[Fluffywelshsheep]

look good,

still decorating also taking this time to put up pictures etc that has been in boxs  from the time we moved in (about 3 years
now). I can't really do much with the gardenning as it still a bit cold and all the seeds are doing their own bit on the window ledge.

Just has 2 mins brake why i eat a packet of sweets my s-son has gotten for me from the ice cream van,
Oh well that all the mix up finished back to work

Oh btw i have decided to become a sort of vegaterian, cos avoiding meats seems to help my stomach problems

[Rosemary]

Hi, Guy

the beds look great. I like the split rail fencing with the trellis - are you growing anything up it and does it keep the hens out?

What kind of tree is in the foreground?

[rustyme]

well done Guy . Done some more work there then ? Looking tidy as ever !!! Just think it will only be a few short weeks now and the beds will be getting full of veggies......all that lovely grub....I can taste it now. Keep up all the good work mate ...I really do wish I could keep my plot that tidy....

[Guy]

thanks all!! - Rosemary , the trellis is used to grow honeysuckle , we also have roses growing up the rose arch in the middle , this is just to give a pleasing aesthetic (spel.?) look to the middle of the garden (like to have some nice flowers around the place) we do, however, grow mangetout , baby corn and french beans up the trellis along the side of the house    . The tree you mentioned is a victoria plum. the trellis does keep the hens out thankfully , alas as i have neglected to clip their wings for a while they are jumping over the fence at the side!!!!
Thanks Russ , it may look tidy there - but you should see my house!!!

[stephen]

I need some advice!!!

I planted some garlic a few weeks ago, they sprouted and all seemed to be going well.... i checked them the other day.... 1 is fine and the leaves / sprout is still green and standing proudly the other 4 have gone a bit brown and limp, (after the snow) should i cut the dead / dying leaves off? leave them? remove the plants? i did unearth one of them and the clove i planted looks fine (no obivous signs of rotting) but i dont have a clue what to do!

Also i (proberably stupidly) put loads of potatoes into a very large pot with no space between them thinking only a couple of them would grow if any at all (im a first time veggie grower!!) i checked on them after the rain yesterday.... i have a pot full of green shoots! is it ok to leave them this closley planted or should i remove some of them?

 

[rustyme]

hello Stephen,
                  I have never had that happen with garlic!! still I would just leave them to get on with it, unless , the brown bit starts to rot !!! in which case just cut it off . You could also just buy a few more bulbs and plant another load as well as the ones you have. You can never have too much !!!
 The spuds , well it depends on so many things ...size of tub , type of potato, type and fertility of soil, and so on . I have grown potatoes in an old plastic dustbin , and I put 3 King Edwards ontop of about 6" of soil/compost, and then just kept adding more soil mix as they grew till the bin was full. when I emptied the bin it was completely full of very large perfect potatoes . I have never seen so many from so few !!! , it really was full to bursting . So if your tubs are about the size of a black plastic bucket , I would go for about 3 new potatoes and 1 maybe 2, main crop types ! If you take any out go careful and replant in another tub, they should be fine as long as you don't snap to many roots or sprouts. By the way , I have never bought seed potatoes or garlic, I only ever use what I get from the shop/grocers. Just make sure that they are healthy and it should be ok .

[stephen]

Thanks rusty! i shall leave the garlic alone for the time being and keep an eye on it! both the garlic and potatoes are tesco savers that were on the veg rack for quite a while! i wasnt actually expecting anything to grow!! hmmm well the pot is about the size of a dustbin (gets bigger towards the top) and its filled with a mix of: organic compost, multi purpose compost and soil from the garden! the potatoes sit about 1 and 1/2 foot from the bottom and about 7/8 ins from the top. Ive put quite alot more than two or three potatoes in! i think its more like 15 / 20 large ones! (yes i did get a tiny bit carried away!) my main concern is that they wont have enough room!

