[telecom69]

Hi to everyone, We never had the rain that was forecast for yesterday,it was mostly sunny,but temperatures were still down a bit,today they are supposed to double again so pleased about that ...that looks a good sturdy wigwam Penny the reason for pushing the canes well into the soil is that when the beans have reached the top they have quite a bit of foliage, and any strong winds have been known to blow them over,so thats why its important for the supports to feel rigid ...a good companion planting round the beans are French Marigolds they look good and compliment the beans flowers well, they are also supposed to ward of black fly too so that is also a very good reason, I have always done this,you still do get some black fly,but perhaps not as many ? a soap spray always takes care of them as soon as they appear ...Im pretty certain you will be pleased you have chosen to grow beans ....I too like all the Dianthus family,they all grow very easily from seed, for years I used to grow in particular Sweet Williams,I just loved them from when I used to visit the allotment with my Dad all those years ago ... pretty sure thats when I picked up the gardening bug,it was wartime then,and almost everyone had an allotment to grow food,there was a slogan around at the time called "Dig for Victory" food was very scarce then and the allotments helped a lot by providing extra,it was of course all vegetables except for this one patch of Sweet Williams that were always there and provided good cut flowers too ...I will never forget those allotment days,Ive been growing myself ever since

May is rapidly approaching now of course and its hardening off time for me from now on ..I still have about 50 Geraniums from my last mail order that are still not big enough to be potted on,could have done with them earlier to be honest but that was the nurseries earliest posting date ...I wont be buying mail order in future,simply because for me, the plugs are a fortnight to three weeks too late...they will of course be ok but a lot later than I would have liked ...potted up a few lettuce seedlings that I sowed earlier, they will eventually be going into a growbag,sowing in succesion,to keep up the supply through the season ...dont think there is anything that comes close to home grown salad produce, Tomatos,Lettuce,Spring Onions and some mature cheese of course,what a mouth watering prospect looking forward to that a lot, but its some way off at the moment of course ....

Planted 6 Tomatos into 2 growbags yesterday,so they are on their way at last,might still get another bag and grow 3 more yet,more than we shall need but I have plenty of Tomato plants left and a shame to just throw them away ....that then is about it at the moment ..happy gardening all

[oil painter]

Bob--
I too thought of Marigolds when I asked if Penny was going to grow anything with her beans, but I was thinking of her slugs not Aphids. While marigolds don't repel slugs they would eat them first. Well that got me thinking of what are some other uses for marigolds. I did a little research and came up with this--It's an interesting read.

http://www.sheridannurseries.com/gar...5mainframe.htm

[telecom69]

Tis indeed an interesting read Myrna,thanks for posting it ...you are of course so right about the slugs,wonder what it is about Marigolds and slugs ? they seem to just love them,bit like the chocolates and humans thing I suppose ...

Just noticed you have gone past the 1000 posts mark,congratulations on that ,another 997 and you will become a distinguished member

[Tuppence2]

Ah, Bob, that's why I'm growing marigolds! I'd forgotten about planting them under the beans and I'll do that. I didn't check the canes yesterday and will do that now.

Nippy this morning, so I'll wait to open the greenhouse.

The link was very interesting, Myrna. Thanks.

[telecom69]

Hi Penny,There was ice on the car windscreen this morning but no frost, and I had forgotten to close the flap on the plastic greenhouse that is housing all my Marigolds and also some Fuchsias,but all is well from what I see,it wasn't hard enough to hurt anything...and now at 8.30 am the sun is shining brightly with not a cloud in the sky and its a lot warmer,just like the Met office said it would be,so all is well

[Tuppence2]

Hello Bob. I'm pleased the plants were all right in the cold. Nippy here first thing but not as cold as with you. The sun came out early and it's been a lovely day. There is a breeze and it's cooler out of the sun.

I noticed white fly on my pepper in the greenhouse just now and I've washed them off with dish-washing liquid in water. Don't want to use pesticides if I can help it. Some on the rose buds that are about to open, too. What do you do about these pests?

I was given another pumpkin seed when I did some volunteer work at the nursery this morning. I cut back dozens of Bacopa. Got some small used canes free, to use for the sweet peas.

I think I'll cover my plum tree with netting - don't want the birds to eat my precious first plums.

[oil painter]

Hi Penny:
Be careful spraying dishsoap on your plants--too much and it will burn the leaves--better to use your insectacidal soap. You can get whitefly traps or make your own. These are bright yellow balls or cards covered in a sticky substance--I think the commercial ones use the stuff like they use on flypaper. I don't know if you can get a product called tangle foot--it is a sticky substance that you can put on anything yellow. Whitefly is attracted to the color yellow and they land on it, can't get off and die. Better to get it early because once they get going they increase rapidly.

Hi Bob--
You must have had what my hiusband calls high frost. The frost is in the air but the ground is just warm enough to keep it off the ground. He also says it's not the frost that kills so much as the sun hitting the frost on the plant.

