[noshed]

A range of questions, mostly about comfrey.
How much do you dilute it? (I just crammed it into an upturned bottle and left it to drip.) Mine is a sort of mid brown - should it be lighter? And when do you use it on tomatoes? Is it good for anything else?
And why have my pepper plants remained 20mm high for 2 weeks?

[John]

Comfrey liquid made like that should be diluted about 1:20 which will take it to the strength of commercial feed made to instruction.
Comfrey liquid is good feed for most things where you want to promote fruit or root growth. From potatoes to beans it will give a boost. Also good for flowers / hanging baskets etc as well..

Not sure about your peppers - I've got some that seem a bit stuck but hopefully this warm weather will cure the problem for us.

[noshed]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll do my spuds with it seeing as they're in flower.
Looking ahead to next year - I was considering using some of my corrugated sheeting to construct a greenhouse - how do you manage if you can't get up to the plot every day? I'm worried things will just fry as soon as the sun comes out. Or do you just use allotment greenhouses for bringing stuff on early in the season?

[John]

Bit of a waste to underuse a greenhouse after all the effort of building it -as I know what a lot of aggravation the missing parts (oops, don't start me)

There are ways to cope with not being there all the time - you have two problems: Heat and Water.
For heat you can get automatic vent openers around £20.00, solar powered fans (more sun more whir) and shading. So your greenhouse keeps the night time temperature up but doesn't scorch everything.
For water you can get kits that have a reservoir and drip water onto the plants over a period. On holder on our site has a full water butt in the greenhouse and that feeds through a drip system into the pots etc.
If you have mains water you can get timers but I think they're a bit pinchable for allotment use.

[stompy]

I'm thinking of making a watering system for my greenhouse.

I will be using a 12v suply to a timer, pump and normally closed solenoid valve, using a normaly closed valve means it only uses power when it is in operation, so the only draw on the batterie will be the timer which uses very little power.

This will be piped up to one of my water butts.

If it works then maybe i will run pipes all over the plot.

The parts will come mainly from car suppliers, the pump will be a windscreen washer pump, the timer from maplins, the batterie from either a car or a caravan and the valve off a car wash system.

If it works i will get a solar pannel to charge the batterie, they are quite cheap now.

[Kim]

Hi all

Had a good tidy up of the stinging nettles at the end of my garden ,read somewhere that they make an excellent diluted feed , so put a load in a bucket filled with water and left it to do its stuff . N ow that was a least a month ago and my questions are :
         1) SHOULD MY MIXTURE STINK THIS BAD !!!!! Other half threatening to create a no go zone without gas masks first being used .
         2) What can i use it on ?
         3)  how much do i dilute it by ?
URGENT reply required before we have to evacuate the garden completely  

         MANY THANKS KIM

[John]

Treat as a weaker form of comfrey 1:3 or 1:5 to be 100% safe. If you think that stinks, try comfrey in a barrel. Even the flies think they've found the mother of all sewers.
Nettle liquid should be a good all purpose feed.

[Kim]

Thanks for that advice john , going to try and dilute it without getting covered in the stuff and smelling of poo !!!! yes i do have comfry growing in our garden with the intention of also using that but on second thoughts dont know if i could stomach it  :!:  :!:  :x

[John]

Well if we get some hot dry weather you could let the comfrey dry out crisp and then use it as a dry fertilizer. Just laying the wilted leaves down between rows will add quite a lot of goodness to the soil.

[Kim]

Now i never knew that . think thats the right option for me . Thanks