Tussiemussie's Outbox

It depends how hot it is aim for the middle ground, too wet and the skins will split, too dry and they will be stunted. It helps to incorporate some moisture gel when planting so the soil is water retentive.

The run off from these gets into the water supply and is not good for humans,or river fish, worse direct for your rabbits I would think

Yes a fungus which can affect all brassicas, usually after wet/humid conditions destroy them and don't grow brassicas in that area for 3 years, the spores stay in the soil. Do you practice rotation?
Also to increase your plants resistance to disease generally,
try natural no dig gardening, top dress wifh compost / mulch, try not to leave bare soil. If you think about it in forests and woodland nothing is fertilised or tilled and yet it all flourishes.
Undisturbed the soil bacteria and mycelium thrive and attach to plant roots improving resistence to disease.
Here is a link
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/208/?utm_source=nl_2008-02-25&utm_medium=email
and another -
http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com/index.html

Sorry no, but if you know a child they can get free wildflower seeds from blue peter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/central/getinvolved/seedgiveaway.shtml

Wow, you have put much thought into this Spritz, I reckon the result will be stunning.Can't wait to see the end result.

Also feed regularly with a tomato fertiliser, important if they are confined in a pot,

What is the plant spritz? I have one self seeded in my garden.I keep finding sleepy honey bees in my house lately, lots of bumbles in the garden too.

They are frost tender, but if you take some cuttings and place them in water they will grow roots, pot them up and keep indoors till after the frosts are finnished then plant out again.

I just layer mine in the compost, the heat kills off any bugs
and the material is rejuvenated ready for use on the garden the following year.

Hi Amaranth. Soil fertility is depleted by digging and ploughing, soil that is walked on becomes compacted. Raised beds drain better in heavy rains, they will hold moisture if you mulch with compost/ hay / grass, the worms will dig it in for you and aerate the soil. Make them a size where you can comortably reach in from either side.
This link is an excellent explanation of what to aim for.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hs8zp/Natural_World_20082009_A_Farm_for_the_Future/

Synopsis.
The land we are farming with machinery and chemicals leaves the soil dead, no life, no worms, no mycelium. With oil depleting each year and prices rising it will be unsustainable. The life in woodland forest soil gives it continuous fertility with no ploughing, no fertilisers, no pesticides, no fungicides, everything thrives, a natural balance and harmony evolves. The mycelium in the soil moves the nutrients around. The trees shedding leaves releases fertility back into the soil. Our task is to adapt this natural cycle but with more productive combinations to give us our food. Looking at trees that produce nuts and fruit carefully spaced with small clearings vines growing through these, fruit bushes and other crops between in small clearings. Roots are left in the soil for funghi to decompose and return nutrients to the soil, spent plants / weeds are scythed and left to return to the soil naturally. Soil that is undisturbed contains bacteria, mycelium, worms, and woodlice etc, many small creatures returning nutrients to the soil. A plant converts sunshine into nutrients, and in the natural cycle actually returns more to the soil than it takes out. Break the cycle and the soil fertility depletes, needs to be replaced chemically. I actually dug a little woodland soil the other day to innoculate my new plant roots with these beneficial bacteria and funghi and kickstart this natural fertility in my own no dig garden; the woodland soil was dark and crumbly but difficult to get in large quantities because of a thick mesh of roots - busy returning nutrients. Also this more natural multi layered gardening encourages wildlife and birds who also return nutrients to the soil from what they eat.
If you think about earth as a skin, like our own skin it's a natural protection / system we don't rip off our own skin!!!! So for natural fertility, its no dig and mulches to protect earths natural functions. We may have to rethink the crops we eat, with this system great fields of cereals will not be possible as we won't have the oil to use there. Chestnuts and nuts may replace big crops of cereals.
We are heading towards oil famine and this sort of natural fertility takes time to develop.Hope this synopsis is helpful to you.

I understood the black bamboo was far less aggressive than the pale bamboo.

Pleased it worked for you too Donnah.

