32 out of 45 parsnips through!

What's all the fuss about.......?

If I was married to her I'd be renting porn films too!

Remember all those wooden scaffold planks?

I've made a raised bed for my shallots so that I can tend to them at chest height and save my poor old back! It had to be made from scaffold boards as it needed to be strong enough to carry the weight of soil .

The big ones given to me by Dave Thorton have grown very well. I have high hopes of being able to compete with exhibition shallots from now on. I planted them today and gave the soil surface a dressing of dried blood.

I planted my old stock of shallots down one side of my both my leek and 8oz onions beds. Those on the left are the variety 'Longor', a French longue type which I saw growing last season at Doddington Hall's kitchen garden and which I think may have the potential to be a good show variety if I can get a rounded shape to them girthwise. I think if I thin them to 4 or less they may be one to go for in future.

Soon be time to sow those long carrots

Today I emptied out all the sand from my raised slab/board bed and refilled again (oh what fun I have!) I sterilised each layer of washed concreting sand with a dash of cheap bleach in a watering can as I went.

The damp proof sheets are merely to stop the sand leaking out of the gaps at the ends.














Add another layer of wooden boards and keep filling.















The finished bed, about 4' high. This will be left for a week for the sand to settle. You'd be surprised how much the top surface sinks. I'll top it up next weekend before boring and filling the holes with the mix. More on this nearer the time.....I'm still undecided on what mix I will use.

27 out of 45 parsnips through!

Thought they'd all be up by now....oh bugger!

First red cards of the season!

Today was the Sutton Bonington Spring Show and I was able to win the class for a vase of 5 yellow daffs. I think I've won this for about the last 5 years actually. The variey is St.Keverne which always seems to be in perfect bloom at around this time. I also won the class for a bunch of grape hyacinths and for a single cactus or succulent.

I'm not sure my daffs were necessarily the best but I always try and make sure they are presented nicely, packing the vase with moss to keep the blooms evenly spaced apart. Other exhibitors tend to just plonk the daffs in a vase and let them flop about, but I once exhibited at a regional daff show so I know a bit about presentation.

However, ours is a fun show and everyone gets to vote for their favourite so it's nothing too serious.....just a way of raising a few funds for the society coffers.

18 out of 45 parsnips through!

11 out of 45 parsnips through!

1st Parsnip leaves through today!!!

It wasn't until 3rd April last season. Nuff said!

2 down, 282 to go!

Climbed my 2nd 'Munro' last Friday, Ben Cruachan at 3693', after failing to summit Ben Lui the day before because....well.......I got shit scared at about 3000' when it started to become more of a rock climb!

Had 3 corking days weatherwise and hope to go back in the summer to tackle another couple of peaks.

Came back to find my first batch of tomatoes (Cedrico) had germinated, along with celery (RedStar), red cabbage (Autoro) and green cabbage (Globemaster). They'll all require pricking out this weekend and hopefully I'll be able to put them in my greenhouse.

I shall also be emptying my long carrots drums and raised slab bed, refilling them and sterilising along the way so that I can bore my holes and sow the seeds the next weekend.

A lesson for us all....

I've had the following message from a fellow veg man.....I think it's a timely reminder for us all to remember the little ladies in our lives.

"It is important for men to remember that, as women grow older, it becomes harder for them to maintain the same quality of housekeeping as when they were younger. When you notice this, try not to shout at them. Some are over-sensitive and there's nothing worse than an over-sensitive woman.

Fellow growers my name is Ron. Let me relate how I handled the situation with my wife, Julie. When I took early retirement last year, it became necessary for Julie to get a full-time job for the extra income that we need.

Shortly after she started working, I noticed she was beginning to show her age. I now usually get home from the pub about the same time she gets home from work. Although she knows how hungry I am, she nearly always says she has to rest for half an hour or so before she starts dinner. I don't shout at her, instead I tell her to take her time and just wake me when she gets dinner on the table. I generally have elevensies at the allotment and lunch at the pub so eating out again is out of the question; I'm ready for some home cooked food when I get home.

She used to do the dishes as soon as we finished eating, before doing pricking out duties in the greenhouse. But now it's usual for the plates to sit on the table for several hours after dinner, and the pricking out has to be done well after darkness has set in. Expensive plants are bound to be damaged when she’s working in such a haphazard fashion. I do what I can by diplomatically reminding her several times each evening that they won't clean or transplant themselves. I know she really appreciates this, as it does seem to motivate her to get them done before she goes to bed.

