Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

radiohelen

Don't worry Lotus I'm with you. I've only just got started. Yes I might have loads of plants if I'd got my act together but then I'm sure mine will all catch up by the time it's June!
I have been planting all weekend though and this year I will LABEL EVERYTHING! No more random planting of everything that looks like a pepper/chilli for me.

kazire

this year I will LABEL EVERYTHING! No more random planting of everything that looks like a pepper/chilli for me.

Same here I bought some label sticks from focus when it was shutting down and promised myself I would label everything clearly

mrbadexample

radiohelen wrote: »

I have been planting all weekend though and this year I will LABEL EVERYTHING! No more random planting of everything that looks like a pepper/chilli for me.

I'm getting all sorts of spurious things germinating in my pots from the home-grown compost.

Oh well, it might make things a bit extra-interesting this year. :rotfl:

Lotus-eater

mrbadexample wrote: »

I'm getting all sorts of spurious things germinating in my pots from the home-grown compost.

Oh well, it might make things a bit extra-interesting this year. :rotfl:

Oh yeah, don't do that

I think some people microwave their compost to sterilise it, I start off in bought compost, then when you use the bigger pots, put HM compost underneath and then bought stuff on the top couple of inches, stops most of the weeds germinating.

SailorSam

I only started planting seeds today, it's been to cold to go out and i couldn't drag myself away from the fire. After last year i was determined to label things but this afternoon there were a load of loose mixed seeds at the bottom of the bag, so i'm still growing mixed surprises.

KazLA

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Oh yeah, don't do that

I think some people microwave their compost to sterilise it, I start off in bought compost, then when you use the bigger pots, put HM compost underneath and then bought stuff on the top couple of inches, stops most of the weeds germinating.

What an excellent tip, we haven't used our own compost for the last couple of years, as everytime we did it just grew grass everywhere. We had hanging baskets that were more like a lawn & it was almost impossible to get out. Any other tips for avoiding this?

Also on the subject of compost, we may be starting a compost heap at the allotment, previously its all been burnt on a communal fire, but how do I get the green/Brown combination right if all that's likely to go on is weeds & old plants? I could take my shredded paper up there I guess?

Thanks for the info on chitting the seeds, does it just speed things up, or have any other benefits?

Cress is sprouting!

Jobs to do:
Find out how to tell which raspberry stems to cut down (had previously cut them all to the ground, but got no raspberries, so last year tried leaving them & got loads, so obviously the type that needs to grow on last years stems) I have loads of really long stems, and think I need to cut down the ones that had raspberries on last year and leave ones that were new last year? But how to tell??

Re-read about pruning my rose, again did that for first time last year.

Find out how to prune my apple tree. Not done before & twigs going everywhere in a bit of a mess!

Plant marigolds!

Hv been reading up on how to post photos, so will share at some point.

Angelfeathers

Grrr. Something has eaten ALL 8 of my lettuce seedlings in the blowaway greenhouse (which just tipped over again, upsetting all my sweetpeas again - only 3 survived this time - more grrr)! I'm assuming slugs or snails, but I haven't seen any in there. Very disappointing. I was looking forward to my winter lettuces!

hazzie123

Has any of the Carrot Competion players virtual or real life started their seeds off yet?

mrbadexample

hazzie123 wrote: »

Has any of the Carrot Competion players virtual or real life started their seeds off yet?

Couldn't possibly comment. :whistle:

mrbadexample

Picked up a small trailer load of well-rotted horse manure today. How soon can I plant first early potatoes?