Vegmonkey and the Mrs.

I posted a while ago that a lot of out Spring sown onion sets were bolting. It turned out that only a handful went to seed. The rest have happily filled out so much that 80% or so are ready to harvest. I’m going to leave them for a week or so, then pull them up. The plan is to fill the space with carrots - if all goes to plan, the ground will have served us twice in one season, and we’ll be eating some nice Christmas carrots! Either way, i can’t wait to start eating them, particularly the delicious looking red ones…it’ll be a while though as we have loads. I am going to make a point of learning how to plait them correctly this year, rather than just hanging them up individually in the shed, a la last year.

This theory of using the ground twice in a year is a bit of a ‘Mantra’ for us here at Vegmonkey and the Mrs.  We have already grown a crop of early potatoes and Japanese ‘Senshyu’ Onions in the bed closest to the house, and it now has sweetcorn and courgettes growing well…and it’s only mid July. Also, as i posted yesterday, the second lot of cauliflowers have gone into the space the first lot came out of.

They key i think is having the foresight to plant the seeds and have things ready to fill the space. I’ve ended up with an excess of tomato plants and a spare courgette, which is never bad!

After harvesting the potatoes a couple of days ago, i got to thinking about the poor little seed potato. I took so long deciding whether i wanted earlies or maincrops, then which variety to buy, and then the sub variety, then changed my mind, then went to a potato day and made a final decision based on a number of factors. Luckily i chose well - our harvest tastes delicious, with a few chives added for good measure!

The seed potatoes were then meticulously planted and looked after. However, as soon as the green shoots started appearing, i forgot about the tubers until unearthing them, and caught a glimpse of the wrinkled mess that i spent so much time searching for.

It’s quite amazing that seeds turn into what they do. All we do is (hopefully!) give the seed the right conditions for germination. This enables the embryo - a plant in what is essentially a state of frozen animation - to begin it’s growth. Inside the seed is enough food to support it as it begins to absorb water, the embryo begins to grow, it puts roots down and develops baby leaves (cotyledons), so that it can finally provide its own food. Potatoes are a little different, being the size that they are. The really tiny seeds like carrot seeds are particularly amazing.

This is one of the main reasons we decided to begin growing our own - why should we pay somebody else to give the seed the right conditions for germination, look after it during its growth and food production, (spray it with loads of chemicals!), package it and deliver it to somewhere near our home.

We can do that ourselves.

The potatoes by the back wall in the large black potato buckets looked a little worse for wear yesterday, whether it was some form of scab or blight i don’t know, but i knew the crop would be damaged if i left them in the pot any longer…assuming there was a crop.

I’d planted 3 seed potatoes of ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ in each bucket, but, this being my first foray into potato growing, didn’t know that the tubers grow from the stem, not the root. I’d filled the tub up, and planted the seed about half a foot from the top. With hindsight, and consequently, next year, i will half fill the tub, and add more soil as the leaves develop, this hopefully resulting in a much better crop.

After the plants came out, with a few very happy looking potatoes attached, i set to work delving my hands into the soil, unearthing golden nugget, after golden nugget. There aren’t many things in the veg garden that come close to this as a reward…the scrabblin’ around in the soil, resulting in successful little finds. In total, i unearthed 1.3kg - not bad from 6 tubers. If i’d have planted them correctly, we would probably have twice that. It will keep us in potatoes for a good couple of weeks though.

They quickly found a home in a potato bag the Mrs. bought me for Christmas, so as not to expose them to too much light, or they’d go green.

In addition to the pots, we have about 15 plants growing in the raised beds. I took a couple of plants out as i needed the space (post to come!) with little success, about 300g, so i know which method is better. I don’t want to have to earth up the soil in the raised beds too much, as when the plants come out i will have way too much compost in there. I’ve decided to leave them for a while.

In the potato beds, we have this beautiful flower…who ever said veg didn’t look attractive in the garden? I think it was my mum a few weeks ago that said that First Earlies don’t have to flower before harvesting, a fact confirmed by Alan Titchmarsh’s new book (now i’m getting anoraky!?) - and this was certainly the case with the potatoes in the tubs. I’m going to leave the potatoes in the beds alone though until the flowers have died as the space i needed i now have, and it will give us a crop later on next month - plus they look nice, which will hopefully deter the Mrs. from planting every available container with flowers!

The peas i planted out back in April are doing well.This may have something to do with the amazing weather we have been having these last few days. Rather than put netting up i have decided to let the peas climb of their own accord, and tie them up using green twine, rather than that horrid plasticy stuff i used last year. The slugs and snails have pretty much left them alone, largely helped by the copper tape that the Mrs. has strategically and expertly stuck around the beds. It is surprisingly hard-wearing, most of it lasting the winter, and only now does is it starting to need renewing.

The mistake i made with the peas was not labelling which were Feltham First and which were Mange-Tout. It’s going to be interesting when the plants start flowering to see how many of each plant we have. I was going to sow successionally so that we had a supply of peas throughout the summer, but sadly don’t have the space.

