Growing your own veg

Progress to "No- Dig", see:
http://www.charlesdowding.co.uk/
Its what I do, its easy to convert if
a) your ground is free from perennial nasties, bindweed, maretails, couch and nettles
b) you can freely source well rotted FYM and/or green waste compost

I do the No dig but I would question no weeds I am still fighting the buggers and grass seed that floats about. My issue here the the trailing silverweed and everything else that trails over into the pathways into the beds. Weeding is still a flippin nightmare and with lack of time before you know it youve got trouble. Lucky for Charles he's got a lovely flat residential market garden.

Yes, the system works and growing in modules. But the ground is def not free of marestail or nettles.
 

anzani

Member
I do the No dig but I would question no weeds I am still fighting the buggers and grass seed that floats about. My issue here the the trailing silverweed and everything else that trails over into the pathways into the beds. Weeding is still a flippin nightmare and with lack of time before you know it youve got trouble. Lucky for Charles he's got a lovely flat residential market garden.

Yes, the system works and growing in modules. But the ground is def not free of marestail or nettles.
Yes, I sympathise, have had it in previous garden. Dont claim to be weed-free but less than previously experienced.Having converted an area of pasture, its mainly plantain,the odd dock, thistles, clover and speedwell. Also wheat and barley ,from the muck I guess.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Pea and bean ground now cleared. Peas were a bit disappointing but was late getting them in as they were a bit of an afterthought.

.Bed1, Hispi cabbage are looking well and the flynet cage, copper collars and beer traps seem to have done their job. Early Purple garlic and Eschallote Grise are in. Provence garlic will go in later in the month with the Solent going in in January.

Bed2, not a lot of change just working our way through the Nantes carrots, some of which are pretty big, only problem being one or two are splitting

Bed3 is below 20c for the first time in the 5 months since it was built. Using the leeks and parsnips, as we need them parsnips are beginning to develop a bit of flavour, will leave the swedes in a while yet and start using the Autumn King carrots once the Nantes in Bed2 are finished.

Tomatoes, getting some but generally disappointing as are the sweet peppers, still getting courgettes though.

Night time air temps getting down to 2c.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
flippin' 'eck eschalote grise are well through already :wideyed: Raised bed soil temperatures have risen over the last couple of days, bed3 is up at 23c this morning. All the rsain we've had over the last couple of weeks meant some areas are mud puddles in spite of all the drainage I put in this year though at least the 'garden' is no longer the bottomless swamp it was.
 
My toms are a mix of changing colour and mould not a lot of hope there but happy to keep on vine just to keep us going. The polytunnel was far too late this year in planting and got my peppers too late. managed to get aubergines but again late. Courgettes have been pulled as like giants. All thats left is the parnsips which I planted late but not too bothered as dont want to eat until Christmas. Pulled the last of my spuds which were very good however yield poor. Low slug damage/blight and nice size spuds - Lady Balfour/Rudolph very happy. Salads Pink apple fir/charlotte again very good. Biggest problem is the manpower in collecting them def use spinner next year.

I put my carrots in sand clamp but think sand too damp as they seem to be regrowing - any thoughts on how to best store carrots over winter mind you, saying that they'll all be used up within a few months. Working out decent quantities is another thing I need to sort. Grew some heritage varieties from Real seeds and happy with them. Problems being stones in ground.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Rest of the cabbage, carrots, swedes, parsnips and leeks staying in the ground until needed I think, unless we look like getting some proper frosts which doesn't seem likely. They're mostly still actively growing in soil which is still at 20c+ anyway at the moment.

Most of the rest has been dried, frozen or pickled, maincrop spuds are in hessian sacks, in the dark, in dad's garage. Definitely sticking to old mineral tubs for the spuds next season, makes harvesting so much easier, need to scrounge up a lot more though.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Lifted the last of the Nantes carrots this morning, should be enough Autumn King to see us through Feb. Provence garlic starting to show through, Leeks have really slowed down but enough getting to size to keep us going, reckon the parsnips will last through Jan then it'll be onto frozen stuff. Made the mistake of letting the runner beans get too big this year so some are a bit :wtf: lesson learned, going to try french beans as well next year. Spuds I've stored in dad's garage are keeping well so far, the Cara are really nice.

