Super Moon!

[Ricard with an H]

I thought this was the counselling!

Of-course it is, I hadn't thought of it in that way.

Ok-then, i'll get this off my mind. I noticed a few yellowish looking onions amongst the smaller onions of my autumn planting, they pulled out very easy with a white mould over the sparse roots.

Something else to get right before I consider faffing with moon-phase planting ?

To be honest with you i've reverted to reading some "dummies-guides to gardening" that I unearthed from my partners collection of books when she was an aspiring gardner herself, lot's of good and sensible advise and basic stuff I hadn't even considered.

The soil (Planting medium) in the four of my raised beds is different in each bed, not by accident. One bed was hammered with cow-poo last autumn, another was sprinkled with that nutrient that Marshalls sells in large sacks that smells a bit like chicken manure with additions. The bed with mostly comfrey has heavily applied nettle tea-slurry and some cow-poo slurry and another bed had chicken manure dug in. All the beds get a regular sloshing of comfrey tea and the whole process is haphazard to the point i'm now having to apply garden lime because of the acidity. The only planting that showed distress was some flowers that are called Chinese Aster, it was only by chance I read somewhere that, "They like a bit of lime". This suggests they don't like acid soil and they were curling up.

So many thing to get right and now i'm gutted that I have onion failure after giving them loving care for ten months.

Moon-phase ? I doubt it.

In the RHS books I often refer too one paragraph sticks in my mind. This paragraph asserts that the soil does the growing and is THE most important thing to get right but even getting the soil right won't help if the temperatures are too hot or too cold or if it's windy all the time and different plants like different conditions of soil and temperature.

At the age of 70 i've been middle of the road to poor at most everything I ever did, i'm not obsessed. I would just like to get this bit right.

Grow radish eh, they seem happy anywhere and I have a healthy crop of sweet peas. Sweet peas can be a challenge on a windy site.

Thanks for listening, cognitive therapy is all about identifying your own problems.

[Motherwoman]

Go for it Ricard with an H! And don't grow your onions in ground that's lush with nitrogen from lots of manure as they'll get rot....

[Ricard with an H]

Thank-you MW, easy as that eh. I dread to think whats happening with the carrot I sowed in-between the rows on onion.

I don't think that bed was rich in nitrogen, in fact I was warned about carrot not liking manure so I threw in a few handfuls of fish-blood and bone when I was including some sandy-grit.

[Westi]

Hi Richard

I don't suppose you are over feeding your soil (or if that is even possible)?

I grow on really sandy soil. Every 3 yrs or so the dairy farmer up the road drops of a load of very old manure which I spread over the empty side and leave it over the winter to break down - he keeps it for me this long so is well rotted. Which is 6 yrs rotation for each side. I incorporate this in the spring but don't double dig it just a spade depth. Nothing else goes on this & I don't grow root crops on it the following spring. The untreated side gets a sprinkle of fish, blood & bone which is raked in & any over wintered crops get a little bit more in the spring as well.

Other than this I use seaweed foliar feed is something looks a little sad, mulch as much as possible (Although now the council is making compost & actually collecting the cuttings from off the lottie rather than delivering it) it is not as deep as I'd like. We get horse manure dropped off but it is full of wood so I don't touch it but I'm like a speed machine if I spot any with a straw base which I put on the compost & cover it as learnt by experience it is full of seed & needs a bit of warmth to kill them. Again I just use this as a top dressing & it will get down via planting holes, rain etc & just general revamping of the beds. Oh I lime the brassicas as have the odd spot of club root.

Someone else might put me right & point out I'm just a bit lazy, but am going to do overwintered rye or something as a trial this year but if we get a good storm it's going to be seaweed from the beach!

Westi

[Geoff]

On a subject possibly related to Moon Planting; do you think it matters how you talk to your plants? My Tomatoes steadfastly refuse to ripen despite giving them a good talking to. Perhaps I should be more polite or, I wonder, what could I say to embarrass them into turning red.

[Ricard with an H]

Hi Richard

I don't suppose you are over feeding your soil (or if that is even possible)?

Entirely possible, probable even. Some planting thrives on what I did.

I just noticed that broad beans point upwards rather than dangle down, is it me ? Australian broad beans ?

No-really, or am I imaging it, I looked a few times and each bean-let is pointing upwards.

[Westi]

What type are they Richard? My downward pointing ones at the bottom always get eaten or rot where they touch the soil before the beans are actually formed. Are they easier to get off or not ripe yet to tell? Again I always manage to take a chunk of stem off as well.

Geoff my greenhouse plants get a right telling off from time to time as they are spoilt but it's more like pleading with the ones on lottie! If it's good enough fro Prince Charles then why not!

Westi

[Ricard with an H]

What type are they Richard? My downward pointing ones at the bottom always get eaten or rot where they touch the soil before the beans are actually formed. Are they easier to get off or not ripe yet to tell? Again I always manage to take a chunk of stem off as well.

I don't know right now, I got them from our garden centre who buys a big bag from Moles-seeds. The beans are only two/three inches long but most definitely they point upwards. Maybe they drop when they get bigger.

Moon phase ?

[Westi]

Of course it's all in the sky above total moon phase! Not related to this thread but just got a new kitten & called her Luna May - purely coincidental - her mum is Star & she was born in May! I'd post a pic but haven't a clue how as always says too big! Wish KG would make it more simple - I'm not a computer anorak but I can post pictures on other sites - frustrating!

Westi

[Geoff]

Does this help?
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11352&p=111693&hilit=paint#p111693

[Monika]

Richard, the broad beans Witkiem Manita point upwards and they are fairly short.

[Westi]

Thank you Geoff! I tried that but couldn't get them small enough but found the 'sniping tool'! What the hell - gave it a try & her pic is in the animal section. It's a fairly new computer & couldn't load photo shop on it off the other one & didn't use it enough to justifying paying again.

Sniping Tool - great name, kind of fits into a garden forum!

Westi

[FelixLeiter]

I wonder, what could I say to embarrass them into turning red.

Why did the tomato blush?
Because he saw the salad dressing.

[Geoff]

Tried that and have got a bit of colour in a Sungold and a Bloody Butcher. Strawberry turning as well, perhaps it let a Raspberry slip out.

[Ricard with an H]

Richard, the broad beans Witkiem Manita point upwards and they are fairly short.

Thank you Monica, I still have enough beans to keep me sowing for four years and the Witkiem Manita will be six foot high by next week, is that normal is it to do with lot's of cow-poo last year or maybe the phase of the moon at the time of planting, EH ?

Regarding the sizing of photo's both my cameras can be set to give the required size for this forum, what I found irritating was that Peter got irritated that I couldn't find a solution so my photo's kept-on getting corrected which was helpful for the forum page but not helpful for me stumbling about in the darkness of digital cameras and computers.

Clearly others have the same problems I had, may I suggest a help page for dummies, it's so nice for threads to be illustrated by photo's. Not nice to be made to feel a paria and an idiot.