Thomassio wrote:I think the only really fussy ones in terms of germination are the superhots. Seem to take much longer and need more warmth
Surprising, I found the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T started to germinate after just 4 days. May I recommend you try the damp tissue in zip lock bag method - basically you are chitting the seeds somewhere warm and as soon as they start to germinate, transfer them to pots with compost. You can put the bags anywhere warm such as on top of a computer or in the airing cupboard and that way you don't waste compost on those seeds that fail to germinate.
After looking up the trailing mini peppers called Sweet Sunshine F1 for an earlier post, I found Mr Fothergills was selling them at a much cheaper price for 10 seeds. I thought they'd look nice in hanging baskets by the back door so decided to get them. As p&p costs 95p (which is not bad compared to some suppliers), I proceeded to check if there was anything else I needed
Back in 2009, I participated in an RHS pea trial which involved growing a sugar snap and a mangetout variety - I thought the Sugar Ann were lovely, so decided to give it another go this year. I also needed some fresh sweetcorn seed and have decided to try out Quick Treat F1, and finally, some cucumber called La Diva which produce mid sized fruits that are smooth skinned and grow well outdoors. I did notice a code in the special offer box - so I clicked on the update but nothing seemed to happen. Never mind, I proceeded to the checkout and after submitting, gobsmacked to find all I had to pay was :
10757 Sweet Corn Quick Treat F1 1 £0.00 15123 Cucumber La Diva 1 £0.00 25055 Pepper Sweet Sunshine F1 Seeds 1 £0.00 14987 Pea Snap Sugar Ann 1 £0.00 F011 Postage & Packing Seed Only 1 £0.95 Total £0.95
I've looked on the site's "special offers" page and nothing mentions getting seeds for free so I have no idea how I did that LOL I like this kind of gardening
Ooh you lucky thing! Bargain! I might have a look as well, see if I can replicate your success. Although I do have a lot of seeds already bought, so I will have to take a careful inventory
Karen Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
I was expecting to get an e-mail to say there had been a problem with the seed sale as there was no sign of the amount taken out of my bank account, but it has gone out today - 95p Thinking about it, I did see something about an RHS member discount, but I'm not a member As mentioned before, I participated in a gardening trial and ever since then I get newsletter e-mails from the RHS with the occasional offer of plants from Mr Fothergills with free p&p, so maybe that is where the connection has been made? Unless I am a member but I thought it had a subscription fee which I've never paid?
On Wednesday I received an e-mail from DT Brown seeds to say my potatoes had been despatched but there had been no sign of the parcel until just now A quick peek in the box (seemed surprisingly light for 3.5kg), and yes all 3 varieties are present and correct. One of the bags contained large tubers ... so that means not many for planting. I'm not sure whether to be disappointed or thankful as I had only intended growing 3 varieties this year and had bought 2 others as well.
All the potatoes have now been delivered I finally unpacked the DT Brown spuds on Tuesday and I'm a bit disappointed with them. First the Inca Bella - one of the tubers was rotted - and then the bag of Vivaldi had no label (I presumed as the bag of Shetland Black was labelled) but they did seem to be in good condition and an even size. As for the Shetland Black, there are a mix of very large tubers and small ones - not ideal, but worse, and I should have guessed when buying, the skins are a dark purple colour ... the last time I grew a dark skinned potato (Blue Danube), I never managed to dig up all the potatoes as they blended in with the soil colour and I ended up with rogue potatoes in the same bed for nearly 3 years after
On Wednesday I got an e-mail to say the T&M potatoes had been dispatched - in the past they have been delivered by Royal Mail and if I'm not at home, I get a card to say they have been left at the local depot which is easy for me to call in on my way to work the next day. Blow me, both stockists had decided to use couriers instead and I was lucky to be at home on the Saturday for the first lot, but this second lot was causing me a headache especially as it was a courier I'd never heard of. The driver had left a mobile phone number and I finally convinced him that I was happy for him to put the parcel in one of my bins at the side of the house but he had been very unwilling at first. I unpacked the box when I got home last night and have to say the Charlottes and Mayan Gold tubers looked in good condition. All are now in trays to start chitting.
