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Post by Flowerpotty on Apr 14, 2008 11:00:18 GMT 1
mmmmm.... not sure about that, whether being used previously as farming land should have anything to do with it. I do know that you shouldn't repeatedly plant the same things in the same places each season and that you should rotate each year. I try and vary the kind of things I grow each year too. I've had a patch of soil that didn't have anything growing on it last year to give it a rest, but I'm preparing it for use this year. The main problem I've had is with weeds. I was overrun with a certain type that I have now identified as 'Fat Hen'. I put some fertiliser down that first year and then that weed grew like mad. I can only surmise that the fertiliser was contaminated. I'm just about on top of it now, hoeing is the key, and to do so when its dry and before the weeds flower. I've got rhubarb just coming through at the moment. Some of the stalks can be green and there are differing varieties. However, the stalks on mine are pink! I've had a little browse on the weby.. Have a look at wikipedia.. encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/rhubarbIt has all sorts of rhubarb info. Yes, the leaves are poisonous!
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Post by unforgetable on Apr 14, 2008 17:43:49 GMT 1
the worst weed you can get is one called mares tail or horses tail,if you as much as touch the dam thing it fires off its seed a great distance making it a prolific grower,I found the only way to totally get rid was to cover with old carpet or tarpaulin and leave over winter
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Post by Flowerpotty on Apr 15, 2008 9:15:59 GMT 1
Just refered to 'Titchy's' book and covering that particular weed with carpet is about the best remedy, but because the weed has large, underground food stores, it takes a long time to die. He suggests putting a root-proof barrier in your garden if it looks like invading from adjacent gardens/fields. Also, the good old hoe - pain in the 'a' having to do it all the time, but hoeing will do the job over time.
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Post by unforgetable on Apr 15, 2008 16:15:06 GMT 1
hoe hoe hoe lol
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Post by Flowerpotty on Apr 16, 2008 16:09:40 GMT 1
Hoe Dear!
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Post by bobby's girl on Apr 24, 2008 1:32:43 GMT 1
Thanks for the info about the rhubarb Crystal. I actually googled rhubarb and someone has written a dissertation about rhubarb. Everything you need to know and yes there is a green one so it's OK.
Do you wait for the frost before you pick your pumpkins? We have rule that you don't pick them before ANZAC Day (tomorrow). We had 11 last year and look like having 16 this year. It's a mystery where they come from because we don't sow them and I make a point of not putting the seeds in the compost because they take over the whole back yard. Pumpkin soup is nice by the way and you can make pumpkin scones too. What sort of pumpkins do you grow? Ours don't taste anything like swedes.
We've had rain for nearly 2 weeks solid now (school holidays wouldn't you know it!!!). Very unusual for Oz - hopefully our drought has broken at last. Some of the areas towards the centre and west are still in drought though.
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Post by Flowerpotty on Apr 28, 2008 8:31:03 GMT 1
Re the rhubarb - good, I'm glad you managed to get that sorted and find out more.
Re pumpkins - I picked them about a week before halloween last year, so there probably was a frost beforehand. Last years crop were grown from seeds from a pumpkin I bought from Morrisons supermarket the year before! This years crop will be from my pumpkins grown last year, so we'll see how they turn out! My son reckoned it tasted like suede, but my hubby really liked his. I made a pie from it and I also roasted it. It's something I'm not keen on though. I think this years will just be used for Halloween purposes!
I'm growing courgettes this year for the first time, so will have to see how they get on. I also have a Red Devil chilli pepper growing in the greenhouse. Its approx 1 inch high at the moment!
Weather here is unsettled - it was very cold at the beginning of the month, but is warming up a bit more now. The forecasters always get it wrong here anyway! Last week I managed to get my potatoes, onions and beetroot in! I've also sown bedding plant seeds, sweetcorn, runner beans, peppers (again from supermarket stock and 3 are coming through!!) and..... pineapple! ( from supermarket!!) - not sure how this will go though if at all!! Basically, if I get seeds off something, I'll plant them!
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Post by bobby's girl on Apr 28, 2008 14:41:26 GMT 1
Do you grow pineapple from seeds or did you just cut the top off and plant that? You can get an interesting indoor plant that way. I'll be interested in hearing how it goes as they grow in Queensland here and they need tropical conditions. Do you have a hothouse or a greenhouse?
We've picked our pumpkins and they are sitting in the sun to harden off. Still waiting for the frost though. In Oz a roast dinner isn't a roast dinner without roast potatoes and roast pumpkin. Like potatoes some pumpkins are good for roasting, others are good for boiling and mashing. Try them mashed with your potatoes. I don't know what varieties you get there as I can't remember anyone eating them as a kid. Here we get big grey skinned ones called 'Queensland Blue' and another similar one called 'Kent'. They are quite big and very hard to peel but fantastic in a roast dinner. The others are 'Jap' which are dark olive green with yellow speckles and they are a bit watery - good for pumpkin soup, mashed with spuds, or pumpkin pie or scones. There is another variety called 'Butternut' which is shaped a bit like a giant pear and has a yellow skin but not much flesh inside. This one is also good for soup. There are some little ones called 'Golden Nugget' - I cut the top off them and scrape out the seeds and bake them in the oven (skin on) filled with stuffing and herbs.
