18 Mar - Potatoes & Brassica Update

Ok, so I did it; I planted my early potatoes, 'Rocket', on the 17th March, a week earlier than ever before. A combination of a fortnight of warm weather and the need to get my earlies up by mid-June (so squash can go in) kind of forced my hand. Unfortunately, when the monthly forecast was updated the same day, I was informed that there is a cold spell coming next week with the possibility of a run of freezing temperatures at night. Oops.


I did take some precautions when planting however. For the first time I actually checked the temperature of the soil six inches below the surface with a thermometer which was reading 48F (approx 9C). The reason is that potatoes won't grow in soil below 45F (approx 7C) so it was warm enough to plant. I didn't earth up immediately either; I usually plant in trenches then create a mound over the top but this time I just back-filled flat and covered the whole patch with black plastic. The plastic should soak up any available heat during the day and will stop the soil freezing at night. Obviously, I have to keep an eye on the bed as the potatoes will soon break the surface and I will have to start earthing them up, but hopefully this won't be for a fortnight or so yet. (I've done this in the past and missed the potatoes sprouting; when I peeked under the cover all the haulms were white and yellow. I thought I had ruined the whole crop but with a bit of sunlight on them they soon became green and grew on well).


In my 6 foot wide by 32 foot long beds I can get in 3 x 16 foot rows of each early and main crop. As the earlies are planted closer together I set out 15 in a row, a foot apart (this will be reduced to 10 per row for main crop which will be planted in April). I trench down to about 5-6 inches, lay the spuds out and add a general fertilizer. When I earth up I'll add some more fertilizer to the mound soil. Now it's a waiting game; if only I can outwit the weather this season ...


Just a quick update on some brassicas which were sown on the 9th March. There are 9 modules of Primo II cabbage; 9 modules of Trafalgar F1 Brussels Sprouts (above); 3 modules of Ruby Ball F1 red cabbage and 6 modules of Korfu F1 Kohl Rabi (below) (I'll start some more Kohl Rabi in a few weeks for successional cropping). In a week they have germinated in the heated propagator and have been transferred to an unheated greenhouse. I'll be thinning to one plant per station. That's it for this update, until next time ...


16 Mar - Onion Sets and Parsnips

What another wonderful weekend; it really was very warm, especially today. I had a bit of a think and a quick look at the forecast for the week and decided to put my onion sets in. The ground has dried really well over the past fortnight and with predicted low temperatures of 5 degrees over the week ahead I thought they might as well go in this weekend rather than next which I had planned.


Onions can be over-wintered with a bit of cloche protection but sets are usually put out from mid-March depending on the weather. For example, look at the weather this March compared to last year at the same time where we were still in the grip of a long freeze. That's why planting times for crops can be rather imprecise; because it says on the packet the seeds can be sown in March it doesn't mean you can do it with a foot of snow on the ground! Always try and read the weather - nevertheless early plantings are always educated guesswork. I've planted out my usual Sturon onions this year, they always do well except in the wettest of summers.


I've also sown some Gladiator F1 parsnips today too. I'm trying the pre-hole method for the first time as my clay soils aren't the best for long root crops. I pushed a cane into the earth and waggled it in widening circles to create an inverted cone shaped hole. I mixed up a bucket of compost, sharp sand and some sieved soil along with a handful of general fertilizer and then filled each hole in the row with this much finer mixture. I've sown three seeds on top of each hole and covered with a little more of the compost; I'll thin out to one plant per station when they germinate (which can take some time).

I've done a bit more digging, all the beds are done now and I've covered some sections that won't be used for a month or two with black plastic to keep any weeds down. I was very tempted to put out my early potatoes too, perhaps tomorrow if I dare? Anyway, here's a nice shot of a female House Sparrow that was hopping through the allotment hedge with a gang of her mates.



15 Mar - Are GM Potatoes Really Needed?

Genetically Modified potatoes have been in the news again this week as TSL (The Sainsbury Laboratory) have just finished a three year project creating GM blight resistant potatoes. Additionally, Mark Walport representing 'The Council for Science and Technology' has written to David Cameron describing the pressures on food production for a growing world population. Also, Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, also gave his support to GM crops in a speech last year. He said it offered a 'wonderful opportunity' to benefit human health as they are a safer alternative to conventional plants. Quite a head of steam building up here.

Excuse the pun, but let's to a bit of digging. The GM spud project at TSL is funded by two main backers: the BBSRC, a group of seven Research Councils that work together as Research Councils UK (RCUK), funded by the Government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Also, by a US company called Simplot who describe themselves as 'one of the largest privately held food and agribusiness companies in the nation'. So, both British government and agri-business cash has already gone into this project, is it surprising that letters to the PM are being sent about how wonderful GM crops are and what a great solution they will be to food shortages?

All this pressure on both the EU and national governments to lift the constraints on GM testing, production and growing is not about feeding the poor, it's about making money for big business. Personally I haven't made up my mind about GM crops entirely but, it does concern me that the whole thing is somewhat disingenuous and the media often ignores the real movers and shakers who are pushing the GM agenda.


