The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: Mel on October 07, 2012, 11:54:02 pm
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:wave:
I have noticed that the veg area is very quiet,are we all done for the year? Anyone winter growing anything in their poly's?
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Christmas potatoes well under way. Trying caulis in the poly but only little at the moment. Cucumber still growing.Going to try lettuce in the poly too.
Chilli plants still tryingto ripen. Have brought 2 indoors as it looks like the cold is starting to affect them now :(only 1 pumpkin, :fc: it ripens.
Don't know how much longer the runner beans will continue. But the turnip, leeks and sprouts doing ok. Not looked at the parsnip yet. First time I've grown them, so hoping for a nice Christmas crop :fc:
Just bought red onions and garlic for the beds.
Oh and my fig tree is finally ripening 1 fine fig :yum: ( had it a few years now and they usually drop off at a young stage )
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I have to confess to not even starting this year :-\
It's just been sooooo wet :( Maybe next year ;)
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We're trying some oriental greens for the first time, pak choi, Mizuna etc. also got some spring cabbage on the go. Outdoors we've also put in some Japanese onions. Harvesting wise, runner beans going strong, cabbage and turnip coming on slowly.
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We've had a very poor year this year so we're already working on next year. Just built some raised beds which have young cabbage, broccoli, kale and sprouts in them to over winter. Got potatoes and carrots in the tunnel hopefully will get a crop for xmas. Still trying to ripen a couple of pumpkins in the tunnel too.
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We've still got runner beans romping away in the Poly......had an amazing crop this year. Still got loads of beef tomatoes in there too.......GREEN!!.....I think I'm gonna have to bring 'em indoors ;D
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Its been a very poor veg year for me, even in the polly tunnel things have been so slow. If this weather keeps up I might not bother next Spring. Its a lot of work for very little :gloomy:
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What do you mean finished, our veg garden just never really got started despite spending loads of time sowing seeds, nothing grew except weeds (an exceptional year for nettles)!
Last nights frost was the final straw for the courgettes so they'll be ripped out the polytunnel later today, still got loads of toms but they're green and i think will need transferring to the greenhouse to ripen, have cabbages on standby to go into the polytunnel once the toms have finished but it will need severe rabbit proofing before i do, found a dead 'un in there yesterday just laid like it had gone to sleep, possibly scoffed some of the rat poison we have down? Very poor year all round, don't think i've ever known it this bad. :thinking:
Mandy :pig:
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I think we need to post location on this thread. It helps us guess what kind of climate and the length of day light each has to work with. The spring-autumn growing season will differ significantly with latitude so my guess is that those with a polytunnel live in the north.
Best that I do not complicate things by listing what we have in the veg garden today. We certainly do not have a polytunnel but then we live the same distance from London as those of you who live north of Aberdeen. It is just that we live in the south.
Martin ( Limousin,France)
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Hi I totally agree on the location aspect makes a massive difference !!i am in herfordshire 20 miles north of London
my year never really finishes -still working my way through glorious sweetcorn,last of the courgettes tomatoes ,aubergines ,Chinese cabbage ,leeks ,cauliflower ,rench beans (although we had a real dip in temperature and they have just about had it ) spinach bok choi mizuna bunch carrots ( havent touched the main crop yet ) beetroot, brocolli ,bulb fenell red chicory,various lettuces -i'm sure theres more especially if you include the fruit .
coming on stream for winter - calvo nero ,curly cale various cabbages,various broccolii ,russell sprouts ,celeriac various lettuce and greens -lots of bok choi (i can keep this going quite late into the year outside and almost all the year round in the glasshouses ) spring onions, swiss chard, parsnip ,tunips ,swedes lambs lettuce, spinach, spring greens
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That an amazing assortment of veg - I hope that you have a good market for that lot or a very large family. I met someone from Northumbria once who told me that they can not ripen tomatoes outside !!!! Not sure if that is true but I am sure many in the UK do not have the long growing season you do in Hereford.
I did not enter the spud competition becuase we have a different growing season and my neighbour let me have 4 rows in her garden that her son had ploughed up ( not sure of the soil quailty). Anyway my point is that when others were talking about mud and rotting veg we had a drought. Both our families had to help with the spud harvest at my neighbours so we could get it done before noon - it was 36 degrees.
