veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

heynonnynonny

My new Wilko cover has split...again...really disappointed with the quality now. Conservatory full of plants and double layer of fleece on the outsiders, can't be too careful!!

kimmee

Hi all

Have today finished sowing everything I want to grow now (apart from successional stuff like more salad leaves, carrots, radish etc) in between painting my porch - the whole time I was decorating I was itching to get out into the garden!!

I couldn't believe how windy it was and hail :eek: I really hope the peas that I finally planted outside today make it through the night cos if they don't after lavishing them with tlc I think I will cry

The site that I check the weather forecast for this area gives highest and lowest temps and also gives the ground temp which seems to be 4 degrees lower than the min temp. Is it the ground temp that we should be checking or just the min night time temp can anyone tell me please?

Hope you've all had a great bank holiday in the garden

floyd

A quick update as I haven't had chance to do too much this weekend I planted some more mixed salad leaves and got my dwarf beans Hestia and Concador going and made sure I covered everything with fleece

Rocket spuds are coming along a treat and the Pink Fir Apple behind are rapidly catching up so not long now hopefelly before I can take a peek!



The baby beetroot are going great guns and my Tin Tin lettuce at the back is getting nice and big as long as I can keep the pigeons away :mad:



Autumn Bliss raspberries are doing quite well so fingers crossed I get something from them this year



My Brown Turkey fig is also showing signs of life which I'm really pleased about as it was a cutting given to me in January and I wasn't convinced it would take :T



Its my first year growing properly so I'm really pleased with how things are coming along, I just hope we get something edible without too many bugs as I'm keeping it organic as much as possible

kimmee

Hey Floyd - you're pics are great. I'm very impressed with your rapsberries, I planted some autumn canes, cut them down fairly low and they haven't done a thing They don't look dead but just haven't sprouted any shoots after neatly two weeks. How long did yours take to get like they do in the photo?

floyd

I planted them around the end of Feb (North West UK) with some fish blood and bone then added a small scattering of organic chicken manure pellets the first week in April.
Mine looked like twigs for quite a while so I'd just leave them be and give them a bit of a feed with a 10-10-10 fertilizer or chicken manure pellets if you haven't already done it and they should come along fine. I'm no expert though, FIL told me I should start feeding with a seaweed liquid feed every 4-6 weeks while they are growing so I will have to check that one out.

Its only because I can't hold my own water that everything is a bit further along than it should be, for example, I planted my first earlies at the end of Feb :eek: very risky but so far everything is ok

ginnyknit

Noticed today that Wilkies have got a small row of budget seeds 28p per pack and thers a lot in them though only a small range - bargain!

katholicos

These are some of the strawberry plants i ordered from Fothergills, which looked dead when they arrived....they have really perked up...



My onions are coming along nicely...



Sugar snap peas are thriving...



and my carrots are just starting to come through...



I am loving seeing everyone's photos in this thread :j

misskool

kimmee wrote: »

Hi all

Have today finished sowing everything I want to grow now (apart from successional stuff like more salad leaves, carrots, radish etc) in between painting my porch - the whole time I was decorating I was itching to get out into the garden!!

I couldn't believe how windy it was and hail :eek: I really hope the peas that I finally planted outside today make it through the night cos if they don't after lavishing them with tlc I think I will cry

The site that I check the weather forecast for this area gives highest and lowest temps and also gives the ground temp which seems to be 4 degrees lower than the min temp. Is it the ground temp that we should be checking or just the min night time temp can anyone tell me please?

Hope you've all had a great bank holiday in the garden

Can you come and help me finish sowing my stuff? I still have about 50 french beans (maybe a bit more) and loads of successional stuff and more pumpkins. And flowers

With temperatures, it depends on where your plants are. If they are in pots and they are on shelves, then the air around them will be the determining factor on how cold the compost they are sitting in will be.

If they are in the ground, then the ground temperature is what you're looking at. But remember that the ground does hold some heat in overnight (depends on how cold it gets though).

Thought I saw some frost this morning but realised it was just morning dew. I almost gave myself a heart attack as my courgettes are in the unheated greenhouse.

moneymabel

Hi all-newbie alert :-) can I join in please? :-) I've grown few things before but have just started this year growing some veg. Ive got peas,runnerbeans,salad leaves and carrots all coming along nicely in my seed trays. Planted some salad leaves straight into the garden and they were doing nicely but then they all just suddenly disappeared?! Was thinking it was slugs but there were no trails..could it be birds? Any ideas how to stop it if it is? I suppose it is just a case of mesh or similar over the top of the ground. Thanks for any help and happy growing all :-)

SallyForth_2

I have had birds attack my lettuce in the past, so it could be, although with mine they left sort of stumps and everything left behind was shredded if you see what I mean.

I have children's windmills (the sort you often find at the seaside) stuck in between my veggies. I found them reduced at Tesco last year, and they are all sparkly and glittery, which the birds don't seem to like.

If I see them again, I will definately get more as they work well in smaller pots and containers