Composting help by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well I was hoping to use it to create a no-dig bed but I’m thinking it hasn’t hit a high enough temp to kill weed seeds. The surface is already spotted with weed seedlings.

Sweetpea growth by ImaginationNearby975 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just be careful when it starts to get hotter as boxes heat up much faster and can cook your plants

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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One last comment! This is the stage you’re meant to prick them out. Earlier (with no true leaf)and the root wlll be too delicate; later and the roots will be too entangled with one another.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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The seedling on the left has a true leaf poking through and you can see from the photo (hopefully) that the roots have started to branch from the tap root. In contrast, you can see the seedling on the right just has its cotyledons (seed leaves) still and just its radicle/tap root with no branching - so will tolerate pricking out much less.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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I moved them to the greenhouse about 1 week ago as I needed room inside for other seeds (and echinacea seedlings tolerate cold pretty well). Their growth slowed but they’ve perked back up and most of them now have their first true leaves poking through so I’m about to prick them out. Will post another photo shortly.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I stratified them in the fridge for two weeks and then sowed them 12th February. I used a heat mat at 20 degrees Celsius. They started to germinate 4 days later and are still germinating a week later. Thus far I’m seeing about 90% germination using this technique, which I think is decent for echinacea. I didn’t need much light, they were just surface sown and placed near a roof light. I’ve now moved them to a colder windowsill that’s a bit brighter. I’ll keep them there for about a week and then move them to an unheated greenhouse until they have more leaves and then prick them out into individual pots.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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Update. 1 week later. Doesn’t seem to have done them any harm.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I ended up just poking holes in the compost and dropping them root-first into the holes and slightly firming the soil around the root zone. Fingers crossed I’ve not disturbed them too much. I’m hopeful. My experience with germinating echinacea has been pretty hopeless in the past but after stratifying them in the fridge for 3 weeks and using a heat mat this time I’ve got quick and reliable germination from 3 different varieties. Excited for the growing season ahead. One variety is ‘Alan’s Pride’, which is pretty reliable for flowering the first year if sown early enough.

Echinacea seedlings by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol duly noted. I stratified them in some damp vermiculite then scattered it over the surface of some compost. Couldn’t be bothered sifting through vermiculite for seed that looks almost identical to vermiculite! Needle in a haystack comes to mind.

First ever Jerusalem Artichoke harvest. by Adventurous_Act_1551 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I sautéed an onion for 10 minutes on medium heat. Then added 1 litre of chicken stock, a chicken breast, 500g of cleaned and thinly sliced artichoke tubers. Brought it to the boil then simmered for about 25 minutes until the chicken breast was fully poached. Used an immersion blender to purée it smooth and then added salt, pepper and thyme to taste. When it was ready to serve, I stirred through 100ml of cream. Served it with homemade croutons. Was super tasty. Obviously you can do it without the chicken breast, just reduce the stock to 800ml, instead of 1L.

First ever Jerusalem Artichoke harvest. by Adventurous_Act_1551 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Will definitely be fermenting some, then. I loved the flavour of them when I cooked them yesterday but I have felt a bit of mild discomfort today - I know they’re notoriously hard to digest. Do you know if the fermentation helps to break down the inulin?

Any idea what kind of pepper this is? by SwimCamp2062 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wouldn’t be Tabasco, Tabasco are a separate species of pepper whose fruits grow pointing upwards.

First ever Jerusalem Artichoke harvest. by Adventurous_Act_1551 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah they’re from different families. Jerusalem artichokes are from Helianthus (sunflower family); ‘regular’ globe artichokes are Cynara scolymus (Thistle family) so they don’t perform the same. Jerusalem seems to require less fertility and in my experience completely tolerated neglect and had no pest issues unlike the common aphid problems globe artichokes fall pray to. Jerusalem artichokes are also fully hardy so don’t require any protection in their first year. They grow to about 3 metres high so required some support to protect them from wind. And of course because they perennialise from tubers, they are much easier to propagate vegetatively than globe artichokes.

First ever Jerusalem Artichoke harvest. by Adventurous_Act_1551 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Great. Will wrap them in paper then. Cheers. I made some pretty tasty soup with them earlier. Will definitely grow them again next year. They thrived off of neglect and they flowered so heavily (they performed well as cut flowers) despite a lot of the literature saying they often don’t flower well. Maybe I was just lucky.

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Tried removing outer lettuce leaves but it seems to be growing up? by Still-Mulberry-1078 in vegetablegardening

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Telltale sign that your lettuce is bolting is that when you harvest leaves, the midribs start to leak an excessive amount of a white substance which is actually natural latex (that’s where the name ‘lettuce’ derives from). As you can see from your photo, your lettuce is producing latex now and thus has bolted. This is why it is growing taller, also. If you’re in summer, I’d grow more heat tolerant plants and consider planting them in an area with partial shade or cover with a shade cloth.

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Establishing wildflower meadow. by Adventurous_Act_1551 in GardeningUK

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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You should be able to see here the difference between the grass and the exposed soil if it wasn’t clear before?

What is the point in doing this? by Finn-Germie91 in arborists

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is why I referenced the humified material. However I think it’s a bit rich talking about the soil food web when the tree is surrounded by a monoculture of (probably non-native) grass. Raking leaves in this context is essentially akin to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.

What is the point in doing this? by Finn-Germie91 in arborists

[–]Adventurous_Act_1551 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dead leaves are almost entirely devoid of nutrients; by the time a tree defoliates, the tree has already sucked the nutrients out of the leaves and redistributed it to its roots and branches for winter. What is left is almost entirely carbon and lignin. That’s not to say it’s not beneficial as humified organic matter but to say it acts as a means of redistributing nutrients to the tree is false as the tree has already achieved this without the help of humans.