The Potting Shed

[Tâf]

A neighbour brought me 100 red onion sets, so leeks out and blanched for the freezer, and onion sets in.

[Tâf]

Fed all the pot and trough plants out back. All looking really lush. Loads of Stawbs forming.... one nom'd already.

[Ian]

   Got me a Bhut Jolokia plant for a quid.  Now to see if I can raise it properly and get it to fruit.

[Tâf]

   Got me a Bhut Jolokia plant for a quid.  Now to see if I can raise it properly and get it to fruit.

Latest wisdom is to take out the centre shoot to force it to branch. It appears to have worked for me as my overwintered chillies are covered in flowers and fruits already!

[fred]

Three failed attempts to germinate runner beans.

Quick trip to the garden centre solved it.  They had plants...

[Tâf]

Three failed attempts to germinate runner beans.

I noticed that a lot of places selling bean plants have them in coir that keeps them nice and soggy when growing, but too soggy for germination.

[fred]

compost in the pots as per normal.

pots in greenhouse as per normal.

I suspect lower than normal temperatures.

[Tâf]

Loads of strawberry runners to pin down. A few strawbs to nom too   

[Tâf]

Kiwi flowers are all open now, and to my surprise the Quince has produced more flowers and one is open!

Just fed the front garden. Loads of Aronia berries and blackcurrants forming. Lavender in partial bloom.

Several beans have reached the top of the bamboos.

[Tâf]

Sowed alpine strawbs, sunflowers and cosmos that our nice neighbour gave us.

The first beans are swelling well, and the turnips have gone turbo!

The garden really needs the incoming rain.

[fred]

All three sowings of peas have gone to Aussie.

[Tâf]

All three sowings of peas have gone to Aussie.

Put them in upside down again? 

Try starting them in an open jar with a wodge of wet newspaper?

[fred]

dad's given up on them

[Tâf]

My best ever results with peas was with a sowing of bog-standard Leo peas, minus the white packages of course. 

[Tâf]

Our nice neighbour gave us 3 kiddie Sunflower starter kits.

Pol planted them up... 20 seeds to each 1¹/₂" pot.

I think they all came up!

But 20 Sunflower seedlings in a 1¹/₂" pot was never going to work, so I just transplanted one lot into 20 4" pots.

Pol can do the rest tomorrow.

Where are we going to put 60 Sunflowers?