Gardening with Joey

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sdk said:
Nice one, @Sassy Colombian ! Did you grow outdoors or indoors? We grew some in our vegetable patch but we got waaaaaay too much rain this summer (we're in eastern Massachusetts) and once it started flowering we lost much of it to bud rot. We ended up harvesting the rest earlier than we would otherwise so we wouldn't lose it all. Now we wait for the snows to come and cover our shame.
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Thanks @sdk We grew it outdoors and it did well most of the summer but toward the end we also got a lot of rain and ended up losing some to bud rot as well, which made me so sad because I could have cut them a week before that began happening but they were not quite ready. I still was able to save the majority of the crop but next year I'm going have to be more vigilant about it. What shame are you talking about? I'm very proud of my babies :D
 
Sassy Colombian said:
Thanks @sdk We grew it outdoors and it did well most of the summer but toward the end we also got a lot of rain and ended up losing some to bud rot as well, which made me so sad because I could have cut them a week before that began happening but they were not quite ready. I still was able to save the majority of the crop but next year I'm going have to be more vigilant about it. What shame are you talking about? I'm very proud of my babies :D
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Your household has no need for shame. By "our shame" I meant that of my wife and I, partially thwarted in our diabolical scheme to remain as high as possible.
 
Took delivery of my first ever BRAND NEW lawnmower today. For all my adult life I've made do buying old machinery and fixing it up - normally successfully. However the last one I could not make into a reliable starter. I think the engine was just worn out and lacking compression.

In the end, frustration piqued and coincided with the arrival of my pension lump sum. I have a lot of grass to tend so decided "bugger it, it will last be out if I buy new now!" Top of the range Hayter Harrier with push key start.

Put oil and fuel in, made the insert for the key that was missing out if the box (British quality control), installed the battery and she started straight away. Get in! Unheard of!

Of course now I have a long anticipated new toy its raining and the forecast say it will probably rain JUST enough to keep the grass wet until next June. :rant: Everton that.
 
ClausThomsen said:
Just showed our granddaughter how a dried out poppy head sounds like a rattle. She was suitably impressed and enthusiastic but I now fear there are going to be a ton of bright red poppys growing all over the garden next year.
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Mine just gave up the ghost, the 30c Brisbane heat did for it even with plenty of water
 
orchard said:
@Joey66

When's the best time to start to propagate sweet potato slips in an unheated greenhouse pls?
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Mid-spring if you have the tubers now store in your greenhouse cool out of the sun - place them in boxes with an insulator newspaper - bone dry compost - Perlite etc put them safe not in the dark - leaving them in a place where plenty of air can circulate around them - do not water - seed trays, or a tomato type wooden boxes are ideal - I used to store 10,000 begonia corms this way as a nurseryman I would lose about 10 corms - starting them of in early April under glass - you could do the same to get a head start next spring, but harden them off in a sheltered light place before planting them up outside ;)
 
Joey66 said:
Mid-spring if you have the tubers now store in your greenhouse cool out of the sun - place them in boxes with an insulator newspaper - bone dry compost - Perlite etc put them safe not in the dark - leaving them in a place where plenty of air can circulate around them - do not water - seed trays, or a tomato type wooden boxes are ideal - I used to store 10,000 begonia corms this way as a nurseryman I would lose about 10 corms - starting them of in early April under glass - you could do the same to get a head start next spring, but harden them off in a sheltered light place before planting them up outside ;)
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Thanks Joey. I'm eating some of the ones I bought for it tonight, realising I'd jumped the shark (been stratifying tree seeds and got carried away).
So don't start slips until April under glass? Then develop root structure of slips, plant on, still under glass, then plant out in their bed?

Cheers for the preservation tips btw, I'll get ready for that next year and keep the vigorous badgers. Hopefully.
 
orchard said:
Thanks Joey. I'm eating some of the ones I bought for it tonight, realising I'd jumped the shark (been stratifying tree seeds and got carried away).
So don't start slips until April under glass? Then develop root structure of slips, plant on, still under glass, then plant out in their bed?

Cheers for the preservation tips btw, I'll get ready for that next year and keep the vigorous badgers. Hopefully.
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If you start them in the spring when it warms up - you can use a sharp knife to split them into threes depending on the size of the Tuber of your Sweet Potato & take cuttings off the shoots that shoot up if you take away a slither of the tuber of your main tuber they will toot easily to increase your stock - a perlite 50/50 compost mix & place out of the sun they root easily - spring has to be normal not like last year's cold spring - patience is everything in propagation, & growing plants of any type plus common sense in an unheated Greenhouse -

You are doing well as the price of Sweet potato Slips is very expensive - save the ones you buy & enjoy when in the shops in season ;)
 
Joey66 said:
If you start them in the spring when it warms up - you can use a sharp knife to split them into threes depending on the size of the Tuber of your Sweet Potato & take cuttings off the shoots that shoot up if you take away a slither of the tuber of your main tuber they will toot easily to increase your stock - a perlite 50/50 compost mix & place out of the sun they root easily - spring has to be normal not like last year's cold spring - patience is everything in propagation, & growing plants of any type plus common sense in an unheated Greenhouse -

You are doing well as the price of Sweet potato Slips is very expensive - save the ones you buy & enjoy when in the shops in season ;)
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Cheers!

Dividing the tuber increases slips?
I might get some Yukon/King Edward's/Pink Fir seed pot's for spring (and some earlies) and see how they go on my heavy land, but I'd like to see how Sweets do here for a starch crop.
 
orchard said:
Cheers!

Dividing the tuber increases slips?
I might get some Yukon/King Edward's/Pink Fir seed pot's for spring (and some earlies) and see how they go on my heavy land, but I'd like to see how Sweets do here for a starch crop.
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Yes leave dormant - store complete insulation - keep your eyes on them - then propagate interesting a warm spring under glass......
 
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