How Does Your Garden Grow?

[DAPPH]

I've read that May is the time to plant sweetcorn so they'll be going in pots tonight.

Soak them in clean water for 24 hr changing it after 12 hrs it will give them a head start if the weather turns to dry . plant them in blccks 12 foot by 12 foot . using stakes and string or roofing batons to keep them vertical in windy wet weather , staked /supported at 3' 6 tall when they are about four foot tall or else you might find all of them torn out the wet soil and/ or broken stemmed . In a big field this is not so important as they get mutual protection .

 

[DAPPH]

Pickled Gherkins ? that sounds interesting ,do you have any spare seeds ?

Only sow the curbit seeds pointy end up . if you sow thm on their flat side they tend to rot and die . They also do well from an over noight soaking in clean water before sowing them .

 

[DAPPH]

I cheated and purchased several packs of ready to sow plants from our local Tesco's on Monday morning ( poor half dead un watered specimens for £ 11.50 ) ..its been too cold to sow direct outside and I didn't get the glass house cleaned out when ni should have done
I bunged the trays on a trolley in the glasshouse and put it under one of my timed micro misting spray jets . This evening two day later they look good enough to be planted out tomorrow .

 

[premmington]

I cheated and purchased several packs of ready to sow plants from our local Tesco's on Monday morning ( poor half dead un watered specimens for £ 11.50 ) ..its been too cold to sow direct outside and I didn't get the glass house cleaned out when ni should have done
I bunged the trays on a trolley in the glasshouse and put it under one of my timed micro misting spray jets . This evening two day later they look good enough to be planted out tomorrow .

I am getting lazy - I bought tomato plants this year for the greenshouse.

 

[DAPPH]

I'm cutting a 1/4 inch thick equatorial slices of whatever toms my lass comes back from shopping with . ( asked her for one of each if possible ) . I'll be putting the full of seeds slice on top of 2 " of sterile moist compost then sieve half an inch of sand & compost over it & put them in the 22 oC bottom heated misting bed in the glasshouse .

Each ring or set of different rings in used grape punnet's that already have the drain holes in the bottoms .

In 5 to 8 days I'll have a shed load of baby tom's smiling at me . Once they get to the second leaf set I'll be " wet pricking " out and planting them almost up to their leaves in old pot noodle cups with bottom drain holes as the hairy stem produces zillions of roots t Once these reach 9 inches high I'll transplant them into 30 litre tubs .. carefully laying at least six inches of hairy stem in a shallow trench in the tub top . Again this is to get even more roots so I can get stronger bigger plants & fruits than if I just plonked a plant in a small vertical hole .

 

[RobCox]

Only sow the curbit seeds pointy end up

I always sow courgettes and pumpkin seeds pointy end down. When they sprout they split the seed case at the pointy end, the roots go down and it lifts the seed case out of the soil as it grows.

 

[DAPPH]

Interesting Rob , thanks .
I'm sure I've always done them point up .. when I have a chance & can find them I'll read up some old gardening tips by Mr Digwell & Percy Thrower

 

[DanZac]

I'm sure I've always done them point up .. when I have a chance & can find them I'll read up some old gardening tips by Mr Digwell & Percy Thrower

Please update us with your findings as I'm intrigued now.

For the record I just poke mine in a pot however they land and they always seem to come up (eventually, once they've worked out which way they're supposed to be growing )

 

[Onoff]

After missing out on some sleepers on Gumtree a little while ago, at what I thought was a steal, I figured it wasn't meant to be but reckoned something would turn up.

My nephew suggested I look on FB which I don't frequent particularly. Had a quick look but nothing local and been busy since then so didn't really bother again.

Then tonight my nephew rocks up and asks what I was doing tonight. He'd found this lot posted on FB an hour before, free! Off we went:

A mix of proper sleepers and some modern pine ones I think judging by the varying weights.

 

[DAPPH]

Please update us with your findings as I'm intrigued now.

For the record I just poke mine in a pot however they land and they always seem to come up (eventually, once they've worked out which way they're supposed to be growing )

Experiment in the offing ....today , I'll put four curbit seeds 1/2" deep in a plant pot points up & four points down then if I've any left I'll lay them flat on their sides , water them , then place on the heated misting bed in the glass house and take pictures when things germinate and show their greenery .

 

[redlig]

Experiment in the offing ....today , I'll put four curbit seeds 1/2" deep in a plant pot points up & four points down then if I've any left I'll lay them flat on their sides , water them , then place on the heated misting bed in the glass house and take pictures when things germinate and show their greenery .

Be sure that when planting them on their sides it is essential to have them arranged in a west to east direction not north to south.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Percy Thrower

Now, there's a name to conjure with. Up there with Barry Bucknell

 

[DAPPH]

Curbit seed orientation experiment started to day ( yes I know ...... I'm dyslexic & put the 9th instead of the 6th of May, ( Einstein said , " Time is relevant ? ) four seeds per pot in a circle ....... even .

 

[Onoff]

Just found out you're not supposed to use creosoted railway sleepers for this sort of thing. Burns the ground and leaches nasties into the soil and potentially the veg/you. Ah well, that's the sleepers out then!

 

[DanZac]

Just found out you're not supposed to use creosoted railway sleepers for this sort of thing. Burns the ground and leaches nasties into the soil and potentially the veg/you. Ah well, that's the sleepers out then!

I'd just lay them on some plastic sheet or old tarp and bring it up the inside edge to keep the actual growing space off the timber.

Probably be fine, although I'm no expert.

 

[DAPPH]

Just found out you're not supposed to use creosoted railway sleepers for this sort of thing. Burns the ground and leaches nasties into the soil and potentially the veg/you. Ah well, that's the sleepers out then!

BT lines men had to put up with ancient 100 yr old & fairly young telegraph & electricity poles that had been pickled for weeks & weeks in proper creosote . In hot summers it came out the poles and left you climbing the last 12 feet of so on the iron steps getting it all over your overalls & boots . The safety belt would stick to the pole & the ladder lashing ropes top & bottom would get slathered in the darn stuff .. BT changed to Tanalised poles .. Oops .. it's even more carcinogenic the the old tar based creosote especially if you burn logs from cut up poles .

 

[RobCox]

Here are some of my courgette seeds sprouting. Variety is Gold Rush F1, a yellow courgette. Planted pointy end down, pushing the seed pod out the earth as they come up:

 

[Onoff]

Bean seeds in pots on May 2nd. Still no signs of life!

Got some coir rope in Lidl, was 2 for 1. There's 2x15m in each pack. Was going to string my bean frame with it using just a round turn and two half hitches on the tubular frame, top and bottom. Figure if it goes slack I can just re-tension it.

 

[fizzy]

Just knocked up a few of these.
Unlimited pallet wood helps. This stuff is much thicker.

 

[fizzy]

I used my trust B&D electric plane to shave off the inner corners. Perfect for holding canes. Cunning eh?
Brother uses them for growing peas.