Another symptom of ageing is complaining. For example, she will say that it is difficult for her to drive all the way to the garden centre for my bags of compost during her lunch hour. But we take them for better or worse, so I just smile and offer encouragement. I tell her to ask one of the assistants to get her a trolley to make it easier to lug them around. I also remind her that missing lunch completely now and then won't hurt her. I like to think tact is one of my strong points.

When doing simple jobs, she seems to think she needs more rest periods. She has to take a rest when she has only half finished mowing the lawn and several extra breaks when she's sieving my potato mixes. Also, it does annoy me, vacuuming when I'm trying to watch ‘Gardener’s World’, but I try not to make a scene. I'm a fair man. I tell her to make herself a nice cup of tea and just sit for a while, and as long as she is making one for herself, she may as well make one for me too. With chocolate hob-nobs.

I know that I probably look like a saint in the way I support Julie. I'm not saying that showing this much consideration is easy. Many men will find it difficult. Some will find it impossible! Nobody knows better than I do how frustrating women get as they get older, especially when they label your seed trays wrongly. However, even if you just use a little more tact and less criticism of your ageing wife because of this article, I will consider that writing it was well worthwhile. After all, we are put on this earth to help each other, eh?"

SMITHYVEG'S NOTE:It appears that Ron died suddenly last week. He was found with a 12” dibber rammed up his backside with only 2 inches showing. His wife Julie was arrested, but the all-woman jury accepted her defence that he accidentally sat on it.

All 45 stations....

....have now been sown. This is record time for me, due to the speed that the seed germinated. Putting the seed container on a windowsill above a radiator helped greatly and it's a good feeling to know I now have 45 stations each containing at least 2 seeds that I know have germinated. As long as the night temperatures do not plummet to silly figures then all of them should pop through in a week or so and once they have grown to an inch or two they can be thinned down to one.

I'm off to Scotland tonight for a few days mountain walking. By 7am tomorrow I plan to be starting the walk up Ben Lui!

I have been struggling to keep up....

....with the rate my parsnips have been sprouting. I got all my 45 stations finished by tea time yesterday and so far have managed to place 2 germinated seeds in 32 of them. I therefore need another 26 germinated seeds in the next 48 hours before I go up to Scotland.

In the end my mix ratio for parsnips was:

10 litres sieved compost
4 litres vermiculite
3 litres sieved sand
8 litres sieved soil
3oz superphosphate
3oz potash
3oz lime
3oz calcified seaweed
1.5oz hoof and horn

This was enough mix to fill about 10-11 stations, so I had to do this mix 5 times in all. A lot of back-aching effort although it has been made easier the last couple of years thanks to my 'Smithyveg patented sieving machine'.

There's a good feeling when you've finished the slog of boring, mixing and filling and you know you've now done the bulk of the hard work and have a good chance of a few red cards come August/September.

However, I know that I have more hard work ahead of me in the next few weeks getting my holes bored and mixes ready for the long carrots (46 no. last weekend in March) and stump rooted carrots (75 no. 2nd weekend in April)

First chitted parsnip seeds placed in stations

It's only taken a few days for the first seeds to show root, as can be seen from the photo. I usually like them to go in when they're a bit shorter than this but I've also done them in the past when they've been quite a bit longer and I have very few problems with forking. But you do have to be extra careful and nestle them into an indented hole in the compost very gently, with the end of the root pointing downwards. As you can see I use tweezers for this.













Carefully cover the seeds with the parsnip mix to a depth of 1/4" or so and water. I have done 3 stations, each with 2 seeds in, and would expect to have all 45 stations done by the end of the weekend now. It's certainly a lot quicker than sowing unchitted seed outdoors and waiting nervously for several weeks wondering if they've germinated or not. To be fair the seeds always did seem to germinate....eventually. I reckon my way gives me at least 3 weeks extra growth which can make a lot of difference on the show bench.

Chitting, planking and daffodillying!

I've laid out all my spuds with the eye end upmost for chitting. These will not be planted until mid-April at the earliest however. The varieties are Winston (white) , Pixie, Maxine and Kestrel (all coloureds).

I could tell you what I'm planning to do with all these reclaimed scaffolding boards but I would have to kill you. All will be revealed in a later posting.

In the meantime, it's time to savour the daffs!

A few garden shots

Plenty of growth on the shallots despite the recent cold weather.














The onion and leek beds are dug and ready for planting. I really must get around to putting a polytunnel over this for next season!














The rest of the plot needs a lot of sorting out however.

