help! potato emergency!
yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-)
the other day, all my taties looked excellent. as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a sudden: small desiree patch: a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh, looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of course. (was that a bad thing to do?) big pontiac patch: some of the plants have slight reddish-brownish areas on them, like a sunburn or something (no defined edge to the marks - more of a shading). these plants just look generally less well than the others, which look perfectly normal. some of the leaves are yellowing & drying out a bit. again i had a little dig, but couldn't see anything odd about the baby taties underneath at all. i've never grown potatoes before & i've looked in all my books for what it might be, and online, and i just don't know. they've not flowered yet. one plant has some buds. the desirees have been in for probably 3 months or so(?) & the pontiacs perhaps two months, or 2 & a bit. |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message
... yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-) the other day, all my taties looked excellent. as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a sudden: small desiree patch: a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh, looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of course. (was that a bad thing to do?) is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!! kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's just time to harvest.) |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote: "0tterbot" wrote in message ... yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-) the other day, all my taties looked excellent. as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a sudden: small desiree patch: a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh, looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of course. (was that a bad thing to do?) is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!! kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's just time to harvest.) I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you may have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest. Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can find in the ground. Wish you luck. :) ta for that :-) in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i read your reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had buds. then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!! grasshoppers ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little blighters - they eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are some big taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time to harvest soon, regardless of what happens next! kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-) |
help! potato emergency!
0tterbot wrote:
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message ... On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote: "0tterbot" wrote in message ... yes, i'm panicking, thank you for asking :-) the other day, all my taties looked excellent. as of just now(?!), there's two problems that have appeared all of a sudden: small desiree patch: a number of the plants are turning yellow all over, with the leaves curling inwards & drying out. i carefully dug around to look at the baby taties of the diseased(?) plants & the bigger ones seem to have slightly more textured (wrinkled? what would be the word?) skin than one would expect, not smooth like a baby spud still in the ground. others, otoh, looked quite normal to me. i didn't dig around very much though, of course. (was that a bad thing to do?) is it possible that they're just ready to dig up??? they never flowered!!! kylie (who will feel like an idiot if the plants are dying because it's just time to harvest.) I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you may have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest. Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can find in the ground. Wish you luck. :) ta for that :-) in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i read your reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had buds. then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!! grasshoppers ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little blighters - they eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are some big taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time to harvest soon, regardless of what happens next! kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-) Nuh I made the same mistake once. Youre only an idiot if you do it twice. |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:09:15 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote: small desiree patch: I have potatoes in flower at the moment and they do usually flower before they die off, but if you have kept the water up to them you may have missed seeing the flowers and they might be ready to harvest. Have a bit of a careful dig around near them and see what you can find in the ground. Wish you luck. :) ta for that :-) in the absence of any replies saying "yes, it's clearly potato-disease-from-hell", i decided to stop panicking :-) after i read your reply i had a think, & can recall a time when some of the plants had buds. then, i don't know what happened. it's quite possible the %#$!! grasshoppers ate the buds off, for all i know (they are voracious little blighters - they eat the tops off anything). i had another poke around, & there are some big taties down there. (and some little ones). i think it might be time to harvest soon, regardless of what happens next! You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC, Desiree has about a 120 day to harvest period?????? so it may be a bit early to think of harvesting them. Pehraps it might be worth checking out the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden notebook to see when you did plant them to be surer. |
help! potato emergency!
