Monday, 30 May 2011
Comments
Previously I think there were some restrictions on who can leave comments on my posts. I have now changed the settings so anyone should be able to leave comments. It would be great to hear other points of view so please do leave any comments you wish, I look forward to reading them.
Rain...at last
Finally we get some rain, unfortunately on the day I get to spend in the garden - bank holiday Monday! I was a very damp and muddy figure by the end of the day, but a valuable day it was. The greenhouse is now completely planted up with tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and chillis (plus a couple of cucumbers).
I grow all my greenhouse vegetables in containers, there are no soil beds. The ground is covered with black membrane and gravel to keep the weeds away and I use fresh multi-purpose compost in good sized containers, which ends up going into the raised beds at the end of the season as a soil improver. After a few years fighting to grow tomatoes in grow bags, including ring culture methods, I came to the conclusion that there is simply not enough soil in a grow bag to satisfy the plants needs for water and nutrients. By planting in good sized containers my tomatoes do not need feeding, and if regular watering is maintained then blossom end rot will be avoided.
I avoid feeding with tomato food as it leads to excessive plant growth which serves no useful purpose, but it also delays cropping so you end up with a huge glut of tomatoes in September. If you don't feed you get less plant growth, and perhaps a smaller overall yield, but you get your tomatoes over a much longer cropping period, which for most people is preferable (and cheaper and less effort). Unfortunately it doesn't stop side-shoots growing, so they still need removing, but the fact that there is less green-growth probably means there is less of this to do.
Things are beginning to get back under control in the garden - at the allotment we now have potatoes, broad beans, runner beans, climbing french beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, kale, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, pumpkins, courgettes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers and gherkins planted in the ground. There's a few more things to plant up at home and a few seeds yet to sow, but if the rain keeps coming then it could still be a good year.
I grow all my greenhouse vegetables in containers, there are no soil beds. The ground is covered with black membrane and gravel to keep the weeds away and I use fresh multi-purpose compost in good sized containers, which ends up going into the raised beds at the end of the season as a soil improver. After a few years fighting to grow tomatoes in grow bags, including ring culture methods, I came to the conclusion that there is simply not enough soil in a grow bag to satisfy the plants needs for water and nutrients. By planting in good sized containers my tomatoes do not need feeding, and if regular watering is maintained then blossom end rot will be avoided.
I avoid feeding with tomato food as it leads to excessive plant growth which serves no useful purpose, but it also delays cropping so you end up with a huge glut of tomatoes in September. If you don't feed you get less plant growth, and perhaps a smaller overall yield, but you get your tomatoes over a much longer cropping period, which for most people is preferable (and cheaper and less effort). Unfortunately it doesn't stop side-shoots growing, so they still need removing, but the fact that there is less green-growth probably means there is less of this to do.
Things are beginning to get back under control in the garden - at the allotment we now have potatoes, broad beans, runner beans, climbing french beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, kale, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, onions, garlic, pumpkins, courgettes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers and gherkins planted in the ground. There's a few more things to plant up at home and a few seeds yet to sow, but if the rain keeps coming then it could still be a good year.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Asparagus
Finally planted the last of my new asparagus crowns with Alec at the allotment yesterday. I now have 24 Gijnlim and 24 Stewart's Purple, so in three years time we'll be having asparagus every day! The old bed is still producing well and we have enjoyed some good meals, and so far there is no sign of the asparagus beetle which severely attacked the young plants last year.
For anyone who doesn't have an asparagus patch I strongly recommend you get one going. England has the best growing conditions for asparagus in the world, but wherever you buy it, from a farmers market to a Michelin starred restaurant, it's not going to taste as good as it does picked fresh from your plot. This is because the sugars in the asparagus rapidly turn to starch after picking, similar to sweetcorn and peas, so you should only cut it once the pan of water is already boiling in readiness for the very sweetest asparagus you can get.
Asparagus takes three years to reach a point where it is mature enough to be able to cut regularly, so the sooner you get your bed planted the sooner you can enjoy it. Don't put it off - my father never planted a bed at his previous house because he thought he wouldn't be living there long enough to get to harvest it, in the end he was there for over twenty years! In any case, an asparagus bed must add to the value of your property so what have you got to lose? You don't have to have a large space - my current bed has ten crowns in a space four feet by two feet. That's squeezing it in a bit but it seems to thrive and we have some delicious meals at a time of year when there is very little else to eat from the garden. Apart from a little weeding, and the application of some manure or garden compost once a year, they are basically maintenance free, and will remain productive for ten years or more. Add to that the fact that it's a delicious superfood with a whole range of health benefits - see http://www.british-asparagus.co.uk/superfood.php - the only real drawback is that it makes your wee go green and stinky!