Some of you may or may not be aware that I help out on a website to build up a database of fruit and especially vegetable cultivars so I spend a lot of time perusing online stockists ... I get to learn about the different varieties available and where to buy them. Occasionally I find small specialised stockists and may make a small purchase to see what the service is like for future reference. The downside is that sometimes I get a bit carried away Many of the 2015 seed catalogues are now out and that means checking for new cultivars to add to the database - you may be getting an idea where I'm going with this LOL Yes, I'm afraid I just had to get a few more seeds to add to the already full list. So when I got home from work last night, not only the potatoes but also 3 other deliveries - the "free" seeds from Mr Fothergills (I really did only get charged 95p for p&p) as well as some superhot chilli seeds from 2 chilli sites. This weekend I'll be chitting the seeds - the 2015 Chilli Project begins!
Winter this year has been unusual - we seem to be oscillating between mild and extremely windy weather and then cold snaps. This is making visits to the allotment awkward - too wet or too cold to do anything. I really do need to go this weekend though to check on the damage done from the storm force winds we experienced last week ... is my shed, pallet fences and brassica cages still standing, and what about the black sheeting I had pinned down on some of the beds? At home the garden has been protected by the neighbour's privet hedge but the wind still managed to knock some things over - it never ceases to amaze me how some empty plant pots appear from nowhere and are found rolling round the patio LOL
The garlic in pots that I had put outside in the New Year have so far been fine in the mini greenhouse butted up to the house on the patio - the Cristo are really growing a lot faster than expected (especially as I had put them in the smallest sized pots) and now have 5-6 inch tall shoots. The Provence and Thermidrome on the other hand are only about an inch tall. As I wanted to slow their growth down by putting them outside so that the leaves did not get too tender if kept indoors, I had kept the last lot (White Casablanca) indoors until they started to show. There is no sign of growth at all so I can only assume they might need to be chilled to break dormancy so will have to make some more room in the mini greenhouse and put them outside while we have this current cold snap. The 3 Elephant Garlic are on a sunny windowsill indoors and are about an inch tall - surprisingly slow growth but at least I can see them growing (I have never grown Elephant Garlic before but I've read from others how sometimes the cloves just don't grow at all so I should be grateful all seems well so far) I'll be happy if I could just finish off digging over the beds on the allotment and getting them all planted out.
And finally, there are signs of life in the trays of the New Year sown onion seeds - the Kelsae, Arthur F1 and Golden Bear F1 are just starting to break the surface. I was starting to get a little worried that I may have sown the Kelsae too deep (the instructions said half inch, and then I also put a layer of vermicullite on the top) but at long last, there are definitely some coming through now, phew. With the new season already starting in earnest, I really must set up a pasting board in the south facing back bedroom ready for the seedlings where they will get better light - the downside of sowing too early can result in leggy growth through poor light.
It was cold this morning - bitterly cold - so cold, I had to break up the usual morning chicken clean and feed into 2 sessions just to warm my hands up. It didn't look like the frost was going to thaw at all and I was rather reluctant to get ready to go to the allotment. In the end, the 7 bags of chicken poop and bedding that I had moved to the side of the house in anticipation of the allotment visit were calling - I didn't want to move them back to the shelter between the runs. So at 11.00am I put several layers on and set off.
Not surprisingly, there were very few people around at the site. I saw 3 new people strimming an empty plot at the side of the communal chicken run - looks like I might have new neighbours. My task today was to just empty the poop bags and go home.
However, there was some damage to attend to from the recent strong winds - as suspected, some pallets had fallen over especially the more rotted ones on the pond bed so I just tipped them back off the footpath on to the bed. The new pallet fence at the back of the plot was fine but the fence by the rhubarb had fallen on to the bed - I didn't have any tools with me so I just propped it back up but if we get more wind it will probably fall over again. Only one brassica bed (swede) had sustained damage and these were the top supports - as they were not meant to be weight bearing other than lift the debris netting up, I had used older canes and these had snapped under the strain. I had to break off the canes still attached to the uprights so that I could pull the debris netting back over and weigh down with bricks. Then I had to rescue the plastic black sheeting that had got ripped off the squash bed and got tangled in the brambles on the vacant plot. It was just a case of spreading it out as best I could and finding the bricks and wood that had been flung off it during the storm. Finally, the weed suppressant material at one end of the blueberry bed had come loose so needed to be folded back and put the weights on top again. Surprisingly not much damage given how exposed the plot can be - considering the wind had been from the west and the plot is protected by the buildings on the edge of the site, the damage seems to have come from an north-easterly direction (pallet fence on the pond bed pushed back on to the footpath, the squash sheet on the neighbour's plot, with the rhubarb fence, brassica cages leaning slightly in and the edge of the blueberry sheet on the other side of the plot all pushed inwards) Odd.
