The garden veg thread.

[taun]

I also grew kale this year, does anyone know how to keep white fly off kale without spraying it with chemicals?

Be interesting to hear any potential solutions as I have had issue with white fly on peppers. I did see someone suggest using a water and garlic solution to spray the plants but it as after my peppers had finished producing.

 

[Pootle]

I also grew kale this year, does anyone know how to keep white fly off kale without spraying it with chemicals?

you can get some ultra fine meshing from garden centres or search on line if easier. I luckily obtained some from a local farmer, its almost essential if not using chemicals. Do a search on "insect meshing on veg" or "ultra fine veg meshing" and you will get what you need. Once the Kale was established I let it grow without mesh and its been so successful, fresh kale picked 20 mins before cooking, keeps those natural sugars as nature intended! same method for any brassica I reckon.

 

[Ned]

I may have to try the mesh but being tight-fisted I might give the garlic spray a try fist. Interesting to hear that the whitefly leaves the kale alone once it is established.

 

[Pootle]

I may have to try the mesh but being tight-fisted I might give the garlic spray a try fist. Interesting to hear that the whitefly leaves the kale alone once it is established.

The kale once established thrived and tomorrow we will be having it again, its over 2 feet tall now and still enough leaves on our 8 plants to keep us and the chickens busy as required. the minus 5 Celsius we had didn't both it recently, where as some potatoes had frost damage. The mesh is so handy for many things, quite tough and of course reusable year in and out, It's worth more than a failed crop or two I promise.

 

[taun]

Been waiting to get seed potatoes for weeks, final managed to source them this weekend so all set now for the growing season.

Going to hold off sowing anymore until I know the chilli peppers are all growing along nicely. Start of Feb I will start my tomatoes.

Weather is so horrible at the moment, my garden is already flooded with yet more rain to come over night and in to tomorrow.

 

[Ned]

Funnily enough I was in Home Bargains today and they had seed potatoes marked down to 99p.

 

[taun]

Funnily enough I was in Home Bargains today and they had seed potatoes marked down to 99p.

I like home bargains for picking up cheap dahilas...haha Trying not to go out unless I really need too and atm that is just to do weekly shop and I have enough seed potatoes now.

I think I got tulips from them too, absolute gorgeous tulips (cannot remember the name) but I like them so much I bought another set of 5 the year after to try and make the display bigger. All my Tulips are poking up out of the pots, along with my snowdrops.

They are worth having a look in as you can get some bargains in these type of shops.

 

[Pootle]

Home Bargains really can be a gardeners friend, as can Wilko’s. Both often have gardening products and nesting boxes at much better prices than garden centres, which I often find very expensive. I’m not doing potatoes this year for the first in a while, although I can guarantee a plant or two will pop up anyhow, you can never remove all the little spuds no matter how hard you try. A tip for growing seed potatoes to spread the yield further is to cut your seed potatoes in half if there are little tubers on both sides of the seed spud, cutting in half will give you double the harvest, just plant as two separate seeds. I know it sounds a bit unwise but it works.

 

[taun]

Home Bargains really can be a gardeners friend, as can Wilko’s. Both often have gardening products and nesting boxes at much better prices than garden centres, which I often find very expensive. I’m not doing potatoes this year for the first in a while, although I can guarantee a plant or two will pop up anyhow, you can never remove all the little spuds no matter how hard you try. A tip for growing seed potatoes to spread the yield further is to cut your seed potatoes in half if there are little tubers on both sides of the seed spud, cutting in half will give you double the harvest, just plant as two separate seeds. I know it sounds a bit unwise but it works.

Wilkos is my choice to buy my seeds and seed potatoes from (but they where taking too long to get them in).

Yeah, I may have to do that with the earlys due to getting less but bigger seed potatoes in the bag.

 

[Ned]

Home Bargains really can be a gardeners friend, as can Wilko’s. Both often have gardening products and nesting boxes at much better prices than garden centres, which I often find very expensive. I’m not doing potatoes this year for the first in a while, although I can guarantee a plant or two will pop up anyhow, you can never remove all the little spuds no matter how hard you try. A tip for growing seed potatoes to spread the yield further is to cut your seed potatoes in half if there are little tubers on both sides of the seed spud, cutting in half will give you double the harvest, just plant as two separate seeds. I know it sounds a bit unwise but it works.

I'd never thought about cutting seed potatoes in half, thanks doe the tip.

 

[taun]

I have all my greenhouse plants sown now, this weekend gone saw me sow my sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and luffas.

Already having germination on the cucumbers.

My chilli plants have all been potted on and are really starting to pick up pace in growing, I also have a few cauliflowers on the go for hopefully an early harvest. Some point I will be sowing peas directly out into a raised bed. But then that will be it until March when the fun really begins.

 

[Pootle]

I have all my greenhouse plants sown now, this weekend gone saw me sow my sweet peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and luffas.

Already having germination on the cucumbers.

My chilli plants have all been potted on and are really starting to pick up pace in growing, I also have a few cauliflowers on the go for hopefully an early harvest. Some point I will be sowing peas directly out into a raised bed. But then that will be it until March when the fun really begins.

