That looks like a very neat arrangement John H. I should think it's quite useful having troughs off the ground, you can sweep up with out pushing dust all ove the strawberries. I too am a grandpa, four times over, and I know that what I grow (or bake) goes down better than shop bought. Very gratifying!
What are those spring shapes around your canes, John?
Daisyheadcase - re photos - I'm afraid the only way I could rotate them was within the library itself. After each attempt I returned to my photo library, edited a rotation of the photo and tried again (4 times) until it came out right . (But I'm not doing that every time, beside which I want my photos up the right way in the library)
Hi Birdy, The spring things around the canes are called 'Twisters' (supports for climbing plants). I first saw them last year at Hampton Court FS and bought 2 packs (they come 3 in a box). The idea is to thread about 12" (30cms) into the soil and peg the wire down with the peg supplied, then stretch the wire up to the top of a 5 ft cane and insert the wire into the cane. As the plant grows the trusses, fruits etc are supported by the wire and can be tied in if preferred. I'm using them for trailing type Cougettes 'Black Forest F1' to keep them off the ground. 1st attempt at using them was problematic as the leading edge of the wire just popped back out of the compost until I practised keeping the leading edge going downwards into the pot. They work every time now. I've added some pics below incl.
An idea for a Bell Cloche:
This bell cloche is a 19 litre water bottle from an office water cooler that I cut the top off, then drilled a hole in the bottom (which becomes the top) to let heated air escape. If you go to an Office water coolers depot they often get damaged bottles which are useless for their intended purpose and they throw them away. A local depot to me gave me 3 with no charge when I asked. This size can be upwards of £20 each if you buy them purpose made from a garden centre. John H
..I was looking at your 'twisters' earlier and admiring them... I've seen them before, and find them rather photogenic... not to mention practical...although I'm not sure I'd know what to do with them...it says 'tomatoes' on the cover... that would be fun...
John H - many thanks for the info on the Twisters - I did wonder how the lower end was attached.
The bell cloche is a brilliant idea - I do like it when you can make something useful from what otherwise would be thrown away. I've not thought of using water cooler size but have used 2 litre bottles.
You can cut off 3 or 4 rings of sufficient height to dissuade slugs and snails attacking young lettuces etc. I thought if they did decide to climb up the sides they might slip on the smooth surface (or would they grip more easily?) or at least be unwilling to make the rather tight turn across the sharp edge at the top - assuming they did make it that far.
When I did this a couple of years back I just pushed each ring into the soil a bit so it was very easy to get out again. It seemed to work Because we had more lettuces than we could eat.
Sorry folks, it seemed at first to be working with copy and paste but it didn't after all.
Just copied and pasted - thought it had worked first time -and on my screen it had posted successfully then reverted to unopenable icons once I started a fresh post.
Above pic has been cropped on rh side but not by me... (this is before submit)
Ditto. This photo taken with shadow pointing down the page. Looks OK at moment except for automatic cropping on RHS again. I wonder if it is because I took it (on the iPad) in landscape.
Interesting - both have completely inverted on their own as well as retaining the automatic cropping on (what was) the RHS (= right hand side, not Royal Horticultural Show!)
Posts
That looks like a very neat arrangement John H. I should think it's quite useful having troughs off the ground, you can sweep up with out pushing dust all ove the strawberries. I too am a grandpa, four times over, and I know that what I grow (or bake) goes down better than shop bought. Very gratifying!
What are those spring shapes around your canes, John?
Daisyheadcase - re photos - I'm afraid the only way I could rotate them was within the library itself. After each attempt I returned to my photo library, edited a rotation of the photo and tried again (4 times) until it came out right . (But I'm not doing that every time, beside which I want my photos up the right way in the library)
Hi Birdy, The spring things around the canes are called 'Twisters' (supports for climbing plants). I first saw them last year at Hampton Court FS and bought 2 packs (they come 3 in a box). The idea is to thread about 12" (30cms) into the soil and peg the wire down with the peg supplied, then stretch the wire up to the top of a 5 ft cane and insert the wire into the cane. As the plant grows the trusses, fruits etc are supported by the wire and can be tied in if preferred. I'm using them for trailing type Cougettes 'Black Forest F1' to keep them off the ground. 1st attempt at using them was problematic as the leading edge of the wire just popped back out of the compost until I practised keeping the leading edge going downwards into the pot. They work every time now. I've added some pics below incl.
An idea for a Bell Cloche:
This bell cloche is a 19 litre water bottle from an office water cooler that I cut the top off, then drilled a hole in the bottom (which becomes the top) to let heated air escape. If you go to an Office water coolers depot they often get damaged bottles which are useless for their intended purpose and they throw them away. A local depot to me gave me 3 with no charge when I asked. This size can be upwards of £20 each if you buy them purpose made from a garden centre. John H
The twisters are really cool !
Reiver - love your arrangement of terracotta pots. Your bed looks lovely now - even while you are waiting for the climate to do its bit
..I was looking at your 'twisters' earlier and admiring them... I've seen them before, and find them rather photogenic... not to mention practical...although I'm not sure I'd know what to do with them...it says 'tomatoes' on the cover... that would be fun...
John H - many thanks for the info on the Twisters - I did wonder how the lower end was attached.
The bell cloche is a brilliant idea - I do like it when you can make something useful from what otherwise would be thrown away. I've not thought of using water cooler size but have used 2 litre bottles.
You can cut off 3 or 4 rings of sufficient height to dissuade slugs and snails attacking young lettuces etc. I thought if they did decide to climb up the sides they might slip on the smooth surface (or would they grip more easily?) or at least be unwilling to make the rather tight turn across the sharp edge at the top - assuming they did make it that far.
When I did this a couple of years back I just pushed each ring into the soil a bit so it was very easy to get out again. It seemed to work Because we had more lettuces than we could eat.
Ha!
Ah!
Sorry folks, it seemed at first to be working with copy and paste but it didn't after all.
Just copied and pasted - thought it had worked first time -and on my screen it had posted successfully then reverted to unopenable icons once I started a fresh post.
Above pic has been cropped on rh side but not by me... (this is before submit)
Ditto. This photo taken with shadow pointing down the page. Looks OK at moment except for automatic cropping on RHS again. I wonder if it is because I took it (on the iPad) in landscape.
About to submit...
Interesting - both have completely inverted on their own as well as retaining the automatic cropping on (what was) the RHS (= right hand side, not Royal Horticultural Show!)
no more for now...
*gives Birdy13 a hug* You did great. Chin up ol' bean