My neighbour's greenhouse had a panel blown out so I picked it up and put it inside the greenhouse. I have noticed from previous years that my neighbour will most likely not make an appearance until nearer spring - there might not be much to do over winter, but an occasional visit is advisable just to check for any damage and make remedial repairs. I also noticed that the roofing felt on both of his sheds had been torn off so that will let weather in. I'm so glad I gave my shed a make over in the autumn and the new roof sheet was still attached - my biggest worry is that the whole shed would be a pile of kindling considering how fragile it was before I screwed the hardboard pallets to it LOL
I removed the trellis off the asparagus bed and did a cursory weed and then emptied 2 bags of poop and bedding on top. I then emptied 2 bags on to the pond bed but the trek up and down the very sodden and slippy footpath was getting a bit dangerous. After a break, I decided to put 3 bags on to the old pea bed for the 2015 potatoes. I debated whether to leave as a mulch or dig - with the ground still partially frozen, the advice is not to dig, so I compromised and lightly forked the bedding into the upper layer of soil. I disturbed a lot of earthworms and wished I'd brought a container along for a treat for the girls. As I worked, it was surprisingly warm and really quite pleasant in the sunshine - only my feet seemed to getting cold and the mud was clinging to the boots making them heavy.
Before I left I checked the garlic - the Avignon and Bella Italiano had about an inch growth but still no sign of the garlic planted in the butternut bed, the Red Donetsk, the Music, the Polish Harnas and Ornak or the 3 Czech cultivars, nor the infamous Iberian. I'm not unduly worried (yet) as most seem to be hardneck cultivars that grow in cold winters although I am surprised there is no sign of the Iberian Wight which is a soft necked variety that is supposedly the earliest maturing garlic available.
As I left the site at 2.00pm, I scrutinised the plot while driving along the bottom track - most of the beds look fine and the plot generally seems to be in good condition. Now all I have to do is pay this year's rent which is due in a couple of week's time.
I have to confess that I have just purchased another polytunnel. The chilli project started to grow a bit bigger than I had planned - I'm keen to grow the superhot chillies but also a few others as well. Even with the 2 greenhouses, there wasn't going to be enough room for them all. Besides which, I really do prefer the polytunnel to the polycarbonate greenhouse because of the head room and the 2 metre width. This one supposedly has 2 zippered doors at both ends so I'm hoping to butt the new one right up to the door of the old one to have one super long polytunnel ... that's the plan and it's bound to go wrong.
At under £80 (the frame is 25mm galvanized steel) & free delivery for a 4m x 2m x 2m, you really can't complain - I've bought it from Amazon (darn it, forgot to use Richard's amazon search, sorry) This time I'm having it delivered to my work's address - I will have to break the parcel up when it arrives so that it will fit into my car, but at least there won't be the hassle like the last time with the delivery problems. I don't even have to buy the anchors because I still had the ones from last time (with the first parcel getting lost, I had resorted to using tent pegs which are still working after 2 years) but I will need some anti hot spot tape which I'll get from ebay (cheaper)
I've been very pleased with the membrane I laid down on the blueberry and berry bush beds last year and decided that I'm also going to be laying a lot more this year - in the garden with bark chippings on top but also footpaths on the allotment, so I have just bought a 1m x 100m roll of Heavy Duty landscape membrane plus a whole load of anchoring pegs (no more bricks to trip over, yay) It's nowhere near enough as both the garden and allotment each are over 50 m long so one roll is woefully inadequate for what I had in mind but at least it will be a start.
With regards to the chilli seeds, I've been looking at a few sites in Europe - I guess I'm just so used to buying from within the UK that it's easy to forget that within the EU we can buy seeds from other countries. I bought a few seeds from this company in Finland called Fatalii Seeds.net which arrived within a few days later (with some extra seeds for free) There is another site in the Netherlands called Pepperseeds eu - as with both, if you have a paypal account, all the euro : £ conversion is worked out for you and you just buy as normal. It couldn't be simpler. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not ... it has potentially opened up a whole new (European) world for me LOL
And what a choice fatalii offer! Great site and really helpful guys for me last year. This year I was part of a seed parcel chain around the UK. I have about 40 seeds germinated but a few more varieties are tempting me! Last summer I was growing a lot of purple chillies and this year I seem to have subconsciously gone for yellow!
