[Halo]

Big Dave, on 05 April 2012 - 17:54, said:

Someone here says you can have them in a salad! Apparently they are safe to eat, but how they taste...

http://foodblogga.bl...lad-plasma.html

I've eaten a few broccoli flowers (I'm OK so far unless I'm talking to you from the fiery depths of down below) and they seem to retain some of the flavour of the buds but weaker. But this could be because there is more substance to a cluster of buds than one or two flowers, maybe.

[Nigel Bolton]

Have failed with rhubarb so far, but bought a rather expensive established plant a week or so ago, and it seems to have taken well. Nothing til next year mind you!!!

Witht he warmer nights, the broad beans are mostly up and the onion shoots are some 3-4cm tall. Tommies about 7cm tall, still on the bedroom window sill, but now have 'proper' leaves.

Patrick planted a sunfower seed in a little tiny pot at Kindergarten 2 weeks ago. After complete dormancy, suddenly this tall plant with two seed leaves has suddenly appeared. Am hoping with a rapid growth type plant such as the Sunflower, I can learn Patrick the art of plant growth and get him interested.

N.

[Dave K]

Potato shoots survived the frost last week after being well covered up with mini-cloches and fleece etc, but now we have a threat of a longer spell and colder for several mornings at the weekend and into next week. As the potato shoots grow taller and get larger it gets more difficult to keep them covered up so the best thing is probably to bury the shoots with more loose compost - and hopefully that will prevent any damage.

Does look as if late frosts will be a bane this spring...

[John Mason]

Put my spuds in yesterday. By the time the shoots are up, hopefully what frosts there are will be minimal. Garden is certainly getting a good soaking today!

Cheers - John

[akkan]

Chris Lloyd, on 09 April 2012 - 12:08, said:

Talking of spraying in frost - funnily enough my dad was telling me about this just the other day. I think it has something to do with doing it before the sun gets on and how gradual the thaw is - an old, old method. I guess it stops the cells bursting like some fruit does when frozen and then defrosted. Strawberry being an example.

My grandfather was head-gardener on a big estate locally and he used to do this with the strawberries. It involved getting up at 5:00 before the sun reached the plants and then spraying them. No hoses and sprinklers in those days, as the estate didn't have piped water in the early 50s. I've done it with various plants (particularly my tree peonies) and it's worked well. I don't usually get up quite that early thoughpublic/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif


I have a gardening client who just bought herself a pieris in full bloom which she put in her east facing garden, it got through the frost without spraying or fleece. I expect it to die though, because she doesn't have a waterbutt and our soil is limey

[Dave K]

Red Duke of York potato shoots coming up well so far, am being cautious and covering them with fleece overnight just in case - the minima here being consistently about 2 °C colder than the general area forecast. The Belle de Fontenays which were planted a week later showing the first signs of emerging above the soil.


The Red Duke of York potaoes - attractive leaf colour too

Radishes very very slow, three weeks after sowing and only just developing the second pair of leaves.

Spring onions sown outside have just started to emerge which is three weeks after sowing. The nights have been rather cool this month so the soil temperature hasn't had a chance to stay warmed up once the sun goes down. Spring onions sown indoors as a comparison, the first couple are up 7 days after sowing.

Have about 20 baby carrot seedlings up now but I have had to remove at least the same number - in my inexperience sowed the seeds by broadcast a bit too thickly so getting loads too close to each other. They say that carrot fly starts to become active once cow parsley starts flowering - which is now so I do the thinning just before dark and then cover up the container too just in case.

Tomato seedlings growing rather rapidly also about three weeks after sowing indoors. Won't be too long before thay go into 5 inch pots awaiting final placing outside ( though June and its more benevolent weather seems a long way off right now)

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 12 April 2012 - 13:46

[Dave K]

Well I have got through this spell of danger without an air frost after all, and with the potato shoots well fleeced up just in case there is no sign of cold damage. In fact the first shoot of the second earlies Belle de Fontenay had appeared above soil today when I uncovered it. Not out of the woods yet though for frost by the looks of things.

Repotted a few toms into 5" pots as they have been growing quickly, still a bit too cold in the unheated sun porch for them to stay there overnight though. Eveything else outside is very slow with these cool days and chilly nights.

[Dave K]

Things still progressing quite well if a little slowly in the cloudy and cool conditions. Some tomato seedlings moved into the unheated sun porch as they were getiing too big for the indoors windowsill, though without spells of sunshine it struggles to get much above 15 °C in the day and 10 °C at night - a bit of early hardening off there. At least the threat of frost has receded for now and hopefully for good. The frequent and regular rain is about right here, not yet so heavy iin too short a time that the top of the soil is waterlogged or runs-off given the bone hard dryness of the soil a few inches down, it should percolate down nicely.

First shoots of the 2nd earlies now up, and the radishes seem to have picked up the pace. Though I'd try and find room for a pot of basil and the seedlings indoors emerged remarkably quickly, inside 5 days.

[Dave K]

Weather doesn't seem to be hindering the growth of the potatoes, compare with prevoius pic on earlier post taken 12 days ago, they must be loving the rain!

