Gardening 2008

[Harry B'Stard]

Chitting?

Chitting?

I didn't know about the disease thing... it was recommended by none other than Jamie Oliver. Remind me to never eat in one of his eateries... when I get a huge wage rise!DT_Xtremez_28:

As for the chitting, I thought it was just to get the shoots growing, thus hide 'em in a dark place for a while and they sprout. Anyone got any better info, I'm afraid they haven't produced a JAP for gardening yet!DT_Xtremez_30:

HTB

 

[gemarriott]

I didn't know about the disease thing... it was recommended by none other than Jamie Oliver. Remind me to never eat in one of his eateries... when I get a huge wage rise!DT_Xtremez_28:

As for the chitting, I thought it was just to get the shoots growing, thus hide 'em in a dark place for a while and they sprout. Anyone got any better info, I'm afraid they haven't produced a JAP for gardening yet!DT_Xtremez_30:

HTB

Yes normally you put things into the dark to aid sprouting hence the advice on the capsicums about the airing cupboard and heat. Spuds are a bit different what you are trying to get is small strong shoots not the long leggy white ones that you get from putting them in the dark, they just don't produce the goods when planted. My spuds are in the greenhouse in a tray of sand with the rose (end with most sprouts) pointing upwards where they get the most light. Every other day spray them with a solution of half strength maxicrop (a proprietry brand of liquid fertiliser) but that is purely optional, I was taught this method by my Father in law who was a champion vegetable showman winning at National level, it does work.

 

[Harry B'Stard]

Chitting?!?!

Chitting?!?!

Thanks GEM, I've just had a look at the Gardeners Calender website and I was wrong... maybe I'm just too used to being kept in the dark!

Can you recommend any first timer potatoes... as we've already discussed my gardening skills are a little on the weak side!DT_Xtremez_42:

HTB

 

[gemarriott]

Thanks GEM, I've just had a look at the Gardeners Calender website and I was wrong... maybe I'm just too used to being kept in the dark!

Can you recommend any first timer potatoes... as we've already discussed my gardening skills are a little on the weak side!DT_Xtremez_42:

HTB

Pop down your local garden centre or B&Q and look for anything beginning "Pentland" like Pentland Javelin etc. Scottish seed potatoes are usually best by a mile. I would look for a second early variety and maincrop but if you are only going to grow one sort go for a second early, all the varieties sold these days are pretty good. With a second early you can pull thenm as new potaoes or leave them to mature and pull them as mature potatoes when the flowers die down..

 

[Tin basher]

First you shouldn't grow supermarket potatoes, they can introduce disease.

I can vouch for that as a tight git I have grown spuds using ASDA's finest spuds left unused in the veg rack at home for a few years now. Whilst you do get a reasonable crop (not as many as seed potatoes though) mine come up with patches of potatoe scab on around 50% of them. The scab may have been in the ground for years before I started but then again maybe not. Not nice to look at externally but once peeled they are okay. You pays your money and takes your chances.

 

[theladf]

Off Topic When I saw the title gardening 2008, I thought this was a new game for the PS 3 or Wii!!!!DT_Xtremez_19: (bugger thats given Sony an idea)DT_Xtremez_09:

 

[Heilan]

There are some good tips here. Hoping once I get down south, I will have time to get some veggies growing. My daughter has just started to enjoy broccoli & cauliflower, has anyone tried growing these & what were the results? Any good for a 1st timer to try?

 

[gemarriott]

There are some good tips here. Hoping once I get down south, I will have time to get some veggies growing. My daughter has just started to enjoy broccoli & cauliflower, has anyone tried growing these & what were the results? Any good for a 1st timer to try?

broccoli is good if you try the sprouting kind but cauliflowers take a lot of fiddling and ground prep to get right, I must admit to be hopeless with them. The guys who keep chickens are on to a winner, if they move their coop round the plot and plant their caulies and other brassicas directly into the ground the chooks have spent a year walking on without digging they will get brilliant brassicas with no extra fertilizer,

 

[Downsizer]

I'm growing spuds in a bin this year and I've put some bottles in the bottom to aid drainage, drilled some holes in the base and half filled it with compost. Do I need to do anything else (apart from plant the spuds obviously) ?

 

[Heilan]

Thanks Gem for the info, think I will just try with the Broccoli.

 

[gemarriott]

I'm growing spuds in a bin this year and I've put some bottles in the bottom to aid drainage, drilled some holes in the base and half filled it with compost. Do I need to do anything else (apart from plant the spuds obviously) ?

I take it you mean a dustbin? If so just keep topping up the compost as the haulm grows. When you've reached the top with your compost half a dozen canes around the outside with string connecting them to keep the haulms as upright as possible. About 6 seed potatos per bin. Don't forget to get a really good crop to bang on some proprietry potato fertiliser as they'll use the feed in the tub up pretty quickly.

 

[Harry B'Stard]

Chitting myself!

Chitting myself!

'Scuse the pun, couldn't resist it!DT_Xtremez_30:

Got my potatoes on the kitchen window, ended up buying a pack of 10 seed potatoes for £1.69, a second early called Carlingford. Apparently they're a good all rounder... so I live in hope! There were no Pentlands left, obviously popular!

Gem, do you have to feed them, do you have to use maxicrop or will any off the shelf plant food suffice?

Transfered all my flowers and chillis (those that have sprouted) into seed trays so they're a little less cramped, all the other peat pellets were placed in the airing cupboard, again just seeing what will happen!

Good news with the rain side of things. My garden hasn't flooded with the recent downpour so at least my soakaway is working (for now!).