I’m going to grow a supply of plants in guttering in July and plant them out if the peas stop producing.  Having never grown peas before, i’m not sure how long this will be, so it will be interesting. I’m assuming they will be like Runner Beans and keep cropping as long as i keep picking.

I just wandered out into the veggie garden, in search of our first harvest and found something! A plump pink radish nestling slightly under the soil. I can tell when a radish is ready pretty much by just looking at the leaves…sad i know, but i spotted it, picked it, washed it and shared it with the Mrs. Radishes are much nicer early as they seem to get spicier as time goes on. The big crunchy ones we had in the ground late last summer almost burnt our tongues out. The next harvest will probably be some form of leaves followed by either baby turnips or potatoes.

Either way, i know that come the end of May, our little patch of earth will looka lot busier than it does now!

Have just watched gardeners’ world and feel compelled to write a post. I read somewhere recently that Joe Swift was ridiculed, for his use of a rotavator to clear his plot.  Rotavating the weeds in means he will have a real problem with weeds in the near future and for much longer. I am having my first problems with bindweed this year, and am currently looking at the best way to rid the plot of weeds without having to resort to spraying.

It also annoyed me a little that he had all that earth ‘delivered’ right to his plot…i found it a lot harder than that lugging it through the house and certainly didn’t have as much help. It feels a little like Berryfields has been re-located to an allotment site in North London!

Finally on this topic, isn’t the whole point of raised beds that they can be accessed from ALL SIDES! Joe’s are triangular and diamond shaped and are huge. Having raised beds makes absolutely no sense at all if they are going to be trampled all over and the soil compacted (by his children in the show).

I watch Gardeners’ World for exemplar practice, and usually really enjoy the parts about growing food. Carol and Monty (having a rest!) never disappoint.  Monty’s own garden shows that….the perfect example.

In my own garden the ‘Spring Leaves’ above have been planted out and are growing well. The snails love them but the plants are growing slowly. I’ll post on them again when we start eating them, which should be within a couple of weeks…

There are sooooooooo many blogs out in cyber-growing-land!

There are a lot in America, most infact, and the majority i have seen are either ‘flower growing’ gardening blogs or ‘general’ garden blogs with a little fruit and veg thrown in.

I suppose this makes sense, America is a big country, which in turn means lots of gardens.

But i want to read fruit and veg growing blogs.

I know blotanical is useful for finding blogs, but i really do have no desire to grow anything that will not ‘produce’ for me, (just a personal preference) and the website doesn’t allow a specific search for this.

So the purpose of this post is to highlight decent fruit and veg growing blogs in the U.K.  Simple as that. (There are lots of fabulous non-U.K. based blogs in my sidebar…but that’s a post for another day!)

Fork In Hell - An neat little allotment blog based near us, in Gloucester.

Fresh as a daisy - They describe their site as a ‘Veggie Garden Experience,’ which is alright by me.

Growing our own - Another Gloucester allotment, focused on fruit and veg growing.

Manor Stables Veg Plot - A much larger project…and still mostly focused on veg!

Nomegrown - A large plot and a back garden in St Albans.

The smallest smallholding - I’d love this much space and chickens!

Souper Allotment - Adventures getting started with an allotment.

I’m sure there are more that are equally as super, but these are the ones i read regularly. I’d love to hear of any others that i might like, but it’s where to find them! The best place i think is other people’s blogrolls… perhaps we need an award system similar to Mouse & Trowel for veg blogs! Any takers?

Mad English Weather 

When will this weather end! I do like the rain and i don’t really mind the wind or cold temperatures but not altogether! My homemade greenhouse met a sticky end as it was ripped from its home attached to the wall and unceremoniously hurled towards the Senshyu Onions, who, up until then, were growing quite happily! Soil was thrown everywhere, pots upturned and Spring onions evicted from their plastic trays after overwintering well. Looking on the brightside, it made me think about the organisation of the garden…if the greenhouse won’t stay, then i’ll move it!

It ended up being the coldframe that got moved, from the back wall to the side wall. Here it quite bizarrely fits quite nicely and will be a lot more easily accessible. The greenhouse is homeless at present.

What we are planting

I thought i’d post what i’m planting too. A lot of the varieties are ideal for a small garden for one reason or another, whether it be the short growing time, long cropping, winter hardiness or small size. I’ve grouped them by bed for each of reference. The planting plan is here for cross referencing if need be. I’d be very interested to hear if anyone has had any successes or failures with these varieties.

