Veg4Show

Want lots of cucumbers?

2011-03-10T08:42:00.000-08:00

Soon will be time to sow your cucumbers, still a tad early for me but anyone who actually reads this blog?... will know I grew just one plant last year and in the end the final total was 234 cucumbers from one plant. I also stopped my plant at each shoot, so god knows what would have happened if I trained in every shoot. I was picking 25+ cucumbers a week easily.

Socrates F1 is the name from Mr.Fothergill's seed, you can aquire the seed at any decent garden centre as it's very common. The plant produces MINI, bitter free cucumbers and all female flowers aswell. My only tip would be to pick them when they are small, about half the size of a regular cumcumber for best taste and to avoid any seeds. Make sure you have plenty of friends ready to take them off your hands aswell.

What I'm doing...

2011-01-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I decided not to grow for show this year, I have to admit I found it really hard to pull myself away, I know deep down I just don't have the time to do it at the moment to the standard I want.

I have been having a good rest and have spent so much time in my own garden (which is pretty big and hard to manage) re-designing near everything has been very enjoyable, although I have made a right mess but I'm sure by summer it will be straight.

Last year I put a 12x8 greenhouse up in my own garden which I grew a bumper crop of tomatoes and cucumbers. It really did surprise me how much better this crop was just for being in my own garden rather than 25 minutes drive away. Having time to tend for them when it suited me was a great feeling, rather than rushing about like a mad man trying to get it all done knowing you won't be back for at least two days.

So what am I going to do this year....

Our new allotment site will be ready to take over around about March time, so I look forward to growing some veg on that for winter use. Much work to be done before you could say it will be usable site tho.

I will give you an insight into the other side of what I do, growing flower plants from seed is a bit of a passion for me and I hope to keep a record of that on here this year aswell as my allotment progress.

So far I have in my new greenhouse at home sown the following:

sweet williams - will be large plants by june ready to flower following year early.
hollyhocks - Will flower first year and will be nearly in flower in June
delphinium - Again will flower first year and near in flower in June
lupins - Same as above
begonia - will be in 6 cells near in flower in June
verbascum - Will be ready to flower first year in July
penstemon - Will flower first year in July

Now I don't ever sow my seeds by what the packet says, I take that as a guide, I add on weather conditions, how warm or cold my greenhouse will be and then work out when I'd like them to flower/be sold or what pot size I'd like them in at the time they are planted or sold, this is a big factor in cost when growing bulk plants.

I am normally aiming at June/July and showing signs of flowering or large healthy plants ready to flower for the rest of the summer.. Personally I never buy plants with flowers on them. As you can see from the list above, the seeds I have sown In January will all be ready by june and should flower all summer with year two being even better. Every thing may be a little slower to grow this year tho as I won't be providing as much heat and my garden does not get the sun as my old site where I grew them.. so time will tell and I shall make adjustments the following year.

My next sowings will be in a few weeks time, hopefully by then I should have some plants to prick out.

Pumpkin seed

2010-11-26T04:10:00.000-08:00

I have managed to source (beg) some seed from from Mark in Cornwall from a pumpkin that came in at 798lbs. My local school will be having a small pumpkin contest next year so these seed are going to come in handy. I will be growing some plants aswell as the children growing them from seed if they wish. I will sow my seed late April ready to be handed out sometime late May to any children willing to have a go. I may even grow one myself (I would hate to beat the children tho). A big thank you to Mark who very willingly gave me the seed, I look forward to growing them.

Marks pumpkin, pretty impressive huh!!

Don't panic

2010-10-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Over the next fews I'm going to adjust the design of the blog, so it will randomly change colours and design etc as I battle to actually make the dashboard work in blogspot without crashing.

Please ignore everything..

Carrot Abaco

2010-10-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

Incase anyone is interested, you can get Abaco carrot seed from here:

http://www.exhibition-seeds.co.uk/acatalog/info_34a.html

Being as I have never liked sweet candle (goes to big) I'd be interested to see how this carrot fairs, now it has some recognition I'm sure it will be a contender and more people will be growing it in 2011.

random

2010-09-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of things I never got around to posting

Cucumbers growing in my greenhouse at home. Took most of my time away this year erecting this greenhouse. I had to clear the ground of an old metal shed, lay foundations and not to mention the 500+ bricks it took to complete the beds + 2 ton of compost and manure. I grew one cucumber plant that produces half sized cucumbers and got just under 200 cucumbers from one plant and it is still growing strong as we speak producing at least 10 cucumbers a week. At its peak we were getting 25+ a week, never know anything like it.

Managed to show a few sets of Cauli this year due to the amount of sowings I grew, problem is each sowing all comes in at the same time and I was ending up with 10 Cauli a week.

Long carrots

2010-09-12T12:55:00.001-07:00

Although not perfect my long carrots were by far the biggest surprise as I honestly can say I did not look after them at all.

For once; as I had no time to spare for a vegetable that normally is so hard to grow good I did not pay any attention to my long carrots in the tunnel. I watered now and then but no where near what I normally would, to the point of them being so dry I thought they must be forked, yet when pulled had loads of bulk.

I have learnt to just leave them alone, even when undercover. I only grew 10 long carrots so I was happy to get a few sets.

When I grew them outside a few years back I didn't water at all, but when undercover you really have no idea when to water.

Sun was so bad I had to cut this picture, sorry but it blinded you, you don't need another picture of my dad either lol.

pigeon

2010-09-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

I love my birds of prey and despite people hating them they serve us more good than bad. The big problem being the cute little birds sometimes get eaten, but this is nature and nature always knows best.

I welcome these guys, aswell as any other bird in my garden, cats cause more problems..trust me. I was delighted to see this magnificence bird pluck a pigeon from the tree and eat it right next to me while I stood there with a camera.. whats the odds on that?. I could have saved the Pigeon but this bird works for its food, I would never interfere as they need to eat. This pigeon I'm sure ate many of my cabbages aswell.

collection of 3

2010-09-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

Won every collection of 3 I did this year, pity you never get anything for them..£100 would be nice.

Had to re-use some sweet candle, well didn't have to but I'm sure we have all done this. I looked at the competition in the collection of 3, decided I had won so changed the vegetables around to ensure victory in both classes lol. I didn't have enough veg to enter the collection of 3 so I pretty much entered anything to make the class up as no one cares if you win this board..shame but true as it carries nothing but a win and a point.

collection of 4, sometimes 3?

2010-09-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Picked up a trophy for my collection of 4, what did surprise me is that a collection of 3 (just seen in picture) came second.. Judges..I have so much faith in you.. You can't count or see but you are always correct.

collection of 6

2010-09-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

Managed a second place with the collection of 6. Probably my worst year ever growing celery, although clean I had to remove at least 15 sticks frome each plant as they had split.

My NVS Amour potatoes were excellent as they were last weekend, really impressed with this potatoe and by far imo better than kestrel.

