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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Green Shoots: gardening thread, 2013
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
The weather has been so weird that I now boast a border that looks like one of those improbable flowery birthday cards; in flower at the moment:
snowdrops, dwarf tulips, single daffodils
violas, bluebells, scented geranium
2 hellebores, hybrid cornflower, violets
climbing rose, thrift, plum blossom
forget-me-not, and a peony is about to bloom.
The grass (can't dignify with term lawn) is a sea of moss and daisies.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
The weather is indeed weird. Apparently we're getting frost tonight, so I suppose I'll have to go round to the allotment and cover the replacement tomato plants up, or else risk buying a third lot to put in. Is there no end to this cold spell?
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Yes, the house is heaving with trays of stuff that just wouldn't germinate outside (though I've finally found the dwarf beans - six inches high and icy white in the boiler cupboard!).
I just hope the fungus growing on the organic slug pellets in the brassicas is not nasty, as it's like a white carpet... but I daren't not keep them, it's taken so much effort to get the little sods to grow this spring!
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
We seem to be finally and fully out of it. We have a few nights that will see a few hours in the high 40s coming up, but I can go out in shorts and sandals to water the garden in the morning. The tomatoes have been hardening off for five days now, and they should be ready to plant by Friday evening.
In the mean time, the radishes and broccoli rabe that I got started a week and a half a go are going strong, and the beats, arugula, and lettuce seem to be catching up. Here's hoping I can get something out of them before they bolt.
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
My carrot seeds have finally sprouted. I planted them over a month ago when we had a few warm days and I was deceived into thinking spring had arrived.
I finally planted the potatoes last weekend but I put them in good and deep, so I'm not worried about frost. We've also got very strong winds here which stop the frost lying.
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
I've yet to sow carrot seeds - it still feels too much like March. But I really need to get them in by the end of the weekend if they are to have a hope of producing a crop.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Went round to the allotment yesterday evening and there are potatoes and onions coming up. It worked.
Covered up the tomato plants with some polythene bags to guard against overnight frost. One of the plants even has little flowers on, which is very encouraging.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Isn't that just the best feeling? I earthed my spuds up last night (oo-er, missus!), and I'm very glad I did as there was a touch of frost on the pantiles in the morning.
I am now approaching the dread stage where everything needs to be planted out at once, and I'm away for two weekends ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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jacobsen
seeker
# 14998
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Posted
Yet another year when I didn't plant any seeds at all. But friends gave me a lawn mower, so I did cut the grass. Garden now looks much tidier, and the spring blossom, including my apple tree, looks luverly. I'm away for most of the next ten days, so the grass will need doing all over again when I get back. Beheaded as much of my healthy dandelion crop as possible, not that it will do much good...
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But God, holding a candle, looks for all who wander, all who search. - Shifra Alon
Beauty fades, dumb is forever-Judge Judy
The man who made time, made plenty.
Posts: 8040 | From: Æbleskiver country | Registered: Aug 2009
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
@ jacobsen
What you need for dandelions is SALT: Apply salt carefully to the central crown and then let it do its work; it will be absorbed down into the root to kill off plant.
Easier done on crazy-paving than in lawns but, if anxious about your grass, put a little anti-frost fleece around the base of the dandelion, under the leaves. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
Planted two tomatoes, a chilli and a courgette plant last week. All have nw been chomped to death :-(
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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
Most by slugs or snails - or so I assume from the slime trails, though the managed to demolish the entire plants not just the leaves.
The first tom to go though was I think first struck through by something else - oval hole on the stem.
I'm going to Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow (free ticket, yay, yay and thrice yay - my first time going) so will see if there are any stands there that can sell me slug'n'snail protection. I'm thinking bell cloches. And/or non-nasty chemical slug destroyers. And then I'll buy some more small plants and try again. It's freezing here so can't imagine it's going to make much difference to be leaving it so late.
