Grow 2021-24

[RichieRiv]

I know this is predominantly is grow to eat thread, but I went out in the garden today to have a bit of a tidy. The snow and the frost have taken a massive toll.

I have lost a Jasmine, 2 Cordalynes, 2 NZ Flax are looking sorry for themselves. A clematis which I have spent 2 years training hasn't come back, a phoenix palm lost and an acer looks dead.

Quite demoralising really.

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

I know this is predominantly is grow to eat thread, but I went out in the garden today to have a bit of a tidy. The snow and the frost have taken a massive toll.

I have lost a Jasmine, 2 Cordalynes, 2 NZ Flax are looking sorry for themselves. A clematis which I have spent 2 years training hasn't come back, a phoenix palm lost and an acer looks dead.

Quite demoralising really.

Hang in there Ritchie. If there is any life in the roots, you may see them sprout as it warms up. Clematis do this very often, I’ve had it happen with Cordyline too.

That said, Cordyline, Flax and Palms are tender and depending where you live, they can need nurturing through a winter.

[Tenbury]

Think I mentioned a month or so back, although this winter was far from 'hard' there were times when the temperature varied by 14 degrees in 24 hrs. [ I was moaning about losing the purple sprouting, there's whole fields of it ruined a few miles away]
It's wiped out our cordyline too.
Fingers crossed for no late frost, as my greengages are full of blossom. Hopefully by the summer, I'll be well enough to pick them!

[RichieRiv]

Hang in there Ritchie. If there is any life in the roots, you may see them sprout as it warms up. Clematis do this very often, I’ve had it happen with Cordyline too.

That said, Cordyline, Flax and Palms are tender and depending where you live, they can need nurturing through a winter.

Essex, so not too bad - or put it this way, it could have been a lot worse.

I went back out this morning. The clematis has got green inside the vines so there is a little hope there. The Jasmine was basically kindling so I fully that out. I know Flax is tough and just needs patience and one of the Cordylines that survived but looking a bit worse for wear has a shoot at the base. The two that went south have been potted to see whether they shoot.

I am blaming Mrs RR for not picking native species, that said the olive tree in a pot gets my most attention. For some reason it's my favourite

[jevs]

I know this is predominantly is grow to eat thread, but I went out in the garden today to have a bit of a tidy. The snow and the frost have taken a massive toll.

It's certainly not been the coldest winters ever but i've lost plants that have been there longer than I have (23 years). Penstemon, rock roses, salvias, some herbaceous species ...all of which survived the best from the east 5 years ago when I recorded minus 15.5.

In other news, it's been a nice couple of days on the plot getting the spuds in (Pink fir apple, King Edwards and Jersey royals) plus all strawberry planters planted up with new plants....all with the "help" of my 5 year old grandson.

I started a lot of my hardier veg off on the heat mat and artificial lights at work....parsnips, leeks, carrots, onions, cauliflower, sprouts and now they're all ready to plant.
Got kale, spinach and rocket plus spring onions (they won't germinate directly sow) just up and ready to be pricked out.

This week i'm sowing a lot of salad stuff....beetroot, lettuce, carrots etc and then next week will be all the tender stuff....French and runner beans, sweetcorn, courgettes, squash etc.

[WHU Independent]

Been living in the garden when it has been sunny weather. Hack down a lot of dead stuff, right back, to give the other plants and flowers chance to get some sunshine and air. My mate came round and showed me how to prune Roses, we them lopped off all the low lying branches of my Holly tree, so that i could use a large chunk of allotment no 2, trimmed up the pear, cherry and apple trees so that had no branches rubbing and so that the air could get to the centre and then I weeded 2/3's of the garden.

When it was not sunny and was wet, I was in the green house, re potting some aspargus that was in too small a pot and then placed 24 pepper seeds in a propigator environment and placed them in te sunniest part of the greenhouse. I've bought some garlic bulbs, beetroot, carrots and a few other seeds last week and I'm going to sort them out next.

I''m totally enjoying it and the only sad part is that I found a dead hedgehog in the dead plants. Despite having 1 hibernation hut and 3 other boxes it looked as if he had tried to hibernate in the dead flora and he must have froze to death. There was no sign of violence and his body was flat, but totally preserved. It was a horrible sight.

[prophet:marginal]

I know this is predominantly is grow to eat thread, but I went out in the garden today to have a bit of a tidy. The snow and the frost have taken a massive toll.

I have lost a Jasmine, 2 Cordalynes, 2 NZ Flax are looking sorry for themselves. A clematis which I have spent 2 years training hasn't come back, a phoenix palm lost and an acer looks dead.

Quite demoralising really.

Our clematis took a little while to show any signs of new life, but has grown a fair few inches from nothing over the last week.

Sadly, the jasmine has done what yours did; seems to me like that patch where it snowed, cleared, but then snowed again, did for it.

Separately, the whole street seems to have been hit by some kind of airborne bacterial problem in terms of these red palms that lots of us had. I think in fact that most of them have self-seeded (ours did). They grew for about 5 years, such that the stem of the palm was up to my shoulder kind of height, but one day, nearly every specimen in the street seemed to be rotting from the inside of the palm.

