Jake wrote:
I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

I never got on with these, as they always have a 'shaded' side and I end
up with half of the damned plants falling out.

On 19 Jun 2012 14:12:51 GMT, wrote:

Jake wrote:
I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

I never got on with these, as they always have a 'shaded' side and I end
up with half of the damned plants falling out.

Have a look at my tower contraptions (there's a photo here on my blog
- excuse the plug - http://www.rivendell.org.uk/garden/?p=334. I think
my "towers" are different to yours. They are very easy to turn around.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?

"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:43:02 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:


Oh! I thought that was why they were called 'straw'berries?

There is a body of opinion that says, in times gone by, the plants
were known as "strewn berries" because of the way the berries were
strewn all over the plant and it is from this name that "strawberry"
evolved.

Ahh nice


I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

Do you get a good enough crop from those towers?
--
--

http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

"Jake" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:48:37 GMT, Baz wrote:

Jake wrote in
m:

I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?


It's just remembering to water them isn't it. Easy to forget a day and
ruin
them? I mean normally, not this shi**y year, says me wearing a sweater in
summer. It still gets quite a cold feel today in N.Lincs. But improving as
the forecast says.

Baz

I have a drip irrigation system for the wall planters and hanging
baskets. The strawberry towers just happen to be underneath baskets so
get lots of twice daily drips. They are also in "saucers" which hold
about a gallon of water each and which feed up through the tower tiers
with a wick system. So it's just a case of remembering the weekly
feed.

Even with the heavy rain of late, it's surprising how dry tubs,
baskets and planters remain - the foliage sends most of the rain down
to ground beside them.

Copying and saving like mad!!!!!
--
--

http://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 18:30:31 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:



"Jake" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:43:02 +0100, "Ophelia"
wrote:


Oh! I thought that was why they were called 'straw'berries?

There is a body of opinion that says, in times gone by, the plants
were known as "strewn berries" because of the way the berries were
strewn all over the plant and it is from this name that "strawberry"
evolved.

Ahh nice


I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

Do you get a good enough crop from those towers?
--
I don't know what *you* mean by a good enough crop but those 24 plants
will give the 2 of us all the strawgleberries we can eat. I think
we'll be picking from the weekend, if not before. The key for us is
to balance the earlies/mid season/everbearer proportions which I do
on a 25/25/50% basis. A lot of people only grow one variety/type which
means glut and famine.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?

Jake wrote:
Have a look at my tower contraptions (there's a photo here on my blog
- excuse the plug - http://www.rivendell.org.uk/garden/?p=334. I think
my "towers" are different to yours. They are very easy to turn around.

They're different cos I've not got any now, I tried once or twice, but
I just didn't get on with them. I tend to put things against walls, so
it was never going to work for me.

On 19/06/2012 13:18, Jake wrote:
On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:48:37 GMT, Baz wrote:

Jake wrote in
:

I grow mine in tower thingies so they are off the ground, easy to
protect from sluggies and the like and easy to net from birds. 24
plants take up about 3 square feet of ground which is pretty efficient
use of it.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?


It's just remembering to water them isn't it. Easy to forget a day and ruin
them? I mean normally, not this shi**y year, says me wearing a sweater in
summer. It still gets quite a cold feel today in N.Lincs. But improving as
the forecast says.

Baz

I have a drip irrigation system for the wall planters and hanging
baskets. The strawberry towers just happen to be underneath baskets so
get lots of twice daily drips. They are also in "saucers" which hold
about a gallon of water each and which feed up through the tower tiers
with a wick system. So it's just a case of remembering the weekly
feed.

Even with the heavy rain of late, it's surprising how dry tubs,
baskets and planters remain - the foliage sends most of the rain down
to ground beside them.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?

I like the look of your planters Jake, more pleasing that the usual
round ones. May I ask where you sourced them please?

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:29:22 +0100, Moonraker
wrote:


I like the look of your planters Jake, more pleasing that the usual
round ones. May I ask where you sourced them please?

They came from www.gardenbargains.com but are no longer listed there
(I bought them 3 or 4 years ago).

I've searched online and cannot find "my size" though I did find
http://tinyurl.com/d4hns9g. Clearly, though, this planter has a much
smaller footprint. Mine could take two plants in each "bay" plus
another 3 round the centre of the top tier. I limit to one plant per
"bay" and plus the extra 3 on top and find this works better in terms
of plant size and crop. This one won't take more than 1 plant in each
"bay" and possibly one more central plant in the top tier.

I'd guess that, like mine, you could stack two sets on top of each
other if space is a problem, though that makes the stack difficult to
turn (which you need to do to even out the exposure to the hour of
sunlight we get each week).

HTH

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?

