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auntierozzi
Oct 2nd, 2007, 10:26 AM
I had some which were doing pretty well but my husband mowed over them thinking they were weeds..One is still trying to survive. Marrows are doing well and the kale suppy is constant :-)

veganbikerboy
Oct 2nd, 2007, 06:53 PM
i just built a cage to go over the top of my pond to stop suicidal hedgehogs:rolleyes: its not the best but it'll do for now!

cedarblue
Oct 4th, 2007, 02:30 PM
yes mine are just opening too. they are like sunflowers but not quite as big. Mine are huge this year, must be at least 10ft tall:)


yes, mine must be bordering on that too!


I had some which were doing pretty well but my husband mowed over them thinking they were weeds..One is still trying to survive. Marrows are doing well and the kale suppy is constant :-)

my kale is slow to grow, maybe i got going on sowing it a bit late, i don't want to start stripping the plants yet.

Mzee
Oct 15th, 2007, 06:52 PM
dug up some parsnips, carrots & onion & leek for lunch today

[amazed to see the butternut squash patch, which i thought had had it due to slug damage, displaying 3 biggish squash and half a dozen biddy ones too! :)

Due to the poor Summer, my butternut squash are obviously not going to ripen. I've sometimes bought butternut squash that turned out not to be fully ripe and the flavour (I usually just boil them) was disappointing. Can I use them like courgettes (which after all are basically immature marrows) which I normally slice and fry for a minute before adding tomatoes and sweet pepper?

cedarblue
Oct 16th, 2007, 07:54 AM
in my exerience mzee, if you chop squash up small and fry, it doesn't take long to soften. why not try roasting it with olive oil drizzled over? - it's delicious!

we ate a butternut squash on saturday in our curry and it was perfect!

Mzee
Oct 16th, 2007, 06:48 PM
Thank you, cedarblue; I'll give it a try. I think we might get a ground frost later this week, so I'll need to cut them soon. I hope I don't find the slugs have eaten away the bits I can't see!

Roxy
Oct 16th, 2007, 07:06 PM
I think my gardening days are over for this year. Oh well, I shall try again next spring.

caela
Nov 27th, 2007, 09:57 PM
...actually this week in the garden ...

I planted the first of my winter crops (lettuces, spinach, kale, beets, & carrots) and built coldframes so hopefully I don't have a germination problem like last year.

I also planted garlic for harvest next summer and put chives and rosemary in my permanent bed.

Finally I mulched my lemon grass really well in hopes that it will make it through the winter.

Next week I want to plant radishes & chard.

Tibetan Snake
Nov 28th, 2007, 02:42 AM
Realy proond the old Apple tree hard. It looks like it has worm so if it falls over next year then there will not be to much damage to the stuff near it, and if it is as dry as this year perhaps a smaller top will help the froot to stay on untill there ripe.

Aradia
Dec 11th, 2007, 10:40 AM
I've been scrubbing and disinfecting all those pots that have been lying around since end of summer! It's taking forever!

Next year will be different ... I'll scrub 'em and put 'em away as I've finished with them... honest I will!

cedarblue
Dec 11th, 2007, 02:44 PM
'course you will - just like i did!

nothing doing in the garden right now, still harvesting parsnips, carrots, kale, brussel sprouts, chard, peppers, chillis, cape gooseberries

cedarblue
Jan 9th, 2008, 11:03 AM
chillis, peppers, gooseberries, carrots, kale all harvested. a couple of parsnips, tiny bit of chard and couple of sticks of sprouts left now.

we are going to buy and erect one of these instead of a greenhouse.

http://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/polytunnel.asp?cbowidth=8

first we need to hire a skip (muchos ££) and clear the area and then buy (more ££) and erect!

