It's hello from me

[Flummery]

Pull the rhubarb NOW. Give it a sharp tug and it will come away with a little heel of pink . Don't cut it. You can pull it until July - after that it gets rather sharp! (SOUR) If you want to divide it, wait until winter when it's dormant.

[madderbat]

Hi y'all, am late as usual saying hello, but it's nice to meet you.
Rule No 1 about gardening/lotmenteering: DON'T PANIC.
Take it steady and enjoy. Grow what you want to eat, and have fun.
See you around.

[Bobbygrrl]

Went away for a mini cruise on the Navigator of the Seas, came back to find that Sue has nearly completely finished areas 1, 2, 3 and 4!!!






She has done such a great job, I feel really guilty that I haven't been putting in the graft.

[Bobbygrrl]

I started back in 13, the fruit corner. I pulled as many weeds as possible but the ground is rock hard... I broke the wood surround out so I will have to get busy with the log roll



but I wet the ground and will do the same tonight in the hope that it will be easier to dig over on Wednesday.

Found out that Rhubarb is a weed and must not put the leaves on a compost!!!

[Bobbygrrl]

Got home last night and had the best rhubarb crumble ever... (cooked in lots of demerera sugar and orange juice mmmmmm)

[Flummery]

Why not - I do!

[nick the grief]

WHo told you that BG?

Rhubarb is only a weed if you don't want it as any plant is. As to putting leaves on the compost I can't see why not they are full of Oxalic acid ( I think it is) but they won;t hurt just give them a good sprinkling of lime every now and again.

[madderbat]

Found out that Rhubarb is a weed and must not put the leaves on a compost!!!

ermm We do... will have to look into this. What damage does it do??
Our dalek on the lottie made beautiful compost last year including rhubarb leaves. Have i made a mistake????

[Bobbygrrl]

Hi,

It was a tip from an allotment neighbour... but researching on google I got this:

You can't put fruit peels/ potato peelings/rhubarb leaves/eggshells in?
Basically, anything that once lived will decompose!

Potato peelings tend to sprout in the compost bin. This is not a problem because when the materials gradually get mixed together, the sprouting will stop as the peelings decompose.

Rhubarb leaves, although poisonous if eaten, harmlessly decompose when being composted.

Egg shells do not strictly decompose which is often the reason that people don't like to include them in the compost bin. They do, however, break into smaller and smaller fragments as the material is mixed and should be barely noticeable in the finished compost. They are an important source of calcium, so it is good to include them. They will breakdown more easily if they are crushed.

[tinyvine]

Welcome

Brillant! Excellent work so far and lovely to see your plot.
Not sure about the rhubarb leaves altho I have heard lots of uses for them like using them in a home made insecticide among other things, hopefully other grapes can shed some light!
Be nice to get some raspberries if you get a chance. Raspberry sticks look a bit dead! a trench should be dug and linned with manure (but I just used compost) and then planted in about 16 inches apart i think, stakes with horizontal wires should be added to train them along/up.Net to protect from birdies. Apparently they make a good windbreak.

I have also had trouble getting this magazine. Don't know why that is exactly. Where do other grapes buy their copy?

You may find this website helpful, altho I am sure there are others too

http://www.gardenersnet.com/learn.htm

Its full of 'how to grow...'

Also have picked up quite a few books at charity shops.

Take care

[tinyvine]

whopps missed a page - always doing that!!

I put fruit peelings in but I cut them up into tiny pieces, I know they take forever to decompose but they must be adding something. Altho my friend keeps telling me not to bother.