[Dave K]

Good luck with that Liz!

4 of my spring onions have come up outside   :)

[Dave K]

Planted the seed potatoes the day after the clocks went forward and the shoots now starting to appear. The Pink Fir Apple were first to come up on Saturday but the International Kidneys have now followed yesterday and seem to be pushing on more quickly. Have to keep a wary eye now for late frosts.  Tomato seedlings growing steadily and these and the four varieties of chilli have been repotted this weekend into 12.5cm pots. Radishes and spring onions seem a bit slow but at least they haven't been attacked by pests (yet). 

[Nigel Bolton]

Have already harvested the first of my radishes, though, despite the dry, I have already had to effect some preventative measures for slugs. I picked them small, so they were hot. Slugs have also knawed off some fledgling leaved from my relatively newly plated rhubarb plants.

Onions and garlic are growing strongly, and carrots have their tuftly leaves a couple of cm high now. Beetroot has been disappointing so far, think the pigeons may have something to do with this.

Runner beans have now been seeded into pots, planting early as a gamble there will be no more frost, therefore should have a crop when supermarkets sell theirs at rediculously high prices.

Spinach now coming along, plenty of blooms on apple, gooseberry and blackcurrent. Pear has blossomed, but feel young tree needs one more year to establish itself before it provides fruit. Plenty of blossom too on plum, made some superb jam last year.

N.

[Halo]

I have onions, potatoes, radishes and broad beans coming up at present. Carrots, spring onions, beetroot and peas were set over the weekend. The courgettes were planted yesterday. In addition, I have apple mint and a pot of wild garlic. I spent over an hour or two weeding the fruit patch (lots of rosebay) and watering it. I've already enjoying having several rhubarb puddings over the last week or so. Tonnes of blossom on the plum trees too. Not too many problems with slugs and hopefully the cats keep the pigeons at bay. Need to keep my eye on that blasted pheasant as that ruined my courgette patch one year.

[rosskesava]

I'm reading this thread with interest. I'm moving to a farm in Wales this November and plan to start growing my own vegatables the following year. Having never grown anything other than tomatoes, it seems there is an incredible amount to learn and know.

How did you all get to know what to plant and when to plant it or is it trial and error or are there basic rules of do's and don'ts? The three books I have on 'grow your own' seem to contradict each other.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

[John Mason]

Quote

rosskesava - 19/4/2011 23:37 I'm reading this thread with interest. I'm moving to a farm in Wales this November and plan to start growing my own vegatables the following year. Having never grown anything other than tomatoes, it seems there is an incredible amount to learn and know. How did you all get to know what to plant and when to plant it or is it trial and error or are there basic rules of do's and don'ts? The three books I have on 'grow your own' seem to contradict each other. Thank you in advance for any replies.

If you're going to be in the Llangeitho area, the geology and hence soil-type is not dissimilar to here.

Mid-Wales soils, especially where previously uncultivated, tend to be thin, stony and acidic, although the latter varies as a function of altitude, drainage etc.

Adding plenty of organic material is essential on an ongoing basis. Best done early winter once you have made your veg-beds. Ask around the local farmers until you find one whose lambing-barn hasn't been mucked out for years and offer to do it in return for the poo. It is excellent - the more the better so long as it's old and well rotted!  Lay it on the surface and let the frost work on it, then fork it in during early Spring.

If going to the coast, always take large containers and a fork, just in case. Storms tear up weed-beds and the seaweed can end up piled high on the beach. You can fork it into the soil and add layers of it to your compost heap.

Most weeds can be composted too and should be allowed to grow to a reasonable size before harvesting for this purpose. Pernicious weeds like creeping buttercup, couch grass, bindweed need to be dug up and burnt, but once that's done the ash can be strewn over your beds at digging-time.

Agricultural lime can be obtained at any farmers' co-op, but if at the coast you can collect seashells from any sandy beach. Crush these and scatter over the surface - a slow-release source of calcium that will deacidify the soil slowly too. That's been my method, but I get down the coast fairly regularly as it's only 10 miles from here.

What to plant? Trial and error is the best, but onions, shallots, runner-beans all do fine here with little maintenance required. Things like spinach, chard, broccoli all do OK but need attention with pests like slugs and cabbage whites. In 2009-10, these came through the winter and gave good pickings the following Spring. But this time around, the frosts of late 2010 destroyed mine! Spuds do OK but pick a variety with good blight resistance as the warm wet summers in recent years have led to outbreaks of this fungus.