Need to bring in a hell of a lot of soil/compost to top up the existing raised beds and build the new ones but reckon I won't start them until Feb. Bed3 is still sitting in the low teens 0c:scratchhead:. What I might do is dig out the beds, stick some more haylage bales in then put the soil back in to get the hotbed effect again.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Just lifted the last parsnip and cleared a third of bed3. Started digging down to see how the haylage bales have rotted down, not much left. Plan is to work my way along as I clear the remaining veg digging out and putting a new lot of bales in before replacing the soil back on top and beginning the 'hotbed' process over again.

Bed2 is full of leeks which are growing OK and should be used up by the end of March.

Bed1 has 2 rows of shallots, 12 hispi winter cabbages and 3 plantings of garlic. theres room for a couple of rows of carrots at some point.

Need to order up the timber for the next 3 beds but have some digger/drainage work to do first (next week), also need to get my arris into gear and start making the rest of the cages and some cold frames.
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
I thought there would be plenty to report on this thread by now. I have been following it with interest.We are in a new build, have got a 4 raised beds already, strawbs in one. My intention was to have 2 beds for cut flowers, I know I know. But I like cut flowers! However, with the weather as it has been, the building and filling of the rest of the beds is slower than I had hoped. So, I may resort to veg in the cut flower beds. I would like to try the hot bed method but have no experience of this.I have got a lot of seeds already in propagators in the green house. Anyone else already started? @KMA ?
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
bed1 is planted up with shallots garlic and winter cabbage. bed2 is full of leeks

Should be finished using the veg in bed3 soon (just a few carrots left), then it will be dug out and refreshed with fresh haylage bales that will give me the first raised bed of the season while I build the others

Weather has been bloody awful, have just dug the trenches for yet more drains (n).
Have got as far as thinking about ordering the timber for the next 3 beds but need to lay, back-fill the drains and raise the ground level by a foot or so before building the next 3 beds.

Already have most of my seeds for this season, just the tatties to organise, probably go with Kestrel, Lady Krystl and Cara. Still not settled on a variety of parsnips yet, getting a bit frustrated by countess.

This week I'm helping put up a fence between ourselves and a neighbour while another neighbour attacks his leylandii, which should allow a lot more light into my beds later in the day(y)

Rotation could become a bit of a headache with the amount of alliums I grow.

Green house needs a fair bit of work in the next month or so.
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
Only in the green house. This will be my first "proper" year in the garden of the new house. Green house not put up till late April last year so rareing to go. I could be in trouble if we have a very late Spring. Cross that bridge when I come to it.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
As @Old McDonald kept telling me last year (my first proper attempt at growing veg), take up fishing and learn patience. Some plants like garlic and some shallots need planted in winter everything else is better left until at least late Feb unless you have a heated greenhouse.

Another thing I discovered last year was that although plants will grow in domestic propagators, they tend to be tall and spindly, they need a bit of a breeze to make them grow stronger, maybe one of those little battery fans would help, something to think on.

Down to the last 3 carrots in bed3 so I'll be able to make a start of replenishing it soon, which will be in plenty of time to let the heat build up by the time I want to start planting. The hotbed+cold frame combo is a new experiment so it will be interesting to see if/how it works:whistle:
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Pineapples next?

Believe it or not I was so impressed and a bit concerned by the heat generated by the first bed think it got up to around38C before I started hosing it down. I did look into pineapples but decided the space and time they need was a non-starter. Possible, but feck that.

I'd love a poly tunnel though. I have an idea for a mini hotbed in the greenhouse
 

Wendy10

Member
Location
Carmarthenshire
Yes. I keep fancying growing sweet potatoes but wonder if it is worth all the effort. We eat a lot of them. Poly tunnel on my wish list too. Have been offered hoops, need to go and dig in the brambles to see if they are viable, then check the price of covers. Saw a brilliant one in Malvern Spring show last year. Not as pricey as I had thought, but wasn't in a position to have one then. Bet they are twice the price this year.
You must have a big green house?
 

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