The spuds were very small !! But the few I grew in my garden near the stream were much bigger because I could water them.
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I met someone from Northumbria once who told me that they can not ripen tomatoes outside !!!! Not sure if that is true but I am sure many in the UK do not have the long growing season you do in Hereford.
True anything north of the line that crosses britiain at the humber estuary struggles unless you've got a nice south facing sheltered wall. In North Yorkshire i can grow butternut squash but cannot get them to ripen the seasons just too short, tried sowing early undercover in greenhouse and transplanting to muck heap but by end of sept they're curling up their toes and the jobs knackered leaving pale green fruits about the size of a tennis ball. One of my friends tried growing sweet potatoes this year but same thing too cold and too wet and too short a season in these parts. But would i live anywhere else.......nah......Yorkshire's God's country and on a day like today :sunshine: you can't beat it.
mandy :pig:
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Shame about the gardening challenges but what the heck - if you are happy and luv your home (and Yorkshire) then "life is beautiful" and the yellow-near red tomatoe "is good as it gets". ;D
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MAK I'm from North Yorkshire too and we really suffer with the winds but like you its worth sticking with it as the views are breath taking, shame I can't same the same about my veg plot! :roflanim:
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That an amazing assortment of veg - I hope that you have a good market for that lot or a very large family. I met someone from Northumbria once who told me that they can not ripen tomatoes outside !!!!
Well, I couldn't even ripen tomatoes in my mini greenhouse... Admittedly, one of those cheap plastic ones - no space for more, and no money, either - but that trial didn't work out. Made a couple of jars of green tomato chutney today (and I don't even eat chutney!).
But I do still have chard outside - wonder whether that's frost hardy? Also a few little gems. And I'm getting the raised bed ready for onions, and really do have to get my peas and broad beans in before the next big rain (or snow).
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Veggies are all finished in my garden :thumbsup: . In fact to day was my last day at work ( the veg garden) until next spring :excited: . I'm sure I'll find something to keep me busy ;D .
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i always think its more satisfying, making sure theres veg though the winter, ihavent got much but ive got chard and spinach which will be covered shortly. to keep them coming. ive got half a dozen sturdy kale plants thast should stand for most of the winter, theres leeks standing well and various brassicas, sprouts, savoy and white cabbage that should also stand the cold.
the advantage is that there are hardly any pests to cause bother. diseases dont seem to bother winter greens much either. its definitely worth trying. its the easiest time of year to grow veg imo.
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That true Dave and veg is more expensive if you have to buy it in the winter months.
Again is depends on latitude and climate. The old ladies who live up the lane are clearing their gardens becuase it is the 20th Oct - that is what they do- garden by the moon and dates. It has been 25 degrees outside today but we expect it to get cold. I have worked out that last year the ambient temperature range was 63 C. i.e 38 in August and -25 in feb - these are ambient temperatures so full sun temperatures can reach 55 ( well off scale our thermometer) and shade temperatures in winter could be lower.
So a polytunnel can not be used in the summer and when it is -25 outside then everything freezes ( even in a polytunel).
That said I have the veg patch pretty full. I have the winter veg in and am still picking mellons , toms and peppers. If the weather chnages then I will loose these and enjoy the autumn/winter cauliflowers, sprouts, pasnips etc. But if it gets too cold then we loose the lot just like last Jan/Feb.
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I was doing veg boxes again today and we had chard, parsnips, onions and the last (?) of the runner beans. Run out of spuds though - must grow more next year! The leeks are looking pretty small so might be a spring crop. Not dug any Jerusalem artichokes yet - there's a lot of growth up top but its our first year of them so will have to wait and see what lurks beneath the soil. Our fab preserving team also helped this week with members getting either bramble jelly or green tomato chutney. The winter greens are doing well in the greenhouse after being potted on - going to have to clear out the polytunnel so they can get planted up soon.
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I was doing veg boxes again today and we had chard, parsnips, onions and the last (?) of the runner beans. Run out of spuds though - must grow more next year! The leeks are looking pretty small so might be a spring crop. Not dug any Jerusalem artichokes yet - there's a lot of growth up top but its our first year of them so will have to wait and see what lurks beneath the soil.