As an aside my latest business website can be found at http://www.c-ca.co.uk/ . This has no relevance to gardening but by linking to it here it helps to get it indexed on google. I hope you will forgive my self-indulgence, please feel free to have a look anyway, you might find it interesting!
For anyone who doesn't have an asparagus patch I strongly recommend you get one going. England has the best growing conditions for asparagus in the world, but wherever you buy it, from a farmers market to a Michelin starred restaurant, it's not going to taste as good as it does picked fresh from your plot. This is because the sugars in the asparagus rapidly turn to starch after picking, similar to sweetcorn and peas, so you should only cut it once the pan of water is already boiling in readiness for the very sweetest asparagus you can get.
Asparagus takes three years to reach a point where it is mature enough to be able to cut regularly, so the sooner you get your bed planted the sooner you can enjoy it. Don't put it off - my father never planted a bed at his previous house because he thought he wouldn't be living there long enough to get to harvest it, in the end he was there for over twenty years! In any case, an asparagus bed must add to the value of your property so what have you got to lose? You don't have to have a large space - my current bed has ten crowns in a space four feet by two feet. That's squeezing it in a bit but it seems to thrive and we have some delicious meals at a time of year when there is very little else to eat from the garden. Apart from a little weeding, and the application of some manure or garden compost once a year, they are basically maintenance free, and will remain productive for ten years or more. Add to that the fact that it's a delicious superfood with a whole range of health benefits - see http://www.british-asparagus.co.uk/superfood.php - the only real drawback is that it makes your wee go green and stinky!
As an aside my latest business website can be found at http://www.c-ca.co.uk/ . This has no relevance to gardening but by linking to it here it helps to get it indexed on google. I hope you will forgive my self-indulgence, please feel free to have a look anyway, you might find it interesting!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Apologies
Let me begin with a big apology to all for the lack of posts on my blog for the last couple of months. I realise that I have broken the first rule of blogging and failed to put up regular posts, but the last two months have been about the busiest I can remember and when it gets like that unfortunately some things fall by the way side. Things aren't a whole lot easier just know, but I will try to put some short posts up here more regularly if I can.
One of the reasons for being so busy is of course that this is the most frantic part of the year for the vegetable gardener, with sowing and planting in full swing. I haven't managed to get as far ahead as I wanted, but I have been able to get a fair bit done, especially over the last two bank holiday weekends. Too much to catch up on in detail, so I won't try that now, but things will get mentioned individually as they progress.
The big news of the last 24 hours was the sharp frost last night. Given the terrible drought that we have been going through (basically no rain since February) and the warmest April on record, it was easy to think that summer was here and there would be no frost this year. No chance! There's always at least one in May. The old saying of "ne'er cast a clout 'till May be out" may sound a bit weird today but the message is just as valid as ever - don't put tender plants out until June unless you are able and prepared to cover them at night when the temperatures drop. All those people who recklessly put out the runner beans and courgettes they optimistically sowed a month ago have now most likely lost the lot. The eager potato plants throwing up tender green foliage in a rush to produce the very first first earlies now lie limp and blackened on the sides of their beautifully constructed mounds. Not mine though - being busy does have some advantages, my spuds only went in a couple of weeks ago and haven't yet broken the surface. More luck than judgement but still a welcome piece of good fortune. The sweetcorn that I sowed earlier than normal this year had grown on so quickly in the warm weather that I was forced to plant it out on Monday, so I was relieved to see that only a few outer leaves had suffered damage and the plants still look generally healthy.
So now I'm keeping an eagle eye on the night-time weather forecast, and of course praying for a lot of rain in May.
One of the reasons for being so busy is of course that this is the most frantic part of the year for the vegetable gardener, with sowing and planting in full swing. I haven't managed to get as far ahead as I wanted, but I have been able to get a fair bit done, especially over the last two bank holiday weekends. Too much to catch up on in detail, so I won't try that now, but things will get mentioned individually as they progress.
