How Does Your Garden Grow?

[Dapph2]

Why because of cost or you think they are worms .. in truth they are micro organisms & are present in almost all flower & veg gardens , all you are doing is raising the density in your garden beds .

Some friends up in the peatier parts of Scotland had used then for seven years in a row in their croft holding and then they stopped using them , five years on they said that they found no evidence of slugs .

 

[Dapph2]

As promised here is a picture of some of my micro watering equipment
later when I have more time I'll explain the numbered groups . You should be able to zoom in on various items including Grow Insanes email addy .

 

[AVI_8]

Question about slugs, recently they’re getting into my house, no idea how they’re getting in as I don’t have a slug sized hole anywhere
I can only think that they’re coming up from the solum, where a pipe comes up under the floor under kitchen units.
Last week my wife put the kitchen light out when she went to bed, I put the light on an hour later and there were 4 huge slugs near the dog food bowl, one of them even had the audacity to be taking a dump on the floor, I watched it.
They were all thrown over the boundary fence.
Any of you guys had a similar experience and how to make the problem go away?
Edited to say I’ve now put the dog food up on the kitchen unit at night, but I’d imagine they’ll be able to get up there also, slimy little bar stewards

 

[Greeves246]

Is it worth planting something like raspberries which are a bit longer term and you can grow however many plants will give a sustainable amount.

Probably not as I am not a big lover of raspberries. May do Strawberries, we will see.
I have a cunning plan to deter slugs and snails. Two lengths of copper wire 10 mm apart connected to a battery, remember sticking your tongue across a PP3 battery? Should have the same effect on a slug.

 

[Seadog]

Nope. Neem oil or nothing. I refuse to use nematodes.

Why?

 

[Anguz]

It does but the copper goes green very quickly.... I use stainless

 

[OJCar]

Why?

Ear worms.

 

[Onoff]

A little night shot of my meagre veg patch:

Still got to clear / extend beyond the two compost bins.

So in the foreground are my "rescue spuds". The bigger ones were ones that were sprouting in the fridge. No idea of the variety other than "Co-op" probably.

Latterly though as regular readers might recall, I've moved a couple of underperforming compost bins and within were some seriously sprouting spuds. I think someone said to take off some of the sprouty bits...I didn't. Tbh I wasn't even sure which way to plant them!

Thus these are two planted spuds with multiple "sproutings". Do I leave it and see what happens, bury the weaklings or pinch them out?

 

[Dapph2]

The explanation for the numbered list .

1.
Hoselock fitting on all half inch pipes most are over 12 years old and are on all year round so have stood the UV decay test well . The O rings are the best fitting size I found after trying all sorts of O rings .

2.
Grow Insane .com supply the harder 6 mm id micro bore nylon neoprene tube not soft rubber , the adjustable spray heads are to me the best of the set for they spray a parachute looking fine misting spray some 20 inches high by 14 inches wide ,, gentle breezes waft it all over very effectively .
Double eared stainless steel pipe clamps are perfect to clamp all the black 1/2 " bore water supply pipes to connector junctions and line end stops , you'll need the proper pliers for clamping them if you are going to do a few dozen clamps rather than use end nipping pincers ( didn't know my own strength , so chopped a few ears off initially . The black plastic pipe clamps softened in strong sunlight and allowed the pressured line to blow apart as moist pipes drain down when not filled with moving water so can get very soft before the next watering session from the time clock ..
The stainless steel worm style pipe clamps were fine till the tightening screws rusted away after 5 or so years . The red things are for piercing the half inch pipe and screwing the threaded joiners ot T pieces in to the 6 mm water lines , these shouldered ends are pushed into the half inch water lines . There are also shouldered Goof plugs to plug a hole where you have removed a connector or made a goof or mad ethe hole inth wrong place . I found that grinding a small thin screw driver to a four sided pyramid point was a lot easier m=on my hand after doing several huindred connections . it's easier to pit a coil of line in a big bowl of hot water to soften it and quickly put you hole in it than try to fdo it in freezing conditions whn it rock hard . I modified the part of the red plastic piercing tools to allow me to fully insert a nipple and screw it in the microbore by drilling through the socket with a 6 mm drill .
3.
Adjustable spray heads . the black tipped with a central top hole is my go for choice as it is an adjustable misting head The other black has a side slot giving a side spray blade of about 25 degrees , The blue head the same side blade about 125 degrees and the red ones a 360 umbrella style spines of jets of water reaching out up to 20 inches in diameter .
Being adjustable makes the misting jets very very adaptable , from a good soaking to a tiny trickle into hanging baskets or up from a stick they are attached to into tubs of crops.
4.
Those piercing tools I mentioned earlier
5.
1/2" line elbows T's and connectors two eared clamping rings an d the inferior other pipe clamping devices .