- it was delivered less than 24 hours of ordering! It came to my place of work so I spent my lunch break checking I had all the pieces and then loaded them into the car (the box was too big and too heavy) However, the weather forecast is not looking too clever this weekend. I need to get the garden sorted and rearrange the existing greenhouse and polytunnel to make room for it, plus hack back the privet hedge, trim the fruit trees plus lay new flooring (might have to get some bags of sand to level off as my garden slopes slight down and to one side not to mention the dips in the soil when I used to have the blueberries in my garden before moving them to the allotment)
Talking of which, I still need to pay the plot a visit too - I really want to get the last of the garlic planted especially the Cristo which just keep growing in their tiny polypot. I finally moved the White Casablanca out of the house and onto the patio - hopefully the forecast cold snap will break their dormancy. I was surprised to find that the White Casablanca are now being sold as a "spring" planting garlic - perhaps the bulbs are treated by storing in the cold over winter before sending them off? Curious. The onions from seed have been moved out of the living room to the sunny dining room window - not as many seedlings as I might hope so a bit disappointed with them at the moment.
Thomassio wrote:And what a choice fatalii offer! Great site and really helpful guys for me last year. This year I was part of a seed parcel chain around the UK. I have about 40 seeds germinated but a few more varieties are tempting me! Last summer I was growing a lot of purple chillies and this year I seem to have subconsciously gone for yellow!
I've been impressed with both chilli sites - seeds look good, professional service and quick delivery. I did see a couple more varieties I wouldn't mind but maybe next year - any more seeds and I'm going to have nowhere to put them.
Despite planning on a much earlier chilli seed sowing session, I spent much of Sunday just going through the seeds and filling little zip lock bags with 5 of each (I'll keep 2 of each for myself and the rest - if any that germinate - are going for sale) ... I've actually got a lot more chillies than I had planned on growing this year so it took a lot longer to do. The last seeds I had ordered arrived yesterday so today was the big sow - adding some water into each bag to dampen the paper towelling and then place the tray somewhere warm. Currently the tray is sitting on top of my computer at work and the temperature reads about 25oC so that should be fine (I'd have been happier if it was nearer 28oC)
Most of the chillies this year are the superhots - lots of Nagas, Trinidad Scorpions and crosses (with some new strains out with good potential), 7 Pot and Habaneros. So yes, I am going to attempt to grow the world record Carolina Reaper as well as the UK's hottest chilli called Katie. As I got the seeds from Simpson Seeds anyway (well worth having a look at their selection of chillies), it was interesting to learn that Habanero Lucy was originally considered to be less hot when it was being sent for testing but the initial results surprised everyone. My other new on the scene superhot is the Dorset Zinger which was developed by the same people who had cultivated the Dorset Naga.
They are not all hot - some of my favourites from the 2013 chilli project are also in the big sow, including (Beaver Dam was really good - very early maturing, large fruits on a compact plant, had a real bite when raw but when cooked were more like a pepper with very little heat at all) There's a few different cayennes and low heat habaneros as well as some Ajis (they all sound very nice, with a few sweet ones) And let's not forget the Sweet Sunshine sweet peppers that I "bought" from Mr Fothergills for free ... There's also a few ornamental varieties which should be fine on the patio.
As before, I hope to keep a photographic record of the progress this year, and hopefully do a better job than before.
Meanwhile, today I also went and paid my allotment fees for 2015 - rent and water together came to £68.80p for the 360 square metre plot. Now that is done, I can get on with my plans. Yesterday I managed to collect 3 decent pallets from work that had been skipped and these can go to the allotment to probably replace some of the rotted pallets that had fallen over in the stormy weather last year. Just think, in about 6 weeks time I could in theory, be planting out my potatoes! I'll probably not do it until about mid-April as I've learned it's not worth all the hassle of earthing up every time there is a frost forecast when planting too early. Still, just shows that early spring is just around the corner.
Mo wrote:Spring????? Well my spuds are chitting, but I don't think the soil here has thawed for a week.
LOL, I did say ...
lancashire lass wrote:I could in theory, be planting out my potatoes!
Weather is such a fickle thing - every spring is different and never seems to follow the same pattern. I have noticed that a cool wet summer seems to follow a warm dry spring but then again, you never know with this global warming. I've got my fingers crossed for a hot summer this year.
