Help MBE grow his dinner 2013.

RedLass

annie123 wrote: »

1 cucumber has committed suicide, the others are happy and 2 courgettes now have several flowers on them.

I had 2 cucumbers do the same this weekend, and 1 in the ground (with some protection) looking very sad indeed, its leaves are quite yellow which might be too much water I sowed the last 3 seeds I have and am crossing my fingers that they germinate and I can try again when it's warmer and drier.

Pre-war_babe_33 wrote: »

Redlass - great idea about using storage boxes as cloches. I could do that if I could get round to planting anything - but then again, perhaps not as all my storage boxes are full of ...err....junk maybe!!

I sent OH up into the loft to salvage a couple I knew I had emptied a while back It's been working really well for me, although now that the toms are getting taller, I've had to raise the box up a bit. I'll do this for as long as I have to.

The first seeds to show their face in the garden are swedes! These were a total disaster for me last year. I need to get along to a shop ASAP and get some cheap beer. Traps last year did catch some really nasty fat slugs so that must've helped and I'm going to try again this year, but sooner. One thing I did notice while I was turning over the top of the patch was heaps of worms. That's good right?

Oh, and a lonely single runner bean has come up too - I dropped a plastic bottle on top immediately for some protection.

We're forecast even cooler temperatures this week and a good dose of rain and wind with it. The challenge continues...

lemonjelly

Done a lot of weeding. Still lots to do mind!
Repotted the flowers into tubs.
Put the hanging basket out.
Thinned out way too many carrots. Also noticed the carrots in the polytunnel thing are showing sproutage!
Only bad news, is still no movement on the ginger.

Will need to repot first toms, cucumber and beetroot next weekend...

savingpennies

Lovely here yesterday but went out to look at someone else's garden! Today waterbutts have been connected to downspouts so hopefully the hosepipe can be put away and the water bills might go down a fraction. Strawberries both inside greenhouse and outside have flowers so let's for bumper crop this year. Lots of blossom on all three apple trees, blossom on plums now gone. French beans are now growing well but I'm too timid to plant them outside; I'm just putting them out during the day for the mo. I planted some more runners after disaster with toilet tubes and one or two little shoots showing.

annie123

Unfortunately real life is getting in the way of gardening (aka DD had bust up and come home complete with dog! at 9am yesterday and shows no sign of leaving :eek:)

So other than play hunt the leeks which still evade me I've not done much. Bit worried about the low temp nights coming up but can't fleece the whole lot.
Last year it was munched french beans, this year they've gone for the few runners that popped up, so a few pellets down and sow more inside tonight.
On a positive note I've got lots of little green cherries on the tree. A few weeks later than last year, but looks like a lot more.

Hope MBE brings the nice weather back with him, had enough of this now.

D&DD

Blimey you're having a bit of a run aren't you Annie sorry to hear that
Just dashing out for soil will catch up later on and yup weather is looking a bit dicey isn't it typical! X

Mollymoonlight

Sorry Annie, haven't been on for a few days, I am on the west coast of Scotland, and believe me those sunny mornings are rare!

I've decided the runner beans have rotted having been planted for about four weeks with no sign. With hind sight, I was far too ambitious planting that early, but I had assumed our summer weather would come early and disappear again as it has the past few years. I have sown French beans indoors, and they're doing great. Nice big red spotty ones, which I've never grown before. They'll look lovely when they come through.

The tommys and cucys are doing really well despite my yoyo hardening. The later set are suffering a bit, but I think I've been a bit too religious with the watering. The room they're in gets quite cold and with the heating being on less they haven't been drying out to the same extent. I've brought them downstairs so I can keep a better eye on them. I'm going to pot them on and give them their first feed so hopefully that will help.

I'm a bit concerned that my onions are growing too fast. The seem to have taken a bit of a spurt over the past few days. I did buy bolt resistant sets, but I am really wary of the reds, they've bolted on me before. Fingers crossed they'll be ok. I've devoted an awful lot of my valuable growing space to them and would hate to see it wasted.

Uh oh, nearly my stop...just quickly, got the allotment meeting to it, looking at new possible sites for the allotments....yeah . Maybe we will have one this side of Christmas after all!

lemonjelly

Repotted my 12 cucumbers last night. Hope they'll kick on with the next stage of growing.

Did another load of weeding again. Still loads of weeding to do, but only 1 area left now!

Composters are overflowing, & the lawn needs a mow!

mrbadexample

Pre-war_babe_33 wrote: »

Please MrB am I allowed to stay?

It's worse than that I'm afraid - you're not allowed to go.

Well, the wedding went well, the sun shone etc. To be honest, Santorini is pretty enough but not really my sort of place. Too touristy, with all the usual miles and miles of places hocking all manner of tat. It was too busy for me and their season hasn't even started yet. In the height of summer it would be an overcrowded hell. :eek:

From a purely geological point of view, it was excellent. Can't beat a good volcanic island.

I was disappointed with the food, which despite being quite expensive in a lot of places, wasn't actually that good.

None of this prevented me from having a whale of a time. :beer:

It's nice to be back. Couldn't bring the sun back due to the 5kg weight limit on my cabin bag. I was too tight to pay for extra baggage. :money:

Garden seems ok. Just lost a spare melon which doesn't concern me. Things are slowly coming on but it's still cold and rubbish. I think I've got some parsnips coming through, finally. The runner beans I sowed before I went haven't germinated yet. Further reports when I've had a better look.

Annie, hope the ribs didn't cause to too much trouble with watering the thread? You could have delegated, you know.

Hope everyone else is doing ok.

Pre-war_babe_33

Thanks for letting me stay MrB - no idea where Santorini is but guess it is not my ideal place to live either. A cousin of mine once spent a holiday climbing into volcanos just for the fun of it - guess he was just brave, or maybe foolish.

Redlass - worms are VERY good for the garden. I used to have a worm bin where I put all my kitchen scraps and they made excellent compost. Give it a go.

morwenna

Had a whole day in the garden last Sunday - I even had a burnt neck to show for it! Maybe that was summer been & gone - though it's sunny here today, the wind is picking up. I have finally planted some beetroots - golden and Boltardy also some carrots Purple Haze, (they were delicious last year) and the small round ones (Paris Market I think) that I tried last year but never got any of my sowings to grow. Planted out climbing beans and some marigolds for companions to the carrots. Put my sweet peas out too. Picked some rhubarb and mint for dinner. Tomatillos, Audrey's and various toms are all doing well in the greenhouse also asparagus peas are making their appearance, they are very slow to germinate although it could e the weather I suppose. The Kohl Rabi I first sowed was a no show, but the second sowing is up and nearly big enough to go out. Lets hope we like it