Hazelky

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 43 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • in reply to: Aquadulce autumn greenhouse sown broad beans flowering #51937

    Hazelky
    Participant

    I have broad beans in greenhouse, though not flowering yet. Have a row outside which were sown at the same time and planted outside at the same time as the ones in the greenhouse.
    The green house ones, as you might imagine, are three times as tall as the outside ones. But all are tillering.

    If you have no space in greenhouse to put them in the ground, I think I would plant yours outside, which would check them, perhaps with fleece over for a little while to cushion the blow.

    I’m no expert, just an idea.

    in reply to: Preparing for growing potatoes #51644

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Hi from Hazel,
    Cardboard over nettle roots was fine for me initially. A few popped through but easily dealt with.

    An idea for the spuds is to put down a layer of compost, then cardboard, then punch a hole in the cardboard for each potato(easier when thoroughly wet), then cover with more compost. You can earth up each plant separately with more compost as necessary. The cardboard will be very delicate by the time the spuds are ready.

    Sure there will be more ideas you can pick from😀

    Good luck and fine weather!

    in reply to: New Allotment. I'm confused. What should I do? #51637

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Many thanks for the link. My yields were bigger in my second year without animal manure. We will see what happens this year.

    in reply to: New Allotment. I'm confused. What should I do? #51632

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Hi from Hazel,

    I also do not use animal products on my plot. Have used green waste, mushroom compost and now my own compost from last year.
    So far, everything grows very well. Thankfully, had no marestail when I took on the plot, just lots of chest high thistles and nettles (I am very small!). This is my second year and they are all subdued with initial cardboard mulch. An odd seedling needs removing, but no sign of perennial growth emerging.
    Now puttin on an inch of compost on the beds for this seasons growth.
    Have fun, the initial work is heavy, but once it is tamed it is such lovely work.

    in reply to: Starting new allotment the no-dig way #50858

    Hazelky
    Participant

    I got a small plot almost two years ago. It was covered in nettles, thistles and assorted annual weeds. I cut the weeds down, laid cardboard in two layers to exclude light and put compost on top. This was enough to deal with the matted weed layer. The cardboard is now rotted and incorporated. There are weeds, but not the deep rooted ones, just from nearby weedy plots nd easily pulled in regular maintenance. These were new plots and most plotholders are diggers nd there are many more weeds on the diggers plots than the three no dig ones.

    in reply to: Off Topic #48261

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Also off topic……looking forward to the open day, hope to meet lots of forum people. I am Hazel, 5 foot small with white hair from Herefordshire.

    in reply to: white cabbage moth/butterfly #47965

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Waiting for mine to arrive!!

    in reply to: Borlotti beans #47873

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Thank you Charles, well said. Will be patient and pot on my plants again!

    in reply to: New Backyard City Garden – No Dig #47871

    Hazelky
    Participant

    How wonderful is that?! What a beautiful and bountiful space. Well done you.

    in reply to: Clay plot – Path help #47870

    Hazelky
    Participant

    We are on clay soil too. My neighbour, who digs her patch, dug a small trench around her patch for drainage. It seemed to work for her when we had those weeks of wet weather.

    My paths were made with cardboard first, then covered with wood chippings. They felt a Little spongy in the wet weather but were fine to walk on all through the wet months when the rest of the grass paths on the site had standing water for weeks.

    Got my wood chip free from a local advert and free cardboard from local shops.

    In this dry season, my beds are well mulched with compost and the clay underneath is still moist, though I am only watering vulnerable plants.

    in reply to: Update so far #47739

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Pleased to hear of your good news, bet you re looking forward to n even better year next year.

    Have had huge problems With cabbage whites this year; I’ve never seen so many of them before. They have got under my nets or through! Picked hundreds off my Cavolo Nero kale this morning, it’s Cavolo Nero lacework now. The middles are surviving so have cleaned them off and removed the big leaves to let them live another day.

    The sweetcorn love this weather and am harvesting before anything gets there before me. Lost the whole crop to rats last year.

    Calabrese pretty poor this year and the carrots that grew are lovely, but only a third of what I planted.

    Yellow beans great, green beans too. White cucumber very prolific, making dill pickled ones today. Outdoor tomatoes showering me with fruit. The borlotti beans are great, picked the lower ones touching the ground to eat, but most left to dry for winter. Beetroot, fennel, kohlrabi, onions all good. Tried red celery, never again, most galloped to seed and very stringy, not juicy at all.

    Strawberries are over but we had a fabulous few weeks, pounds and pounds of them all sweet and juicy.

    Trying to find room for winter veg now on my small plot.

    Lovely to hear of others veg successes and tribulations, we are having a great time😀

    in reply to: Giving some love to an old strawberry bed #47330

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Strawberry plants do not last forever. If you look closely at them you will see there is a parent plant and lots of runners coming off them long thin stalks with small plants on them. Some will already have rooted, probably. Others will just be little plants with no obvious roots. These can be pegged down so they are in touch with soil. When they have rooted, you can separate from the parent plant. The old plants I usually discard after 3 years or so and replace with the New plants. First year plants have fewer fruits, but I find they are very sweet then more prolific in the next two years, then fall off and get rather seedy looking.
    Straw and slugs are great companions! I find they are fine on dry compost. Have fun!

    in reply to: Help! I'm losing the battle with weeds! #47069

    Hazelky
    Participant

    I have to keep at it in the beds, but the weeds are small and easily dealt with – I have top dressed with green waste over my own compost.

    The huge problem for me is the main allotment paths. They are full of weeds and grass at the edges and I am losing the battle to keep clean edges to my plot.

    The slugs have me beat, too. Despite slug hunts dawn and dusk, they have had all my climbing French beans and decimated my kohlrabi seedlings after I lifted the night cloches, thinking they were big enough. Curiously, the lettuce have no damage at all and I have them inter planted in several locations. Am now trying a product called ‘slug gone’. It is organic, wool fibre and breaks down slowly. Supposed to form an abrasive mulch when the pellets are watered which deters the slugs and feeds the soil. A fellow allotmenteer is using it. We shall see.

    Am going on holiday in a weeks time – expecting mayhem when I return☹️

    in reply to: Blackfly #46960

    Hazelky
    Participant

    I pinched off my tops as I saw lots of ants and presumed they were farming the black fly but have not seen much of the black fly. The crop is fantastic this year from overwintered beans. Last year I had the black fly in droves and a smaller crop.
    Perhaps we have good years and bad years?

    in reply to: Curcubits #46959

    Hazelky
    Participant

    Planted mine last week. Am in Herefordshire. Have a melon in the polytunnel and in the greenhouse but put another outside today in a very sheltered south facing spot next to the compost heap – fingers crossed. Sweetcorn out and fleece off. Borlotti out and romping away. Sadly the slugs ate all my French bean seedlings. Have back ups, but letting them get bigger before I try again. Having a slug hunt tonight if the rain keeps off.

    Squash in the maturing compost heap and a cucumber. Cucamelons still a little small so giving them a bit more growing time.

    Spinach now starting to flower so they are coming out, but already put in pink fir apple spuds between them and they are showing now, so no bare space.

    Outdoor toms out. They are ok, but not romping away. Most plants seem to have shot up after 2 days of continuous rain. Hoping they outgrow the slugs!

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 43 total)

Forum Info

Registered Users
27,618
Forums
10
Topics
2,941
Replies
10,416
Topic Tags
567