Help MBE grow his dinner 2011

scotsaver

mrbadexample wrote: »

Mmmm...pie. :drool:

That Pie looks great - what happened to our Invites!;)

Had a great 2 days sorting the Garden as the weather has been brilliant, sown loads more Seeds, cut the Grass, cleaned the patio and got my pots/troughs etc all topped up with fresh compost ready for planting up.:)

Fay

That pie certainly does look delicious-I shall be calling on you for recipes MBE as I've never eaten rhubarb before! Ours is growing quite well now but we decided not to force it this year as we have no idea how old it is or how it's been treated in the past-so fingers crossed it will be ok when we harvest it. I re-potted my tomatoes yesterday and the chillis and peppers are looking good, although the pretty in purple chillis are still very small compared to all the other plants. Could anyone advise me when I could start moving tomatoes and chillis/peppers to an unheated greenhouse? I'm in warwick and my last frost free date according to the useful website someone posted is the end of May (seems rather late to me though). Other than this we have done lots of work in the garden getting it tidied and doing the pruning that should have been done last autumn before we brought the house, but wasn't! Raspberry canes and a blackberry bush have also been planted and we have chives coming up in the veg patch now...oh and a little flower on the strawberry which seems really early to me? I have no idea what variety of strawberry it is as it was a left over in the patch!

scotsaver

How is everyone doing? I've got even more Seeds sown and I'm running out of space, had to pop to the Garden centre again at the weekend for yet more Compost, bought 4 large bags so hopefully that will be it now.;)

Thinking of putting my Spuds in this week, I'll be putting some in up at the Allotment and also some in the Garden. The grass will also need cut again this week, apart from that I will just be keeping a close eye on my seeds germinating - still waiting for my Leeks to poke through and not much happening with the Parsnips.

mrbadexample

I've finally sown my chillies.

That puts me about 4-6 weeks behind where I should be. I can't quite believe I've sat and looked at them for that long without actually doing anything.

Still, even if they fail completely it won't be the end of the world, as I don't use that many and I've got a good few in the freezer from last year.

This weekend I need to have a major bash at the garden, and get lots of things planted. I have tidied up a bit, and managed to get the Mantis tiller running, so a quick blast over the beds should sort it. We had about a fortnight of really quite nice weather, and I kept thinking "things could be growing".

I just hope it doesn't rain at the weekend, as now I'm behind it'll have to be done come rain or shine.

You lot are embarassing me with how much you've done already. :T

mrbadexample

Fay wrote: »

Could anyone advise me when I could start moving tomatoes and chillis/peppers to an unheated greenhouse? I'm in warwick and my last frost free date according to the useful website someone posted is the end of May (seems rather late to me though).

Mine was end of May last year too. I didn't believe it either. So I put runner beans out in mid-May. Then we got the promised last frost and it damn-near killed them. :doh:

So if it says late-May, leave it until then.

djohn2002uk

mrbadexample wrote: »

Mine was end of May last year too. I didn't believe it either. So I put runner beans out in mid-May. Then we got the promised last frost and it damn-near killed them. :doh:

So if it says late-May, leave it until then.

I always plant my beans in pots in the cold greenhouse mid may and plant them out when the runners get to about 12 - 18", which is usually into June.

mrbadexample

djohn2002uk wrote: »

I always plant my beans in pots in the cold greenhouse mid may and plant them out when the runners get to about 12 - 18", which is usually into June.

I'm hoping to get them out a bit earlier this year, as my last frost date is early May.

I was hoping to dig a bean trench this weekend, to get some manure in before they go out.

Sally_A

Plant your beans on the inside of the poles, and cover the outside with panes of glass (double glazing firms will happily part with non standard sized glass), bubble wrap, or even newspaper, held on to the poles with pegs or bulldog clips.

I've seen beans grow at least 4 inches in a day, so make sure the protection doesn't inhibit the growth, but other than that they have their own mini cloche area, and grow happily. Gert dollops of manure in the middle of wigwam also helps, as this steams a bit and keeps temperatures in, beans don't mind fresh manure.

After the risk of frost has passed, you can then plant out a courgette in the middle of the wigwam.

Lotus-eater

Sally_A wrote: »

After the risk of frost has passed, you can then plant out a courgette in the middle of the wigwam.

Have you tried this? Because last year as an experiment, I planted dwarf french drying beans in the middle of a french bean wigwam and there wasn't enough light for them, they did badly.

ausmummy

Sally_A wrote: »

.
After the risk of frost has passed, you can then plant out a courgette in the middle of the wigwam.

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Have you tried this? Because last year as an experiment, I planted dwarf french drying beans in the middle of a french bean wigwam and there wasn't enough light for them, they did badly.

I did this last year and the courgettes thrived. They produced more than the ones that were on their own. This was in large tubs.