I have been growing veg for over 50 years and must have heard almost every tip going. What are the best and worst tips you have ever been given?
My plot-share mate tells me the rhubarb season ends in May and you need to pick it before then or it gets poisonous. Get back from a few days away and the plant has been stripped almost bare!
Best tip- grow comfrey!
Worst tip (didn't take it up)- "You want to rotavate- that'll get rid of the weeds". Not the couch and the bindweed it wouldn't !
Bob, with that amount of experience you ought to write a column on here
I find it fascinating to listen to the old uns !! you can read as many books as you like
but blokes like yourself have much more knowledge.
Best tip ive been given is get your soil right to stand a good chance of growing succesfuly
what tips would you give the young generation bob ?
Quoteget your soil right
As Arthur Billet would say..........the secret is in the soil!
And I agree!.... get that right and your three parts on the way to success!
( This year I haven't and I don't I know about it ?........not half! )
Another one is;
If you find something/method/variety that works for you stick with it till you find a better one.
To find better ones; experiment with about 10-15% of your stock and grow the other 90 odd per cent with bankers, i.e. those that you know work for you!
This way you get the best of both worlds!
The saying 'don't put all your eggs in one basket' comes to mind here!
Yes definitely, that's one of the all-time top tips I think: only a small amount of experimenting to avoid heartache.
When I started, I wanted rare things, and of course there's sometimes a reason why they're rare... ::) There's more pleasure in a row of bog standard onions and broadbeans flourishing, than in acres of wilting rarities.
I don't think I've been given bad tips as such, more plenty of unwelcome ones ;D You know, 'you don't want to be growing that'... 'that's a funny-looking plot'... 'You want to rip out all those X and plant Y...' 'I've never seen anyone do it like that...' :P
My other favourite tip's from my mum: whatever you do, do a small patch at a time, so you see results before moving on. Otherwise your work is lost among the unfinished bits and it looks like you haven't achieved anything.
Most useful: only grow what you know you like eating in quantities you can eat or realistically preserve.
Least useful (more difficult this one): the spacings and sowing times on some seed packets. Oh, and I would also like to nominate everything Alys Fowler ever writes or says.
Soaking sweett corn seed and planting it early.. bad idea, if it germinates it is more by luck than judgement if soaked and starting it early actually delays it`s growth if stuck in pots for more than 3 weeks.
Best tisp..don`t rush things and don`t overcrowd things
XX Jeannine
Re the rhubarb, I think you will find that stopping picking late June-July is to give the plant chance to draw goodness from the tubers rather like a bulb does, nothing to do with poison.
XX Jeannine
Quote from: Jeannine on May 22, 2011, 17:58:52
Soaking sweett corn seed and planting it early.. bad idea, if it germinates it is more by luck than judgement if soaked and starting it early actually delays it`s growth if stuck in pots for more than 3 weeks.
Best tisp..don`t rush things and don`t overcrowd things
XX Jeannine
Re the rhubarb, I think you will find that stopping picking late June-July is to give the plant chance to draw goodness from the tubers rather like a bulb does, nothing to do with poison.
XX Jeannine
Now she tells me ;D Having just last night soaked my sweetcorn seed for 3 or 4 hours then planted it, hoping for swifter germination. My first lot is already out in the polytunnel and around 6" high, but I want this lot to come on also, as I find the season, even in the polytunnel is not that long
I will let you all know what happens
All the best
Sue
Discovered today another bad tip- using video tape as a bird scarer in place of cotton. It breaks and wraps itself around the plants, especially when it's windy.
Good tip - thousands, but main ones must be:
only grow things you like eating
don't sow seeds (or plant things out) too early no matter how much you want to
make compost! and then make some more compost!
Bad tip:
worrying too much about exact spacings etc on seed packets
thinking there must be only one right way to do things
On Gardeners World, Carol Klein advising a client to get rid of a gorgeous Clematis Montana and grow ivy up their pergola instead. OK she might be right, but it seemed very wrong!
I started as garden-boy in 1948 and worst tip I have heard is to earth up brassicas that have club root so you get a crop. IT SPREADS THE SPORES EVEN MORE>
Quote from: VegBob on May 22, 2011, 12:27:10
I have been growing veg for over 50 years and must have heard almost every tip going. What are the best and worst tips you have ever been given?
I completely agreed about the clematis, lewic. I was shouting at the tv "tell her to get stuffed, love!".
