It's raining !

Seems weird to have been praying for rain in April but the ground is so hard that it was very difficult to dig and break down into a tilth for seed sowing. And all my 3 large water butts are virtually empty so I've had to keep fetching cans of water from the kitchen.



Anyway....tis raining now....hoorah!



Above is a pic of another method for growing long parsnips in sections of plastic drainpipe and shows that even with a small patch of ground it can be achieved. I 'cottoned on' to this method a few years ago when I realised that I wasn't winning at the show I do in Sturton, Lincolnshire where they prefer their parsnips with a little bit more weight around the shoulder. Because the pipes are shorter than the drums or raised beds I usually grow parsnips in they get down into the soil quicker and tend to start filling out sooner and as a consequence 'bulk out' a lot more. I also use up a lot more compost mix to fill each pipe up. These seeds were sown a couple of weeks ago and as yet have not germinated.

A scare!

Got home last night and noticed that my onions appeared to be wilting. I knew I'd been giving them plenty of water through the sunken bottles and was worried they might be poisoned. A few weeks ago I'd applied a powder to the soil that kills off any soil pests and diseases but it's lethal stuff and you cannot plant into the soil until at least 3 weeks after application. I wondered whether I'd got my timings wrong and this had attacked the onion roots, causing them to wilt.

As a desperate measure I gave the whole bed a thorough soaking and went into the house to sulk. Returning to the greenhouse an hour later all the onions had perked up and I realised what the problem must have been. Although I'd been giving plentiful water through the sunken bottles they must have been leaking water below the level of the roots so that it wasn't actually getting to the plants. The plants were merely stressed from all the hot weather we've been enjoying.

You live and learn and I certainly won't be making that mistake again in future! The pic shows how I support the foliage by way of a metal loop attached to a small can. This makes the onion grow straight and central, giving nice, even, flask-shaped bulbs (in theory!).

The way I grow shallots

I mentioned before that I 'plant' my shallots in large pots which are buried in the soil (Initially they are grown in smaller pots in the greenhouse from the New Year onwards). I started doing this a couple of years ago and find it has quite a few advantages for the 'show man'. Firstly, it allows me to grow them in a finer growing medium than planting directly into the soil, meaning that they won't come into contact with any hard lumps or stones that may make the thinned out bulbs go out of shape.



This method also makes thinning out easier I find especially as I grow them in my raised beds bringing them to a more manageable working height. In the next 2 or 3 weeks each bulb will have divided into 5 or 6 smaller bulbs. If growing for kicthen use only these would simply be left to grow onto harvest but the showman needs to get bigger and better shaped bulbs. I will carefully reduce each clump down to 2 by peeling back the outer skins and snapping off the ones I don't want. These thinnings will be planted next to the pots and watered....they will bulk out into nicely shaped shallots for the pickling classes for bulbs that must be under 25mm dia.



As soon as each shallot is planted they are fed with Miracle Gro. A slow release fertiliser is mixed into the pots but go easy....shallots don't like too much feed. After thinning, the 2 remaining bulbs quickly grow and will be ready for harvesting from the beginning of June. I will explain what I do next nearer the time.

Carrots coming through

What a beautiful weekend.....hottest April day since 1946! I went walking in Derbyshire yesterday so didn't manage to get anything done as such, although I did check the carrots when I got back and they are now poking through the compost surface......so they're bang on cue. I just need to keep the surface of the sand in the drums evenly moist until they are growing away well and the tap roots are well down. Then I can safely ease up on the watering and leave them to their own devices (more or less). Each 'station' will have several carrots growing in it and in a couple of weeks I will select the best 2 and carefully snip away the rest with a pair of scissors. You mustn't pull them as this may disturb the root of the ones you are leaving. After a further week I will select the best one and cut the other away.

It was so hot in the greenhouse that the brussels were suffering so I've put them outside to harden off before planting in a week or so. My blanch leeks are also outside now and they too will be planted against stout canes, with horizontal canes to support the foliage. The vertical cane will support the barrel during the blanching process. I'll illustrate this nearer the time also.

The 'large' onions in the greenhouse seem to be growing well and I have also placed a cane against each one with a metal ring to support the foliage. This encourages the onion to grow upright thus preventing lop-sided bulbs later on.....seems a bit of a rigmarole but such are the lengths we showmen go to to try and gain the upper hand on our competitors.

Gladdies !

As if I don't grow enough (veg/dahlias/roses/fuchsias/cactus) I've also decided to have another go at gladioli this year. We had a talk from Martin Bryans at our Hort.Soc. the other evening and it's inspired me to try again. I've often thrown a few corms in over the years and won the odd class but usually when there were no other 'spikes' to compete against! I must admit a nice set of well-staged glads is a wonderful sight to behold and no other flower offers the colour range of gladdies!

One thing Martin did say is that they need to be grown on different ground each year on a rotation cycle of about 4-5 years. Also, growing them on land that has previously had spuds in the last 15 years is a complete no-no. Apparently they go yellow and die and no-one knows why!

You need to be planting the corms about now 5" deep on a 1/2" layer of grit or sharp sand. As soon as they poke through start feeding either Maxicrop foliar feed or Phostrogen in wet summers to harden them up a bit.

When the flower spike 'throws up' then (and only then) they are tied to a cane pushed into the ground. If the bottom floret is out on the Tuesday before a Sunday show then the whole spike needs to be cut and put in a dark place. Apparently it will be perfect by show day ! A perfect show bloom has 8 florets fully out, the next 8 showing colour and the top 8 (or more) in tight bud. It's perfectly acceptable to cut off the lower floret if it has gone over however. A good supplier is www.showglads.com

Now......where the hell am I going to plant these corms?????

It's all gathering pace now.....

Well.....I'm back after a week's holiday and what a lot I've got done. All my carrots are sown and my parsnips are through.....I hope they turn out as good as the ones above that I grew a couple of years ago.

My large exhibition onions were planted in the greenhouse border soil......I've sunk watering bottles into the soil next to each onion so that I can keep the surface of the soil dry and hopefully keep any fungal spores from spoiling the surface of the bulbs.

In my greenhouse I've pricked out my cabbages and brussels and my standard fuchsias have been root trimmed and repotted. My blanch leeks are growing strongly and will be planted in another week or two.

Next on the agenda will be the stump rooted carrots and potatoes that are grown in plastic pots. More on these in next few weeks.

From now on the hobby becomes a morning/noon and night thing as there is always something that needs doing NOW.......from pricking out seedlings to planting and spraying. The work I am doing now will determine how many 'red cards' I pick up in the shows in August/September and October and as I mentioned at the end of last season I don't want to have to cut corners again. You get found out in the end. Therefore, I'm taking more care with my mixes and bed preparation than I have done in the past. Other things such as making sure every thing is tidy and in its right place are important too.....I've found a pair of secateurs, a trowel, a knife and and a bottle of slug pellets in amongst the undergrowth as I've been tidying the beds and borders ! If I'd put them back after I'd used them last season things would be much easier !