Returning from holiday - OH the weeds!!!!

Have just returned form holiday and the work to do in the garden is scaring me. Weeds bigger than my plants have shot up in all the rain!

I've a few questions I need help with before I can get to work.

My dad has been over while I was away, and says I need to put some stuff in the soil as it isn't that good quality (only moved in in feb) He's sprinkled some multi purpose compst around my leeks and beans, and has scattered some incinerated chicken manure every where. He's bought me two bags of compst for vegetables, should I sprinkle this around everything, or just the base of plants? I didn't know you could do that with compost from gc's, I thought it was manure etc that you did that with.

My tomatoes have got lots of fruit on, and some are red and others ripening, but mainly green. Should I pick these off to ripen on the window sill so more will grow? Or leave on plant?

Also some of you have recommended grass cuttings as a mulch. Can I water my leeks well, or flowerbeds etc, then sprinkle compost and then grass clippings, to stop weeds coming up? The gaps in my planting are driving me mad with weeds that just keep coming.

Also - sorry to go on! - do I need to pick the few sweet pea flowers that I have to encourage more? Same with chrysanths and dahlias?

Thank you very much anyone who can help in any way! :thmb:

 

Cheer up!

Big weeds come out easier than little ones, and make more compost!

Pick the ripe tomatoes... and have a fabulous salad, leave the rest to ripen on hte plant in their own time... only at the end of the season should you need to pick green ones.

Pick the sweet peas... and enjoy the scent!... make sure that they haven't set any seed... like pea pods.. if they have, cut them off!

The Dahlias and chrysanths... cut them if you want to have them indoors, otherwise cut off the dead flower heads when they're over.

You can use lawn cuttings as a mulch... but don't put on plants you want to save... but on any spare ground they will swamp out the weeds!

Most of all, you sound like you're doing well... you have all sorts in the garden to enjoy, don't let it get you down.... enjoy it!

 

" I didn't know you could do that with compost from gc's, I thought it was manure etc that you did that with"

All organic material is good for improving the soil. Even newspaper will help

If you stick it on the top the worms will pull it in, over time, and as you pull up plants / weed etc it gets mixed in a bit. If you put it around the plants it will act as a mulch - reducing the amount of water evaporating from the soil, so that will keep the plants happier. If your soil is poor quality it might be worth a one-time-blitz this autumn. A lorry load of mushroom compost, perhaps? I had a huge pantechnicon delivery at a previous house, did the garden the world of good!

"Should I pick these off to ripen on the window sill so more will grow? Or leave on plant?"

Definitely leave on the plant - otherwise you might as well get your Toms for Tescos ... they have been off-the-vine for several days before you eat them. It ain't the same thing, I can assure you

As the first frost arrives you will need to pick the whole lot and bring them in though.

"Also some of you have recommended grass cuttings as a mulch. Can I water my leeks well, or flowerbeds etc, then sprinkle compost and then grass clippings, to stop weeds coming up?"

Yes. Don't pt the grass on two thick, otherwise it will make a slimy mess and steal Nitrogen from the soil to assist the rotting process. Some things may not like it overly, but I'm not fussy enough to worry too much about that. Do NOT use grass clippings if the grass has been treated witha selective weed killer, or "weed & feed"

"do I need to pick the few sweet pea flowers that I have to encourage more?"

Yes, once they set seed they will "stall" thinking they have reproduced :(

 

That'll teach you to go on holiday at the wrong time of year :hehe::hehe:

Hope you had a good one anyway :thumb:

 

Thanks everyone. Will set to work as soon as it stops raining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!