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
... You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC, Desiree has about a 120 day to harvest period?????? i just had a google (as my books only say of potatoes in general "2-3 months maturing time") & one site says 95-100 days for desirees, so that would be right. so it may be a bit early to think of harvesting them. this situation (or disease ;-) might put a natural end to keeping them in, though! they're all going yellow, curling up & dying (even some of the pontiacs now, which i put in shortly after the desirees, have stopped looking differently-diseased & look like they're going the exact same way). without any foliage, it's a bit pointless to keep them in much longer, isn't it? (i wasn't going to harvest them tomorrow or anything, but it can't be long now anyway. i just had lost track of when they went in & didn't consider how close it must be to time). Pehraps it might be worth checking out the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden notebook to see when you did plant them to be surer. i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd keep a notebook. bg! kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't emphasise that enough!!!!) |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... i had another poke around, & there are some big taties down there. (and some little ones). That sounds good, the little ones are probably still growing. kylie (i think this means i feel like an idiot ;-) Don't put yourself down, but stuart. it's my "thing"! g if you haven't grown spuds before you wouldn't know what to look for nor what to expect of them. tbh, i still evidently don't know what to expect! i'm going to put in some more, to see if the same thing happens in 3 months. THEN i will know! (i might be the disorganised gardener from hell, but i love a good experiment.) /adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo tbh, i like a fruit or vegetable that grows above the ground. you can look at it & say "hmm". it's just so much easier all around, don't you think? kylie |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... tbh, i still evidently don't know what to expect! i'm going to put in some more, to see if the same thing happens in 3 months. THEN i will know! (i might be the disorganised gardener from hell, but i love a good experiment.) /adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo Perhaps try another different variety. of hairdo? no, i was just making that up. it's my moustache that's the spit of einstein's. g I have 2 dogs that show an interest in gardening although theirs' isn't always a constructive interest particularly with above ground fruit & vegetables. ;-) i'll say one thing for my naughty-dog-who-is-very-good-really, - he's not a gardener. :-) although i must say things have to be a certain size before he realises he's not supposed to walk there any more. next time around, i'm getting a dog who's psychic, too. Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're lemons). clearly you're not using the abysmal potting mix _i_ am! (address all gripes to my potting mix whinge-o-thon.) * Tomatoes and potatoes grow like weeds around here. excellent!!!! except when you want to rest the beds from the solanaceae family. --- can talk the talk, eh ;-) kylie * i did another experiment, & _this_ time the potting mix is out-doing the planted-outs. it is a mystery both deep and wide. |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message You mentioned that the spuds had been in for 3 months. IIRC, Desiree has about a 120 day to harvest period?????? i just had a google (as my books only say of potatoes in general "2-3 months maturing time") & one site says 95-100 days for desirees, so that would be right. so it may be a bit early to think of harvesting them. this situation (or disease ;-) might put a natural end to keeping them in, though! they're all going yellow, curling up & dying (even some of the pontiacs now, which i put in shortly after the desirees, have stopped looking differently-diseased & look like they're going the exact same way). without any foliage, it's a bit pointless to keep them in much longer, isn't it? (i wasn't going to harvest them tomorrow or anything, but it can't be long now anyway. i just had lost track of when they went in & didn't consider how close it must be to time). If the tops are all dead then it's (sort of ) harvest time. Pehraps it might be worth checking out the days to harvest for the varieties and check you garden notebook to see when you did plant them to be surer. i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd keep a notebook. bg! Snort! I thought everyone had at least one garden notebook! How else do you keep notes on what works or when you put on white oil or planted X tree or where you pasted your plant labels for that exotic tree whose name you can never remember? kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't emphasise that enough!!!!) I'll bet I can beat you hands down for being disorganised (I can lose a shopping list between the kitchen and the car door) but I do keep up my garden notebooks. I have 2 "notebooks' and lose one or the other on a regular basis (that's how disorganised I am) but I can always find at least one of them - that's where I keep my recipes for making sprays of what works for what diseases etc. The other book that I keep and never lose, is an "Any Year" diary and in that I write on the appropriate date what year it is and what I've just planted and where and what's in flower when (if I remember to do the flowering bit). |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the soil into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and planted 4 lemon seeds. Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're lemons). Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal garden seeds" work. |
help! potato emergency!
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message ... "Stuart Naylor" wrote in message I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the soil into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and planted 4 lemon seeds. Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're lemons). Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal garden seeds" work. I have a mango seedling I started from some mangoes hubby pinched off a tree here last year, if that helps. It sprouted two plants from one seed, which was nice, until I killed one of them. *sigh* |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... /adjusts lab coat and einstein-hairdo Perhaps try another different variety. of hairdo? no, i was just making that up. it's my moustache that's the spit of einstein's. g A wisp of a gray moustache and mostly gray shoulder length hair? That sounds like someone I know. :) doesn't sound like anyone _i_ know. i'm a girl, really ;-) (i take it you're not, though). Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're lemons). clearly you're not using the abysmal potting mix _i_ am! (address all gripes to my potting mix whinge-o-thon.) * I don't usually buy potting mix, this is my first year trying it and so far I've been quite happy. My usual habit was to use well matured home made compost which also works well. i have problems getting _quantity_ of compost... any tips? it took me about 2 years to make enough to make cucurbit mounds this year (which are brilliant!! i love them!!! and i've got volunteers sprouting away like mad, which isn't as much fun as i thought it might be...) i have so much trouble making compost in quantity that when i moved here 4 months ago, i brought my compost with me (and people said i was mad. well, i sure showed THEM! ... um...) i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had one of those. sigh.... Tomatoes and potatoes grow like weeds around here. excellent!!!! except when you want to rest the beds from the solanaceae family. --- can talk the talk, eh ;-) You certainly can talk the talk. I had to use a bloody search engine to find out what in hell a solanaceae was. mwahahahahaha! and another humble gardener commences his education in plant families! vengeance is mine!!! kylie |
help! potato emergency!