The big news of the last 24 hours was the sharp frost last night. Given the terrible drought that we have been going through (basically no rain since February) and the warmest April on record, it was easy to think that summer was here and there would be no frost this year. No chance! There's always at least one in May. The old saying of "ne'er cast a clout 'till May be out" may sound a bit weird today but the message is just as valid as ever - don't put tender plants out until June unless you are able and prepared to cover them at night when the temperatures drop. All those people who recklessly put out the runner beans and courgettes they optimistically sowed a month ago have now most likely lost the lot. The eager potato plants throwing up tender green foliage in a rush to produce the very first first earlies now lie limp and blackened on the sides of their beautifully constructed mounds. Not mine though - being busy does have some advantages, my spuds only went in a couple of weeks ago and haven't yet broken the surface. More luck than judgement but still a welcome piece of good fortune. The sweetcorn that I sowed earlier than normal this year had grown on so quickly in the warm weather that I was forced to plant it out on Monday, so I was relieved to see that only a few outer leaves had suffered damage and the plants still look generally healthy.
So now I'm keeping an eagle eye on the night-time weather forecast, and of course praying for a lot of rain in May.
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
First up
Just spotted the first of the seeds to germinate in the propagator! Ailsa Craig tomato in 3 days flat - not bad going at all.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Sowing
Managed to grab a couple of hours yesterday, and of the many tasks that need attending to the most tempting was sowing the first major batch of seeds of the year (not including the early broad beans I sowed out in the allotment last month - which I was pleased to see this week have now all come up). So I gave the ground inside the cold frame a quick clear up and hoe, and a good watering as it had got rather dry, before sowing leeks, brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale in shallow drills. It's important not to bury these small brassica seeds (and the leeks) too deeply or they will struggle to make it through to the surface. I've had perfectly good results before just sowing cabbage seeds on the top of moist compost in pots in the greenhouse without covering them at all. These plants all benefit from being transplanted once they have reached a good sized, so this is currently just a seed bed to get them off to a good start under the cold frame.
My general philosophy with regard to sowing is to sow early and sparingly. I don't mean so early that they are out of season, but as early as is indicated on the packets and with regard to your local climate (i.e. earlier in warmer areas, later in colder areas). Although people often say that later sowings will catch up with early ones anyway so there is no rush, I am not convinced by this. It is true that given warm and moist favourable conditions later sowings will thrive and may well catch up with earlier ones, but in my experience this is a rare occurrence. Given the very free draining soil that we have here in Cambridgeshire, and the dry spells we have been experiencing in recent years, it is my belief that earlier sowings will benefit from getting their roots down into moist soil, which will then be able to follow the moisture down when the top soil begins to dry up as the season progresses. Later sowings will be struggling to establish their roots in dry soil, and no amount of watering is ever going to make up for the difference. Water is everything for vegetables, and if you can get the roots established early enough you will save yourself hours with a hose or watering cans, and you will have healthier crops to boot. Plants suffering from water stress will be more susceptible to attack from pests and diseases as well, so getting them in early can make a real difference. Of course if you live in an area where your soil stays moist all year then this is less of an issue, and then later sowings make more sense.
However, by sowing early and, as I mentioned before, sparingly, then if your first sowing fails you still have time and spare seed to make a second sowing without it being too late. Sowing the whole packet of seed in one row is rarely a good idea unless you have very few seeds in the packet. Firstly, you will probably sow them too thickly and are then just creating work for yourself in thinning them out at a later date. Secondly, if conditions are bad for germination you have put all your eggs in one basket and may therefore have wasted all your seed in one go. Thirdly, successional sowings every few weeks will mean that your crops will mature in stages, meaning that you will be picking perfectly ripe crops over a longer period, instead of having a glut all at once that will probably end up going to waste, or at least being eaten when they are past their best. So early and sparingly means that you are increasing your chances of success, while reducing the amount of work you will have to put in and ensuring the longest cropping period.
I also sowed celeriac in rootrainers (more on these another time) in the greenhouse and aubergines, two types of tomatoes, chillis and sweet peppers into heated propagator trays covered with plastic lids with the vents fully closed.
The vents are closed in order to preserve the moisture in the trays to aid germination and to prevent the warmth causing the compost to dry out. If the compost dries out then water will have to be added, which will disturb the seeds which are just covered with a fine layer of vermiculite, so it's best to avoid having to do this if at all possible. However this does mean you have to check the trays for germination day and night as it is essential to open the vents as soon as the seedlings appear, otherwise they will be prone to attack from a fungal disease called "damping off" which will destroy the stems of all your seedlings where they meet the compost. The best bet is probably to remove the lid altogether to ensure good air circulation if your propagator is in the house, as it is unlikely to get cold enough to damage the seedlings and the increased amount of light getting through will help to prevent the seedlings getting tall and leggy. In fact the tray can be removed from the heated propagator altogether and placed in the sunniest position you can find, otherwise the seedlings will almost certainly end up looking very straggly.
The varieties I sowed were: leek musselburgh (reliable proven favourite), cabbage Brunswick (huge, for the show), kale Red Russian (supposedly something of a gourmet selection), brussels sprout Trafalgar (very sweet flavour), celeriac Giant Prague (good size), aubergine Moneymaker (well suited for British climate), tomato Ailsa Craig (good flavour), tomato Stonor's Exhibition (for the show), chilli Prairie Fire (seed gathered from last years crop, small bushy plants ideal for a windowsill with lots of small fiery chillis great for cooking), chilli Cayenne (seed gathered from last years crop, excellent general purpose culinary chilli), sweet pepper Marconi Rosso (reliable, tasty, long red pepper).
My general philosophy with regard to sowing is to sow early and sparingly. I don't mean so early that they are out of season, but as early as is indicated on the packets and with regard to your local climate (i.e. earlier in warmer areas, later in colder areas). Although people often say that later sowings will catch up with early ones anyway so there is no rush, I am not convinced by this. It is true that given warm and moist favourable conditions later sowings will thrive and may well catch up with earlier ones, but in my experience this is a rare occurrence. Given the very free draining soil that we have here in Cambridgeshire, and the dry spells we have been experiencing in recent years, it is my belief that earlier sowings will benefit from getting their roots down into moist soil, which will then be able to follow the moisture down when the top soil begins to dry up as the season progresses. Later sowings will be struggling to establish their roots in dry soil, and no amount of watering is ever going to make up for the difference. Water is everything for vegetables, and if you can get the roots established early enough you will save yourself hours with a hose or watering cans, and you will have healthier crops to boot. Plants suffering from water stress will be more susceptible to attack from pests and diseases as well, so getting them in early can make a real difference. Of course if you live in an area where your soil stays moist all year then this is less of an issue, and then later sowings make more sense.
However, by sowing early and, as I mentioned before, sparingly, then if your first sowing fails you still have time and spare seed to make a second sowing without it being too late. Sowing the whole packet of seed in one row is rarely a good idea unless you have very few seeds in the packet. Firstly, you will probably sow them too thickly and are then just creating work for yourself in thinning them out at a later date. Secondly, if conditions are bad for germination you have put all your eggs in one basket and may therefore have wasted all your seed in one go. Thirdly, successional sowings every few weeks will mean that your crops will mature in stages, meaning that you will be picking perfectly ripe crops over a longer period, instead of having a glut all at once that will probably end up going to waste, or at least being eaten when they are past their best. So early and sparingly means that you are increasing your chances of success, while reducing the amount of work you will have to put in and ensuring the longest cropping period.
I also sowed celeriac in rootrainers (more on these another time) in the greenhouse and aubergines, two types of tomatoes, chillis and sweet peppers into heated propagator trays covered with plastic lids with the vents fully closed.
The vents are closed in order to preserve the moisture in the trays to aid germination and to prevent the warmth causing the compost to dry out. If the compost dries out then water will have to be added, which will disturb the seeds which are just covered with a fine layer of vermiculite, so it's best to avoid having to do this if at all possible. However this does mean you have to check the trays for germination day and night as it is essential to open the vents as soon as the seedlings appear, otherwise they will be prone to attack from a fungal disease called "damping off" which will destroy the stems of all your seedlings where they meet the compost. The best bet is probably to remove the lid altogether to ensure good air circulation if your propagator is in the house, as it is unlikely to get cold enough to damage the seedlings and the increased amount of light getting through will help to prevent the seedlings getting tall and leggy. In fact the tray can be removed from the heated propagator altogether and placed in the sunniest position you can find, otherwise the seedlings will almost certainly end up looking very straggly.
The varieties I sowed were: leek musselburgh (reliable proven favourite), cabbage Brunswick (huge, for the show), kale Red Russian (supposedly something of a gourmet selection), brussels sprout Trafalgar (very sweet flavour), celeriac Giant Prague (good size), aubergine Moneymaker (well suited for British climate), tomato Ailsa Craig (good flavour), tomato Stonor's Exhibition (for the show), chilli Prairie Fire (seed gathered from last years crop, small bushy plants ideal for a windowsill with lots of small fiery chillis great for cooking), chilli Cayenne (seed gathered from last years crop, excellent general purpose culinary chilli), sweet pepper Marconi Rosso (reliable, tasty, long red pepper).
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Blossom
Checked in my greenhouse this morning to discover that my little apricot tree in a pot is covered with beautiful pale pink blossom all over. Time to get busy with a soft paint-brush to ensure all the blossom gets pollenated, as there are few insects to do the job for me in the greenhouse right now. Last year we had three apricots, looks like this year could be a lot more. YUM!
