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Gardening 2008

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Vim, you'll start finding out about life as a poultry owner.
Lots of eggs recipes and the power of egg bartering!
In a while people will admire your generosity with eggs, but the reality is you're just pleased to offload them!
 
Vim_Fuego said:
Sorry to keep hijacking the gardening thread but I think if I started a poultry keeping one I'd get very lonely...

Anyway make my egg count 8 in the first 48 hours of ownership...They're machines not flesh and blood I tells yer!
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Show off...I'm only getting 4 per 48 hrs...I hope you get mites :PDT_Xtremez_14:
 
Downsizer said:
Show off...I'm only getting 4 per 48 hrs...I hope you get mites :PDT_Xtremez_14:
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I've just been reading about that on a poultry forum...sounds fooking nasty if you get the red ones...It would help if I could catch one of the little sods to give them a proactive powdering but they're like a lightning fast bar of soap...
 
Vim_Fuego said:
I've just been reading about that on a poultry forum...sounds fooking nasty if you get the red ones...It would help if I could catch one of the little sods to give them a proactive powdering but they're like a lightning fast bar of soap...
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Can you not just put the powder onto any bedding they may have or does it have to go direct onto them?
 
I gave all four the once over looking for sugar-like deposits around the base of the tail, any mites around the neck or where the wings meet the body and also looked at the leg for raised scales...They all seemed clean....

LQ...The red mite lives in cracks and crevices of wooden chicken huts...They come out at night and feast on the bird's blood and if left unchecked will kill it...So you have to treat the bird direct as well as power wash and disenfect the house as well...I've just read somewhere else that using a blow torch on all the above nooks and crannys (of the hut, not the chicken!) can help to get rid of the varmits...They sound like a real pain.

I don't intend to buy new animals...As long as I don't kill these and they remain happy if one starts looking broody I'm going to buy some hatching eggs and see how that goes...
 
Tin basher said:
Being frugal by nature (tight) I collect what seeds I can from the plants in the garden and so far most things are fine. Decorative poppy seeds (not the class A drug type) , lavateria and trailing nastursiums all drying out ready for next year. Later on in the year I shall save the seeds from inside my peppers and chillies. Doing this means I haven't had to buy seeds for a long time. Some things are coming to an end but the lillies are just about bloom if I can keep the lily beetles in check. Evil little blighters and as I am finding hard to get rid of. Not all is well in the veg patch though, carrots are nearly ready, some have started to bolt but cutting back on the TLC has helped. (Thanks Gem) but the "in the ground" spud harvest would have to improve to get to poor. Dug one up as a test this week as the tops have died back and are going brown. Result just 6 tiny spuds all a little smaller than a golf ball very disappointing. Hoping for better in my spud bins. Runner beans coming into full crop now and there are loads of them, second lot of radish about ready to. Chillies and cayenne peppers in the conservatory doing well but the bell peppers are not so good as I have been fighting a losing battle with the greenfly all summer. Outdoor toms miles better than the indoor ones even though they are the same variety.
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saving seeds is false economy in the veggie field mate. Spuds are always best grown from certified virus free stock. Most veg are best grown from F1 hybrid seeds which revert mostly back to inferior cultivars after one season. £20 spent on good seed spuds,onion sets and seeds in February is as good as money in the bank. One major exception being runner beans, if you get good results keep a couple of the biggest and best beans for seed. Don't forget never grow the same thing in the same sol 2 years running. Never follow spuds with tomatoes or vice versa.
 
Well we've had the first sunny day over here in what must be about two months, so of course the mind was turned to the garden. After last years success with the strawberries I've replanted and bought a shed load more to go into some contraption which stands abouts four foot tall with holes all the way up it ( maybe this year I'll get around to making sure I get more fruit than the birds).

I'll be doing the peppers and chillies again in one of the raised vege beds along with broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, peas, potato's and of course tom's. This year however I've decided to become a complete tree hugging hippy and try it without any pesticides at all and try to rely soley on companion planting. So far its marigolds, cleome, foxgloves and nasturtions (sp) with a whole bunch of wild flower seeds to go under the fruit trees and grape vines with garlic for the roses.

