Garden Options

[FraggleRock]

Presumably its written on the bag! But leave them be for now. While flowering, they are still growing. I think you have to leave them till long after flowering is over and the leaves have started to look a bit droopy.

But it's not!! My mum gave me a cellotaped instruction(and thats it!!) where it shows you planting them, covering them with compost as they get bigger then at the end there's leaves on the top but no clue when they're good to be picked. I have read as you say that they're ready when they're droopy but not sure when that is - pesky gardening, no wonder titchmarsh is where he is - everyone else is just flailing around not knowing what they're doing!!

Cheers anyway mate, I'll keep watchingh them til they're droopy - just scared they rot before i pick them!

[FraggleRock]

I'll try and describe - and remember I'm no gardener hence the post for help! My mum gave me three sort of thick nylon bags and about six potatoes, each labelled with some name and instructions or other. You had to put the potatoes(magic beans) in the bag and cover with compost then leave to grow and after they'd grown a bit cover them some more until they'd grown out the top. Now they've grown out the top, is it now to harvest them or although they're flowering do I leave them til June or something??

help

Cheers mate, they're not flowering now just very leafy - hence why I'm a bit confused as to when they're ready.

[HGG]

Its not really my area as I specialise in destruction so I can't offer any constructive advice, sorry. But I am curious about your tatties in "bags", how does that work? Is it like really big tomato grow bags?

Hessian. All mine are in hessian sacks. I've got about 30 of them out there - planted two or three (chitted) seed potatoes in each sack on top of about four inches of compost then covered them with another layer of it (I rolled down the sides of the sacks so they had more light).

When the plants reach about 6 inches tall you put more compost in the bag, covering most of the plant so that there are just two inches showing above the soil level (obviously need to unroll bag sides slightly). Repeat this part until the plant reaches the top of the sack.

If you see flowers appearing on your potato plants then pinching them off will stop your plants from seeding and they'll put more energy into growing bigger potatoes instead.

Harvest them when the leaves start to turn yellow. For baby new potatoes you can harvest earlies a little before this - reach through the soil with your hand to judge the size of potatoes and gently twist a potato off the plant. Maincrop can stay in the soil for another couple of weeks after the leaves start to go yellow.

Mine seem to be growing nicely. Got some Charlottes in as earlies for some salad potatoes and then some King Edwards in as maincrop. Only trouble is they're all together now and there are four sacks where I'm not entirely certain what's in them. I'm hoping as they grow there might be obvious differences between the plants!

Everything else seems to be doing fine. Spinach, parsnips, carrots - all great. Slugs ate all the little gem lettuces so my eldest son will be planting more of those this week while he's off school as they're his charge. Youngest will be helping me to sow swedes as well as they're his domain. Fruit trees are really doing well this year - third summer I've had them and there are a fair number of flowers out there. I'm keen to see some fruit from them at some point! Ooh - lots of flowers on the strawberry plants which appear to be taking over the place. I've just discovered how easy it is to make jam too so if we have too many at any given time they'll just get cooked. This is fab.

What I want to know is why GC isn't in here posting away this year? I want photos so I can return last year's piss-take. Oh, and I do believe we had a secret butternut squash grower amongst the masses... anyone like to own up? :

I'll try and describe - and remember I'm no gardener hence the post for help! My mum gave me three sort of thick nylon bags and about six potatoes, each labelled with some name and instructions or other. You had to put the potatoes(magic beans) in the bag and cover with compost then leave to grow and after they'd grown a bit cover them some more until they'd grown out the top. Now they've grown out the top, is it now to harvest them or although they're flowering do I leave them til June or something??

Flowering? I'm guessing you got them in particularly early then. Are you for real? Is it just me or is there a big alias alert here? Ron?

[capybara]

Bindweed,i have a fair amount of this bloody stuff,cant spray it as it comes through other plants,has anybody treated this stuff wit systemic,s and does it work?

[xbl]

Hessian. All mine are in hessian sacks. I've got about 30 of them out there - planted two or three (chitted) seed potatoes in each sack on top of about four inches of compost then covered them with another layer of it (I rolled down the sides of the sacks so they had more light).

.....

Flowering? I'm guessing you got them in particularly early then. Are you for real? Is it just me or is there a big alias alert here? Ron?

You're back!

You've been away for ages, I thought you had got a life or something crazy like that. Thats some fairly epic gardening you are up to, I feel kinda inadequate now, Hopefully next year we will have veg and stuff going well, this was really just a setup year! On the good side, our tomatoes are really thriving, we're trying them to canes soon, so hopefully we get a decent crop to justify the investment in our wee plastic greenhouse.

[MattBairn]

I thought I'd give an update since the warmer weather has come in

View down the veg patch

Tatties

Broccoli, Beetroot and Cabbage

Lettuce, Onions and Spring Onions

Greenhouse Veg. Cucumber, Sweetcorn etc

Greenhouse Tomatoes, Chilli Peppers and Sun Flowers

Other Greenhouse shot

Theyre all coming along nicely at the moment

[xbl]

I thought I'd give an update since the warmer weather has come in

...

Theyre all coming along nicely at the moment

It looks really good Matt. The Gray Ghost can't report such success. Admittedly the peppers in the cold frame are starting to come through, and the lawn reseeding went well. So well in fact that all the patches The Gray Ghost repaired make the rest of the lawn look awful. The Gray Ghost is continuing to develop them. However, the climbing plants near the door are starting to grow well and the tomatoes in the green house are looking really good.