Grumpy
I was very miffed last week to discover that the plot adjoining my allotment at the end had been ploughed. Not an issue in itself, but the person doing the ploughing had seen fit to turn his tractor repeatedly on the grassy area I keep at the end of my plot for family picnics. Had they had the decency to seek my permission before driving on my plot, or even bothered to have a close look, they would have become aware of the line of globe artichoke plants that mark the end of my plot that have now been pulverized by the tractor wheels. It has taken me two years to nurture these plants to the stage where they may well have yielded their first crop this year; now I will have to start over, and erect another fence to prevent it happening again.
For the record I have had my own plot ploughed a couple of times in the early years, and have always ended up regretting it. It is very tempting when faced with a new weedy plot to just bury the problems with the plough. The reality is that you end up shifting all the soil over by one furrow towards one side of your plot, leaving an unwelcome trench down one side and a hump on the other. No amount of raking will ever level it out properly again, and you are left with an uneven plot that soon exhibits all the same weedy problems as before. Regular ploughing will create a compacted pan under the top soil just as much as rotovating will, and it won't do any good for your soil structure either as no organic matter is incorporated. As I have previously commented, fixed beds and paths and double digging are the best way for an allotment or garden - hard work at first but far easier to maintain in the long run. Ploughing may seem like the easy option, but it will give poorer results and more problems in the long run. I suggest you leave it for the farmers, for whom there is little option given the scale of their plot, and use more appropriate techniques for allotments, which don't involve driving agricultural machinery over other peoples artichokes.
For the record I have had my own plot ploughed a couple of times in the early years, and have always ended up regretting it. It is very tempting when faced with a new weedy plot to just bury the problems with the plough. The reality is that you end up shifting all the soil over by one furrow towards one side of your plot, leaving an unwelcome trench down one side and a hump on the other. No amount of raking will ever level it out properly again, and you are left with an uneven plot that soon exhibits all the same weedy problems as before. Regular ploughing will create a compacted pan under the top soil just as much as rotovating will, and it won't do any good for your soil structure either as no organic matter is incorporated. As I have previously commented, fixed beds and paths and double digging are the best way for an allotment or garden - hard work at first but far easier to maintain in the long run. Ploughing may seem like the easy option, but it will give poorer results and more problems in the long run. I suggest you leave it for the farmers, for whom there is little option given the scale of their plot, and use more appropriate techniques for allotments, which don't involve driving agricultural machinery over other peoples artichokes.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Every hour counts
The last two weeks I have been extremely busy with work and garden club business, in particular getting the garden club seed order processed and delivered, so my apologies for the lack of posts in this time. The seed order was very successful with huge savings being made on seeds and potatoes, just in time for the sowing season. With all this going on it's been hard to find any time for the garden lately, but I did manage to get out there with my six year old son Alec for an hour last weekend - and what an hour it was! We started by pruning back the grape vine at the front of the house, important to get done before the sap starts rising and therefore an urgent job that I really out to have done earlier. We pruned the vine back hard to the main stem, making a makeshift magic wand from the prunings for Alec, who proceeded to make two cars and a spotty grey cat appear from thin air (in his imagination at least)! We then pruned the apple trees in pots at the front at Alec's insistence, not strictly necessary but worth a little re-shaping. Taking our prunings to the back garden we then cut all the old asparagus stalks down to the ground and cleared around them (a big but easy job that we should have done in the autumn) and likewise removed all the old sweetcorn stalks and canes and cleared away the weeds underneath. Finally we pruned the main stem leaders off the tops of the minarette apples and pears. We had a great time together, me cutting and Alec putting all the prunings on the heap and generally getting his hands dirty, and it all took just one hour - but the difference in how the garden looks now is amazing. The scruffy depressing mess of winter is now a neat tidy space just waiting for spring planting and new growth. We now feel inspired to crack on and develop the blank canvas, instead of averting our eyes in shame every time we step out of the house. We could easily have spent that hour in front of the telly, indeed the main reason we went out at all is because Alec had spent too long in front of it already, but grabbing the brief opportunity has made a huge difference to the garden and was the best hour of our day, spent having fun together outdoors. If you only spend one hour a week in the garden you'd be amazed at what you can achieve some times. An hour a day can be little short of miraculous. Don't wait for long bank holiday weekends; grab those precious hours whenever you can, get your kids away from the TV and into their wellies and get out there, and see the differences an hour can make for yourself.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
the little things...