Mzee
Jan 9th, 2008, 08:31 PM
Hi, cedarblue,
My old gardening book "Peter Seabrooks's Complete Vegetable Gardener" 1976 (ISBN 0 304 29738 0) gives instructions on making your own polytunnel!
[I haven't tried this and I haven't checked his calculations of the lengths, either - perhaps you could do a scale drawing to make sure everything is OK before buying the materials.]

For a 3m x 4m tunnel, you require 3x 6.4m lengths of 10mm bore galvanised water pipe for the hoops. Drive a series of short posts into the ground in a semi-circle and bend the pipes around them. The hoops are drilled near their ends for nails which fix the hoops to 6 stakes driven into the ground in the correct position in the garden.

2x1.5m lengths of straight pipe are drilled and wired to the tops of the hoops to form the ridge. (A single length of 10 gauge fencing wire passes through the 2 lengths and drilled holes at the top of each hoop.)
The cover is 1 piece of 7.3 x 7.3m 125 micron UVI polythene stretched over the top with the edges buried in trenches at each side.

Doors are made at each end. 2x 2.4m 5x5cm wooden uprights are fixed into the ground 1.2m apart, joined by a 1.2m wooden lintel. These are fixed to the 2 end hoops. The polythene is cut and folded around the door frame - it is covered with wooden strips and nails driven through into the frame.

A roll-up polythene sheet forms the actual door at each end. (A bit more work could make a wooden frame covered in polythene which would be a sliding door.)

So, a lot more work, but less £££! Of course, the neighbours might not be impressed, but they might not even like any polytunnel...

Risker
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:35 AM
It's probably quite easy to get a free greenhouse from freecycle if you wanted to save some cash.

cedarblue
Jan 10th, 2008, 11:26 AM
actually it's not so easy risker, certainly not in my area. i'm checking it every day, they are never on there and very rarely in the newspaper ads either.

Aradia
Jan 10th, 2008, 11:49 AM
I saw the first snowdrops in my garden today! How exciting.
there are a few dozen of the flower heads fully through and thousands more poking the green up.

Melanie
Jan 10th, 2008, 11:55 AM
I want a garden back, university is so rubbish :(

Ginger
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:04 PM
It's nice to browse through the seed catalogues with a big mug of tea and be all optimistic about spring being round the corner :)
My greenhouse is a right mess, full of manky pots that need cleaning, but gigantic spiders are squating there at the mo and I don't want to turf them out :D
Still got leeks and sprouts at the allotment but haven't been since xmas.

cedarblue
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:08 PM
My greenhouse is a right mess, full of manky pots that need cleaning, but gigantic spiders are squating there at the mo and I don't want to turf them out :D

you wouldn't be scared of them would you??:rolleyes::p

Ginger
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:15 PM
Not as scared as when you're chilling out on the sofa with a glass of wine at night and one scuttles towards you faster than Lewis Hamilton :D
They don't bother me when they're outdoors, they just have a knack of taking me by surprise :D
For indoors I have a fantastic spider catcher to remove them to the garden but if they're really big my 6 year old has to do it for me :rolleyes::D
I actually find them fascinating, but from a distance.

cedarblue
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:16 PM
:p

cedarblue
Jan 10th, 2008, 12:19 PM
p.s. thanks for the building instructions - i'll pass them onto my husband and see what he thinks. our problem is time, i could'nt make it on my own and he works lots of weekends. we'll see. thanks again.

Risker
Jan 10th, 2008, 06:15 PM
actually it's not so easy risker, certainly not in my area. i'm checking it every day, they are never on there and very rarely in the newspaper ads either.

Have you posted a wanted message on freecycle? I find it works alot better than waiting for someone to happen to offer what you're after, worth trying the surrounding areas freecycles too.

cedarblue
Jan 10th, 2008, 08:02 PM
yes i have :(

Aradia
Jan 11th, 2008, 02:31 PM
Have you posted a wanted message on freecycle? I find it works alot better than waiting for someone to happen to offer what you're after, worth trying the surrounding areas freecycles too.

What's freecycle?