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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Have finally scarified the grass ('lawn' would be too generous) so with a bit of luck may end up with something better looking than heretofore...
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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listener
Apprentice
# 15770
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Posted
I'm a beginner with just a few containers, a radish grew in one, a larger pot may have some scorzonera (oyster plant) if the squirrels don't dig them out first. Sunflowers are a great encouragement for a novice, they grow fast.
Posts: 31 | From: Canada | Registered: Jul 2010
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Squirrel
Shipmate
# 3040
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Posted
Are there any other fern fans on the Ship? My garden suffers from a lack of direct sun, as well as a sometimes lazy owner. Ferns to the rescue! I've got Japanese Painted, Autumn, Deer and Ostrich Ferns in the ground, and recently recently rescued a Rabbit's Foot and a Bird's Nest from the clutches of the incompetent staff at my local Home Depot. These two are staying in pots, so I can take them inside when it gets cold.
Any suggestions for other easy-to-car-for ferns? I live in the New York City area.
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"The moral is to the physical as three is to one."
- Napoleon
"Five to one."
- George S. Patton
Posts: 1014 | From: Gotham City - Brain of the Great Satan | Registered: Jul 2002
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Grrrrrr hisssss fuckety fuck fuck fuck... excuse me. My lilac (my baby, my darling darling lilac!) has got phytoplasma and there is no cure.[weeps] Just like the roses a few feet over, which developed a very similar disease. Just like the pine tree a few feet further on, which had to be taken out for something similar. Just like... well, I HOPE not just like the brand new cherry tree, which is planted in the midst of all this death and destruction.
It's my own bloody fault, for getting uppity about our organic planting stuff. Not that chemicals would solve THIS problem ...
[goes away to weep in a corner]
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Jenn.
Shipmate
# 5239
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Posted
I'm new to gardening, never having had a garden before. About a month ago I took advantage of a dry day and went into our garden and collected all the junk which had collected against the fence. All looked fine, if a little bare.
Yesterday we went out to mow the lawn. Covering a huge patch of the garden was a weed, about 6 inches tall, root network under the whole lawn as far as i can work out, leaves up to 2-3 inches, no variation in colour. Thriving around the fence and the trees (shady spots). Came up almost overnight. We strimmed quite a bit of it but there are dozens (or more) stalks and some small plants.
What is it? Do I have any hope of getting rid of it? What do I do (other than pulling up as much of the root network as I can)?
Posts: 2282 | From: England | Registered: Nov 2003
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
Re Yangtze's slug and snail post upthread. We've tried most things over the years, none of which really work. Hungry ducks are supposed to be good, we haven't tried those.
A cousin of Macarius told us that she and her husband had once searched the internet for ways of keeping slugs down. Eventually, they found a Buddhist website that basically said 'give up and use slug pellets' (this was a chat, so I don't know any more details).
Someone at work told me that porage oats are supposed to work - I think the slugs/snails still die an horrific death but birds eating them don't get poisoned. I intend to try it this year.
In other news, our local garden centre has been selling grafted veg plants - tomatoes, peppers and aubergines grafted onto a tomato stock (yes, I know tomatoes aren't veg) - very vigorous. We have a number of tomatoes coming already and the aubergine is in flower. I've never seen this before, has anyone come across it?
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Any recommendations for relatively inexpensive cordless grass trimmers that would cope with the grass around the edge of allotments, including long grass?
Looking at the various ones on sale, minimum charging time seems to be 3-5 hours for which you get c. 15 minutes actual working time, which seems like a rip-off.
And no, I can't borrow a sheep.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Any recommendations for relatively inexpensive cordless grass trimmers that would cope with the grass around the edge of allotments, including long grass?
Looking at the various ones on sale, minimum charging time seems to be 3-5 hours for which you get c. 15 minutes actual working time, which seems like a rip-off.
And no, I can't borrow a sheep.
Maybe a rabbit? Is that the trimming equivalent?