Swiss chard, onions various, celariac, heritage tomatoes cucumbers, leeks, salad, tomatilloes, cape gooseberries, aubergines, early pots, beetroot, broad beans, runner beans, pole beans - trail of tears, dwarf beans, peas, sugar snap, sweetcorn, spinach, quinoa, butternut squash, citrus chilli, strawberries early and mid season, raspberries, loganberries, apples, pears, cherries, black and red current, jostaberries, rhubarb, kiwi, gooseberries, parsley, sage, thyme, marjoram, rocket, fennel, .greens.

The very wet summer made my outdoor tomatoes split whilestill green, then before they could ripen they got blight.They were in raised beds too.
If blight is a problem try cape gooseberries, they keep two or three weeks in their caylix and make a good tomato substitute in a salad they arelike a yellow cherry tomato, and are ripe when the caylix turns from green to papery

You can root new cuttings from a busy Lizzie,break off a few stems and place them in a jar of water, it takes about a week and each stem will have grown new roots and can be potted up. When grown a bit pinch out the top to encourage it to bush out. this works with tomato sideshoots too, same method. I only ever buy one tomato plant and make new ones from the sideshoots

Thanks spritz, lovely blog and pics, I also love the changes to the hydrangeas, the colours fade and soften sort of shabby chique, or wabi-sabi lol

I remember hearing a snuffling and scuffling one night and it was a hedgehog trying to make love to our bristle broom, They like tinned catfood if you want to entice them home.

I saved seed dried between two layers of kitchen paper as long as it's a heritage variety not a hybrid plant should come true to seed

We used old roof joists from demolition for ours, but you will need to allow for some drainage, concrete contributes to flooding, could you take some up to allow drainage?

Comfrey was shown to be the best fertiliser for potatoes. Why use all that space for potatoes when you can use a barrel and keep earthing up? I got far more potatoes from just five seed spuds in a barrel. A shady spot would not be a good place for fruit either, as they need sunshine to give sweetness, cucumbers like a shady spot.

Steve it has been so wet here the slugs and snails are flourishing, so delphs are a tempation for them, my ducks get plenty of protein, grins. Something weird with the seasons, we have primula denticulata , it will be interestng to see what they do, still very lush and green and we are getting more sun lately.

Yes we are losing too many native wild flowers, why not turn some lawn into a wildflower garden and enjoy while doing the wild plants a favour.

Peter, my tomatoes looked great at first, then we had so much rain that they were splitting while still green, and blight felled the whole outdoor crop again. My greenhouse ones did well but ripened late because of the lack of sun, and of course they finnish early. Next year I plan to grow all tomatoes under glass or plastic, and grow tomatilloes and cape gooseberried outside, they are a good tomato substitute and keep well in the caylix and are not subject to blight.

I have had the same problem, it is blight. Our wet summers and high humidity contribute, My greenhouse tomatoes were fine but i lost every last one of the outdoor tomatoes to blight, this year and last. Gogi berry plants have been imported with the disease and I had bought some. Safest to grow gogi berries from seed, just hydrate some dried berries and extract and plant the tiny seeds.Outdoors I am going to grow tomatilloes and cape gooseberries, these keep well and make a good substitute in salads, salsa, and pickles.

If water is in short supply do you, collect rainwater in water butts and recycle shower and bath water? It helps.

share it with nature, make it awildflower meadow, and enjoy the flowers, watch all the divine creatures that visit.

LOL Spritz, it is only a young tree probably hasn't got the hang of this season business yet, maybe if I wrap it in fleece for the winter?
Chris, yes, we seem to have bypassed the summer this year
Blodyn, glad to know my apple is not the only confused one, grins.

Snails find the leaves delicious, check under the pot rim, and other likely hiding places. Aphids?

I layer it in my compost heap and turn the heap, I reckon the heat will kill anything unwanted.

I believe the black bamboo is less intrusive, slower spreading.Here it is also more expensive, though I believe thompson and morgan have a special offer at the moment.