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
... i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd keep a notebook. bg! Snort! I thought everyone had at least one garden notebook! How else do you keep notes on what works or when you put on white oil or planted X tree or where you pasted your plant labels for that exotic tree whose name you can never remember? i use my abysmal memory, of course!!! kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't emphasise that enough!!!!) I'll bet I can beat you hands down for being disorganised (I can lose a shopping list between the kitchen and the car door) but I do keep up my garden notebooks. I have 2 "notebooks' and lose one or the other on a regular basis (that's how disorganised I am) but I can always find at least one of them - that's where I keep my recipes for making sprays of what works for what diseases etc. The other book that I keep and never lose, is an "Any Year" diary and in that I write on the appropriate date what year it is and what I've just planted and where and what's in flower when (if I remember to do the flowering bit). it sounds wonderful (except the bit where they get lost). i'm going to start one, really. some time after that, i'll also weigh everything from fruit & veg plants, for my heirloom seed-saving records of harvest-weight-per-plant titter. no, i will. one day. klyie |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 14:03:46 +1100, "Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote: "Stuart Naylor" wrote in message I had a spare hanging basket I wasn't using, so I emptied the soil into the compost, refilled the basket with fresh potting mix and planted 4 lemon seeds. Anyway about 10 days later I could plainly see a couple of shoots in the hanging basket which would have been real beaut if they had been lemons, but they were tomato plants. About 2 weeks later up came a spud then eventually up came the 4 lemons (or at least I think they're lemons). Could you keep us updated on how the lemons go please Stuart? I've always been interested in whether seeds from the "not the normal garden seeds" work. Yes sure will. The lemons were given to me and I have never seen the tree they originated from but I will try and find out what variety they are. Otherwise not knowing the variety may make it a bit of a pointless exercise. If I can't find out the variety I will obtain some more seeds from a known variety and plant them also. I'm not sure if that is right given what Jackie French has to say on the subject which is partly why I'm interested. Basically she says that seeds aren't so different from the parent that it makes a lot of differnece - you should still get useable crops. We might be in for long term reporting on these wee lemons - can't imagine that they'll be bearing for years yet ;-)) |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message
i have problems getting _quantity_ of compost... any tips? it took me about 2 years to make enough to make cucurbit mounds this year (which are brilliant!! i love them!!! and i've got volunteers sprouting away like mad, which isn't as much fun as i thought it might be...) Do you have any books by Jackie French? If not they are well worth buying or borrowing from the library. You can just grow plants in piles of weeds if that is all you have - Jackie gave me the idea. I have some BIG weeds in my garden - giant phalaris and cocksfoot and all sorts of other giant clumpers which got away when I had to have cancer treatment and couldn't do any gardneing. These I just dig up and leave lying on the paths (fully develiped seed heads and all) and once teh roots ahve dried out I then just throw them in a pikle somewhere and they often formt eh basis for growing spots. ATM, I've got volunteer spuds growing in weeds - basically the weeds are being used like the hay beds for spuds, but you could also use them for cucurbits. any weeds tha do sprout again get pulled out or buried in more weeds or old hay on top. If I was running a nice neat garden, I'd have composted all these but I currently dont' ahve the space in any of my compost bins so they are bein used in another fashion. i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had one of those. sigh.... I lusted after a tumble composter for years but was put off by the cost. I saw the following at a firend's and she recommended them highly.: http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/pages/d...?page_id=20061 I now have 2 and find them fantastic and they are much cheaper than the ones I was lusting after. Everything my friend said about them is true - great beasties. I think thye were about $150 each. |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message ...
