How Does Your Garden Grow

[Tamiyacowboy]

Mid May Harvesting :

so here i was cold somewhat sitting under the stars waiting for CAT V Tami , at the mo it stands Cat 2-2 tami , i cannot shoot it with my catapult.

so while cold with catapult and camera at hand i took a couple snaps of my mid may harvest. strawberrys in norfolk will be a bumper crop if we get enough rain. at the mo looks like we stuck basking in sun while north and west get soaked.

above is my Hybrid F1 strawberry " temptation " it is an everbearing plant so should be a nice harvest over the next few months

[timaaay]

Just a quick one from me, sorted the garden out at the start of last month and planted a few things.

Some normal sunflowers

Teddy bear sunflowers (and some other stuff I didnt choose )

[Tamiyacowboy]

Just a quick one from me, sorted the garden out at the start of last month and planted a few things.

Some normal sunflowers

Teddy bear sunflowers and pretty flowers (and some other stuff I didnt choose )

edited by tami

dont be ashamed of flowers, all is welcome here it is in the garden it grows

everyones fave is sunflowers, i have never grown a monster myself but have seen seeds for sale for specimens over 14ft.

plenty of wild flowers and areas left to grass up high, is good cover for the mice and hedgehogs and also brings in the birds like house sparrows, swifts , goldfinch , bluetits and robins. after summer i cut it down by hand with an old circa 1945 hand scythe and compost up for the next season's mulch. get plenty of cabbage whites, paintedladys and red tipped whites ( butterflys ) i hope to attract some more with some giant oriental poppys.

tomorrow i am off to grab a bargain : Homebase are doing buy 3 get £3 off there 120 litre compost (£18 with the three off ) not to bad.

none peat compost is going well from last year it has been turned into the soil to help add some plant material to it. there is one product i did use and can just say it was great, a 50 litre bag of farmyard manure cost me £5 /£6 pound but really gave my veg that boost.

i am also looking and have found other bargains 5+kg bucket of growmore for £10.45 and three mix /chicken manure at same price.

may sound risky but this year i put the toms into the beds same as last, already showing flowers on the moneymakers and the "Amateur" the italian sun dried are still small but going well. i also have red and yellow cherry tom's.

pea's kind of stunted but growing, the beans "frazzled" or more sun dried crispy bean leaves. out of around 14 plants i have one with fruit, i counted the pods and have three, so at least i have next years seed. i just need rain or some way of producing water.

unable to make my green tea this year, i do not have enough compost to brew. one compost bin failed again ( those ones from council , black like a upside down vase) god i am getting sick of it and may use it to harvest rhubarb under to force fresh leaf growth.

Greenhouse has been put on hold as for now, i need to source something to enable me to fit the polycover to it , maybe scaffold walking deals (boards) or something cheap or free.

so lets hope nature plays ball with TC and his outdoor growing goes well

Edited May 19, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[rob_b88]

unable to make my green tea this year, i do not have enough compost to brew. one compost bin failed again ( those ones from council , black like a upside down vase) god i am getting sick of it and may use it to harvest rhubarb under to force fresh leaf growth.

The Plastic Darlek type compost bins should still be able to produce reasonable compost. The only thing with them is they work at a lower temperature, so you have to be a bit more careful (avoid putting in things like roots from perennial weeds etc). I run 2 plastic composters together in a 2 year cycle, and have always had decent compost out.

The first one i fill with general warden waste. Avoid putting just grass cuttings is as this will turn to black sludge. Always try to mix green waste (e.g. grass cuttings etc.) evenly with brown waste (eg Plant stems, chipped wood, cardboard etc). Avoid compressing the contents of the bin, the microbes that do all of the work need plenty of air. In spring I empty this out and transfer the contents into the second bin (anything still green and fresh goes back in to kick start the next cycle of compost)

The second bin is a finishing off bin. In spring, i empty the finished product out to make way for the contents of bin 1. The contents of bin 1 are transferred to to bin 2, least rotted at the bottom, most rotted at the top. This them gets left until the following spring.

[Tamiyacowboy]

yeah those darlik types with the cheap push on lid that acts like a huge frizbee in the wind.

i have two bins myself also. the black bin always fails. has taken over 3 years to make around 40lt of compost.

my trusty green compost works very very well. it is an old school waste bin with a brown lid and a largish round opening in the lid itself. this composting bin works very quick, cutting down the old plants and grass in summer i can have that composted ready for mulching and digging in the next year (around 6/8months). a nice thing with my bin composter is i can roll it around the yard like you would a 45gl drum on your knees and mixes really really well.

i build my heaps like this.

brown green brown green brown - mix - brown green brown green - compost - urine or a kicker - mix.

my grandad when out in the garden always had me sprinkling on the compost heap, my uncle to. as i got older i asked why and was told victorians done it to add bugs to help the breaking down of plant matter faster.

but i think i will resign the darlik and use it for bringing on rhubarb. i will however build a new wooden composter from the old builders pallets i find around the village

[hydro]

i see theres alot of member here with green fingers so this got me thinking would any members be intrested in a seed trade i dont have any seeds to trade at this time my self inless you would like a bluecheese cutting but i thought id just put the idear out there

[Tamiyacowboy]

i see theres alot of member here with green fingers so this got me thinking would any members be intrested in a seed trade i dont have any seeds to trade at this time my self inless you would like a bluecheese cutting but i thought id just put the idear out there

i found blue cheese rather smelly for my toast, and does not go to well with creame crackers

what seed type are you looking for ? vegetable ?

i have,

bell sweet pepper

cayenne pepper

basil parsley

amateur heirloom tomato

lettuce (little gem ) telegraphy F1 hybrid cucumber

etc etc

if you would like a small selection to start you off, i am sure we can all help in some small way. it will not be a huge smallholding grow but will produce something.

as for cultivating via water, tomato/peppers and likes love the stuff (tends to be on the super massive scale )

as in if it grows in the garden it can be in thread, i would like to add we live in a country with fairly harsh drug laws, so i am afraid to say talk on the subject is somewhat taboo. lets keep safe

Edited May 20, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[Tamiyacowboy]

a few pictures if what i have growing in my rubbish tip come allotment come garden.

we have moneymakers and italian toms caged to keep cat out.

lettuce, pea's and some baby yellow/red cherry toms, these are grown in with the strawberries

lisbon spring onions are in with what was my dwarf french beans and cucumber, again they have failed unlike the pea's.

Fixing the Dreaded Plastic covered Greenhouse (kingfisher/guardman)

soooooooo been 3 years since i contacted both companys and kingfisher have not sent a replacement cover under sale of goods act. i give up with these people and its time i fixed Their problem myself.

now we all know these coverings are fairly " pony and trap " (london slang), worthless rubbish at the best and will last untill the slightest of breezes. so here is the fix. it is not a wonder fix and you will need to work some things out yourself ( the door opening).

so first of we need to know the external diamiter of the tubing. we also need to fetch some new plastic, i recommend some cheap polytunnel plastic covering. and some PCV pipe with an internal diamiter the same as the external diamiter as your greenhouse tube.

now either way comes the hardest bit. you need to cut a slit along your PVC tubes and cut them into around 8CM long sections. these are going to act as snap clips home made snap clips. these short lengths of tube with the slit lengthways will clamp over your greenhouse tube and hold your covering clamped to the greenhouse tube frame

place your covering onto floor and your GH over the top. using your new snap clips, secure your covering to the bottom of your GH.

Flip your covering over the roof and down the other side of GH and pull this taught and clamp to GH bottom, again using your PVC snap clips.

so ok we should now have a Greenhouse and a tube type covering over it. next is the rear of GH.

taking a couple three clips secure lightly the covering on what will be the front of your GH ( door area) so you can pull the sheet tight tight down the rear and secure again with snap clips.

now all you should be left with is a large hole in the front of the GH and no door. here is the awkward part. use some wood battens to make a door frame and attach with plumbing pipe fixtures to your GH tubing.

take a thin batten and with your front covering taught nail this over the door frame to hold the covering taught and in place. all is needed is a door fitted and your greenhouse is ready.

i do say you should sink greenhouse into a 6 - 12 inch deep trench and backfill to keep it stable and stuck to terrafirma

Edited May 22, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[HootMaRoot]

well the last 19 days of rain/clouds/no sun hasnt done my strawberrys any good or any of the veg i had already planted along with the ash cloud that was @ its thickest above where i live. i dont see many of my early crops doing well with all ash now geting washed into it just hope the next lot a plant get a lot more sun with a little rain inbetween

this years gardening hasnt gone well yet as i have also lost a main hedges i had planted about 5 years ago so now have to start from the begining with more cuttings as i had given all the cuttings i preped for the last couple of years have been given out as i didnt think i would be needing any more

