Long awaited Spring Bits and Bobs…

[oldherbaceous]

It seems a long time coming, Geoff….

[Clive.]

We're given 5 hours down at 6C that's low enough...

Roasting though in the sunshine this afternoon....

Hadn't any veg for tea, didn't fancy freezer broad beans but have found some yellow chard re growth

C.

[vivienz]

Evening, all, waving from deepest darkest Dorset after one of my shamefully prolonged absences. I've just been having a catch up on posts and see that everyone else seems to be having what is, at best, a mediocre season. Lots of things in my kitchen garden are struggling, except for the snails and slugs that gobble up everything in sight right now, the wretched creatures. I'm onto my 3rd sowing of basil and they've even eaten their way through a load of fuzzy young tomato stems. Not that the toms were anything to be proud of, but it's the principle of the thing, isn't it?
I've had a very late start to the gardening year this year on account of breaking the ligament in one of my fingers. It didn't hurt at the time or for ages afterwards, but it was astonishingly inconvenient and slow to heal. Anyway, it's back out in the wild now and I can dig in earnest again and I've been busy moving an enormous pile of well-rotted cow poo that I got after naming that as my price for two kittens that went to a local farmer. The cow poo is an annual thing, so it seemed like quite a good deal to me. I'm hoping that I will have cabbages the size of space hoppers later this season.
My major success of the year is asparagus. I planted my bed 3 years ago and have been incredibly patient - you can't imagine the self control that it has taken! But my reward has come thick and fast this year with a glorious crop of asparagus. Soooooo good!
Good to be back both here and in the garden. Love and peas, everyone!!!

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Vivienz, well what a lovely surprise to have you back, really made my evening…..glad you are back gardening again.
I’m afraid we have lost a lot of our long term members, in one way or another, but we keep trying to keep things going…..

[Westi]

Blimey Geoff that is way chilly still. Is this normal for your area or are you just having an unusual May? How long is your growing season?

Soz I don't know your area at all, I'm not a good traveller anymore so stay close to home. I'm probably still traumatised by my journey to the UK which was pretty unique both in flight & at stop overs, but it was not really reassuring seeing the crew putting out a fire in flight, the door alarm going off & being fully searched in Dubai & attacked by a hawk in the airport there! I also thought the Oz drivers were mad until I drove over here, we only have driving on the same side & lots of roundabouts in common - but our fools are way more obvious!

[retropants]

Hi Vivienz, so good to have you back here on the forum

[Geoff]

It's not usually so grim up North as I am West as well though at 600'. It can be frosty at the end of May but I usually ignore the possibility and panic when it happens. I have hoops over my potato bed so I can pull a sheet of polythene over the lot for example. With blight being an annual problem there is little point in delaying planting them. 2° in the air should have been a ground frost but there was no damage so I am wondering if my weather station is a little pessimistic, I've now attached a max/min to its pole so I'll compare that. Currently 6.6° when it was 8.2° this time last night so getting nervous, forecast says minimum 6°.
Finished my tomato planting today with 18 beefsteaks in the cold greenhouse, 6 each Beefmaster, Cherokee Purple and Cuor Di Bue.

[retropants]

My DH asked at the weekend, why isn't anyhting growing in the veg patch? I am holding back planting out, mainly due to slugs & snails. I have lettuce, beans, cabbage, broccoli and peppers to go out, but just too scared that they will all get eaten. The last couple of years, I have lost of lot of things to the slimy creatures. The potatoes are up though, just a short row of 6, as the patch is so small

[tigerburnie]

Evening, all, waving from deepest darkest Dorset after one of my shamefully prolonged absences. I've just been having a catch up on posts and see that everyone else seems to be having what is, at best, a mediocre season. Lots of things in my kitchen garden are struggling, except for the snails and slugs that gobble up everything in sight right now, the wretched creatures. I'm onto my 3rd sowing of basil and they've even eaten their way through a load of fuzzy young tomato stems. Not that the toms were anything to be proud of, but it's the principle of the thing, isn't it?
I've had a very late start to the gardening year this year on account of breaking the ligament in one of my fingers. It didn't hurt at the time or for ages afterwards, but it was astonishingly inconvenient and slow to heal. Anyway, it's back out in the wild now and I can dig in earnest again and I've been busy moving an enormous pile of well-rotted cow poo that I got after naming that as my price for two kittens that went to a local farmer. The cow poo is an annual thing, so it seemed like quite a good deal to me. I'm hoping that I will have cabbages the size of space hoppers later this season.
My major success of the year is asparagus. I planted my bed 3 years ago and have been incredibly patient - you can't imagine the self control that it has taken! But my reward has come thick and fast this year with a glorious crop of asparagus. Soooooo good!
Good to be back both here and in the garden. Love and peas, everyone!!!

Nice to hear from you, I remember you from another forum which I used to help moderate many moons ago, before the internal fights broke out.

[tigerburnie]

My DH asked at the weekend, why isn't anyhting growing in the veg patch? I am holding back planting out, mainly due to slugs & snails. I have lettuce, beans, cabbage, broccoli and peppers to go out, but just too scared that they will all get eaten. The last couple of years, I have lost of lot of things to the slimy creatures. The potatoes are up though, just a short row of 6, as the patch is so small

Have you tried using beer traps, so much more environmentally friendly than pellets and it works.

[retropants]

I have in the past, but I think I will try them again. Is it flat ale they prefer?

[Primrose]

I,m just wondering if it,s worth buying a large cabbage, stripping off all the outer leaves and laying them out flat on your vegetable growing area as an alternative trap? . If slugs and snails migrate to this area anyway, this might attract them over a short period of time and perhaps catch a lot of them in advance of your planting stuff out.

Alternatively perhaps shred the leaves up an sprinkle them on the ground around your seedlings so the slimy things have a more easily accessible food source. I,ve done this in the past with a reasonable amount of success as they seem to welcome easily accessible fodder . I wonder if other compostable items like carrot peelings just laid on the surface of the soil as a distraction would help? May not look very attractive but neither is a row of bare stalks and it's a constant battle to see who wins!

[tigerburnie]

I have in the past, but I think I will try them again. Is it flat ale they prefer?

I think any beer will work they don't seem fussy.............................unlike me

[oldherbaceous]

I often lay a tile or slate on the ground, just hollow a little soil out from under it, and it’s amazing how many you can catch…..now if only I had done this when I had first sown a frame with carrots, I wouldn’t have lost half of them…..put a tile in the frame a couple of days ago and have now caught 5 big old warrior snails.

[tigerburnie]

Nice fired in garlic apparently, but I shall not be finding out...................................