May Update: What are you growing in 2006? (Tips here for Fruit, Veggies and Flowers!)

annie-c

Well done Greenfingers -I am jealous!!!

I will have to get my digital camera up and running!

diddydi

Noticed today that my resident pheasant has brought her 2 babies to feed on my peas. AAgh! Have covered them with a cloche. Growing Broad Beans/Onions/Tomatoes/Potatoes/Mint/Rosemary/Lemon Balm/strawberries. Will plant out runner beans later this month. Rhubarb is also looking a treat

hostie

Just a little note of caution to anyone who later in the summer wants to protect their berries. I did this one year with threads tied above my blackberry bush as described in a few gardening books. When I went back a couple of days later, to my horror there was a bird caught in the thread which I freed. I took most of the thread down and decided to share my berries but the next day when I went back there was a dead bird hanging upside down by the last bit of thread. I thought I would post this here so that no-one else makes the same mistake as me.

mirakl

This year:
my raspberry bushes are flourishing
I have a sad little red current planted last year starting to flower
rhubarb grown from seed last year so this year I can harvest
basil for pesto - had a brilliant harvest last year and have to do it again
string beans - great 2 years ago - disaster last year
salad leaves - always a success
radishes - brilliant
beetroot - first time ever!
and an apple tree determined to lose all it's apples every year before they get big enough to harvest

pancakequeen

Advice please - I have just looked at the bottom of my composting bin and I have compost which is great. However when I take some out there are lots of insects there can I use this compost in my pots as it is? This is the first time I have had a compost bin so I am bit unsure.

xueta

GreenFingers wrote:

The first Tree Paeony flower has opened – isn’t she beautiful… hooray… The flower is about 8 inches in diameter and wonderfully blousy….

She's a beauty all right, GreenFingers! Well done.

My first tree paeonies have been in flower for 2 weeks now and are beginning to fade, otherwise I would have shared the pics too . (Mine are from the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan's garden at Chelsea last year ).

tw0906blue

pancakequeen wrote:

Advice please - I have just looked at the bottom of my composting bin and I have compost which is great. However when I take some out there are lots of insects there can I use this compost in my pots as it is? This is the first time I have had a compost bin so I am bit unsure.

I don't think you need worry Pancakequeen, the compost bin is a lovely place for all manor of creepy crawlies. Check for slugs though! If you turn your compost - fork it up and get some air into it and leave for a day or two, all should be well. Don't put any insectacide on as the bugs all help to breakdown the matter. You will have woodlice and if you look at what Greenfingers has told us, you will see that most bugs are helpful in many ways. I hadn't realised about earwigs, thinking them horrid and in need of removing from my garden if at all possible.

It is great to share knowledge isn't it? Let me know how you go with a compost bin as I have a heap - getting larger by the day, and it is a lot of hard work when I have to turn it!

pancakequeen

tw0906blue - I have one of those bins with a flap at the front that opens for you to take the compost out. There is still uncomposted material at the top when I take the top lid off. So should I take out the compost at the bottom and then turn over the rest and keep adding to it?

tw0906blue

pancakequeen wrote:

tw0906blue - I have one of those bins with a flap at the front that opens for you to take the compost out. There is still uncomposted material at the top when I take the top lid off. So should I take out the compost at the bottom and then turn over the rest and keep adding to it?

Mmm, I am not an expert with this, my book says that you can use the composted stuff at the bottom, and keep composting the rest.

The book recommends that you have 2 bins. It says " Fill your first bin up to the top and then start filling the second. When the second one is 2 thirds full, the first will have sunk considerably. Fork the top layer (about half) in to your second bin. This layer will be well on the way to decomposing and underneath it you will find a substantial amount of good compost to spread on the beds. The compost is ready when it is dark brown and crumbly and smells sweetly of earth. Your homemade compost will not be suitable for sowing seeds or potting on seedlings. For this you need streilized compost from garden centres."

This seems to recommend the stuff you have as being ok to use on your beds.

Hope this helps.

pancakequeen

tw0906blue wrote:

Mmm, I am not an expert with this, my book says that you can use the composted stuff at the bottom, and keep composting the rest.

The book recommends that you have 2 bins. It says " Fill your first bin up to the top and then start filling the second. When the second one is 2 thirds full, the first will have sunk considerably. Fork the top layer (about half) in to your second bin. This layer will be well on the way to decomposing and underneath it you will find a substantial amount of good compost to spread on the beds. The compost is ready when it is dark brown and crumbly and smells sweetly of earth. Your homemade compost will not be suitable for sowing seeds or potting on seedlings. For this you need streilized compost from garden centres."

This seems to recommend the stuff you have as being ok to use on your beds.

Hope this helps.

Many thanks tw0906blue for looking it up for me.

Anne