Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

pink_poppy

Ooh, just got an email from Thompson & Morgan ~ they're having a half price vegetable plant sale :j I know it's probably cheating to buy the plants but I'm going to have a look anyway

Has anyone ever bought things from there??

annie123

pink_poppy wrote: »

Ooh, just got an email from Thompson & Morgan ~ they're having a half price vegetable plant sale :j I know it's probably cheating to buy the plants but I'm going to have a look anyway

Has anyone ever bought things from there??

It's not cheating at all, but don't buy something daft eg 10 leeks for £3 :eek: as I saw in homebase the other week!

I've found their delivery to be a little slow........thinking on it wasn't that where the discount purple spuds came from last year MBE?

Off to have a nosey............

aliasojo

I have 2 teeny tiny strawberries growing on my plants. Isn't it awful early?

emiff6

emiff6 wrote: »

I'm somewhat miffed .... blow me, a blummin' mouse has bitten off the tops....


With luck, this time tomorrow it will be an ex-mouse. :mad:

So far FOUR ex-mice - (the downside of keeping cats out of the garden)!

lisakay_2

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pond too Our pond is an old kids sandpit, dug in and filled with rainwater, bit of gravel on the bottom and a couple of plants filched from a friends pond. the frogs loved it last year and we saw our first frogs of this year by it today.

New puppy, how exciting:D. I've had to put all my seeds up on the table because our 5 yr old 'puppy' cocks his leg over anything ground level. and i've had to cover all seed trays with chicken wire so the cat doesn't lie on them.
last year i let my rabbits free in the back garden just as my bilberry was flowering for the first time...no bilberries for us last year:eek: (lesson learnt:o).

was desperate to get on the lotty yesterday, but wasn't about to brave the hailstones with the kids in tow, so we got the trusty old shower curtain laid down in the living room and sowed...marigolds, rosemary, sage, mint, chives, basil, radish, little gem, spring onions and kale.

this afternoon was glorious so I worked up a very ladylike 'glow' and dug 3 potato trenches and planted swift, pentland javelin, king eddies, a few desiree and a couple of random bakers that had sprouted in the fridge. still got to do another trench for the maris pipers, might do that after work (:() tomorrow. also put in 2 rows of broad beans in the hope that they might catch up.
I'm hoping it's going to rain tonight to water them all in seeing as the water hasn't been turned on yet.

The leeks are up in a trough in the garden, blueberries and bilberries in flower, fig twig coming to life. no sign of the chillis on the kitchen window sill, and very few (about 3) tomatoes.

so the plan for tomorrow is to dig the last potato trench, sow a row of beetroot, start to dig over where the peas and beans will be going. then at home i want to sow the sweetcorn and repot the bay. I reckon that will do seeing as i have to actually do some real paid work as well!!!
only about 40 years to go until retirement:eek:

hazzie123

aliasojo wrote: »

I have 2 teeny tiny strawberries growing on my plants. Isn't it awful early?

I have 3 flowers on one of my strawberry plants,the other 11 plants have no sign of any flowers about to sprout into life. The flowers are on one of the Main Crop Strawbs,can't remember which variety?
I thought it was very early,probably down to that crazy hot spell we had?

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

I've found their delivery to be a little slow........thinking on it wasn't that where the discount purple spuds came from last year MBE?

Yep. I don't think I'll use them again. The spuds to aeons to arrive, and then were rubbish. No good for roasting, no good for mash, no good boiled. Then they spammed me for ages. :wall:

s_glover

Has anyone planted squash or courgette seeds yet?

I planted some on Sunday and yesterday they started to germinate and I'm amazed how much they have grown over night. They were literally just poking their heads up yesterday evening and this morning one is 1 1/2 inches tall!!

I'm a bit worried I've sown these too early now and they will grow all leggy inside. Although I do have a cold frame a blowaway I could put them in outside for a bit when they get bigger.

annie123

s_glover wrote: »

Has anyone planted squash or courgette seeds yet?

I planted some on Sunday and yesterday they started to germinate and I'm amazed how much they have grown over night. They were literally just poking their heads up yesterday evening and this morning one is 1 1/2 inches tall!!

I'm a bit worried I've sown these too early now and they will grow all leggy inside. Although I do have a cold frame a blowaway I could put them in outside for a bit when they get bigger.

Yep. I find that squash seeds send the seeds leaves up quickly followed by the first true leaves, then they take a little rest before going off again.....I assume because my kitchen window is only around 15c. I will start hardening off next week and in 2/3 weeks depending on the weather they will out but still bottled covered or fleece what ever is to hand at night.

I have 1 courgette at the same stage as squash as I used old seed and the rest didn't germinate, so will buy more seed this weekend.
But this leaves the decision which type to try.......always like to try something new where poss.

s_glover

Thnaks Annie, sounds like mine should be fine. Once they are big enough I will start to harden off outside and can put in the coldframes.

I've got some winter squasha nd also some summer ones which are seeds I got free, so looking forward to seeing how those turn out.