This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[sheothebudworths]

Tap someone elses

I think they'd notice me climbing over their walls.

Just filled everything up with the hose!

Bit annoying having it trailing right through the house, but MILES better than the daily trudges up and down!

I'm sad too that I didn't manage to make do with rain and washing up water, but it was never going to happen with this weather!

 

[citygirl]

You really ought have been up here with your butt last night Sheo.. at 3 am we had THE biggest ever thunder/lightning and rain storm ever.. i have honestly never seen so much water involved in one night in my life...(along with the loudest thunder in the universe i reckon)... got to the allotment this morning expecting me babies in their little pots to be devastated.. but they were all nicely smiling at me, and the ground had had a real good soaking and so i don't need to water plus it had almost filled the butt and all the other random containers i have scattered around the place

 

[felixthecat]

I'm going to have to fit the hose pipe to the tap out the front (won't go on the stupid mixer tap in the kitchen).

Wilkinsons are your friends. They have adapters to fit hoses onto mixer tapes for about a quid - bloody brilliant bit of kit!

In fact, they have adapters to fit hoses onto just about ANY type of tap.

God bless Wilkinsons

 

[aqua]

I learnt that raw pak choi makes me chuck but it grew really well

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

stick it in stir fries, tis yummy

A mate of mine who has an allotment has said I can have a bed in return for digging their remaining redundant beds over for him cos hes knackered his knee


soooo.... what can I get planting now in seed trays ready for if I get it done next week?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Caulis I think! Peas? Beetroot can go straight in the ground. Lettuce. PSB!

 

[mr steev]

Now it's passed the Solstice you can sow fennel.

 

[Melinda]

I learnt that raw pak choi makes me chuck but it grew really well

You actually vomited? That's alarming.

 

[gentlegreen]

my diverse beans

Just under 2 weeks from sowing and my runner beans won't wait ..

Sowing them indoors is clearly the way to do it. The one solitary bean that came up outdoors has had 2 weeks longer and is a scrawny little thing.

I hope it isn't too much of a shock when I plant them out ...

 

[sheothebudworths]

I have french beans ready to go! Am starting to be overwhelmed by veg!

My winter squash (which is growing all over the wall, the gate, through the courgettes etc ) has a definite aphid/blackfly problem which the ants aren't managing to keep on top of, so might have to try the washing up liquid spray.

Now got five strawberries coming!!!!!













Have I already said that?

 

[Melinda]

Sheo- ants arent going to help deal with your aphid problem, they farm aphids! Aphids secrete sugary liquids and ants protect them.

Some species of ants "farm" aphids, protecting them on the plants they eat, eating the honeydew that the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a "mutualistic relationship".

These "dairying ants" "milk" the aphids by stroking them with their antennae.[28][29] Therefore, sometimes aphids are called "ant cows".

Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly hatched aphids back to the plants. Some species of dairying ants (such as the European yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus)[30] manage large "herds" of aphids that feed on roots of plants in the ant colony. Queens that are leaving to start a new colony take an aphid egg to find a new herd of underground aphids in the new colony. These farming ants protect the aphids by fighting off aphid predators.[29]

From here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphid

 

[sheothebudworths]

Aha!

So I've made a right booboo leaving them all to it for days and days then!

My ex told me the ants ate them - I shall put him straight!

So the washing up liquid thing...same sort of dilution as if I was washing up? Sprayed all over the leaves once the sun is off the plants?

 

[Melinda]

It needs to be a vary weak solution, a few drops in a sprayer is enough.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly hatched aphids back to the plants.

The fucking bastards!!!

 

[sheothebudworths]

It needs to be a vary weak solution, a few drops in a sprayer -is all.

Aha - ok - thanks, lovely! Will have a go this evening!

Gonna wield my mister machine gun style!

 

[Melinda]

You make me so happy Sheo!

 

[fogbat]

You have my sympathy, sheo - my courgette plants have a load of some sort of black insect on them, though thankfully they've not spread to anything else.

I'm in the process of spraying with washing up liquid, but I've got about eight courgette plants, so that's a lot of spraying I get the feeling that if I miss even one bug, it'll just recolonise all the other plants

 

[sheothebudworths]

Oh God - I'm stressed!

My mister is just gently misting the leaves - not nearly strong enough to actually wash any off, so I'm probably going to have to try removing them by hand (NIGHTMARE!!!!).

Unfortunately they have got my summer squash and courgettes too (the winter squash plants are just RIFE) so I'm there with you foggers.....that's about 14 plants and ofcourse because they're so bloody large it's very tricky just trying to get to all the leaves!

Am seriously considering ordering some ladybird larvae, but looks like they'd take at least a week to come plus it's not that cheap considering the quantity I'd probably need lol.....and anyway, it's apparently slightly pointless if I haven't tackled the ants too.