I'd just remembered that - Jerusalem artichokes are always my "emergency" veg - in case I run out of everything... Strangely enough, I rarely get round to eating any. They are not my favourite! Btw, I'd been told to take most of the top growth off in September/October - do you do that, too?
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Got cabbages (red and green), sprouts nearly ready, curly kale, swedes and leeks to get get us through the winter.
Overwintering for spring crops I have got onions, garlic, two types of cabbages, broad beans and peas - lettuce in the conservatory. We don't get a great deal of frost - plants are more likely to be blown or washed away!
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I still have tomatoes ripening outside here in Shropshire. That's about the only thing I managed to grow successfully this year.
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I still have tomatoes ripening outside here in Shropshire.
:o Snow showers forecast for tomorrow!
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:o Snow showers forecast for tomorrow!
Noooooo.
I like Jerusalem artichokes but they're not known as fartichokes for nothing. :roflanim:
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As I live the furthest east...and quite high up (t'other side of Germany) I'l list what I had yesterday.....
parsnips (not looked at) spinach (needed picking) one or two swede and a couple of turnips (last few) beetroot (needs pulling and processing) brasicas at various stages of needing picking to little plants that I hope to over winter. A few sweet corn that I was going to dry for pop-corn. an ornamental squash that was struggling to ripen, raspberries that could have given one or two more picking sessions. a few runner beans ....and I'm sure there are one or two things I've forgotten.
I've put all these things in the past tense as WE'VE HAD ABOUT 8 INCHES OF SNOW THATS COVERED EVERYTHING
yesterday I was mowing grass and sweeping leaves, it was a bit chilly but lovely and bright. Today it has snowed and snowed. The trees are sagging, the animals have been in ALL day.
Its supposed to get warmer again next week so I will be able to see what the dammage is! Oh well it looked nice this evening when it finaly stopped (although the sky is still very grey)
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Ooops - I thought there'd been a bit of a heat wave in Germany recently? That must have changed very quickly! If the frost wasn't too bad, most of the plants might well have survived the snow cover...
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Put your toms in a drawer along with an over ripe banana and they will turn red or put a yellow banana in and it will take a bit longer. They ripen due to the gas given off by bananass and the bananas ripen from the gas given off from the toms .
In the 1970's Geest fruit importers of Spalding Lincolnshire made good use of this fact by putting a row of toms in boxes and a row of bananas alternately to fill their tom & nana ripening shed to get them ripening on demand
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Will bannana gas help our red peppers. We have a box of them that are all just showing hints of red - this may sound odd but I have a significant allergy to eating green peppers but not to red peppers. This is te only food allergy I have but it is common in my family.
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yes.
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I still have turnip in the veg plot and young cabbage growing in the pollytunnel. Garlic planted for next year.
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Put your toms in a drawer along with an over ripe banana and they will turn red or put a yellow banana in and it will take a bit longer. They ripen due to the gas given off by bananass and the bananas ripen from the gas given off from the toms .
Please be warned - this really only works if you have a drawer! :-J
Or else - somebody hasn't told my tomatoes that this is supposed to work... I've been trying it for years (no, not with the same tomatoes over several years! ;D ), and since I don't have a drawer, I put them into a closed polythene bag. Either this doesn't work, or I'm just too impatient...
Actually, I also read some years ago that just the banana skins have the same effect. (I think I read that in Russia they do this, because otherwise they'll never get their tomatoes ripe in some areas...) Which is why my tomato plants are always "decorated" with banana skins that are rapidly turning black!
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paper bag not polythene.
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Ah - why not? I would have thought polythene keeps it in a lot better? ???
But I'll give it a try - thanks for the tip!
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cos you still need oxygen. or something .i think. :D
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Probably. Mind you, the poly bag wasn't exactly sealed... It's just that it's easier to follow progress through plastic! :D Maybe it works better in the dark, too. Who knows? :-\
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Hi we did pull a row of late potatoes today we had some for dinner they taste lovely. We have another 14 rows in the ground I am wondering if we should leave them in longer or pull them all out and be safe with the wet weather coming.
Cabbages are still doing well.
We are Dorchester Dorset
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The problem with leaving them in the ground is if we get a freeze and you can't dig them out. I know it shouldn't happen this early in the year but the weather isn't being exactly predictable any more.