On 6/20/2012 5:19 AM, Jake wrote:

I've searched online and cannot find "my size" though I did find
http://tinyurl.com/d4hns9g. Clearly, though, this planter has a much
smaller footprint. Mine could take two plants in each "bay" plus
another 3 round the centre of the top tier. I limit to one plant per
"bay" and plus the extra 3 on top and find this works better in terms
of plant size and crop. This one won't take more than 1 plant in each
"bay" and possibly one more central plant in the top tier.

I'd guess that, like mine, you could stack two sets on top of each
other if space is a problem, though that makes the stack difficult to
turn (which you need to do to even out the exposure to the hour of
sunlight we get each week).

I bought a few sets of those some years ago, at a garden show. They're
currently being used for kitchen herbs. I like them.

On 20/06/2012 10:19, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:29:22 +0100, Moonraker
wrote:


I like the look of your planters Jake, more pleasing that the usual
round ones. May I ask where you sourced them please?

They came from www.gardenbargains.com but are no longer listed there
(I bought them 3 or 4 years ago).

I've searched online and cannot find "my size" though I did find
http://tinyurl.com/d4hns9g. Clearly, though, this planter has a much
smaller footprint. Mine could take two plants in each "bay" plus
another 3 round the centre of the top tier. I limit to one plant per
"bay" and plus the extra 3 on top and find this works better in terms
of plant size and crop. This one won't take more than 1 plant in each
"bay" and possibly one more central plant in the top tier.

I'd guess that, like mine, you could stack two sets on top of each
other if space is a problem, though that makes the stack difficult to
turn (which you need to do to even out the exposure to the hour of
sunlight we get each week).

HTH

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from Swansea Bay. Dave's at that end; I'm at this end.
Bill G's in the middle. Come to think of it, where is Bill G these days?

Thanks Jake, I've placed an order.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

In article , Jake
writes
They came from www.gardenbargains.com but are no longer listed there
(I bought them 3 or 4 years ago).

Have you used them much recently? I've been using them for some things
for the last 18 months or so and I don't think I'll use them again. I've
found their delivery to be incredibly unreliable - everything takes much
longer than any other internet company that I've used, even plant
companies.

In addition, some of the plants that they send are pretty poor condition
when they eventually arrive and often seem to be a fair way off their
original descriptions. One particular annoying thing (to me - although
it may be an industry thing, I don't know) was that I queried some
plants that arrived that had been described as coming in 1 Litre pots
but seemed pretty tiny to me. Their response was that '...should have
arrived in 9cm pots, these pots have a volume of 763ml³ which is classed
as 1ltr as pot sizes rise in half litre intervals and are rounded up or
down to the nearest half litre for convenience' To be honest, I'm not
even sure they were 9cm pots.


[STOP PRESS - I've just looked back at the draft of this post and it
seems to have turned into a long rant. Apologies - feel free to stop
reading now]

Long saga follows which, believe it or not, I've cut down.

The worst thing has been the delivery. I had a very similar issue last
summer and should probably have learned. However, I made a multiple
order on 4 April this year. One small item arrived within about 10 days
or so. None of the rest arrived and around 5 May I started chasing up.

Missing items we
a 'roll of herbs' (whatever that was supposed to be)
sweetcorn plants
orange tree
lime tree
a 'dri box (for keeping electrical stuff dry)

I received a reply to this on 10 May saying
"I am very sorry to hear of the delays in regard to your order. Please
be advised that all non- received items are currently with our couriers
(HDNL), at their main sorting depot. Therefore, you should receive them
by Monday 14th May"

The lime and the orange tree turned up. However, the lime was a
limequat instead of a Bear's lime.

The rest of the stuff didn't arrive so I chased it up on 17 May. They
said I should have received it - and so could either have a refund
(which would take several weeks as it could only be done by cheque!) or
replace them. I said that if they could get them to me within 10 days,
I'd like them 'replaced'.

On 22nd, I had a reply that the 'herb roll' was discontinued but that
the other stuff would be sent - including a replacement for the limequat
- and all would be within 10 days.

I chased up again on 12 June - and on 17 June received a mail saying "I
am sorry to hear that your order has not been delivered in full" - and
that one of the items would be reissued but the others I would have to
have a refund for.

The dribox actually arrived today (22 June) - but still no sign of the
lime tree - and heaven knows how long I'll have to wait for the refund.

"Unfortunately we are unable to process refunds by card as we don't have
the facility on our systems to do so, so a refund would be sent by
cheque"

Large chunks of this tale are mirrored almost exactly by my experience
with them last summer - when eventually, after over 9 weeks and a lot of
fibbing regarding items being with the courier/out of stock etc, I
cancelled that order. The strange thing is that I assumed I would get a
card refund but didn't check. I certainly didn't receive a cheque. So I
guuess I've got to trawl through last summer's bank details to see

I've decided that they won't be getting any more of my business...

