The Vegetable Patch

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Now bookbook has sadly left us, and stirred into action by @DobbleDobble, I think it’s time to start a general thread for those of us who try to grow edible produce, fruit, veg, herbs, to share successes, failures, questions and answers

We've managed to fry some of our seedlings! Left in the mini greenhouse & forgot to water last night plus todays heat had meant they're very frazzled & droopy. Have watered & hoping for the best. Min better news some of my basil seeds are germinating, as are some sunflowers & squash.

@APurpleSquirrel have also had some seedling troubles here. Some of mine were seemingly not happy being potted on and have given up the ghost but some are totally fine and happy so perhaps they were the weaker of the bunch. Have ordered some extra tomato plants to make up for it and then fell down a buying blackhole and ordered loads of plants for my pots and hanging baskets for the front door and veg seeds for summer sowing (late cauliflowers, winter leeks etc). Squashes were sown last week but need to get my peas, beans and sweetcorn sown today.

Am I too late for nasturtium sowing? I'd like to get some sown to grow alongside my tomatoes.

Hello! I'd love to join please.

Any green manure experts out there? Slightly confused if it is supposed to be used on bare soil or if it can be used to surround growing crops?

@StyleDesperation my nasturtiums germinated in 7 days and shot up quickly this year so I reckon you'd still have time! Try to keep them over 20c when germinating as they like the heat.

Hi! Lurker here. What have a I planted here do you think? Forgot to label the pot. Not peas. Not runner beans. Not sweet peas. Might be French beans? Any other ideas?

@AuntLucy Basil?
Doesn't look like pea or bean leaves.

I have concluded they are very leggy broad beans. Time to harden them off and get them out there 😁

No but I had 3/12 strawberries germinate and waited aaaages, gave up and threw the compost back in with the rest, now I have strawberries popping up in the peppers I've potted on!

Sweetcorn has been planted out over the weekend and all remaining plants now out of the greenhouse hardening off. We have had a lot of rain in the last couple of days which was badly needed, so I went to the plot and did a bit of weeding last night.

Yes, agreed, on both counts

I haven’t sown mine yet, too far down the queue. Would quite happily sow into 1st week of June

Meant for bare ground. It takes nutrient from the ground and uses water and energy from the sun to grow, so that when you dig it back in at the end of the season you’re returning more nutrient than you had in the first place.

if you plant around growing plants, it will compete for nutrients.

What an annoying afternoon in the garden! For the second year running the gooseberries in my fruiting hedge have succumbed to mildew and thus year it's spread to the previously extremely healthy redcurrants. The gooseberries suffered last year too, which was the first year of planting so I've removed them, cut back the affected currants and emailed the supplier. I have other happy gooseberries and currents in the garden so am not sure what has gone wrong!

Also my new summer fruiting raspberries are doing zilch! Well one of the canes has a visible leaf and two have new shoots just below ground. But the other 15 look like dead twigs! Was it the cold spring? The dry weather? (although the soil just below the surface and around their roots was moist). Again I have loads if autumn fruiting canes that are happy as ever sprouting up even where they aren't wanted!

Sorry for the moan. My roses are looking nice at least. The whole garden is covered in cuckoo spit though and it's deforming some of the leaves a bit. Never known so much of it!

Thank you @PoseyFlump and @MereDintofPandiculation. I feel suddenly behind as so many plants seem stunted and unhappy. I've been growing veg for years but this year I feel like nothing is really working!

@StyleDesperation I think it's been a hard spring, possibly because it's been so dry. My very well established loganberry hasn't started sprouting next year's canes from the base yet, and my boysenberry has literally only just started. My autumn fruiting aren't as tall as they would be in a wetter spring either, although last year was similar.

I've lost a lot of flowers I planted last year as well, supposedly perennials that just haven't come back. I'm guessing again that the dryness is to blame. I didn't think it had been that cold a winter, but several of the perennials that either re-sprout leaves or die back regrow from the base of its particularly cold have died back are regrowing from the base - so clearly from the plants perspective it was a hard winter too. Maybe that's playing a part with your raspberries too?

Hello everyone! Newbie here. I've got a collection of pots and beds (waist high as I have a bad back!) and just need to go and buy soil to fill them up.

Indoors I have on my window sills:
-Sunflowers
-Runner beans
-Basil
-Tomatoes (tiny pathetic seedlings popped up)
-Baby corn - square
-Sweet Peppers (no sign of them yet)
-Cucumber
-Squash

I have these seeds to plant outdoors- should I start any of them indoors, do you think please?? I have a spare window sill!
-Peas
-Lettuce
-Parsley
-Radish
-Beetroot
-Spring onion

Thank you!
😊

Lettuce and parsley out of those would be the ones I might start indoors. The others I would sow directly outdoors.

Hi - I've put in some runner beans. They're in a largish container filled with this. The plants were from the outside but under cover bit of a garden centre and are about 30cms. I've given them a good water but they look so sad as if they are on their way out. Do they take a few days to pick up? They are in a mostly sunny spot. Any ideas on anything I've missed? Trying not to lose them! Thank you.

Interesting - my gooseberries are doing great, loganberry is flowering & has lots of new shoots. However, my supposed perennial Echinacea (3 plants) has not reappeared - saw one leaf & next time I looked it was gone.
The seeds I set a few weeks ago (sunflower & squash) have all failed - a few sprouted but have rotted - must have been too hot & damp?
The basil & garlic chives however, are sprouting.
Think I'll have to reset the sunflowers & squash, but we're away over half term & worry they'll dry out especially if it's hot?

I have a sweet pepper in the small pot it came in from the garden centre. Would you repot it into the next size up or into the pot it's (hopefully) going to stay in?

@takeabrolly I usually use a 5 to 7.5L pot (about 20 to 25cm across)

i bet everyone been glad of the rain?! Has made everything in the garden and the lot come up fast !
I was so excited last night, I went for late visit to the lot and a pile of woodchip an manure had been delivered! I rang the oh to tell him and he raced up to help me put it all down .Friday night date night!
Will be going down tomorrow to tidy up/tie up the peas which are racing!
Hope everyone gets some lot/garden time this weekend 🙏

@Noodlekugel I would keep them well watered and put a sunshade over the form a few days till they settle.

@APurpleSquirrel Echinacea - may be slugs eating the new growth. Seeds - make sure compost is properly moist, put the whole seedtray in to a large plastic bag and tie the top, making a sort of mini greenhouse that water can’t evaporate from. Keep it out of direct sun. Sow just before you go, they’ll take a few days to germinate so will have only a few days left till your return.

Applied some nemasys last night to control slugs. What a faff! Wait till an evening when it’s just rained, mix the nematodes into 4l to make a stock solution. Take 0.5l at a time of the stock solution and make it up to 5l of water, remembering to stir well first because all the nematodes are sitting on the bottom. Use a can with a coarse rose. What is a coarse rose? Is mine too fine? Better not use it. So how to spread the canful equally? I know! I”ll do it with a jug, 0.5l for each sq yard.

And now I have to do it all over again in 6weeks

I don't think I worried too much about the instructions. It was really worth it for us, we did it a few years ago and the slug population appears much more under control even several years on. Haven't felt the need for another treatment