LL's Gardening Diary

Members adventures in the Vegetable Patch all year round
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lancashire lass
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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After 3 days in the glass greenhouse in very warm sunny weather, the chillies and aubergines have responded well and really started to get going. Disappointingly, the last of the winter squashes that had not germinated and put in there for a bit of extra heat are being particularly stubborn .... except two - another Anna Swartz and finally, a Butterpie ( )c( , I really wanted to see what these are like) have started to push up! After today, we are forecast dull cloudy weather so it'll be their last chance to come up especially the Potimarron for any chance of flowers and fruits.

I am perplexed why old seed originally destined for the bin as being unlikely to grow are popping up like weeds while the 2 varieties within sowing dates are not - makes me wonder if I have mislabelled them? It won't be for the first time ... earlier in the year when I only had 3 seed trays, I thought I would have a wonderful memory of what had been sown in which tray. I was thrilled when the "lavender" germinated but disappointed and worried when there were no signs of the chilli seedlings. So I decided to sow a second batch of chilli seeds and nurtured them on top of the fish tank light where they would be warm. Just before Easter, the tray of "lavender" resembled more and more like chillies until the penny dropped {rofwl}
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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more and more like chillies until the penny dropped

{rofwl}
I'm starting to suspect interlopers in my tray of peppers too - looking more and more like nettles.
)c( for the germination victories, though!
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Freeranger wrote: )c( for the germination victories, though!


and there's more )c( While I did a watering session earlier this morning, I'm delighted to announce that we have several more peas and .... sweetcorn coming up! Okay, I only found about 5 sweetcorn about an inch high but it's a good sign. Last sunny day today before it gets cloudy and temperatures start to slide so I'm hoping the rest of the seedlings will emerge sooner rather than later. As for the "wild flower" seeds I had sprinkled in that bed, there seems to be a lot more things germinating in there than the amount of seed I scattered so I may also be cultivating some weeds as well LOL

There was one more "Thelma Sanders" winter squash pushing up in the pots I had put into the greenhouse but still no sign of the Potimarron. I am starting to seriously wonder about the mislabelling theory now.

Last night when I went into the garden to close the greenhouse and polytunnel doors, I did a little inspection of the tomatoes, nipped off side shoots and to my amazement, found signs of flower buds appearing (I've never had them this early before but then I did sow the seeds early this year) The dahlias have settled in well after repotting so I'm pleased about that - I did a quick read about care and seems I need to nip the growing tip on these when they reach their 4th set of leaves so that they bush out and produce more flowers per plant.

However, not all good news - when I went into the other polytunnel to check the potatoes, the first batch that was planted are romping away and the leaves had pushed through the temporary bean & pea netting I had put on top of the raised beds (to keep the cats from investigating and digging holes) As I tried to untangle the mess snagged on a little screw, I stepped back and knocked the trellis over the potato bed on the other side and tipped the seed tray of cabbage seedlings upside down into the onion bed }hairout{ So I ended up with a few squashed onions and nearly all the best cabbages had fallen out of the tray. As it was getting dark, I only had time to scoop what I could and bung them roughly back in. They seem okay this morning but planting this weekend is definitely high on my list of things to do.

And while I was watering the raspberries in the tubs on the patio, I found the rosemary shrub was dead. I swear blind it was starting to flower only the other week when I last watered it and was looking very healthy. I've had the plant since the first year when I moved into that house 17 years ago so I'm a little sad that it had died.

As part of my "green" objectives this year to reduce or capture carbon dioxide, I am trying to reduce my bin collections and recycle, re-use and compost as much as possible. Of course it won't make much difference with the overall act of reducing fossil fuel for collection as the binmen still collect everyone else's stuff, but it is my personal contribution. So far I have managed to avoid putting any paper or card waste into the recycle bin (currently it is just filling up with cans) and they have ended up lining the raised potato and onion beds and now I am filling the composter. But there lies a problem - I really don't produce enough green material (like peelings or plant material) to mix with all the brown material (card and paper) The green material is vital to provide the nitrogen source to encourage bacteria and fungus to rot the brown material, so I had to give this some consideration. I could use fertilizer but that defeats the object so one option was to tip a bit of urine in (urine is high in urea which is a natural fertilizer) After yesterday's dose, I couldn't smell anything this morning (my main worry - it's one thing tipping it on the compost heap on an allotment, another in the garden next to where my neighbours like to sit out)