Funnily enough, I've received an email from a company that publishes
reviews today - asking for my review of the very order that they have
largely failed to deliver.

--
regards andyw

On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:35:20 +0100, news
wrote:

In article , Jake
writes
They came from www.gardenbargains.com but are no longer listed there
(I bought them 3 or 4 years ago).

You can read the snipped bits by tracking back. (Sorry Andy but it was
easier to zap the lot!)

The clue is in my post. The recent Which survey rated Garden Bargains
bottom of whatever their list was (I don't know how long that list was
as I'm not a Which member so can't see the full listing).

Going back a few years GB were ok and I had some good plants from
them. Then Ideal World bought the company out. Now, if you watch Ideal
World, you will see their GB gardening expert, Angela Noghani, who has
nails longer than Rachel de Thame and, AFAIK, is merely a
"professional" product demonstrator (you will see her demonstrating
beds on another shopping channel; she used to demonstrate solar stuff
badly on QVC). The stupidity of some of her advice is only beaten by
Gardeners' World. The company has gone downhill and continued
underground when it reached the bottom.

I will never buy from T&M again (that's another story) but I would buy
from T&M before I buy from Garden Bargains which I hope conveys my
current feelings.GB may have some good offers on non-plant stuff but
their plant stuff is complete crap. Their ordering/delivery system is
complete crap (read 14 days as we'll refund you in 3 months). And
their customer service team, via a premium rate number, can't even
speak Banagalore, let alone English, and hence is also complete crap.

But I bought my planters 3 or 4 years ago when things were different.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Ethiopian proverb: When spiders unite they can tie down a lion!

Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dah dah dee" theme tune but we're working on it.

I can't tell an astilbe from an aranthus
but I can from an acanthus!

On 22/06/2012 20:53, Jake wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2012 20:35:20 +0100, news
wrote:

In article , Jake
writes
They came from www.gardenbargains.com but are no longer listed there
(I bought them 3 or 4 years ago).

You can read the snipped bits by tracking back. (Sorry Andy but it was
easier to zap the lot!)

The clue is in my post. The recent Which survey rated Garden Bargains
bottom of whatever their list was (I don't know how long that list was
as I'm not a Which member so can't see the full listing).

Going back a few years GB were ok and I had some good plants from
them. Then Ideal World bought the company out. Now, if you watch Ideal
World, you will see their GB gardening expert, Angela Noghani, who has
nails longer than Rachel de Thame and, AFAIK, is merely a
"professional" product demonstrator (you will see her demonstrating
beds on another shopping channel; she used to demonstrate solar stuff
badly on QVC). The stupidity of some of her advice is only beaten by
Gardeners' World. The company has gone downhill and continued
underground when it reached the bottom.

I will never buy from T&M again (that's another story) but I would buy
from T&M before I buy from Garden Bargains which I hope conveys my
current feelings.GB may have some good offers on non-plant stuff but
their plant stuff is complete crap. Their ordering/delivery system is
complete crap (read 14 days as we'll refund you in 3 months). And
their customer service team, via a premium rate number, can't even
speak Banagalore, let alone English, and hence is also complete crap.

But I bought my planters 3 or 4 years ago when things were different.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Ethiopian proverb: When spiders unite they can tie down a lion!

Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dah dah dee" theme tune but we're working on it.

I can't tell an astilbe from an aranthus
but I can from an acanthus!

Oh dear, looks like I need to keep my fingers crossed then, they were
(they say) dispatched yesterday, I can only wait and see.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 09:39:31 +0100, Moonraker
wrote:


Oh dear, looks like I need to keep my fingers crossed then, they were
(they say) dispatched yesterday, I can only wait and see.

I'm presuming you ordered the planter(s) from Greenfingers or
somewhere else other than Garden Bargains as they no longer sell them.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Ethiopian proverb: When spiders unite they can tie down a lion!

Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dah dah dee" theme tune but we're working on it.

I can't tell an astilbe from an aranthus
but I can from an acanthus!

On 23/06/2012 10:15, Jake wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2012 09:39:31 +0100, Moonraker
wrote:


Oh dear, looks like I need to keep my fingers crossed then, they were
(they say) dispatched yesterday, I can only wait and see.

I'm presuming you ordered the planter(s) from Greenfingers or
somewhere else other than Garden Bargains as they no longer sell them.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Ethiopian proverb: When spiders unite they can tie down a lion!

Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay. We don't yet have a
"dah dah dah dah dah dah dee" theme tune but we're working on it.

I can't tell an astilbe from an aranthus
but I can from an acanthus!

Yes, sorry, got my knickers in a twist again!

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire