How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Onoff]

I've got a bath...

An old acrylic bath, two in fact. Debating making a freestanding, slug/snail proof salad growing enclosure, maybe with a glazed, hinged lid.

Carrots, lettuce & radishes, maybe some onions as I've read they keep a particular fly type away from I think the radishes.

Any tips? How much soil etc. Do I heat the soil first to kill the any slug / snail eggs etc?

 

[Onoff]

9 days and no shoots on my beans yet They've been in this tray since planting and I wrap the whole thing in a giant, clear plastic bag at night. Had to keep it on some days due to heavy rain. Some mornings this week here the frost light has been on on the car!

I brought them into the conservatory last night. This morning swmbo "forgot" to put them out on what's been a gloriously sunny day!

 

[Slowcoach]

9 days and no shoots on my beans yet They've been in this tray since planting and I wrap the whole thing in a giant, clear plastic bag at night. Had to keep it on some days due to heavy rain. Some mornings this week here the frost light has been on on the car!

I brought them into the conservatory last night. This morning swmbo "forgot" to put them out on what's been a gloriously sunny day!

some look a bit dry judging by the colour of the compost.
are there any drainage holes in the cups.
is this how you grew them last year, I’d be inclined to leave them indoors not in direct sunlight until they germinate not keep putting outside then bringing them in, that’s like hardening them off before planting out.

 

[Onoff]

are there any drainage holes in the cups.

One hole punched in the base.

https://flic.kr/p/2ozqKL6

Last year I started them in these. 50 seeds = 50 plants.

https://flic.kr/p/2ngFYYX

Looking back I don't think there were any holes in those ones:

https://flic.kr/p/2nifnhC

Is the hole an issue? I could re-pot in cups, without the holes.

 

[Slowcoach]

id have said no hole makes keeping compost damp a bit tricky as it would be easy to waterlog them. Did you sow at this time of year last time.

 

[DanZac]

9 days and no shoots on my beans yet

Give them a chance. I'm sure runner beans normally take a couple of weeks to germinate and get through the compost.

As per @Slowcoach advice, I'd just leave them in them indoors until they hatch, although at this time of year you could probably plant them direct into the soil down south and expect them to grow.

 

[Onoff]

id have said no hole makes keeping compost damp a bit tricky as it would be easy to waterlog them. Did you sow at this time of year last time.

3rd May 2022:

https://flic.kr/p/2nie2ZA

12th May 2022:

https://flic.kr/p/2nk4Lde

 

[Slowcoach]

You could try scratching away some compost on two or three to see if anything is happening.
make sure the compost is not too dry.
sow another batch
are they newly bought, left over from last year or saved from last year’s crop.

 

[Onoff]

You could try scratching away some compost on two or three to see if anything is happening.
make sure the compost is not too dry.
sow another batch
are they newly bought, left over from last year or saved from last year’s crop.

Brand new seeds from the same place as last year.

 

[DennisCA]

I planted potatoes today. My SO usually plants lots of lettuce for some reason. I don't get it. Lettuce is boring and cheap at the store, and it doesn't keep. Now it's all potato.

 

[RichardM]

@Onoff
Holes - what sort of pots are this years, look to me like waxed paper cups? Last years look to be the ones you can put in the ground and the roots grow through. I wouldn't think the hole will make any difference, I expect they're sulking as it's not been too good a year so far (although my potatoes and carrots are shooting).

 

[Onoff]

what sort of pots are this years, look to me like waxed paper cups?

Dunno, "industrially compostable" expresso cups I think. Guess that means high temperatures, added moisture etc a bit like if you're going to compost PLA.

 

[bigegg]

Dunno, "industrially compostable" expresso cups I think. Guess that means high temperatures, added moisture etc a bit like if you're going to compost PLA.

I went to makro and had a look at the paper cups.
It's cheaper to buy the paper mache plant pots from Wilkinson's.

 

[God mode restorations]

Three new additions to my garden that I will plant today. Two rhododendrons and a calceolaria calynopsis

 

[addjunkie]

Im not a gardener by any means….but rhododendrons left un checked can be the plants of satan.

Place near here some on dumped half a dozen from large pots….probably though they were helping the wildlife, rather than composting them…..they are taking over slowly. Forestry England are going to remove them.

 

[brewdexta]

The missus needs water for the veg beds now the weather has turned sunny and she sowing seeds and seedlings.

We need to get water from this IBC fed from the greenhouse roof.

To this 1300 litre tank I purloined off my brother a couple of years ago.

The larger tank sits at he highest point in the veg arch so she can water the veg using gravity.

We buried some 25mm MDPE pie and a bit of external cat5 a while ago between the two tanks, and I have ducts to the boiler plant room nearby so was going to put a sensor in both tanks and write a bit of logic to to control a pump.

Then missus decided to strip the cat5, and then I spotted this bit of kit from Clarke.

It's a pump and controller. The controller will stop the pump when the ball valve in the top tank closes and stop it up the bottom tank is empty. The pump is self priming unless completely dry, you just add water into a plug in the side if this is the case.

This us just a try out, seems to work fine apart from a couple of leaks where I need a bit more PTFE tape.

I now need to build a little weather hut for it and locate it just a tad lower than the bottom tank.

Missus is pleased, it took half an hour to assemble and an upturned scrap plastic water tank will only take a few minutes to make into a weather hut.

The growing season is just picking up around here, bluebells have been out for a week or so and she's planting all sorts of stuff I've never heard of before.

Edit - I forgot to add that I have a mesh filter on the IBC to catch and crud washed off the greenhouse roof before it hits the pump.

 

[droopsnoot]

Gave up on "No mow May" this afternoon, the lawns were getting really overgrown and if I leave them until June it'll take ages to get any semblance of tidiness back.

 

[gaz1]

if that green hut is yours you can build up a 4 ibc water collection system up that will give plenty of water from it

as it will collect water from the guttering both sides of the shed

 

[brewdexta]

if that green hut is yours you can build up a 4 ibc water collection system up that will give plenty of water from it

as it will collect water from the guttering both sides of the shed

View attachment 400350

Do you think I would be sodding around with pumps if I had a roof to collect water from on higher ground?

 

[RichardM]

Carrots are coming along, dog will be happy in a couple of months - they're for him, he loves carrots!