[Tamiyacowboy]

well the last 19 days of rain/clouds/no sun hasnt done my strawberrys any good or any of the veg i had already planted along with the ash cloud that was @ its thickest above where i live. i dont see many of my early crops doing well with all ash now geting washed into it just hope the next lot a plant get a lot more sun with a little rain inbetween

this years gardening hasnt gone well yet as i have also lost a main hedges i had planted about 5 years ago so now have to start from the begining with more cuttings as i had given all the cuttings i preped for the last couple of years have been given out as i didnt think i would be needing any more

had my hope that storn would get of light but the low shifted alot with the jetstream. hopefuly the rain and watering will wash the ash into the soil and from plants. fingers crossed and rain dont hurt much but check strawbs on and off.

gutted to hear you lost a hedge, hopeful that you may find someone with cuttings to help you along somewhat. maybe some willow ? you can cut this stick it in ground and it will root itself and grow into living hedge

[HootMaRoot]

dont realy want the ash in the ground due to the sulfer content making the soil quite acidic, but quite lucky where i am the ground is quite peaty and is prity much PH neutral also have a half tonne of lime sitting in the garage to try and kill of the heather

i have to much willow near/round the house takes quite a bit of work cutting it back each year, about 7 years ago i cut one right back to the ground it is now bigger than ever but just thankfull its on a bit of waist ground.

I have a few more hedges so get plenty of cuttings got about 40 or so just potted up so they get an easyer start compared to just being put straight into the ground. But it just means i will be waiting 5years before its back to the size it was then another 5 or so years before its about the size i want

Edited May 25, 2011 by HootMaRoot

[Tamiyacowboy]

dont realy want the ash in the ground due to the sulfer content making the soil quite acidic, but quite lucky where i am the ground is quite peaty and is prity much PH neutral also have a half tonne of lime sitting in the garage to try and kill of the heather

i have to much willow near/round the house takes quite a bit of work cutting it back each year, about 7 years ago i cut one right back to the ground it is now bigger than ever but just thankfull its on a bit of waist ground.

I have a few more hedges so get plenty of cuttings got about 40 or so just potted up so they get an easyer start compared to just being put straight into the ground. But it just means i will be waiting 5years before its back to the size it was then another 5 or so years before its about the size i want

looks like the winds have changed and that weather you been getting now blowing down south east. looks like we may get some much needed rain here at last.

i hope the hedges come on well. been working on bringing heather back not eradicating it lol. spent last few months with a conservation comunity group helping out to restore some heathlands.

been eating strawberrys all morning and now feel a little sick lol , oh the woe's of eyes to big for the belly.

[Tamiyacowboy]

Compost Concrete : from beast to beauty

ever wandered around the garden centres and seen those very nice concrete planters, that cost an arm and a leg. well heres how to Cowboy a planter by using compost concrete.

let us start with a decent mix:

1 part cement powder

1 part sharp sand /builders sand

1 part compost ( you heard and seen right COMPOST)

1 bucket water

so here we are we have the recipe for concrete that will use compost as its material.

so place your sand-cement and compost into a bucket and give it a good mix with some water, we are looking for a kind of thick paste. when this drys it will become rock hard but also fairly light, unlike those shop purchased things.

once you have your mix you can add an extra part of compost if you need to thicken up the mix.

now items that can be coated in compcrete:

polystrene fish boxes

plastic pots

plastic troughs ( those ugly red/green things)

you name it i would say you can compcrete it to become a planter.

if you give it a try will be nice to see a picture of your finished compcrete planter

give it a go get the wife and or little ones involved. with some gloves and a pail of water one can smooth the finish or even add decoration. you could also use red brick dust to color your compcrete pots troughs and planters.

[HappyLad]

My first pepper :D

tomato's are coming on:

tato's were doing really well - but I've had some wind damage

[Tamiyacowboy]

looking great happy lad those toms look awesome, you may want to pich out those side shoots buddy ( bettwen the leaf and stem joins) they take alot of the goodness the plant will use to flower and produce fruits. leave the flower trusses and pinch out the side shoots, those tattys will soon come back even stronger. i had mine caught by cold they went all brown and died now they are huge. done them some good i think as some are already flowering up.

peppers are so cool , next year will throw you some of my cayenne peppers.

so i shoved in my last twelve french beans hopeful they will grow otherwise i have a big problem somewhere in the soil. my pea's are coming on well just need some rain to help. have a second set of flowers on my tomato's and my others are coming along well.

i have planted the basil with the tom's. it is a good indicator plant for tomato's, if the basil is growing well the tomato's are going good. if basil gets poorly then the toms may suffer.

my onions are coming along. i have around six to seven growing well.