I have also been giving the carbon capture some more thought too. Now composting actually produces a lot of carbon dioxide (from all the microscopic fauna, worms and bugs) but is still considered a good way to capture carbon instead of sending stuff to landfill where it is buried and produces methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Now plants and crops do better when in an environment of high CO2 levels and of course the CO2 is taken up by plants for growth and turned into sugars. The most obvious thing would be to have a compost heap inside a closed environment such as a greenhouse or polytunnel to do that - well it's a bit late to do that now, and I don't really have the space either but one idea I have been toying with is setting up a solar powered air pump to pull the air from the compost bin and pipe it into the polytunnel / greenhouses. Another idea is to set up algae farms - there's surprisingly very little on this idea when googling. Yes, I've seen several youtube videos of setting up diy algae farms to produce food (not something I'd be interested in) using 2L plastic pop bottles or on an industrial scale, but I was actually thinking of growing algae (high in nitrogen) to feed the compost bin. I still need to give this more thought of how to set it up but I think it has potential. Still some ways to go ....
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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lancashire lass wrote:.. As for the "wild flower" seeds I had sprinkled in that bed, there seems to be a lot more things germinating in there than the amount of seed I scattered so I may also be cultivating some weeds as well LOL

Why am I not surprised


lancashire lass wrote:However, not all good news - when I went into the other polytunnel to check the potatoes, the first batch that was planted are romping away and the leaves had pushed through the temporary bean & pea netting I had put on top of the raised beds (to keep the cats from investigating and digging holes) .

I didn't set my seed potatoes out to chit soon enough, so a couple were planted with bits of mesh bag round the shoots - maybe that's why a couple haven't come up

lancashire lass wrote:I have also been giving the carbon capture some more thought too. Now composting actually produces a lot of carbon dioxide.... but one idea I have been toying with is setting up a solar powered air pump to pull the air from the compost bin and pipe it into the polytunnel / greenhouses. .
How much CO2 etc would be involved in the manufacture of the pump?
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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How much CO2 etc would be involved in the manufacture of the pump?

Actually, you could cobble one together out of up-cycled bits & bobs, and gravity.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Mo wrote:
lancashire lass wrote: wrote:I have also been giving the carbon capture some more thought too. Now composting actually produces a lot of carbon dioxide.... but one idea I have been toying with is setting up a solar powered air pump to pull the air from the compost bin and pipe it into the polytunnel / greenhouses.

How much CO2 etc would be involved in the manufacture of the pump?
Freeranger wrote:
How much CO2 etc would be involved in the manufacture of the pump?

Actually, you could cobble one together out of up-cycled bits & bobs, and gravity.


(i) how much CO2 would be produced by composting that goes to atmosphere? Yes there's the cost in manufacturing of pump and solar panel but it is a one off whereas composting is long term. And redirecting CO2 to plants and algae is then taken up and improves growth / production instead of adding to greenhouse gases.

(ii) FR - are you not thinking of a water pump rather than an air pump? I have been thinking about setting something up and got an idea of moving water like a sort of "central heating" (absorbing heat from the sun along the polytunnel ceiling and transporting it down to plant level (or underneath the racking) using a combination of a tank at one end, a pipe from it to the ceiling where it runs along the length of the polytunnel and then a sort of vacuum / siphon at the other end to start it off (and keep it going along with gravity) as another pipe lets the water fall down to pipes running along the bottom and back into the tank. The volume of water in the tank retains the heat for longer so at night when air temperatures drop, the water is still moving round the polytunnel releasing that heat. It's only an idea at the moment but something I've been looking into for a future project - I just need to test it on a small scale to see if it works first.