Wow! especially Wow Luffas! nice one.

I've not planted a seed or put a spade in the ground yet! Are you sure you live in England.

The job for the weekend (or next) is to turn over the veg beds with our homemade chicken muck and then give the green house a good internal clean and replace a couple of panes of glass that have mysteriously cracked since Christmas.

This years plans include repeat success stories and new challenges.
The first new experiment is something called The Three Sisters veg bed. I read growing squash, beans and corn together works remarkably well and is given the term the 3 Sisters Garden.
A separate bed for runner beans, one for cabbage and broccoli, this one meshed up.
The final largest bed will have carrots and parsnips pretty much together, then leeks and red onions and after last years success we are trying purple kale as opposed to the green kale from 2020 which is still growing now!
The greenhouse will have a couple of cucumber plants (I've never grown these from seed - I wonder who may have a seed or two going spare)
Then beef tomato plants, about 6 in large pots, I buy these as young plants. Had a few bad experiences with tomato seeds.
Chilli's, various herbs and spring onions make up the shelf in the greenhouse.
That leaves just enough space for us to shuffle around the greenhouse and for Fred's bed (our Mediterranean spur thighed tortoise, who is currently on a garage shelf hibernating) and his water vessel. Low growing cucumbers are always subject to tortoise consumption .

 

[taun]

Luffas are a new plant to try this year, got 10 seeds fingers crossed they all germinate.

TBH I sowed 10 cucumber seeds to try and make sure I get enough for myself, so far got 8 out of 10 come through if they all do well I will have a few spare. Thinking trying to sell them, even if I sold 1 for a pound it covers the seeds.

I made my own toilet roll pots to grow them in so there is no cost of pots to factor into selling them on.

Sounds like you have a busy time ahead, March is where everything ramps up for me.

 

[Pootle]

hard to beat are the old toilet roll germinating pots, half eggs shells make equally equivalent handy receptacles for germination at no cost. Plastic free too.....duh unless you have weird eggs

 

[taun]

hard to beat are the old toilet roll germinating pots, half eggs shells make equally equivalent handy receptacles for germination at no cost. Plastic free too.....duh unless you have weird eggs

I use the eggs shells as a natural slug deterrent.

 

[taun]

Little update had 100% germination rate with the cucumber, Luffas are currently 50% germination rate.

This weekend I will sow the first row of peas and then I probably wont sow anything else till Mid march when the rest of the flowers and some of the other veg will be sown.

Growing is keeping me going checking whether I have new plants yet.

 

[Ned]

As I don't have a greenhouse I wont be sowing anything for a while. My only job on the allotment right now is to do regular checks on the netting that covers my purple sprouting broccoli, it's been quite windy and the pigeons will be filling their bellies if the netting blows off. If only I were allowed to eat the pigeons.

 

[Pootle]

If only I were allowed to eat the pigeons.

Quite nice is wood pigeon beast and meaty, especially if they have been on your crops!

I have never grown purple sprouting broccoli and I do enjoy it. Do you plant seeds or young plants you have germinated.? Also, when do you find the best time to plant them?

 

[Ned]

Quite nice is wood pigeon beast and meaty, especially if they have been on your crops!

I have never grown purple sprouting broccoli and I do enjoy it. Do you plant seeds or young plants you have germinated.? Also, when do you find the best time to plant them?

It's easy to grow but pretty much takes a year from seed to harvest (although I've read that it shouldn't take this long). I sow in trays end of march - April. I plant out when they have a couple of proper leaves. Slugs, caterpillars and pigeons are the biggest problem but quite easy to prevent with netting and a slug barrier. They're very productive and you can harvest from round about March when not much else is producing.

 

[Pootle]

Today was preparation day. I took 2 wheel barrow loads of muck skimmed from the hen pen, a bit of shovel work, then I turned over the veg beds (bar one section) and dug the hen muck into a couple of beds, chopped it up as best I could and raked it all in, looking good if I do say so.
One bed was a bit tedious and that was last years potato bed. I turned it over several times to try to ensure I got all the potatoes and ended up with a bonus crop. This had previously been harvested, it just shows how spuds hide . Many were tiny and some frost damaged which I chucked away, but probably 10 or so decent spuds. The one area I didn't dig over was the kale, it's still going with healthy edible leaves, so we will finish that off over the next two weeks, kale was the super crop from last year. The stalks now are pushing three feet tall and very strong.

We have 3 beds 6 foot x 3 foot and one bed 18 foot x 3 foot.
The line up for this year is

• One small bed, carrots and parsnips.
• One small bed broccoli and cabbage (of some variety), this bed will be meshed up with micro mesh.
• One small bed 'the three sisters crop' - corn. beans and squash (yellow courgettes I reckon) - a new experiment.
• Large bed, split up, purple/black kale, red onions, leeks and runner beans on a cane trellis about 6 foot long with 8 foot tall foot canes.

Apparently it's red onion seed planting time, so that can be done within the next few days. Q. Would you plant the red onion seed direct or in pots/trays?

Now, I am sat at the laptop and I can certainly feel I have been digging today