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Some nice tackle there Mr Small Acre. Just been viewing one of them Ransome potato diggers with a view to mounting it on my 885 (similar to yours). I have another ten rows to lift and dry but the ground is so wet, we had two tractors on the Ransome 2 row potato lifter. One to operate the potato lifter as normal and the other tractor for traction just to help pull it all through the mud.
Reference the rest of the veg', I think the slugs and grubs have moved in so as not to drown. :raining:
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I would have thought that if the spud yield is not going to increase if you leave them in the ground. Getting them up whilst you can is the best option. We ploughed ours up in August. The technology used was pretty basic but has been used for many years a simple. One row at a time ploughed up by Ox or tractor.
(http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-W3SEVNmZYpM/UJbRpdTRcGI/AAAAAAAACwU/mmGjdmoEXfQ/s960/564249_10151208706036063_1765776586_n.jpg)
(http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-B1YlCWuTJbk/UJbRjGFWQmI/AAAAAAAACv8/VjvrKoUeU4w/s960/216833_10151208703991063_1202932209_n%2520%25281%2529.jpg)
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Hi I think you could be right we are meant to have a couple of dry days ahead so the focus will be on getting them out as today we had quite a chill in the air and some very sleety rain. I will let you know how we get on.
Odin we picked the spud lifter in a local clear out not sure if it definatly ransomes but with a bit of fabricating it fitted the ransomes tool bar.
Its good to see how other people manage with there equipment.
thanks for the reply
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MAK, as the bottom picture is clearly a tractor, are you saying the top one is an ox.
I would have thought that if the spud yield is not going to increase if you leave them in the ground. Getting them up whilst you can is the best option. We ploughed ours up in August. The technology used was pretty basic but has been used for many years a simple. One row at a time ploughed up by Ox or tractor.
(http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-W3SEVNmZYpM/UJbRpdTRcGI/AAAAAAAACwU/mmGjdmoEXfQ/s960/564249_10151208706036063_1765776586_n.jpg)
(http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-B1YlCWuTJbk/UJbRjGFWQmI/AAAAAAAACv8/VjvrKoUeU4w/s960/216833_10151208703991063_1202932209_n%2520%25281%2529.jpg)
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Sorry - I was trying to say that the same tool to lift spuds was used with oxen. I have no idea how old the tractor is butmy neighbours all worked with oxen before they got this machine. Seems very effecient in that it lifted all spuds with little spoiled. Quick in dry light soil.
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Will you just look at that weather ! You couldn't possibly be on the continent or planet as me ?
Dry crumbling soil .... yes, I seem to remember that once upon a time . :raining:
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Yes Odin - we had to stop picking up the spuds before lunch as it was too hot ( 34 in the afternoon) - but the spuds were small due to little rain. Mind you we have had loads of rain this month - so much that the cellar ( spud store) is wet. :(
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My boyfriend is a farmer and works for a big potato grower digging the spuds. They still have 70 acres left in the ground to dig in what is becoming impossible weather conditions. They normally finish digging 2nd week of September if it's a good dry summer, so nearly 2 months behind and still spuds in the ground, it's awful. They haven't dug anything for over 10 days, and when they did last have a day digging they were only filling trailers half full, otherwise they sunk in the mud... at one point this year they had 5 tractors and a winch trying to pull 1 trailer of spuds out of the field :o
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Bad news for the farmer of course and I hope that those employed get paid regardless of them being able to work because of the wet and mud.
All this must have a serious economic consequence for farmers and of course consumers. I know our potatoes harvest was not what we had hoped for because of dry weather and small spuds. But if the yield per meter or acre is down because of drought or spuds stuck in the ground then it must be very bad news for someone who has so much invested in a potatoe crop. Difficult times but is demonstrates how fragile food production can be - even in Europe.
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Well took your advice and got our last lot of spuds in today bit of a cold start to the day but by mid morning it was beautiful. I must say as it was our first time with potatoes I am very pleased with the results, the last couple of years we have run our weaners on this piece of ground so that may have had some benefits, we decided not to have any pigs this year one can only eat so much pork.
We put in 2 types of potatoes they went into the ground around 1st August it was a bit late as we had a bit of water laying in the field all in all I am pleased
Thanks to all. Now what’s next.
