Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Fed up with fighting mud and rain, and doing no more than dashing out to the greenhouse to sow a few more bits.

Did manage to prepare most of a bed and get three rows of beetroot in yesterday afternoon. Also had the first few leaves from my cut and come again lettuce.

Got so much stuff to plant out now, the greenhouse is chokker and so is the paved area around it with stuff hardening off.

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Just snatched a half hour lull in the rain to nip out and start digging the weeds and grass out of the plot earmarked for sweetcorn. Bloody hard going as the ground is too wet to allow me to stand on the bed without compacting it to the hardness of concrete.

Now back indoors again as it's peeing with rain once more. :-(

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

I like poppies so at the end of each season I collect several seed pods, gather the seeds and sprinkle them over the ground next season (and cover them with soil) -result: no poppies. Meanwhile on my stonebond driveway (small pebbles epoxied in position) I have poppies attempting to grow despite the lack of soil.
I'd read that poppies like disturbed soil (hence the poppy fields after WW1), so I tried turning the soil over - nope, no poppies. Maybe I need some explosives?

I made the mistake of trying to grow wild flowers 3 years ago and now have to admit I have totally lost control of the garden and the lawn. I have all sorts of weird looking sh*t popping up which was not on the seed label. I suspect that gardening is not my forté.

Finally: foxglove. Watch out they said, they'll spread everywhere they said, they'll take over the garden. Not with my paraquat fingers they won't - haven't seem them for 2 years.

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

The fun of gardening! Been away in the van for a few days, would have been a few days more but we waved the white flag, came home, only to find the slugs have had a field day, despite my best efforts with the slug traps, and the cold has persuaded the courgette plants to give up the ghost. (Funnily enough the marrow plants look fine. )

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Does anyone have any idea what these are? I had a couple last year but many more this year. They're 3-4ft tall, dark red/purple stem, dark green leaf. I can't remember what the flowers look like.

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

There’s a phone app called Snap which will identify plants for you based on the leaves or the flowers.

I think it may be purple toadflax, Linarea Purpurea. https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/purple-toadflax

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Thanks. :) I don't have a smart phone so can't get the app - although I looked for it to see if it would run on a pc.

Purple toadflax (who names these things?) looks similar although the stems on mine are more red/purple but maybe that's because it hasn't flowered yet.

I'm fighting/losing an endless battle with cleavers (Galium aparine) this year bigger and more prolific than any prior year.

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Seeker,

I don't use faceache much, but I did join a gardening group on there, Gardeners world - people are always posting plants pictures to get identified.
If you have faceache then it'd be a simple way to find out what your plant is.

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

thanks, but now I'm going to sound like a technophobe - I don't have facebook or any other social media. I think the problem lies with the word "social" as in; I'm not! :(

Re: The Veg Plot.
 

Me neither, I have 1 friend on faceache and that's my missus.
I only got it as I needed it for a running event a couple of years ago, I can't remember why that was though.
I never post anything on there, in fact I thought I'd simply put your picture on their and ask for you.
However I have just realised I don't even know how to!