jansman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:37 am
If your onion haven’t germinated ,may I ask,have you sown them too deep? Most seed literally needs sowing onto previously watered compost ( an hour or two in advance to ‘settle’) and the merest hint of compost rubbed between your hands to *just* cover the seeds. In nature,plants will throw seed straight onto soil.There are no humans to come along and cover with compost. To a degree,I try to replicate that situation.Work with nature. Then I give them the gentlest of water with a spray so not to disturb them. They have water beneath them from the initial preparation,so you only have to stop them drying out. Don’t drown them.When the seeds sprout,again,keep them just damp. I find with tomatoes that making them fight a little for survival ,by not overwatering,makes them push roots down quicker. That was a tip given to be my father in law many seasons ago,and that man could grow tomatoes in concrete!
That should be pinned somewhere, thanks jansman In fact, I'm going to copy and paste that - I'm in the last few days of ordering the chaos in the house because of windows and workmen, and while there's a lot else that needs doing, I'm thinking I can get a few things planted. I'd dearly love for kale and chard to become semi-naturalised in my garden.
jansman wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 7:37 am
If your onion haven’t germinated ,may I ask,have you sown them too deep? Most seed literally needs sowing onto previously watered compost ( an hour or two in advance to ‘settle’) and the merest hint of compost rubbed between your hands to *just* cover the seeds. In nature,plants will throw seed straight onto soil.There are no humans to come along and cover with compost. To a degree,I try to replicate that situation.Work with nature. Then I give them the gentlest of water with a spray so not to disturb them. They have water beneath them from the initial preparation,so you only have to stop them drying out. Don’t drown them.When the seeds sprout,again,keep them just damp. I find with tomatoes that making them fight a little for survival ,by not overwatering,makes them push roots down quicker. That was a tip given to be my father in law many seasons ago,and that man could grow tomatoes in concrete!
That should be pinned somewhere, thanks jansman In fact, I'm going to copy and paste that - I'm in the last few days of ordering the chaos in the house because of windows and workmen, and while there's a lot else that needs doing, I'm thinking I can get a few things planted. I'd dearly love for kale and chard to become semi-naturalised in my garden.
I know chard will naturalise. I grow that and spinach beet,same thing really, and just let it go to seed each year. When the seed is dry and ready to drop,I just whack it with a stick,and where the seeds lay,they stay. Some always sprout.You can do the same with lettuce too.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
Picked up a small inverter this week. We have a few deep cycle batteries for electric fences and some limited solar but only one, fairly old, inverter. To be honest, I don't anticipate ever using much 240V in a grid down situation, saving batteries for 12V or USB use. Unfortunately there are a couple of low power 240V items that I would like to be able to use that demand 240V. Given that's the case, I think not relying on a single old unit makes sense
Excellent - I didn't realise the same happened with lettuce. I don't really eat it at the moment, because of just eating frozen veg, but I'd like to, raw food straight from the garden has got to be full of vim and vigour
Arzosah wrote: ↑Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:21 pm
Excellent - I didn't realise the same happened with lettuce. I don't really eat it at the moment, because of just eating frozen veg, but I'd like to, raw food straight from the garden has got to be full of vim and vigour
I don’t see why Kale would be any different. Oilseed Rape ( same family) grows all over the place here, naturalised, even though that crop hasn’t been grown there for donkeys years. There is a perennial kale called Daubentons Kale that can be grown from cuttings to perpetuate its kind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to do well in my garden.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
jennyjj01 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 21, 2022 11:46 am
WOW!
I water and check my seedling pots daily, and I just had the shock of my life. Four of six tomato seeds just BURST THROUGH. And I mean BURST.
When I watered at 11am yesterday there was just compost. This morning, they were over 2cm tall !!!! 2cm in a DAY!!!! That's 1cm of shoot and 1cm of baby leaf. Sowed 14 March.
It's beyond belief that they grew so fast, but I swear I could not see anything yesterday.
In fact, I'm going to copy and paste that - I'm in the last few days of ordering the chaos in the house because of windows and workmen, and while there's a lot else that needs doing, I'm thinking I can get a few things planted. I'd dearly love for kale and chard to become semi-naturalised in my garden.
