23 Mar - Digging, Onion Sets & Garlic

I've put a fair bit of work into the plot over the past few days, mainly clearing old crops and digging over the beds ready for the new season. There was one remaining path that was used to separate the beds that needed to be taken up to make the use of the petrol tiller easier. So, as I dug over the beds on the north side I took the path up too.

The black plastic that covered the path did a good job over the past two seasons and there wasn't any weed or couch grass root left at all; it was just a matter of digging the compacted soil with a spade to break it up and then smashing down the lumps with the tiller.

In the process I cleared the remains of the kale that was rapidly going to seed and the Brussels sprouts plants. There were still loads of sprouts left so I picked the best ones off to take home. While some of the plants looked quite stunted, the spouts were plentiful and tasty. The plant tops went to the chickens and the stems discarded as they are just too tough for the compost bin as I didn't have anything to hand to break them up.

We've had a dry week or so but, according to the forecast, we are due a bit of rain in the next few days so it's an ideal time to get the onion sets out. I've prepared the ground by digging, raking into a fine tilth and adding some general purpose fertilizer. This was done last week and just before planting I added a large bucket of material from the compost bin too.

The Sturon onions are set out four inches apart, which always looks too close but all the books and the label say that distance and it seems to work OK every year. I use part of a scaffold board to walk on so I flip that over to do the next row so the rows are around 9 inches apart (22.5 cm). This year I planted 8 rows of 17 onions and threw away some of the smaller ones - 136 is enough as we are still eating last years!

I grew garlic last season which did well, so I've saved some cloves and replanted a couple of rows next to the onions. It seems a bit late in the season as they like frost to get going but they were there and I'd like to try and establish my own garlic variety by planting cloves from the previous year; apparently garlic adapts to it's environment over time. Anyway, 20 cloves went into two rows.

From the plot we move inside for a quick round up. The tomatoes are growing strongly on a windowsill in the house, I reckon it's still a bit cold in the greenhouse for them though I'm sure they would appreciate the light. I check the pots regularly to see if they need potting on but so far they seem fine. The sweet peppers are slow growers compared to the toms' but they've just put on some true leaves so I'm hoping they will get a head of steam up over the next few weeks.

In the unheated greenhouse things are moving along nicely too. The leeks which were moved into their larger tray on the 4th March have recovered well and are putting on new leaves. The broad beans are up in their root trainers along with the dwarf French beans. I've also got some perpetual spinach established in cells too. (Pic - perpetual spinach in cells on the left and dwarf French beans on the right).

Finally, I've pricked out a dozen Primo II summer cabbages into their own pots to grow on for a month. The sprouts are still a little too small as I didn't get as many germinating as I wanted so there's a second batch just appeared. I'll give them a few weeks then move them on to their own pots too. The Lollo Rossa lettuce has been a 'now show' probably due to the fact that the seed was a few years old but, the Mazur 'cut and come again' green lettuce has germinated really well and I'll be transplanting them into cells in a week or two. (Pic - foreground Mazur lettuce - background Primo II summer cabbages).

That's it from me, bye for now. 

18 Mar - Early Potatoes

Weather permitting, I always try and plant my early potatoes around the third week of March which allows harvesting of a very early variety from the first week of June. Over the past few seasons I've settled on 'Rocket' as my early spud of choice. Some people say that they aren't that flavoursome but I like them and they have the benefits of growing quickly, producing a reliable crop and boiling without falling apart.

The potatoes have been chitting away since I bought them in January and have loads of lovely chits on them. I'm not one for rubbing off all but one strong chit but if there are one or two on the side or the opposite end of the main growth then I do remove them but, to be honest, I haven't found much difference whether I do or don't. (Pic - first trench dug and spuds laid out a foot apart).

I worked out that I have to dig nearly 100 feet of trench and back-fill to plant my three rows of earlies. Personally I find it quite hard going so I take my time and a large bottle of something to drink too! (Pic - first row complete behind me, second row in the process of being back-filled).

When I dig the trench I lay out the early spuds around a foot apart (for earlies) and then add some general fertilizer both to the trench and the back-fill soil so there is fertilizer from top to bottom. I then mound up over the trench which should ensure that the plants take some weeks to appear, protecting them from frost. I'll continue to mound up for as long as I can.

