Advice for a hopeless gardener

[jennyjj01]

Here's some advice.
Get your topiary trimmed and tackle your brambles in preparation for 6th May

[jennyjj01]

taking a break from my sabbatical
Another veg growing question...
I'd raked over and tarp covered an area of the lotment in anticipation of sowing peas.
But when i lifted the tarp today, something had been prospering and sprouting through. It had long straight roots and i started digging it out thinking its maybe marestail. But then a google image search suggested asparagus
Can anyone identify it conclusively?
It must be a hardy beggar to come back in my dug over and tarped over area. I still sowed my peas in spite of it. Will they coexist or which will win? How do I subdue or get rid of it, because its not something we eat? If it's marestail, are my peas doomed? It's in the same bed as the spuds I recently planted, but oddly not conspicuous there.

[edit] More googling suggests it is marestail and I know I have a few other patches of that bu66er. This is so dis-heartening. No way could I eradicate it by digging and nothing else sounds effective. Shallow weeding will make it worse! Having it prosper under my tarp is particularly saddening. Charles Dowding never told me about this bl00dy horror!
This, Bindweed, Couch grass. Damn them all to hell!
[/edit]

[jennyjj01]

Marestail it is, and what a nasty weed that is. I thought couch was bad, but at least that bu66er can be nuked.
The beds where I already dug over and sowed my spuds, peas, beans and carrots all have those spore tips popping through. I'm tugging at them rather than dig up my sowing. But the stuff snaps off oh so easily and the roots are soil coloured. Dammit! For now, I'm just trying to deny it the chance to grow above ground. Veg will have to fight it out under the ground.
Today, started to clear another bed. Took about 30 mins per sq metre, but I KNOW I left some weed roots including marestail.
Today's weeds have been brought off site for disposal. Please god, don't let marestail ruin my beautiful compost heap.
Sowed some runner beans. 4 x 6
Met another plot holder, she offered me some seed spuds, which I happily accepted.
My cloche is now stable and fixed down so as to not blow over. It gets lovely and warm. temperature datalogger installed.
Some critter seems to keep digging up my pea seeds. But not eating them???

[jansman]

Marestail it is, and what a nasty weed that is. I thought couch was bad, but at least that bu66er can be nuked.
The beds where I already dug over and sowed my spuds, peas, beans and carrots all have those spore tips popping through. I'm tugging at them rather than dig up my sowing. But the stuff snaps off oh so easily and the roots are soil coloured. Dammit! For now, I'm just trying to deny it the chance to grow above ground. Veg will have to fight it out under the ground.
Today, started to clear another bed. Took about 30 mins per sq metre, but I KNOW I left some weed roots including marestail.
Today's weeds have been brought off site for disposal. Please god, don't let marestail ruin my beautiful compost heap.
Sowed some runner beans. 4 x 6
Met another plot holder, she offered me some seed spuds, which I happily accepted.
My cloche is now stable and fixed down so as to not blow over. It gets lovely and warm. temperature datalogger installed.
Some critter seems to keep digging up my pea seeds. But not eating them???

You’ve probably got rabbits digging.

[Nurseandy]

we've had a week of hard frosts which has killed my seedlings. Oh well. Sleet/snow forecast for next week so I'll wait and resow after that. Frost is always a risk here until even maybe June.

[jennyjj01]

Today a couple of veg growing 'speriments.....

I'd read somewhere about growing courgettes and spuds on or in a compost heap, where they enjoy the warmth.

As it happens, I've only recently filled my two 300l tardis composters. I'd say the bottom third is mature compost, the middle third is getting there and the top third is a mix of leaf mold and grass clippings. Lifting the lid revealed some active ants and woodlice, and I reckon it was getting warm.

So,
Tardis number#1, I removed the lid, gave the top half a stir and planted one chitted spud* seed in the middle, 6 inches down. Covered it loosely and then put a layer of card over with a 3" hole over the seed spud. I'm hopeful it will find it's way out.

Tardis number#2, similar, but in that I planted a 3" courgette seedling that I had in a 3" pot. For this I left the leaves peeping out on the surface. I covered over with cardboard with a 2" hole with the seedling peeping through.

Soaked the cardboard of both.

It's my intention to neglect these babies and let them get rained on and shone on. I'll only intervene if they look like they NEED water.

Am I being silly? The idea is to get two free crops while my compost continues to mature. The cardboard to be a clean surface for the courgette to lay out any fruit. Both are mostly sowed in soft beds of clippings and leaf mold. Tardis lids left off. Will this harm my compost?

* Result with the Spud seed. My local garden centre had 2.5kg of second early seeds reduced from £5 to 50p. They were 'well chitted' Couldn't resist the bargain and I intend to sow those ASAP. Tomorrow is to be a dedicated lotment day.

