This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[gentlegreen]

I only put in one trap so far - caught a few - a snail ate the paper on the outside of the can.

I planted out some ornamental tobacco yesterday and one slug came from nowhere and chomped holes in it. I don't know what the nicotine levels are like in that species, but nicotine is used as a pesticide.

I suppose it's down to me having abandoned my gardens for years. Maybe it will get better if I keep on dealing with it.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop throwing the snails on the compost heap and start squidging them too. They keep attacking plants growing from corms and tubers that are unlikely to recover.

 

[aqua]

crush snail shells then birds that normally can't smash them get a lovely dinner

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

Salt near bushes and on pathways etc can help with slugs too

 

[felixthecat]

I haz tomatoez


Sorry for rubbish phone pic - excitement got the better of me

 

[aqua]

I haz potatoes! 11 of them! Should have left the plant longer tbh but fuck it, that's my tea sorted

 

[mr steev]

I haz potatoes! 11 of them! Should have left the plant longer tbh but fuck it, that's my tea sorted

What sort are they? If they're new, then they taste better younger (as soon as they've flowered)

 

[aqua]

you see this is the problem, I have 4 types planted, 1 was pink fir and I know where they are (and they're not flowering yet anyway), then the other three. Well, they could be fucking anything I think there was a salad type, a purple one (maybe?) and something else

I know I know, writing them down would have helped

 

[mr steev]

you see this is the problem, I have 4 types planted, 1 was pink fir and I know where they are (and they're not flowering yet anyway), then the other three. Well, they could be fucking anything I think there was a salad type, a purple one (maybe?) and something else

I know I know, writing them down would have helped

I don't think you're the only one with this problem... it adds an element of suprise

Pfa's are quite late iirc, lift them as soon as they flower for the best results.

 

[aqua]

well the ones I pulled today were flowering, but they look like they needed a bit longer, so with the others I'll wait until the flowering is well underway/nearly over I think

I don't really mind tbh, I'm not that obsessive about getting it all right, I'm just overjoyed I have some spuds

 

[mr steev]

A rough guide is to lift new/salad varieties as soon as they flower, leaving them longer and the tubers will develop a thicker skin. With other varieties it's best to wait until the flowers have died off as the thicker skin will help them store longer

 

[aqua]

arses I have no idea what is planted I shall aim for the middle ground

what about pink fir? just flowered or finished flowering? I know where they are in the plot

 

[mr steev]

arses I have no idea what is planted I shall aim for the middle ground

what about pink fir? just flowered or finished flowering? I know where they are in the plot

If you haven't got loads that you intend to store then earlier is probably better than later (unless you're planning on making lots of jackets) - they will have done most of their growing by the time they flower.

Lift pfa's when they flower - they can be very knobbly and would be a pain in the arse to peel!

 

[aqua]

cool I shall carry on with what I'm doing then don't have many plants so it's all good. I didn't actually mean to grow spuds I accidentally bought some in the garden centre so any spuds are bonus spuds

It's all very exciting though

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm pretty sure Pink Fir Apple are maincrop.

I never used to get a very high yield from them - so probably best to leave them till last...

 

[gentlegreen]

Spent the day planting up my brother's veggie garden.

Some of the plants had been in pots a teeny bit longer than I would have liked, but they have lovely soil with loads of compost dug in and he's probably more of a natural gardener than me - his runner beans are coming along nicely.

They now have Courgettes, Romanesco broccoli, Tuscan kale, rainbow chard, sweet corn, ornamental tobacco, heliotrope and verbena bonariensis.

I hope they all do well - it's been years since I grew any of these things.

 

[softybabe]

Iz strawberries

 

[zoooo]

I think I killed my newly planted lettuces.
And they're supposed to be the easiest thing to grow. Am rubbish.

Maybe I over watered them.

 

[gentlegreen]

Maybe I over watered them.

What size were they when you planted them ?
Did they keel over suddenly ?

Any chance of a photo ?

 

[zoooo]

Can't get a photo at the moment unfortunately.

I planted them as seeds. They grew to about an inch or two high, teeny leaves, all fine and happy. Then a few days ago just went all limp and have started to go slightly yellow/brown here and there.

 

[gentlegreen]

I just went out in the garden and stamped on several dozen snails and slugs.

Horrid - but less dodgy than slug pellets at the end of the day.

 

[gentlegreen]

Can't get a photo at the moment unfortunately.

I planted them as seeds. They grew to about an inch or two high, teeny leaves, all fine and happy. Then a few days ago just went all limp and have started to go slightly yellow/brown here and there.

Direct into garden soil ?

 

[zoooo]

Into little pots. They've been indoors since, on the windowsill. Not ideal I'm sure!

 

[gentlegreen]

Into little pots. They've been indoors since, on the windowsill. Not ideal I'm sure!

Pots of shop-bought compost. ?

There's an art to watering - you need to leave it until just the right side of wilting. (Loam-based composts make it more tricky.)

With poor light , the plants won't be growing so strongly, so you need to be even less generous.

Never mind, it grows really quickly from seed.

In that situation it's well worth putting a fluorescent light or two over them.

Are they going outside eventually. ?

 

[zoooo]

Pots of shop-bought compost. ?

Yes. Is it all rubbish?

There's an art to watering - you need to leave it until just the right side of wilting. (Loam-based composts make it more tricky.)

With poor light , the plants won't be growing so strongly, so you need to be even less generous.

Never mind, it grows really quickly from seed.

In that situation it's well worth putting a fluorescent light or two over them.

Are they going outside eventually. ?

That is the plan, yes. But only into bigger pots, as I only have a balcony.

Right, so I should lay off the watering for a bit and try and give them more light?

 

[gentlegreen]

I was discretely trying to find out if it was garden soil - which some people try to use - causes major problems in containers.

With lettuce, almost all shop-bought compost will be fine - though some of the "peat-free" ones are pretty awful - it's early days yet - beware of big lumps of wood or straw.

This time of year, there isn't really any advantage in keeping things indoors - unless you provide artificial light.

It's very tempting to over-pamper indoor plants - we've all done it.

 

[zoooo]

I'm a brand new gardener, (obviously).
I shall try to bring them back from the brink of death.
Thanks for all your help!

 

[Badgers]

Tomatoes are shooting up
First glimpse of red on the strawberries

Picked up some pots and little troughs that had been dumped yesterday which was a nice bonus. Still have a fair amount of repotting to get done.

 

[gentlegreen]

The mollusc carnage continues - just been out and dispatched a bunch more - not just those actually on the plants - but those which were dangerously close.

I'm not sure my nerves are going to take this.

I also have a persistent cat digging up my front garden.

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

We had our first strawberry yesterday, the survivor of chicken carnage , one solitary flower they didnt munch turned into a yummy little strawberry. Fortunately the plants I bought last week were flowering and the originals are regrowing well so Im hopeful for more

The broad beans are growing amazingly well considering how almost dead they were

 

[gentlegreen]

All this talk of planting out bean plants reminds me of moving into my house 26 years ago next Thursday.
It was the garden that sold me the house really - though there were only 3 houses in the whole city I could afford.

I was determined to hit the ground running - so had sown all my seeds in coffee cups at the shared house I was living in at the time.