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Grrrrrr hisssss fuckety fuck fuck fuck... excuse me. My lilac (my baby, my darling darling lilac!) has got phytoplasma and there is no cure.[weeps] Just like the roses a few feet over, which developed a very similar disease. Just like the pine tree a few feet further on, which had to be taken out for something similar. Just like... well, I HOPE not just like the brand new cherry tree, which is planted in the midst of all this death and destruction.
It's my own bloody fault, for getting uppity about our organic planting stuff. Not that chemicals would solve THIS problem ...
[goes away to weep in a corner]
(((Lamb Chopped))). Losing beloved plants is no fun (an un/helpful and supposedly professional gardener once 'weeded' out my saxifrage and chopped down a clematis: I was not amused).
I'm not familiar with the disease. Is it in the soil, are you able to plant another? or would it effect any replacements?
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Nobody's sure, really--some think there's an insect vector but it isn't proven. I doon't know if it's just coincidence or not, but a very similar problem called rosette disease attacked some roses nearby and we were told never to plant roses there again. But I've seen nothing to say the two diseases are one and the same--but it's suggestive. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
I came back from Chelsea with nematodes which have now been applied and hopefully will eat all the slugs from the inside out. Or whatever it is they do.
In some Chelsea inspired activity - helped by the sunny weather - I went to Colombia Road flower market and picked up a few plants, including replacement courgettes. And then back to the Turkish music shop which oddly also sells tomato and chilli plants. Spent Monday tidying up garden, sowing various seeds in various places and wrapping copper tape round the newly bought plants in their pots. Won't risk planting them till they're a bit bigger.
Also got very tangled attempting to fix netting over soft fruit.
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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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Anna B
Shipmate
# 1439
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Posted
I figured out finally that I could outwit the deer in our neighborhood by planting in containers close to the house! Got several window boxes full of lovely herbs and lettuces going. They're enjoying the cool wet weather. So ha ha on the deer ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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Bad Christian (TM)
Posts: 3069 | From: near a lot of fish | Registered: Oct 2001
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Heavenly Anarchist
Shipmate
# 13313
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yangtze:
In some Chelsea inspired activity - helped by the sunny weather - I went to Colombia Road flower market and picked up a few plants, including replacement courgettes.
I used to live in the street next to the flower market, Quilter Street, a pretty Victorian terrace used in the Mike Leigh film Secrets and Lies. It was a great place to live and I loved the bustle of the market and the little shops beside it. But on weekdays there was nothing there at all, it was all closed up except a little tapas bar in the evening.
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'I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.' Douglas Adams
Dog Activity Monitor
My shop
Posts: 2831 | From: Trumpington | Registered: Jan 2008
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jenn:
Covering a huge patch of the garden was a weed, about 6 inches tall, root network under the whole lawn as far as i can work out, leaves up to 2-3 inches, no variation in colour. Thriving around the fence and the trees (shady spots). Came up almost overnight. We strimmed quite a bit of it but there are dozens (or more) stalks and some small plants.
What is it? Do I have any hope of getting rid of it? What do I do (other than pulling up as much of the root network as I can)?
This sounds like ground elder . Check it out and if it is, you need a large supply of glycophosphate weedkiller. You're lucky to be starting a new garden from scratch so you don't have to worry about preserving treasured plants - just spray the weeds every month (following the instructions on the container) until it finally gives up.
Pulling up weeds is always helpful but DON'T STRIMM - the nasty stuff can grow from the tiniest bit of stem.
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Jenn.
Shipmate
# 5239
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Posted
Ground elder it is - thanks. Looks like I'll be doing a lot of digging, some spraying and some planting of marigolds...
Thanks
Posts: 2282 | From: England | Registered: Nov 2003
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Any recommendations for relatively inexpensive cordless grass trimmers that would cope with the grass around the edge of allotments, including long grass?
