Update Questions?

[Dogs and Veg]

Hi all, hope you have all had a lovely day enjoying this sunshine!

I have been working away on all these plantings since I sowed far too many seeds in error...i've given loads of seedlings away and left with a few of each plant so I have been trying to plant them in different containers to see how I get on in different pots / bags?

I've also started germinating my next lot of seeds including carrots, parsnips, squash, beets, salads etc so fingers crossed with them

My questions are...these plants have been in the little mini greenhouses with the doors open during the day and closed up at night.

The cucumber has these white spots on the leaves? is it okay?

The tomato...how quickly should the be growing / developing? These were sown on 30th March (cauls's are the same) but they don't appear to be doing much - or am i expecting too much too soon?

The strawberries - all three pots are pretty much like this, tiny, not really growing and some leaves have gone brown.

Everything has been sown in seed compost and then potted on into MPC?

Thank you in advance

[veggiechicken]

Tomato looks good - be patient
No idea what's in the middle pot but its not strawberries. ?parsnips or parsley? WRONG - IGNORE ME
White spots on cucumber seed leaves. Don't worry about those, the seed leaves will die off at some point - its natural.

[self-contained]

They look like strawberries to me! Mine looked very similar three or four weeks ago. I did prick mine out into individual pots when they were about that size. Most were fine with the move, but a couple decided to turn up their toes. Now the survivors are looking pretty healthy

I agree that the tomato looks fine. Last year, my tomatoes seemed to take ages to do anything, but once they were planted into containers outside, they really took off.

[veggiechicken]

Looks like I'm wrong about the strawberries.

Ah well, nobody's perfect, not even when they're a chicken.
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/..._fig4_51665673

[Scarlet]

Loosing your edge VC!

[nickdub]

All your stuff looks reasonably healthy - the weather has been tricky for all of us with a bit of intense heat interspersing colder stuff.

I'd advise transplanting the strawberries into individual small pots, as has been mentioned. The aim will be to grow them into good sized plants by the Autumn, with a view to getting a crop next year - I have a few myself which I germinated early this year and they look roughly the same.

You didn't say what you were doing for feeding the plants - for myself I usually use a general purpose fertilizer mixed in to water at this stage - miracle gro is one of the cheapest, but the others around do much the same job.

As long as you can keep them growing you will get a crop - trying to balance max light conditions with a reasonable amount of warmth is the tricky part.

[veggiechicken]

Loosing your edge VC!

Probably. I still think they look like parsnips

[Scarlet]

^^^^you didn’t put enough water in that wine

[Bluenowhere]

I would agree with others, transplant the strawberries into individual modules. Mine looked like that a month back now healthy looking little plants. Once they get about 4 real leaves they seem to take off growing much more.

[Dogs and Veg]

Thanks everybody - vc nobody noticed...we’ll gloss right over it!

I am relieved the toms and cucumbers hopefully will be fine...should I be planting them into fully outside containers or keep in greenhouse forever?

The strawberries, I struggled taking them from the seedling pots into these pots which was why I mostly left them as a clump...I’ll watch some more videos and try and do them individually as I would love them to make it

I haven’t been feeding with anything as yet, just water...I have been confused as some things I read said only when flowered and I don’t have flowers yet? Should I start feeding all my plants just now? I have potatoes, toms, cauli’s, cucumbers, chillies, and if they make it - strawberries & peppers?

Oh and another wee question please...I have a friend who has two horses and has offered me manure, older than 6 weeks (I’d read one of you guys suggesting should be at least that age) however since I am just using tubs and containers this year, should I tell her to leave manure till next year when I get raised beds in the garden?

[rary]

^^^^ If I had that offer I would take what I could get now and store it in bags, in a corner, or wherever I could as once you start building your raised beds you will have good material to start off with. Plus I believe "you should cut a stick when you see it"

[nickdub]

Thanks everybody - vc nobody noticed...we’ll gloss right over it!

I am relieved the toms and cucumbers hopefully will be fine...should I be planting them into fully outside containers or keep in greenhouse forever?

The strawberries, I struggled taking them from the seedling pots into these pots which was why I mostly left them as a clump...I’ll watch some more videos and try and do them individually as I would love them to make it

I haven’t been feeding with anything as yet, just water...I have been confused as some things I read said only when flowered and I don’t have flowers yet? Should I start feeding all my plants just now? I have potatoes, toms, cauli’s, cucumbers, chillies, and if they make it - strawberries & peppers?

Oh and another wee question please...I have a friend who has two horses and has offered me manure, older than 6 weeks (I’d read one of you guys suggesting should be at least that age) however since I am just using tubs and containers this year, should I tell her to leave manure till next year when I get raised beds in the garden?

Yes to adding fertilizer to the water - the nutrients in bought compost are exhausted after about 2 weeks of plant growth, so anything growing in containers needs feeding to get bigger.

Yes to keeping the toms and cuc in the greenhouse if you have space - either plant them in half growbags or some other large container or in bottomless pots with the roots on contact with border soil. If space becomes a problem move the tomato outside later on.

pot on the strawberries in to small pots of new compost, keep them in a slightly shaded place until they get established - they need feeding too

Say "Yes please" to your friend - stack the manure in a heap somewhere and put something over it to keep the rain out if you can - slit open black bags with stones on top for example.

You can use the manure in containers provided a) its mixed with other compost and/or soil b) Its used at the bottom of a v large pot or bag) the plants going in there are reasonably mature ie not small seedlings - it would do a job for both your tomatoes and cuc in few weeks time.

Happy gardening

BTW if you are planning raised beds for next year, it would be a good move to get cracking on them this Summer as its much easier to work on these things when you have daylight and the ground isn't soaked - gives the soil a bit of a chance to settle before you start trying to grow veg in it too.

[4Shoes]

You can't have too much horse manure.... Well you can, but not if you have to carry/wheel it home.

Also go out and collect sheep dropping and make a tea... similar to Comfry

[nickdub]

You can't have too much horse manure.... Well you can, but not if you have to carry/wheel it home.

Also go out and collect sheep dropping and make a tea... similar to Comfry

I'm not coming to any tea parties at your place - does it make your hair grow thicker ?

[Dogs and Veg]

I'm not coming to any tea parties at your place - does it make your hair grow thicker ?

I did wonder! I'm new to this remember...a few weeks ago I might have taken it literally