Help MBE grow his dinner 2012

LilMissEmmylou

Got a wee bit excited this week as the one basket of fire seed that i planted has started to sprout. So thats the chilli plant and the mung beans... still nothing happening with the tomato, beans or carrot seeds! All are covered and in warm locations by windows, what am I doing wrong? (although... it has only been a week....)

Mum kindly bought us a cheapy plastic zip up greenhouse to put out the back so I can actually plant loads of seeds tomorrow to get them all started (had only been doing a few at a time as my kitchen window was getting rather full). Cant wait to get home tomorrow to start planting

lisakay_2

carrot seeds do take a while, be patient:cool:
i did mine 3 weeks ago, outside in loo roll tubes so i can plant them out easily, and they just showed through a couple of days ago x

the PSB, caulis and cabbages i sowed 3 days ago are sowing through already

lilyjune

Well, I haven't had a chance to have a read for a few days and feel like it's taken me hours to catch up with all the posts!
Amazing weather all week but looks like it has turned as today was quite cold.
We've been extremely busy doing the hardlandscaping for our garden, it's not finished but it's getting there and my raised beds have been started :j
My beans are all doing well, tomatoes are getting multiple leaves and I have one red and one yellow pepper just appeared yesterday so giving the time was worth it. Having read on here about marigolds not germinating, I was nervous that they were going to be difficult too. The packet said 7-14 days to germinate and because of the weather we've been having, mine took 2! Was very impressed with that. How big do these need to be before I should pot them on please?

And also when I pot seedlings of anything on, am I supposed to bury the plants deeper than what they had been? I've seen references to this in the posts I read this evening.

No peas and no sweet peas have germinated yet though so I do wonder if I've done something wrong there, they're in a couple of weeks.
Annie123, you've planted 50 pea plants??? Do pea plants not have high yields then? I can put more in, I'm just not sure what type of quantities we're talking about. My peas are Kelvedon Wonders.

Got my camera fixed, just need to make some space and upload my very full memory card and then I'll show you a pic.:)

hazzie123

How long do you microwave the compost for to make it sterile?

gazza975526570

How many peas have you sown lilyjane?

I have just put out about 100 and i reckon i wont get many means from that - a better yield i have found is Mangetout - with the added bonus that you dont get pea moth (when you open the pods expecting peas and find maggots in it aint pretty!!! :eek::eek:)

You cant do wrong though with the variety of peas you have sown

lilyjune

I've sown two pea plants.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mrbadexample

djohn2002uk wrote: »

A sander for a pound??? What?, a block of wood and a piece of sand paper?:eek:

No, not a block of wood! An ergonomically designed lump of plastic with specially crafted clamps to hold the paper, and 10 sheets of sandpaper! :rotfl:

It's for the bench. As the teak is pretty low grade, it develops splits and cracks as it weathers. Apparently all I have to do is fill them with wood glue and then sand them down. I've done a couple and it seems to be working well.

gazza975526570

lilyjune wrote: »

I've sown two peas plants.
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I'd stick a few more in!!! For a 1lb of peas you need at least 25 plants (But i reckon at least double that)

Seeds are cheap but the taste of home grown peas are immense. In fact sow double as you will eat half of them raw they are that good!!!!!! :beer:

mrbadexample

emiff6 wrote: »

What breed are yours MrBE?

I've got three Malling Promise and the Tayberry. Looks ok to me.

mrbadexample

kara7758 wrote: »

Just a word of caution about putting anti vandal paint on it. My neighbour 2 doors down painted her entire fence with anti vandal paint, not just the first 2" as it states in the tin. It was to deter intruders as there had been a spate of break ins. Consequently two of my cats who climbed onto her fence got covered in anti vandal paint and trod it all over my carpets and furniture. One of the cats was ill enough to need a vets attention. My carpets were ruined and I spent hours with a bar of green fairy soap washing the oily paint from everything else. The cats had numerous baths to get it off their fur.

I spoke to her about what had happened and warned her in case other cats had climbed her fence and the possible consequences. I could have sued her for the damage to my carpets etc, but didn't as we are good neighbours and of course she didn't do it intentionally. I've placed plastic carpet grippers on the areas I want to stop my cats climbing up and it has worked. Hope this is an ok suggestion?

The anti-vandal paint quip was a bit tongue in cheek, but I bet they'd only do it once.

I've put a plastic spiked strip where they've been jumping up, but fear it'll just shift the problem along a bit. :mad: