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

Chell

P.S Any child friendly slug prevention methods? Those blue slug pellets look too attractive, the kids would keep picking them up.

annie-c

chelltune wrote:

I bought some Thai basil seeds, am I best to plant them indoors or out?

chelltune - where did you get these from please - I'd love to get some!

As with other herbs I'd start them off in the greenhouse or on the windowsill and only plant out once they are quite sturdy.

wigginsmum

I normally get my more unusual herbs from Jekka down in Bristol - she's a bit pricey but she's organic and has an enormous seed and plant range. She's currently offering 19 forms of basil.

http://www.jekkasherbfarm.com/

Chell

I got the Thai basil seeds from eBay. I hadn't thought to grow it until I read on here that someone else had it.

lushkat

I wondered if any of you green fingered OS's could give me some help. OH has gone away for a couple of weeks for work, and there is a bed in the front garden that is empty. He usually is the gardener in this house and I wanted to surprise him by planting up the bed for the summer.

However, I am not sure what I need to do to prepare the bed for planting i.e do I dig in compost first before I plant, and secondly if I get some bedding plants, how do I ensure that the slugs dont get them?

~Sorry to sound so ignorant, but I would love to learn more about how to do it!!

Thanks

Lulubells

Hi Everyone,

Haven't posted on this thread for a while - and when I do it's normally for advice, I apologise - but I'm a novice and you're all so helpful!!

Greenfingers you sound like such a happy positive enthusiastic person, always love reading your posts !

Anyway I am having problems and thought someone may be able to help me..... my tomato plants are looking yellowy as are a couple of my pepper plants - I have feed, but when has the first truss set ???? Also, I went to B& Q yesterday and bought 100 red onion and 100 normal onion sets - reduced to 75p each- what will happen if I plant these out now ? can I save them for next year if I store in a dark place? also got some chilli plants reduced to 10p - bargains to be had !

I do have so so many questions, but these are the current front runners....

Fab thread - happy growing (and eating !!)

TIA

Lulubells

annie-c

Lulubells - the label on my red onion sets said they could be planted out until June - so I planted them last Sunday - fingers crossed!

annie-c

lushkat wrote:

I wondered if any of you green fingered OS's could give me some help. OH has gone away for a couple of weeks for work, and there is a bed in the front garden that is empty. He usually is the gardener in this house and I wanted to surprise him by planting up the bed for the summer.

However, I am not sure what I need to do to prepare the bed for planting i.e do I dig in compost first before I plant, and secondly if I get some bedding plants, how do I ensure that the slugs dont get them?

~Sorry to sound so ignorant, but I would love to learn more about how to do it!!

Thanks

Lushcat, I am a novice too, but I prepared my front flower bed by digging it over, adding compost and raking it over until the top layer was very fine and crumbly - then I just planted the bedding plants in, using a mini trowel.

Last year I lost all my bedding plants to the slugs within days, so this year I succumbed to using slug pellets - I bought special ones that actually work better with rain (rather than needing replacing afterwards) and that are safe near animals and children. Not environmentally friendly, but so far I am going organic only in my pots and back garden borders.

So far they seem to be working. The ones I bought need re-applying 4 times per season so I have marked in my diary when I need to do this next.

Other suggestions I have seen include surrounding the stem of the plant with something that slugs won't like to feel against their tummies - like copper wire or crushed egg shells. I tried egg shells but they got washed away in the rain. also you can get beer traps, which attract the slugs and they die a drunken death before they make it as far as your bedding plants. I haven't tried this yet.

Good luck - hope your OH enjoys the surprise!

Lulubells

Thanks annie-c, mine said early spring so I was a bit dubious. Think I may plant out 50 of each and try and store the rest till next year.....

magentacafc

Bought some rocket seeds today

Can I just nick some soil from another pot and maybe start the rocket off in a little pot inside so that I can pay it some attention & the foxes/ducks/cats/geese etc don't get to it?