Surgery time!
One of my two cucumber seedlings snapped partway up the main stem. It’s still attached but the hollow stem has pinched flat and won’t stay upright. Following a bit of advice online I have taped the stem to a wooden “splint” and replanted the seedling in a deeper pot so the break is below the soil, in the hope that it will send out roots from higher up. It snapped yesterday and still seems green and plump today, so fingers crossed it will repair itself.

I reckon that's the right thing to do. Tomatoes, sayeth Monty, should always be planted deep as it encourages stronger rooting and lower shooting- could be the same for cucumbers.

After gloating about our courgettes, two have now got major snaps from yesterday's wind.

Dry weather has meant almost no slugs and snails out but we're getting an increasing greenfly problem, especially on lettuces and weaker tomatoes. Having to top&tail wash every lettuce leaf before consuming. They don't seem so keen on the rocket.

Well the cucumber is still looking healthy and another new leaf is appearing from the centre so it seems to have worked so far. Amazing that the water can still get through once the stem has collapsed like that.

I’m also enjoying the lack of slugs and snails. No greenfly yet on our lettuces. Our big rose bush is once again covered in mildew as it seems to every year, especially when it is dry, but it never seems to stop the display of flowers. Not sure what variety it is but it’s very vigorous and fills one whole corner of the garden. Some type of musk rose I think, with cream flowers that fade to white. It looks fantastic but the flowering period only lasts for two or three weeks from around late May to mid June, depending on weather.  

Should the bottom layers of my compost bin be riddled with ants and wood lice?

Should the bottom layers of my compost bin be riddled with ants and wood lice?

 

 

Sounds like it's too dry? Mine is just riddled with worms, dozens of them in every spadefull.

 Sounds like it's too dry? Mine is just riddled with worms, dozens of them in every spadefull.

Robs compost sounds like it's going well. Add a couple of cans of water Saint and keep it moist but not overly so.

An accelerator helps as well.

Robs compost sounds like it's going well. Add a couple of cans of water Saint and keep it moist but not overly so.

An accelerator helps as well.

For a free accelerator, Saint, you can do no better than "chamber lees" as they called it in Lincolnshire. Best diluted. Main thing is as said - to get the heap wet - but not too wet. You don't want "anaerobic" conditions.

R.

 For a free accelerator, Saint, you can do no better than "chamber lees" as they called it in Lincolnshire. Best diluted. Main thing is as said - to get the heap wet - but not too wet. You don't want "anaerobic" conditions.

R.

Indeed Roger. I suggested he uses that very same compound I think last year. It's also a great tomato feed too, diluted of course.

Good for lawns or indeed most horticultural endeavours.

Indeed Roger. I suggested he uses that very same compound I think last year. It's also a great tomato feed too, diluted of course.

Good for lawns or indeed most horticultural endeavours.

When I was a kid, in the days before inside toilets and central heating - a piss pot or gozunder was found in most bedrooms. You could tell my Gran was in the privy by the fag smoke coming out of the little "window" in the door. Wee went on the garden - why not?

In these lockdown days of closed public toilets I find myself yearning for the absence of "pissoirs" - but that's a typical selfish male thought...

The excellent one near Radio Lincolnshire in Lincoln has been closed for some time. How mean! Here's the Twickenham Pissoir. Luxury! Enjoy.

https://londonist.com/london/secret/london-s-most-glorious-toilets-the-twickenham-urinal-pissoir

Roger

 p.s. I was using one of these in Rome some years ago when a classy lady came in, stood next to me, gathered up her long dress and had a perfectly successful wee, as far as I could judge from a distance. I was a bit surprised and still can't answer the obvious question...

Pee is also a way of clearing up Fungal nail infection so every time you have a shower piss on your afflicted toe.

Sounds like it's too dry? Mine is just riddled with worms, dozens of them in every spadefull.

We’ve temporarily removed our compost bin due to the woodshed relocation and my son is missing it!  All his life he’s used it as his ‘loo’, he’s 31 now!   Nothing better for getting your compost working than pee!