My long carrots were pretty massive, haven't had that much weight on them for years and to be honest I didn't look after them and hardly did I water them in the tunnels so I was very surprised when I pulled them.

more showing

2010-09-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Really is surprising just how much stuff I take to these shows, with all the vegetables packed in the car and then spread about all the tables you don't see the full picture. This is just part of what I took to the show this weekend, I couldn't get it all on the table.

The following weekend I had 18 entries, 15 1st and three 2nds and came no where near most points in show. This weekend again saw any trophies all given to flowers, bar two for vegetables which I took one of them for a collection of 4.

More updates to come...

Something else

2010-09-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

Something to brighten the place up while we wait to see what happens next. Took my eye while browsing through my camera.

Sweet Candle

2010-09-01T08:47:00.001-07:00

Can't seem to find the photo I took of my "best in show in the vegetable section" of my sweet candle, so here's a few from my board.

I would say this year it was much harder to get a set, and I had to discard perefectly good carrots as they had what I call stretch marks on them half way down. Again the dry spell has not helped carrot growers at all this year and tap water is just not the same.

To get a really good set of 6 took 20 carrots... last year? only about 9. I must say tho all 20 carrots were good, but I'm so fussy and wanted a perfect set.

Skin finish on the carrots this year was superb, I still have these carrots and even now they look no different and I have left them uncovered. I cleaned them with a soft pad using water and washing up liquid, gently going around the carrot. The tops I always clean with an ear bud. The washing up liquid really does help and gets rid of that almost ingrained dirt you sometimes have when they dry out on the bench.

I probably won't be showing sweet candle at my next show, as I have especially grown some small red core as everyone moans they are not short carrots at this show.

Runner Beans

2010-08-31T06:02:00.001-07:00

To be honest I grow runner beans for eating and if they make it to a show and get a card its a bonus.

Not a great year for allotments with no water supply resulting in poor plants. With a class that normally see's so many entries only having 6 you know it must be global warming,runner beans will probably be extinct by next year.

I was surprised to win this class to be honest, but longer beans don't always win if they are uneven.

250g Globo Onions

2010-08-31T05:51:00.000-07:00

Good year for onions? I suppose if you have good ground and maybe the odd bit of watering here and there you could say it was. All my onions grown outside were better than I have had for some years and I didn't water them at all. No mildew this year on them aswell, so they should store ok.

Quite a few entries in the onion classes so I was happy to win with my Globo.

Best in show?

2010-08-31T03:20:00.000-07:00

My granfather on a regular basis would get "Best in Show" and he has plenty of medals to prove it.

Since we took over from him we have never won any, which just shows how bloody good some entries are at these shows. We have come close, last year with the garden news tray, and 2 years before that with parsnips.

Again tho we took "Best in show in the vegetable section" but its just not the same. I personally feel it is impossible for us or anyone else infact showing vegetables to win "best in show" at any show I enter. The flower classes are so well contested and there is pretty much no way a judge will choose a vegetable over flowers. I have had and seen pristine, superb, best I have seen veg that didn't even get a look in.

I still have not worked out how my sweet candle got best in show for the vegetable section as my parsnips I personally feel were much better, but who cares.

(Pictures here later of almighty great flowers that always beat me), mind you they do give me some flowers to take home so I will forgive them.

(Best in show far right, I can't remeber how many times he has won, probably a good 15 years on the trot.

Asters

2010-08-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well it all started at this show last year after seeing some fantastic asters on display that I decided to grow some using the vouchers I won at this show for the Garden News Tray.

Normally I grow bog standard asters but I was so impressed with the show variety I gave them a shot.

Out of everything at the show I entered this meant the most to me as I had grown some flowers for a show (which I never do) and they were a good standard and even won.. Shame we had so much rain just before this show or I'm sure we would have seen a lot more as I was the only entry

Parsnips

2010-08-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Pulled 7 parsnips to get 4, with 5 being good, one canker and the other forked..So pretty good going.

Pleased with my parnips this year, cleaned up very well and came an easy first.

I'm useless at taking photos of parsnips, so I had to take them at home.

1st Show. Collection of 6

2010-08-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

Over the comming days I will post some pictures and updates up of my 1st show this season.

Collection of 6 result: 1st

Not the best of pictures as I forgot to re-adjust the display after the judges had messed about with it, parsnip slipped down a bit and leek had moved forward. Trust me they were much more even before everyone touched them.

Howz it growing.

2010-08-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well few ups and a few downs, to be expected as I have not payed any where near the attention I normally would to my veg this year. I have tried my best to give them as much attention as possible and I know what needs to be done but it's so hard to find the time to do it right.

I really will do my best to get some photos up of everything below, maybe before Monday.

Parsnips: Noticed first signs of spider mite a month ago and some have already been hit hard but I have so many I'm sure the odd one or two that have gone yellow won't be a big deal. I have been using Predatory mites to help control the situation and so far they have done a good job, I opted for 2000 of them so plenty to work there magic.

Leeks: most got footrot or onion fly maggot, the remaining leeks look superb until a week ago when a mass of spidermite got on them and ruined most of the flags. Sprayed with everything you can get (no joke) every single day for a week with no luck. In the end I killed most of them with my fingers running them up and down the flags, Predatory mites would be to late now as it would take 4 years for them to be eaten. Tonight I tried some 79% linseed oil based insecticide.

Celery: Mixed bag, some great, some ok, some rubbish. Have had a few problem with some strange like scale maggot (never seen this one before) eating right in the heart of the celery causing a few plants to stress and consequently get heartrot.

Some of the celery got shaded by my potatoes that decided producing 7 foot halms would be a good idea, so again consequently have not grown aswell as expected.

The first bed of 6 is fine and most of bed 2 is also fine so I should be ok and these are now all on 18inch collars. Typical tho that my best two sticks of celery have split 4 sticks in so I had to remove at least 7 sticks from each plant to get the split sticks out. Way to hot for celery this year and with the lack of rain despite the watering it has been hard going.

Potatoes: Halms are massive, but I feel they are a tad shaded by the hedge. My kestrel should be near ready and a test bag showed 4 excellent spuds. My other test bag that is in full sun were ready but showed very slight scab but superb potatoes. I'm hoping the ones in the shade will be fine as they don't dry out like these other bags. I have been watering these bags every single day ever since they started to tuber, sometimes twice and they still got scab.

Carrots: All good, lost a few to willow aphid etc.

Tomatoes: All look fine, cedrico tho has some massive tomatoes on them which I have never had and some don't even look like cedrico so i'm not happy, poor strain this year.

Cauli: picked a good 40 so far, all been pretty darn good..Pity I marked my diary wrong or these would have been perfect for the shows.

Runner beans: Plants small but man some great beans already.

Beetroot: Rubbish.

Onions: Rubbish, have a few.. Onion fly had them all. 250g globo onions all pulled now and should make a decent set.

Final late sowings

2010-07-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

Extending the growing season is important if you want as much fresh vegetables as you can get.

Getting in your last late sowings now will be ideal for crops in Oct-Dec.

