Help MBE grow his dinner 2013.

djohn2002uk

Little_Vics wrote: »

oooh! Do you think I'm capable of growing any of those, knowing my track record?

'course you are. Anyway,the mag is a good read and the seeds have 2 chances. Plenty in the packets too, probably last a couple of years.

Eyeore

Thanks for the heads up djohn, I shall hopefully get it next week. Am usually rubbish growing from seeds but might try yet again this year!

Little Vics, are you bad with seeds too?

I am such a novice but very enthusiastic! My motto is, it will either live or not!

Little_Vics

oh, I'm just bad at everything. There have been exploits, and tales of veg flying across the garden in their containers to commit suicide. We really should rename this thread 'help Little Vics not kill stuff in 2013'.

Eyeore

Oh dear! Well hopefully we will do ok this year with all the help and guidance from all on this thread? (she says with fingers crossed) :-)

annie123

djohn2002uk wrote: »

Annie, Do what I do. Get a bar and push it into the ground about 6-9" and wind the top round to make a cone shaped hole. Then push or knock it down another 6- 9" and wind it round again so that you have a conical hole about 12-18" deep. Sift some soil or compost or both mixed and fill the holes. Place 3 seeds in the center and cover. When they germinate discard the 2 weakest and you should have nice straight clean fat parsnips. When you need to use them, just pour a load of water slowly on the roots and let it soak to the bottom and with a bit of a wiggle and a gentle pull on the foliage, the parsnip will come out clean. If you have left them untill the foliage is almost gone just dig a couple of inches and pull on the parsnip.;)

What a good idea. I'm going to try that, thank you :beer:
And yes I tried grow bags too and got forked roots, same as the soil. I did try again in the soil a few years ago, hoping that 15 years of soil improvement might have helped but it didn't.
I love parsnips and even if I only get a few they will be worth the effort.

annie123

Little_Vics wrote: »

I appear to have over-wintered an aubergine plant on my kitchen windowsill. That's bizarre.

With you that doesn't surprise me and from the list below you should try the Californian wonder as you grow chilli peppers ok you should be able to do sweet peppers too. You would also manage the rest too with out any problems;)

djohn2002uk wrote: »

Buy March edition of Kitchen Garden magazine only from Tesco and instore now and get the following 10 packets of seeds free.
Tomato Black Russian worth £1.65
Leek Musselburgh " 1.00
Pepper Californian Wonder 0.85
Beetroot Boltardy 0.90
Cabbage Greyhound 1.00
Lettuce Salad Bowl 0.85
Lettuce Salad Leaf 1.10
Carrot Early Nantes 0.95
Broccoli Purple Sprouting 1.10
Onion Bedfordshire Champion1.05

Total £9.45
These are all normal packets not reduced size.

What a great bargain, worth the drive to Tesco's thank you :T
I'm going to have to grow the Black Russian, even though I was only going to grow the blight resistant ones this year. Might have a go at cabbage too,don't bother due to snails but will start with positive thinking and assume it won't be as wet as last year :rotfl:

Little_Vics

Right, I'm going to get organised. Or rather, you lot are going to organise me....

I have the following in my garden:

a quince tree - planted last year. Doing well. Needs tying back to make it flat (I think there's a posh french word for that). Not expecting fruit this year.

a loganberry - planted last year. Got some fruit from it. Needs cutting back (I think) so that it will grow again (I think)

another brambly-type thingy - planted last year. No idea what it is because I didn't get any fruit. Am assuming it also needs cutting back.

a LOT of strawberries all over the place. Am contemplating digging them all up and replanting in one area so I can put a net over them, so our resident crow (Cedric) doesn't munch them all.

Some herbs of various descriptions that we don't really use.

A small aubergine plant on the windowsill

An almost-dead pepper plant on the windowsill - think I killed it when I repotted it

A small apple tree in a container. It was planted by a family friend as a pip when I got engaged 7 years ago, and was given to us as a wedding present. Not expecting anything from it, but it's doing well

No doubt there are some latent potatoes somewhere

The beds all need digging over, and probably need some muck in them. The retaining walls need rebuilding (only 3 courses high), and the flower beds need fettling.

What do I do first??

djohn2002uk

What on earth are we doing on page 2????

Ah....That's better. :-))

mrbadexample

djohn2002uk wrote: »

What on earth are we doing on page 2????

Ah....That's better. :-))

Whoops, sorry about that. Obviously, it was a rugby weekend so nowt got done outside.

Or would you prefer not to talk about the rugby, John?

Little_Vics

I don't want to talk about the rugby. I don't think Wales could have played any worse, so am sulking.

MBE - shall I start my own thread, or can I carry on with my stupid questions and issues on yours? Actually - can you just come and do it all for me?