My runner beans are 4foot high with flower buds, my tumbling toms have flower buds and my courgette is finally having a growth spurt but my dwarf French beans are not doing a lot.  I’ve planted out my competition sunflowers over buckets full of compost in the sunniest part of the garden, away from any veg plants as I’ve read they send out toxins to keep the ground around them clear.  Fingers are crossed as I have tough opposition.  My kids and my siblings!  

Picking up from the UIA virus thread on hosepipe bans (which would seem to belong here)

The lawns here have noticeably gone brown in last week, and even some street trees are showing signs of stress.

I'm surprised that water suppliers in the SE are worried, as most of the water for this region is from underground supplies. The level of  local well at Chilgrove is about average for the time of year and the Lavant winterbourne is still running though declining.

Picking up from the UIA virus thread on hosepipe bans (which would seem to belong here)

The lawns here have noticeably gone brown in last week, and even some street trees are showing signs of stress.

I'm surprised that water suppliers in the SE are worried, as most of the water for this region is from underground supplies. The level of  local well at Chilgrove is about average for the time of year and the Lavant winterbourne is still running though declining.

Yes, the aquifers have been thoroughly well-charged and although soil moisture is low just beneath the surface and the lawn is yellowing, everything deep rooted including the fruit trees seems fine here.

An additional horticultural stress might be temperatures if some of the long fetch cold air in the models settles in for a few nights, with HP reasserting, dropping the winds and drying the air. Frost pockets to the midlands and ground frosts possible here. I thought I'd tucked the fleeces away for the year after that late cold spell in May!

I think the warning about water usage was because demand is so high, rather than supply being low.  Severn Trent were saying our pressure may drop due to demand with people being at home.  I expect everyone’s gardening and I have to admit to putting the sprinkler on our yellowing lawns. 

My runner beans are now showing red flowers!  Yay!  Thank you weather gods but please don’t send frosts to spoil all your good work!  

I think the warning about water usage was because demand is so high, rather than supply being low.   

I spent some time on the phone trying to persuade my wife's nephew in London not to throw out 5000 gallons of water from his inflatable pool because the latest batch of chlorinating chemicals had deposited a bit of sediment (which IMO will be sucked up by the filtration system - and certainly ought to be given the chance to do so overnight). He uses the pool for exercise, swimming like mad but with a rope tied round his waist to prevent him going anywhere.

Down here, I've put in the bedding plants from seed (cosmos, antirrhinum etc). Not the ideal weather for planting out, first hot then cold, and I shall have to keep them well watered, but they were really getting too large for the seed trays.

 

Yes, the aquifers have been thoroughly well-charged and although soil moisture is low just beneath the surface and the lawn is yellowing, everything deep rooted including the fruit trees seems fine here.

Some herbaceous stuff e.g. hollyhocks looking very wilted during the day but recovering overnight. I suppose the roots just ca't pump the water fast enough.

I have often been asked why some plants of this family [Cucurbitaceae], including Pumpkins, don't seem to attract many honeybees for pollination. A very experience beekeeper and gardener told me they do attract insects, but often quite early in the morning, so people don't get to see them. The nectar flow seemed to him to be aimed at night-flyers and early-risers like bumblebees. You might keep an eye out if you get up early. Two useful links below re courgettes and pumpkins.

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/grand-challenges-food-for-thought/0/steps/52752

https://www.apicultural.co.uk/the-bees-that-pollinate-pumpkins

Roger

 

My runner beans are now showing red flowers!  Yay!  Thank you weather gods but please don’t send frosts to spoil all your good work!  

 

I've tried some dwarf runner beans both last year and this and though they were covered in flowers last year there were hardly any beans. The ones I've tried this year seem to be doing the same - flowering but not producing anything. I think I'm going to sow a few normal runners today and give up on the dwarf variety.

Had some of the first radishes with my lunch today. A lot hotter and more peppery than the ones from Tesco!

Salad is doing really well too and we’ve been harvesting for a week or so now. The lack of rain and therefore of slugs is most welcome.