I will be sowing:
Carrot: paris market - golf ball like carrot.
Carrot: Autumn king 2 - good banker for some decent carrots late in season
Pea: Blauwschokker - very productive if we get good weather and kept moist. Almost black/purple pods but green peas.
Dwarf bean - Roma - Never tried this one, so giving it ago.
Savoy cabbage - (can't remember the name, buts its a small pointed version, so crops quicker and can be planted very close.
Baby beetroot - kestrel: This is the beetroot I eat fresh and boiled as all the rows of other early beetroot would have been pickled as we love the stuff.
Broccoli - Raab 60 days - Quick growing mini heads like broccoli. I have seen the stuff before but have never grown this dwarf variety so will be interesting to see what I get off it.
Christmas potatoes - Maris Bard and Pentland Javelin

This little lot will all get planted this week now we have finally had some rain I can get sowing.

allotment pictures..part 2

2010-06-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

allotment continued..

4 rows of carrot, 2 beet and 1 lettuce

Chrysanthemum.. All exhibition varieties but grown just for cut flowers unless they do so happen to flower early then I do show the odd one. 90 asters are next door to this surrounded by wire to keep the rabbits off.

I'll add some more stuff when I have time.

allotment pictures..part 1

2010-06-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

I hardly ever post pictures of our allotment, so here you go..something different.

Show Cauli looking to early, what with me watering them non stop and this warm weather they just took off. Hopefully the later sowings at the other end will come in for the shows.

Cheery tree is loaded, picture taken a week ago and opon checking today I have a good couple of hundred ready to come off.

Onions from sets are nearly ready to harvest, I have been bending the tops of any that I feel have stopped growing and using any that went to seed.

Potatoes: First early potatoes are ready and have been digging as new potatoes for a few days now. Could do with another week to make it worth while.

Broad beans and peas: Broad beans went in late this year so are still not ready (ones in garden are) Peas are no where near like they were last year, lack of water has resulted in lower plants, still we have peas.

Still have loads of cabbage ready for picking in the garden, but these are my later ones. No need to cover as I spray with "grazers" birds will still test them, but they soon give up and eventually the cabbage grows perfectly well. As you can see the ones on the far left of picture went in first and now have near no damage. Cabbage whites are not a problem either as I also have a spray that keeps them off.

onions

2010-06-23T11:48:00.000-07:00

Not getting my hopes up, I have a mixed bag again of decent onions, smaller onions and destroyed onions. If all my decent onions don't get foot rot I will fine.

Tomatoes

2010-06-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes are growing well, despite the lack of attention I have been giving them.
Again I took some side shoots from these as I had great results from them last year. I potted them up and they are growing in my other greenhouse about 2 foot high at the moment. I find the side shooted plants will only be two weeks behind these which is ideal for me.

Done a few hanging basket tomatoes this year aswell, I'm pretty impressed with them so far..we shall see how they taste.

leeks

2010-06-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

Not such good news for my leeks, but then its to be expected. I suffer from foot rot and once you have it you will always get it year in year out. This also effects my onions and by the end of season at least 75% would have been chucked.

Parsnips

2010-06-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

Best parsnips I have had for many years at this time of year, I put this down to one thing and that is spider mite. Normally my parsnips have spider mite on them when they are 6 inches high and its all down hill from there. Controlling this pest is near impossible and they cause so much damage the parsnip just stops growing. It's always an uphill battle to keep them at bay, normally I have millions and this year I have non. This is partly due to the harsh winter and keeping my parsnips covered in fleece the whole growing season has helped, I just hope they stay away. I have sprayed 4 times with a fungicide, yet insecticide has not touched them yet.

Leeks

2010-05-25T12:25:00.001-07:00

Not happy with my leeks, I just feel it has taken way to long for them to move since I planted them out. Maybe its just me, but when I look at them, take the collars off etc I don't see any difference from a few weeks back. Obviously a concern as this happened last year and the leeks just didn't do any good. I think the leeks do not like this ground, fingers crossed they will start to grow soon.

Tomatoes

2010-05-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes planted out about 4 days ago, again same as last year I have planted them really deep. These plants were twice the height of what you see in the photo. Planting so deep encourages new root growth from the stem that is below ground, resulting in a sturdy strong plant that has more roots to pick up nutrients and water. Don't worry about removing any lower leaves, I have taken a good two or three off each plant already.

As the plants get going I will support them, spray them for blight, and remove the lower leaves.

runner beans

2010-05-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

Disappointed that non of the 10 or so longest runner bean strain germinated, must have been bad seed for them all to fail, especially when all my others have either come up or are just showing in the compost.

I shall plant another 60 or so beans this weekend in the hope of picking them a little later in season.

Celery

2010-05-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

All my celery is now sitting outside, especially due to the fact its been so hot inside the greenhouse. Very happy with this batch and I shall plant them out at the weekend.

Onions

2010-05-25T12:02:00.001-07:00

Pretty much the size I'd expect my onions to be at this time of year. All pretty much the same size, the really hot days have not helped.

Parsnip warning signs

2010-05-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

My parsnips are growing great despite being covered in fleece to keep bugs at bay...But look closer; at this time of year you may well start to see the first signs of leaf spot. Yellow-green spots that appear that will eventually destroy your parsnips, as the spots enlarge turning brown and almost burnt in apperance. I will spray mine now every 10 days or so for a month at least with a good fungicide as I have noticed a few spots. No spider mite as yet.

Picture after being sprayed.. What I find interesting is the size of my parsnips compared to last years. If you view "2009 May Parsnips" pictures you will see that the above parsnips are actually better and bigger despite going in a good month later. I think this is mainly due to the fact I have no spider mite (yet?) and this time last year I had plenty. It goes to show how much damage they can do, the hard winter combined with the fleece must have helped keep them off...for now.

potatoes

2010-05-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Managed to get most of my potatoes in today..Gee i'm pretty late this year but I'm sure they won't be fine anyway so who cares.

I have planted
12 NVS Sherine
12 NVS Amour
12 Kestrel

and if I can be bothered I will plant 12 harmony on Friday.

Slightly different to last year, I'm still using 17 litre polypots but I have put a layer of Peat Plus in the bottom (its like manure really and holds moisture extremely well). Peat plus stinks so bad its worst than putting your head inside those dog shite bins on the side of the road, its not for the faint hearted. On top of all this I have a mix of peat and multipurpose compost.

I have found a supplier local to me of a multipurpose compost called Erin that contains peat (thank the lord) and I was so impressed by it I decided to add it to my potatoe mix. Erin comes in a green bag and has 70 litres of compost in it..yes 70 litres of compost, not 70 litres of bark. When I opened the bag you could see the peat in the mix, it just fell apart in my hands. It is such a light airy compost, nothing like the crap I normally have to use because of peat free zone around here. Even pure peat these days is mostly rubbish and fury things, I sieved the erin compost with minimal waste, and even the waste broke up in my hands..Yeah I have fallen in love with a green bag of compost.

Anyway back to potatoes... In the end I decided to sieve all my compost and to this I added about 1 handfull of vitax q4 and 1 handfull of calcified seaweed (because measuring is boring and Simon said it works so he must be right lol). I think everyone has gone crazy with the sudden OMG dont use calcified seaweed as its lime and potatoes hate lime...err we have been doing it for years with no problems, if you are worried then jump on the bandwagon and use seaweed meal.

Marrows

2010-05-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

My first sowing of Blyton Belle marrows are really starting to move now. Hopefully it will start to warm up soon so I can harden them off. I Decided this year to do two sowings and my second sowing is only just comming up, this will hopefully give me some better options when it comes to picking them for show day.

I have also sown my pumkin and giant marrow selection. I'm sure my giant marrow will recieve more attention if they germinate.

sweet candle carrots

2010-05-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

Again perfect germination on these and I will thin them this weekend down to 3 and eventually 1 per station. I haven't grown any where near as many as I did last year, A: because we are only going to do two shows and B: My dad did the bed so didn't do it as I would have, never mind they are in which is better than nothing as I wasn't going to plant them.

leeks/onions

2010-05-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

My leeks and onions have been planted for just over a week now and have rooted well. I am going steady on the water as they don't seem to like a lot when first planted out, assuming the beds were fully charged with water and left a few days prior to planting. A good tip is to spray now with fungicide, especially if you suffer from mildew like me. I will also be putting up the sticky tape traps again this year to get those thrips which worked so well last year.

Night temperatures have been horrible again and with the added wind it has been so cold, even during the day we have had some pretty cold days for this time of year. Has set me back with hardening off my sunflowers which need planting now.

cabbage

2010-05-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

Some early cabbage that we put in some time ago are really starting to move now and hopefully we shall be soon eating them.

Cauliflower

2010-05-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

My first sowing of cauli are nearlly ready to hardened off and planted out now. I have 3 sowings at the moment of beauty which can been seen in the photo (3rd sowing right at the back..came up 2 days ago). Each sowing is 10 days apart and my 4th and final sowing went in today. I find cauliflowers will grow very well in our soil but will go to seed very quick if they lack water..this will be my big concern, having the time to water them in the allotment as I do not have room for them in the garden.

celery

2010-05-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Despite actually sowing my celery later this year it seems to be growing faster than ever before and opon checking the pots they are certainly ready to be potted on. I'm hoping to keep them inside the greenhouse a little longer this year and maybe get the first collar on when they are in there final pots. My beds have been prepared with compost, manure and peat plus, which I will top dress with BTD fertilizer. I will also be adding nitroform to the beds this year after doing some tests in pots which was a success.

Potatoes

2010-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Still haven't managed to get my potatoes planted due to a few wash out weekends. Managed to get the bags filled and despite having an electric rotary sieve I have decided to use peat straight from the bag as it goes further. One bag of peat contains 70% rubbish, so is just not economical enough for me. What I have been doing to encourage root growth and to keep in moisture is to use a layer of "peat plus" in the bottom of the bag that I buy by the pallet.

Sunflowers

2010-04-30T03:29:00.000-07:00

Have always grown sunflowers in the allotment, but normally just chuck a big bad of seed about the place and we just have a mass block of great flowers for the birds. Decided this year to have a go at growing some large single heads and these are pretty much ready to be hardened off now. Most of these I have to say are already taken as my brother will be trying to grow some in his garden this year so he has first pick.

Parsnips

2010-04-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

Parsnips are growing nicely now and require thinning again. I have been putting this job off as I suffer from red spider mite so bad that I could lose them pretty quick. I will be sending off for some biological spider mite control, predators that eat spider mite in the hope I can keep my parsnips growing. Last year I had webs full of the things so there is no doubt they hibernated in the tunnel and will return. As far as I am aware no spray works on spider mite, its one of those pests that just won't go away.

Leek supports

2010-04-30T03:07:00.000-07:00

My onions and leeks have been hardening off now for just over a week in my tunnel and although Id prefer to plant them in the beds in a weeks time, as predicted they have moved on so fast that they need planting now.

I have constructed the supports for my leeks and have also put the shading sheet over my tunnel to ensure I keep the temperature down during the day. Eveything pretty much stopped growing after my tunnel over heated last year, so I have got this sheet on top to take the edge off the sun.

The supports are just 3 string lines down each side which I have strongly tied to the wooden stakes each end. At intervals I have cut and put pipe lagging on the rope which can be moved to help support and keep the flags from damage. Extra metal pole stakes with a hook on top are used inbetween to help keep it all sturdy.

...and yes those weeds in the back are suppose to be there as I have sprayed them in the hope they won't come back.

cauliflower

2010-04-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

I gave up last year on my cauliflower as I just couldn't get any seed to germinate at the correct times. This year every seed I put in has come up, I have two sowings at the moment and I will continue to sow a batch every 10 days to ensure I have plenty to choose from over many weeks for the shows. My first sowing shown in picture I moved on into some larger cells, I like to get them moved early as they take much faster to the new medium.

Celery

2010-04-29T10:54:00.000-07:00

Again I am growing "Evening Star" this year and so far so good. I have two different sowings here which are growing fast and strong. Germination was also very good and after selecting my final 40 or so I must have thrown out at least 80 decent plants, something I don't normally have the luxury of doing.

Frost warnings for this week

2010-04-18T12:19:00.000-07:00

I think a lot of people get caught out at this time of year and make the mistake of seeing the sun and planting everything out.

I think we are in for some pretty cold nights and a few frosts this week, so get some fleece and cover everything up. Thankfully I only need to cover things inside my one cold frame (one at home, unheated) and 3 tunnels as I have not planted anything tender out. The heater will be going up a notch to keep my onions and leeks ticking over.

Quick update

2010-04-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

Parsnips are doing great as always, every station germinated and I randomly threw them in so some stations require thinning already as they have 7-10 seedlinds in. I would think every seed I put in germinated.

Not sure if I will be growing long carrots this year as I just haven't had the time and it's not looking like I ever will, my stumps will be more important and I haven't got anything ready at all.

Onions and leeks have all been potted up and will stay in my greenhouse for another 2-3 weeks and will then be moved into my tunnel covered in fleece for a further 2 weeks at which point I will then plant them in the beds. This does all depend tho on how fast they grow, If i feel they are getting pot bound then I will have to plant sooner. I do fine the fresh air makes them grow twice as fast in the tunnel but the night temps are not great and we did have a hard frost a few weeks back.

Next week is predicted to be very cold, so it looks like everything will be staying inside the greenhouse for now and there is no chance of planting my onions or leeks, let alone harden them off.

Some of the larger ones are growing very fast now:

I have 40 Leeks to choose from, I need 15-20 so will be no problem.

Tomatoes.. Hmm I did read on the NVS forum about someone having a similar proble., My cedrico normally 100% perfect germination every year from 10 seeds I plant 10 plants. This year 6 germinated fine and 4 went pig tailed as someone called it, almost like the seed got stuck in the case and couldn't get out, they are looking ok now but I did break 1 off trying to get it out of the compost.

Celery is doing fine and my first sowing is growing so fast that I'm thinking of giving them away as I think they are to advanced for what I need. My 250g onions got attacked by aphids and got a set back but are still growing so who cares.

(250g onions in 3 green trays..sorry not a great picture only one I had)

Finally this will be my last year growing vegetables for showing, I really should have stuck to my guns last year and given up because although I love to do it I can't afford the time any more. Things change and I always seem to busy these days and never have time to do anything. I will say tho i'm not giving up growing, I will still grow everything for the table and may grow ONE!! veg to a high standard for a bit of fun but nothing for showing, it will be very casual- plant it and if it dies who cares.

I'm actually looking forward to next year as everything will be so different and more relaxed.

Parsnips, First signs

2010-03-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

To my delight opon checking the watering as I do, I can see the first signs of my parsnips germinating. I have never had a problem germinating my parsnips but it's always a worrying time from the stories you hear of poor germination rates. I suppose being inside makes a difference, but I feel keeping them moist all the time while germinating is important. I probably watered these once every 2 days for the period of two weeks when we saw the sun shine, and once every 3 days when it buggered off. I don't ever cover with glass or polythene as they are inside I just put fleece over them which helps to avoid them drying out in the sun.

My long carrots will be going in as soon as I have the time, no stress this year..they go in whenever I have time and feel like it, I'm bored of sticking to dates. Unlike my parsnips they will be covered with polythene as they prefer a higher germination temperature.

Parsnips

2010-03-28T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well I did manage to get those parsnips in eventually and I predict they should be up in 3 days. Normally it takes 17-20 days inside so I'm expecting them to be up any day now.

I have gone totally mad, never happy and always wanting to try new things and gone with this method.

I still believe growing in 6inch pipes can produce top notch parsnips from what I have tested. They will travel down forever in a pipe and always stay dead straight, but thats the problem..controlling the length. I can't stop them and the tails suffer because of this reaching the bottom of a 7ft pipe. I tried increasing the length of the pipes but found the compression was to high for anything over 4.5ft in length and also the bore hole restricted due to the extra length. Thats all for another day to explain tho when I get around it.

This method is half and half. I still have quite a bit of pipe going into the barrel to keep that compression on the top. I'm hoping what with with planting them later and using this method I can grow similar parsnips that I do in pipes but less length. I'm sure people will think I'm crazy wanting less length but trust me, no one want's to pull perfect parsnips to find they are 2cms across at the tail, it just doesn't work, I need 100% to be smooth whisper thin tails.

(ignore barrels on the far right, that is where my tomatoes will grown and these barrels will go the other side of the parsnips for my carrots)

Laybirds actually eat?

2010-03-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

Despite this little lot in my greenhouse I have millions of aphids everywhere..So how many of these would I need to control these pest's in a 16x8 greenhouse?

Onions

2010-03-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have around 100 onions at the moment and will be rounding this down to my best 60 this week when I pot them up into 3 Litre pots. Again the same with my leeks they are now on natural light and since taking the picture have also been moved to the cooler part of the greenhouse.

I think these onions are on par and is the size I'd expect for this time of year. I have had the odd; what I think is fusarium basal rot (as I did last year) which is always concerning, but what can I do? happens to my leeks and onions every year, you just have to cope as best you can.

leeks

2010-03-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

Time has been tight and with the extra work of putting up another greenhouse (this time in my own garden) I really haven't had any time to update my blog.

So a quick update.

My Welsh seedling leeks are coming on really well, I have now taken them out from under the lights and as you can see I have no need to pull them yet and as you can see from the picture are nearing the size of my finger. They have been shifted into the cooler part of the greenhouse and next weekend will be in 4 litre pots where they will now start to grow extremely fast.

I haven't had as much time as I'd like ..infact non..to look after them, but considering they are doing fine, not perfect but who cares.

I will get a post up later on my onions.

Under 250g onions sown

2010-01-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

Still plenty of time for the under 25og onion class to be sown but this is normally the time of year I like to get mine going so they have plenty of time to dry. Last year all my 250g onions got mildew so I will need to spray them this year with copper (its organic don't you know). I have gone with globo this year as I quite like the shape, its like a minature kelsea. I have also sown a few of Medwyns trial 250g onions which I have no idea what they will be like.

Also the start of my garden flower sowings and today I got in delphiniums, lupins, hollyhocks. Most of these are flower second year but I have found if you sow these now they will flower first year no problems if looked after in a warm greenhouse. I also put in some sweet williams that will not flower this year but I start them early and they stay inside for the entire year so I have really nice plants.

leeks

2010-01-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Leeks so far in desperate need of potting up, but again the pots have not arrived for them as the country is on strike due to some white stuff on the road. This entitles all couriers to lose everything you order and then not bother to deliver it while you wait 3 weeks and counting. I have plenty of pots but these are rose pots that I'm waiting on.

4 Bulb grow light, again I'm still waiting for the 8 tube to arrive so I can increase my growing area but there is some white stuff on the road.

greenhouse

2010-01-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

My partition that I have insulated with bubble-wrap to keep frost free mainly for fuchsia cuttinsg etc at the moment. Even with the horrible temperature drops we have had this section has kept really warm and has been no where near freezing.

Don't forget to chuck a few pots and junk about the place, it keeps it warmer.

onions

2010-01-15T09:30:00.001-08:00

Few pictures of where my onions are at, at the moment they are not under any lights as my grow light for them has still not arrived and the other light is being used for my leeks.

Time to order potatoes

2010-01-09T03:04:00.000-08:00

I suspect most growers have ordered there potatoes before Christmas, to be honest they normally take a back seat with me and I have only just got around to deciding what I wanted. It only crossed my mind the other day when I emptied a few bags out inside my tunnel that I had left over from my Christmas potatoes.

Still plenty of time to get orders in but some varietys can be harder to get hold of so best to get them now.

Slight change of plan this year being as I can never seem to keep Winston under a l Lb and they suffered from scab again.

I'm going with

NVS Amour
NVS Sherine
Kestrel
Harmony

I'm hoping Harmony will give me some decent whites this year, I have always struggled to grow whites yet coloured are always good.

You can get all these varieties and a lot more inlcluding everything you need and information on growing them at http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/

New blog Design

2010-01-08T06:40:00.000-08:00

Please bare with me while I re-design the blog, although I have made website's in the past this is my first blog template so there are a few things I'm still fixing.

yes.. I finally got around to doing it as promised nearly a year ago?.

Onions sown

2009-12-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

My Kelsea onions for the dressed class were sown on the 28th of December this year and my Giant Onion's P.G. Selection were sown about 16th December (rather late with this variety but had to wait for seed to be ready).

My Peter Glazebrook selection, which is a re-selection of the Billy Lamb onion has germinated and is ready to be pricked out into 60 cells. I will then move them out of the propagator into my grow room.