As I mentioned yesterday in my digging post, for me gardening helps slow the passage of time by noticing the little differences every time you step out into the world. Today whilst chatting at the allotment I looked down to see that by my feet were the first shoots of this years rhubarb crop just poking through the soil. A reminder that it won't be long before I'll be enjoying rhubarb crumble, rhubarb bellinis, and pig's bum! (see "How to Eat" by Nigella Lawson - the one and only cookbook anyone really needs)
A welcome indicator of spring approaching if ever there was one.
I even managed to get the mower out and give the lawn a once over today - it certainly was in need of a haircut! I ended up getting three basket loads of dead thatch out of it - it looks a bit sorry at the moment but I am sure it will be looking better for it soon, and now I have lots of clippings for the compost. Just remember, if you are planning to mow the grass at this time to keep the blades set high and "just take a little off the top". Cutting too low at this time of year could seriously damage your lawn, but a little trim will be beneficial.
A welcome indicator of spring approaching if ever there was one.
I even managed to get the mower out and give the lawn a once over today - it certainly was in need of a haircut! I ended up getting three basket loads of dead thatch out of it - it looks a bit sorry at the moment but I am sure it will be looking better for it soon, and now I have lots of clippings for the compost. Just remember, if you are planning to mow the grass at this time to keep the blades set high and "just take a little off the top". Cutting too low at this time of year could seriously damage your lawn, but a little trim will be beneficial.
Some of my favourite seed varieties
As it's that time of year again when seed orders must be placed, I thought I'd share a few of my favourite varieties. It's in no way comprehensive, and I've only included those for which I have particular favourites, rather than trying to include every type of vegetable. Please comment with your favourites too.
Carrot - Autumn King is always good eating, but for showing Sweet Candle is unbeatable.
Parsnip - Tender and True has a great flavour and the germination has been better for me than Gladiator.
Courgette - Tosca and Golden Dawn have been good, but this year I'm trying Defender as the reports are so good.
Cucumber - Carmen is good.
Onion - Kelsae for big ones (but not for storing), Red Baron for red ones.
Chilli - Cayenne is good for cooking, Prairie fire will give lots of small hot chillis from a compact plant you can grow on a windowsill .
Sweetcorn - Swift, reliable and delicious - hard to beat.
Tomato - Vanessa is a very nice one, Sungold and Suncherry are amazing cherry tomatoes.
Pea - Kelvedon Wonder seems to be the most reliable.
Broad bean - Aquadulce is reliable, very hardy and delicious, The Sutton is nearly as hardy, compact, doesn't need staking and is very productive and delicious.
Runner bean - Enorma is very reliable, delicious, and great for showing.
Potatoes - Charlotte are delicious and reliable salad potatoes, Kestrel is a superb boiling, mashing and roasting spud and is probably the best show potato there is.
What's your favourite? Vegetables, fruit, flowers, anything.
Carrot - Autumn King is always good eating, but for showing Sweet Candle is unbeatable.
Parsnip - Tender and True has a great flavour and the germination has been better for me than Gladiator.
Courgette - Tosca and Golden Dawn have been good, but this year I'm trying Defender as the reports are so good.
Cucumber - Carmen is good.
Onion - Kelsae for big ones (but not for storing), Red Baron for red ones.
Chilli - Cayenne is good for cooking, Prairie fire will give lots of small hot chillis from a compact plant you can grow on a windowsill .
Sweetcorn - Swift, reliable and delicious - hard to beat.
Tomato - Vanessa is a very nice one, Sungold and Suncherry are amazing cherry tomatoes.
Pea - Kelvedon Wonder seems to be the most reliable.
Broad bean - Aquadulce is reliable, very hardy and delicious, The Sutton is nearly as hardy, compact, doesn't need staking and is very productive and delicious.
Runner bean - Enorma is very reliable, delicious, and great for showing.
Potatoes - Charlotte are delicious and reliable salad potatoes, Kestrel is a superb boiling, mashing and roasting spud and is probably the best show potato there is.
What's your favourite? Vegetables, fruit, flowers, anything.
Digging
Spring must be upon us - I've spent the afternoon on the allotment for the first time since the Autumn. OK so it was 2 degrees and there was still ice in the chickens water, but it felt like the seasons are slowly moving forward. This is one of the main reasons I garden - the close proximity with the outside world reveals the minutiae of the changing seasons, which seems to help slow down time as every day feels a little different. The speeding up of time as you grow older was brought in to sharp focus for me recently when a girl in the playground recognised me when I was picking Alec up from school last week. She looked at me for a moment or two as if trying to recollect something and then finally remarked "I remember you, from when I used to go to that after school gardening club", clearly something from her dim and distant past. It was actually last October! Seemed like yesterday to me...