[Dave K]

First sowing of radishes have been nearly 6 weeks in the ground, and only about half the size you'd want them. Spring onions just barely starting to produce a proper stem leaf and carrots just starting to show "proper" carrot leaves after about 5 weeks. Everything seems to be very slow outside this spring...

Taters however seem unfazed despite the coolness and continue to grow well, the plentiful rainfall and sunny spells obviously about the right mix.

Soil moisture indicator show soil the soil is very wet down to at least 6 inches. Been difficult to stop containers getting waterlogged with the periods of prolonged and heavy rain with barely any drying out time.

Tomatoes indoors however growing a bit too fast, can't imagine the weather will be kind enough to put them in their final positions outside in time!

This post has been edited by Big Dave's Gusset: 01 May 2012 - 16:16

[Nigel Bolton]

My veg only upping slowly, but now have a few radishes to eat. Shame about the recent rain being cold, although very abundant. Just need some warm sunshine and mild nights to speed things along.

N.

[Dave K]

I have my first "crop" of 2012, picked one single radish today to have with lunch - after the downhill spring weather of the last few weeks even that seems like a triumph!

[Dave K]

A couple of the haulms on the Red Duke of York potato plants have produced tiny flowers, this is about 63 days after planting so in theory there should be some small new potatoes ready. This spring, stopping the compost from drying out hasn't been a problem ( not surprising!) but sunshine and warmth has been in short supply. However I'm going to leave them alone until some of the other haulms have flowers before I investigate. The problem with a container is that it's really difficult to get your hands in and root around to see what's there without damaging haulms and roots, might try next year one of those with opening on the sides...

Snails have been trying to get at them too, weather's been ideal for the little buggers, but not much damage to the leaves.

[ldavidcooke]

Hey All,

Well, Spring is finally over, over here. The birds got the cherries, as the Bride would not believe they were ready. The lettuce is just about finished, that which did not bolt at least. The brocolli, was late and small, whilst the brussel sprouts simply bolted out of the tray.

We have the first of the summer squash, tomatoes and peppers fleshing out. The zucinni simply crowed out the rest of the peppers, so had to start a new bell pepper bed. Oh, and the Bride harvested her first handful of bush beans...

The okra seedlings have not done much in the last 4 weeks; but, I planted seeds from pods I harvested 5ya, just last week. Today I have 2" seedlings growing next to the 8" plants... (Problem was did not think they would sprout so have 20 seedlings in a bed that can handle 6...) I figure I can find some cheap buckets by next week and will transplant them then.

Still waiting for the Fenny Moore zucinni seeds, (I suspect they may not like their terra cotta seedling pot...) Over all it has been a interesting year so far.

As to the signal Spring is over a male ruby throated hummer landed on my tomato cage as I was looking at the buds. I stood up and found myself eye to eye. He simply flipped his tail and popped to the feeder a meter away. Then flew over head to the tree mounted feeder 3 meters left. He took station on the end of the branch, until I talked to him, then with a flip of his tail, he bolted for the neighbors Oak about 50 meters away... (Sad to say our family that had nested in our Oak until 2yrs ago has not returned..., they had been late away; hence, I suspect, got caught out...)

[Dave K]

The tomato plants still in their 5" pots have gone outside for the first time today, to start the hardening off process before they go out permanantly (well I hope, sometime!). Just a few flowers open on them now. Usual problem in this country is nothing is ever straightforward - have to take measures to stop the darn pots & plants blowing over in the strong breeze

Sowed some Florence Fennel outside today too, never tried to grow it before so I will try for a baby one in a 8" pot and see how it goes, at least that can be resown anytime in summer if it fails.

[Nigel Bolton]

My fennel last year grew to over 12 feet tall with stems 2inches thick.

Just planted carrots, spring onions, more radishes, parsnips and beetroot in the raised bed. Tommies outside in the sun, now about 15inches tall and need repotting.

Flowers appearing on Broad Beans.

N.

[Dave K]

Nigel Bolton, on 22 May 2012 - 14:43, said:

My fennel last year grew to over 12 feet tall with stems 2inches thick.

Just planted carrots, spring onions, more radishes, parsnips and beetroot in the raised bed. Tommies outside in the sun, now about 15inches tall and need repotting.

Flowers appearing on Broad Beans.

N.

Yes I grew "normal" fennel once and it was a bit tree-like! This time I am attempting to grow the Florence Fennel variety, which is much more compact, for the bulb. The carrots really seem to have appreciated the sunshine of the last few days, they seem to have doubled in height after struggling for the best part of two months. A great relief to see everything benefitting from kinder conditions, even the basil indoors has shot up. Have 3 matchhead sized tomatoes now on the plants! Quite a lot of chillis ripening up now too, good and early after overwintering.

[Dave K]

First Florence Fennel seedling emerged quickly considering it was sown directly outside - obviously the warm conditions helped. 6 days compared to about 15 for the carrot seedlings at the end of March / beginning of April. Little tomato fruits starting to appear now with a bit more regularity, got about 10 so far.

Had some home grown basil with lunch but that has been indoors!