so to the more exotic my melon plant has shown its first two flower budlets and stands around 3-5 inch high. i really do not want to put it outside or undercover. i still have to find a few bits to finish of my greenhouse conversion and get some sort of ground fixing in place and a good climbing system in place. i also need to start harvesting water so more drawingboard ideas for water collection, at the moment it is either above ground or below ground but i cannot decide.

i need a rotorvator or some polish labour lol it is a pain digging up the couch grass and rubbish. i have filled the compost bin already with cut grass clippings and other green waste, just have to add some brown waste and some trousersnake water to the bin and i should by next year have a good strong dark compost. i am also starting to harvest leaf fall for composting down and mixing withe the green waste composts.

and a quick reminder for bug repelent :

1 garlic clove a little hot pepper powder in boiling water leave until steeped well drain and spray on plants.

i found one of my indoor house plnats has a bad aphid infestation so am brewing up a batch right now.

Edited May 28, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[HappyLad]

looking great happy lad those toms look awesome, you may want to pich out those side shoots buddy ( bettwen the leaf and stem joins) they take alot of the goodness the plant will use to flower and produce fruits. leave the flower trusses and pinch out the side shoots,

Just been looking at some vids on how to do this - will give it a go tomorrow.

[Tamiyacowboy]

Just been looking at some vids on how to do this - will give it a go tomorrow.

you do know 6 tom plants going to give you a huge harvest lol, yeah they fairly easy to remove and once done will put that energy to flowers and fruit.

if they start to bush out with large leaves you can remove some to let some light in and allow air to get round. i tend to start removing leaves when first fruits start to appear, take a few leaves of each plant and compost up.

it is looking well buddy should get a bountyful harvest

[HappyLad]

Sorted out the toms this morning - all the suckers are now gone

We've got about another 6 or so tomato plants still in pots... Might get another one of those tomato greenhouse things to put them in - the more fruit the better. Going to make tomato chutney

Gave some cucumber plants to my nephew after he suffered a lot of wind damage in his garden

We also now have lettuce, beetroot and onions planted out in the raised bed.

[Tamiyacowboy]

Sorted out the toms this morning - all the suckers are now gone

We've got about another 6 or so tomato plants still in pots... Might get another one of those tomato greenhouse things to put them in - the more fruit the better. Going to make tomato chutney

Gave some cucumber plants to my nephew after he suffered a lot of wind damage in his garden

We also now have lettuce, beetroot and onions planted out in the raised bed.

great news, maybe plant a couple tom plants outside not under cover, do a test run for next year's season. i grew my first set undercover but now i have them in soil out in the open.

wind damaged stuff had come back, my tattys have filled the 2.5x2.5ft square tatty box. they was a brown gooey mess now they are trifids and taking over everything.

Just now watched a Guy tear down a huge ivy plant from next doors house. bad thing the house sparrows and bluetits have not finished nesting. i mean what gives people this kind of right. what is he going to do with any chicks found in the nests ? anyways i took a few snaps and will post online how NOT TO clean ivy from your house. and i call myself cowboy lol this guy gives me a bad name

[Tamiyacowboy]

Water melon " honeydew "

here is my first honeydew water melon flower, the first male flower of the season. in hope i shall get female flowers soon and a baby melon

[Tamiyacowboy]

OMG : Breaking News

after three years chasing Kingfisher garden products i have had an E-mail reply.

i had sent the last em-mail a year ago without any reply. yesterday after a huge fight with said rubbish greenhouse, i sent another mail to the product supply company Bonnington plastics.

e-mail reply today has been sent to customer services after roys of wroxham could not replace or source a new covering free of charge due to failed workmanship and poor quality of item sold ( the cheap clear plastic covering.

so here is in hope they send a new cover, otherwise i have 1 week to dig a 8 foot x 6 foot hole. build an 8x6 raised bed unit and find 24 metres of 1.5 inch PVC water pipe for a new Hoophouse (polytunnel).

using snap clamps has not worked and i am left with no covered area. so fingers crossed 3yrs wait becomes a new cover

[Tamiyacowboy]

so the Ultimate in rubbish walk in cheap plastic greenhouse fix,

i gave up waiting and have gone hammer and tongs into the drawingboard and the Fix.

so these 6x4 cheap plastic greenhouses always tear and fall down, you spend more replacing the covering than the greenhouse cost you. i for one became fed up about this and decided to Fix the problem out right. as you may have seen yourself they are 15.0 mm stock steel tube with a acrylic coat. and the same goes for the smaller tomato growhouse and the shelved growhouses. all are this 15.0mm stock steel tube.

