Ground cover

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Ground cover

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gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 12:05 pm Post subject: Ground cover
I am wondering when I should remove the white fleece ground cover that has been over the onions and garlic since they were planted in the autumn? I also have sown the broad beans through the lightweight black ground cover and am thinking of leaving that as a weed suppressant. Any ideas?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46212
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 1:01 pm Post subject:

once my broad beans are up to about a foot tall, if i have any space for them, get hoed, earthed up by a few inches and then i plant salads, radish and often poppy(bees make beans)along the freshly turned soil at the base of the beans.

tis a good use of space, deals with weeds and the beans fix more nitrogen than they need

ps when the beans are over snip em at soil level, the node things on the roots will continue fixing nitrogen until winter

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 7:03 pm Post subject:
That sounds a good idea, space is at a premium, so edible ground cover is brilliant

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46212
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 8:35 pm Post subject:
earthing up often avoids sticks n string which all but the dwarf varieties seem to need if it is a windy place. re the bee thing they usually play nicely and go in from the end of the flower but some bite a hole in the side to get the nectar without pollinating if you spot small holes at the base of the flowers tis worth brush pollinating those ones

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 8:59 pm Post subject:
forewarned is forearmed!

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46212
Location: yes

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 20 10:05 pm Post subject:

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15968

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 20 7:32 am Post subject:

I think removal of fleece depends on the weather. We should be through the coldest part of the winter now, although more frosts are almost certain, but then I am in the sunny south. Hasn't been so sunny this winter though.

Like the idea of the salading under the beans. I might try that with some crops.

We sometimes get bees bite the backs of runner beans, especially early on. Perhaps the nectar is a bit denser then or they are just lazy.

sgt.colon

Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 20 8:49 am Post subject:
Can you do that with anything you've planted, as long as they grow tall enough the let sunlight through to the inbetweeners?

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8919
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 20 10:09 am Post subject:
Frost on the ground this morning 😕 well we are in Scotland

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46212
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 20 2:11 pm Post subject:

sgt.colon wrote:

Can you do that with anything you've planted, as long as they grow tall enough the let sunlight through to the inbetweeners?

quite often yep.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15968

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 20 7:26 am Post subject:
We have frost here, and we are in the south of England. After wind and rain yesterday, it must have cleared over in the night. Can't say we don't have interest in our weather; nearly as variable as Tasmania!

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