Onion for seed

This is the same huge onion I was given back in October that I potted up for seed. As you can see it is now in my greenhouse and has made plenty of leaf.

I'm taking care not to overwater it and so far it shows no sign of rotting off.

Parsnip mix mixed and stations at the ready

On the day that a Man Utd/Hull FA Cup Final moved ever closer I've got a couple of my parsnip drums ready for the seed to be sown.

This is the mix I am using, a slight variation on the one I posted a few days ago. I'm using more soil to give the mix a bit more 'body'. I hope this will give me heavier specimens.

10 litres sieved compost
4 litres vermiculite
3 litres sieved sand
8 litres sieved soil
3oz superphosphate
3oz potash
3oz lime
3oz calcified seaweed
1.5oz hoof and horn

Using my own contraption the compost and soil (bought-in bagged sterilised top soil) are easily and quickly sieved to remove all lumps. Note my RHS diary in which I record all my mixes each year so that I can refer back to make any minor changes.

They are kept separate until mixing time. Here is the sieved compost

The wife's kitchen scales are important for measuring out the various fertilisers.

Then the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together. I use the kids' old plastic sand pit.

I use a length of plastic drainpipe to take out a two foot 'plug' of sand before boring the rest of the hole with a metal bar. This ensures that the neighbouring holes are not interfered with as I grow 7 holes in each drum which is quite a lot. Most top growers reckon on only 3 or 4 holes for this size of drum, but I just cannot afford that luxury. Note the tape around the pipe to make sure I extract he same amount from each bore hole.

Empty the extracted sand into a bin.

Force the crowbar down into the hole, and using a circular motion bore each hole to the same depth and diameter at the top.

Trickle the mix into the hole, slowly at first so that it reaches the very bottom of the hole.

One drum done....another 4 to go!

Here are the seeds on some damp kitchen towelling indoors. They should start germinating in a week or so.

A question of terminology

I've been pulled up for using the words 'manure' and 'shit' in the same context and have been asked for some clarification. I am happy to oblige.

Here is a pile of manure

And here is a lump of shit

Dirty bleeders!

I saw something this morning that has turned my stomach and made me feel sick. It has ruined my day before it has even started. Two blokes openly kissing in the street as I drove to work. You never have a machine gun handy when you need one do you? I feel sullied and besmirched!

This comes on the day that bus companies in Nottingham announce that they will be displaying posters encouraging people to report homophobic behaviour ! Pretty soon there’ll be nothing left to enjoy in this damned country!

The first of many trophies by Man U and me this season!???!

Whilst Man U were bagging their first (major) trophy of the season I've been speaking to a few fellow local growers on the phone. One thing we all share in common at this time of the year is high hopes......we're all equal at the moment and we're all going to sweep the board come show time! Fat chance if the slugs, aphids, root fly, blight, white rot and canker have their way!

I collected my spuds on Friday. The varieties are Kestrel, Winston, Maxine and Pixie.

This week I will set my parsnip seeds on damp tissue paper in warmth which will force me to get my drums bored and the mixtures prepared and set into the holes next weekend. This way the parsnip seeds start to sprout within 2 weeks meaning I can guarantee setting germinated seeds into each station. As soon as the white root has started to emerge from the seed casing, even by only a millimetre, I will place it carefully in the top of the prepared station with tweezers. The leaves will be through a week or two later.

My Tasco and Vento onions are growing very slowly but have now started to straighten and show a second leaf. I have several trays of onions sets (Red Baron & Setton) in the greenhouse, as well as my shallots which have all grown very well so far and have a couple of inches of green shoots.

Today I also sowed a couple of pots of capsicum (pepper) being Luteus and Big Jim which is a chilli type. In the next week I will start my celery (Red Star), red cabbage (Autoro) and parsley for garnishing my trugs and baskets. I have also set my dahlia tubers in shallow trays with the necks showing so that I can easily take cuttings when they emerge. For me this is usually mid-May but I' m hoping I might be able to give them a bit of warmth somehow in order to get them struck earlier. Last season I was struggling for blooms for my earlier shows.

I shall be growing quite a bit more stuff this season as I've kindly been offered an 80 yard long run in a friend's smallholding, which has been ploughed and will soon be rotavated. I plan to grow a couple of pumpkins (seed from last season's European record holder), as well as more onions, beetroot, leeks (for the pot), cabbages, dahlias and anything else I can fit in. Only trouble is the owners insist the plot is organic so I will have to be vigilant on the pest look-out front!