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message ... i'm thrilled that you think so very highly of me that you think i'd keep a notebook. bg! Snort! I thought everyone had at least one garden notebook! How else do you keep notes on what works or when you put on white oil or planted X tree or where you pasted your plant labels for that exotic tree whose name you can never remember? i use my abysmal memory, of course!!! I used to do the same till the frustration of not being able to remember what I needed to, when I needed to, drove me to pick up an exercise book in the supermarket one day. I now call my books 'Zen for gardeners' - the peace it brings!!!!! kylie (being organised really isn't my strong point!! i can't emphasise that enough!!!!) I'll bet I can beat you hands down for being disorganised (I can lose a shopping list between the kitchen and the car door) but I do keep up my garden notebooks. I have 2 "notebooks' and lose one or the other on a regular basis (that's how disorganised I am) but I can always find at least one of them - that's where I keep my recipes for making sprays of what works for what diseases etc. The other book that I keep and never lose, is an "Any Year" diary and in that I write on the appropriate date what year it is and what I've just planted and where and what's in flower when (if I remember to do the flowering bit). it sounds wonderful (except the bit where they get lost). You know the story, under a pile of books that need to be put away, under hats or clothes dropped on the table as you come inside............... It's always only temperary. i'm going to start one, really. some time after that, i'll also weigh everything from fruit & veg plants, for my heirloom seed-saving records of harvest-weight-per-plant titter. no, i will. one day. Now THAT, I know I'll never do - too anal by halves. |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... A wisp of a gray moustache and mostly gray shoulder length hair? That sounds like someone I know. :) doesn't sound like anyone _i_ know. i'm a girl, really ;-) (i take it you're not, though). Correct, I'm not. .... although stuart would be a loverly name for a girl, don't you think? g I said "That sounds like someone I know" because I'm married to her. does your wife mind you discussing her moustache on usenet? :-) They even made a song about us. "Darling we are getting older Silver threads amongst the gold" gd&r I don't usually buy potting mix, this is my first year trying it and so far I've been quite happy. My usual habit was to use well matured home made compost which also works well. i have problems getting _quantity_ of compost... any tips? Tips, where do I start? You need to have patience because you don't get compost overnight, but eventually you will have heaps of terrific compost and you will be in here asking how to get rid of it all. :) it took me about 2 years to make enough to make cucurbit mounds this year (which are brilliant!! i love them!!! and i've got volunteers sprouting away like mad, which isn't as much fun as i thought it might be...) Start in the kitchen by having a container to place your vegetable peelings, skin from fruit, crushed up egg shells, small bits of paper and cardboard, coffee grounds and tea leaves etc. which are all good. Empty regularly in the compost. Depending on what you pick up with the vacuum cleaner it can usually be emptied in the compost too. Long gone are the days when our groceries, bread & milk were delivered by horse and cart and when the horses left manure behind there was a race between neighbours to see who would get it. *Don't throw out anything which could be placed in the compost.* hm. see, i do all of that. one thing might be, we eat the skins of almost everything, so tend not to make all that much kitchen waste, and now we've got chooks _they_ get half the stuff that used to go into the compost, (so i suppose i'm making even less now!!) ... although one is amply rewarded with pooey straw (my newest gold mine) so that is all right. perhaps what i need to do is switch around containers - i only use one, & it just never "fills" (so i've never organised another one ;-), so maybe i just need to learn to leave it alone after a while & start another one instead. When you brought your compost with you what type of container was it in? i turned my (plastic) compost bin upside down, taped it all around so it wouldn't come apart en route (ick), and shovelled the compost back into it! when we got to this end, dh set it all up again (i'm not interested in the details ;-) but i put teh compost into a pit i found, just to finish it off. voila! i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had one of those. sigh.... I'd love a tumbling composter too if it was donated and I didn't have to pay for it. they are pricey!! i'm just thinking the expense would be well worth it in the long (or even medium) term. one can make them from old metal drums, but sadly for me i can't weld. i might ask a friend of mine who can weld if i could make it up to him somehow if he'd do the appropriate welding for me. or i might just go & buy one & be done with it! I have 2 compost bins (once the first is full I start putting compost suitable items in the second). I also have a small section of the garden dedicated for compost where I dig in vegetable peelings and other small items that breakdown quickly. That is a terrific little spot which I can always rely on to get some good soil for a pot or basket etc. we used to do that at one point. it is marvellous, i must say! (and quick, too). Weeds and lawn clippings are all good for the compost, small branches are fine but avoid large branches because they take too long to break down. I don't put dog droppings in the compost. My dogs keep me supplied with stray cats and dead birds which all break down fairly quickly. gd&r do cats break down quickly?! wow! The advantage of a tumbling composter is that the compost can be turned over frequently and easily which is important. So whether your compost is in a bin or just dug into the ground it needs to be turned over with a fork or shovel, at least say once a week or so. c'est ça. i use a big crow bar because my bin is a dumb one, deep but narrow. i don't like it, actually (but it was free!! ;-) i really do think if i'd a tumbler, i'd make more effort to fill it with leaves, etc. (or rather, encourage my children to do so, perhaps). You certainly can talk the talk. I had to use a bloody search engine to find out what in hell a solanaceae was. mwahahahahaha! and another humble gardener commences his education in plant families! vengeance is mine!!! LOL. Vengeance is yours!!! You win!!! give me a full report on the umbelliferae by thursday ;-) kylie -- Stuart |
help! potato emergency!
