How Does Your Garden Grow?

[DAPPH]

When I cleared the bean patch it was similarly overgrown. I pulled then burnt in the bean trench. Same again I suppose:

https://flic.kr/p/2ndtz7q

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

The ash formed the first layer of the organic "layer cake" in the bean trench; ash, sifted soil, compost, grass cuttings, repeat.

With hindsight I'd have mixed it all up. I think I'll have the BiL dig it all over once this years beans are finished.

Beans are very useful greedy feeders , you can grow climbing stringless kidney runner beans, stringless climbing French beans , broad beans and several sorts of stringless bush beans green or yellow podded .( which are great for sweet pickled dilly beans ).
Make a new large bean trench late this year at least three foot deep filled with paper ,cow muck & straw and a good sprinkling of wood ashes . Wet well as you fill the trench over a few weeks ram it down level with the top of the soil then stick a foot of topsoil over it. Having such a deep manured trench allows a continuous level of moisture & nutrient to be available for the 2025 crop . Doing big deep trenches like this all over the garden over the years also allows deep manuring & fantastic cropping as well as ensuring that pest populations don't build up and the nitrogen nodules from the beans roots also fertilized the ground for the next years different crops.

Tis said by the ancients I used to know who took over grandfather & fathers allotments ( 80 or so years in the same family hands. That doing deep manuring like this only needs to be done once every seven to nine years then just top up the top as you rotate your crops , when you'll eventually end up with three to four feet of fantastic soil . I used a mini digger several hundred bags of spent mushroom compost four transit tippers of cow muck with winter straw bedding & a ton of paper to make my deep manured beds along side two old timer beds on the allotments .

 

[DAPPH]

View attachment 455014

Think I'd rather have a corded strimmer than a corroded strimmer

 

[Onoff]

This is my third year of accidental and tbh not overly committed vegetable gardening.

My bean patch, same place, third year in a row. Probably not the best idea I know. I've STILL got to clear and dig over that bit to the left to extend my growing area:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bh8P

Despite being a foot apart, double last year's spacing, I've had a lot of slug and snail loss. I did it thinking predators (birds mainly) might have better access. A clump of cat hair round the base seems to have some effect keeping them away as does mounding up coffee grinds around each plant:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bh14

No idea what this brown patch is:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1a2H6

I've black fly already on some so need to start spraying with peppermint oil and the neem oil / organic agricultural soap mix.

Water barrels are all empty pretty much so it's garden tap for now. I use MiracleGro Organics once a week.

I over planted beans in pots to start with so had lots that didn't go into the ground. The pots I used were definitely too small as well, lesson learnt. Gave some away but was then left with a number of stragglers. Some got predated by I think birds taking the tops off. Most became pot bound to some degree and a few possibly over watered. I used the better ones to infill and replace the losses in the main patch. I was still left with 10 or so.

I've put 9 of these in cut down 20L water treatment tubs with a 50/50 cheapo Lidl compost / 6mm sieved, soil mix:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bjsy

Only in a couple of days and all but one have really picked up. They even seem to be regrowing their "top bit" that climbs:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bjrm

I assume I can encourage the beans around the poles by say loosely tying them with string until established?

Just a few sorry looking ones to find homes for today, 3 or 4 sad butternut squash that I've little hope for and what may or may not be beans! Here in a "lid" cut off a 20L barrel:

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

3 or 4 sad butternut squash that I've little hope for and what may or may not be beans!

My squash was struggling too but has picked up with the hot weather we had in London last week.

Does anyone here know about PYRETHRUM 5EC ...I'm thinking about using it on my asparagus as it's getting decimated by asparagus bugs. From what I've read the main ingredient is a plant extract....its bloomin expensive though so I'd want to know that it works before I buy it!

I think it's indiscriminate which isn't good as ideally I would like to encourage natural predators like lady birds....I just have a bit of an infestation that I need to knock back in the short term as no amount of picking the little sods off is helping!

 

[500e]

Removed 151 flowers at 1800 BST now 2215 wonderful things Evening primroses

 

[DAPPH]

This is my third year of accidental and tbh not overly committed vegetable gardening.

My bean patch, same place, third year in a row. Probably not the best idea I know. I've STILL got to clear and dig over that bit to the left to extend my growing area:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bh8P

Despite being a foot apart, double last year's spacing, I've had a lot of slug and snail loss. I did it thinking predators (birds mainly) might have better access. A clump of cat hair round the base seems to have some effect keeping them away as does mounding up coffee grinds around each plant:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bh14

No idea what this brown patch is:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1a2H6

I've black fly already on some so need to start spraying with peppermint oil and the neem oil / organic agricultural soap mix.

Water barrels are all empty pretty much so it's garden tap for now. I use MiracleGro Organics once a week.

I over planted beans in pots to start with so had lots that didn't go into the ground. The pots I used were definitely too small as well, lesson learnt. Gave some away but was then left with a number of stragglers. Some got predated by I think birds taking the tops off. Most became pot bound to some degree and a few possibly over watered. I used the better ones to infill and replace the losses in the main patch. I was still left with 10 or so.