One good tip is to sow a small quantity of seeds in a packet and not all at once. Seeds dont need to be discarded if u dont sow that year, most of not all seeds can be kept for years.
Quote from: Morris on May 22, 2011, 16:45:58
ardening......
Least useful ... everything Alys Fowler ever writes or says.
But she's very cute and has red hair and wears miniskirts while gardening.... who cares about the advice? (she's as mad as a box of frogs for starters....)
LOL chris :)
anyway my best tip, from A4A 8) was to pinch out the 1st cucumber on a plant so as to let it really grow. worked a treat
worst - don't think I have one. although I've probably committed a few horrors on my own plot, all of my own devising - but that's just learning ;)
Get rich soil and grow closer! A thai lady grows sweetcorn in green house and when she plants them she puts a seed right close to it, so gets 2 crops at different times and they dont care that they are right next to each other, her peas are crammed in very close and they are already 3.5ft high and looking good. Ours are a foot high if lucky!
Cant wait to eat the buggers! Wife moans I eat to many and they don`t make it to the pot!
best way to eat them in my opinion. :-X
1066, what do you mean???
Quote from: Andy H on May 22, 2011, 22:45:51
1066, what do you mean???
What does 1066 mean by nipping off the first cucumer, Dont let any fruit grow for the first two feet of the plant, this allows the it to get well established.
One old feller give me another tip about cucumbers. Pick the cucumber peal off the skin soak it in viniger then trow it in the bin.
My best tip for gardening is " You are there to break its back its not there to break yours"
Bad tip from allotment neighbour when I took on new plot, a scary expanse of tall meadow grass, thistles, docks and worse: "Dig it all over first before you plant anything".
I was polite, but I dug out an oblong the size of a baby's grave and put a courgette plant in straight away to give me courage, steadily expanding from there.
Quote from: lewic on May 22, 2011, 19:47:13
On Gardeners World, Carol Klein advising a client to get rid of a gorgeous Clematis Montana and grow ivy up their pergola instead. OK she might be right, but it seemed very wrong!
Yes ! ....what the heck was THAT all about ? The ivy that she recommended wasn,t that attractive either ....... there are some lovely bigger and more ornamental varieties you can get . Very odd !
hmm worst tip was "If you don't dig it all over to a depth of two feet you might as well give up now", probably followed by mixing a barrowful of sand into the carrot bed to get good carrots (still hadn't worked).
Best tip was sow later rather than too early, grow everything from seed (don't buy in any plants anymore), and rotate the strawberry plants so there are always older plants in to give more fruit.
I do like the tip above though about "When you're on a good thing, stuck to it", like overwintering garlic for me, which works a treat, and direct sowing squash and courgettes.
Quote from: chriscross1966 on May 22, 2011, 22:32:01
Quote from: Morris on May 22, 2011, 16:45:58
Least useful ... everything Alys Fowler ever writes or says.
But she's very cute and has red hair and wears miniskirts while gardening.... who cares about the advice? (she's as mad as a box of frogs for starters....)
Hahaha ;D
I am obviously not appreciating her finer points ;) She drives me mental because she is so romantic and utterly impractical. Almost anything she suggests is doomed to failure.
There seems to be an underlying theme in the responses to my query - don't be dogmatic! The information that we are given on packets and by pundits should only be regarded as guidelines not as gospel. When we are told that plant X prefers such-and-such conditions it doesn't means that those are the only circumstances under which they can be grown. Experiment and you will find what and where you can grow things. Expect some failures and you will succeed by finding out the limitations within your microclimate. Thanks to all respondents. Bob.
My best tip that I've tried this year was to sow Parsnip seeds and then cover them with a piece of wood, thus keeping the soil moist until they germinated.
For the first time ever I have a full row of Parsnip seedlings ;)
Does anyone from the old days of the BBC site remember the chap who advised painting the stumps of cut cabbage plants with white wash?
Quote from: davyw1 on May 23, 2011, 08:13:33
Quote from: Andy H on May 22, 2011, 22:45:51
1066, what do you mean???
What does 1066 mean by nipping off the first cucumer, Dont let any fruit grow for the first two feet of the plant, this allows the it to get well established.
Thanks Davy, explained much better ;D
I cant think of ever been given any bad tips except from the other blokes i compete against at shows nice friendly tips like your leeks could do with a good feed of glycanol or you need to take some tomatoes off that large truss before the string holding it up snaps.