Finally, all three rows of early Rocket potatoes are planted, phew! I think the total number altogether was an odd 83 - two rows of 28 and one of 27. The only downside is that I have to repeat the process all over again next month for the main crop! Hopefully my back will feel better by then.

Bye for now.

10-11 Mar - Sowing Broad Beans & Brassicas

10 March - Quite a bit of seed sowing today - most will end up in the heated propagator but, due to a lack of space, some will be left in an unheated greenhouse for the moment. What's gone in today? Well, first up are the broad beans into large root trainers - the variety is Bunyard's Exhibition which did so well last year. With a bit of luck, by the time these are ready to be planted out the weather would have warmed up a bit. I've also sown some Dwarf French beans, variety 'Nautica'. I've never grown the dwarf, bush type before so these are one of my new crops for this season.

A few brassicas have also been sown today. Summer cabbages Primo II, kale Nero Di Toscana and Brussels Sprouts Bosworth F1. The kale has gone into a set of cells but the brassicas have gone into some pots to germinate and I'll transplant them into their own pots when large enough.

A few other crops have been sown too. Perpetual spinach, lettuce both green Mazur and red Lollo Rossa and, a few White Lisbon Spring onions too. Again,these will be started off in the heated propagator and with the weather beginning to warm up, it won't be long before they are in the unheated greenhouse.

I've even done some work up the plot. I've decided to take out the central path that has been dividing my two plots. Firstly the turf from either side of the path was removed to leave a strip of about a foot width which I intend to cover with black plastic for a year and will then dig into the plot when all the grass is dead.

11 March - The day dawned bright and sunny which give me the opportunity to do a bit more work on the plot. I removed the covers from where the onions are going in a few weeks time and used the plastic sheets to cover the grass path that divides my two plots. I'll leave this for a year and hopefully the grass will die and I'll be able to dig the ridge back into the plot next year.

As the covers were off I dug out my tiller and gave the ground a going over. The covers certainly do a decent job because the tiller flew through the soil protected by black plastic all Winter; it was much harder work to get the small tiller through the area left uncovered due to a lack of plastic sheeting. It certainly shows that plastic covers do a good job of keeping the worst of the Winter rains from compacting the soil and leeching out the nutrients.

That's it for now, bye!

04 Mar - Leeks & Digging

Wow, March already! Fingers crossed the weather will improve over the next few weeks and I can get to growing stuff at last. As would be expected, things have been relatively quiet over the past few weeks though things are set to get busy this month.

So, lets start at the plot where I've taken the covers off the bed where my early spuds are going this year. Given all the rain over the Winter I was expecting swamp-like conditions so was pleasantly surprised to find the ground workable and it didn't take much to fork over the area. I also dug over the path the divided the beds as I have done on the plot opposite, this will make using the little tiller easier.

I put up some temporary fencing and have let the chickens scrape around on the dug over bed. They can have access to the area until I put the spuds in and probably for a week or two after that too, though as soon as the early potato plants are showing they will have to be moved off unless they can show they won't eat them!

The leeks I sowed into a small tray on the 22nd January have done OK and it's time for them to be transplanted into a larger tray to grow on for a few months. (Pictured - leeks in small seed tray where they were sown and then the leeks thinned into a larger tray).

I've a tray that is deeper and bigger than a traditional seed tray and it's ideal for leeks. I teased out 40 leeks (the most I can cover with my enviromesh cage on the plot), plenty for us as a family, and transplanted them into five rows of eight using a pencil as a mini-dibber. These will initially go into a cold greenhouse then they will be put outside for a few months until planted into their final positions around June time.

The Californian Wonder sweet peppers, sown at the start of February, (see 07 Feb post), have finally germinated. They still have their seed leaves but there's six of them and if I can get four potted on I'll be happy. (Pic - Californian Wonder sweet bell pepper seedlings).

Finally, a quick update on the tomatoes which have come on leaps and bounds since being transplanted into individual pots (except a few spare of each variety). Full true leaves are in evidence and all is well (touch wood!) much better than last year when I tried the Shirley F1's which were really disappointing. My usual Alicante and the Marmande Beefsteak are really up and running on their sunny windowsill.

That's me done, bye for now.