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

Kazonline

Josiegirl wrote:

Hmmm Kaz, what have you been saying in front of your lettuces? :rotfl:

Me thinks I've been to one too many 'ladies' parties given what I thought you meant with that....:o
Thanks everyone for your advice - it sounds spot on. My mistake was to leave them in my 'greenhouse' type thing (plastic covered metal frame) - and once or twice they've been a little on the dry side. Still, we live and learn!
I guess I know what'll be on the menu for the next couple of days......
Kaz x
Ps - lulubells - could it be ants?

pickledtink

Lulubells wrote:

Well I am so disappointed I could cry, most of my brassica's - inc all cabbages and cauliflower have ben eaten alive. There doesn't appear to be any insects or snail/slug trails? what could have caused so much damage ? and will they recover if I cover them ?

Advice appreciated - sob sob

Lulubells

Sounds like caterpillars. They can swarm all over a crop at night and have vanished by morning. There are several species which love cabbages.
Apart from policing your patch and picking them off you can get some sort of spray. Dunno what its called but you could check out online garden centres.
Its a tough call because killing off caterpillars means ultimately reducing the butterfly population.

Joscar

Kazonline wrote:

.......... I'd also like to try and post a photo of them for you all to have a giggle - can anyone advise me of the easiest way to do this please? I'm sure I've read how to do it before, but can't remember where.
Thanks,
Kaz x

I followed these instructions from Oops a daisy - worked OK for me ......

oops_a_daisy wrote:

...... - to post a pic on here you need to have the picture hosted. I use https://www.photobucket.com. The account is free and all you have to do is upload your piccy from your computer to photobucket and it will then convert it into a code that can be used on here ( can you tell I am not exactly computer literate - but put it this way If I can do it ANYBODY can )

ellas9602

hello :hello:

I am looking for a little advice please. I'm having a very succesful first year growing veg in containers and have started to plan turning a large strip of my lawn into vegetable patches for next year. The strip of lawn I want to use is 36ft x 4ft. I have been working on the basis that this will give me 4 9ft x 4ft patches but I haven't been allowing for leaving spaces between the beds. How much space should I allow?
Also is this amount of space going to be able to produce a good amount? (potatoes/brassica/carrots/onions etc)

Thanks for any help :beer:

vivaladiva

Lulubells wrote:

Well I am so disappointed I could cry, most of my brassica's - inc all cabbages and cauliflower have ben eaten alive. There doesn't appear to be any insects or snail/slug trails? what could have caused so much damage ? and will they recover if I cover them ?

Advice appreciated - sob sob

Lulubells

If it is caterpillars as Pickledtink suggests. Have you tried wrapping your plants in horticultural fleece. Toby Buckland mentioned it was good for that sort of thing on the TV the other day.

GardenMillie

I have a fairly small garden but am growing courgettes and spinach in tubs, cherry tomatoes in a hanging basket, parsley and thyme on the kitchen window sill. All seeds bought out of Lidl (really cheap) and the tomato plants given by a colleague at work - we bring in plants and swap them.

Really lovely to munch home grown stuff - spinach is the easiest to grow and so versatile for cooking.:T

MORPH3US

Do I need to do anything to my cucumber plants now they are huge?

They are trailing all over the place and have LOADS of flowers but i'm not sure if they are like tomatoes that need nipping out and stuff?!?!

Thanks

M

Joscar

ellas9602 wrote:

hello :hello:

I am looking for a little advice please. I'm having a very succesful first year growing veg in containers and have started to plan turning a large strip of my lawn into vegetable patches for next year. The strip of lawn I want to use is 36ft x 4ft. I have been working on the basis that this will give me 4 9ft x 4ft patches but I haven't been allowing for leaving spaces between the beds. How much space should I allow?
Also is this amount of space going to be able to produce a good amount? (potatoes/brassica/carrots/onions etc)

Thanks for any help :beer:

What do you plan to have on the paths between the beds? Grass? Gravel? Bark? This may dictate the width of the path. You will want it to be wide enough to be comfortable working, too much space may be expensive to cover. If you are aiming to leave as grass expect it to be muddy in wet weather, poor and trampled on in dry weather and you may want it to be the wide enough for your mower. Mine is near a hedge that needs regular trimming so I measured the width I needed for the ladder.

Four foot is a good width as you can reach the middle to sow and weed without standing on the bed and compressing the soil. I would probably go for 3 lots of 10 by 4 with 18 inch paths. Three beds make crop rotation easy if that is what you are planning on. I would say this is large enough for a good amount of produce. I only have 1 patch which is 5 by 10 and although I do not have enough room for the cheaper stables like cooking onions and main crop spuds I think we will produce more than enough salad crops and broccoli for the 2 of us. Takes me ages to weed, de-bug and de-slug a patch as small as I have.

ellas9602

Joscar wrote:

What do you plan to have on the paths between the beds? Grass? Gravel? Bark? This may dictate the width of the path. You will want it to be wide enough to be comfortable working, too much space may be expensive to cover. If you are aiming to leave as grass expect it to be muddy in wet weather, poor and trampled on in dry weather and you may want it to be the wide enough for your mower. Mine is near a hedge that needs regular trimming so I measured the width I needed for the ladder.

Four foot is a good width as you can reach the middle to sow and weed without standing on the bed and compressing the soil. I would probably go for 3 lots of 10 by 4 with 18 inch paths. Three beds make crop rotation easy if that is what you are planning on. I would say this is large enough for a good amount of produce. I only have 1 patch which is 5 by 10 and although I do not have enough room for the cheaper stables like cooking onions and main crop spuds I think we will produce more than enough salad crops and broccoli for the 2 of us. Takes me ages to weed, de-bug and de-slug a patch as small as I have.

wow thanks joscar, I hadn't even considered some of these things. My beds will be against an hedge too so I need to leave space for trimming. I plan on having grass in between and yes my OH won't be happy if he can't get his mower in between. Glad I didn't start digging as I'm itching to do!

You're right about the 3 yr rotation, this is what I am planning and I have worked onions and potatoes into my plan, do you think maybe I shouldn't bother wth these? carrots too I suppose are really very cheap...mmmmm decisions decisions. I'm a complete novice plus I work full time and have 2 children so i suupose I'm being a little eager. This is because my container veg is going so well but I guess I have yet to learn about weeding and slugs!:rotfl:

Thanks for the advice (and any more!)

samnmalc

Lulubells wrote:

Well I am so disappointed I could cry, most of my brassica's - inc all cabbages and cauliflower have ben eaten alive. There doesn't appear to be any insects or snail/slug trails? what could have caused so much damage ? and will they recover if I cover them ?

Advice appreciated - sob sob

Lulubells

If it is anything like my allotment,it will be pigeons and/or rabbits. They both go mad for brassicas!
If they have been eaten so that there is just a stubby stem left,then is is rabbits.If the leaves have been shredded ,then it will be pigeons.

My brassica patch is like fort knox with chicken wire,netting and canes and the little blighters STILL get in :mad: