Garden activity

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: The Hungry Gap is over

Post by jennyjj01 »

British Red wrote: Fri May 13, 2022 6:13 pm I thought a little demonstration of our potato approach might be interesting. We sack grow our potatoes in feed sacks - its something we've had great interest in on the channel. We do this by cutting holes in old feed sacks and rolling them down. Chitted seed potatoes are planted in 6" of home made compost....

Because we do this early we can start the potatoes in the greenhouses before moving the sacks outside when we need greenhouse space for other crops. Its perfectly possible to start again in Autumn harvesting fresh potatoes in December
...
Our " First Early" variety (Sharpes Express) is very large nor - maybe 30" tall and the sacks are fully unrolled
...
What is interesting to note is that they are now about to flower - which means that New Potatoes can be harvested (by emptying the sack into a wheelbarrow)
...
Later varieties are growing on - but by working greenhouses and varieties, its perfectly feasible to harvest spuds for at least 6 months
My god. Your spud plants look awesome. Have you ever had to deal with blight? Last year was a bad one for it.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by British Red »

Oh God's yes. We are in farming country. Last year they were blight spraying almost weekly. It slaughtered our tomatoes. With early spuds we just pull off the haulms (top growth) which stops it spreading to the tubers
Arzosah
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Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by Arzosah »

Lots of rhubarb harvested - dehydrator is full, and lots more stewed for freezing, I remembered to put very little water in. Twice as much rhubarb still to harvest, this is the best I've done.

And there are many little seedlings: the first ones up were the kale, but another 5 sets have seen the day since then. If I can just avoid killing them, it's Happy Days.
British Red
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Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by British Red »

We have carrots and parsnips showing now which is nice 🙂
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by jennyjj01 »

British Red wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 3:45 pm We have carrots and parsnips showing now which is nice 🙂
Me too :D I'll show you mine if you show me y..... Nooooo. It'll only make me jealous.

Probably not as many and tinier than yours, but after all the travails of getting the bu66ers to germinate, I'm well chuffed. A square metre of parsnips nicely spaced out, mostly about 3cm high. Which is odd, because we only eat about a kilo a year of parsnips.

and a row of Paris Market carrots and a bucket of Amsterdam carrots. I can't bring myself to thin them out :(

Those baby courgettes from just a few weeks ago are now all grown up. Two of them went off on a student exchange program.

But my most spectacular success EVER. Peas!. Some in a bucket, Some in a planter.

This is my most diversified season ever and I can't believe I've got all these on the go and looking good....

In order of success SEVENTEEN potential crops on the go!!!!! Four times as many as last year!
Peas: These lovely young girls are grabbing and clambering up their canes. Almost a foot tall! Their little grabbing tendrails like babies fingers. So Cute!
Beetroot,: Just cannot go wrong
Chard,: Just cannot go wrong
Onions, From sets
Courgette,
Beans (of unknown type)
Carrots, two varieties
Parsnips,
Leeks,
Garlic,
Spring Onions,
Tomatoes, three varieties, Struggling.
Bell Pepper: Struggling from a random supermarket fruit
Okra: Very unknown quantity.
Aubergine: Struggling
Chives,
Rosemary.

They're all rather small and fragile. I wonder which will hit the plate first?
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by British Red »

If you interplant your larger crops with a row of radishes, you can lift the radishes before the onions need the space - two crops in one space. You will eat them in June ;)
Arzosah
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Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:20 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by Arzosah »

Congratulations, Jenny, you've cracked the "getting them to grow" bit, good for you :D
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by jennyjj01 »

British Red wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 6:42 pm If you interplant your larger crops with a row of radishes, you can lift the radishes before the onions need the space - two crops in one space. You will eat them in June ;)
Thanks. I saw that radishes are a good interplant, but none of us likes radishes.
You have reminded me that I should research intercropping.
I have spaces between my leeks. I don't think I should interplant my beets or chard cos they grow very fast.
Theres a gap where some carrots failed. Could maybe either put some of the carrots thinned from my bucket there, if they survive transplanting. Other than that, i need to look up what will be happy there. Maybe some marigolds?
I think I may have already put some inappropriate crops together in the same planters.

https://theimpatientfarmer.com/vegetabl ... ing-guide/
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jennyjj01
Posts: 3429
Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by jennyjj01 »

Arzosah wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 7:24 pm Congratulations, Jenny, you've cracked the "getting them to grow" bit, good for you :D
They're quite an assortment of sizes. Mostly rather small. The peppers , moneymaker and aubergines are still on their baby leaves. One of the courgettes is easily the size of a dinner plate while its two siblings are half the size. I'll have cracked it when i know how to keep them prospering. But having that count up of 17 things did surprise and cheer me up...... And it's 18 now. I forgot that I have a strawberry plant that survived from last year.

Incidentally... Parsnips. I tried everything. I tried a ziploc bag of wet compost, a moist jar, wet tissue, Individual potting pods..... None of those worked at all. What worked was just sowing direct into a raised bed. No Faffing, just patience and letting nature do its stuff. Sometimes we over think it.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
British Red
Posts: 428
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:45 pm

Re: Garden activity

Post by British Red »

jennyjj01 wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 8:04 pm
Incidentally... Parsnips. I tried everything. I tried a ziploc bag of wet compost, a moist jar, wet tissue, Individual potting pods..... None of those worked at all. What worked was just sowing direct into a raised bed. No Faffing, just patience and letting nature do its stuff. Sometimes we over think it.
That's how I've always done it. I find the same works for onions - sow in August, leave them to overwinter, harvest the following year