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message
... Do you have any books by Jackie French? If not they are well worth buying or borrowing from the library. You can just grow plants in piles of weeds if that is all you have - Jackie gave me the idea. i've been getting through the ones available at the library (my, she is prolific!!) her weed book was a _revelation_ to me. i'd been too anal about the whole thing, & looking at it totally the wrong way. i really like her books, she's great :-) another good thing is she's a "local author", so i can directly apply things she says, pretty much. I have some BIG weeds in my garden - giant phalaris and cocksfoot and all sorts of other giant clumpers which got away when I had to have cancer treatment and couldn't do any gardneing. These I just dig up and leave lying on the paths (fully develiped seed heads and all) and once teh roots ahve dried out I then just throw them in a pikle somewhere and they often formt eh basis for growing spots. ATM, I've got volunteer spuds growing in weeds - basically the weeds are being used like the hay beds for spuds, but you could also use them for cucurbits. any weeds tha do sprout again get pulled out or buried in more weeds or old hay on top. If I was running a nice neat garden, I'd have composted all these but I currently dont' ahve the space in any of my compost bins so they are bein used in another fashion. excellent. the idea of weeds as mulch was wonderful for me - weeds as growing locations even better! or weeds as foliar feed (another jackie idea). well anyway, clearly we are both fans ;-) i might do a weed-spot experiment, now! i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had one of those. sigh.... I lusted after a tumble composter for years but was put off by the cost. I saw the following at a firend's and she recommended them highly.: http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/pages/d...?page_id=20061 I now have 2 and find them fantastic and they are much cheaper than the ones I was lusting after. Everything my friend said about them is true - great beasties. I think thye were about $150 each. wonderful!! i shall take your recommendation on board. kylie (who is really pining for one now ;-) |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 08:17:20 +1100, "Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote: I'm not sure if that is right given what Jackie French has to say on the subject which is partly why I'm interested. Basically she says that seeds aren't so different from the parent that it makes a lot of differnece - you should still get useable crops. We might be in for long term reporting on these wee lemons - can't imagine that they'll be bearing for years yet ;-)) Yes it might take awhile before they fruit. :) I've sometimes read warnings about growing your own fruit & vegetables using seed from a previous years crop. They usually go on to mention that the crops can develop diseases or become susceptible to diseases. I've not come across that sort of comment before and I'm a voracious reader of all thigns gardening. The comment I've most often seen is the warning about not trying to use the seeds from hybrids. I've not had any problems with any of the saved seed I use, but then I I don't have many that I keep either. What I tend to do is to just wander round the garden scattering seeds from the seedheads of flowers - thye end up growing in some interesting places. The only veg related seeds I've used from saved seed is garlic chives and rocket - both seem OK (and pumpkin too - also OK). I don't know how much truth is in that or is it just to entice us to keep buying commercially produced seed. ;-) Have you seen the books from the Aus and US seedsavers networks? - well work reading as they are mines of information.. |
help! potato emergency!
