Talkback: Grow Yourself Healthy: May jobs - Talkback

16/05/2011 at 20:37

i would like you to cover how to store beans of all types and how to store tender veg like cougetts and squshes i have just planted out my second batch of climbing french beans and my second batch of runner beans as the last frost got my first ones along with my cougettes so i have to so some more any ideas how to get them to germinete quicker

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17/05/2011 at 07:55

Last year my husband made me two large raised beds (18in) in height. I grew beans, carrots and purple caulifowers. The cabbages and cauliflower didnot do well. This was my first attempt. I also managed to grow different squashes, never again, these were in pots and bags, took over the whole place, we had a great amount of foliage and flowers. The raised beds were filled with compost, I wondered if I could top it up with good quality top soil?

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17/05/2011 at 07:58

I forgot to say cabbage and cauliflower were from famous DIY STORE.

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17/05/2011 at 08:02

Can anyone tell advise me on a good spring onion to grow ? I have tried Kyoto Market for two years with no great success, they are slow very slow growing even though the packet says quick to mature. I grow in a raised bed.

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17/05/2011 at 09:09

I have been growing White Lisbon for many years,Lin*2, and have always had a great crop. I usually have too many to use as salad and spring onions and the ones left in make good big bulbs for the autumn.

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17/05/2011 at 10:03

Reply to Lazzygardener: How wonderful. Raised beds are a great idea as the soil in them warms-up quickly to encourage good growth. Yes, I'd top-up the beds with a loam-based compost, like John Innes No.3. Fork this into the existing soil in the beds, and perhaps mix in some more bulky organic compost (or home-made compost) at the same time. As always, don't add fresh compost to areas where you intend to grow root crops, like carrots, as they can become forked and distorted.

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17/05/2011 at 16:24

i live in northants and on the 12 may i pulled my 1st peas cut my 1st cabbage and lifted my 1st boiling of new potatoes not bad for a novice

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19/05/2011 at 23:25

I wonder if anyone can help? My healthy looking strawberries are shrivelling and the green stems turning brown when they are half grown I have noticed masses of tiny white mite like creatures under the soil in surrounding areas Any ideas? thanks

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19/05/2011 at 23:27

Sorry I'm not clear I mean the fruits seem to shrivel ,still turn red but are inedible

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20/05/2011 at 11:29

This sounds to me like lack of water - shrivelling of the fruit, I mean. Worth investigating how dry the soil is around your plants.

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21/05/2011 at 14:43

struggling.... the white 'mites' sound like vine weevils to me. if it is, you will probably have to lift all affected plants and bin or burn them. make sure none are left in the ground. they are a real pain, and can attack alsorts of plant, ornamental too.....

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22/05/2011 at 07:48

How do I know when carrots are ready for pulling?

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22/05/2011 at 19:18

just had agreat weekend planting loads of veg in my little paradise.this is my second year gardening so still learning,so as i finished just went to put my sweetcorn in when i heard a crashing sound.turned round to see my little paradise was a bomb sight next doors tree just fell over my garden i could have cried , so got a lot of clearing up to get on with what a day

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23/05/2011 at 13:49

can anyone tell me if i can grow potatoes in a bag in the greenhouse

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24/05/2011 at 15:05

Reply to eileen: It's quite tricky knowing exactly when carrots are ready to harvest, and much depends on when you sowed them and what type of carrot you are growing. It goes without saying that small salad carrots can be harvested much earlier than large maincrop ones. Try gently brushing soil away from around the neck of one or two carrots to determine how thick they have grown. If large enough then dig away, but if still quite small put teh soil back and leave longer.

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24/05/2011 at 15:11

Reply to smudge: Yes, you can grow potatoes in a bag. They really only need to go indoors when conditions are cool – either early or late in the year – otherwise they're happy outside. Did you have a particular reason for growing under glass? Remember that potatoes can still be planted in bags soon to produce a crop late in the year. Check the mail-order suppliers for Second Cropping Potatoes like Carlingford. Delivery of these seed potatoes will be from June.

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25/05/2011 at 02:59

answer to the gardener with the tiny white mites, these sound like white fly, if they were vine weeval the parent would be brownish/black and the grubs would be under the plant eating the roots these must be dug out and destroyed, I give them to the robins that frequent my garden, they love them cnn't get to them themselves as they are actually under the plant.

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25/05/2011 at 17:54

When is the best time of the year to clear out an overgrown large pond? Will a fountain/small waterfall put off frogs from habiting?

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25/05/2011 at 21:01

we have had really harsh winds that seen to tunnel thro garden to woodland, ferns suffering wind burn, sad sight,in front of house we have c,acre paddoc we are willing to sacrifice sone of this to wind break, wondering if betula jacqumonti planted in same hole and grouped would help, love multi stemmed birch, look forward to your comments

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25/05/2011 at 21:04

Despite being in the greenhouse my tomato and veg seedlings this year seem to have just seized up with vitually no growth in the last few weeks. I am in the West of Scotland where the weather has been very wet and very cooleven more so than normal. Has anyone else found the same or it me!