[KarenParticipant]

Heya Charles,

Just wanted to inform you that the peas germinated! Will use them as pea shoots 🙂

Am delighted!

[KarenParticipant]

Ok thanks Charles… will do as suggested… have sorted out and discarded out the seeds with large burrow holes… was wondering about the really very tiny holes… able to see only 1 or 2 very tiny holes and a few that are perfect without any holes.

[KarenParticipant]

Hi Charles,

I was sorting out some pea seeds that am saving for next year and noticed that many of them have very minute holes in them. Do you too have this problem? I was able to leave the pea pods on the plant till it was fully dried out. I suspect that there were possibly worms in these peas.

If there is only 1 or 2 minute holes in these seeds, do you reckon they are still viable and be able to germinate?

cheers!

[KarenParticipant]

Might try Wendp´s method with a mousetrap with a flowerpot over the hole.

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles,

Thanks. I did read that link. I should have written my post in that thread instead. I think the solution would possibly be to try to set traps.

My only concern is… why would they eat baited traps with peanut butter and Nutella when they have fresh cabbages for example to feast on. At the same time, am afraid that one of the cats might accidentally activate the traps and injure themselves?

I just saw today that one of our cats started to sit by a hole…

Perhaps I should try Eliot Coleman´s method of a boxed trap? I tried flooding one of the holes today… but that´s a lot of water to cover such a large area 🙁

Am also about to plant out autum/winter cabbages soon… it would be impossible to chicken wire all of them.

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles,

We are beginning to have a problem with them at the moment. Am at my wits end. We have 4 cats and they have always dealt with them. However, this year it appears to pose a challenge even for the cats. They are still bringing some back, but I do suspect not from our garden. Them useless kids!

Have been battling with these critters for the past few weeks now and even had to plant the beans and outdoor cucumbers wrapped in chicken wire. The amount of work involved is exasperating and exhausting! They have also begun to nibble on the cabbages 🙁

I have read all the info in the forum about dealing with them. I gather you´d suggest setting traps? These voles have spread to a huge area in our garden now, from the outdoor plots right through to the polytunnel. Discovered several holes and heaped pathways and I constantly have to stamp these pathways down. They have also uprooted basil plants, marigolds and other plantings.

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[KarenParticipant]

Cheers Eliza, will definitely be extra cautious too… will wait till perhaps the leaves flop a little before watering again.

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles,

I will certainly hold back on the watering. It is always my biggest folly. I just checked on the cucs I planted out 2 days ago… Think I got confused with my courgettes. Their leaves aren’t terribly big. I just planted them out when the roots were fully wrapped around the potting compost.

I should try to repot them to bigger pots next year and possibly plant them out when they are a lot bigger.

[KarenParticipant]

Hello Don and Charles,

Will definitely thin out and remove some to give more space for others to grow for a few more weeks. I also need to soon harvest this bed to leave room for my outdoor cucumbers.

I feel rather silly now regarding Rodynda and Filderkraut, was just following the sowing times on seed packets. Will definitely NOT make the same mistake. Sure waste of time, effort and space 🙁

I did harvest 2 small heads of Premiere cabbage and they were TASTY!

Charles, I sowed Cabbice F1 too and they look very similar to yours …. yayyy! Can´t waste to harvest them and taste them! This is my 2nd attempt at growing cabbages and am delighted by it! Albeit my husband grinning away and wonders how are we gonna eat 30ish cabbages!

On that note, have a wonderful weekend!

[KarenParticipant]

Heya Don,

Yeah… I guess I was pushing it… I wasn’t planning to have big hearts, just big enough to have at least 2 servings of it as stir fry 🙂 plus soooo many varieties and soooo little space!

Thanks for the tip. I only followed the recommended sowing times on the seed packets for Tinty F1 (Mar to May) and Red Lodero F1 (Mar to Apr) and Rodynda (Feb to May). Will leave a couple and wait out for these varieties just to see.

lol… Broccoli is yummy. 🙂

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles,

I grew 10 varieties of cabbages… I checked and it´s these varieties that are not or forming rather lose heads (sparse leaves)

Filderkraut from a common countrywide brand Kiepenkerl (have sowed some in May from Bingenheim)
Rodynda (Bingenheim) (have sowed some again in May too) red variety
Red Lodero F1 (King Seeds) Red pointed variety
Tinty F1 (King Seeds) red pointed variety

Hey Don, you may be right… my cabbages were planted rather closely, about 30-35cm… moreover we had very little rain. The heads from all the cabbages are rather uneven. Some rather big, medium and tiny. Oddly, the Red Lodero have more space as they are growing on the outer side of the bed of cabbages. I have also removed the lower yellowing leaves and hopefully they will receive more rain. (Don, I giggled when I read you wrote you hate calabrese… Am guessing it´s similar to hating perhaps eating broccoli… or did you mean just growing them…lol)

Will try to allocate more space (40-45cm) for the next batch and see how it goes.

Ok Charles, I have sowed some F1 Calabrese just last week. Fingers crossed.

[KarenParticipant]

Whew! Thanks Charles. I feel a lot more assured. I was really hoping that it was due to the low temperatures and possibly cold wind too. I have a few rows of different varieties of peas. Some looked this pale and some didn’t. The compost we used could possibly be weak too and perhaps a wee bit more woody? Will be more diligent and conscientious with compost making now and possibly adding animal manure to the compost heap too.

Some of the peas that looked very pale were in the rows where we used supposedly ´horse manure´ from a neighbour. However, we have been rather dissatisfied with them as they looked horribly dry and didn’t really look like the usual well rotted horse manure we used to get. We´re unsure what he actually gave us. 🙁

[KarenParticipant]

Great news all!

Keith has kindly offered a 10% discount on his products at his website http://www.easynet.co.uk

just type in the discount code karen17

[KarenParticipant]

Thanks Concetta, will try potatoes… fingers crossed!

[KarenParticipant]

Is anyone having a problem with wireworms? 🙁

8 young lettuce plants were destroyed by them this morning when I went to check the beds. Am completely gutted!

I tried baiting the last few days with apple slices… they completely disappeared from the beds! I suspect birds (unlikely as we have 4 cats) and possibly (most likely) hedgehogs came out in the night and had a feast!

Havent tried potatoes yet…. might just try it as I suspect my apples will keep disappearing every night!

Sowed leaf beet today as a contingency plan if more lettuce plants fall victim. I think wireworms aren’t too terribly interested in them. Hopefully!!!!

Am at my wits end. 🙁

[Author]

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