I finished work early on Friday and called in to B&Q on my way home - with a lot more chilli seeds chitting than I had planned, I knew I was going to be short on seed trays so bought 2 more packs of 8x5 modules (in packs of 5) and 7 trays to sit them in - I have some trays at home but not enough for all the expected germinations. Even I'm thinking I may have gone overboard but the vast majority are destined for sales ... I'm just not sure how I'm going to manage when the seedlings come through and I need to keep them warm and with good light until spring weather arrives. I can't possibly heat the greenhouse or polytunnel until then so on a table along the south facing back bedroom window is the only place to put them. It seemed like a good plan at the time but the cold snap is a reminder of my limitations.
I also bought some Verve (B&Q own brand) John Innes seed and potting compost - for 20L bags, they were incredibly heavy and I can only think they contain a lot of sand, and with being on pallets outside, full of water too I eventually got the bags indoors and now trying to warm the compost up - once the seeds start to throw out a rootlet, they'll need to be planted as soon as possible and placed somewhere warm to continue germination.
I had a look at the tubs of chicken manure pellets and shocked by the price - I can remember buying big sacks of the manure for under £8 and now a tub of about a quarter of the quantity costs about £12 I like to pop a few pellets in the bottom of the pot so that when the roots reach them, they have a source of nitrogen for a growth boost just before they are ready to pot on. As the pellets have been processed, they are easier to handle than the raw poo from my own chickens but at those prices, I will have to wait until the allotment shop is open again in the spring before getting any. So I had a look for something else - ideally ammonium sulphate would be better (B&Q sell it as "vegetable fertiliser" - just a pinch in the base of the pot) but there was none. I did see a tub of Miracle Gro that was reduced in price to down to £8 which seems to suggest a possible alternate. With the 3 for £10 bags of compost, trays and modules, it came to £38 - I decided to use my £10 Christmas voucher.
Meanwhile, I found some more chilli seeds which I had grown in 2013 - like the Chenzo, Hungarian Hot Wax and Cayenne - and decided to chit these as well. Most of the new seeds are definitely superhot and there's bound to be a lot of interest when (if!) I come to sell them, but some people may just prefer something familiar or that are easy to grow (especially outdoors) and more palatable for everyday use.
Yesterday I noticed that a couple of the seeds were starting to sprout so this morning got on with sowing them. I'm keeping a photographic record of as much as I can as I do seem to get things muddled somewhere between sowing and final planting (The Bulgarian Carrot and Aji Pulsar mix up in 2013 still haunts me )
Here's an example of the Beaver Dam seeds that have chitted (I'm growing 10 this year - they are really easy to grow, are about 12-18 inches tall and produce large peppers. While raw, these are quite spicey, but cook them and the heat goes out of them but still make a good alternate to red peppers (and they mature much quicker too)
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The other seeds that have come through are:
De Arbol (6 seeds) Red Squash (these were free seeds - sowed 5) Spaghetti (I like the idea of really long and thin chillies - sowed 5 seeds) Cascabel (5 seeds) Goat Horn (five seeds) Moruga Red (when I first got the seeds, they were simply called Moruga Red with no indication of being a superhot, so I'm not entirely sure if they really are the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion or what. There were only 2 seeds left from the 2013 packet of which none had germinated then, so I'm pleased to see one of them has chitted well)
Not the best photo sorry (must remember to switch the macro lens off after taking the close up photos):
I'm not a member 
A quick peek in the box (seemed surprisingly light for 3.5kg), and yes all 3 varieties are present and correct. One of the bags contained large tubers ... so that means not many for planting. I'm not sure whether to be disappointed or thankful as I had only intended growing 3 varieties this year and had bought 2 others as well.
- so cold, I had to break up the usual morning chicken clean and feed into 2 sessions just to warm my hands up. It didn't look like the frost was going to thaw at all and I was rather reluctant to get ready to go to the allotment. In the end, the 7 bags of chicken poop and bedding that I had moved to the side of the house in anticipation of the allotment visit were calling - I didn't want to move them back to the shelter between the runs. So at 11.00am I put several layers on and set off.
I like to pop a few pellets in the bottom of the pot so that when the roots reach them, they have a source of nitrogen for a growth boost just before they are ready to pot on. As the pellets have been processed, they are easier to handle than the raw poo from my own chickens but at those prices, I will have to wait until the allotment shop is open again in the spring before getting any. So I had a look for something else - ideally ammonium sulphate would be better (B&Q sell it as "vegetable fertiliser" - just a pinch in the base of the pot) but there was none. I did see a tub of Miracle Gro that was reduced in price to down to £8 which seems to suggest a possible alternate. With the 3 for £10 bags of compost, trays and modules, it came to £38 - I decided to use my £10 Christmas voucher.
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