My grow room this year is slightly different as I am using T5 fluorescent grow lights, cheaper to run and so far are proving to be effective with my welsh seedlings growing under them. I'm running a 4 tube set up, 54 watt per tube but this will be replaced in a week with the 8 tube, 54 watt per bulb. Note these tubes are designed for growing, not your standard light tubes but they may work just aswell.

The surface area is reduced this year as the lights will only transmit light directly below. I will have to be more harsh about selecting what I want to grow on and chuck the rest.

Hope you all had a good Christmas, I will post some pictures when things are moving on a bit more, bit boring looking at seed and compost.

Still alive...Just nothing interesting.

2009-11-19T12:07:00.000-08:00

Just about cleaned, sterilized my greenhouse and have got past the 2 weeks of stinking of armillatox as it never comes off so that's one job out the way.

My onion beds have been prepared already so I'm chuffed with lots of manure and peat going in. The soil is still very light and crumbles very easily which most people would love, but the water just drains out instantly and onions I think prefer something a bit more solid so I will be adding a load of topsoil aswell as some grit.

All my seed orders have been made with cheques being written with my eyes closed as it does hurt to see the amount of money I spend.

Only one thing that is botherting me and I'm undecided on is shallots. They are a lot of work and expense, I can never store them and I hardly ever get anything great from them.. are they worth the effort?. I hate the thought of not growing them but I can't justify growing them either. I would be more interested but I can never ever store them, they just rot and I have tried every place I have free.

I hate this time of year

2009-09-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Everything sounds so easy in these magazines suggesting this time of year is an ideal time to clean and tidy the greenhouse and garden..Yeah right, with 3 poly tunnels and a large greenhouse with a shed full of 1000s of pots, and an allotment that you could fit two football pitches on I find it pretty hard going. I will work now until January getting these jobs done with the main task's being my onion beds and getting the greenhouse cleaned ready for winter.

Talking of onions; I will sowing some seed from a 14lb onion in late October which I will grow on under my new lighting system that is yet to be built.

More trophies

2009-09-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Finally managed to steal a few more trophies from the hands of those greedy professionals who should all be banned, just kidding barry micklethwaite.

Anyway the show I was going to enter this weekend is now a no go as my car blew a headgasket and the radiator. So this weekend instead of scrubbing veg and picking up shiny metal and cards with singing and chitchat, I will be lifting heavy lumps of metal about covered in oil and swearing at the top of my voice.

Trophies for:

Most points in members
Most points in open
Collection
err.. I will tell you this one when I remember what it was for lol. 6 trophies in total this year.

Peppers

2009-09-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

Despite the Turkey attack on my prize peppers I still managed to stage these 3. They were by far not my best, every pepper I looked at to make a set I was one short because a turkey had pecked it. I picked two perfect shaped fat peppers and knew I had the third to go with it, I could have bloody killed them all there and then when I picked the third one. Never mind they came in handy for my salad dish.

The other enoying thing about it, non of this was my fault as I always remember to put the polytunnel mesh down but no one else has the brain power... either that or they don't care.

More entries please

2009-09-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

Couldn't understand how a class such as "salad dish" could get so little entries, surley everyone grows some sort of salad?.

First time in quite some years that I have grown ridge cucumbers which I trained next to my marrows outside. Produced rather a lot of nice cucumbers and I didn't bother to look after them either, I almost forgot how good they do grow outside with little or no care.

Sweetcorn

2009-09-07T06:32:00.000-07:00

Best sweetcorn I have ever had this year, I used some at my local show in the "Any other veg class" and it got a 1st. Fat and ripe right to the very tip, perfect for eating raw just how I like it straight from the field (I mean large allotment).

Saw a lot of newcomers this year making mistakes using sweetcorn, either stripping it back or removing all leaves. I never touch mine, instead I pick two corns off the same plant the same size and open one to check if its ready, the untouched one goes to the show, its a gamble but judges seem to prefer this as they will peel it back.

Over the weekend I picked up 4 trophies with 19 1st place cards and even got a few 2nd places with flowers. Not quite a new record for 1 show as I have been know to take 33 1st but I can live with it. I will post some pictures up later.

Shallots

2009-09-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Has been a very bad year for me as far as shallots are concerned. Mangaged to stage a set eventually, (even came first) they just would not dry.

I won't be keeping any stock as they rotted anyway excpet 20 or so. The problem I had was they needed pulling but it would not stop raining when it came to havest time. I will be growing jermor next year as they are cheaper per bulb and if I get something off them it will be a bonus. I saw a lovely set of jermor at my first show and they beat everything else that was there, sow worth a try.

Flowers

2009-09-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is why I don't show flowers at the shows near me. The quality of the flower classes is amazing and this is just a small snippet at what was there; with over £700 in prize money to won it is very popular with dedicated top growers. Good job they split the trophies individually for veg and flowers or I would never have won Best individual vegetable exhibit.

Sorry was so packed I couldnt get any decent photos of it all without including lots of people that might moan at me for being on the internet.

Tomatoes

2009-09-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

I have always grown good tomatoes and lots of them as we love to eat them, but this year's are close to the best plants and tomatoes I've ever had. Each plant is just full of tomatoes, even the top trusses have large fruit on. To be honest we didn't take much time picking them, we just pulled off 20 and cleaned them on the way to the show lol.

Cedrico is by far the better tomatoe imo comparing to Goldstar. I have trialed Goldstar for 3 years and hardly got a tomatoe for a show. They just seem to produce uneven fruits and turn red when they are very small, eventually the top trusses start producing bigger tomatoes later in the season.

Carrots

2009-08-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

Sweet candle really was my banker after I pulled the first one I knew I was in for something special. I made two pretty near perfect sets and the left overs made a nice set for the single class as I didnt want to pull to many.

Long carrots are back and hopefully to stay after the rubbish I had last year I'm happy.

Long carrots

2009-08-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

Pulled two sets of long carrots and after the good germination they have proved to be a decent size this year. I have had better but with recent years problems I'm very happy with them. Not many entries this year in the carrot clases as everyone seemed to suffer from carrot fly, shame we normally see some excellent carrots.

Just over 4 foot and with lots of weight carried, I'm sure you can work out which ones are mine in this picture (and no they are not them small diddy things)

Collection of 6

2009-08-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well I finally managed to win both trays at this show, something that me nor my grandfather has done for 25 years. Infact we have never once won a trophy at this show as it is so well contested and today we picked up two.

My collection faired well and the big boys went down for once with the judges actually considering the damage on there monster leeks. I always try to enter good quality and sometimes I am disappointed to lose to larger but poor quality. Today I was happy as the judges went in my favour.

Onions points; 16 1/2
Celery; 18
Potatoes; 17 1/2
Parsnips; 18
Tomatoes; 17 1/2
Carrots; 19. Dropping only 1 point from a maxium 20, chuffed with sweet candle.