6. & 7.
Stand by ready to change out misting head on a 1 mtr line , note the 8 mm OD copper gas pipe 6 mm ID copper sleeve , this is to stop softened lines getting blown apart in very hot weather when turned on water suddenly pressurises the lines when the lines have drained and heated up . The copper sleeve also makes a collar to hold the sides of the lines in when you screw a spray head into them, if you have the line 1.5 mm proud of the copper i6t will also make a dam good extra water seal .

I cut all my several hundred sleeves on my lathe .. a bit of a nightmare as copper is so soft , then had a 6mm pointed rod in the tail stock chuck and advancede it into the faced end of a sleeve, collar using a dab of WD40 as lube to get a perfect 6 mm hole in one end of the sleeve .
Thread the water pipe in the collar/sleeve from the now perfectly opened up ends.

Note how I used nice new Stanley knife blade & holder to make a long angle scarf cut in the line so the long tail can easily be fed into the collar and pulled through to the narrower end with pliers .

8. Home made knuckles & joints for use in setting up spray jets in the glass house roof area , they are also on a timeclock.

9.
Spare hanging basket ratchet suspension devices that have been stripped ,cleaned and serviced for a quick change over should any of our six hanging baskets get torn off the wall in strong winds etc. . I found we needed these devices as they are now getting on for £7 each , mine were a pound each 15 yrs or so ago and of course they're never any in the shops when you need them straight away .

10.
Pipe connector & T for the microbore
11.
End plug for a 1/2 " water supply line note they do need crimping in the supply pipe for reasons previously covered when it is hot .

 

[Dapph2]

A little night shot of my meagre veg patch:

View attachment 506624

Still got to clear / extend beyond the two compost bins.

So in the foreground are my "rescue spuds". The bigger ones were ones that were sprouting in the fridge. No idea of the variety other than "Co-op" probably.


View attachment 506625

Latterly though as regular readers might recall, I've moved a couple of underperforming compost bins and within were some seriously sprouting spuds. I think someone said to take off some of the sprouty bits...I didn't. Tbh I wasn't even sure which way to plant them!

Thus these are two planted spuds with multiple "sproutings". Do I leave it and see what happens, bury the weaklings or pinch them out?

View attachment 506626

Earth up 3 inches every time you get four inches of greenery showing .

 

[Onoff]

Earth up 3 inches every time you get four inches of greenery showing .

As in leave 1"of greenery showing?

Could I do that with the big plants, even now?

 

[pint]

planted some flowers, they grew really well, and then some blinking caterpillars and aphids moved in

so i moved them into full view of the birds and found some ladybirds, circle of life mofos

 

[Dapph2]

As in leave 1"of greenery showing?

Could I do that with the big plants, even now?

Yes for small plants .

Not sure about your gangly big plants . Why not cut the bottom off a plastic bucket invert it over the tall plant and fill to the rim with soil perhaps, post the result in September , don't over water though & they would benefit from a Tomorite feed as you have chalky soil which will see loads of essential nutrients drain away when it rains .