Now moving air is a little different - I would have to think about the mechanics of how to do that. The air pump (using solar energy rather than electricity) seemed like an easier solution - suck air from the compost bin and direct it into the greenhouse / or into the algae farm set up (a series of 2L pop bottles filled with water seeded with algae and some detritus for food, a pipe allows the air from the compost bin to bubble through water. Two holes in the bottle cap - one for the incoming pipe and another pipe near the top in the air space lets the oxygenated air be pushed either into another bottle with the same set up to capture any remaining CO2 or finally back into the compost heap. Microorganisms working in the compost heap need oxygen (that's why compost heaps are regularly turned over to aerate it and keep it from going sour and producing methane) so completes the cycle. This link on how to build an algae bioreactor shows what I am looking to do but I want to use the algae for composting rather than producing biofuel/oil, and directing oxygen back into the compost bin to speed up the composting process (unlike the demonstration in the link, the bottles won't be glued down on fancy racking)
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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No, I was thinking that CO2 is heavier than air so will sink, and the relative levels of the compost heap and greenhouse (sub)floor could take care of that element. A small impellor would draw it through. Anyway, I'm sure you know what you're doing, and I expect the real thing is very cheap anyway, so you'd have to be an eco-die-hard to bother making one. As you say, offset the carbon cost against the benefits and the balance is in your favour, especially over a period of years.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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Just half a thought as I pressed submit, is that some folks use a heat sink under the greenhouse floor to stop overnight freezing. Your compost heap in a pit below ground might have the same effect. But another thoughtlet is that you might have problems with moulds. I do like the algae idea.
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Sunday 19th May 2019 - bee balm & sweetpeas

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Freeranger wrote:Just half a thought as I pressed submit, is that some folks use a heat sink under the greenhouse floor to stop overnight freezing. Your compost heap in a pit below ground might have the same effect. But another thoughtlet is that you might have problems with moulds. I do like the algae idea.


currently the problem isn't so much mould but ants ... I seem to have got a colony in my bin. And the other problem is that I would have difficulty making pits as I am unable to dig due to the fruit tree + privet roots just under the surface, but a good idea all the same. )t'

Anyway, yesterday's tasks were becoming a matter of urgency - the bee balm in the seed tray were getting pot bound and starting to die off, and the sweetpeas were also at risk. Although I want to grow more flowers in my garden for the bees and other pollinating insects, I seem to have the same problem - not enough light (except where I have the polytunnel and greenhouse) Before the fruit trees put out leaves, the fruit tree bed looked a good candidate but I underestimated the leaf cover and I don't think the sweet peas would be happy along the fence. When I grew bee balm on the allotment plot, they were under the neighbour's apple tree but they did get afternoon sunlight so they obviously tolerated some shade. After looking at the fruit tree bed, those trees nearest the chicken run looked a better candidate.

So first task - weed that area. There were surprisingly few weeds, mainly goosegrass and another weed I don't know the name but a small low lying one with tiny white flowers (not chickweed) and quite possibly as a result of the mulching put down a couple of years ago (first cardboard to suppress weeds followed by using used old compost when I emptied the big pots / growbags out of the polytunnel and then soiled chicken bedding) There were the inevitable ash tree and hazel seedlings to pull up as well - all went into the compost bin to feed it. When it came to digging planting holes, of course the usual problem in my garden - tree roots. I managed to loosen the soil enough with the garden fork but was quite surprised by how dry the soil was - just goes to show how little rain we've had overall despite heavy rain only the other week. After emptying contents from a growbag, I planted the plugs and heavily watered them in to moisten the soil underneath, followed by a seaweed solution to encourage them to quickly take root.

Next, sweetpeas. My only option was to use the trough planters on the patio. I even liked the idea of planting the high fragrant varieties on the patio if nothing else but for the scent. Even so, the patio has shade issues too from the neighbour's ash tree - the only good thing about it is in summer especially during heatwaves like last year. Still, I don't really have anywhere else. First - empty the daffodils out of the planters. As there had been hardly any flowers, I had concluded perhaps the daffodils had outgrown the planters and needed to be lifted and thinned out so it was on my list of things to do anyway. I was impressed by how many bulbs there were and perhaps from about 10 bulbs per trough, there must be hundreds now (a mix of sizes) As the leaves were already flopping over, all I have done is lift up, shake some of the soil off and left them in open crates to dry off (actually they would be better spread out to dry quickly so they don't go mouldy but that's for another day)

As the daffodils have been in the planters for years, I added a little dried blood and bonemeal to the soil and then topped it up with compost from growbags. Finally the planting - it took considerably longer than you might expect. There were originally 10 seed trays (with 15 cells per tray) but only one variety failed to grow but still a lot of plants. I managed to fill a planter from one tray each .... as there were only 5 planters for the daffodils, I still had to find another 4. I did have some planters which I had moved to one side when digging the pond a couple of years ago but the plastic on most were brittle. Still I managed to salvage 4 and thought it might be an idea to use them to make a secluded seating area and let the sweetpeas grow to form the "walls".

