today I have planted...

[Annpan]

transplanted actually... from seed trays in the polytunnel...

3 courgettes (outside) 2 courgettes (in tunnel)
7 tomatoes (in tunnel)
6 lettuces (outside)
6 mange tout (into same holes as lettuce, outside)


I love transplanting seelings cause it looks like 'instant garden' in the veg plots

Might do some herbs and flowers next. (can you tell I am trying to avoid the builder....ach)



Anyone else been planting today?

[thesunflowergal]

I have just been planting toms, peas, flowers and some strawberrys. Thinking of doing some more pots, but I am seriously running out of room now
Yesterday I planted more salad leaves, spring onions and radishes.

[Cassiepod]

Ann that's good therapy as well!

Last night in preparation for going away I planted out:
6 sub arctic plenty toms
6 marmande toms
3 gardener's delight toms
3 wautoma cucumbers
2 king of the norht green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
3 purple chillis
3 jalapeno chillis
4 thai long green aubergines into pots

All to be auto irrigated whilst i'm away :)

I also potted on some flower seedlings that Rob's 9yo had sown but wasn't here to pot on and still have millions left in the seed trays - not sure what to do with those!

All in all a productive evening given that I'd already done 2 hours touch rugby as well

[Odsox]

Yes ... I have planted 30 cubes of peeled potato !!!

No, I'm not going mad ... or at least I don't think so, but then I would think that wouldn't I ?

The soil in my new polytunnel was fairly rough grass until I dug it last week and it's full of wireworms. I sent many on their way to the wireworm happy hunting ground but I guarantee I missed an awful lot.
I want to plant sweetcorn and wireworms just adore sweetcorn almost as much as they like peeled potatoes, so I planted these potato cubes (marked with a stick) where I intend to plant my corn in about 2 weeks time. Hopefully by then all the little dears will have burrowed into the spud bits which I shall dig up again and be able to plant my corn with a bit more confidence that most will survive.
Such are the joys of making a new garden.

[citizentwiglet]

I transplanted my climbing French beans into their little wigwammy home today, in the back garden.

Oop in community garden, I didn't get up there today as I was drowning in ironing, but over the last few days I have transplanted some leeks (from another gardener, swapped him for some kale), 6 kale, 5 chard, my dwarf french beans (under a cloche at the minute); and I've sown spring onions, salad leaves, swede, carrots (chanteray red), a bit more chard (I luvs chard) and chinese leaves. Hoping the courgettes will be ready to transplant this weekend; plus I have some calabrese, nastertiums, calendular to put into the raised bed and three tomato plants and some basil for the polytunnel coming tomorrow.

Have spent much of the evening in my back garden on a slug hunt. I found 14 within 3 minutes, and beheaded the buggers. I can sense the slimy battalions just warming up for an evening's munching on my salad leaves, potatoes and strawberries as I type. I may be rather depressed tomorrow when I wake up to find my garden completely decimated.

[Millymollymandy]

But I'm really disappointed with my sweetcorn, planted two different varieties about a month ago in root trainers in the greenhouse and so far nothing - so I am assuming I'll have to start again.If they had been from the same packet I could have understood it - perhaps its just not been warm enough

Sigh, I have the same problem, why does this ALWAYS happen with sweetcorn? It's not warmth as mine are inside, in a heated propagator!!! I have one, yes one, solitary sweetcorn plant about 4 inches high. Have resown a different variety now but it seems I need to sow about 30 to get about 5.

Anyway I transplanted some lettuce yesterday and today if I get a chance I am planting out the courgette that Oldfella gave me which is quite big and showing little babies already. If you lot are doing it in Wales and Scotland then it's time that I did here 'darn sarf'.

[Annpan]

My courgettes - for the record - are in glass cloche where they so stay lovely and warm.. I have some of those old fashioned glass barn cloches and they are ideal. I have them over my lettuce and peas too.