1 celery
3 onions
2 parsnips
5 Tomatoes
3 Stump carrots
5 potatoes

Top Tray

2009-08-31T13:04:00.001-07:00

The judges were very impressed with our top tray and actually said it was the best tray they have seen for some time only dropping 5 points out of 60 with a total of 55 points and was stated by both judges as a national standard tray. They were so impressed they personally talked to us about showing for bigger money.

points awarded
Carrots/size shape colour; 6 out of 7
Carrots/condition; 6 1/2 out of 7
Carrots/Uniformity; 5 1/2 out of 6
Total 18

Onions/size shape colour; 6 out of 7
Onions/condition; 6 1/2 out of 7
Onions/uniformity; 6 out of 6
Total 18 1/2

Tomatoes/size shape colour; 6 1/2 out of 7
Tomatoes/condition; 6 out of 7
Tomatoes/Uniformity 6 out of 6
Total 18 1/2

Total 55 out of 60.

This tray missed out on best in show by a split decision by the judges who actually had to ask someone else in to decide, there was quite a debate but I'm not worried about that.

Best in show that beat me to it;

Taster

2009-08-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

Quick taster of what I put in at the show today pilled on this table awaiting my freezer.

More specific updates over the next few days, but all went very well.

Day before the show.

2009-08-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the day the swear pot gets full up which helps pay for seed, compost and sundries next year. With the show on Monday I need to start pulling, picking, cleaning and as always some things will be great and others a disappointment.

This is just the life of growing veg, one year you think you have cracked it and the next something will go wrong. A good example of this was my parsnips, last year they were 4-5ft long and carried a lot of weight but the pipes were not long enough resulting in stumpy ends. This year I made the pipes longer, but the compression in the pipe has stopped them gaining weight and I pretty much gave up after I got yellow fleck virus and then spider mite is mass. I still think I will have some decent long parsnips but with no weight.

I'm happy with my tomatoes, been a good year for them.

Shallots have been rubbish, just way to much rain before havest destroyed them. Leeks all got foot rot again, onions not great again but I have some.

I think my best veg will come from my carrots and I have a few decent sticks of celery.

The cauli I planted to come in for my last show in 3 weeks time are just hearting up, shame these seed companys can't tell the difference between Calabrese and cauli's

Sweet Candle test pull

2009-08-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

With all the rain we have over the past few weeks and then a dry week with a massive down poor I was worried about my stump carrots spliting. Today I checked them all and they seem ok, I found this one with a damaged top so decided to pull it.

Gee they are massive, I planted them as advised and I have looked after them well keeping them moist at all times. I thought at first it was a long carrot as it came up.

Picture really doesnt show you how big this thing got, see If i can get a better one.

Flowers

2009-08-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

I don't really show flowers as I don't have the time to prepare and stage them. I do like to grow them tho, and today I went through and picked everything with an open center or that looked like it may well be going over to keep them flowering. I still have about 60 plants to do so my mum will be getting a lot of flowers this week.

sweet candle carrot

2009-08-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

My sweet candle stump rooted carrots have looked good from day one and apart from the odd one suffering from aphid attacks they have grown very even. Uncovered a few and they are looking pretty big, these are the batch that were grown with nutrimate in the mix and they have grown better than my other bed for sure, time will tell when I pull them.

weeding

2009-08-17T12:02:00.001-07:00

Well I have a few weeks off so I spent 9 hours weeding today, it was hard going as most of it had to be done by hand as I decided to do the Asters, which to most people would be the equivalent of there entire allotment.

Picked off all my runners beans aswell, a few large sack fulls which I will give away and freeze. I'm getting around 2 hessian potatoe sized sacks a week of runner beans and if i tried I'm sure I could fill plenty more. With 2 weeks left to the first show I'm leaving all the small ones on and they should be about right.

I'm down to my last 6 rows of carrots, good job they are 30ft long and next on my list is to get the remaining 12 rows of potatoes in and stored.

Removed all the peas today aswell after I had the last crop. My show perfection pea again did not germinate enough to warrant to leave it in the ground, so I won't be showingg peas. Not to worry they only cost £5 a packet and the cheap crap I buy in bulk all came up. All the show perfection peas that were decent plants with peas on I pulled up and have them hanging in the greenhouse so I can get my own seed from them, the pods were massive.

aubergine, peppers, chillies

2009-08-16T14:07:00.001-07:00

Again all much better than last year, and it looks like I will be getting a pretty big crop from this lot.

potatoes

2009-08-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

Potaotes have been much better this year, well my kestrel are great and I have plenty. My winston being over sized I will probably only be able to stage 2-3 sets. Had a test clean on a dodgy one today and it came up really nice.

Potatoes stored in dry peat in boxes

Tomatoes

2009-08-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

My show tomatoes are comming on nicely and I have plenty of decent sized tomatoes further up the plants so hopefully they will last. Yes they have been sprayed which is why they look blue, don't worry it comes off and if I didnt spray you wouldnt be seeing these tomatoes today as everyone round here got blight.

Celery

2009-08-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Haven't spent as much time as I would like on my celery this year but I never really had the energy ever since the poor germination of the seed making my celery at least 3 weeks late. Still its looking ok and I should be able to show it at a few shows.

Onions

2009-08-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Mixed results from my onions; Had a real good set of large 6, two of them split 3 days before I lifted them, and one went soft of me while drying.

I think I will be able to make a couple of decent sets from the medium ones, but would have been nice to stage just 3 large on a board but now I only have two =(. Pretty sure if the ground was ready on time I would have had more even growth, these grow on no manure at all.

I also have my smaller onions for the under 250g class, 6 inch ring class etc.

pumpkin

2009-08-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins doing well this year, last year they were rubbish as it was just to wet for them.

Marrows

2009-08-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Here' my marrow construction, every year it gets bigger and I change certain things to improve how they hang, lots of idea for next time but it does the job with what little time I had to make it.

As you can see this is a white marrow, but you can also see it is prodcuing green marrows which it shouldn't.

Table dainty, always a mass producer, handy to plant this variety incase your other marrows don't come on fast enough.

sweet corn

2009-08-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sweet corn has been good this year and I suppose Im averaging 2-3 per plant, some have 5-6 which I have never had before. so I'm pretty happy with it. May even use some as any other veg in a show.

Runner beans

2009-08-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

As you can see I have a few runner beans yet come show day I will be lucky to make a set of 9 I bet you. Mind you, they are not all Stenner, some are just bog standard eating runner beans that just taste better so I grow them.

Marrows

2009-08-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

Few weeks back I went through all my marrows and picked off anything that felt would be to big for my first show by the time they were ready. It really is a shame that you get so many decent marrows and yet come show time you have a job to find a pair. I picked this one tonight to hopefully bring on some more, its just under 12 inches in length which is required for all my shows. I have have 6 others like this and they taste pretty good aswell.

