Growing your own veg

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Nah greenhouse is 14'x7' and it's at dad's house, needs half the glass replaced, been on the to do list for 2 years now. I've cleared it out just need to find the money and time to get on with it. Maybe this year :scratchhead:
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
Ours is 12 x 8. Bought it over 25 years ago second hand from a hippie who was moving to Ireland. When we moved to the new house the plan was to get a new one. In the end the house cost more than we planned. There's a surprise!! So, we took all the glass out of the old green house, then picked up the frame and stuck it on a trailer. Once here it was placed on a pre built wall the make it higher, then the glass put back in. It's brilliant. Must be getting on for 40 years old but good as new. Look out for a second hand one close to you? Some people offer them free if you take it down yourself.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
picked up my seed tatties this week, couldn't get Lady Krystl, so Sharpes Express, Kestrel, Orla and Cara. Will put them into the chitting trays at the end of the month

Onions - Centurion and Red Baron

Shallots - Golden Gourmet and Red Sun

Got a hell of a lot to do before I plant anything more though.
 
I ordered all my plants for the poly - I just don't have the time now to raise from seeds. I want to do spuds but things are looking a bit sick here as I'm out working 4 days a week with the old man so I am no longer a lady of leisure (as he says) Weekends are just the same. Earning the money but means things are changing around here. Will see about what I want to plant over the week but with the endless sodding prep and weeding not sure how practical it is now.
 

Netherfield

Member
Location
West Yorkshire
IMG_0790.JPG


Juliette and Charlotte chitting nicely.
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
Got my wish. Nice dry frosty morning!
filled beds.jpg

The area in the back ground is destined to be lawn, planted with, I hope, fruit and decorative tree's. It is quite a big area. I will have to be patient for that to be ploughed and seeded. I fancy a wild flower meadow mix around the perimeter fencing? Anyone tried this? Eventually the rest of the field is to be reseeded with a timothy mixture so I can have a pony for the Grandchildren. All these plans. I will have to live long enough to see them through :)
 

Old Boar

Member
Location
West Wales
Wow! That looks good - quite jealous! Mine veg garden is under water at the moment, and I did go into the polytunnel to check if there is any sign of growth in the asparagus, but nothing. Did find a dianthus flowering away though, with the scent filling the tunnel.
I have planted my garlic in an old display fridge that is on its back - two inches of green showing! My purple sprouting is not doing much though.:(
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
I would really like a poly tunnel. See what this year brings? I would like to grow garlic, have grown elephant in the past, but as there is only the 2 of us now, and my other half is a closet vampire, there doesn't seem any point!
It has got to stop raining some time. Surely!
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
wow those are seriously good beds Wendy10.

My plot is back to being an 'underwater' garden, even the trenches to put MORE drains in are full:scratchhead:. Can't get on it to do any more at the moment.

All the Garlic and early shallots are well up through, the hispi are looking decidedly sick.

The raised hard standing where I was going to put the hen run is going to be used to put the tattie planters this year. Upside is the raised area has now more than doubled, just need to put some quarry dust on top of the rubble. Only half way down the 'garden' and it's taking over 2' of material to bring it up to the required level :banghead:
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Put the spuds into the old egg cartons then into a warm dark cupboard to chit yesterday, need to start scrounging some more mineral tubs to put them in. Express seem quite forward, Kestrel about where I'd expect and Orla seem wee bit ahead of the Cara
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
I have always put them to chit in a light room?
I've got 4 tubs of swift in the green house. They are well up. I like to have a few very early. Sometimes come unstuck when I need to get the tomatoes planted up though. They get kicked out.
I have gone for Sarpo Una and Sarpo Kiffle for the outside spuds. Never tried Sarpo before.
Now I need to be sure I have discouraged the wild bunnies from digging in the raised beds. Curry powder seems to be working, but I am nervous of planting them up without being sure.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Collected a box from McDermots this morning, in it was the 110litre cement mixer I'd ordered. Nell and I spent a lot of the afternoon putting it together then mixing up some compost, sh!t and sand to get something resembling decent soil along with some fertilizer. Managed to get the 1st., earlies (Express) planted before realising we'd need to put up one of the collapsible cages to keep various animals from digging them up. Hope to get the 2nd earlies in this week as well.
 
I have always put them to chit in a light room?