[citizentwiglet]

Slug ate a leaf off one of my courgettes - I caught the swine in the act, and despatched him promptly to the great lettuce-leaf in the sky. It doesn't sound much, but the courgettes only have 3 leaves each at the moment, so it had chomped its evil way through 33.3% of the foliage. Still, at least it was one of the 'first' leaves, not a real leaf. Thus far my salad leaves and spuds appear untouched.

[Annpan]

I have been very carefully 'spot watering' this year. I got one of those pressurised water sprayers (£3 from Lidl) a water pistol would do the same thing...

You just aim very carefully right at the base of the plant and skoosh... if this is in the polytunnel it means the weeds don't get a chance to grow... if it is under a cloche it means the slugs can't get to the juicy plants as they are surrounded by dry dusty earth. It has been pretty dry here so under cover is bone dry now and this seems to be doing the trick to keep slugs off. You also don't need to use as much water

[red]

last of my toms n today - all of my beans finally sown, and squashes and courgettes. bit late. but i wont be planting them outside for a bit anyways.

[Millymollymandy]

Think I'm spending more time watering my garden than doing anything else in it.

Got Oldfella's courgette and cucumbers planted out today. My own are only just appearing out of the soil in the pots. Everything has taken about 10 days more than normal to germinate in my cold frame and lots of things just haven't appeared so have to sow again, or buy more seed as I think some of my flower seeds are years old.

[Odsox]

Sigh, I have the same problem, why does this ALWAYS happen with sweetcorn? It's not warmth as mine are inside, in a heated propagator!!! I have one, yes one, solitary sweetcorn plant about 4 inches high. Have resown a different variety now but it seems I need to sow about 30 to get about 5.

This is something I just don't understand and I remember you having the same problem last year.
I waited until today to reply to this as I sowed my sweetcorn last Sunday and thought maybe there is some duff seed about.
But no, I sowed 30 seeds and today I have 30 seedlings emerging from out of the compost.
I can't understand why you have so much trouble, as far as I'm concerned I have NEVER had problems germinating sweetcorn, it's one of the easiest, even my granddaughter at primary school manages it for her spring project.
Baffled

[Mrs Moustoir]

Have you tried "chitting" your sweetcorn kernels before sowing them in compost? Put the kernels on dampened kitchen roll on a plate and put clingfilm over. Once a shoot appears plant them as normal.

Have a friend on who swears by this method and she gets 100% germination. Not growing it this year myself as it is always pathetic compared to the 10ft tall maize the farmers grow around here.

On the planting front, this morning I've planted out 12 little gem lettuce, 2 Rond de Nice and defender courgette plants and 50 red Roscoff onions in a raised bed.

[Millymollymandy]

Mrs M I did think about doing that. Of my first batch of 8 I have one that was OK but its growing shoot looks brown and withered now. Another germinated and got to 1" high, stayed like that for 2 weeks and is now dead.

I've taken them all out of the propagator now that the weather has warmed up. I've got 2 emerging from about 12 of the 2nd sowing.

This morning I've planted about 30 in a tiny seed tray in the hope I might get about another 5. Never transplanted the things before but I'm running out of little pots and using way too much bought compost.

Tony lots of us on the forum seem to have this problem.

I've also found lots of other things don't want to come up so maybe my seed is getting old, it's hard to know. So I've just sown a load more borlotti beans with last year's saved seed instead of 3 year old bought seed as that seems to be going 'off' too. Ditto Calendula. Aaaaaaarrrrggh!

[Millymollymandy]

and 50 red Roscoff onions in a raised bed.

How do you manage to find local onion sets? Or are these from seed? Just recently we bought a big bag of pink Breton onions (for eating) and they were absolutely delicious but I've never ever seen them before. And the only onion sets you can get here are the same old same old horrid flat bottomed Jaune Paille des Vertus or Stuttgarter Reisen, again flat bottomed making them hard to cut into. I've given up with ord onions and just grow red ones now (Red Baron or one other variety, not Breton!).