Grow your own dinner 2014

suzeesu2000

Thank you Happygreen. The straw hint is very handy to know, and i would never have known about the hand pollinating.

Funny you mention the bees actually. While I was in the garden yesterday a dear little bee came to visit. It followed me everywhere I went like it was on a lead - I wasnt wearing yellow either so it could not have mistaken me for a pretty flower!!

mrbadexample

Found my first gooseberry sawfly larva yesterday....

Happygreen

mrbadexample wrote: »

Found my first gooseberry sawfly larva yesterday....

Noooo....that means I have to go out with kneepads and a magnifying glass, my eyes are slowly going....and I'm quite miffed at the hens - they don't want to eat them!

browneyedbazzi

Very exciting news here - the cucumber seeds and one of the sweet peppers I put in over the weekend have started to germinate

I'm thinking about when to start sowing chard and lettuce outside - is it too early or will I be ok to start? The packets say April/May/June, but surely weather is different each year so that's not cast in stone - is the weather this year good enough?

My onions (or at least the ones the foxes didn't dig up) are doing well and my carrots are up as well....with a few strays scattered about thanks to the digging. For some reason the foxes have taken to pulling up the raspberry canes I put in as well- they seem to pull one out each night. I've only put in 9 so by next week I probably won't have any left

Happygreen

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Very exciting news here - the cucumber seeds and one of the sweet peppers I put in over the weekend have started to germinate

I'm thinking about when to start sowing chard and lettuce outside - is it too early or will I be ok to start? The packets say April/May/June, but surely weather is different each year so that's not cast in stone - is the weather this year good enough?

My onions (or at least the ones the foxes didn't dig up) are doing well and my carrots are up as well....with a few strays scattered about thanks to the digging. For some reason the foxes have taken to pulling up the raspberry canes I put in as well- they seem to pull one out each night. I've only put in 9 so by next week I probably won't have any left

Germination is always a great moment, I love it too Chards are hardy so you should be alright sowing it outside, lettce I always grow in modules, just a habit I suppose. Are you sure it's foxes digging up your stuff? Sounds to me like it could be those grey squirrels or a rat?...Here I'm worried foxes eat my hens and bunnies digging up my garden.

browneyedbazzi

Happygreen wrote: »

Germination is always a great moment, I love it too Chards are hardy so you should be alright sowing it outside, lettce I always grow in modules, just a habit I suppose. Are you sure it's foxes digging up your stuff? Sounds to me like it could be those grey squirrels or a rat?...Here I'm worried foxes eat my hens and bunnies digging up my garden.

I'm pretty sure it's foxes because I see them in the garden quite often...we're in a London suburb so there are a lot of them around. They seem to like hanging out in our garden antagonising the neighbour's dog lol. The holes being dug also look too big to be smaller vermin - much more like something done by a fox or dog. The stuff that is dug up isn't being eaten either - just dug up and tossed around a bit. The raspberry canes were just pulled up and left next to their pot.

Happygreen

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's foxes because I see them in the garden quite often...we're in a London suburb so there are a lot of them around. They seem to like hanging out in our garden antagonising the neighbour's dog lol. The holes being dug also look too big to be smaller vermin - much more like something done by a fox or dog. The stuff that is dug up isn't being eaten either - just dug up and tossed around a bit. The raspberry canes were just pulled up and left next to their pot.

Gosh, until I saw that Naturewatch program where they put a camera on a fox I had no idea - why does the Council not do anything? The catch stray cats and dogs and just let foxes roam the streets? I don't approve of hunting for a sport but the way it's dealt with isn't right either :mad:....so frustrating if you try to grow things!

Lifes_Grand_Plan

Hi folks,

Finally managed to get out in the garden last night to dig over my vegetable patch, looking in good condition except for the mountains of cat poo that the local gits like to deposit around my garden ARGH!!!!

Question for anyone reading - where is good value for grobags at the moment and is there a quality difference between cheaper and more expensive bags?

My cucumbers, tomatoes and courgettes are doing great on my windowsill at the moment, hopefully get them out in the garden (hardened off first) when I get back from my holiday on 7th May - all frosts should have passed by then.

Another question, my Acer seems to have attracted a mass of these bugs - anyone know what they are and how I can get rid of them (if I need to):



Final question - I also seem to have a couple of ant colonies in / around my veg patch - will they harm my plants and how is best to get rid of them if so?

Don't know what it is about me or my garden but the gardening gods are conspiring against me with cat s**t and ant nests...

Happygreen

Lifes_Grand_Plan wrote: »

Hi folks,

Finally managed to get out in the garden last night to dig over my vegetable patch, looking in good condition except for the mountains of cat poo that the local gits like to deposit around my garden ARGH!!!!

Question for anyone reading - where is good value for grobags at the moment and is there a quality difference between cheaper and more expensive bags?

My cucumbers, tomatoes and courgettes are doing great on my windowsill at the moment, hopefully get them out in the garden (hardened off first) when I get back from my holiday on 7th May - all frosts should have passed by then.

Another question, my Acer seems to have attracted a mass of these bugs - anyone know what they are and how I can get rid of them (if I need to):



Final question - I also seem to have a couple of ant colonies in / around my veg patch - will they harm my plants and how is best to get rid of them if so?

Don't know what it is about me or my garden but the gardening gods are conspiring against me with cat s**t and ant nests...

I get my growbags at B& Ms but haven't bought this year's supply yet. Cheap and they do it for me...
I think if you have ants you will also get greenfly (could those bugs be greenfly larvae??).
Cats love freshly dug up beds, I tend to cover them until there is growth to stop neighbour's cat using it as a loo...

browneyedbazzi

Homebase is doing their 15% off everything offer this weekend, and they have a buy 3 get the 4th free offer as well so you could get 4 of their 40L 'growbag plus' for £9.66. If you collect nectar points I think there's also a triple nectar points offer on.

I haven't used a growbag before but these ones have good reviews on the website so I'll be giving them a go for my beans and peas.

edit: I've just seen that they also have some 50L jamie oliver fruit and veg grow bags on for £2.99 and 4 for 3...so you could buy 4 of them for £7.62 if the offer price stays the same over the weekend when the 15% off offer is also on.