So has anyone got any other ideas of what plants make for good companions for vege patches and the reasons why or am I on hiding to nowhere. Anyway I'll let you all know how things go without the chemicals and whether this tree hugging stuff does actually work.
 
Emptied out my potato bin today and it was full of ants which had eaten tons of my spuds...just loads of empty skins left....

Any suggestions on how I can keep the ants out next year?
 
Downsizer said:
Emptied out my potato bin today and it was full of ants which had eaten tons of my spuds...just loads of empty skins left....

Any suggestions on how I can keep the ants out next year?
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Thats a bugger mate, never had that happen to me. Re-site the bin, clean it thoroughly with jeyes fluid to sterilise and resite it. I would think a good coating of ant powder in the base of the tub and around it next year should solve the problem..
 
Little cnuts really fukked me off...still got a few kilos of spuds out of it anyway...

Is there any "winter" spuds I can plant for later in the year or is that it for now?
 
If you have a greenhouse even a plastic one you can put seeded spuds in in August. Should get new potatoes by Christmas. I,ve tried it but with varying results, depends how cold it gets.
 
Plumber said:
So has anyone got any other ideas of what plants make for good companions for vege patches and the reasons why or am I on hiding to nowhere. Anyway I'll let you all know how things go without the chemicals and whether this tree hugging stuff does actually work.
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I use lemon scented geraniums as companion plants in the hope that the lemony aroma will deter pests. They have very tiny pink flowers but lots of big leaves which are decorative and they grow quite vigorously and seem to work upto a point. Never seen one with any slug damage so I guess even slugs don't like to eat them or be near them. Never been bothered by carrot root fly in the past 2 years though Gems info on the raised beds may also be a contributing factor. Does it work hard to say I don't like to use chemicals but am reasonably pest free could just be lucky.
 
'Fuse mansions has a few of the dreaded leylandii around the far end of the gallop. Fine, but they have to be shown who's boss at least once a year. This involves ladders, electric cable and a lot of swearing. Mrs 'fuse, not being quite ready to take up widowhood yet, had been reading a gardening magazine and came up with a solution. "You need a pole trimmer". "A what?!!". Turns out to be a 2-stroke hedge trimmer on the end of a 6 foot pole; adjust the angle of the blade, Vruuummm and you're away. "Pick the one you want and I'll buy it for you" she says. :PDT_Xtremez_28: Well, you can't refuse an offer like that can you.

So, it turned up today and I had my first outing with the beast. I have to inform you good brethren (and sisters) that I now have full posing rights in the neighbourhood. This is the Ferrari of garden power tools. It has all the necessary ingredients, 1. lots of noise, 2. looks just a bit dangerous, 3. no other fekker around here has got one. Take your budget electric buzzy thing away and look at some real power. Hah! The trees looked as if they had been caressed with a razor as well.
 
It's been absolutley teaming it down with rain here all day, and heavens have just opened yet again. My gladioli are taking a right battering to the point where the shafts are bent right over and looking very sorry for themselves. They are obviously going to need some support but I don't want to break the shaft or restrict the flowers. What's the best way of supporting them, thin cane with garden twine was my first thought but would that just cut through them?
 
Garden twine should do it, but I wouldn't just wrap it round the once. Two or three times around the stem would give more support.

Yes the weather is cr@p. My outdoor toms are rubbish this year.
The size of marrowfat peas, and they are ripening so they won't get any bigger.
I've pulled 2 tomato's this week.
This time last year I was pulling 20-30 per week, and they were the size of golfballs.
 
Poor Spuds

Poor Spuds

Dug up my spud "harvest" today very very disappointing to say the least. The tops had died down and everything appeared to be just as you would expect and then I started digging. From the 8 plants in my veg patch I got 4 spuds just 4 none bigger than a lemon and all mishapen and definatley not edible. There where others but they were all mush with 100's of very small white things crawling over them and in them. They are about 1.5mm long and as slim as a cotton thread. White fly or something else not sure. However not all bad news, the ones in my big spud bin have produced a reasonable amount and the runner beans are going great guns.

Guess no spuds in the ground next year.
 
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