Good tips for tomatoes,
Never remove the top sucker from your tomato plants till after you have tied off above it so if you snap the growing tip you can let the sucker grow on.
If you break the growing stem of a tomato tape it back up it will heal its self and grow on.
Remove the leaves below the first truss (not all at once as this will stress the plant) to allow ventilation to flow around the plants.
Quote from: davyw1 on May 23, 2011, 08:13:33
What does 1066 mean by nipping off the first cucumer, Dont let any fruit grow for the first two feet of the plant, this allows the it to get well established.
Oh! Do I really have to sacrifice my first lovely cukes? :'( I've been soooo pleased these last couple of days, watching all my plants set forth and multiply - or at least start off with about five fruits per plant - I'd be pretty sad to pinch'em out! The plants are about two feet now. I've never pinched any out in the past and the only problems we had last year was running out of stomach-space... :o
Quote from: hild on May 23, 2011, 20:17:49
Quote from: davyw1 on May 23, 2011, 08:13:33
What does 1066 mean by nipping off the first cucumer, Dont let any fruit grow for the first two feet of the plant, this allows the it to get well established.
Oh! Do I really have to sacrifice my first lovely cukes? :'( I've been soooo pleased these last couple of days, watching all my plants set forth and multiply - or at least start off with about five fruits per plant - I'd be pretty sad to pinch'em out! The plants are about two feet now. I've never pinched any out in the past and the only problems we had last year was running out of stomach-space... :o
Of course you dont, it is only a suggestion or tip but it is a sound one. why not try nipping of the first two fruits, leave the third nip of the fourth, leave the fifth then compare the growth to what you had last year
I didn't know it either! I might tentatively try your suggestion davy. I'm not sure I can bear to get rid of all of them up to 2', mine probably only reach 4' anyway! ;D Does that apply to outdoor cucs as well 1066?
I have neve grown them outside but i would say the same would aply, its all about getting the plant well established before letting the fruit grow, Ok so you have to wait that bit longer but you will end up with a better plant and a longer growing time. Also if the plant is growing to many cucumbers it is worth nipping off every other one to get better fruit as apposed to quantity.
A couple of year ago i tried growing five in the tunnel along the north wall, i nipped out the growing tips and grew the side chutes along canes it worked a treat nipping off every other fruit, but i got so lost with not knowing which plant was which i would never do it again well not with five anyway
this was the start
(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/stumpinsci/Picture029.jpg)
Quote from: davyw1 on May 23, 2011, 20:34:24
why not try nipping of the first two fruits, leave the third nip of the fourth, leave the fifth then compare the growth to what you had last year
Not a bad idea - as I've got three Mini Munch and three Euphyas I might try that on one of each and compare to the non-pinched ones. That way I won't feel so miserable straight off! ;D
mmmm polytunnel envy :)
Quote from: darkbrowneggs on May 22, 2011, 18:17:40
Quote from: Jeannine on May 22, 2011, 17:58:52
Soaking sweett corn seed and planting it early.. bad idea, if it germinates it is more by luck than judgement if soaked and starting it early actually delays it`s growth if stuck in pots for more than 3 weeks.
Best tisp..don`t rush things and don`t overcrowd things
XX Jeannine
Re the rhubarb, I think you will find that stopping picking late June-July is to give the plant chance to draw goodness from the tubers rather like a bulb does, nothing to do with poison.
XX Jeannine
Now she tells me ;D Having just last night soaked my sweetcorn seed for 3 or 4 hours then planted it, hoping for swifter germination. My first lot is already out in the polytunnel and around 6" high, but I want this lot to come on also, as I find the season, even in the polytunnel is not that long
I will let you all know what happens
All the best
Sue
OK - Said I would let you know what happened, and some was up this morning so I took off bottom heat and put on window sill in kitchen, just checked and about 15% or more through already
So soaking works for me. They were sown around 9pm Sat 21st May, which was a fruit day according to biodynamic calender. I will keep them in till they are pretty well all up then they can go to polytunnel
All the best
Sue
Quote from: pigeonseed on May 23, 2011, 21:14:07
Does that apply to outdoor cucs as well 1066?
