Veg to plant in April and things to do.

jsh99

kittie wrote: »

I`m chomping at the bit, just getting sorted then I`ll be off to the allotment as soon as it warms up a bit.

So sorry Kittie but reading this I'm afraid it made me think of this clip from Mongrels........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltb_14CWqDA

:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I am going to take the soil temperature in my bean bed tomorrow. I will only be sowing my beans when it gets to 15 celsius in the soil. I am in the sunny SW and we have had quite a fair bit of sun here but the soil is clay and will, I am sure, be surprisingly cool below the surface. My guess is that it is about 7-8 as the parsnip seeds have started to germinate

In the meantime I am getting ready for blackfly and aphids and have ordered soft soap and a decent sprayer so I can knock the blighters off the broadbeans, when they appear that is. I love this time of year, before the bugs take over

[Deleted User]

a handy temperature guide

http://www.cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/720.pdf

ginvzt

The temperature in my raised beds was about 10 deg C for the last week or so. Will have to check again tomorrow if I don't forget!

CommitedToChange

what's soft soap and where do you get it from please?

I've just pricked out and repotted my tomato seedlings - I'm sure I've murdered some!

Jesthar

Had an hour in the garden after work for the first time today, finally packed up after eight when it was getting too dark to see! Managed to clear away most of the rest of the turf I'm removing to widen the sunny side border. Only a few more feet to go on that now...

A couple of French Beans and an Ipnomea are already sprouting, and I think either a lot of the lettuces are coming already or they got a bot of compost with weed seeds in it - supect it must be the lettuces, though, as all the sprouts are over the part of the tray the lettuce are in. Anyone know how long they ususally take to germinate?

My Cosmos is also coming on apace, and the nicotiona are also germinating. No sign of anything else, and the carrot seeds aren't showing signs of chiting yet. So plenty more to come

~Jes

ginvzt

My lettuce was taking just a couple of days this year - can't tell more, this is the first year I am keeping some sort of notes.

I came home today to find my front bed dug up between the rose and peony. Was rather upset by it. We got new neighbours about 5 houses down, and they got 3 rabbits. Whilst they are cute, they keep escaping from the garden and running around the neighbourhood. I guess more neighbours will be starting to suffer from the little softies, when they get into their flower/veg beds!

I put some more climbing courgette seeds to soak tonight. Out of 6 only 1 came out so far, so I had a dig in other 5 pots to find one more showing some signs of life, and one gone missing! I only had 15 seeds of this, so put 4 more to soak, and 6 more left in the packet...

Caraway seeds still on the wet paper towel, showing no signs of life (experiment from the spice rack).

I think I will need to do something with my marigolds, as I seem to be losing them. I had 20+ come up, and at the latest count only 14 are growing. If you can call that growing! They are still very tiny...

Considering what other flowers I would like to get, will be consulting my veg patch book for companion planting again soon. But there is still so much work to be done in the house before Easter, that I am starting to panic!

cootambear

rabbits will eat all. I suggest you talk to your neighbours and mention `rabbit pie` whilst at the same time smacking your lips.

ginvzt

I was ready to go there last night and say that if I see the rabbits in my garden, I will have a lovely dinner!!!

I went out in the garden this morning, and noticed one of my parsley (tiny) plants dug up. Not sure whose fault it is. I will need to change the side gate to the garden sometime soon anyway, wo will have to make sure to get one that it is too low for rabbits to get through, and then I will need to think how to block the other side of the garden from entering - at the moment, a child can pass in!

[Deleted User]

It was 24 all afternoon, in the back garden today. We had to change into summer wear and I`ll have to find my hat as my neck is feeling the sun. All pots and hundreds of plantlets are looking fantastic but watering is tricky. I now use two 52cm trays and half fill with waterbutt water and bottom water everything. The small babies are only in there for a few minutes but trays of spinach and turnips etc are in for longer.

I did another page on my planting plan and this time did the cut and come agains. It`ll be very useful when it comes to planning for winter and early spring next year. I lost my patience with the wallflowers today and took them out of a 2 foot high raised bed as I was wanting to plant more veg. I drew sections with a finger and have planted beetroot, radish, spring onions and two types of carrots instead. All neatly labelled. The middle bed contains cabbage duncan at various stages, turnips, radish and a couple of cos lettuce seedlings, the third bed contains early self-supporting pea oskar in two stages and two stages of kenyan bean ferrari and also over wintered lettuces

I pulled some over wintered onions yesterday (allotment) and they are fab in salads and stir fry, I have far too many onions to store. I am thinking about getting some summer and late summer maturing brassicas into the allotment, like red cabbages. Kales and broccolis have gone into a cool place as I want to slow them down to plant in july/august (maybe). I also gave my leeks some miracle grow in the water yesterday as they need to get a fair bit bigger. The best looking ones are bleu de solaise so far

Tomatoes are all looking very sturdy and healthy and we have been accumulating grow bags from b and q (the dearer ones). I potted squash hunter, patty pan, burgess buttercup and courgette yesterday and also a marrow, all into large pots. I cannot believe how fast they have grown overnight and today. I have fleece ready and will use it at night as they are standing on a slate tier and like the rest of the garden, it is a hot sun trap. They are destined for the allotment but all in good time

I got some nasturtiums and calendula into 3 troughs today and dh is going to make a long planter for them, to go on the top tier, 3 m high above the bottom tier

phew, its all go here. I am making sure I put water gel into final planters as it helps a lot