 

[rustyme]

they won't mate!!!   if you can ?, empty it out and start from the bottom , a layer of soil/compost then the spuds (say 3 or 4 or maybe upto 6 ?) then a layer of soil. Then as they grow say 6" of sprouting top ...put about 4" of soil on that leaving just 2" above soil . Do the same each time they reach 6" . You carry on like that till you reach the top .The spuds will grow all the way up the stem/roots . When I did mine in a dustbin , I cut the bottom off and turned it upside down. Just like the plastic composters you can get now, it made it much easier to empty out as it is cone shaped...just lift it up and the soil/spuds just stay where they are. Nothing to stop you using one of those composters if you want to keep the bin with a bottom though!!!

[stephen]

thought i proberably got too carried away!! ive got another big planter with nothing in it so ill empty the current one and use both pots!! i diddnt actually know that the potatoes grew from the stems i thought they grew downwards! think i should research things a bit more in the future!  Thanks for your help!! 

[rustyme]

you're welcome ...half the fun is in learning ....the other is getting it totally wrong and feeling a right plonker ( a feeling I know only TOO well !!) , but hey ho who cares as long as you enjoy what you are doing . The main thing to remember is , the right way to do something is the way that works for you .... Good luck with them anyway....

[Fluffywelshsheep]

Hiya all just to let you all know because it was such a lovely day today i have been in the garden, would have love to say i did lots of things but alas i havn't but i would say i feel that it has been very productive. In the garden there is three new editions of raised beds sighly different to that of the original three, where as i had run out of useable wood and had to wait for more timber.

My pray where answered with about 30 or so length of pine cladding which was brilliant for me as i have been able to added a couple of pieces together for each side,

  here is a couple of pictures of the new raised beds, the pots are sitting in the raised bed to stop the cardboard /thick paper from flying around in the wind, this in turn to to try and prevent the grass from growing any more before i get a chance to do anything with the raised beds.

I need to get a lot of compost to fill up the raised bed and also the original beds need to have some more compost put in them. I can't really think about planting anything in them at the moment as the weather is not quite good enought.

The big pot that are sitting in the raised bed have got potatoes in them, and are waiting to grow up a bit and then i'll add some more soils to them. There is also a pot which has two onions in them, They where growing on the veg rack so i thought i would see what would happen if they got planted.

Also waitting to be put in the grown is some pink fur apples (which i got from ebay from a seller in orkney)

I have some seedling growing and also some 'starter' plant i pick up from a garden centre very cheaply.

I must retry the runner beans again as the frost has gotten them and need to be redone

Also something to add but wasn't done by me but my hubby is that wee now have outside power and the starting of outside tap

We are getting there slowly

[rustyme]

well done Linz,
                   all looking good with you there now.  The weather will soon be changing for the better soon ( fingers crossed ). Never thought to plant sprouting onions  you will have to let us know what happens to them !! I just use the green sprouting bit instead of spring onions and then the rest just as normal .... I should think that at worst they will just run to seed ? ..nothing to worry about there really , at least you will end up with plenty of onion seed !!!
              I got the mulberry seeds today !!! I will sow them in a week or so . I was almost shocked at the amount in each packet, there must be 200+ maybe even 500...oh well , here we go round the mulberry bush the mul....errr ummm...sorry about that.....lots of mulberry fruit later then  .

[rustyme]

not much to report on the veggie plot at the moment . It has been very wet here at nights  the ground is still too wet to do much with . If it continues I will put a tarp over it to keep the rain off for a few days. I have been doing a very small amount of weeding but it is far to wet to walk on, so can only do the edges. I did weld the blade part back on the hoe yesterday, it has only been broken for a year ( or so ). It hasn't done too bad ! I bought the hoe and one of my rakes in 1984 !!!! Since then it has had 23 new heads and 19 new handles !!!! HA HA .. not really, couldn't resist that. I will have to spend some time making new handles for my spades and forks now too. They are all about the same age as the rake and most have now broken .

[stephen]

haha im the same age as your ho and rake rusty!! weird!! well done with the raised beds linz theyre looking really good!

[Rosemary]

Don't you hate it when folk say that?  I have the occasional Skillseeker at work and they cause endless pain / hilarity depending on your standpoint since they were born in 1991!!