Topic: which veg garden spacing methods will you be using in 2010

[Squash64]

I tend to use the Mornington Cresent method with reverse shafting.

 ;D ;D ;D

[Deb P]

Good thread for a laugh this morning1 ;D

Earlypea, I vary the spacings of my brassicas and other plants depending on how I intend to crop them. For example, I might space half a bed of cauliflowers a hands breadth apart and others 2' apart intending to eat every other one of the closer spaced ones at a 'mini cauli' stage and leave the others to grow on to maturity. This way I can get more crops over a longer period in the same space. It also works for leeks,onions and many other veg.

On the feeding front, good soil prep as Saddad describes will go a long way, but I am a fan of liquid seaweed in either sprays or watering in, from when plants are in modules (I sow very little direct now) and particularly at planting out. It seems to give them greater disease resistance, although the whitefly are having a field day on my brassicas in this mild weather at the moment, they don't seem to be affecting growth much. ;D

[tomatoada]

I f I get my spacing  wrong and the plants are too far apart or too close I tell them to move and if they don't its off with their heads.

[earlypea]

Interesting Deb - thanks.  

I've no pests at the moment.  Whitefly devoured by ladybirds a long time ago and no return (fingers crossed), autumn's mealy aphids organically sprayed copiously twice and miraculously gone too.

I did get the SM3 in spring and had very good intentions but it's really difficult to find a time when the sun isn't shining on my brassicas to spray them.  

[Digeroo]

Great we're finally getting the fun back into the veggie plot.  Keep using the pellets slug_killer.

I'm also not a fan of no dig.  I like to get the frost into the soil, so rough it up a bit and then put on a green manure or a catch crop of lettuce or winter green stuff.

White fly not too bad apart fromredbor but a couple of plots away they are really abundant.  Can't understand what the difference is.  Been down with the Fairy's.

I'm interested in the handwidth for caulis.  Never managed a good one so am trying a good boot ana arf.  (Great boots Lidl)

[plainleaf2]

Deb P why not just  grow small head varieties where you want mini cauliflowers Or is that just to simple.
 

[Deb P]

I f I get my spacing  wrong and the plants are too far apart or too close I tell them to move and if they don't its off with their heads.

Yeah I've tried that, they take no notice I only grow 'norty' veg it seems... ;D

Deb P why not just  grow small head varieties where you want mini cauliflowers Or is that just to simple.

 ;D ;D ;D     Not too simple, just not the point!  ::)

[manicscousers]

we do the same as you, deb..plant stuff close and eat every other one, onions, parsnips, carrots, lettuce etc, in fact we do small pinches of carrot seed and silverskin onions at 9" spacings so we get small bunches  ;D

[Duke Ellington]

we do the same as you, deb..plant stuff close and eat every other one, onions, parsnips, carrots, lettuce etc, in fact we do small pinches of carrot seed and silverskin onions at 9" spacings so we get small bunches  ;D

Manicscousers that is a brilliant idea !!

Duke

[manicscousers]

thank you, duke, don't think it's original  ;D

[Digeroo]

I have taken to sprinkling carrots thinly over a six inch wide strip and then eating anything that gets big enough.  Fed them much more this year.  Gave them a top dressing of BFB between the rows.  Had a very good crop.  They seem to crop quite well very close.  No really big ones, but I don't like those anyway. 

[tonybloke]

My own, suited to my allotment, it's soil, it's aspect, and what I want to grow.  ;)

[plainleaf2]

tonybloke so basically your not willing to share with the group.

[InfraDig]

"Know and Grow Vegetables", Salter, Bleasdale and others from the National Vegetable Research Station.

[star]

tonybloke so basically your not willing to share with the group.

All these topics you have posted have been covered....you just need to do a search.....for your research

[Baccy Man]

My own, suited to my allotment, it's soil, it's aspect, and what I want to grow.  ;)

tonybloke so basically your not willing to share with the group.

Well I thought Tonybloke's answer was one of the best given so far as his spacing methods will be based on the specific requirements of the plants he will be growing & the environment they will be growing in which should give much better results than attempting to force the same plants to grow in less favourable conditions simply because you want to use a particular method of cultivation.

[grawrc]

Well I thought Tonybloke's answer was one of the best given so far as his spacing methods will be based on the specific requirements of the plants he will be growing & the environment they will be growing in which should give much better results than attempting to force the same plants to grow in less favourable conditions simply because you want to use a particular method of cultivation.

Doesn't that kind of beg the question as to why we read gardening books and magazines, watch TV gardening programmes and listen to the radio as well as posting on gardening forums? All of these are not based on our own plot or area but they are great sources of learning about how and what to grow. Sure we may tweak the information in line with our own local knowledge but the fundamentals are the same and therefore sharing the answers is useful.

All these topics you have posted have been covered....you just need to do a search.....for your research
[/quote]

Very true Star, however a few points.
Firstly it seems that it's OK for some folk to post topics about things that have already been covered but not others. That doesn't seem either fair or logical to me.

Secondly have you tried searching for things? The last time I tried I had 3 or 4 attempts at giving the search engine the right cue and got over 20 pages of links for each one. I'm afraid I gave up and just asked the question again.

Also, if you have a browse or, indeed, if you have been on the forum for a while (I only joined in December 2005) you will soon realise that the same questions do come up again and again (even the same jokes come up again and again) as new people, some of whom are new gardeners, join the forum. Should we tell them to b****er off and find out for themselves? "We answered that one 3 years ago".

Finally, as already suggested by the world and his wife, if the fantastic Mr Fox gets on your t**ts, ignore his threads and his posts rather than winding up all the unpleasantness again and again and again........


Pretty please!! :-* :-*

[plainleaf2]

grawrc they ones causing the trouble not me. they keep want to attack and attack me but they mostly can't stay on topics. But I guess this is why board is dying; because they can not let past rest and act I polite pleasant manner.

[Emagggie]

grawrc they ones causing the trouble not me. they keep want to attack and attack me but they mostly can't stay on topics. But I guess this is why board is dying; because they can not let past rest and act I polite pleasant manner.

Can we go back to the subject Plainleaf2 please, no agro thankyou. ::)
I would love to plant out with recommended spacings but I am short of space so I squeeze it in where I can. Manics that's such a sensible idea. Going to do that. ;D

[manicscousers]

worked brilliantly, maggie..don't know who it came from  ;D