On 2011-11-04, Mike Lyle wrote:

On Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:37:06 +0000, Adam Funk
wrote:

On 2011-11-03, Mike Lyle wrote:

Hi Adam. OT: Although Australian is my native tongue ("Our land is
dirt by sea"), I'm uncomfortable at seeing soil called "dirt".

Why, because "dirt" sounds "dirty"? "Soil" sounds, um, "soiled"!

At this rate, the urglers will kick our bottoms back to a.u.e.! As it
happens, I find it impossible to use "soiled" to mean "dirty"...

Not that "dirt" sounds so much "dirty" as "inferior" or "valueless".

I'm moving that over to AUE.


What you suggest seems reasonable, as long as you feed the soil up and
watch out for pests and diseases - and, as already advised, stiffen up
the stuff intended for brassicas.

As a matter of great interest, how did your container-grown beans and
brassicas do? And how big are the containers?

Well, I didn't actually grow any brassicas this year, but I might next
year. The beans did well for the late start: I planted them; the
slugs ate them; I planted them again and put more anti-slug agents
down; so they were a bit late in the season.

I lost all mine this year, among the sweet-pea wigwams. I was
interested in the size of the containers, as it occurred to me that
beans would represent a heavy watering commitment.

I finally remembered to measure it: 14" inside diameter at the top,
14" tall, and probably 9" inside diameter at the bottom; ceramic,
glazed on the outside; ISTR one drain hole in the centre, but I can't
see it at the moment. We put four long bamboo canes in the ground
around it and wired them together near the tops.

Planting: 2 seeds in each of 7 holes (hexagon's corners and centre).

2nd round of planting: same but with more Growing Success
(eco-friendly) anti-slug granules. (I also used Nemaslug on the whole
garden.)