A little thread of calm?

[Tris]

Most compost only has enough fertiliser in it for 4 weeks growth so you'll be fine with seedling transplants.
Dilute the feed at half the recommended rate to begin with until the Tom's are established.
Milk diluted 1:10 as a spray used to be used for mildew/blight protection.

 

[lurker]

Phil - I did try that one year with basil, one plant from the shop was enough to produce a whole growbag full of plants. We ate lots of basil that summer!

You don’t need to fertilise at all until the plants are transplanted.

Is that right even if I'm using really old compost that's been pretty much stripped of its nutrition? Cheers.

Yes.
Seeds carry their own food supplies to get them going

 

[Trainee neophyte]

This thread is suppose to be "a little thread of calm", and we've moved on to gardening? It's on a par with push sticks or sharpening stones - any minute now some contentious use of twine is going to cause ructions.

I'm definitely going to step back with the advice, because we seem to have some real gardeners on the case. My approach to gardening is plant it, and come back in three months and try to find where I planted it,and if is it still alive. A bit hit and miss, in other words. It gets the !east priority of everything.

I can recommend looking into "square foot gardening", which is a brilliant, productive system of growing in pots. Also look into "peeponics", because it's fun. Everything else is not my fault!

 

[lurker]

don't forget about the spaghetti tree either, just stick a few lengths in a pot for a week or two before transferring to the green house, needs to be warm for that.

once i've cobbled together something vaguely resembling a greenhouse that'll be the first thing to plant. Apparently there's a shortage in the shops so i could make some money on it too.

It's essential you plant this on the first day of April

 

[Nigel Burden]

My tomatoes have germinated two days after sowing. I'm growing Russian Black, a large purple-brown tomato with firm flesh and a sweet salty flavour. Green Zebra, a medium sized tomato with a strong tangy flavour. I bought the seeds last year from Plant World Seeds of Newton Abbot, and a bonus packet of seed called Tombola, which as the name suggests meant that you never knew what you'd get. Last year it was one red, and two cherry tomatoes, and one whitish yellow beefsteak tomato which I didn't like much.

Nigel.

 

[Tris]

The great thing with tomatoes is you can save the seeds as long as you aren't growing F1 types.
They self pollinate so there's no need to keep them apart.
Some sources suggest 'fermenting' the seeds to get rid of germination inhibitors before drying and storing them but I've often just squeezed the seeds out on to kitchen roll, dried it out and stored them like that then sown the whole thing like a seed mat the following year and still had good germination.
This has been a good way to keep varieties I haven't known the name of.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Old varieties like Gardener's Delight come true from seed. Moneymakers are very productive, but are quite possible the most tasteless tomato developed although anything home grown will be better. I had more consistency year on year with older varieties - F1s seemed to do really well one year, then often not so well the next. I had a four and half pound truss on a Shirley one year, and didn't do at all well with them the next - different weather? Who knows?

https://www.realseeds.co.uk/ are good for somewthing a little off the beaten track.

 

[Tris]

Phil, can you recommend a good supplier of Gardeners Delight? The last couple of packets I bought weren't great, too large and rather lacking in the flavour you'd expect from them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No, sorry, it's a few years since I had a greenhouse, and I've long given up trying to grow them outdoors. Many people who grow old varieties save their own seed - maybe someone could send you some?
Look at https://www.realseeds.co.uk/tomatoes_vines.html - they have a supposedly Irish variety which at least is small.

 

[Tris]

I'll give them a go. I've had a few things from them over the years and like how they do things.

 

[flying haggis]

Ailsa craig for me. Funnily enough I tried Black Russian last year (wasnt impressed but could be my growing technique? :lol: ) I also grow Piccolo which are slightly bigger than grapes and nice and sweet.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes, I did well with Ailsa Craig. Some of the tumblers that grow well in baskets are good as well.

 

[AES]

@PhilP: It's really "interesting" to hear that you QUOTE: .... had a four and a half pound truss on a Shirley one year. UNQUOTE: ;-)

Q: For people down your end of the country, is "a Shirley" like a "Sheila" in Oz????

Seriously, I am absolutely NOT a gardener, not under ANY circumstances, but I couldn't resist that one!

AND, BTW, though not at all interested in gardening in any way shape or form, I find it really good how this thread has developed on into even more of how it started off - "A little thread of calm" - in marked contrast to the somewhat "robust" comments that have appeared on another Corona thread here. Really a refreshing thread of "niceness". More power to your collective elbows good Sirs.

 

[Chris152]

Reading 'An Invitation to Murder' on my lovely new Kindle, one of the characters described how she cooked and served nettles to her employers without them realising what they were. I'm now out of fresh greens and trying to avoid the shops, so thought I'd give it a go.

There's a bit on how to do them here:
https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/how-t ... th-nettles
Anyone tried it? I have plenty in my messy garden so it could be a bit of a winner.

 

[novocaine]

nettle soup is a good if you add enough pepper and salt to hide the fact it's nettles.

hawthorn leaf makes a good addition to your salad.

 

[Chris152]

Well, I like spinach but have to say, nettles are at least as good, probably better!

That small quantity of leaves was plenty for one - I rinsed them, then boiled for about 60 seconds before rinsing and then frying in olive oil with some pepper. I put a bit of soy sauce on, and it tasted great.
(With apologies to anyone who really didn't want to see my dinner...)

 

[Chris152]

nettle soup is a good if you add enough pepper and salt to hide the fact it's nettles.

hawthorn leaf makes a good addition to your salad.

I'll be trying both - thanks!

 

[Droogs]

Dandy-lion soup is a good one, I remember from an escape and evasion course I did years ago.

 

[flying haggis]

all together now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMBh-eo3tvE

 

[Trainee neophyte]

There is a Greek tradition of eating wild greens - dandelion leaves are keenly sought out, but all sorts of things that most people would consider sheep fodder get put in a pot, boiled until soft, and then splodged onto the plate in a sodden gloopy mass. It needs lemon juice and olive oil, and salt obviously. Very bitter, and definitely an acquired taste.

This time of year the hills should be full of little old ladies wielding knives, cutting the tops off "wild spinach, fennel leaves, nettles, poppy leaves, dandelions, purslane, amaranth, beetroot leaves, to name but a few", (I got the list of some vegetarian's blog, as I have no idea what shrubbery is considered good eating).

Unfortunately, it would seem that the ladies are staying at home, which means the dogs have no one to bounce. Coronavirus has some extreme knock-on effects.