Anyway, back to the allotment. Having last week moved the chicken coup and run off of the vegetable bed that they had been weeding and manuring for me, it was time for a spot of my favourite garden activity - double digging! I hate this, it's really hard, unrewarding, cold work, but needs must. There is a serious compacted pan under the topsoil and the topsoil is in need of a bit of improvement, so I'm tackling it year by year, bed by bed. Last year I did two of the beds (8 metres long by 1.2 metres wide each) and believe me that was enough. However, as I have created long narrow beds that I don't ever have to walk on I have absolutely no intention of re-digging the beds once they are done, for at least ten years, as there should be no significant compaction. A big dressing of manure each autumn lightly forked into the surface should be all that is required to keep the soil in good condition.
Double digging involves digging down to two spades depth. To be honest I can't see the point of any other kind of digging. If you've gone to the trouble of exposing the subsoil by single digging, you may as well at least fork up the subsoil to remove any compaction and get some air into it, and preferably add a bit of organic matter at the same time. To my mind garden compost from your heap or bin is as good as any manure, and therefore an essential thing to have in your plot. Horse and chicken manure are excellent as well, I'm not so keen on bullock muck but others swear by it. Today I used a combination of compost and chicken manure - should be good!
So four hours, a broken back and a broken spirit later, another bed is finally done. Only seven more to go (sigh), I'll do one more this year and that's it for 2011. Still, it's a great feeling knowing I shouldn't have to do it again for a long, long time. Everyone should double dig their plot once at the beginning, and then through careful planning to avoid compaction never do it again.
Having finished digging I even had time to sow a broad beans in the multiple gaps where the ones I sowed in the autumn had been killed by the ice and snow. A few have survived, but most succumbed to the elements in the end. A bit of horticultural fleece laid over them during the worst of the weather would probably have saved them, but having not tried over-wintering broad beans before this is something I have learnt for next year. It will be interesting to see if the newly sown beans catch up with the surviving over-wintered crop. It's still pretty early to be sowing broad beans, these were Aquadulce - the only ones really hardy enough to be sown this early. I'll probably put some more in in another month's time for successional cropping - I love broad beans, they're one of the first early crops and hopefully I'll have enough to freeze a few as well. They also, of course, taste much better picked fresh, young and tender from your garden instead of old, stale and mealy from the shops. If you aren't a big broad bean fan try a few grown fresh from your garden - you may be surprised by the difference. The Sutton is a very good dwarf variety that won't take up much space but will give a decent yield. See my coming post on favourite varieties.
So having spent the day digging, here are a few do's and don'ts:
Do double-dig, once, and never again.
Do incorporate plenty of good organic matter
Don't mix sub-soil in with your top-soil. The sub-soil is usually lighter and of a very different consistency - it was very obvious when I had got down to the sub-soil in my beds. Fork it up or dig it over to break it up, but dont mix it in with the top-soil as it will be detremental.
Don't try to do too much in one go - take small spadefuls and do as much as you feel comfortable with, especially in cold weather as you can easily do yourself an injury.
Don't feel you have to do the whole plot at once, as I have already mentioned I am doing two beds per year, therefore it will be five years before they are all done.
Do avoid using rotovators if you can - they help to create a compacted pan that will just lead to more digging. They also chop up and spread the roots of perennial weeds, leading to more perennial weeds. If you have already double-dug there should be no need to rotovate as long as you dont walk on your beds.
Anyway, back to the allotment. Having last week moved the chicken coup and run off of the vegetable bed that they had been weeding and manuring for me, it was time for a spot of my favourite garden activity - double digging! I hate this, it's really hard, unrewarding, cold work, but needs must. There is a serious compacted pan under the topsoil and the topsoil is in need of a bit of improvement, so I'm tackling it year by year, bed by bed. Last year I did two of the beds (8 metres long by 1.2 metres wide each) and believe me that was enough. However, as I have created long narrow beds that I don't ever have to walk on I have absolutely no intention of re-digging the beds once they are done, for at least ten years, as there should be no significant compaction. A big dressing of manure each autumn lightly forked into the surface should be all that is required to keep the soil in good condition.
Double digging involves digging down to two spades depth. To be honest I can't see the point of any other kind of digging. If you've gone to the trouble of exposing the subsoil by single digging, you may as well at least fork up the subsoil to remove any compaction and get some air into it, and preferably add a bit of organic matter at the same time. To my mind garden compost from your heap or bin is as good as any manure, and therefore an essential thing to have in your plot. Horse and chicken manure are excellent as well, I'm not so keen on bullock muck but others swear by it. Today I used a combination of compost and chicken manure - should be good!