I've only ever grown them outside so that's a yes from me :)
I don't have heaps of experience at this like Davy does, but basically the 1st year I grew them, I didn't get a great crop at all, the 2nd year I tried the pinching out and I got a great crop, 3rd year the same. So crossed fingers for the 4th ;D
Just to add to the cucumber controversy:
I only grow in greenhouse. Camilla & Passandra usually. I never pinch out and I only cut off the bottom fruit if it is so low it can't grow straight. I always get a huge crop usually going on right into the autumn.
I grow in large pots, pinching out side shoots after 2 buds. I leave room when I plant for regular shallow top dressing with worm compost as the roots grow on the surface. But apart from that don't do anything special. When they reach the greenhouse roof I train them to strings along the eaves.
I guess it's what works for you??
Quote from: Morris on May 24, 2011, 15:51:19
Just to add to the cucumber controversy:
;D ooo if someone had said to me 4 years ago you'd be reading a thread about a potential cucumber controversy, I'd have lauged my head off ;D ;D
Love it!
As you say, we find our own ways :)
The best Tip I ever had was to make sure I got every potato out of the ground no mattter what size, Last year my crop was so poor that a lot were smaller than marbles and Now im paying for being slack and not doing as advised
That's a good one, I'm paying that price this year as well. I have volunteers all over the place. Lesson learnt :-X
Worst tip i had was given by Geoff Hamilton(idid like him God bless him) Cut your spirea down to almost ground level. It never came back.
Best tip was to put rhubarb leaves under the gooseberries. I haven't had asawfly since
I am also another one paying the price with volunteer spuds that will teach me to do the job properly
Will try the gooseberry/ rhubarb leaves Shirl, I don't suppose you can remember how it works?
Mind you -I would have forgoten the tip!!!! so no chance with how it works ;)
Keep seeds in fridge - they really do last longer (sowed 1995 Marmande tomato seeds this year and 4 out of 5 germinated!)
Rats don't like hot chilli powder - scatter on kitchen waste and they'll leave your compost heap alone (at least it's worked for me).
Harden tender plants off - it does make a difference unless you're very lucky with the weather.
***********
Big slugs eat small slugs not plants - totally not convinced they don't just eat everything!
Skinny spiders (that look like daddy longlegs) eat monster house spiders - I don't kill them but don't see how they can.
***********
Going to try rhubarb leaf tip - might also work on Soloman's Seal which is always eaten by sawfly.
CABAGE Dont pull your cabages cut the head off and cut a cross in the top of the stalk another four small cabages will grow on
Quote from: pumpkinlover on May 26, 2011, 07:26:45
Will try the gooseberry/ rhubarb leaves Shirl, I don't suppose you can remember how it works?
Mind you -I would have forgoten the tip!!!! so no chance with how it works ;)
I should imagine its something to do with the acid PL the sawfly emerges from under the goosegog
Best Tip
Listen to all advise given but then do it how you think.
If you're wrong, you learn, if your right, don't change it.
Quote from: shirlton on May 26, 2011, 10:24:09
Quote from: pumpkinlover on May 26, 2011, 07:26:45
Will try the gooseberry/ rhubarb leaves Shirl, I don't suppose you can remember how it works?
Mind you -I would have forgoten the tip!!!! so no chance with how it works ;)
I should imagine its something to do with the acid PL the sawfly emerges from under the goosegog
Oh I thought they just couldn't fight their way out from under the big rhubarb leaf!!! :)
Quote from: pumpkinlover on May 26, 2011, 20:55:14
Quote from: shirlton on May 26, 2011, 10:24:09
Quote from: pumpkinlover on May 26, 2011, 07:26:45
Will try the gooseberry/ rhubarb leaves Shirl, I don't suppose you can remember how it works?
Mind you -I would have forgoten the tip!!!! so no chance with how it works ;)
I should imagine its something to do with the acid PL the sawfly emerges from under the goosegog
Oh I thought they just couldn't fight their way out from under the big rhubarb leaf!!! :)
Rhubarb leaves contain poisonous substances, including oxalic acid which is a nephrotoxic and corrosive acid that is present in many plants, including goosberries so I guess that must be why the gooseberry bush doesnt suffer and yet the sawflies perrish.
This is my first year of gooseberries as in all previous years the plant has been ravished by caterpillas and I only recently learnt that caterpillas emerge from the soil and not eggs on the leaves (am I correct on this?).
My gooseberrie was moved in autumn and is next to the rhubarb anyway so maybe they are good companions.
Thanks for the tip. :)