For the shelved growhouse's and tomato house's:

same principle as the large greenhouse fix but instead of a wood plank base use the 15mm copper pipe clips and bolt them to a large paving slab/'s, PVC snap clamps can be made to help clip the covering to the tubing more secure. use a 15mm ID PVC water pipe to make snap clamps.

£6.00 = 20x 15mm copper pipe clips £0.30p each

£0.00 = free large piece of polytunnel covering.

£0.00 = two-four wooden pallets for the lumber and planking. we need enough planking to go around the base of the greenhouse (external) and to make 6 grounding pegs

some waste/used screws for fixing

three to four lengths of batten for fixing sheet.

9 x 15 inch sections of 15mm pipe lagging (insulation ).

first off break down your pallets carefully with a breakers bar keeping the long lateral timber struts and the planks whole. the timber struts will be used as ground posts and the planking to surround the greenhouse base holding it firm to the ground. cut the struts to 2 - 2.5 ft long you will need 6 posts and shape them with saw with a pint to one end (roughly). no picture needed here it is fairly straight forward.

second take your pipe lagging sections and place these onto the apex of your roof ( the pointy bit lol )hold these in place with either twine of plastic rip ties. also do the corners all four, this will help keeping your covering taught and not rubbing on the apex tubing. same again no picture required it is very straight forward.

PART TWO : STAGE ONE : making the base

so my walk in greenhouse is six foot long and roughly four foot wide. so first i marked out the greenhouse footprint. along the 6 foot sides i placed 3x posts for each side, these can be driven into the ground or post holed and backfilled.

so something like this

i dug out six post holes and placed my posts plumb and square. these posts are what our greenhouse poled base will sit on.

the reason we have the greenhouse base raised is to stop it rusting and falling apart, than if it was placed onto soil or concrete.

my pallet had three 4.5ft long rails five inch wide and 3 inch deep and gave me six posts each measuring fifteen inches long and have 4 inches above the ground surface.

to these posts i nailed two planks with a length of three foot to the three posts, and two four foot and 1 inch planks at either end. this produced the base frame and sideboarding . and allows our greenhouse to sit inside the framed box ontop of the posts.

rain stopped play in the garden and about time to

PART TWO : STAGE TWO

Fixing the Greenhouse inplace using our Copper 15 mm saddle pipe clips :

so here you can see the posts and side boarding with my greenhouse sitting atop of the posts, now these poles need to be fix to the sideboarding with our 15 mm saddle clips. on the six foot sides i use 4 clips, two clips per pole and on the rear and front i use three clips, so between 10-14 clips.

PART THREE : Covering The GreenHouse

covering the greenhouse with spare cover or polytunnel covering :

first off Wash/wipe down your covering we want it clean. we also need 2x 6ft long battens for the sides and sat 12ft of batten for the front and rear, this wooden battening will be used to pin and clamp the covering in place.

i will post some pictures for you all to see how it works.

If you are using a spare cover:

you are best to use the batten method to hold your new covering tight and in place, i would advise using either pipe lagging and/or anti hotspot tape on your frame. this will stop the covering being damaged by any movement rubbing or UV oxidising reaction.

Do not use the straps on the inside your covering these tend to tear themselves out very easy, thus leaving a highly weak area for the wind to act upon.

Edited June 13, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[HootMaRoot]

you'll have to get some pic's up when you finished as its giving me some ideas so i can make one for next year so i can grow from seed insted of haing to buy most veg already started

[Tamiyacowboy]

you'll have to get some pic's up when you finished as its giving me some ideas so i can make one for next year so i can grow from seed insted of haing to buy most veg already started

you my friend would need something like a Hoophouse (polytunnel ), these cheap greenhouse are very cheap like made in china for a dollar cheap.

you would build the same way, starting with base and grounding posts. then you would hammer some Rebar into the ground and slip your pcv water pipes over these rebar posts. a 2x2 or 3x2 batten will go lengthways to link each hoop together and two batten side rails. the poly sheet is held in on the base board with film wrapped round batten couple times and screwed to the base board, pulled over the top tight and fixed in place the same way with film wraped around batten a couple times and screwed/nailed in place. then you juts build the doorways and doors

if you guys fancy a go at making hoophouse i have posted a video for you to see the ease of fitting

Edited June 5, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[HappyLad]

pulled up the bag of early potato's that was damaged in the bad winds the other week.

about 40 tubers in total - but most of them still too small to do anything with.