I've put 9 of these in cut down 20L water treatment tubs with a 50/50 cheapo Lidl compost / 6mm sieved, soil mix:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bjsy

Only in a couple of days and all but one have really picked up. They even seem to be regrowing their "top bit" that climbs:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1bjrm

I assume I can encourage the beans around the poles by say loosely tying them with string until established?

Just a few sorry looking ones to find homes for today, 3 or 4 sad butternut squash that I've little hope for and what may or may not be beans! Here in a "lid" cut off a 20L barrel:

View attachment 455024

The dead patch on the leaves look as though you have had sun light magnified through drops of water on the leaves ,,it acts as a magnifying glass and actually causes leaf burn .

Let the beans grow on their own , some will climb anticlockwise on the poles , when they are about 15 inches long gently train the trailing plants onto the other climbers. Don't use string to hold them I found that if it gets a bit windy the string will saw through the tender stem and knock the plants back considerably.

 

[DAPPH]

My squash was struggling too but has picked up with the hot weather we had in London last week.

Does anyone here know about PYRETHRUM 5EC ...I'm thinking about using it on my asparagus as it's getting decimated by asparagus bugs. From what I've read the main ingredient is a plant extract....its bloomin expensive though so I'd want to know that it works before I buy it!

I think it's indiscriminate which isn't good as ideally I would like to encourage natural predators like lady birds....I just have a bit of an infestation that I need to knock back in the short term as no amount of picking the little sods off is helping!

For asparagus beetle I've used Resolva trigger pack bug spray in the late evening .
o far this year the asparagus has been sparse we have only had six or so meals for three off it .

Now I consider it finished for the year , usually by the end of May we let it run to death but this year it hasn't produced many fronds , the summer is so late for us here in South Wales .

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

this year the asparagus has been sparse we have only had six or so meals for three off it .

It's been the same here too...I was chatting to another plot holder and they said it's not been great for them too so it's a general issue I think.

It was so bad this year I just let it run too...but the bloomin beetles are really causing problems.

 

[Onoff]

Whilst I've been impressed by the straggler beans ability to recover, I have my doubts on these 4 butternut squash.

I planted 4 seeds in a Pret A Manger cardboard salad bowl that had a clip on clear lid, aka mini greenhouse I thought. Nothing happened then all of a sudden it did. I transplanted them to small cardboard boards and have neglected them ever since. Put them in the blue tub yesterday:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1mxU9

https://flic.kr/p/2q1f9Z1

 

[Greeves246]

Pond lilies responded well to those two sunny days.

 

[Greeves246]

Just been outside and the first Hemerocallis ( day lily) is in flower

 

[DAPPH]

Whilst I've been impressed by the straggler beans ability to recover, I have my doubts on these 4 butternut squash.

I planted 4 seeds in a Pret A Manger cardboard salad bowl that had a clip on clear lid, aka mini greenhouse I thought. Nothing happened then all of a sudden it did. I transplanted them to small cardboard boards and have neglected them ever since. Put them in the blue tub yesterday:

https://flic.kr/p/2q1mxU9

https://flic.kr/p/2q1f9Z1

Have you got low down drainage holes in the blue tubs , soils will soon go sour if there is insufficient drainage thus affecting the plants in the undrained tubs

 

[ukracer]

Have you got low down drainage holes in the blue tubs , soils will soon go sour if there is insufficient drainage thus affecting the plants in the undrained tubs

What about plant pots sitting in trays with water in?

 

[DAPPH]

What about plant pots sitting in trays with water in?

It depends on how deep the tray is and how much capillary suction the growth medium is . I tried using 30 litre tubs with inbuilt drain holes in 2 inch deep trays kept topped up every three days with a Tomorite solution as the feed . .for tomatoes and curbits last year . Infill was manure compost and Irish peat with some supposedly quality sieved top soil I was given .

These trayed pots didn't do well at all , I discovered that the bottom three inches of fill was a stinking soppy mess when I tipped them out at the end of the growing season , suspect it was a case of plants don't like wet feet unless they are pond plants .

 

[500e]

Just been outside and the first Hemerocallis ( day lily) is in flower
View attachment 455179

Is that what these are @Greeves246

 

[Greeves246]

Is that what these are @Greeves246
View attachment 455230

Yes

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

Looks like something a bit alien going on here

One year on garden is filling out.

 

[Onoff]

Have you got low down drainage holes in the blue tubs , soils will soon go sour if there is insufficient drainage thus affecting the plants in the undrained tubs

Yep, there's 6 1/4" holes in the base of all 3 blue tubs. I water until it comes out of the bottom.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Been harvesting beetroot this week...these are varieties not available in the supermarket. Just enough for a side portion...I usually pick a few every other day from now until they're all gone!

Going in the airfryer of course

 

[Onoff]

Years ago SWMBO thought it'd be a good idea to plant some bamboo right next to my garage. Horrible stuff that just gives the rats and squirrels easy access.

Now I need some more runner bean canes and this stuff looks just the right length and diameter. If I lop some lengths off and stick in the ground / tubs, will it take root and start growing again?