On the bad side, some b*****ds (we suspect ants) have systematically stripped all the leaves and flowers off of nearly all our new flowers, just as they were starting to really flourish. We have no evidence, but there are lots of ants to be found around the scene of the crime, all walking about innocently pretending to look busy. Does anyone know how The Gray Ghost can combat this, and whether it is definitely ants?

[Lisa Cuddy]

I recommend a slug hunt. In warm weather, they're not often seen during the day, but the little buggers appear at night to munch on anything in their path. Go and have a look before you go to bed, armed with a tub of salt water. Any you find, chuck 'em in and kill them. Don't just chuck them in next door's garden, they'll only find their way back.

[xbl]

I recommend a slug hunt. In warm weather, they're not often seen during the day, but the little buggers appear at night to munch on anything in their path. Go and have a look before you go to bed, armed with a tub of salt water. Any you find, chuck 'em in and kill them. Don't just chuck them in next door's garden, they'll only find their way back.

Good heavens!

After your anonymous tip off, The Gray Ghost took a stroll outside with a torch. Not only were there slugs everywhere, all being caught with a mouthful of The Gray Ghosts plants, but there were actually ants out there with the slugs, in some great slug/ant conspiracy. Plus a few of the fuckers ran up The Gray Ghosts leg. Now The Gray Ghost has imaginary ants causing itchyness everywhere.

Well this is war. The Gray Ghost is not standing for this. If the Gray Ghost hadn't been out in his front garden at 11:20 clad in only a pair of boxers and flashing a torch, then he might have gone to war, but as it is, The Gray Ghost is going to save war for another day. The slugs must die!

[Lisa Cuddy]

To use an old, but apt, phrase "I'm not as green as I'm cabbage looking"

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

Hello gardening people.

I need to level up a wee bit of my garden. What is the procedure?.....

Do I just chuck a shit load of dirt on and level, afterwards sprinkling on grass seed or is it a wee bit more complex than that?

[MattBairn]

Hello gardening people.

I need to level up a wee bit of my garden. What is the procedure?.....

Do I just chuck a shit load of dirt on and level, afterwards sprinkling on grass seed or is it a wee bit more complex than that?

How far up do you have to come?

If you look back a few pages youll see what I had to do to level off my veg patch.

That may not be required for you though.

Pictures would also help.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

How far up do you have to come?

If you look back a few pages youll see what I had to do to level off my veg patch.

That may not be required for you though.

Pictures would also help.

I'll try and take a real photo but hopefully this adequately shows my wee garden problem..........

[MattBairn]

I'll try and take a real photo but hopefully this adequately shows my wee garden problem..........

So you want to move your shed and build up the soil so its level?

If thats correct then just adding a load of soil should do the trick as the wall will stop it going anywhere.

Make sure you ensure its put down and rolled with a heavy roller to give you a solid base.

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

So you want to move your shed and build up the soil so its level?

If thats correct then just adding a load of soil should do the trick as the wall will stop it going anywhere.

Make sure you ensure its put down and rolled with a heavy roller to give you a solid base.

Thank you Matt.

The shed is on blocks at the dip and is sitting firm so I'll probably just build it up so as to cover the blocks and leave the shed as it is.

Will I be ok covering existing grass with the soil and just re-seeding the fresh soil that I put down?

[Napolean Dynamite]

Any grass experts on here?

I grew grass from seed last summer. However on close inspection of my green stuff its not very thick. the shoots that do grow are growing at a crazy rate but I just cant get it any thicker. I tried overseeding which at the moment doesn't seem to have made any differance?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[Lisa Cuddy]

Any grass experts on here?

I grew grass from seed last summer. However on close inspection of my green stuff its not very thick. the shoots that do grow are growing at a crazy rate but I just cant get it any thicker. I tried overseeding which at the moment doesn't seem to have made any differance?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Apparently, regular cutting encourages the shoots out sideways. Or something like that. It thickens your lawn up, anyway. There's an Alan Titchmarsh book that accompanied a series he did years ago called How To Be A Gardener - well, there's actually two because there were two series. The first one covered grass, if I remember rightly. The second concentrated on garden planning, so would probably help Andy C up there with raising that level.

[Napolean Dynamite]

Apparently, regular cutting encourages the shoots out sideways. Or something like that. It thickens your lawn up, anyway. There's an Alan Titchmarsh book that accompanied a series he did years ago called How To Be A Gardener - well, there's actually two because there were two series. The first one covered grass, if I remember rightly. The second concentrated on garden planning, so would probably help Andy C up there with raising that level.

Cool, So regular mowing should in time give a thicker lawn?

[Lisa Cuddy]

Cool, So regular mowing should in time give a thicker lawn?

I've never re-seeded a lawn myself, but I know a few people that have and I watched the series when it was on, and this was the advice I gleaned from both. Your first cut in spring should cut the grass to half it's height, and then mow regularly, gradually bringing it down to the height you want the grass to be. That should sort it out.

[RH33]

I've never re-seeded a lawn myself, but I know a few people that have and I watched the series when it was on, and this was the advice I gleaned from both. Your first cut in spring should cut the grass to half it's height, and then mow regularly, gradually bringing it down to the height you want the grass to be. That should sort it out.

I don't mow my lawn more attack it with the lawnmower........as I did this afternoon, it's rather patchy. It also sports a bald circle where the dog has worn it bald running round and round and round and round................