Finally, you may need to guard against rabbits which are incredibly destructive. Trapping them is OK if there's just the odd one, but if there are lots you'll need to build a rabbit-fence. Suss the situation out first by observation.

Hope that helps.

Cheers - John

[scrapemedic]

Quote

rosskesava - 19/4/2011 23:37

I'm reading this thread with interest. I'm moving to a farm in Wales this November and plan to start growing my own vegatables the following year. Having never grown anything other than tomatoes, it seems there is an incredible amount to learn and know.

How did you all get to know what to plant and when to plant it or is it trial and error or are there basic rules of do's and don'ts? The three books I have on 'grow your own' seem to contradict each other.

Thank you in advance for any replies.

Had a few good books, but you can't beat learning the basics. Plants are like any other life in the world, they need water, food and protection form the elements, just like us humans. Its all about knowing which ones need which food and when.
Basic rules are they need feeding when they are growing, but not so much when they are dormant, just like the kids.
The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely is a good start and something to read on long winter nights, but don't knock "how to be a gardener" by Alan Titchmarch its a good one for the basics of plant life and their habits. What applies to floweres applies to vegetables too.

Try everything, some things work, some don't; a lot will depend on your soils and your weather and your exposure. What works for me might not work for you. Establishing a parcel of land for vegetable growing is mainly hard work, so don't expect masses of fresh vegetables in the first year. Clear a patch, grow potatoes, they are great weeders and break up the soil beuatifully, taste great and inspire you for the next year.

If you stick a strawberry bed in one place and the yield is low, move it. Thats the great thing about gardening, most plants don't mind the odd move, especially if its better for them. Its like sending the kids to a better school, they may not like leaving their mates behind but they soon settle in.

[scrapemedic]

Well I finally found damp ground whilst digging the allotment today, unfortunately it was about 12" down! Apart from putting the potatoes in the ground today and giving them a good water, and having the permanent fruit in place already, I have made a rather daring decision not to put anything else in the ground till we have had some rain. I could be running the risk of not having anything this year, but I cannot work out how to water them enough even to get them started yet alone maintain damp soil till they get going enough to find water for themselves.

I just really don't have the time to water things THAT much at this time of year. (Or any to bw honest) This will be the second very dry spring in a row, and last year was devastating for a lot of the fruit. So I will concentrate on wateing the fruit and the potatoes for the moment and hope for rain later this week.

Apart from that there is plenty to keep me going on the allotment, lots of tidying and some building work that needs doing. Thank goodness the garden at work is covered by a watering system.

[John Mason]

One to watch - GFS suggests quite a sharp frost in places first thing Friday morning. Just a heads-up for anyone with tender plants outside!

Cheers - John

[Nigel Bolton]

Protect from the wind too. Next week shows a 'Southern side of a High' easterly flow, and these can be stronger, due to anticyclonic flow, then the gradient alone would suggest.

Given my exposure to the east, and the hills yonder, I can expect winds close to gale force at times at my location over the weekend and early next week. There is plenty of small dead wood in some of my trees which may come down as a result.

Those in the northwest of England should also consider a considerable 'bounce' off the Pennines, i.e. the Helm, and parts of Wales may also experience very gusty winds for the same reason.

N.

[Nigel Bolton]

Quote

Nigel Bolton - 18/4/2011 14:21

Runner beans have now been seeded into pots, planting early as a gamble there will be no more frost, therefore should have a crop when supermarkets sell theirs at rediculously high prices.

N.

Runner beans are up, around 15cm high already. Will have to postpone planting out doors due to strong easterly winds this coming week.

N.

[scrapemedic]

If you are growing plants indoors for later planting out, this is the time to start "hardening off" those tender young plants. Open up the green house or cold frame during the day but don't forget to close up again at night if its likely to get frosty. Gradually bring out the plants for longer into the evening until they are ready to go out after about a week or so.

If you are planting seeds directly into the ground, you can probably get going with this now as by the time they peak above the soil the frosts should be over, though northern counties might want to wait a week or so more for the more tender varieties.

[Dave K]

My chillis have been in the conservatory full time for about two weeks now, with all this sunshine in the daytime it gets up to 36 °C which is enough to keep the temperature high enough overnight even for the tropical habanero varieties. In fact the Numex Twilight and Hungarian Hot Wax are even producing flower buds - never had this happen with chillis before June never mind before May!  There are some pretty cool nights coming up though by the looks of it, as long as the conservatory doesn't drop below 15 °C they should be OK, if it threatens to go lower the habaneros will have to come indoors again though.

Potatoes growing quickly and need a lot of watering though the drop in temperatures from last week means the soil in the container isn't drying so much that they need watering morning and evening for now. Toms also growing rapidly - they will have to go outside for reasons of space so I just hope the weather is good enough to out them out in mid/late May as I did last year.

[scrapemedic]

Good chance of frost this week. Tuesday and Wednesday night look likely even down here in the SE. So if you have anything tender out there, spread some fleece over them to keep them frost free.

Took a chance that we may get rain by next weekend (hope I haven't jinxed it now) and planted out some broad beans. It took me five treks to the water hole to water what I have in there already, so really don't want to create too much work for myself. Really tempted to put in some raddishes and salad leaves, cause i really want something to eat now! They are fast growing and early yeilding and will inspire me to keep going. One small bed shouldn't be too much to add to the watering load.

[Ian Williams]

Well i have had a disastrous day! At my GF`s she only has a courtyard so i have a large walk-in Portable greenhouse. Inside are two big potato sacks with New Pots, were about to flower, and on the side racks i had varous Tomato plants, cucumbers and runner beans in a big tray full of pots. Came home from nightshift this morning it was a tadge breezey but nothing too bad, watered them all, went bed. Got up at 1230 and all the pots and tray had come off the side and landed on both my potatoes sacks, alot of the stems are snapped, some of the toms and cues are recoverable, but the potatoes i was wondering will they die or not?

The potato grow bags are only half full of soil so i was thinking to help the weakened foliage to fill the bags with more soil, thus shortening their stems and hopefully strenghten them? Any ideas advice gratefully appreciated. The wind in Plymouth today was absoulutely howling and the GH was tied down, one of the vertical arms had pulled out from the wind and this collapsed the shelving where i had my tray of toms etc

[scrapemedic]

Give the tatties a chance. There were a bunch on the allotment last year that lost their tops in a frost, looked all withered and terrible, but they came back with new growth from beneath the ground.

I tried a portable greenhouse last year to grow my toms in, gave up after the second time in ended up in the neighbours garden and all the joints broke. That was after it landed in the sweetcorn, requiring that I had to tie them up to canes to straighten them up. Only one guy on my allotment has one, and he has a vent cut in it above the door, and batonned it down on the floor to the pallets he has it standing on. They are probably fine in a nice sunny sheltered spot in the garden, but anywhere open they are a waste of money. Given that you can buy a 6 x 4 greenhouse for four times the cost of one of those walk-in portable greenhouses, I am seriously thinking of applying to stick up another greenhouse for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

The only thing they are useful for is the extra exercise you get from chasing it around the allotment.

[Ian Williams]

Thanks Liz, To be honest I was gutted, felt like crying lol, after nurturing these for the last 2 months! Unfortunately with 5 kids who all love playing football a glass one probably is equally not a good idea. The courtyard is sheltered to all but an easterly, now at Plymouth at 1200z according to the meto station at Mountbatten it recorded a 49mph gust and there were plenty of them too and all from an easterly, fairly rare i would of thought. Will persevere with whats left and give them some extra TLC lol [y]

[scrapemedic]

You can get greenhouses with plastic windows, in fact they are better as the twin walled polycarbonate glazing is not only tough enough to withstand most football attacks, but insulate the greenhouse in winter and diffuse the sun gently bathing the plants in light rather than focusing it on one poor specimen. I am not sure of the price comparison, a bit cheaper I think. My mum has been slowly replacing her glass glazing with twin wall over the years as the panes break.
Used a few sheets to re-glaze the end of my mums greenhouse last year and the left-overs to make a cold frame.

[Dave K]

Blimey, the tomatoes are starting to produce flowers now...

[Ian Williams]

Quote

Big Dave's Gusset - 4/5/2011 19:41 Blimey, the tomatoes are starting to produce flowers now...

So have my runner beans! Which were planted outside this afternoon some are nearly 3 foot high, have also planted some beans direct into the ground to for a slightly later crop.

I think my New Potaoes are going to be OK they are looking better than before.

Liz thanks for the GH info am seriously looking at getting one in 2013, cant grow anything next year will be away storm chasing and cant trust anyone to look after the plants lol