do all the propagation that needs heat in the conservatory...looks like we will be knee deep in plantlets before long. I can see the dining table disappearing under loads of trays soon!!! :rotfl:

I will have to get more pots and trays washed this weekend so I can sow more seeds...also need to root out the 4' long gutterings to sow my peas in (works a treat!!). Then there's all the weeding to be done....hacking back of brambles, digging up and relocating raspberry canes.! Oh why is it no matter how hard I try, I never seem to have everything ready for Spring!

Have a good weekend everyone.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I have a raised bed :j

L shaped, 6ft lengths, 3 foot sides, 1 foot deep.

Expertly constructed by The Bloke.

Carefully filled by repeated trips to the garden centre for 150l of organic compost and 100l of top soil a time. The little car couldn't take anymore without doing a whacky-races style two wheeled drive, and I do not have enough garden or patience to trek 1 tonne of each through the house bucket by bucket.

The mess that is theoretically a lawn has been sprinkled with lawn soil as it is half dead turf on top of bare subsoil, except for the odd chafer grub and stabbed with a fork at strategic intervals.

I also have a compost bag providing my first attempt at a compost heap (the bins the the garden centre are absolutely huge and I can't afford the £90 the council wants for a 'discounted' wooden skep one, as it is half full of garden bits, leaves from nearby trees, crushed eggshells, a couple of bits of brown paper and veggie peelings.

Tomorrow, he is going to put up a hanging basket by both the front and back doors, some eyelets to provide horizontal twine support across the back walls for the stuff going in the veggie bed.

Then he will be able to start his garlic off.

Although he is still to raise a shady bed for my midnight garden (stuff attractive to moths, largely white flowers, that kind of thing), and we will be planting out some raspberry canes, a thornless blackberry and a few other things this week, I have reassured him that there are only a couple of roses left.

Well, that is almost accurate - after the spuds, carrots, tomatoes, strawberries, radishes, a jerusalem artichoke from the bottom of the fridge, beans, peas, sweet peas and assorted other items stashed around the garden awaiting permanent homes......


Oh, and other than the chafer grubs, the only wildlife I found was one common earthworm, one millipede and one brambling worm. I think I shall be off to the fishing shop for some dendrobenae worms.