Looking at the various ones on sale, minimum charging time seems to be 3-5 hours for which you get c. 15 minutes actual working time, which seems like a rip-off.
And no, I can't borrow a sheep.
I have b&q's own brand strimmer, which prob only lasts about 15 mins, but I take it with me on each visit (I go several times a week in the growi g season) & do as much as I can, then recharge overnight ready for the next visit. 15 mins is about as much noise & buzz as I can tolerate, so it suits me fine. I do have a petrol strimmer too, but it needs looking at because it doesn't fire up.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Grr. Just when I really, really need to spend a weekend on the allotment, I have not one but two weddings to ring for, and a cricket match far enough away from home that, by the time I've rung for service and rung my mother, I might as well put the kitbag in the car.
Bloody life, it doesn't realise I need to garden!
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
While we're on weeds, anyone recognise the one with paleish, hairy leaves forming a clump as if a flower stem were going to grow in the middle? It doesn't though, the leaves just get larger.
About a quarter of my veg plot is still unsown. Anything I could put in at this late stage that would stand a chance before autumn? (Which usually kicks in about mid-August hereabouts).
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Jack the Lass
Ship's airhead
# 3415
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Posted
Our veg is doing well in the little plastic greenhouse thingy we have out the back - I must admit I'm a bit nervous about planting it out in the allotment, I think I want them to be a bit more substantial before I risk it (and for us to have properly secured the plot with a gate to try and keep out the wascawwy wabbits). We bought a compost bin today to put on the allotment, so I'm looking forward to making my own again (as long as it doesn't become a substitute wabbit nest).
Potted on a gooseberry plant my colleague gave me the other week, he did warn me they get big and it has bolted a fair bit this week. We've a chilli and a pepper (of unknown variety) as well so hopefully we'll get something from them, along with the plentiful salad that has started to appear in the greenhouse which I think will be the first to be harvested.
My pots out the back are looking a bit neglected - the lavendar and hebe are thriving but everything else looks a bit sorry for itself so I might need to do a bit of tidying up. I've found that a lot of the terracotta pots have cracked and big chunks are falling off them, so will have to recycle them for pot crocks.
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"My body is a temple - it's big and doesn't move." (Jo Brand)
wiblog blipfoto blog
Posts: 5767 | From: the land of the deep-fried Mars Bar | Registered: Oct 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I have to say the peas, beans, potatoes and spinach I put in a couple of weeks ago are galloping away.
Trouble is, it's dry now and forecast to be so for the next week plus. A couple of chancers conned their way into my neighbour's garden, promising to tidy it up - did half an hour's weeding, emptied all the rainwater from my water butt to dump stuff in it, demanded money and made off.
So I'm now having to cart tap water from the first floor, bucket at a time.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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TomOfTarsus
Shipmate
# 3053
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Posted
I hear you Chaplehead. My wife said she was sitting out tonight and heard a pack of coyotes howling nearby! Someone turned a light on and they stopped, so they must have been pretty close by. She was upset; and with me being 4 states away on a business trip, so was I! But between the deer, crows, bunnies, squirrels, slugs and other assorted bugs & pestilences, she despairs of ever getting anything going. Yet by the end of summer, we usually have a respectable showing; Spring was stunningly beautiful, if late, this year.
It's tough. living against the woods. One thing we found out is that common garden slugs HATE copper. if you want to keep them out of pots or even away from plants, surround them with bare copper wire. I heard about this and decided to test the theory, so I cleaned off some copper tubing, picked up a nearby slug and placed the little muncher on it. I don't know if you can imagine a frantic garden slug, but that one was about as frantic as I think a slug can get. It kept curling around and extending itself trying to get off the copper, and I simply prolonged the agony (good Christian that I am) by turning the tube appropriately to prevent it's escape. Thus convinced that copper repels slugs, I flung it as hard & far as I could down the road as part of my "Slugs in Space" program.
