Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

How did I know you'd have one by the end of the day!

Lucky guess? I can't afford to hang about, me!

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Today, I started my chilli method - for good yields and pure seed; nip out the first flower, and the plant will [in a week or so] throw out about another 10 flowers. It really kicks them on. Also, to give yourself pure seed for seed saving, dunk a flower in PVA glue, and mark it with a piece of string. Then when you come to eat it, save the seeds [label them with the correct variety] and you can use it for swapping happy that it's true to it's parent.

I've never nipped out flowers but I think I might give it a go next year - too late for this. I'll try the PVA thing too, as I've probably got some right mongrels what with all the varieties I'm growing.

mumof3plusoh

I have had my first harvest. Some French Breakfast radish to go with my shop bought salad (mine not ready yet). I also have 4 tiny toms :T:T:T:T. Planted some more radish as I gave some to my dad. DD had a tiny strab too.

mrbadexample

mumof3plusoh wrote: »

I have had my first harvest. Some French Breakfast radish to go with my shop bought salad (mine not ready yet). I also have 4 tiny toms :T:T:T:T. Planted some more radish as I gave some to my dad. DD had a tiny strab too.

I love radishes. They never make it onto the plate though - I eat them in the garden while I'm wandering about contemplating stuff.

annie123

Pre-war_babe_33 wrote: »

Annie you have given me hope! If it took you eight years to post photos then there might be just a slight possibility I might learn to do the same in eight years time - if any of you manage to hang around for that long to see. In the meantime I shall go down the easy route and keep things plain and simple, no quotes, no pictures and none of those little faces (don`t know what they`re called) - oh, I have just had to google Victorian Stumpery too - never too old to learn at least something new.

I have put pics on mse before but I didn't do it myself , DD did it for me and she's left home now, so I've had to learn how to do it myself

mrbadexample wrote: »

No, I really didn't know. But, as you rightly point out, Google is my friend (one day I hope to have a real friend :rotfl: ) so I do now.

Apparently, I need stumps, ferns and moss. I definitely think I should have one of those. Immediately.

It's nice to know that I've contributed something to your garden and a very nice stumpery it is too. You'll get all sorts living in there, great for wildlife.
My grandparents had a massive one, as wide as my garden and full of lovely ferns, mosses and wildlife all surrounded by big old trees.

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

It's nice to know that I've contributed something

Two things.

annie123 wrote: »

to your garden and a very nice stumpery it is too. You'll get all sorts living in there, great for wildlife.
My grandparents had a massive one, as wide as my garden and full of lovely ferns, mosses and wildlife all surrounded by big old trees.

I wish I had more room. I had planned to put some ferns in that spot anyway, and already had some logs down the side of the shed for the same purpose, so I guess I was already on the way without actually realising. All I had to do was collect the material (about 5 minutes away). I even had a bit of moss growing on some old carnivorous plant mix which I liked, but didn't have a use for:



Thanks for the idea - just my sort of thing.

Pre-war_babe_33

Annie I can`t even get my photos off the camera and onto the computer without help so fat chance of them making it onto a website I think. Got some lovely photos too that I would love to share. I had a great picture of a heron with my only frog in its mouth - not sure what happened to the frog because the heron swooped over the fence with it still struggling to get free.

MBE I too have the ingredients to make a Victorian stumpery but just haven`t the mobility to collect them all from various parts of the garden - it would mean climbing round the back of the pond to reach the ferns, somehow dive into the old coal bunker to reach the logs and then the easy part would be getting hold of the moss - seem to have plenty of that around right now, probably due to all the rain we`ve been having.

Aria`s_Tail

Morning everyone.
I got back from my week away at work last night and dashed out and picked a bowl of strawberries (also threw loads of mouldy ones out :mad:), 2 handfulls of sweet pea flowers and got a quick squint around the garden before the heavens opened. I spotted 1 tiny courgette on the bigger of the 2 plants (the small one is tiny), loads of small pea pods on both varieties and a tiny cucumber on 1 of the 2 plants. The toms have gone mental and are over 5' tall with loads of flowers and tiny green fruit, just need some sun now to ripen them.
Everything could do with a good feed as loads of things are still tiny, might have to invest in some feed granules to spread on the ground as my dilute in water feed isn't gonna do much good!

I'm loving the stumpery idea. I have a patch of ground about 5' by 3' at the end of the garden path which is basically full of huge chunks of rubble. I dug the bits either side into beds and wedged the bird table on it and then covered it it potatos in bags and tubs. Might try something similar when the pots have gone.

lemonjelly

Mental note - next year, plant the peas out early!
(Bet I forget!!!!)

Lotus-eater

lemonjelly wrote: »

Mental note - next year, plant the peas out early!
(Bet I forget!!!!)

Even better, sow them straight outside.

Sambucus_Nigra

lemonjelly wrote: »

Mental note - next year, plant the peas out early!
(Bet I forget!!!!)

I'm just about to sow a late crop today. Will do now the rain has stopped.