Father used to put as many as possible of the first earlies (Arran Pilot in those days) under the beds - sleeping in variety. Not too warm in bedrooms in those days. Then the top of wardrobes (more light) was the second choice. After that he used whatever space seemed appropriate. He grew up to about an acre and a half. Hand planted and hand dug by him (and me as I became old enough).

He used to aim to begin harvesting (Northumberland) in Race Week - the third week of June sees Newcastle's biggest meeting of the year. He kept a big supply of newspapers and, working night shift in the pits and coming home a bit after 2a.m., would lay sheets of newspaper over as many of the newly emerged plants as he could if he thought there would be a frost.

When I had my own place I bought an old Fergie two row planter pulled by the little grey. I drove and my wife and father did the planting "by the bell".
 

New Puritan

Member
Location
East Sussex
Apologies for barging into this thread with my own question, but it is related and I thought the collective wisdom of the people who have posted here would make it the best place to put it...

When I took on my farm tenancy, various people I know misunderstood what an arable farm is and expressed interest in buying produce directly from me. To this end, I'm going to try growing about an eighth of an acre of potatoes this year. I've grown spuds all my life (my mum found a photo of me aged two helping earth some up in our garden, only the other day), so I do know roughly what I am doing, but even an eighth of an acre represents a significant scaling up for me on potatoes.

I have a grey Fergie ridger and a (very) old Ransomes friction drive spinner. Whilst I could do this area all by hand anyway, using the two bits of kit behind a small tractor might make life easier. Has anyone planted spuds using a ridger, as I don't have a proper potato planter? I was thinking I could use it to create trenches to place the potatoes in by hand, and then run along again but a foot over, to fill the trenches in and start to form the banks. Does anyone have a constructive opinion on this please?

Here's the ridger btw:

spud.jpg

Many thanks in advance for any advice given, as ever.
NP.
 
Last edited:

New Puritan

Member
Location
East Sussex
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=g...ganaAhVnJsAKHaiiAvkQ_AUIDSgE&biw=1536&bih=759

As far as I know the Fergy tater planter was just a ridger with bits added.

Thanks @Kidds - yes, but when they are built up into a planter they have a couple of chutes at the front (I think) which place the potatoes into the soil ahead of the ridging shares. I'm just wondering if using the ridger will create too much soil disturbance for planting them, or if trying to run past twice will create some unforeseen problems!

Thanks,
NP.
 
When I had my own place I bought an old Fergie two row planter pulled by the little grey. I drove and my wife and father did the planting "by the bell".

is the type of planter I had. There are quite a few videos on YouTube, but very little concentration on the actual planting/depositing of the pots in the ground.

When I was much younger, father contracted somebody with a ridger very similar to yours. Also pulled by the Fergie, actually the one I eventually bought, the contractor would make all the ridges. We would then muck the bottom of the drills, hand plant and the contractor would run along the tops of the ridges (equal spacing front and rear tyres) and split the ridges over the planted seed pots. We would then in due course use a draw hoe to knock out the weeds between the young potato plants and the same ridger would be used to remake the ridges. We (or rather father with my assistance) used to grow up to about an acre and a half this way. On my own place we grew a few acres each year.

Your ridger is adjustable for row width. Make the two outside ridger points exactly the same width as your tractor tyre mid points (remember - equal width centre to centre front and back) adjusting your wheel width as necessary. We also grew on narrower rows than most folks. Father liked 26" and I went to 28" because we mainly grew on haugh land that was very light and I liked that little bit more soil cover.

Any more questions - just ask.
 

New Puritan

Member
Location
East Sussex
Thank you @Old McDonald - that's very helpful. So it sounds like you did much the same as I am proposing to do? I was going to add some muck or possibly green nettle tops into the trenches before planting, as I have heard putting green stuff in is meant to reduce the incidence of scab.

I've adjusted the outer points to be at 142cm apart, centre to centre, to match the Ford 3910's track width, so I think I am already there with that part (happily). I was also pleased to find the bolts were not seized on what must be a fairly old piece of equipment. Apologies for switching to metric, I seem to work in either (and often both) depending on which has a more memorable or nearer whole number. That makes 71cm row spacings, so about 28 inches? The tractor won't go any narrower I think, plus it's being borrowed and I don't have enough enthusiasm for trying to adjust the wheel width on it even if it were possible...

Thank you once again @Old McDonald , and this forum more generally, I am always very sincerely pleased to receive such useful advice on here.

NP.
 

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