Built my mini greenhouse, then decided to leave it built in the garage as the weather warnings were cause for concern. Will bring it out later in the week when it calms down a bit.

Fairweather to you all...


HTBDT_Xtremez_28:

 

[gemarriott]

Maxicrop is a great food for new seedlings as well as for seed spuds. Carlingford is a great second early, very tasty, I've grown them 4 or 5 times.

You don't have to feed chitting spuds but it does strengthen them. However I am feeding my seedlings of peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers (thats all I've got going at the moment) and the grandkids sunflowers with half strength maxi crop once a week taking care not to over water and spraying the seed spuds with the same mix twice a a week now.

If you are putting your greenhouse on soil a good way to secure it against most winds is to site the frame where you want it then push 2 garden canes into the ground as far as you can a close as possible to the back and so they come up about half the height, same on the sides but just 1 cane and 2 at the front about an an inch in from the edge. Then put the cover over over the frame and canes. Obviously in more exposed situations use more canes.

 

[Harry B'Stard]

Green'ouse

Green'ouse

Cheers for the tips gem,

my greenhouse is one of those cheap £20 plastic things. I'm planning to put the greenhouse against my house on the patio, at the corner that gets the sun first.

I won't be using garden canes stuck into the ground as I intend to use some sodding great screws into the wall of the house! But again thanks for the tip, it may come in handy when I next have to move house!DT_Xtremez_28:

HTB

 

[Tin basher]

Tub spuds going in soon at the request of OC house. Carrot beds dug but not sowed and stones shifted. Easter weekend - seeds trays time with the help of my nippers who will enjoy chucking soil and compost about the place. Some will be late (peppers and the like) some early (french beans) but the kiddies want to do gardening this weekend. Can't pass up the chance for my little lad to walk into the kitchen in his muddy wellies on to update mummy on how it's going every 10 minutes. DT_Xtremez_30:

 

[Tin basher]

'kin mole

'kin mole

He's back the little fecker. Opened the curtains this morning and the little barsteward has started his antics again. I thought the little bu99er had gone as there was no sign for months Oh how wrong I was fecking molehills in the flowerbeds and the lawn. ::/:

How do I get rid of the little furry tw@t??? DT_Xtremez_32:
Practical methods please though the thought of using a small amount of H.E. has it's appeal.

 

[pie sandwich]

Apart from using a .50 cal and shooting the living daylights out of your ground, I don't know.




But I do have a question, The other day like any good pensioner I went off the the garden center, not being green fingered I thought a safe option would be some cactus's, So I got 3 baby one's and a plant pot about 750ml - 1Ltr in volume, I put in some regular compost and planted the first two the third was a bugger to get out of the small pot, I patted the bottom etc and held the cactus firmly in my hand and tried to ease it out, but pulled the cactus away from the root stem.

So I planted the root anyway and fill around it with compost and placed the head over the root's and lined up the main root stem to the head.
This was about a week or so aga and it looks fine, But what I wanted to know is will the plant repair the damage that I caused or is it just going to die from the shock of being damaged.

Also any advice on growing Chilli's would be great.

 

[roverboy]

He's back the little fecker. Opened the curtains this morning and the little barsteward has started his antics again. I thought the little bu99er had gone as there was no sign for months Oh how wrong I was fecking molehills in the flowerbeds and the lawn. ::/:

How do I get rid of the little furry tw@t??? DT_Xtremez_32:
Practical methods please though the thought of using a small amount of H.E. has it's appeal.

I had a mole problem when I lived in quarters on my last tour of Coningsby. DHE's initial response was that it wasn't their problem but after pointing out that I wasn't able to cut my lawn and requesting something in writing that they agreed to this, they sent a man round.

He explained to me that Moles are active on the surface 3 times a day - around 8am, 4 pm and midnight so whatever action you take needs to happen around those times. His solution was to coat some live worms in sulphur and drop them into the holes at 4pm. The mole never came back.

 

[roverboy]

Apart from using a .50 cal and shooting the living daylights out of your ground, I don't know.




But I do have a question, The other day like any good pensioner I went off the the garden center, not being green fingered I thought a safe option would be some cactus's, So I got 3 baby one's and a plant pot about 750ml - 1Ltr in volume, I put in some regular compost and planted the first two the third was a bugger to get out of the small pot, I patted the bottom etc and held the cactus firmly in my hand and tried to ease it out, but pulled the cactus away from the root stem.

So I planted the root anyway and fill around it with compost and placed the head over the root's and lined up the main root stem to the head.
This was about a week or so aga and it looks fine, But what I wanted to know is will the plant repair the damage that I caused or is it just going to die from the shock of being damaged.

Also any advice on growing Chilli's would be great.

Cactus - grafting is a recognised way of propogating cactii, depending on what stock you choose. As you've used the same plant and not cross propogated it should be fine but I'm pretty sure the scars will remain, although anything above the grafting point should be healthy. I always use proper cactus compost, but if you're using normal compost, mix some sand and grit in to aid drainage as normal compost retains too much moisture

Chillis - we've got some growing on our office windowsill. Grow them as you would tomato seeds, except when they get established and start to flower, treat them mean on the watering front. The plant will think it's going to die and start to produce flowers and then fruit as a survival technique.

 

[pie sandwich]

The cactus that I damaged was about the same size as a satsuma and the brake point where it came away from the root is right at the base so the scar will be on the direct underside of the cactus.

I will remove them from the compost and add a bit of sand and some small decrative stones to the compost. If it is still broken I will just get another one, I would have thought it would be ok to move after 2 weeks.