Author Topic: Anything I can plant now?  (Read 3452 times)

gray1720

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Anything I can plant now?
« on: July 15, 2017, 21:22:05 »
It's been a bit of a bugger on the plot this year. I've moved further away, and took on a job where I'm commuting for two hours a day, plus working longer hours (11-hour Fridays are the norm - good job I'm an antisocial git!). Add in family illness and subsequent bereavement, and the poor thing has been very neglected. I  have got some stuff in, which might even survive, but I realised today that I was effectively clearing much it for the winter in mid-July, which is plain nuts.

So... as the title says, is there anything I could sensibly get in now that would give me a crop at some point - even if it has to overwinter? The plot gets very cold in winter, very exposed, and potentially floods, but those are risks I'm used to by now!

Failing that, I guess green manure will go like stink if I sow it now...

Thanks,

Adrian
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

johhnyco15

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2017, 21:39:00 »
id sow some pak choi sow plant harvest all by september or turnips and quick growing or buy in some spring cabbage plants  and dont forget mustards and muzuma  there is loads of stuff you could google what veg can i sow now to give you a longer list hope this helps
johhnyc015  may the plot be with you

Plot 18

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #2 on: July 15, 2017, 21:40:47 »
Sow lettuce, spring cabbage, kale, turnips/swede, Oriental vegetables, spinach or chard, early carrots to be pulled before it gets too cold, and autumn/winter salads eg corn salad, rocket, winter lettuce, chicory.


gray1720

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #3 on: July 15, 2017, 23:50:43 »
Hmm, some of those I already have in (anything leafy brassica has to be caged, owing to pigeons, so I can only do so many of those). So not a total loss yet!

How busy are carrot fly at this time of year? I usually end up with lace, and I've moved my drainpipes to the house, but extra carrots deffo a good thing.

Must get some lettuce in now it's cooled off again...

Adrian
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

Vinlander

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2017, 11:24:26 »
Sow dwarf beans.

You might find some heavily discounted plants at the garden centre, making a lot of stuff more feasible, especially in an Indian Summer - almost everything in fact - certainly courgettes and cucumbers, toms too if we escape blight.

Needless to say they will require very improved soil, water and feeding to recover from neglect.

NB. very unpromising neglected brassicas can flourish in a polytunnel in a normal winter - my overlooked black kale plants (in 3cm cells since March) were pathetic, but went from 15cm tall to 1m between October and April in the tunnel. Even a fleece cloche can give dramatic results.

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

gray1720

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2017, 12:50:14 »
Thanks, everyone. I"ve raided the seed box and put in some salad, pak choice, and beetroot this morning, and got some turnip, oriental leaves, and winter rye seeds on the way home. Didn't even think of seeing what was cheap, so used to sowing my own, but I might go back in a few mins and see. Partly I don't want to waste the open soil and partly it just makes me feel better sowing stuff!

Adrian


My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

Borderers1951

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2017, 13:46:16 »
I just posted a reply on the pea and bean failure thread re planting peas in mid-July.  I only did it once and had the advantage of a mild southern climate at the time but I got reasonable returns and it may be worth considering.

Digeroo

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2017, 14:13:26 »
Definetely dwarf beans.  Fast growing varieties such as speedy and purple teepee do well at this time of year.  And if you are quick courgettes.   Carrots, use a spring sowing nantes type.

Wyevale have got their seeds half price, so look for anything which includes July and even june. 
And this is the perfect time to plant out winter cabbages and purple sprouting and too early for the spring greens.
Suttons suggest all sorts
http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vegetable+Seeds/When+to+Sow+Vegetables/Vegetables+to+Sow+in+July/list.htm#?pi=4
I am just digging up my early potatoes, so I also have some space to fill. 

squeezyjohn

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2017, 19:42:02 »
Radishes ... always radishes!

gray1720

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2017, 09:11:39 »
Nothing in death row at the local nursery, but got some more dwarf borlotto seeds, as only one came up this year, will put them in and see how may the voles leave me. I also have some peas started in guttering that have to go out soon.

I've never had a lot of luck with spring cabbage - broccoli overwinters OK on my plot, maybe I just start them too late? But always another chance while I have seed...

Radishes are a "no", though. Why? 'cos they go in the garden at home where I can pick as they come ready! Otherwise, they're something I've always planted.

Thanks for the advice - as long as stuff grows, I feel a lot better about it now. Maybe it's not too bad. Obviously I'm still feeling a bit emotionally fragile for it to get me down like that.
   
Adrian
My garden is smaller than your Rome, but my pilum is harder than your sternum!

saddad

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #10 on: July 17, 2017, 09:28:36 »
Try Winter Radish.. or oriental mooli types.. much bigger roots.. can be boiled like turnips/swede.. "Black Spanish Round" is easiest to find..

galina

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #11 on: July 17, 2017, 09:42:09 »
Turnips, beetroot, endive lettuce, normal lettuce, oriental vegetables - lots can be sown right now.  :wave:

small

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #12 on: July 17, 2017, 15:32:19 »
Thanks for starting this thread. It's inspired me to go through my seed packets, where I find my cauliflowers can be started now to overwinter, and I've shoved my old pea seeds in to eat as shoots, and sowed some more salad stuff direct instead of in pots, and I've even repotted some kale seedlings I'd been ignoring in the hope of spurring them back to life.