I would try just calming the fuck down and tackling one plant at a time, one leaf at a time, but then I worry like foggers that they'll just come straight back from the colonised plants anyway.

ARGH!


<kicks garden>

 

[sheothebudworths]

You make me so happy Sheo!

Well I'm glad that my massive failures in the garden have provided some happiness, somewhere!!!


I'm a bit annoyed with my ex, tbh.

He has a tendency towards declaring stuff as FACT when it's actually just what he thinks.... plus he's super competitive about gardening so likes to hand out advice and sometimes it seems it doesn't especially matter if it's right or wrong.

A few days has made a massive difference in terms of how many millions more there are now to get rid of.

I might just sacrifice all the stupid squashes and kill him instead <thumbs up>

 

[fogbat]

Sheo - as I understand it, the mister isn't meant to wash the bugs off. IIRC, the washing-uppy water blocks their breathing holes so they suffocate.

Yes, I said breathing holes. Yes, I have a biology degree. Wanna make something of it?

 

[free spirit]

... and bury him under the squashes?

 

[sheothebudworths]

The squashes are in large pots .....although the large pots are sitting on patio slabs.....

 

[prunus]

Oh God - I'm stressed!

My mister is just gently misting the leaves - not nearly strong enough to actually wash any off, so I'm probably going to have to try removing them by hand (NIGHTMARE!!!!).

Unfortunately they have got my summer squash and courgettes too (the winter squash plants are just RIFE) so I'm there with you foggers.....that's about 14 plants and ofcourse because they're so bloody large it's very tricky just trying to get to all the leaves!

Am seriously considering ordering some ladybird larvae, but looks like they'd take at least a week to come plus it's not that cheap considering the quantity I'd probably need lol.....and anyway, it's apparently slightly pointless if I haven't tackled the ants too.

I would try just calming the fuck down and tackling one plant at a time, one leaf at a time, but then I worry like foggers that they'll just come straight back from the colonised plants anyway.

ARGH!


<kicks garden>

Calm

They don't need to get washed off, as long as they're coated it'll kill them. You need about a 2% solution, no weaker.

Alternatively there are fatty acid sprays that work pretty well, and if you want to go nuclear on them some pyrethroid spray will kill them off. I don't like to use it because it kills bees, but if you do it very early in the morning it will have worn off by the time the bees awake. Both of these are cheaply available at garden centres etc.

 

[toggle]

Just under 2 weeks from sowing and my runner beans won't wait ..

Sowing them indoors is clearly the way to do it. The one solitary bean that came up outdoors has had 2 weeks longer and is a scrawny little thing.

I hope it isn't too much of a shock when I plant them out ...

I won't show you my beans, they are taller than i am with loads of flowers and a few tiny beans. 2 weeks and i should be eating em

 

[sheothebudworths]

Calm

They don't need to get washed off, as long as they're coated it'll kill them. You need about a 2% solution, no weaker.

Alternatively there are fatty acid sprays that work pretty well, and if you want to go nuclear on them some pyrethroid spray will kill them off. I don't like to use it because it kills bees, but if you do it very early in the morning it will have worn off by the time the bees awake. Both of these are cheaply available at garden centres etc.

Ah ok! Calm. Thankyou!

Will keep up the washing liquid for a little while then and see what happens. How frequently should I spray then?

 

[prunus]

Ah ok! Calm. Thankyou!

Will keep up the washing liquid for a little while then and see what happens. How frequently should I spray then?

Every day, if you can, to begin with, if you've got a bad infestation.

The other thing that helps is taking out the growing tip of the plant, once it's got big enough - the rest of it will become tougher until the bastards can't pierce it any more. Probably a bit early in the gorwing season for that though.

 

[gentlegreen]

I won't show you my beans, they are taller than i am with loads of flowers and a few tiny beans. 2 weeks and i should be eating em

How tall are you ?

I started mine way too late.

To be honest, mine are largely ornamental - I'll have to give most of the harvest away as I don't have a freezer. At least I can leave a lot of the French ones on to dry ...

I moved into my house in 1984 with runner bean plants - it was the 24th of June and I had a really decent harvest.

Please do show us yer beans.

 

[felixthecat]

tonights tea used french beans, mangetout, baby carrots and potatoes from the garden, with the first of the raspberries and the remains of the strawberries for dessert.

However, my beetroot have died for some reason.

 

[gentlegreen]

However, my beetroot have died for some reason.

The leaves didn't have silvery bits did they ?

 

[stuff_it]

I got my first raspberry yesterday.


Is it too late to plant summer veg? Only just moved this week to somewhere with a 'proper' garden.