A Bug's Eye View

Discussion in 'Fruit and Veg Gardening' started by Sjoerd, May 30, 2016.

  1. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

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    I really enjoy taking extra time looking more closely at my plants. This bug's eye viewing is interesting to me, giving a different perspective and sometimes I discover things. I can discover how plants are doing, pesky insects, disease and of course...just seeing that plants are healthy and developing as expected.

    Firstly I want to take you back to the day that I thinned out my beetroot. I had broadcast seeds in a series of five little beds. Five beds and five different types of beetroot. Here they are the day that I transplanted the beetroot plantlets. I dug them up, separated them and then planted them once again in a different place, giving them more room.
    tuin02.jpg

    If you notice closely--you can see that the larger plants are in the background and the smaller, wilted plants are the transplants. They were smaller because they were losing the battle of competition for nutrients because they were literally up against sister plantlets.

    Now, you can see the transplants from a bug's eye perspective at ground level:
    tuin03 a.jpg

    ...and a view from a different bed:
    tuin03.jpg

    You have to agree, these transplants are looking pretty good after the trauma of the transplanting procedure. You know, most conventional gardeners will advise you not to do this. They are right that it is risky. Well......risky? Usually when you thin plant beds out you throw the thinned-out plants away, so what did I have to lose? We have been doing this every year now for some time and are pretty handy at it.

    Another thing that we transplant is our sweetcorn, as you already know. Here is a ground level pic showing how well they are doing.
    tuin04.jpg

    The spuds got hand-ploughed again to earthen them up:
    tuin13a.jpg

    They look so tidy up close:
    tuin13b.jpg

    Whilst looking closely at my broadies, I discovered that one plant had purely white flowers--no black "eye". What do you think about this anomaly? First the normal black-spot flowers:
    tuin05a.jpg

    Then the unusual white flowered one without the black eye:
    tuin05.jpg

    Well, that winds up the bug's eye view of the lottie. Tomorrow I go into the bees again for a look. I shall be slinging honey this coming friday.
     
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  3. mart

    mart Strong Ash

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    Looks great ! Maybe a different variety of bean sneaked in with those black eyed ones. Not unusual if it was bought seed. My second crop of potatoes is up and growing. My garden is close to the house so I can water later if needed. We added amonium nitrate to the corn last week and it is jumping up, next will be the picking.
    I have never tried to transplant beets but may try since you have had luck with it.
    Your garden always looks neat,, and plants healthy.
     
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  4. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

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    You may well be right about that, Mart, it WAS bought seed.
    Good to hear that your corn is doing so well. It will be deep summer the way my sweetcorn is going at the moment. Our weather is far too cold for it to take off just yet.
    I am interested in hearing how you fare with transplanting beets there. Your weather and soil is so different from ours, my fingers are tightly crossed for you. Please let me know how the experiment goes. I will only offer one word of advice and that is to water the plantlets well and often the first two weeks. Good, thorough soakings with a "rose" (sprinkler).

    Thanks for your nice compliment. I am looking forward to hearing how things go.
     
  5. EJ

    EJ Allotmenteer Extraordinaire

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    I can't stand the thought of wasting little seedlings when they have tried so hard to grow do I always try and transplant thinnings and usually with great success. I love the White flowered broad bean, I wonder if the beans will be any different?
     
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  6. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

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    Thanks for your comments, EJ--I shall take special note of what the beans are like on that white broadie.
     

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