Vinlander

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #13 on: July 18, 2017, 11:02:22 »
Nothing in death row at the local nursery, but got some more dwarf borlotto seeds

I tried dwarf borlotti once and they ran up about 70cm - needed pea sticks. Earliness was also intermediate if I remember rightly - maybe I should have given them the snip.

I suspect they are dwarfed rather than dwarf - ie. I'd be surprised if their ancestry was fully dwarf for hundreds of years.

I'd stick with the standard dwarf varieties, especially if they mention early cropping.

On the other hand, semi-dwarf borlotti are useful as the bean in my UK version of the 3 sisters - modern sweetcorn interplanted with them and crystal lemon cucumbers (true climbers and squash were intended for fodder corn).

Cheers
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

galina

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2017, 16:49:54 »
Vinlander, that's an inspired 3 sisters combo.  What are your sowing/planting times please?  :wave:

Vinlander

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #15 on: July 20, 2017, 15:10:05 »
Vinlander, that's an inspired 3 sisters combo.  What are your sowing/planting times please?  :wave:

Ha - lol - there's a big difference between what I plan and what I do in this area - coordinating plant species is harder than herding cats.

Obviously the corn needs to be ahead of the beans in order to offer support.

I sow my corn in mid- to late-March, each in the bottom 60% of 500ml water bottles that are so heavily pierced in the bottom half that the roots have no trouble getting out for their entire life (3x angle grinder cuts on each corner or 10x 6mm holes on each side - cheap auger wood bits from pound shops are perfect).

I have used the same 48 bottles for years - the mice still haven't got in - I call them corn-safes (mice are as determined as Burke & Hare).

This means I can clip the upper 60% of similar bottles on top (any identical pair of bottles that has horizontal ridges will allow this) and plant them out in their final positions before they hit the lid (remove the lid before the leaves fold) - each in their own individual greenhouse for a month or so until the upper can be removed. The wider neck bottles are best otherwise you have to be very careful (as the upper bottle is lifted off, the whole plant has to go through the neck easily).

They should be planted out mid-late April, early May at the latest (IF I have the right space cleared or even clearable then).

Ideally the beans and cucs should be planted out as early as they can be, but the corn stems should be approaching 1cm before the beans are allowed to climb.

BTW I can't guarantee that all dwarf borlotti will be weak growers - yours might turn out to be true dwarves, but it is possible to trim french climbers to 1m and still get a crop - so that might be more reliable - or keep some in pots just in case they are needed.

The problem with the 3 sisters is that you have to predict that you are going to really need the space you save - if your plot is big enough you don't need the extra work it entails. When I was relying on my garden I did it a lot more than I do now, but I always use the corn-safes.

Cheers.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2017, 15:12:00 by Vinlander »
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

galina

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #16 on: July 22, 2017, 21:34:23 »
Vinlander, much food for thought there and I appreciate that the height of the Borlotti could be variable.  I was thinking of another half height bean in any case - one of the half runners.  Corn is one of the plants I pre grow and plant out with a bottle cloche.  This way it can go out even if we still get a late frost.  It is just a little hardier than beans.  Cornsafe is a useful tool too.  Thank you   :sunny:

PS:  just to clarify, I think you meant to say the corn should be at least 1ft before the beans start climbing if I understood right.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2017, 21:37:45 by galina »

Vinlander

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #17 on: July 23, 2017, 11:58:53 »
PS:  just to clarify, I think you meant to say the corn should be at least 1ft before the beans start climbing if I understood right.
After rescuing and planting out some neglected corn plants (I thought they were in good light but weren't - the cover got very dirty), the ones with thin stems folded halfway down the stem before I could get the upper bottle in place - and few survived this, the thick ones didn't fold.

a 1cm thick stem seems safe, but if they'd been in their corn safes since April they would probably have had thinner but woodier stems and be perfectly happy carrying the extra sail area from the beans.

Cheers.

PS. I always assumed the advantage of the 3 sisters was a) Laziness (beans without poles), b) more crop from the same space and presumably c) some nitrogen fixing from the beans. I do entertain a possibility of some other kind of synergy from companion planting but I only trust a & b. 

When I did it I increased the normal corn separation by 50% aiming for 3 crops from the space occupied by 2. It wasn't obviously wrong, but it wasn't a jungle either - I certainly wouldn't risk trying 3 in 1. Stepping between the cucumber stems wasn't easy or 100% successful (squash wouldn't be a picnic either, the hint is in the name) - I ended up installing stepping stones & probably lost advantage a). The second time I did it I planted the corn in 2 standard raised beds so I had the path between for regular picking of beans. If you have and know a prevailing wind direction you can deviate quite a bit  from the standard square matrix.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

George the Pigman

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Re: Anything I can plant now?
« Reply #18 on: July 28, 2017, 23:17:19 »
Sow some climbing french beans or runner beans now. You should have them cropping in October before the frosts come.

 

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