hTTi

Since I will be moving house in about a month, I haven´t really done much by way of gardening so far this year - mostly sticking to pots, which I can take with me.
Today I plan to plant my first tomato seeds of the year, also with the plan to take them with me.
what are you guys/gals up to?

I'm mainly just ignoring it

Is it OK to merge this topic with the following topic?

viewtopic.php?t=13

Robinson100 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 8:46 am Since I will be moving house in about a month, I haven´t really done much by way of gardening so far this year - mostly sticking to pots, which I can take with me.
Today I plan to plant my first tomato seeds of the year, also with the plan to take them with me.
what are you guys/gals up to?

Hi Rob,
Isn't it a bit early to start tomatoes? I usually sew mine in April and give them about 6 weeks before I put them outside, after the "Eisheiligen" of course!

no, not at all - I start them off in the living room, just in front on the balcony windows, where they get lots of warmth from the sun, and later re-pot them and put them outside.
Obviously, the sooner you start them growing, the sooner you get to eat your own tomatoes!!!

editorL wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 1:33 pm Is it OK to merge this topic with the following topic?

viewtopic.php?t=13

I dunno, EditorL - not sure how many Towners are going to be growing their own cannabis......

Robinson100 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 9:24 pm

editorL wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 1:33 pm Is it OK to merge this topic with the following topic?

viewtopic.php?t=13

I dunno, EditorL - not sure how many Towners are going to be growing their own cannabis......

I only know of 4.

Fraufruit wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 9:30 pm I only know of 4.

You have two hands to count, I mean for numbers larger than 4, don't you...

Robinson100 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 9:22 pm Obviously, the sooner you start them growing, the sooner you get to eat your own tomatoes!!!

That's what my late greatgrandmother taught me when I was approx. 14:
"Franklan, denke immer daran, die Tomaten, die als erste reif sind, sind auch die, die als erste matschig sind..."

Feel free to use deepl and/or ask the nearest moneyless philosophy student to decipher that wisdom...

We grew early maters and late maters in South Carolina.

For anybody who might want to try planting their tomatoes already, mine are now about 2cm tall!!! I currently have 23 plants coming along!

My toms are coming along nicely!!!

My chillies got planted between Xmas and new year, started great and they are doing fab. Still at the windowsill for some weeks of course. I'm a little worried they seem too big for the 500ml recicled yogurt pot.

My toms got planted in Feb, and also started great. But now many of them seem already dead. Same pattern as last year. Hope it goes better but not very hopeful.

Meanwhile, I'm getting carried away with my plan to build a DIY coldframe / greenhouse. An idea I have had for years. Made my 1st purchase last night, for 13eur a 2m x 3m, doing the CAD model now, some actions this coming weekend... so exciting.

I do not do gardening, makes a lot of work, and the neighbors complained when they saw me pruning the roses by my terrace

From May I collect fruit: cherries, plums, apples

Fietsrad wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 3:07 pm makes a lot of work,

That one good reason to do gardening

Alberto wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 9:52 pm

Fietsrad wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 3:07 pm makes a lot of work,

That one good reason to do gardening

And cycling

What do I do with these little worms that like eating my hedge?
1. ignore?
2. eat them back?
3. collect and keep as pets?
4. ?

LeonG wrote: ↑Sat Mar 23, 2024 1:40 pm What do I do with these little worms that like eating my hedge?
1. ignore?
2. eat them back?
3. collect and keep as pets?
4. ?

IMG_20240323_133513.jpg

There is nothing you can do, that's the Buchsbaumzünsler: https://www-ardalpha-de.translate.goog/ ... r_pto=wapp

source: Von Membeth - Eigenes Werk, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p ... d=72764866 --> I first tried picking them off, to give the boxwood hedge a chance to recover. But the arrival rate of the caterpillars exceeded the departure rate I could manage by collecting them.
--> In the end, I could have saved myself all that work and should have gotten rid of the hedge right away, because that is what it came to.

You know that you have dithered too long if the taciturn Hausmeister of the house next door who has never exchanged a word with you, suddenly starts praising you enthusiastically when he sees you taking them out (which was surprisingly easy, they had developed next to no roots, despite being 1.5m tall and over 15 years old) and stuffing the boxwood branches into sacks.
Apparently, the caterpillars had also spread next door and he had been dealing with complaints from the tenants that caterpillars were falling on their heads when they passed through the small roofed-over entrance (right next to the hedge).
The caterpillars had been looking for new feeding grounds after they had stripped my hedge bare...

Please note that boxwood trees are not easy to get rid off, since the Wertstoffhof asks for them to be wrapped airtight in plastic sacks and they are then thrown in a special container there.
I used 500 litre sacks made of a thick foil (so that the branches didn't poke through): https://www.ebay.de/itm/333745970154
stamped on them to get more branches inside and then used parcel tape (Paketband) to close them up "airtight": https://www.ebay.de/itm/123818107526

The Munich Wertstoffhöfe "officially" only accept 1m³ (= 1,000 litres) of Buchsbaum per day: https://www.awm-muenchen.de/entsorgen/a ... enabfaelle
But going by experience, they don't bat an eye if you turn up more than once a day.
Plus, there is more than one Wertstoffhof in Munich

Xentari (Link to Amazon.de)

Translated from the German Wikipedia:
Biological control of the larvae based on the beneficial insect-friendly Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. kurstaki showed an excellent effect in a trial conducted by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in 2012. The application of the spray mixture is particularly effective in the early caterpillar stage. This is usually 10-14 days after the emergence of the moths or in mid-April and early July. The product is available from various manufacturers under the trade name "Xentari" in agricultural and garden shops.

Our kleingartenverein lost pretty much all of the box hedging 2 years ago, to the Buchsbaumzünsler. Before that, there was a Pilzinfektion which damaged it. Lots has been replaced with lavender, which is probably worth more to the ecosystem there anyway.

If you want that tight green look which is easily shaped, then there is a nice holly, ilex crenata, which comes in different small-leaved, not prickly types which are good to replace box.

If you want to fight it, then along with Franklan's Xentari suggestion, there's Algenkalk, https://www.mein-schoener-garten.de/gar ... kalk-33861