The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: pgkevet on February 07, 2016, 10:13:32 am
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toms, cu's, etc for the greenhouse sown indoors in modules. Seeds for the tubs and baskets in hand..soem sown. 10 new fruit trees in but i found another corner that's good for 4 more when I'm next in town.
The new monkey puzzle 'forest' has been staked out (had to work out a way to top between them etc) and the first 4 planted out on the hill ( will be 20+ in all so my successors will have heaps of edible seeds). 3 sweet chestnut going in today.. germinated from left-over xmas nuts 2 years ago.
Veggie patch just so way soggy to be able to work it this winter so it'll be a rush once the weather dries off a bit.
Stored spuds are showing first signs of self chitting and a few of the stored onions have early shoots.
Spring onion and mixed lettuce to go as baby leaves in greenhouse border imminently. darn - forgot to put up any courgette...
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Do you really sow your courgettes now? I don't sow mine until a month before the last frost, so May 1st. When do yours start cropping from such an early sowing? Do you grow them under cover or outdoors? Well done with all the trees.
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I myself tried to sow tomatoes in Feb, but they were sickly and never grew that big; I ended up composting the lot and resowing in march-April instead. I( don't sow courgettes until April at the earliest. The only plants i sow now are maungtout, sugarsnap peas and rocket which grow well, I grow them near to radiators in the house and they grow perfectly.
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first lot of courgettes go in greenhouse border before toms big enough to be interferred.. then get ripped out when the field courgettes start to show first fruit signs.
Todays trees are in ... my handy-pandys are cold..
found 2 tiny seedlings in my nut pot.. dunno what they are yet.. I stuck a mix of cob, sweet chest and almonds in there (I reckon some nuts/ seeds get treated to prevent germination).. only the s-c came up first and fast...
I'm still waiting on my 60 million lottery win to build a brazil nut growing environment... not sure £60 mill would be enough....
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If it doesn't work out I start over.. it's only a few seeds BUT we built a good sun room onto the sitting room 18x12 feet'ish south facing with roof lights, windows 3 sides and open with the other room. With the temps my OH considers comfortable stuff grows fast. Within a month there'll be 25feet of windowsill covered in trays
My peas get sown direct into ground now. I did do modules one year...a hundred with 4 peas each but it was hardly half a row when planted out.. :eyelashes:
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I find stuff germinates well at this time of the year but with poor daylight just tends to get to leggy. I have cucumbers on the go but already looking spindly.
With the trees, I am planning ahead - I found some Norway spruce Xmas trees in the cheap shop - about 4-6 inches tall for 50p each.
Bought 5 for Xmas tree usage in 2020-2024 !!
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My old dad once thought he'd grow fir trees.
First he had a friend send him a pound of seeds... 3 germinated..and then died.
Next time he had a contact that sent him a bundle of germinated seedlings...some several hundred 1" seedlings mashed into a large ball of mud (or that's what it looked like to my youngster eyes at the time). He ended up losing all those too and gave up.
But then my old man wasn't much of a gardener. his greatest claim to fame was planting out all the cuttings a neighbour had left by the back door - And mum had to go recover the spring greens!
I used to buy cheap packs of conifers in the spring as part of the window box display when we lived/worked in town. Then pot them on as patio conifers until they got too big and ended up outside restaurant front doors. We actually brought the last lot with us when we bought this farm and they now have their libertly in a corner of home field.
yeah, seedlings can go leggy.. then it's the gamble of putting them (cooler) in greenhouse and hoping they don't get frosted. I do have the citrus house which is kept frost free but is a tad crowded over winter.
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I still have two capsicums in th glasshouse without fruits growing from last year. They did take a bit of a shock the night the temp dropped to minus four o C outside but I'd prepped things beforehand so I had a nine inch long three inch dia candle made for scrap wax burning from the mid after noon before the forecast frost till two days later .
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Since self toms and pumpkins do better than mine from seed I have had a re think about starting seeds under glass. Long and warm growing season here so I plant all other veg direct into ground and will buy cheap peppers courgettes and toms from car boot or markets. Nothing worse than having your seedlings under glass and doing well but then frying the only time you go out for the day.
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14 of the first tranch of 18 monkey puzzles now on the hill. I found 4 decent sweetchestnut trees to plant out .. another 2 are a bit small and still potted. the stone fruit espalier section still needs some repair work.. perhaps if the forcast sun happens next week...
..some seeds germinated and may have to take their chances in the cold greenhouse to avodi them going leggy but it looks like we're heading for a week or two of frost.
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Took various germinated veg tubes out the heated UV bed on Friday and put them on the glasshouse bed that's got 15 oC of heat under the sand layer . It should be fairly safe from any frosts so long as the plants are on the heated bed.
I had a look at them today .. all appear to have made it so far some nice green shoots/tops showing .
I need to crack on sowing a few more seeds this Monday & Tuesday as I may well be in hospital getting a new left knee come Sunday or Monday if all goes well .
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Finally after a few dryish days and 2 heavy frosts sumlimating the water away it was dry enough to plough my veggie patch (i missed the window in the autumn). I'd sprayed it down in autumn so not a case of having to wait for surface weeds etc turned under to rot.. just a case of loosening in all up. Now waiting for a dryish spell in a few weels to disc it all down....
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Life sounds so easy when you use chemicals, but I refuse to give in :sunshine:
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Sadly age takes a toll and double digging, hand weeding a quarter acre would be beyond me now. You could make similar arguments against the use of engne powered polluting help too...