Some I picked off 3 weeks ago and have since been eaten. I would imagine it will be my table dainty that produce a set as I have plenty on them. I think something has gone wrong with one table dainty plant as it is also producing the same marrows as above with also the normal table dainty stripe marrow. Then again all my my marrows are producing some strange things and it will be intersting to see what I get.

potatoes

2009-08-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

Emptied my bags out tonight and gee I have a lot of potoatoes. Unbelievable amount of potatoes in each bag, after I finished I had filled 5 big hessian bags of potatoes and they were just the ones not worth keeping for show. I kept over 70 that I felt were ok for showing, but light was getting bad so I have not finished.

My winston were a bit disapointing as every bag I emptied were just to big, I'm talking every one over a pound in weight. One bag had 8 potatoes over a pound and still had 8 medium in it lol. Great for eating but as far as showing they were just massive. It is strange, I did a test bag 2 weeks before lifting and they were tiny, and now I have 2 bags of some monster potatoes.

My Kestrel were perfect and every bag produced some nice speciums, I'm not talking anything major national standard here but better than anything I have ever grown, good size, shape and colour.

I'm pretty happy with my potatoes this year and I have improved on last year, some of the bags did have some scab, 3 bags I think so I hope they all keep ok. Scab can be hard to see if its only slight but worthless for showing after cleaning.

Where I'm at

2009-08-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

I will upload some pictures when I get my camera back later.

My onions are now all lifted, some of my large onions were lifted 2 weeks ago as they were getting to big to make a set. I have a variety of sizes and if they stay solid and he skins dry nicely I will be pretty happy.

My celery is on its last collar and I have 14 really nice sticks and 8 not so good, so mixed results.

My long carrots are looking really good as are my sweet candle which look ready. I pulled one of my sweet candle about 3 weeks ago and it was an amazing site, it came out so easy, dead straight and looked just like a short long carrot with a massive tail, they have 5 more weeks to stump up, plenty of time and I think they may well be the best veg I have this year...Fingers crossed.

With all the rain it was a hard choice on whether to lift my potatoe bags or not, after a forecast of another 2 weeks of rain I lifted mine last Friday and they are sitting still inside the bags in the polytunnel. The tubers are poking out of every bag all over the place so I hope I have something decent in them.

Beetroot, runner beans, marrows, peas, - been picking them for a good 3 weeks now and I have had loads. Very impressed with my marrows and the construction I made for them, I have a few varietys and I'm pretty excited to see what I will get for the show. The marrows I have been picking have been amazing, especially the white ones.

Parsnips; mixed results here, some have yellow felck virus and are small, some are ok and some are way to big so I prosume they have forked.

Tomatoes; excellent size, looking very healthy, some large tomatoes ready; others look spot on time for the shows. Cherry tomatoes have been comming thick and fast and I have picked rather a lot, I have a variety that is producing like 200 tomatoes on one truss alone.

Aubergine's have been exceptional this year, I have 6 plants so I hope they keep prodcing for the shows. My peppers also have just been so productive and I have chillies comming out my ears.

Leeks - given up on them.. end of story.

Cabbage again has been great, I don't grow any cabbage for show.. I like to grow them so I can get them in and havest them before the caterpillars have them. Never worth all the hassle of covering, spraying, blah blah, get them in early and enjoy them while you can.

Thats about it, will see if I can get some pictures tomorrow.

work load

2009-06-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

Way to much to do with no time, sorry I really havent had the time to update this blog but I will get round to uploading some pictures of where I am at so far. Every thing seems to be going wrong this year despite the amount of time I put into my veg, I really cant handle the amount of work involved working every hour I can spare really gets on top of you especially knowing you have at least 2 hours of watering to do every day.

I wont be doing this again next year, I'm not retired and can't keep up with it all. I instead will be concentrating my efforts on the allotment and growing one vegetable to a high standard. As it stands its no fun any more as I just get stressed at the amount of work required. I'm still undecided on which vegetable I will grow, I enjoy growing my parsnips and carrots and after the intial work load they are quite easy to keep going (except this year lol).. I really cant be bothered with onions and leeks any more, so I may well choose celery.

Well, shallots grow fast

2009-06-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

I was considering pulling my shallots at the weekend, but I had another look tonight and gee I wish Id pulled them yesterday. With all the rain they have grown so fast in just 1 day, I did say i was going to pull them smallier this year to avoid them going out of shape but I'm sure I have lost quite a few that had started to double shoot. Never mind we will see once they are dry, I have a few sizes so fingers crossed.

blah

2009-06-08T03:38:00.000-07:00

Well the last couple of weeks haven't gone exactly as planed and there has been a few disasters and casualties. My two turkeys with splayed legs had to go at the weekend, my parsnips are suffering from yellow fleck virus despite constant spraying, I lost one long carrot that just flopped and died on me, and 3 onions went double and have been removed. Also one of my cherry tomatoes fell over and snapped and is now useless.

My celery is way behind, so are my leeks and 3 shallots also went double from the amount of rain we had. The rest are looking good and I am thinking of pulling some this weekend.

My potatoes are still alive and I will spray them at the next sign of a few dry days to help avoid blight along with my tomatoes and celery.

Turkeys for Xmas

2009-05-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

I know this inst veg, but is part of my life and infact everyones life if you eat turkey for christmas, just in a different way I suppose. I strongly believe in rearing and looking after animals for eating, knowing they will taste better and had a better life...

Well I have had my turkeys now for two weeks and they have really taken a lot of my time, mainly due to the idiot who hatched them.

I recieved 3 with splayed legs that should have been corrected at birth by splinting there legs (basically taping the legs together at the correct spacing. These 3 also have curled twos, again can be corrected when first hatched using tape and carboard to make a shoe.

I had to humanly kill/cull one that had no chance and the other two are currently in seperate cages with legs taped, but really don't have much chance. Thankfully the rest look really good and are putting on loads of weight, twice the size they were 2 weeks ago. In this picture you can see the brown one with splayed leg. In total I had 14, now 13. I will do my best for these guys but they are not like chickens who may well live a decent life like this, these guys can weight 30-40lbs and wont carry that weight. Will keep you posted on how they get on.

Bordeaux mixture cheap

2009-05-13T11:23:00.000-07:00

If you need it in bulk like I do then it's worth buying it from here, you can just buy 1 but its £4.99 p&p so wouldnt work out very cheap. Considering its £3.50 near me a bottle, and only £2.00 here, saved me quite a bit.

http://www.capitalgardens.co.uk/v3/bordeaux-mixture-p-6427.html

Tomatoes

2009-05-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes grow so quick, I decided to plant mine out inside the tunnel as they were getting rather big. I planted these really deep and will cover with fleece or let them die. 5 Gold Star and 6 Cedrico. I filled my other tunnel with peppers and tomatoes for the kitchen.

shallots

2009-05-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

My show shallots comming along now;

Shallots in the allotment..yes we have had some really bad wind.

Potatoes

2009-05-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

All my show potatoes are in, decided on 15 Winston and 15 Kestrel, plenty for me to look after. I also put a few rows of potatoes in front of them to form a slight wind block and also planted 10 other rows in the allotment.