We are also growing Lebanese eggplant (aubergine to you I think)- very nice fried with onions. I'm not sure if what you call courgettes are what we call zucchinis. They are also very nice sliced and fried with onions and tomatoes on sausages, chops and steak.
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Post by bobby's girl on Apr 28, 2008 14:42:08 GMT 1
Is this the most popular post on this site or what?
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Post by Flowerpotty on Apr 30, 2008 18:13:53 GMT 1
Hey! It's THE most popular site!! A while back, I think I was talking to myself on here! Wow! All those different pumpkin varieties! I've never heard of any of them. We have the common pumpkin here! The pineapple growing is a bit of an experiment! I just find seeds and plant them. I bought a pineapple the other week and planted the seeds to see if they'd take. I didn't plant the top, but I know you can do this. I'll let you know how they are developing.. if they ever do that is! I'm not keen on aubourgines, but I love courgettes. I think they are the same that you are thinking about, yes very nice with onions and tomoatoes - they grow into marrows if you leave them! My Red Devil hot chilli pepper is growing well. Its shot up another half inch in the last week! The weather is warming up and so is the temp in the greenhouse, so it should do alright in there. My lettuce seeds are through as well and now I'm waiting for my pumpkins to grow, my sweetcorn and bedding plants. A busy time of the year. I love it!I just wish I lived nearer to Calverton, as I'm at Balderton near Newark at the moment and the garden is at my mums place at Calverton. So I have a 50 mile round trip, everytime I want to do some gardening! At the moment, I need to be over there at least twice a week and what with the price of petrol over here, its an expensive time.
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Post by bobby's girl on May 2, 2008 14:37:12 GMT 1
Wow! I've never seen pineapple seeds. Where are they on the fruit? We can get pineapple just about all year and as we live in the outer western suburbs of Sydney, it gets a bit cold so I've never considered growing them myself.
What is the price of petrol there? We are paying $1.50 a litre ( I think that translates to about a pound) and it's going up every day, along with everything else because everything has to be transported such a long distance over here.
At least when you grow your own you know what's been put on it (fertilizer etc), and you know when it was picked.
We are lucky that we can usually grow most things all year except the winter crops (cabbages, caulies etc) don't do much in the summer months.
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Post by Flowerpotty on May 4, 2008 10:03:06 GMT 1
Well these seeds were inside the fruit just near the skin. Thats if they are seeds!! That'd be right, just like me to plant something that isn't a seed! lol!
Petrol is a sore point with everyone who has to buy it! It's £1.10 a litre at the moment. This time last year, it was half that! It's a bludy disgrace how much tax we have to pay! Grrrrrrrrrr!
A flippin pigeon has stripped my cabbages clean! Grrrrrrrrrr!
With global warming, we might find that we will be able to grow most things all year round too! We certainly don't get the frosts and snow like we used to.
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Post by bobby's girl on May 6, 2008 1:08:00 GMT 1
I'm a bit confused about this global warming. We've just some of the hottest days on record ever, yet it's been a very cool summer (not that I'm complaining I can't stand it when it's over 100 for days on end), then we've had the wettest April for about 50 years and now it's freezing and we are only one month into autumn. The experts are telling us to expect cooler weather over the next few years because of the global warming, and I read at least two articles in the papers that said that Europe is likely to go into an ice age the warmer currents (due to global warming) will disrupt the normal seasons. It's all Greek to me. Try putting a bit of butter (or marg if you have cholesterol probs) and nutmeg on your pumpkin (when you cook it that is), it improves the flavour. You can also put butter and cinnamon on sweet potato. The price of petrol just seems to be going up daily. They have it cheap on Mondays and Tuesdays, then it goes up by 20c a litre (or more) on Wednesdays, or just before a long weekend or school holidays. It's been happening for years and the government has had umpteen inquiries as to why but they all say there is no corruption. Well you know what we all say to that It's bad enough but our public transport system in Sydney just isn't up to scratch. I work as a casual teacher and have to drive everywhere - yesterday I did a 45 km round trip just to go to a meeting, I'll have to do that again tomorrow and the next day to work, and I work 'close to home'. We'd retire if we could afford to but our government only thought about compulsory superannuation about 20 years ago so most of us 'baby-boomers' worked in jobs that didn't have super, and if we did when we left it was paid back to us we couldn't move it from job to job like now. Consequently most of us have very little to see us through to the ends of our lives. I think we'd better keep growing those vegies. I can see me and hubby living the 'Good Life', like the TV show.
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Post by unforgetable on May 6, 2008 14:02:06 GMT 1
I paid £1.02 a litre on Saturday not sure how that compares with the aussie $
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Post by Flowerpotty on May 6, 2008 21:41:47 GMT 1
£1.10 out our way. It's a disgrace!!!!! As for plants... I pray for the good life! I would love to be able to have chickens aswell! I will try the thing with the pumpkin delacacy.. although at the moment, my pumpkin seeds aren't showing much of germinating... Neither is my sweetcorn. But the courgettes are a goer!
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