Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

mrbadexample

annie123 wrote: »

I agree robins do make a garden. You need to feed him, infact you need a bird table, just realised that's something you dont have MBE.And a bird bath too maybe.
They love mealworms........hubby buys live ones sometimes as a veggie I just can't bring myself to do that so I buy dried ones from wilkinsons. Bread crumbs and seeds too.
My son has one that comes down every time he goes outside and waits on the fence post for him to put out his hand with seeds, it will fly down and take it fom him. Will he do it if I try, no, not a chance.

I have abstained from having a bird table as the place is crawling with cats. Not so much lately, since I put all the spikes on the fence etc, but they still get in. :mad:

mrbadexample

VegGrower wrote: »

I've also ordered some manifold seeds after reading this thread!
VG

It'll be exhausting growing those. :whistle:

Angelfeathers

lilyjune wrote: »

How long should I wait before I start again? I guess they've been in for 9/10 days now. And if I do start again, can I use the same compost? :think:

I should wait a good three or four weeks. Most seed packets I've got say seedlings should appear within 7 to 21 days, so I would always wait that long. I can't remember exactly how long my peppers took to show but it must have been well over two weeks, possibly three. Possibly because I don't have a heated propogator and they're warm climate plants?

I personally wouldn't reuse the same compost - best to make sure everything is as perfect as you can for seeds - but you could certainly re-use it later in pots mixed with fresh compost. :-)

mrbadexample

lilyjune wrote: »

MBE, I knew that about the blueberries liking rainwater, I just completely forgot it when I got my little one in the post and gave him a little drink of tap water Please say it won't kill him?

It won't kill him.

annie123

lilyjune wrote: »

How long should I wait before I start again? I guess they've been in for 9/10 days now. And if I do start again, can I use the same compost? :think: Peppers can take 4 weeks without heat
Can you pop them all on a gas boiler, radiator, top of a fridge to get some heat to them?

Annie I have planted 6 broad beans, these can be sown directly outside unless your in a very cold frosty bit of the uk? 3 green beans, sown too soon as the nights are too cold for them to go out 2 soy beans, never grown them, so cant advise on them 2 mange tout and 2 peas. I've sown mine outside, but I'm in London, where in the UK are you? Nothing happening with the peas but everything else seems to be coming along nicely, esp the green beans and mange tout. Should I not have sown these yet? I have nowhere to put things outside yet but hopefully by the end of next week I will. My only option would be to pot them into something bigger and keep them inside or I could put things outside during the day and bring them in for night?
I'd put them out daytime only for a few weeks then get them in the ground, you can always chuck a fleece over them
You won't get many peas from 2 plants, I have sown around 50 so far and will put in another 50 every few weeks. With any other peas, find a spot in the garden and pop them in there or start indoors and as soon as they are up get them out.
MBE, I knew that about the blueberries liking rainwater, I just completely forgot it when I got my little one in the post and gave him a little drink of tap water Please say it won't kill him?
Tap water is fine for them if you have no rain water.
On the constant looking at the pots, I'm totally obsessed with mine, everytime I'm anywhere near them I have to have a look to see if anything else has happened unfortunately this is a common problem, one I have yet to cure;).. I don't have time in my day to spend it gazing at little pots of compost!!!:rotfl:

need to type something or it won't let me post!

VegGrower

mrbadexample wrote: »

It'll be exhausting growing those. :whistle:

Haha predictive phone text! Let me try again, Marigold!

lolly5648

annie123 wrote: »

lolly5648
That's a bit leggy but with only the seed leaves they won't need re potting the roots will be small and will drown with a larger amount of wet compost around them.
It sounds as though they have been short on light.
Personally I'd move them to the sunniest spot away from radiators etc and wait for them to get their first true leaves, then re port deeper almost upto the seed leaves, but make sure you don't have a dip in the soil going to the stem or water will puddle there and it will rot. Try to make a small hill so that water drains away from them, the same as you'd plant them outside but on a small scale. Water from the bottom, the pot should feel light when you pick it up, not heavy.
Then I'd harden them off for a few days in the greenhouse but bring them back indoors at night before leaving them out there all the time prior to planting outside which will depend on your last frost date for your area.

Leggy seedlings at this stage shouldn't affect your crop.;)

Thanks Annie, that's lot of advice. I have printed it off and hopefully all will be well

mrbadexample

VegGrower wrote: »

Haha predictive phone text! Let me try again, Marigold!

You can try as many times as you like, but please don't call me Marigold! :rotfl:

annie123

lolly5648 wrote: »

Thanks Annie, that's lot of advice. I have printed it off and hopefully all will be well

A useful guide when you're learning, till you get to know your own garden frost times is this: http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/main/weather1.asp
if you then look at their guides for each fruit/veg they give you sowing and planting dates for your area.

And as seed is cheap it doesn't matter if you need to sow some more, you have loads of time yet to get things started.

lemonjelly

mrbadexample wrote: »

Do you have a heated propagator? You really need one just to get (some) things going. Peppers and chillies in particular need heat to germinate. A normal propagator with a heat mat underneath works just as well.

Haven't got one. Hoping that the windowsill with a radiator near it does the trick...:o

aliasojo wrote: »

Know how you feel, my pepper seeds did nothing, even in a heated prop.

Then I read the posts about seed depth and I figured I'd put them too deep and they weren't going to grow so I went out and ran my fingers through the compost as if I was loosening it all up (it seemed to be crusty on top but damp underneath).

I had intended emptying it all out and starting again but the phone went and I got called away. When I went back to it the next morning, there were tiny tiny specs of green so I left the tray just to see what would happen. Lo and behold, small pepper shoots started to grow. A lot of the seeds didn't germinate but I got 4 of each type I'd planted so that's better than nothing.

I think as well as being too deep, the compost was too firm as well so when I loosened it all up it helped them a bit.

I think that the planting thing is ok. I do this every year. Plant stuff & hope for instant sprouting! My impatience leads me to grumble from about the 10th day after planting til I get something (usually 3-4 weeks later) about how nothing is going to grow this year...

It'll be the same next year!:D