But does anybody know why my wife's hydrangea would be covered with heads, but only a few of them partially open? The plant seems perfectly healthy & green, but then you get this very disappointing display...
Best,
Tom
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By grace are ye saved through faith... not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ... ordained that we should walk in them.
Posts: 1570 | From: Pittsburgh, PA USA | Registered: Jul 2002
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
Now that summer has arrive here, my Runner bean & French bean plants are now in place, as well as a few courgette plants. The rest are hardening off (well, sitting outside while I find an evening to plant them out). I'd better start taking rain water from home to the barrels at the allotment now in anticipation of nice growing weather.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have baby grapes! The older vine has several little groupings of tiny grapes ranging in size from pinhead to teardrop. (Like my technical terms?)
The smaller grape...plant...(there are no vines) has a wee little fruit on it. I don't expect it to hang on, but am hoping to be surprised.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by TomOfTarsus:
...But between the deer, crows, bunnies, squirrels, slugs and other assorted bugs & pestilences, she despairs of ever getting anything going.
It's frustrating to say the least to have your plants nibbledby the wildlife, but nothing is as annoying as the invaders of the two-legged variety who nicked my lettuce the other year (along with half a bag of compost and a newly bought japonica). Bastards ![[Mad]](angryfire.gif) .
Re: slug control. I read a book once where the author advocated a tennis racket and a strong overarm serve.
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
After a lovely warm week I was so pleased to see yesterday that my courgette seeds had germinated. Today the poor little seedlings are shivering in a biting wind.......
The aquilegia and lupins are in bloom and some of the pansies and snapdragons. Two of my rose bushes are flowering but the others are still in bud. It's just a shame that the cold wind stops me sitting out and enjoying it.
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
Never post here, and probably won't but I thought you lot would get a good laugh out of these enterprising folk.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Ferdzy
Shipmate
# 8702
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Squirrel:
Are there any other fern fans on the Ship? My garden suffers from a lack of direct sun, as well as a sometimes lazy owner. Ferns to the rescue! I've got Japanese Painted, Autumn, Deer and Ostrich Ferns in the ground, and recently recently rescued a Rabbit's Foot and a Bird's Nest from the clutches of the incompetent staff at my local Home Depot. These two are staying in pots, so I can take them inside when it gets cold.
Any suggestions for other easy-to-car-for ferns? I live in the New York City area.
Don't know about ferns, but hostas are the classic thing to plant with ferns - they make a nice size, shape and texture contrast to the ferns.
Posts: 252 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Oct 2004
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Chamois
Shipmate
# 16204
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Posted
Originally posted by PeteC:
quote:
I thought you lot would get a good laugh out of these enterprising folk.
Some people just can't live without a garden!
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The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
Posts: 978 | From: Hill of roses | Registered: Feb 2011
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Grammatica
Shipmate
# 13248
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Posted
Pulled up the last of the mesclun greens and baby lettuces today, apart from the few plants left to go to seed. Salad greens are amazingly easy to grow in central Florida; I can't believe I didn't try them before.
With all the rain from Tropical Storm Andrea, the watermelon and pumpkin vines are fungus-beset, and the zucchini is struggling, so the copper spray came out this morning. Gave some to the pomegranate tree, too, on general principles.
Posts: 1058 | From: where the lemon trees blosson | Registered: Dec 2007
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LutheranChik
Shipmate
# 9826
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Posted
We've had terrible spring weather in my part of Michigan -- it started out fine, even optimal, but then we had a late frost that killed a lot of gardeners' early plantings...followed by torrential rains, storms, even a tornado in our community. Our garden is at the low end of our property, and it was sodden for a full two weeks after this series of storms...I was only able to start cultivating again around the first of June. I do have a healthy bed of snap peas (growing them up old tomato cages this year per an Internet suggestion) and broad beans at the higher end of the garden that I'd planted before the rain, that's doing well, but an early bed of lettuce and greens is mostly washed away. I just planted a bed of green and wax beans and Swiss chard and stuck in a few tomatoes.