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Royal 'We' ( Farmer mate ) has two of them three wheelers, good bits of kit. Intended to use them the same as you bringing in the spuds but it has not happened with the wet ground, four wheel drive tractor only.
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Smallacre - I luv the kit. Can you tell us more about the three wheeler please?
not a bad harvest considering a late plant :wave:
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i thought the same mak, they did a late planting of a few fields near me, it was lifted about 2 weeks ago now. maybe points to a trend of trying to plant after blight has hit?
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Hi Mak re the three wheeled truck, they were made by a Martin Bonser 1950-60 and were fitted with a Villiers MK40 side valve 4 stroke, Carbs used V type and Zenith 24T2, 398cc They have a tipping body 3 forward and 1 reverse gears. Ours are kick start like a scooter witch makes them easy to start.
They carry a ton quite happily. We now have a couple of them they were in a very poor state they are very reliable and very simple to maintain. They do come up on the well know auction site ranging from 200 for a poor one to 800 or 900 pounds.
There are modern versions now made by PRL Bonsar Trucks We like them as they don’t chew up the ground during the winter months we also have a couple of David Browns a restored 885 and an 880 waiting to be restored.
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Thanks Smallacre - never seen these before and how interesting - much better than these new quad things and a good pulling load too. Think I'll look them up.
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Hi first time with potatoes since I was a child, I need a little advice from the experienced ones. We are laying the potatoes on mesh panels so they get air round them how long does one think they should stay like this before bagging them I assume its just to dry any earth on them.
Thanks
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Not sure I can help. We bung them in the cellar on the floor.
That said we do inspect them all before hand and we have now used those that were a bit scratched or had been nibbled by something.
Those on the cellar floor are covered with a couple of cotton sheets ( not sure why as our neighbours do not cover theirs). We can inspect the pile whenever we get potatoes and chuck out any villians. I guess if you put dry spuds in a bag you have to be pretty sure that they are all 100% or use them quickly - you know the saying " it takes one rotten spud in a sack" or was it apple in a barrel ?
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Thanks Mak your right it takes one rotten spud in a sack, I have just realised we you are weve just been down past your way we visited some friend in a little village by Albi we went down via the N20 stayed around Gruissan for 3 weeks then returned up to Clermont-Ferrand across to Lyon for a week then home via Calais, lovely country been touring it every year for about 20 odd years.
all the best
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Cannot tell from your photo but we keep the light from them, in the dark with paper a sack over the top to help draw the moisture of. Keep some soil on as it is a preservative, helps to keep the spud. If washed, they will soon grow spours,I reckon washed potatoes as bought in bags must have a preservative on them ? Once I am happy with the dried spuds I then bag them in to 10/12 kg paper sacks, throw a bit of straw in to help draw any moisture and keep them in a cool place in wooden boxes built on wooden pallets. Only thing to watch for then is mice in the winter when they come in-doors.
Would like to ask you some questions on that very nice looking DB885 'Bottle-Opener' that you have parked in that shed. But I think it would be better on the Equipment page.
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Thanks odin very useful re the mice I have just got a couple of little kittens for the farm they can earn there keep and live in the barn with the spud.
Ask away regarding the DB885 on the equipment page by the way it a none bottle opener one. If i cant answer your questions one of my boys can they restored it . As it is getting a bit colder now they are now working on fitting a cab on it.
I will keep an eye out for your equipment posting.
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Put your toms in a drawer along with an over ripe banana and they will turn red or put a yellow banana in and it will take a bit longer. They ripen due to the gas given off by bananass and the bananas ripen from the gas given off from the toms .
Please be warned - this really only works if you have a drawer! :-J
Or else - somebody hasn't told my tomatoes that this is supposed to work... I've been trying it for years (no, not with the same tomatoes over several years! ;D ), and since I don't have a drawer, I put them into a closed polythene bag. Either this doesn't work, or I'm just too impatient...
Actually, I also read some years ago that just the banana skins have the same effect. (I think I read that in Russia they do this, because otherwise they'll never get their tomatoes ripe in some areas...) Which is why my tomato plants are always "decorated" with banana skins that are rapidly turning black!
Try a lidded carboard box infuture instead of a non breathable poly bag . wrappin g them in newspaper also works apparently and putting them some where slightly warm and dark .. airing cupboards are most likely too warm