In other news. I've moved some of my healthier tomato and courgette seedlings into an array of grow-bags and tubs of arbitrary soil and compost. They are laid out on a sunny bit of my lawn, open to the elements for the first time, sink or swim. I have tomatoes in reserve.

In yet other, other news. Recall that I split and sowed a sprouting onion as five bulblets? Those 5 are prospering, but are all showing signs of bolting. Seed pods seem to be forming on all 5. Oh hum. Worst case, I get some onion seeds to save.

[jennyjj01]

Another 'speriment:-

Having roughly dug over a few sq metres of marestail infested bed, I figured I'd sow to it four different ways.
Doing this because I know within a week, marestail WILL rear its multiple ugly heads in that area.

1: Control: Sowed 5 seed spuds direct into the soil. They were well chitted, but I expect that by the time they reach the surface, they'll be encircled by marestail.
2: Spuds under holes: Same as #1, but there are pieces of cardboard above with 60mm round holes. Will the spud shoots find their way through the holes before the marestail? Will they find their way out at all?
3: Sowed boltardy beetroot seeds direct through inch square holes in the card. Will they find their way out of the holes?*
4: I had a spare tomato plant in a 4 inch pot. I planted that and then popped a piece of card over that with the growth sticking out a 2 inch hole.

Apart from watering if we have a dry spell, these will all have to fend for themselves. Will marestail pop out the holes with them. Watch this space
Just a day of rain and the card was getting softened.
* I couldn't help noticing how hot the soil was to the touch. The sun was doing its magic.

In other news..... Some critter is nibbling my pea and bean shoots I wonder if they'll survive.

[jansman]

The only problem with the one inch card holes over beet; When it shoots,get the card off. Too many leaves you will not do it without damage. Leave it,your beet will struggle to expand and give you the crop. Also,it will struggle to get sufficient moisture with card over it.

[jennyjj01]

The only problem with the one inch card holes over beet; When it shoots,get the card off. Too many leaves you will not do it without damage. Leave it,your beet will struggle to expand and give you the crop. Also,it will struggle to get sufficient moisture with card over it.

Thanks. Will do.

The card is very thin, so I'll be able to easily expand the holes or rip it away. I just want to see how well it suppresses the weeds till the seeds get a head start. Two beetroot seeds in each hole, by the way.

I know the beetroot seeds are each multiple seeds per husk and I'm hoping for a few clusters of smallish beets.

The planting spuds under a hole is pretty speculative. We'll see if they can see through those eyes.

The one Tomato (Crimson Crush) was a bit of an afterthought. I did read somewhere about not growing spuds alongside tomatoes: Something to do with blight. Let's see if I regret it.

This is the first tomato that I've pitched against the elements, and whatever pests might attack it, on the plot in bare soil. It's only young and small and I've high hopes for it. If it survives a week, I'm going to put it's young sisters alongside. Moneymaker and Roma will be kept sheltered.

I need to research how to grow on determinants and indeterminates: Supports? Canes?

The big test will be how well this cardboard suppresses the mare' compared to where I'm not using card and later comparing to where I'll use permeable weed membrane (textile).

[jansman]

The only problem with the one inch card holes over beet; When it shoots,get the card off. Too many leaves you will not do it without damage. Leave it,your beet will struggle to expand and give you the crop. Also,it will struggle to get sufficient moisture with card over it.

Thanks. Will do.

The card is very thin, so I'll be able to easily expand the holes or rip it away. I just want to see how well it suppresses the weeds till the seeds get a head start. Two beetroot seeds in each hole, by the way.

I know the beetroot seeds are each multiple seeds per husk and I'm hoping for a few clusters of smallish beets.

The planting spuds under a hole is pretty speculative. We'll see if they can see through those eyes.

The one Tomato (Crimson Crush) was a bit of an afterthought. I did read somewhere about not growing spuds alongside tomatoes: Something to do with blight. Let's see if I regret it.

This is the first tomato that I've pitched against the elements, and whatever pests might attack it, on the plot in bare soil. It's only young and small and I've high hopes for it. If it survives a week, I'm going to put it's young sisters alongside. Moneymaker and Roma will be kept sheltered.

I need to research how to grow on determinants and indeterminates: Supports? Canes?

The big test will be how well this cardboard suppresses the mare' compared to where I'm not using card and later comparing to where I'll use permeable weed membrane (textile).

Your first year,you’ll probably get away with spuds and toms together,although saying that,there may be an obvious * band* of blight on your allotment later on. It is a chance. Regarding Toms;
https://www.thespruce.com/indeterminate ... ty-1403423