veg growing Newbies- Feb 2010! lets learn together!

misskool

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Evening all! My boyf and I were lucky enough to finally get our allotment in April (after i had put in a raised bed in the in-laws garden as had given up hope!) so lots of veg growing has been occuring since March!

Quick q: does anyone know how to tell the diff between courgette, cucumber, aubergine and pumpkin seedlings? I had a little mix up with the labels and now cant tell what they are or if they are all just the same plant (there are 40 very styrong plants out in the greenhouse but am reluctant to transplant them all if all cucumbers!!!

Tried doing a google images but all the pics that came up looked similar to my uneducated eyes!!

you will find it really difficult to tell between courgette and pumpkin apart. Cucumber will have the same seed leaves as courgette and pumpkin but will have slightly smaller leaves and will start to have tendrils after 3/4 leaves. The leaves will be marginally smaller and sharper. However, if you have climbing courgette or pumpkins then you won't be able to tell them apart.

Aubergine seedlings will have small pointed leaves. Depending on the variety, my aubergine leaves are a bit furry.

The ones that look different from those will be aubergine. Just a warning that it's quite hard to get aubergines to fruit in the UK. They should be in a greenhouse.

lolly5648

My cucumber has just got a tendril growing - is it like the tendrils on peas and do you have to give it a stick to attach itself to?

kimmee

lolly5648 wrote: »

My cucumber has just got a tendril growing - is it like the tendrils on peas and do you have to give it a stick to attach itself to?

Hi lolly - it's my first year growing cucumbers (as well as most other veg!) and I was inspired to grow it by Alys Fowlers Edible Garden. In it she grew cucumbers outside up some netting so in answer to your question then yes, it does have to have something to grow up.

I've been hardening my cucs off for the last 2 weeks and today or tomorrow I hope to plant them outside in 2 planters that have a trellis attached to the back of them and train the cucs up the trellis.

lolly5648

kimmee wrote: »

Hi lolly - it's my first year growing cucumbers (as well as most other veg!) and I was inspired to grow it by Alys Fowlers Edible Garden. In it she grew cucumbers outside up some netting so in answer to your question then yes, it does have to have something to grow up.

I've been hardening my cucs off for the last 2 weeks and today or tomorrow I hope to plant them outside in 2 planters that have a trellis attached to the back of them and train the cucs up the trellis.

Hi Kimmee, its my first year two. What size planters are you using and do you know if cucumbers spread spread a lot?

kimmee

lolly5648 wrote: »

Hi Kimmee, its my first year two. What size planters are you using and do you know if cucumbers spread spread a lot?

Hi Lolly - the planters are around 3ft by 2ft, probably 18inches-2 feet deep. I know I read somewhere that you could grow them in growbags so they probably don't need much depth but I don't know how much they spread, sorry.

heynonnynonny

Oh dear just ordered some more half price stuff on thompson and morgan, my finger must have slipped . Have discovered some new flowers on fruiting plants today which is nice although a lot of stuff has been blown over with the wind, all is well and rescued though.

izzwizz_2

lolly5648 wrote: »

What do you mean "surround the bed with a foot of fleece"? Do you mean cover the whole bed with fleece and tuck in the sides?

Sorry, I meant to make a foot high barrier around the bed (no need to cover the top, carrot fly can't fly very high), sort of like a fence. You could use anything fine enough that little insects can't get through, like plastic or insect mesh. It might be a bit late this year though.

edit: just noticed soubrette answered this much better above!

izzwizz_2

lolly5648 wrote: »

My cucumber has just got a tendril growing - is it like the tendrils on peas and do you have to give it a stick to attach itself to?

Hi, lucky you! Yes, but you need a good long stick, cucumbers can grow much higher than peas.

Soubrette

mutley74 wrote: »

What do you mean "low flyers"? my raised bed is about 9" high. But my radishes in my oak barrel were perfect..weird!
Is there no other method of deterring/preventing pests?

I did read somewhere about use of choped garlic in a water spray bottle with a drop of washing up liquid for for green fly...would that work for these flies? also does this mixture actually work, i have not tried it yet.

I have lots of swede and beetroot seedings to plant out soon, but really dont want to plant them to carrot fly can use them as well.

The female carrot fly is only supposed a few inches above the ground, presumably scouting for suitable ground to lay her eggs in.

The height recommended for the barrier does vary though, I've seen mention of 24 to 60cm

This only deters the carrot fly - it's hard to chemically control them because they lay their eggs at the base of the plant and the maggots bury into the roots. Other pests need other deterents.

I've used weak washing up liquid solution without the garlic for aphids with varying results.

Sou

kimmee

About 2 months ago I planted some summer fruiting raspberry canes - I know I won't get anything this year but was very hopeful for next year cos I lurve raspberries but they are so expensive. And I waited, and I waited and nothing - I really thought they were dead. I was going to take them up again but something told me to wait - and low and behold this morning I found one of my darling canes has started to sprout another cane :j

Moral of the story - if you are a gardener you need huge amounts of patience and a little luck