"0tterbot" wrote in message
"Farm1" please@askifyouwannaknow wrote in message Do you have any books by Jackie French? i've been getting through the ones available at the library (my, she is prolific!!) her weed book was a _revelation_ to me. If you liked that then try her soil food book. That is my usual bed time reading - doesn't matter how many times I read it, I always find something new to try or marvel over. i'd been too anal about the whole thing, & looking at it totally the wrong way. Yep - I think a lot of us have come to gardening by way of the conventional route and it takes time to unlearn all those taboos we learned on the way. i really like her books, she's great :-) another good thing is she's a "local author", so i can directly apply things she says, pretty much. Yes, her land at Araluan looks like its a very hard and hungry block and that valley is prone to real heat and drought as well as some poopful land. We were down there not long ago and things are just dire - poor sods. I have some BIG weeds in my garden - giant phalaris and cocksfoot and all sorts of other giant clumpers which got away when I had to have cancer treatment and couldn't do any gardneing. These I just dig up and leave lying on the paths (fully develiped seed heads and all) and once teh roots ahve dried out I then just throw them in a pikle somewhere and they often formt eh basis for growing spots. ATM, I've got volunteer spuds growing in weeds - basically the weeds are being used like the hay beds for spuds, but you could also use them for cucurbits. any weeds tha do sprout again get pulled out or buried in more weeds or old hay on top. If I was running a nice neat garden, I'd have composted all these but I currently dont' ahve the space in any of my compost bins so they are bein used in another fashion. excellent. the idea of weeds as mulch was wonderful for me - weeds as growing locations even better! or weeds as foliar feed (another jackie idea). Yep - I brew my blackjack mix in an old olive barrel and I brew my poo stew in a big plastic garbage bin - I've yet to be able to convince my husband that it's his job to relieve himself now and then into it :-)) well anyway, clearly we are both fans ;-) i might do a weed-spot experiment, now! It's worth a try, but probably a bit late now for the best weed patch growers - the cucurbits.. i'd LOVE a tumbling composter - i'd make special collections for it if i had one of those. sigh.... I lusted after a tumble composter for years but was put off by the cost. I saw the following at a firend's and she recommended them highly.: http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/pages/d...?page_id=20061 I now have 2 and find them fantastic and they are much cheaper than the ones I was lusting after. Everything my friend said about them is true - great beasties. I think thye were about $150 each. wonderful!! i shall take your recommendation on board. Wel just to encourage you: about 6 weeks ago, I pruned my box blobs - the prunings were up to about 6 inches long. I threw them into one of the tumblers with some poop (old cow poop which I'd stupidly let dry out). I watered the lot from both ends (the lids come off on each end) and tumbled it a few times each day - about a week ago, we used it to mulch the corn and them put more mulch on top - the corn has powered on since then sending out axial roots all over the place. The pruings weren't completely broken down, but enough to use it on somethign that was about thigh high like corn - its now about waist high - perhaps we put it on a week and a half ago. kylie (who is really pining for one now ;-) :-)) I raided the hosekeeping allowance and we went thorugh a vegetarian phase till it'd recovered :-)) |
help! potato emergency!
"Stuart Naylor" wrote in message
... ... although stuart would be a loverly name for a girl, don't you think? g Some of the names children are given are bad enough without giving boys names to girls. Or giving girls names to boys. What about Christine for a boy? He would get belted up every day while at School. So no I don't think so. g .... whereas if his name was angela, people would be cool with that ;-) I said "That sounds like someone I know" because I'm married to her. does your wife mind you discussing her moustache on usenet? :-) No and I haven't had the silent treatment either. perhaps she is plotting to start waxing your bum one night when you're asleep! Chook poo, what a terrific reward. How many chooks? 13! my three little pullets just started laying the other day, so i'm over the moon with them. they're the most adorable little creatures. (my big ladies we bought as big ladies, so they're a bit mental, quite frankly, love them though i do.) i've decided i'd better make sure the littlies stay tame & hopefully get even tamer, so today i commenced to feed them by hand. unfortunately for me, i didn't consider my hands were covered in cuts, so it was all fun & games until a chickie pecked a cut in my hand open again. :-/ but don't get me started about my chooks, i'll just go on & on. :-) perhaps what i need to do is switch around containers - i only use one, & it just never "fills" (so i've never organised another one ;-), so maybe i just need to learn to leave it alone after a while & start another one instead. You need two. Fill the first then leave it to compost and start filling the second. i will get two. i might stand on the street corner until i've got enough for a tumbler. kylie who has tumbler envy. |
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