Growing your own veg

Treemover

Member
Location
Offaly
@KMA - I would say tomatoes and courgettes do have roughly similar requirements, and any muck you can get, especially if it's been rotted, is worth having. Though thanks @Old McDonald for your link! You are a mine of useful information.

@Treemover - do you cultivate immediately after ploughing? I've been told to leave it at least 10 days to get the grass to die off a bit, but I'd be very happy to learn this isn't necessary as it could speed things up for me.

I have a small allotment as I have no garden (I live in a town, but am also a tenant farmer on some land just outside the town where it's not feasible to live on-site). I've been messing about growing unusual vegetables as well as some staples there for 10 years and more. I've always found it's best to grow stuff I can harvest in a block - e.g. potatoes or pumpkins, rather than having to go there every day. It was experimenting growing lentils on my allotment that ultimately led me to growing them on the farm on a larger scale.

This does make me think that there must be a lot of people out there quietly growing things on allotments and gardens who could possibly provide very useful insights to commercial growers.

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread, it's all very interesting.

Your right; it's supposed to reduce pests I think leather jackets and something else.

I just hit that as the sod wasn't clean and I didn't want the grass growing up between the furrows, but I plan on ploughing the rest and leaving it for a week or so.

Next year I'll plough earlier; get dung out earlier! I just need to get organised!!
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Express is a repeat 1st early for me 2nd was a toss up between Charlotte and Nicola, I like to put in 2 or more varieties. What varieties are people growing?

Stuart what variety of garlic have you got? As old boar said I'd just get them in ASAP this year and maybe try the fridge thing next year. Depending on the variety they can be anytime from September (Early Purple) to now (Solent). as its the first year I've planned to do a lot of garlic I got a whole range of varieties from The Garlic Farm, next year I'll refine my selection to 2 or 3.
 

Netherfield

Member
Location
West Yorkshire
Over the years I've grown Kestrel, which although classed as a second early can be left to being an early maincrop, these make lovely jacket potatoes and store well,
and also still grow 'Juliette' as an early maincrop, these are more of a salad variety and also keep well.

Tried allsorts of potatoes in the past , 'salad blue' which make more show than taste, and some of the 'sarpo' varieties which are suppposed to be blight resistant but for me gave a very poor yield.

Just planted 120 'Red Baron' Onions this week as well.
 

Treemover

Member
Location
Offaly
Orla suits our limestone soil and sells well.

Santana also grows well and sells well.

Those with Sharpes will be the majority of my crops; but I'll dabble with a few others.
 
manure needs to break down otherwise the nitrogen will kill (burn) plants and seeds. Reason for the statement - "Well rotted manure" All pee and poo needs a min of 6 - 12 months to rot and decay.

Would sheep dung/straw that's been in place inside a poly tunnel be described so? Just wondering as it hasn't been composted or piled, just left where it was in the pen since this time last year.
 
I have a small bag of Lady Balfour and Nicola - The Master has cleared a huge bed for a larger growing but havent decided yet and may be too late to order - Listening to Gardeners q&a r4 and the guy on there rekons Cosmos is his family fav so may look into this. Going to experiment growing in bags only x3 but will be interesting to see the yield from this. Our plan would be to have enough spuds to keep us going for many many months. Wondered how people have got on with storage and length of time.
 
Back on Gardeners QT R4 - blight resistance isnt very efficient as blight varies in its form and is later in the year - so they werent convinced in bothering with any blight resistance variety especially when you forego the taste and texture.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
I would have thought there'd still be plenty of seed spuds around. If you're stuck try these folk www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk

Agreed my worst hit variety last year were supposed to be blight resistant. Be interesting to know how you get on with Lady Balfour

With growing in bags don't overcrowd, when I got my first tattie planter bags from the garden centre the blurb said 3-4/planter. I've since been advised by a guy who actually grows the seed potatoes that for the volume it should be 1-2 for earlies and 1 for maincrop.
 

Netherfield

Member
Location
West Yorkshire
Still quite a lot of seed potatoes in the garden centres around here, but only about 10 varieties to pick from.

Thompson and Morgan still have a good selection on their website.
 
Last edited:
Monty Don on Friday night planted 3 in a bag following studies completed. I am unsure if this is good but assumed at least 2. I want to do it as an experiment and wonder if slugs are a lot less?? Another question I have - the master wants to use a section of agricultural land to grow spuds but is there a risk of wire worm? Or am I talking nonsense.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
The reasons I was given made sense when explained, mostly to do with competition and canopy shading. Haven't had a problem with wire-worm in my planters.... yet. I think you probably know more than I do, adequate drainage seems to be key for planters in my limited experience.
 
Am I right in thinking courgettes have roughly the same requirements as tomatoes and therefore sheep-sh!t is the better option?

I meant to mention in my earlier response to this particular post that one thing I always consider is the required temperature for tender crops. I follow the optimum germination temperature as a guide to required soil temperature before planting out. Whilst many seeds will germinate at slightly lower than optimal temperature, I always wait until the soil has warmed to the optimum before sowing. I take the view that this is the minimum any transplanted seedlings should endure - obviously in the UK you need to start things earlier than outdoor sowing would permit.

If you follow this idea, and I would be very pleased to hear anyone's alternative views, then bear in mind that both tomatoes and cucurbits have an optimum soil temperture (on a field scale, not propagator) of 14ºC. Pumpkins possibly a degree higher. I would therefore not plant out seedlings until soil temps have maintained this minimum for 4 or 5 days. The usual time for checking temps is 9 am throughout the world, but it suits me to measure at 9.30 am. We hit 14º this morning, having been 12 or 13 for 4 days.

Of course it is necessary to monitor air temps too and we were down to 1º on 24th March. That did a lot of damage to tender new growth on everything, including every leaf and the fruit on mulberries - with one leaf on one tree still surviving. I have a recollection that a minimum of 9 is OK for tomatoes if it warms up during the day. I prefer somewhat higher. I do not know about courgettes because I never sow them early and air temps are usually satisfactory by the time I do.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
Toms are out in the greenhouse simply because they were becoming to big for the house, the courgettes runner beans and first lot of lettuce will be a week or so to germinate another week to grow with the propagator on a third with the propagator off then the lettuce will be planted outside, the courgettes and runner beans in the greenhouse under cloches when they're big enough, which will take us towards the end of April/May.
 
I have propagated very well in our warm bathroom and used the underfloor heating. I have courgettes, peppers, tom, pumpkins, cucs and gerkins. Some of my plants are drying out too quick in the poly now bit concerned need to repot I think. I am concerned putting too small seedlings in the ground due to sudden night temp and slugs. Considering brocolli, cauli etc I assume I would be better planting in beds now?
 
My lettuce are flying in the poly I am concerned that are now too big for the small pots. I need to get these out I have a nice mixed variety from Real seeds which are called a secret mix. Also baby leaf from Tamar. Trouble is the lettuce will be ready well before any other salads.
 
or my seeds came from the guy who swapped some beans for a cow way back when :wideyed:

Even as a child I felt sorry for the giant. He had not done anybody any harm, whereas Jack was a thief. My mother always told her offspring that stealing (in its absolutely widest sense) was the worst of crimes and she would cut our hands off if any of us stole - I had an idea she meant it. So far as I know, none of us did.
 

KMA

Member
Location
Dumfriesshire
I'd been twitching since the turn of the year, cleaned out the old hedge which took until the end of Feb by the time I'd disposed of all the bits.

Scratching my head a bit as the two runner beans that have sprouted early are in danger of getting too big for the propagator. I'm thinking bigger pot with a cloche and keep on a windowsill for now.
 

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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