Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

RedLass

No gardening for me this weekend, visiting Mum in London, off to join the motorway shortly.

Hope that all who are feeling behind can get the odd job done this weekend and be a step closer to garden/veggie tranquility!

Will miss the updates, but all the better to give me something to read at work... ahem... in my tea break of course, on Monday.

mrbadexample

jollyanna wrote: »

Mrbadexample, your beetroot is looking good. Do you pickle it or use as a hot vegetable ?

I pickle quite a lot - I just boil a few up, slice them and drop them in the jar of vinegar that's in the fridge. I'm eating it within days, usually. Some I eat cold without pickling it, and I found out last year that it is fabulous roasted. :drool:

jollyanna wrote: »

Has the frog been back to inspect the pond recently ?

I hope so, but no signs of life in the pond just yet.

jollyanna wrote: »

We had fresh spinnach yesterday - first crop from the veg garden this year. Like you, my radishes are being really slow and haven't found one big enough to pull yet . Have a good weekends gardening and keep the pictures coming.

My radishes have grown big enough, but they've all been nibbled by baby slugs. :mad:

Angelfeathers

Those asparagus roots look like little squid, MBE! Very weird! :-)

annie123

mrbadexample wrote: »

Finally, a sensible solution to unwanted cats.

:rotfl: Love it. If only

mrbadexample wrote: »

I hope so, but no signs of life in the pond just yet.

Give it time. I find pond skaters are often the first to settle.



I have a very determined local cat, it's pooped on top of an upturned flower bucket :mad: how it managed to do it is beyond me, but he has. There were blue bottle flies all over it this morning. I really hope they get bored of marking soon.

I have Sunday and Tuesday free next week, Sunday is looking wet but Tuesday and the rest of the week is looking lovely 22c :j so I will get a chance to plant up the bare soil with whatever I can find and put more chicken wire over the soil. In areas with spuds and established plants they've not done it so hopefully this will help them move on.

Yesterday I was given a little pot 3" maybe, and in it are around 50 leggy 6" just got first set of true leaves and very pale sungold tomatoes. The owner of this pot had 2 trays full there must be over 500 leggy seedlings:eek: I've given them a feed and on Sunday will separate them and pick the best 6 to see how they go and plant the rest in bunches in the garden, survival of the fittest type thing.

My out door toms are still looking fine and so too are the chillies, which has surprised me. They need potting on along with cucumbers, courgettes, squash, etc etc.

I do have little baby raspberries just starting so with them and the strawberries, cherries, apples, apricots all looking good, missing out on blueberries this year isn't so bad.

In fact fruit is doing better than veg so far.

Mad-Frog

Can I join in :wave:

I am very jealous of those tomato plants mine are only about 5 inches tall, they are in the greenhouse now am I doing something wrong? Last year I had hundreds of them I guess it is the weather?

I have today planted cabbage, leeks, broccoli and cauliflower, have netted them so fingers crossed they will be okay, I have a raised bed so first time growing them, still need to plant swede and dwarf beans

I am growing squash for the first time too, they are still in greenhouse, were billowing about in the wind outside today

I have sown some mini pumpkins it's the second week with no sign of germination, is that normal?

The one thing that is storming on is my runner beans, cannot wait to get rid of them outside

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

:rotfl: Love it. If only

They're not actually that good. After an initially impressive valuation of my Norwegian Forest Cat, they've now rejected it and backed out of the deal for some reason.

annie123 wrote: »

I do have little baby raspberries just starting so with them and the strawberries, cherries, apples, apricots all looking good, missing out on blueberries this year isn't so bad.

In fact fruit is doing better than veg so far.

My tayberry from poundland is dead. The three raspberries look ok though. One's a bit slow but still alive I think.

I've got one gooseberry that is almost sawfly free, because I sprayed it with a diluted solution of Provado when I first saw them in early April. The other I left untreated, to compare the difference. Despite repeated efforts to pick them off by hand, the bush is slowly being stripped. I'll leave it this year, but next year I'll just wade in with the chemicals. It's not worth the hassle.

I've got a squash that needs repotting before it goes out when it's a bit warmer. I still haven't worked out where I'm going to put it though.

mrbadexample

Mad-Frog wrote: »

Can I join in :wave:

:think: ... Yes.

Mad-Frog wrote: »

I am very jealous of those tomato plants mine are only about 5 inches tall, they are in the greenhouse now am I doing something wrong? Last year I had hundreds of them I guess it is the weather?

I've still got a few smaller than that. I've got some a lot bigger too, with flowers on. No fruit yet though. The weather hasn't helped.

Mad-Frog wrote: »

I have sown some mini pumpkins it's the second week with no sign of germination, is that normal?

I'm not entirely sure, but I seem to remember that squashes germinate quite quickly. Someone else might know better.

Mad-Frog wrote: »

The one thing that is storming on is my runner beans, cannot wait to get rid of them outside

Mine haven't germinated yet, but the beans are probably at least 6 years old. I got them from my Uncle Sid (94 this year, still cycles to his allotment) so I'd like another go at them. I might have to revert to some I saved from last year, but they're likely to have crossed so not sure what I'd get.

Mad-Frog

Well MrMBE might have a few runner bean plants to off cost in the next couple of weeks if you are ever in Brum city centre

Thanks for your help will be a bit gutted if pumpkins dont germinate they were mini ones and not cheap :eek:

radiohelen

I'm struggling with my mini pumpkins too. The big ones all germinated. I'm on my second sowing of the others, two weeks and still nothing! :mad:

annie123

You've reminded me BME I have a gooseberry bush too, little one I got in £land, must find it, it's out there somewhere hidden my empty pots and stuff no doubt.

Re; squashes........I've found them difficult to germinate this year for some reason. I'm guessing indoors with no heating not quite warm enough in the current weather.
I put the summer quashes seeds on a hot water bottle in a cool bag for a week (no heated propagator here) and they sprouted.
I know several people who have grown them on their compost heaps with excellent results, so I tried it last year. I had a stalk the following morning as my heap has millions of slugs and snails, so won't try that again.