So I'm just a grape??

[KittyColdNose]

Hello there gingerbilly. Sounds like you will settle in nicely here.

[Newton]

Is the water table linked to the tide on your island.....or completely separate by rocks etc? Just wondering.......

[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine GB.......Ginger Grapes, now there's a novel thought......................No, I didn't mean that...............VC, I said NO!.........

[veggiechicken]

Ginger grapes are used to make ginger wine - aren't they?

[Bigmallly]

Ginger grapes are used to make ginger wine - aren't they?

I don't know but I feel a VC experiment coming on...............

[PyreneesPlot]

Hello and welcome.

Salty clay I'll stop complaining about mine.

I was going to ask if we squeeze you does ginger wine result, but see I've been beaten to it by the Nutters.

[veggiechicken]

A word of advice, gingerbilly, you would be well advised to keep your grapes safe as, if this lot get their hands on them .............I'll just leave that to your imagination

[Feral007]

I thought Moopmoop was being cheeky on the first page, but you lot have surpassed that on page 2!

Salty wine? Now that's a thought!

[gingerbilly]

Just thinking... How high is your water table there?* Is your ground prone to drying out quickly? Do salty soils not only tend to cause major difficulties when they dehydrate?

Would adding moisture retainers help (wood mulch, straw etc)?


* missed that bit in your post, sorry. you said it was really low...

Would increasing the amount of water being delivered to the site help you reduce the effects of the salt?

Sorry, these are genuine questions. I am still a relative newbie and don't have the answers either, but working on the principle of it being the intensity / concentration of the salt which causes the plants problems, surely "watering it down" will help keep it under control

Is the water table linked to the tide on your island.....or completely separate by rocks etc? Just wondering.......

I'm not to sure if it's related to the tides......the island is generally just below sea level and we are surrounded by the concrete thames barrier wall....which keeps us from the floods that occurred around this coast line in the 50's.

All the houses are built on full concrete rafts as foundations.

The water table does seem connected to the amount of rain fall, as once it's water logged here it wont drain at all....even the road and sewage drains are negative flow due to the below sea level issue and have to assisted by pumping stations.

In the summer I can dig 2 spades deep and wait an hour and there will be a small puddle of brackish water at the bottom........3 to 4 spade bits down I reach a very heavy and wet silted clay with shells in it which also has puddles in it after an hour..........I'm a bit wary of going deeper in case I break the seal on a giant water spout.

so it's raised beds, which work great, for veg and shallow rooted flowers for the garden.......the only trees that grow well here are the leylandii types and poplars.

[gingerbilly]

Ginger grapes are used to make ginger wine - aren't they?

Hello and welcome.

Salty clay I'll stop complaining about mine.

I was going to ask if we squeeze you does ginger wine result, but see I've been beaten to it by the Nutters.

A word of advice, gingerbilly, you would be well advised to keep your grapes safe as, if this lot get their hands on them .............I'll just leave that to your imagination

squeezing any part of me now makes a noise like a squeaky toy......

[veggiechicken]

I've started the hard graft of growing a ginger wine plant - just for you http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1103443

[gingerbilly]

I've started the hard graft of growing a ginger wine plant - just for you http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1103443

Barking!!!!

[Glutton4...]

Hello, and a warm welcome to the Madhouse! I see you've met most of the current inmates!

Barking!!!!

No mate, that's about twenty-five miles to the west of you!

[veggiechicken]

Woof, woof!!

[Florence Fennel]

Hello and a very warm, sensible but boring welcome to the Vine