Finally, something to let them grow up on - the easiest was bean and pea netting across the first 5 planters, and an old collapsible trellis for 2 others (both retrieved from the polytunnel where they had been covering the potato raised beds to stop cats from using them as toilets until the potatoes had started to grow) I still need to find 2 more - one option is to use the twiggy bits from the trimmings over winter but by then I was getting very tired and I still needed to thread the other plants through the netting & trellis and give them all a thorough watering, so I left them to do later. They all got well watered, and again followed by a seaweed solution feed to help them settle in quickly.

I packed up for the day and put everything away and just as well, it started to rain soon after. Only a very light shower so at least the plants were not knocked down and probably the perfect light misting they needed after the rough handling.

As for the rest of the garden update: the sweetcorn bed is seriously lacking sweetcorn - so far I can only find 7 have germinated. I keep hoping more will come up soon but it's taking too long so I'm not so sure I'll be getting any sweetcorn this year. I wish now I had planted them in pots when they were sprouting but I didn't have 50 or so plant pots (or even seed trays) and I took a chance planting them direct and the cold snap that followed the warm Easter weekend didn't help.

Most of the potatoes have now come up - only the Rooster are slow but they are just starting to break the soil surface. They will need earthing up soon - not so much to protect from frosts as the forecast this week show mild temperatures but to start building up the soil for the new potatoes to form. The chillies and aubergine are doing well and I'm very pleased with them. There are no more winter squashes and probably as well - my plans to grow them in the fruit tree bed might prove difficult if I can't dig deep enough planting holes so will need to find new homes.

Overall the garden is taking shape - some things are doing well, others not. I seem to have got a bumper crop of apples and pears (I still have to wait for the "June" drop obviously but I'm confident as they were flowering during the Easter weekend and there were plenty of bees around then) However, I couldn't see a single plum and as for the cherries, well I never get any after the blackbirds and pigeons have been anyway. It's the Spring bank holiday weekend coming up next, and I have booked the rest of the week off as annual leave - my plans hopefully include finishing off the wildlife pond or at the very least, make serious headway with it!
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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My cherries are swelling nicely - for the bird, as you say. I rarely get any (sometimes they leave me some 'white' but the black, which are sweetest, are always stripped.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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EDIT: I identified the tiny white flowered weed as Hairy bittercress (doesn't look "hairy" - the leaves grow flat against the soil surface, and the flowers are incredibly small)

Mo wrote:My cherries are swelling nicely - for the bird, as you say. I rarely get any (sometimes they leave me some 'white' but the black, which are sweetest, are always stripped.


Yes, my sweet cherry tree seems to be an "eat all you can before the fruit have even ripened" buffet. It's obviously on the birds radar and each generation of blackbird has been taught where to go (last year I saw a pair feeding their fledglings on the shed roof) Pigeons on the other hand just rip the whole hand of cherries (plus leaves) and do more damage than actually eating the fruit. The only thing I can say is that every year I get the most spectacular cherry blossom display that I see from my house and know that spring is on the way.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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I identified the tiny white flowered weed as Hairy bittercress (doesn't look "hairy" - the leaves grow flat against the soil surface, and the flowers are incredibly small)

I had to follow that link, but I have tons of that this year as well. Good to know you can eat it. I'll make a salad with the nettles and ground elder.

The only thing I can say is that every year I get the most spectacular cherry blossom display that I see from my house and know that spring is on the way.

There's something to be said for that, isn't there? For me, it's that point where the first daff joins the snowdrops. Good for the soul.
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The Compost Bin

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As mentioned in an earlier post, the compost bin is an important part of recycling my so called "kitchen waste" and all the card and paper generated from household packaging and mail but the balance had definitely shifted from a mix to more brown material and seriously lacking the green stuff. I'm still going ahead to set up the algae farming idea (I've been reading up a lot about algae - seems it will make very good fertilizer or an excellent green material for compost bins as well as the carbon capture idea) but in the meantime I've been concentrating on what to put in the compost bin.

Well I've been adding urine every other morning and so far (even after a few days in warm sunshine) my concern about possible smells is unwarranted. So not only is that morning's dose feeding the compost but also saving on flushing water away down the toilet so seems to be another tick on the list of things I can do to recycle.

