New York Police suspect the Hudson River plane crash was no accident !

Does anybody know......

.....the current betting odds on a Hull v. Man. Utd. F.A. Cup final ????

8oz onions

It felt good to finally sow some seeds yesterday. They were a couple of trays of onions for the under 8oz classes (229gram), of which I am growing two varieties Tasco and Vento.

I sieved out some seed compost to remove all the lumps and mixed this with some vermiculite to provide drainage and aeration. Both seeds came encased in little green balls which are supposed to aid germination. It also helps you to see where you have sown them on the tray as you can see them easier.

The trays are indoors for now, in my kitchen overnight and my conservatory during the day. They'll be pricked out into individual cell trays when they reach what is known as the 'crook stage'....basically just before the first seed leaf has straightened out and the little plant is crook shaped !

Amazing pictures from the unmanned trip to Mars

United 3 Chelsea 0

The moment Ranting Rafa realised his bunch of losers don't actually have the bottle to stay on top!

Pests and diseases of vegetables

Had a talk at our Hort Soc last night on the above subject from Dave Thornton, General Secretary of the NVS. I made a note of some quite interesting points so here they are in no particular order whatsoever!

• If your spuds are suffering from potato leaf roll virus (which is becoming more of a problem apparently) dig up the affected plants and tuber immediately and dispose of.
• Sterilise water butts as they harbour all sorts of nasties, particularly in warm weather. Use a dash of Jeyes Fluid, Armillatox or cheap bleach which is just as good.
• If saving your own seed sterilise it with a powdered fungicide.
• Fungicides containing Pencanazole are a good general fungicide, which works on leek rust also.
• Dip brassica roots in a hydrated lime solution prior to planting to ward off clubroot.
• Perlka is another product for the control of clubroot.
• Leek and onion thrips are totally different to flower thrips. An insecticide from the garden centre advertising that it kills thrips will probably be the wrong sort therefore. Use a product called Dynamec and apply with a high pressure spray jet.
• Blight.....forget Dithane as most blights are immune to it. Bordeaux Mixture is about the best product available to the amateur grower.
• Do not use Growmore for potatoes as it is often bulked out with lime.
• Vitax Q4 is the best feed for spuds.
• Most of the above mentioned products are not on general sale. Seek out agricultural suppliers such as CWG in Melton Mowbray.

Kinder Scout 3rd Jan 2009 (12 miles)

Best walk I've ever done! Cold but challenging.

Happy New Year ! (?) !

This promises to be a 'big' year for everyone for a number of reasons, most notably due to the credit crunch which has the potential to affect all of our lives for many years to come. I've had first hand experience of it at work where a large customer 'pulled the plug' on a series of orders leaving us no alternative but to make redundancies. With a bit of luck that idiot Brown will be ousted from number 10 this year and we can all start the road to recovery.

On a better note, the weather forecasters are predicting one of the best years on record. However, the day I start believing weather forecasters will be the day I drive to work naked wearing an ear muff made from turds.

As ever I have made my perennial New Year resolution to be on top of my game preparation wise by making sure all my mixes are ready, equipment is well maintained and ready to hand, and that I will grow all of my veg to perfection, free of any pest or disease. Experience tells me that one thing or another WILL go wrong, be it blight, carrot fly, white rot, wind damage or incompetence.