[jevs]

Possible sharp frost tonight guys, get those tender plants back under cover

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

Possible sharp frost tonight guys, get those tender plants back under cover

Sod’s Law that I did my hanging baskets yesterday. Hopefully they’ll survive tonight

[WHU Independent]

I've been living in the garden lately. Done laods of stuff. here's some of it.

1) Dug a 4 by 6 by 3 inch trench along the front garden, put in new compost and planted 100 new flowers. Covered it up and now am watering daily - come june I hope to have some lovely flowers.

2) Mowed front and back lawn - took hours not because of the size but because of the length of the grass.Knee high in some places.

3) planted garlic in the ground and in the greenhouse.

4) re potted two tomato plants, 4 chilli plants and two pepper plants and 4 asparagus plants in the greenhouse. All coming along nicely.

5) Propogated some more chillis and more peppers. Quite a few.


6) weeded the front and back lawns - took ages because of the amount of weeds, some that had really established themselves, had to be dug right out.

7)Help prune all my tress and some climbbig plants that had gone bonkers. Cut all teh dear stuff off - left me with to brick bags full of cuttings.


Question. My Kale plant has started flowering yellow flowers - is the normal/desireable?

All in all it's done wonders for my mental health AND my dodgy back. It's been clicking and popping and now I am pain free! Result!

[sendô]

Right, I've decided to have another crack this year. The vegetable patch has been deweeded. Just need to get some manure and netting to keep the ****ing cats off before I sew the parsnip seeds (I have two types this year).

I'm changing the order things are laid out too in order to try and maximise sunlight, and also moved the kids trampoline further from the veg patch so it doesn't cast a shadow in the evenings.

I've already sewn broccoli and peas indoors, lots of broccoli shoots coming up and so far 11 (eleven) pea shoots so fingers crossed they don't all die and produce f*** all like lasy year.

I also bought some seedlings from the local garden centre a few weeks back which have been potted on and are doing well indoors - 1no female cucumber, 3 different types of tomato plant and 5x mini sweetcorn.

The plan for the patch is 2 rows parsnips, a row of corn, a row or two of broccoli and then the peas at the far end. Tomato plants need a good sunny spot against the wall.

[Up the Junction]

Love reading these posts, good luck chaps.

Haven't had much luck so far this spring but looking forward to getting out there again soon.

[jevs]

Love reading these posts, good luck chaps.

Haven't had much luck so far this spring but looking forward to getting out there again soon.

It's been so cold boss...even the soil is cold. No point sowing seeds into cold soil unless you have some tunnels or cloches. Sowed everything into pots this year so far and will harden them all off gradually.

Just need to get some manure and netting to keep the ****ing cats off before I sew the parsnip seeds (I have two types this year).

Try not to put manure down where you're going to have root crops....they hate it!!! Stones are another PITA mate.

[sendô]

Try not to put manure down where you're going to have root crops....they hate it!!! Stones are another PITA mate.

Really? I've used manure on my parsnips the last few years and have always had nice big tasty nips.

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

A couple of answers for you.

1.planted garlic in the ground and in the greenhouse.
Garlic needs a winter. Next year put it in the ground in Autmn

2.Question. My Kale plant has started flowering yellow flowers - is the normal/desireable?
Kale is finished now. Time to plant some more

Hope that helps!

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

Really? I've used manure on my parsnips the last few years and have always had nice big tasty nips.

Definitely avoid roots in freshly manured soil. Tends to lead to ‘****ing’ of the roots. Basically, you end up with multiple stems rather than one main stem. Great if you are after an entry for ‘That’s Life’ comedy vegetable slot, not so good for cooking.

Edit- swear filter doesn’t like the word f o r k i n g

[Up the Junction]

It's been so cold boss...even the soil is cold. No point sowing seeds into cold soil unless you have some tunnels or cloches. Sowed everything into pots this year so far and will harden them all off gradually.

I've pretty much lost all my french beans that I took a flyer on a fortnight ago - however my peas all appear to be flourishing, so it's not all bad. More cold/frosty nights to come this week, it seems.

Tats in today. A bit late, but better late than never.

[rigoberts song]

Gone poatato mad this time got given a 56lb bag from my mate the village greengrocer that had gone to : seed

[SammyLeeWasOffside]

Been reading this for a while so will dip my toe.

This will be my 3rd year. Started out very small but added each year. Branches out onto a new patch behind the house this year so now have 4 decent sized raised beds out there.

Always done ok but this year seems devoid of life. Planted 2 lots of seed trays 30 in each, mixed stuff, last year everything germinated. This time 1 sweetcorn and one cucumber.

Thought stuff it will just plant seeds out and trust to luck.

It's early still so fingers crossed. Spuds are going well, spinach coming nicely so just have to survive the winter on saag aloo

One question how the hell do I get onions to bulb up, or what am I doing wrong. They all come out like big spring onions.

[jevs]

SLwO....nice to see you're getting back into it. Where did you sow your sweetcorn and cucumber seeds? It's far too early to be sowing outside and i've not sown mine indoors yet....will probably do courgettes, French and runner beans, sweetcorn, cucumbers and cucamelons next week ready to plant out late May.

As for your onions, when do you plant them? I always get my onions, garlic and shallots planted in autumn (late October ish) The ground still isn't very warm so many things are just sitting there. Give them some time, they should catch up, you might just get a later crop.

Good luck

Oh....nothing wrong with saag aloo