Speaking of which...I'd started tomatoes under light indoors in April, but this year I used a heating pad underneath the seed tray, to help along some peppers and eggplant I'd also planted. This was a mistake...it didn't help those vegetables at all, and seemed to make the tomatoes all spindly and overtall despite being close to the grow light. In the meantime I'd invested in a cheap vinyl mini-greenhouse for the patio, and after the temps had moderated outside in mid-May I put the tomatoes in there -- not realizing how hot the interior could become even during 60-degree Fahrenheit days. I almost cooked my plants! Actually I did kill a few of them, but the others have hung on, and I mean to get them into their final beds by the end of this week.
Very frustrating. I think the inability to work the soil and subsequent disruption of the planting schedule has been the worst. I'm depending on the wisdom of my Amish friends, who are a lot more easy-going about these sorts of weather setbacks than I am.
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Simul iustus et peccator
http://www.lutheranchiklworddiary.blogspot.com
Posts: 6462 | From: rural Michigan, USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
After nigh-on three weeks of rainlessness and frequent sunny days, local conditions have reverted to the seasonal norm of damp and cool.
A relief, since I was struggling to keep everything even minimally watered. Peas, potatoes, broad and runner beans coming on with indecent haste, courgette, cabbage, spinach and raspberries looking to join in. And rhubarb set for world domination....
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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A.Pilgrim
Shipmate
# 15044
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yangtze:
Most by slugs or snails - or so I assume from the slime trails, though the managed to demolish the entire plants not just the leaves.
The first tom to go though was I think first struck through by something else - oval hole on the stem.
I'm going to Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow (free ticket, yay, yay and thrice yay - my first time going) so will see if there are any stands there that can sell me slug'n'snail protection. I'm thinking bell cloches. And/or non-nasty chemical slug destroyers. And then I'll buy some more small plants and try again. It's freezing here so can't imagine it's going to make much difference to be leaving it so late.
If you eventually resort to slug pellets one way of avoiding poisoning wildlife is to get a large tile or small paving slab and after scattering the pellets on a small patch of ground put the tile or slab over them, propped up on four small stones so the slab is about half-an-inch above the ground. So when the slugs crawl underneath it and eat the pellets, they die there and the local birds and hedgehogs can't get under the slab to eat the pellets or the poisoned slugs. However, if you have frogs in the garden, they can get under the slab, so this is not a frog-friendly suggestion.
Alternatively, I can vouch for the suggestion by TomofTarsus about bare copper wire deterring slugs - definitely works, and a circle of twisted strands of the stuff round the stem has saved several of my Acer (Japanese Maple) seedlings. (Nothing slugs like more than just-germinated Acer seedlings.) But I guess you'd have to use the wire on plants with a single stem which have all their foliage off the ground.
Two other trapping suggestions: after eating a grapefruit put the halves of skin on the ground one evening like a couple of minature domes, early next morning go out and kill all the slugs found munching away on them. Then there's the traditional beer trap - a container sunk into the ground filled with beer. The slugs start drinking it, get inebriated, fall in and drown. (Well, that's what I've been told. I've never been able to bring myself to serve good beer to slugs when I enjoy drinking it myself. What a waste! )
Angus
Posts: 434 | From: UK | Registered: Aug 2009
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A.Pilgrim
Shipmate
# 15044
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Posted
Sorry for the double post, but I've just noticed Chapelhead's problem:
quote:
Originally posted by Chapelhead:
I've got a wabbit, a wascally wabbit!
I've never seen one in the garden before, or in the fields around here, but now one has appeared (possible disturbed by some building work locally). And I think it's eating my lettuces.
Wascally, wascally wabbit!
Solution: get an air-wifle. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posts: 434 | From: UK | Registered: Aug 2009
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
How can I not post this?
[opera]I killed the Wabbit![/opera]
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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