Brassicas

Brussel Sprouts - Bedford - Winter Harvest

Radish - Sparkler 3

Swede - Magres

Turnip - Purple Top Milan

Cauliflower - All Year Round and Winter Walcheren Pilgrim

Purple Sprouting Broccoli - Summer Purple and Rudolph

Cucurbits

Pumpkin/Squash - Jack-be-little, Uchiki Kuri and Burgess Vine Buttercup

Courgette - Defender (long ones) and Tondo di Piacenza (round ones)

Legumes

Peas - Feltham First

Runner Beans - Some Navy Blue ones from next door! and Painted Lady

Dwarf French Bean - Borlotto Firetongue

Mangetout - Oregon Sugar Pod

Roots

Leek - Musselburgh Improved

Spring Onion - White Lisbon and Laser

Onion Sets - Sturon and Red Baron (not heat treated - worried may bolt!)

Parsnip - Countess F1 (last years seeds so may not be viable)

Carrot - Autumn King 2 and Purple Haze F1

Leafy Stuff

Lettuce - All year round, Pandero (Cos) and Granada

Spinach - Oriental Mikado F1, Tirza F1, Emilia

Rocket - Skyrocket (looks brilliant) and wild rocket

Endive - Bianca Riccia da Taglio

Mizuna - Mizuna

Swiss Chard - Bright Lights

Herbs

Rosemary, Sweet Genovese Basil, Coriander Delfino, Plain leaved parsley, Envy Parsley, Chives, Coriander

Oddbods

Tomato - Oregon Spring, Ailsa Craig and Gardener’s Delight

Pepper - Pretty in Purple Rainbow Chile Pepper, Sweet Orange Baby and Californian Wonder

Sweetcorn - Lark F1

Anything not on the planting plan will be either in pots, hanging baskets or attached to a bed in a currently unknown place! Bring on the warmer weather!

This is the first year of us attempting to grow potatoes. Due to the lack of space we have plumped for a variety called ‘Ulster Sceptre,’ which is a first early. ‘Ulster Chieftan’ and ‘Swift’ were the other options i thought about but the former has relatively poor resistance to disease (not usually a problem with earlies as they aren’t in the ground long enough) and the latter i think is too common!

The first step to home grown potatoes is debatable. Chitting involves putting the seed potatoes in a light frost free place such as a covered greenhouse or a windowsill so that they begin to sprout. The purpose of this is to give them a head start so that when they go in the ground, they have more of a chance. The sprouts appearing should be green - not white as this indicates they have not had enough light, and should number no more than 3 or 4. If they do appear too early or are white, according to www.gardenaction.co.uk they can be rubbed off up to 5 times before it has any adverse effect on the sprouts that replace them, which is interesting. Timing is everything! However, through reading i have done myself and discussion with other gardeners, it seems it is only necessary if you want a really early crop. It’s also interesting to note that commercial potato growers don’t chit at all.

I am using an old apple holder whatsit that was no longer needed by Morrisons to chit mine in as i didn’t have the foresight to save egg boxes. Silly, i know!

Potatoes should be planted in early March. I am going to dig a trench about 10cm deep, and place the potatoes in the trench about 25cm apart with about 50cm between each row. This will then be covered over by hand, so not to damage the sprouts.  The recommended distance for earlies is 30cm by 60cm but i really do not have the space to plant any closer, and don’t mind the smaller potatoes that will result.  As the potatoes grow, they will need to be earthed up - the RHS describe this as the drawing up of soil around the plant to prevent the greening of tubers by light and to prevent the onset of blight. I am aware that i may have to build some sort of structure to enclose the soil around the plant as it grows, as the beds aren’t hugely deep - a chance to buy more tools methinks!

We will also have some in large black pots that i purchased at the potato event last weekend. They have drainage holes in the bottom, and will each take 3 of the egg-sized tubers, producing no less that 15lb’s per tub! That’s pretty good going in my book. I need to remember to add some slow release organic fertiliser at planting as i always forget ‘in the excitement of planting…’

In the grand scheme planting plan wotsit, the potatoes will be occupying about a quarter of bed 2, the one that houses the roots. I have already manured most of the bed and will be ’sorting’ the PH at the beginning of the Spring. When they are removed in June, Leeks or Parsnips will go into their space, depending on which have been the most successful in the mini-greenhouse. From past experience, it’ll be the Leeks!

The only problem with earlies is that they don’t store hugely well. Might have to find some interesting ways of cooking them…potatoes with weetabix anyone?

After thinking long and hard about what to do with the cardboard box of seeds sitting in the sideboard, i went to Woolworths and bought 6 small plastic containers. I subsequently changed my mind, put all my nails, nuts, bolts etc in the plastic containers and used their boxes for seeds as per the picture.

This means i can keep the seeds in their original packaging and have been able to separate them into the four main families (roots, legumes, cucurbits, brassicas) - one for each bed and also have a draw for the oddbods such as peppers and tomatoes that won’t go in the beds, and one for herbs. I’ve tried separating them by planting month, but using this method alongside the planting plan is much easier.

I’ve bought what i think are my last seeds for this season this week too, a pack of Brussel Sprouts. Soon it will be time to get sowing.

Next job: Set the tatties out to chit.