So four hours, a broken back and a broken spirit later, another bed is finally done. Only seven more to go (sigh), I'll do one more this year and that's it for 2011. Still, it's a great feeling knowing I shouldn't have to do it again for a long, long time. Everyone should double dig their plot once at the beginning, and then through careful planning to avoid compaction never do it again.
Having finished digging I even had time to sow a broad beans in the multiple gaps where the ones I sowed in the autumn had been killed by the ice and snow. A few have survived, but most succumbed to the elements in the end. A bit of horticultural fleece laid over them during the worst of the weather would probably have saved them, but having not tried over-wintering broad beans before this is something I have learnt for next year. It will be interesting to see if the newly sown beans catch up with the surviving over-wintered crop. It's still pretty early to be sowing broad beans, these were Aquadulce - the only ones really hardy enough to be sown this early. I'll probably put some more in in another month's time for successional cropping - I love broad beans, they're one of the first early crops and hopefully I'll have enough to freeze a few as well. They also, of course, taste much better picked fresh, young and tender from your garden instead of old, stale and mealy from the shops. If you aren't a big broad bean fan try a few grown fresh from your garden - you may be surprised by the difference. The Sutton is a very good dwarf variety that won't take up much space but will give a decent yield. See my coming post on favourite varieties.
So having spent the day digging, here are a few do's and don'ts:
Do double-dig, once, and never again.
Do incorporate plenty of good organic matter
Don't mix sub-soil in with your top-soil. The sub-soil is usually lighter and of a very different consistency - it was very obvious when I had got down to the sub-soil in my beds. Fork it up or dig it over to break it up, but dont mix it in with the top-soil as it will be detremental.
Don't try to do too much in one go - take small spadefuls and do as much as you feel comfortable with, especially in cold weather as you can easily do yourself an injury.
Don't feel you have to do the whole plot at once, as I have already mentioned I am doing two beds per year, therefore it will be five years before they are all done.
Do avoid using rotovators if you can - they help to create a compacted pan that will just lead to more digging. They also chop up and spread the roots of perennial weeds, leading to more perennial weeds. If you have already double-dug there should be no need to rotovate as long as you dont walk on your beds.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
What I learned today
After some serious neglect over the Christmas period, I finally decided to do something about the dying houseplants on the shelves in my office. Several of them have shed nearly all of their leaves and are looking like they are about ready for the compost bin. Due to the mess of the dried up leaves dropping everywhere I took them down from the shelves one by one and cut out all the dead bits. As I did this it became clear that some of them were very dry while others were soaking wet. The stalks on the ones in the soaking wet pots mostly just came out in my hand - rotted completely through at the base, while the foliage was still dried up. Some plants, however, were absolutely fine, and all of them had been watered the same amount at the same time. So I watered the ones that were dried up, drained the ones that were soaked, pulled out all the dead stuff, and tidied what was left. One of them had to go to the compost bin. Hopefully things will improve now and I'll have some fresh new growth soon.
So what have I learned today? Basically that just because several plants are in the same room it was a mistake to assume that they required the same amount of water. Because they were up on shelves and above eye level it was easier to just water them after dipping in a tentative finger to gauge moisture, rather than taking them down individually to do a more thorough appraisal of thier needs. In future I will make a point of taking each plant off the shelf in turn and taking a moment to assess its general condition and needs, before watering the amount required by the individual plant if necessary. Different plants require different amounts of moisture, and drainage, and this can only be assessed by proper inspection. Besides, its nice to get to know your plants personally!
So what have I learned today? Basically that just because several plants are in the same room it was a mistake to assume that they required the same amount of water. Because they were up on shelves and above eye level it was easier to just water them after dipping in a tentative finger to gauge moisture, rather than taking them down individually to do a more thorough appraisal of thier needs. In future I will make a point of taking each plant off the shelf in turn and taking a moment to assess its general condition and needs, before watering the amount required by the individual plant if necessary. Different plants require different amounts of moisture, and drainage, and this can only be assessed by proper inspection. Besides, its nice to get to know your plants personally!
First post
Hi everyone, it's been a busy week but Ready, Steady, Grow!, the beginners gardening course run by me and my co-presenters Colin and Keren for Fordham and District Garden Club is finally up and running. We had a great turn-out with nearly 30 participants, and it all went very well. I think everyone enjoyed it, they even ate my home-made cakes!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)