Allotments 4 All

Larry,

Keep em as cool as possible and in plenty of light.

I don't know where you live but last year, in the South, there was some very mild weather at the beginning of Feb - I got my 1st earlies in then and they did very well

Phil

I'm sure I read somewhere that if potatoes chit too early it's ok to rub the chits off and let them grow again?

Anyone confirm that? Or will I have to go back through my books again!!

TimJ

Yes TimJ I read that too from a site posted by Doris Pinks it said you can rub them off up to five times with no ill effects :o ;D

I'm afraid that there are "ill effects".

The sprouts do not regrow but new and less vigourous sprouting points produce sprouts - no doubt John has the proper terms for these. Also the tuber uses its stored energy to produce the sprouts, each time it produces one it shrinks a bit.

So each time you rub them off you reduce the growth potential of the seed tuber - far better to keep them at a temp around 4 degrees C and in good light

Phil

 - and it's also been shown that tubers with white light-starved shoots several inches long will still make out. So don't panic. = Tim

Tim's right - as usual - the only problem is that the long shoots are very brittle and therefore care is needed when planting to prevent their being broken.

Laying them horizontally has been shown to produce good results in an HDRA members' trial

Phil

Thanks very much Phil & Tim, beginning to realise that this vegetable rearing lark is actually quite technically demanding  :o
I'll just have to buy more books and keep posting on here!  :)

TimJ

The onions you have seen already in the ground are possibly hardy onions that are planted early winter time to be harvest several weeks before main crop onions are ready.  They do not store as well as main crop.  Main crop onions I don't think should really go in until March time.  Carrots, I tried sowing carrots in Feb last year under cloches, having warmed the soil for several weeks before....nothing.....did the same with peas.....nothing....will hold fire until mid march, altho do plan to start some peas in pots in the greenhouse to try and get a couple of weeks advance.

chap I work with who comes from long line of lottie holders reckons you can plant broad beans now ... any agree/disagree with that.

I've bought the seeds already and am itching to get em in ... surely they will eventually need supporting, the instructions on the pack are scant to say the least

My Aquadulce broadies were grown, um, November time I think and planted out a couple of weekends ago.  I support mine with a cats cradle type affair, bamboos at each corner, a couple along the edges and then twine zigzagged around to hold them in place.  They make pretty sturdy plants and some on my site don't bother to support them at all, others support each plant with it's own stick!  My summer broadies will be sown about march time.

TimJ,

I hope I didn't make it sound too daunting. It can't be too technically demanding - look at some of the gardeners on TV!!!!

There is no "right way" in gardening, there are many that work and one or two that will work best for you.

Never give up and try whatever you think sounds right to you.

If you have a number of ways of planting say spuds - try a few done each way - keep a diary and note the results

Next year do it the way that produced the best results

But, as Alan Bloom (now 98) said on ther radio this week - he's still learning!

Phil

Now what about growing salads in the greenhouse border. How early can i start there, and what can i grow at this time of year. I have things like lettuce (loose leaf) rocket and lambs lettuce coming in a seed order soon, and will shortly be in a position to start using part of the greenhouse border.

Any ideas?. Thanks

Richard,

your lettuce and lambs lettuce should be ok to go in straight away -at least mine are happy in there now. I think your pots could go in now -but would they be out before you wanted the border for other things? As soon as my order arrives I'm going to start the potatos in big pots, so they can be moved out as the weather improves.

A bit early now -but I grew a courgette or 2 in the greenhouse last year (Partenon -doesn't need pollinating - from the O.G.C.) this worked well and I'll do it again this year.

Jeremy

o yes, courgettes...I remember now some peeps were picking courgettes from their greenhouses before I had even planted mine out on the plot!  Will start a couple of seeds soon, just as an experiment you understand.  ;D

Richard my Lambs lettuce, Mizuna etc has been growing in my greenhouse beds over the winter, (albeit slowly!) they are just about ready to start picking!  I always bung them in when the tommys come out.

 ???

I get very confused about sowing, planting out and all these other gardening-y terms. Foolishly I thought you just bought seeds and stuck em in the ground outside roughlyl when they tell you to do so, unless the pack warns otherwise (in which case I don't buy em!)

i stuck a row of broad beans straight in the ground at the w/end - no good then eh?

If the packet said plant now then you should be ok.

You need to temper the advice on the packet with a bit of common sense - if it sayd plant from Jan onwards but the ground is frozen solid or covering in snow or water - wait til it thaws, disappears or dries out as appropriate

Phil

Quote from: sandersj89 on January 04, 2005, 11:47:39
Get your seed potato's chitting away in egg boxes and then nip to the garden centre and buy the biggest cheapest plastic pots you can find. Mine are are about 18 inches across and the same deep.

(If you don't want to buy these you can use black bin liners just as well.)

Put some crocks or stones in the bottom of the pot and then half fill with any old compost you can lay your hands on adding a bit of well rotted manure as you go.

When the potato's have produced sprouts about an inch long pop them in the pot and cover with about an inch of compost.

As they grow continue to cover the leaves a couple of times with more compost until the pot is nearly full, this builds up the area where new spuds will grow.

Last year I put two seed spuds in each pot and it worked fine. As the new tubers swell try and make sure they all stay covered with soil or else they go green.

Water well, don't give them a chance to dry out.

Keep the pot in the greenhouse aslong as you can then move to a bright and sunny spot. If there is a frost forecast bring them inside or into a green house.

In a few weeks time you will be able to tip out masses of sweet, tasty new spuds about the size of pigeon eggs. Once you have tasted fresh home grown spuds you will never buy them again in the supermarket.

Each pot will yield about 5 to 7 pounds of spuds if you do well. The only problem is they don't keep for ages once dug.

jerry, thanks for the tip. am new to the gardening 'business' but will be taking over a 'lottie soon  - thing is, soon can't come soon enough for me :D itchy fingers and all.

will pop down to the local garden centre for a pot and some compost.
where do you guys get your seed potatoes from (and how many are there in one order? 5, 50 or 500? :o )

ta
s.

A number of broad bean varieties are suitable for sowing NOW and the same goes for peas. If it says so on the packet, fingers crossed, you should be fine. My autumn 2003 sown broad beans yielded a crop about 2-3 weeks before the spring sown (and at a time when they are horrendously expensive in the shops - £2? a pound/kilo) I didn't do anything to them, and they survived a bit of weevil notching the leaves, and there was no sign of blackfly.

The autumn 2004 lot seem a bit tall (well, more horizontal) but look ok (I think). Time will tell come May.

Svea - are you anywhere near Coventry or Hampshire? This weekend, there are potato days in Coventry (Saturday for members of the HDRA, and Sunday open to the general public) and in Hampshire (www.hhdra.org.uk) where you can buy single seed tubers at reasonable prices!

Thats the trouble with the Right Month To Sow on packets, the weather is changing all the time and different from year to year.
Confusing but I think it is all about whether they are frost hardy or not. Trouble is with thigs in greenhouse to speed things up, there is sometimes not the light available.

I think I am finding out that artificial heat in the greenhouse(in the form of parafin) and propogater(elec) do well for some things but others things need extra artificial light too! :-\

"Oh look! they are coming up already"
few days later...

"Oh look they are dying already"! :-[ :-[ :-[