Last week I ordered some Bocking 14 roots (comfrey) off ebay. Using comfrey leaves on the allotment plot was a way of adding nutrients to soil plus plant material for soil microorganisms and is also a good activator for compost bins. The only problem I had with the allotment comfrey is that it was the wild type so readily self seeded and became a serious weed issue in itself as the seedlings quickly grew deep roots and were difficult to lift up. Even if you nipped the tops off, they simply grew back (with gusto - one of the qualities wanted in the comfrey bed as a ready source of leaf material) - but self seeding was the last thing I wanted in my garden even if it was one of the best flowering plants to attract bees and other pollinators (the comfrey bed when in flower would be permanently humming from the sounds of bees visiting the flowers) Bocking 14 doesn't produce viable seed and instead spreads out so is propagated by root and splitting the plant. Well the parcel finally arrived on Tuesday ... 5 roots about half inch in length each - I know it only cost me about a £1 but still, I'm not sure if they'll grow. I soaked them in dilute seaweed solution and put them in a pot of compost so we'll just have to wait and see if they grow.

Meanwhile when I came to feed the fish in the pond, the duckweed had finally grown so much in the warm sunny weather and had covered the entire pond surface and I had to scoop some out just to be able to sprinkle the food in. In the past I had used duckweed for mulching the potted plants on the patio but now here was a potential green source for the compost bin. A lot of pond people detest duckweed for various reasons - you can't see your fish, it doesn't actually oxygenate the water (the leaves float on the surface so goes to atmosphere rather than in the water) and when it completely covers the pond surface, it also shades the oxygenating plants in the water. However, it does absorb the fish waste (namely the ammonia and nitrates in water) to multiply like all pond plants and competes with the algae and blanketweed for resources. And that means the duckweed itself is rich in a nitrogen source which is good for feeding garden plants and of course, the compost bin. And in line with my carbon capture plans for the garden, the little plants take up carbon dioxide which is converted into plant material which is then added to the compost bin so another tick on my recycling list. I only had enough time to clear about a fifth of the pond surface to fill a small bucket but it won't take long to regrow again.

Much of what I am doing in the garden for the carbon capture plans is not all that new so in terms of making an effort to be more "green" has not really been much of a change at all. Still, once you start thinking about it, it does make you see the garden in a different light rather than as a chore so overall I'm pleased.
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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)like(
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Re: LL's Gardening Diary

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it does make you see the garden in a different light rather than as a chore


I know what you mean, and admire your scientifically planet-friendly activities.

I've just packed up a couple of bags (used compost bags) of 'evil weeds' that I don't want back, and think they'll produce some quite good fertilizer. As ex-farmland with some poultry in the past, now surrounded by woodland, there's a lot of nitrogen in the soil from animal droppings and tree brash, so consequently a lot of grass, nettles etc. As I can't post them to you, LL, what won't compost can go as a feed/mulch directly under my ericaceous plants or to rot in water as sprays in the case of the nettles. In a previous garden, OH obligingly peed in a bucket for the summer so I could use that on the veg patch - it was fine for smells, being sterile on exit, but wouldn't take much standing around without getting a bit high. Fine once it was on the soil, though.
I'm trying to garden organically, smothering weeds (though that is less effective than I'd hoped) with cardboard from deliveries or other peoples' bins, crowding them out, growing dual purpose plants, propagating rather than growing from scratch or buying, and begging cuttings and off-cuts from friends' gardens. Anything grown from seed is put in plastic veg packaging or pots from food packaging. I am re-purposing wood and old windows for cold frames etc.
I compost too, though I haven't properly cracked this yet, but have discovered that I can regrow some things like celery, and use some veg trimmings in soups or as stock, so have actually cut down what goes in the composting bin. Browns - I have lots of rushes, and a seemingly endless supply of junk mail and packaging. My tomatoes, peppers and potatoes are all from supermarket veg this year, which is a dodgy long-term strategy, I suppose. I don't even feel guilty about watering things as we are off'grid for that with a collection tank, close to the water table (i.e. prone to boggy) and high enough for lots of rain, and what we do use drains directly to the burn which feeds the river.
Things that you describe and my novice efforts make for better soil and are also way cheaper, so I'm not sure why everyone doesn't do similar things.
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