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Anyone grown them this close before?
Eliza
Thanks, Charles. Took me by surprise though. I have a plastic sheet I could use over this bed – would that help to keep any rust at bay should the weather turn bad?
Eliza
Many thanks Stringfellow and Cleansweep. I shall purchase some supermarket garlic and see what happens! Do you think I should wait and sow in November when I am sowing my broad beans or sooner?
Thanks, Eliza
Bumping up last post, Eliza
I thought I might try some garlic for the first time and saw this post. If I buy supermarket garlic is there anything I should particularly look for other than largish bulbs? I presume you just split the bulb and take off the papery skin and plant the cloves? If I plant say the middle of this month when would I harvest? I have a raised bed which will just sit empty for winter so may as well give it a go. By the way I am in Somerset. PS what a joy to be still harvesting outdoor tomatoes instead of throwing blighted plants on the compost heap! Still harvesting outdoor cucumbers too. Best summer for years.
Many thanks, Eliza
Hi Charles and all
Would it be wise to mix horse manure with any other compost to hand as this would surely lessen any ill effects?
Eliza
My purple sprouting broccoli that I pricked out and planted about two and a half weeks’ ago keeled over and was only revived with a good shower of water and a blanket placed over the netting to keep all sun off for about ten days. I have just been away for almost a week and removed the blanket before I went. All was well on my return and broccoli is growing reasonably well I’m happy to say.
Eliza
I don’t feed tomatoes in my raised beds as I thought the compost I put on earlier gave them enough food for the duration. Should I feed them?
Eliza
Beans are in a prime site so nothing taking out moisture and plenty of organic matter went over them in November too. I am plagued with ants so this doesn’t help. I have watered through May but perhaps I should have watered earlier. Would have thought all the snow we had would have helped with the moisture content though. Interesting that others had blackfly problems last year but I had none. Pinched out tops but blackfly is everywhere. Reminds me of the year I grew lots of nasturtiums – it was an open party for blackfly the world over!
Eliza
Thanks for this, Neil, I now have a wonderful image of your father flinging his green waste about! I cut back some of the 7ft canes but left those that had lots of flowers on, so I will indeed try bending these down and tying to a manageable height.
Eliza
Thank you Charles, this should be quick and easy then which is just what’s needed!
Eliza
Hello Charles and all
I planted some raspberry bushes in a half shady spot in my garden last year that were previously growing in pots and am now, as my mother put it at the time, living to regret it! I planted them about 16-18 ins apart and for one reason or another have lost a lot of gardening time this year and they are now everywhere. I realise they need thinning but which do I take out? The original plants I put in are now about 7ft tall and I know I should have cut these back but circumstances prevented this. Most if not all are autumn raspberries. Some shoots are coming off the original plants but there are dozens of plants as close as a few inches apart. I am playing catch up with so many things but the raspberries need some attention. Any advice gratefully received.
Kind regards
Eliza
Thanks, Charles, I am hoping for the best. I love my salads! Just to note, the seed I saved from my lettuce last year germinated superbly. I have several plants I am waiting to collect seed from but they are presently sodden.
I also am seeing more earwigs this year than I have for many years. More wasps and in number far earlier than usual. Less bees and butterflies though.
Eliza
A complete bed of lettuce is collapsing because of root aphid which I presume is because of the dry weather before this spell of wet weather. I say presume because the last year my garden suffered badly with lettuce root aphid was 2012 which as you will remember was wet, wet, wet. So now I have root aphid, blight starting and, all of a sudden, slugs everywhere.
I have planted out the lettuces I thought I may not need as far away as possible from this affected bed and am hoping that the small plants will escape but have a small amount of chicory, endive and spinach in reserve just in case. I seem to remember in 2012 more or less every lettuce plant in the garden succumbed. What do you think, Charles? Do the new plantings stand a chance? Judging by the amount of slugs around it may not matter in any case!
Well, here we go again! Just found the first patches of blight on three or four of my outdoor tomatoes. No mistaking and not much as yet but not surprising with the weather we’ve had lately. Just as they are ripening of course. Every year I say I will not put myself through this and every year I grow them. Can only hope for an extended spell of dry weather as, see post above, I brought back from Greece last year! Anybody else noticed blight on outdoor toms yet?
What happened to summer?
Regards
Eliza -
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