Finally I'd like to quote Professor Jonathan Jones from The Sainsbury Laboratory. “Breeding from wild relatives is laborious and slow and by the time a gene is successfully introduced into a cultivated variety, the late blight pathogen may already have evolved the ability to overcome it,”. Well, here's some news for you Professor Jones, the Sarvari Research Trust is a not-for-profit company based near Bangor in North Wales, U.K. The trust has already successfully bred and brought to market Sarpo potatoes, resistant to late-blight disease. These are non-GM and have been developed by normal breeding and have been funded by members of the public via the community driven 'Buzzbnk'. This shows that, despite what government lobbyists and big business say, GM crops might not be the only way to help to feed a growing population; the small, community funded organisation can still make a contribution.

So, why is pressure being brought to governments to accept blight resistant GM potatoes when we have already got Sarpo blight resistant spuds? Could it be that big companies have already pumped money into this project and are now looking for a handsome payout? I'll let you decide.



Links:
http://www.farminguk.com/News/Approve-GM-crops-adviser-urges-Cameron_29578.html
http://www.tsl.ac.uk/gmspuds.html
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/organisation/organisation-index.aspx
http://www.simplot.com
http://www.sarvari-trust.org
https://www.buzzbnk.org/SarpoPotatoes

09 Mar - Planting Out Broad Beans

Well, what a weekend it's been. We've had two lovely days with a promise of further high pressure over the country for the rest of the week with temperatures of around 14 degrees. The weekend has been warm with Sunday being the nicest day of the year so far so, I took the opportunity to plant out my early broad beans. I knocked up a light wooden frame and used a staple gun to secure some thick plastic I found somewhere to make a large cloche for the next few weeks though if the weather stays like this the broad beans won't need to be covered.


I've also been doing some digging on the plot. I've prepared the section ready for my onion sets which will be planted out in the next fortnight. I've added a little general purpose fertilizer and have raked the area to a decent tilth, this will help dry the ground out a little too. I'll probably give it another rake before planting.

The final crop of the Brussels Sprouts have been picked this weekend and the ground cleared of the stalks. Some of the tops went to the chickens on my neighbour's plot and the rest to the compost bin. I'll leave the main stalks on the side until I can get around to hammering them to break them up a bit before adding them to the compost bins. I gave the ground a quick fork over as my early potatoes will be going in this bed in a week or two. (Below, a pile of sprout plants dug up and destined for the compost bin).


Talking of sprouts, I sowed this season's crop this morning in modules. This year I'm trying Trafalgar F1 though I'm wondering if I should have stuck with the Bosworth F1 because they have been really fantastic this year. Well, it's a full season in terms of Brussels Sprouts, the old plants are dug up an hour or two after the new ones are sowed. It does show though that the vegetable grower has to think ahead, I want to be eating this season's sprouts on Christmas Day, to do so I have to prepare now. For me, this is the 'black art' of the allotmenteer, sowing and planting at the right time, it's a skill I'm still working on.

I've also sowed some other brassicas today too. I've done a few modules of Primo II green cabbage and a few Ruby Red cabbage as well. Added to these I've sowed a few Kohl Rabi, Korfu F1, an unusual vegetable which always reminds me of a mutated shuttlecock. You can cook it like turnip but we prefer it raw, grated in a salad. I've only done a few, I'll do a few more in a few weeks as I want to try and get successional crops growing throughout the summer and autumn. The cucumbers, Marketmore, I sowed on the 1st March are already up, taking about a week in the heated propagator. It has been so warm I've already moved everything that was growing in the house, including the tomatoes, into the greenhouse as it's been over 25 degrees in there. I'm covering the tomatoes and cucumbers up with plastic covers at night as it's getting down to about 4 degrees. If it looks like it will freeze I will being them inside again.


That's it for now - what a lovely weekend it's been.

05 Mar - Tomatoes, Lettuce & Cucumber

It's been a busy start to the month, not surprising really as March is the real start of the growing season, well it is in my book - the month that sees onion sets and early potatoes planted on the allotment is a 'proper' planting month. I'm ahead of myself though, it's only the first week of March and the onions and spuds have another week or two in storage yet.

This week I've transplanted tomatoes from the pot in which they were sowed and moved them to individual pots. I want to grow eight plants of Alicante in the greenhouse plus a few cherry type Gardener's Delight in large pots.


I'm still keeping the tomatoes on a windowsill in the house as during this week we have had some low temperatures at night, quite rare this winter as there have been very few heavy frosts. I just used a pencil, a useful tool, for pricking out seedlings and re-planting. It's OK to plant the seedlings deeper to encourage rooting from the seedling stem and to avoid 'leggy' plants.


I also sowed two pots of Marketmore cucumbers, dropping three seeds into each small pot and I will thin out to one plant after germination. I've popped these into a heated propagator. Again I'll keep these relatively warm inside the house after they pop up as the unheated greenhouse is just too cold at night for tomatoes and cucumbers at the moment. However, the day-time temperatures are slightly on the climb this week with far less rain and a bit more sunshine. The last sowing this week was lettuce, I've done a few modules of Webb's Wonderful and Iceburg, I've got some Lollo Rossa to do too. These will be thinned then will grow on and they'll be planted out next month.


The broad beans are looking strong in the deep root trainers at the moment and I've already constructed an ad-hoc cloche on the plot to warm the soil up a bit; I'll plant them out in the next week or so but for now I'm giving them a weekly light feed with liquid Growmore just to stop them becoming deficient in nutrients as the compost can quickly become exhausted.