Hobbit Allotment!

[snohare]

No great hurry Hobbit, it may be as well to wait until winter comes on anyway, that will give any that will pop their clogs due to their untimely transplantation, to do just that.

Polyanthus ? Wassat ? ! Dinna ken aboot floo'ers My only suggestion can be, harden them off gradually just as you would any other plant that has been grown in hothouses in Jersey...but green and wet sounds healthy to me.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Tad annoyed with myself. Have killed half a tray of bellis belle, yes, floo'ers, uncle sno, in the 4TB. Was half open, but most have gone a bit crispy. others were droopy; so stood the tray in some water. Have perked up, but I'm not happy...

[snohare]

Och well Hoblet, it's in the nature of greenhouses to kill things if you turn your back on them for five minutes, and in the nature of seedlings to die likewise. Put the two together in any location more than a few yards away from your door and you are lucky if all you get is some scorched leaves !
What are your plans for them ? Mix'n'match with some other species/colours in a border ?

[horticultural_hobbit]

Something like that, yes. There were a mystery plant thing as per an order of something. Have a tentative plan, yes, tentative as these tend to go whoopsy. Borders will be red, white and blue as it is still Jubilee year. That and I like the word jubilee as a synonym for the happiness and joy the plot could bring. I am anticipating lots of pansies, mostly of those colours, for the borders. There are also roses plans, to dog leg on the one side. I did a small funny dance with the sight of the blue rose. And no, i didn't sll any kidneys for them. I try not to part with them. And tulips, I like my tulips, so lots of those.

[snohare]

Why, I never expected you to sell organs to fund the lottie - it's impossible to know when you might need to have both renal filters - ye jist kidney ! But of course you need tulips as well...
I'll not make any jokes about dog roses...
I know what you mean about the little dance. I do the same thing when I see my broadies podding up, or rasps coming to fruition.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Okay, could you lovelies provide me with some perspective?

I am one and a half beds away from having my entire half plot newspaper mulched. I hope to have this done by half term; roughly eight weeks away. I am whiling away time, before I sow my onions, garlic and shallots. So my query is as follows. What else can I sow, plant, so as to not to just stand there and stare at the newspaper?


I would like to have another go at cabbage and winter greens. I know there are or were savoy cabbage seeds in my seed box, probably some kale too. What I hypothesis is modularising in the wendy house and then when they are big enough, plug into the newspaper mulch. There is of course, aqua dulce broadies; still an acquired taste. Spinach as well. Though I'm not sure how to plug and play with that: and can I do that with turnips, swedes.

:: catches breath, as she's rabbiting ::

I don't have any window sills, no garage any more.

I am going to have floo'ers. Pansies, polyanthus's, tulips and daffs. There's something therapeutic about dibbing those in. There will also be roses.

What can I do now and how?

[snohare]

Oh, plenty you can be doing Hobbit !
I was sowing kale, turnips and kohl rabi just last week; also skirret (early for September, but it takes a month of damp to germinate and it's old seed, so I want to do repeated sowings), and I did a pot each of pak choi and tat soi as well. I could've done mizuna and other chinese veg, but didn't bother as yet.
These are all pretty optimistic for this time of year at my latitude - we had frost on the grass here the other morning - but for you, I would imagine, you would hopefully have another six weeks before the temperature drops too low for fast growth, and by that time you should have decent sized plants steadily growing away at an extra 3% per week. But many/most of the chinese veg of course are ideal for growing after midsummer, that stops them from bolting.
Stick 'em in the wendy house by all means, that is the perfect way to go. I have found that growing turnips in modules has been very iffy for me this year, all my success has come from direct sowings; but I know Two Sheds does it that way, with great success I believe, so I reckon my problem has been that my modules have had naff compost and too much damp and cold. (Sitting outside in propagators which aren't designed for outdoors, so rainwater leaks in.)
Oh, and if I can ever find the seeds, and get back to the lottie (I've been busy with ESA stuff), I will put some Aquadulcie Claudia in. Terrible decision to make though - my runner beans are just beginning to go gangbusters, flowers but no beans yet etc, how long should I live in hope before I haul 'em out and replace with AC's ?

[horticultural_hobbit]

would it be a help or a hindrance to put cardboard onto the already present newspaper?

[Two_Sheds]

Why would you be wanting to double up?


I wouldn't, because too many layers of carbon just won't rot down. Best to layer browns with greens really

[horticultural_hobbit]

Just thinking, Aunty Two_Sheds. Saw bits of cardboard, and thought it might be useful. I know I can use it instead of the newspaper.

In other news, the floo-ers plugged in last week; all the pansies have been eaten. Leaving only the plug of soil behind. Am very very annoyed.

Looked at my half cooked leaf mold

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and then did this
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and have half a plan

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The raised beds were looking at me rather mournfully, and the plan is to eventually fill em with compost anyway. This may help a bit.

[snohare]

The thought which occurs to me is that the cardboard, one or even two layers of it, would do well on the bottoms of your raised beds.
At Glentanar, my friend John and I found that the beds we built had two problems: moles/voles digging their way up into the bed, and weeds, growing from beneath the bed out into the paths, or vice versa.
One way we found to reduce this problem was to put down big sheets of heavy duty cardboard, which were larger than the bed, with the framework of the bed itself laid on top. This meant that weeds like couch grass trying to grow sideways and then up the inside wall of the beds, would be stopped by a barrier. Equally, voles didn't seem to want to go through the cardboard.
Temporary, unfortunately - the voles dined well on John's tatties one year ! - but worth thinking of. A less green (and more expensive) option is to use woven polypropylene mulch sheeting; that will stop moles etc dead but not rhizomes. Can't stand the stuff, personally.
Pansies eaten by slugs ? I suppose we could have expected it. You'll have to find hanging baskets or something similar to put them into, Hobbit - this summer I've seen some absolutely cracking pansies in fenceside planters, they obviously thrived on the rain without slugs getting at them.
Having just been reading that it is an El Nino year coming up, I am now planning for a scorcher of a summer next year. Wishful thinking...?

[horticultural_hobbit]

Have yet to see any mole-ys, or Vole-ys. The Shire country park-I kid you not-is directly behind the site over the fence and the dingle stream.

Well, I've tucked the newspaper under the beds. As to how good that is, I shall see.

Very very annoyed by the decimated pansies. I think the polyanthus have stayed for the moment; though they were a little bigger. Shall see what happens to the bellis belle; have of which I cooked anyway.

Sat here, trying not get carried away by the Th*mpson and M*organ catalogue that has arrived.

Oh, I munched on one of the victoria plums, in it's beautiful pinkness. Was rather nice, I could have done a small victory dance. Now if some clever aunty or uncle could tell me how to prune the corden apple and plum trees over the autumn winter.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Home straight of the raised bed saga

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Still looking into builders bags, i know there will be another batch of leaf mold in one at least.

Not long now, and I can start think about autumn planting.

[horticultural_hobbit]

one year on

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[Feral007]

Sad about your pansies HH. But the rest if sounding good.
How thick did you put the paper down? I like using cardboard as it takes longer to break down, but when we use paper we use if thickly. Then we build the bed up on top of it. You smother the weeds, and they don't come through the cardboard or thick paper, but it improves the soil as everything breaks down. If the paper was put on thinly then cardboard would be ok, but might be too much to have thick newspaper and then cardboard.