[Tuppence2]

OK, Myrna, thanks. What you call a high frost, we call an air frost. I'm sure there are sticky papers to hang in the greenhouse. I hadn't thought of them, thanks for the reminder. Haven't heard of tanglefoot. Wonder whether something like honey would act the same way. I'll take a look for the sticky papers when I'm next in the garden centre.

After white fly will come green then black fly. Nature is abdundant in little flying things. I hate killing anything but it will have to be done to end up with vegetables to eat.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

Nature is abundant in little flying things.

That's for sure!

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

I hate killing anything but it will have to be done to end up with vegetables to eat.

When it comes to spiders, mosquitoes, and flies, I am entirely merciless.

I'm off to take some pictures of my UP's (unidentified plants) and maybe one of my Gaillardia if it's flowering yet...

[Tuppence2]

Spiders predate on flies - no reason to kill those, Farmgirl. They are amazing creatures.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by Tuppence2

Spiders predate on flies - no reason to kill those, Farmgirl. They are amazing creatures.

Uh, yes.....yes there is....they scare the bejeebus out of me!! If they are really big I call on my big manly studmuffin of a hubby to come take care of the spider, and I've finally conquered my fear enough to kill the little ones by myself.

[oil painter]

Hi Penny:

I think if you use honey you'd catch more than whitefly. Anything sweet will catch bees and other insects going for the sweetness. Tangle foot is a sticky gooey substance with a fairly bland odor and has all sorts of uses. You can put it on a red ball and hang it in a tree to catch coddling moth too. The moth goes for the biggest reddest apple. That's what we got it for the first time.

[telecom69]

Hi Ladies, Firstly,yes it was an air frost that we had,ie none visible on surfaces,and it is the thawing that kills the plants not the frost itself,have read once that spraying cold water onto any sensitve plants is the best way to go about things,as if the sun gets on them it tends to kill the plant cells and so the plant dies ....there are of course some plants that even a hint of frost will kill instantly,hence the need to be very careful when planting out at this time of the year,its better to be safe than sorry,because you cant recover from it,and all previous time is lost for the season ....

Penny, good article about Whitefly here http://www.uckac.edu/whitefly/faqs_about_whiteflies.htm they are another pest we have to contend with of course,a good old blast with a hand sprayer of ordinary water,you can add a dash of fairy liquid or similar also, but only a dash because as Myrna says it can burn ,is as good as any of the many things sold for the job, I dont see many outside thankfully,just a few on the beans now and then,but they do get on the Tomatos in the greenhouse, and I just spray blast them of with the above method,its yet another gardening chore we could do without ....

Im with you Penny about killing spiders,I would never do that at all,because they do so much good in the garden,I dont particularly like them or anything,but they are indeed very fascinating creatures to watch when building webs,they have endless patience,plus of course they kill so many flying pests,we can do without ....long live the spiders ....

I didn't do much yesterday apart from cutting the grass yet again,it grows so fast,and put everything out to harden off,it was almost wall to wall sunshine again yesterday,with endless checking of all the pots etc, for watering .....

A few of the plants sitting in the sun hardening off yesterday....

















Not hardening off of course this is just my mint after being moved to a bigger bucket this year, looks a lot better for it ....


Waiting to go into its basket,very pretty plant,flowers proffuselly...

Lots of heavy rain forecast for today,so looks like a day inside again,but will be lightening of on Friday and back to long sunshine by Saturday,bet it rains on Monday though as its yet another Public Holiday in the uk,they never seem to end these days,its called May Day,just why that should be a National Holiday Ive yet to fathom out ....happy gardening all ....take care

[oil painter]

Hi Bob:

Lovely plants and they are indeed ready to be set out.

Spraying water on frosted plants does indeed work even on tender impatiens. We have used that method when we get an unexpected spring or early fall frost. The orange growers in Florida use it too, when they get the occasional frost. As you say though, you have to do it in early morning because when the sun hits them it's too late.

Our climate is such that the temperature dips at night quite a bit. It's nice in the summer for sleeping but not so good for plants if it goes too low. That's why having a greenhouse heater is necessary here.We just get too many frosts in spring to do without one.

When I set my annuals out, I usually start with the frost hardy ones--Pansies, allyssum, snaps, Nicotiana, Petunias, Nasturtium--etc.

[ymfoster]

Hi Everyone,

Speaking of frosts we had one last night,
it's been our coldest snap in April for 50 years, we went straight from Summer temps to Winter ones within a week, typical of Melbourne.

Your plants look very healthy Bob, mine always have damage from something chewing them being outdoors no matter how hard I try, your flowers look lovely also.

Myrna we have the yellow strips covered in sticky goo to catch gall wasps on our lemon tree also, it seems to catch a lot of flies too.

Farmgirl we catch our spiders big & small & put them outside, except for the nasty ones that can cause illness.

Here's a couple of flowers I snapped today,