Comments for Ventnor Permaculture http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com More than growing veggies - Reduce - Reuse - Recycle Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:18:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU Comment on Growing Courgettes in Containers by Angie http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/growing-courgettes-in-containers/#comment-167 Angie Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:52:41 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=306#comment-167 Hi Mark Are you giving them enough water? I would say you would need about 1 - 2 gallons of water every day for three plants depending on how hot or cloudy it is. I am also feeding mine with half strength liquid tomato feed in their water about 3 times a week, they do need quite a lot of feeding. You can try cutting them off but it might be worthwhile increasing the food & water first. I usually eat mine when they are only about 4 - 5 inches long, mainly due to a couple of my plants having mosaic virus and I find that if I leave the courgettes to get much bigger than that they start going rotten from the blossom end up towards the plant. Angie Hi Mark

Are you giving them enough water? I would say you would need about 1 - 2 gallons of water every day for three plants depending on how hot or cloudy it is. I am also feeding mine with half strength liquid tomato feed in their water about 3 times a week, they do need quite a lot of feeding.

You can try cutting them off but it might be worthwhile increasing the food & water first. I usually eat mine when they are only about 4 - 5 inches long, mainly due to a couple of my plants having mosaic virus and I find that if I leave the courgettes to get much bigger than that they start going rotten from the blossom end up towards the plant.

Angie

]]> Comment on Growing Courgettes in Containers by Mark http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/06/08/growing-courgettes-in-containers/#comment-166 Mark Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:24:24 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=306#comment-166 Just starting to get my first fruits from my plants (I have three in a large tub- probably a bit crowded..) but anyway- they are rather small to say the least. Should I cut them off now to encourage new growth, or wait and see if they get a bit bigger? Thanks, Mark Just starting to get my first fruits from my plants (I have three in a large tub- probably a bit crowded..) but anyway- they are rather small to say the least. Should I cut them off now to encourage new growth, or wait and see if they get a bit bigger? Thanks, Mark

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by lisa http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-164 lisa Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:21:06 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-164 hi before my name was help now my blue berries should be saved! hi before my name was help now my blue berries should be saved!

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by Angie http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-163 Angie Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:32:26 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-163 Hi Lis Thanks for the info, I am off up the garden to check mine over. I must get myself sorted out and make up some netting covers for them after checking there are no caterpillar eggs on them first. It is one of those thing I have been meaning to get around to doing. Hopefully small mesh netting will stop the moths as well as the birds. Angie Hi Lis

Thanks for the info, I am off up the garden to check mine over. I must get myself sorted out and make up some netting covers for them after checking there are no caterpillar eggs on them first. It is one of those thing I have been meaning to get around to doing. Hopefully small mesh netting will stop the moths as well as the birds.

Angie

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by Lis http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-162 Lis Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:18:38 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-162 Pests on blueberries It's worth mentioning that caterpillars can attack blueberries. One of my plants was stripped by over 50 caterpillars of the vapourer moth -they weren't there one day and had done all this damage the next. The RHS also mentions that bluberries can be attacked by the larvae of torrix and winter mothes so it's worth checking plants regularly,especially if leaves have bits cut out of them. Pests on blueberries
It’s worth mentioning that caterpillars can attack blueberries. One of my plants was stripped by over 50 caterpillars of the vapourer moth -they weren’t there one day and had done all this damage the next. The RHS also mentions that bluberries can be attacked by the larvae of torrix and winter mothes so it’s worth checking plants regularly,especially if leaves have bits cut out of them.

]]> Comment on Using Seaweed in the Garden by Angie http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/using-seaweed-in-the-garden/#comment-161 Angie Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:27:22 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=473#comment-161 Hi Simon The seaweed that is decomposing in the Haven would be fine for commercial composting, ie mixed in with the garden waste at Lynbottom and composted at a very high temperature. The Haven has the same problem as East Cowes where the seaweed gets trapped behind the breakwater, I know of several dogs there that have caught gastroenteritis from playing around in the rotting seaweed. Commercial composting would destroy any bacteria due the the very high heat generated during the composting process. Garden composting would not generate enough heat, which is why I personally would never use the seaweed trapped in the Haven on my garden especially taking the salt into consideration too. Where the seaweed in the Haven has been there a long time it is starting to break down and it absorbs salt at the same time, trying to wash salt out of those tiny bits of seaweed would be almost impossible. Angie Hi Simon

The seaweed that is decomposing in the Haven would be fine for commercial composting, ie mixed in with the garden waste at Lynbottom and composted at a very high temperature.

The Haven has the same problem as East Cowes where the seaweed gets trapped behind the breakwater, I know of several dogs there that have caught gastroenteritis from playing around in the rotting seaweed. Commercial composting would destroy any bacteria due the the very high heat generated during the composting process. Garden composting would not generate enough heat, which is why I personally would never use the seaweed trapped in the Haven on my garden especially taking the salt into consideration too.

Where the seaweed in the Haven has been there a long time it is starting to break down and it absorbs salt at the same time, trying to wash salt out of those tiny bits of seaweed would be almost impossible.

Angie

]]> Comment on Using Seaweed in the Garden by Simon http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/using-seaweed-in-the-garden/#comment-160 Simon Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:28:35 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=473#comment-160 With your "if it pongs, walk away" comment in mind, does it mean that a lot of the <a href="http://ventnorblog.com/centre-for-the-coastal-environment-positive-council-story-1/" rel="nofollow">seaweed being collected from the Haven</a> won't be usable as fertiliser? With your “if it pongs, walk away” comment in mind, does it mean that a lot of the seaweed being collected from the Haven won’t be usable as fertiliser?

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by Angie http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-159 Angie Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:50:55 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-159 If you live in a hard water area, eg you get white lime deposits around taps, in wash basins and loos, that is not good for them as it means that you water contains a lot of lime. Blueberries hate lime! You can add some sulphur chips to the compost they help to bring down the PH level, like these: http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=475 Hopefully you are growing them in ericaceous compost. If you don't have a water butt, try to find space for a small one and keep the water just for the blueberries. If nothing else put out buckets, bowls any containers you have to collect the rain. Any water is better than none as far as blueberries are concerned, leave the tap water in a watering can or bucket overnight, that will allow some of the chemicals like chlorine to evaporate. Fingers crossed for you and your blueberries. If you live in a hard water area, eg you get white lime deposits around taps, in wash basins and loos, that is not good for them as it means that you water contains a lot of lime. Blueberries hate lime!

You can add some sulphur chips to the compost they help to bring down the PH level, like these:
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=475

Hopefully you are growing them in ericaceous compost.

If you don’t have a water butt, try to find space for a small one and keep the water just for the blueberries. If nothing else put out buckets, bowls any containers you have to collect the rain.

Any water is better than none as far as blueberries are concerned, leave the tap water in a watering can or bucket overnight, that will allow some of the chemicals like chlorine to evaporate.

Fingers crossed for you and your blueberries.

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by help http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-158 help Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:17:38 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-158 is there anything we can do to tap water to be able to use it on blueberries if , we dont have any rain water? thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx sooooo much for the info!!! you rock is there anything we can do to tap water to be able to use it on blueberries if , we dont have any rain water?

thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx thx sooooo much for the info!!! you rock

]]> Comment on Grow some Blueberries by help http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/2008/05/21/grow-some-blueberries/#comment-157 help Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:15:24 +0000 http://ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com/?p=230#comment-157 thanks for the help ! ill reply back soon once they start improving! thanks for the help ! ill reply back soon once they start improving!

]]>