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The first tranch of jalopenos didn't survive 2 frosty nights in the greenhouse - so re sown. My few bedding plant seedlings and first sowing of toms seem to have coped OK. Second tom sowing and peppers, courgettes, cues all still indoors and doing well.. many should go out to glasshouse end of this week. The first 50 sweetcorn have germinated too. And 20 broad beans up. Brassicas sown indoors as well.
I'm planning on starting to rotorvate today for spud planting... mostly 'cos I have to have some minor surgery end of the week and won't be able to get my arms into the mud for a couple of weeks after
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I plan on sowing my tomatoes this week. Just been given a heated propagater :excited: :excited:
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My conservatory is like a heated greenhouse. The weather here is warm and sunny and i have planted my mauntout into big pots with canes; my rocket i am transplanting into large containers. Sowing again this month and then seed shopping later on this week after drs appointment. Cant wait, growing season is my fave :excited:
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Ditto with my sunroom.. except that 15 feet of windowsill is alead covered in trays and some have to go out to the cold house to make room for new germinations... there's 5 trays out there already and a huge pot of leek seedlngs...
I don;t like thinning or transplanting so stuff gets done in modules or 3" pots as appropriate and that's sveeral batches to get my needed 100+ sweetcorns lets alone later when i start off the different beans.
Peas, though i direct sow under chickenwire tunnels that then get one side lifted up and staked as the climbing frame.
I pruned out the grapes last week and ahve some cuttings in water too..might stick some new plants up on one of the sopes. grow enough and the wildlife might leave me some.
Edit:.. and that's the spuds planted..I'm knackered now but I did keep it down ..just 10kg seed pots: pentlan javelin, king edwards and Rooster. They're better off outside under 6" soil tha on a shelf in the barn. Also got most of the rotorvating done for the onion sets (4-500).
I thought I;d bought 100 sweetcorn seeds but looks like it might hav ebeen 200.. so that'll be fun...keep the pheasants happy.
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I was amazed to see that the automatic opener on my greenhouse had the vent half open. I knew it was warmer but hadn't realised it was that much warmer. I can cope with this.
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I'm burning a single 2 " x 8 " long , 24 hour homemade candle each night in the greenhouse to keep the frost off things ( they're made from scrap candle wax & set in a safety device ).
So far it's working well , despite one night when it dropped to minus 7 oC outside for several hours
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..and that's 2 Kg of onion sets put in....
..my back hurts now..
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I used to do that till my spine protested far too much far too often too.
You need one of my " Dave's onion set planter " set up's.
It consists of a full length broomstick and a 3/4 inch or so dia tube about 45 inches long .
Mine is currently ( 22 mm ? ) white plastic electrical electrical conduit .
Put an old jacket , on fill your favourite pocket with sets and walk to the onion bed with the broom stick & the tube .
Poke 1 &1/2 to 1& 3/4 inch deep holes along a string line with the broom stick & use the tube to slide a set down the tube.........putting them down the tube root first into the hole .
Wrapping a bit of tape round the end of the broom stick to indicate the right depth is workable so is adding a small screwed on block of wood at the right place .
Finish off couple of rows , then use a spring back rake to lightly cover the sown sets .
You can also use the broom stick and clean tube idea to sow all manner of seeds direct into or upon the open ground , just make sure the inside of the tube is clean & dry so the seeds don't stick to it .. I found a 45 inch length of 15 mm copper water pipe was best .
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I usually just use a Fiona.. easier still than a tube. I just provide moral support and pass handfulls of sets/seeds/plants etc. Unfortunately I'm having minor surgery end of the week on both arms and won't be able to get grubby for a couple fo weeks after so getting these jobs done.
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Best of luck with the surgery & a hope for your speedy recovery.
I've had my replacement left knee joint cancelled four times since November 2015 , the consultant and anesthetist who were booked for it have both retired.
Reason given each time , "We don't have a bed available " , always told this only an hour or so before I was to travel to be be admitted to the ward.
Had a new younger orthopedic surgeon fresh guy look at me on Monday . it's a goer again. Am now booked for a session with a new younger anesthetist in a fortnight s time.
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I had a major procedure some 25+yrs ago and decided after that to take out private cover. Not cheap and done by the same folk but you don't get messed about quite as much.
Friday's job is just a day thing.
There are some real pressure issues on the NHS..mostly to do with poor coordination between sub sections.. the hospital, social services etc all dumping on each other to save their budgets. As in can't discharge this old peson without a home assessment and a care worker and transport etc so the bed gets log-jammed.
Plus if you keep delaying someones work then there's a chance they'll croak of old age and not need it...
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I like the cynical approach it reflects the situation very well .
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Gardening is out for my mate as he needs a knee op. He saw his GP who injected fluid into the joint 3 times over 6 weeks. No improvement so the GP referred him to a surgeon and an op was scheduled 6 weeks from referral. He saw the surgeon, nurse and had bloods and assessment all on the same day plus agreed his post op physio and ergonomics plan at that visit. Simple one stop medicine and responsible health economics. Rehab is amazing here in France and is freely available either at home or specialist rehab centres with other multiple therapies such as physio, ergo and psycho. Inpatient stay includes film nights. Visits from folk musicians and an art session each week - all to help you along onto the road of physical recovery. oh meals in a rehab unit are served at the table. Starter, main, cheese, dessert, coffee and a large tumbler of wine. Family can eat for 7 € Car parking is always free.
NHS has a lot to learn.
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No wonder my son decided to make his home in France. He's just bought a piece of a castle.