The shallots are swelling really nicely and I will start to harvest the first ones over the next few days as they reach the 48mm setting on my Smithyveg unpatented shallot measuring prong. The biggest ones have less than a quarter of an inch to go.
I have started to collar my blanch leeks but really should have done this when I planted them a few weeks ago, but I just never had time to get around to it. They have therefore all turned completely green on the barrels but will soon blanch again under cover. The canes set horizontally are important to support the heavy flags (leaves) as they grow.
The Sweet Candle stumps are still very healthy looking, justifying the enviromesh frame that I built to surround them. Hopefully no carrot fly or greenfly can get at them now.
The long beet in the pipes are a couple of inches long. Not sure what to expect from these from now on.
The celery has a loose collar for now (actually a bottomless plant pot) to encourage upright growth. A bog plant in the wild, you need to make sure the plants never go short of water. Not a problem at the moment.
I'm disappointed with my parsnips thus far. A real mixed bag size wise due to unprecedented germination problems. Hopefully a one off due to the extreme cold.
Now then.....I wonder if fox pellets exist?
6 comments:
I am currently using fresh unwashed seaweed around most of my allotment vegetables with some good success at deterring slugs. I am guessing the minimal salt content in the seaweed will work well for a few weeks until the rain washes it completely clean. Fortunately we have an abundance of seaweed here on Guernsey, and we are only about 3 minutes from the best beach to collect it from, (helps having a friend with a tractor and trailer to help gather up the several tonnes or so I use each week). The rest of the time I use the organic slug pellets that appear to work well without hurting birds or pets.
Can I ask about your "Sweet Candle" carrots. I am growing these for the first time in order to enter them in our August show. Currently each seedling is about 3-4 inches tall. Do you think they will make a decent exhibition size by mid August?
The other question I have about these is which category to enter them in, my problem being that here in Guernsey they seem to have weirdly named categories in the show, leaving me with a choice of "Shorthorn, Nantaise, Intermediate" (which I know they are not), or "AOV named". Looking at them I would have said "Nantaise", but isn't that for varieties such as "Early Nantes" etc??
I also have the same dilemma over which category coloured carrots such as "Solar Yellow, Red Samurai, Purple Haze, Lunar White" etc should be entered in given the provided choices on the schedule for our show. Any ideas on this one too?
Confused, Help!!! (thanks in advance if you can answer my many questions)
Maybe the slugs will eat the pellets and then the fox will eat the slugs and that way you will kill two birds with one pellet or something like that LOL!
Misty,
That's the problem with remedies like that....they deter rather than obliterate. I want to see evidence of slugs and snails dying and pellets are the only answer as the little gits are actually drawn to them. They are also a lot less time consuming than messing about with seaweed, crushed eggshells, beer traps, bran etc......none of which actually work.
Sweet Candle is a Nantes type so I would have said you can enter them in the Nantaise class. They need about 20-22 weeks from sowing to develop the stump end as this is always the last bit of the carrot to form. Pull any earlier than than and they'll be pointy and look a bit more like an intermediate type carrot.
AOV means 'any other veg' so I wouldn't have thought you could enter carrots in this class as carrots are listed elsewhere in the schedule.
Purple Haze can grow quite long so I would suggest that is an intermediate. From what I can find on the web the others appear to fall in that category also. If in doubt I would ask for clarification from the show committee.
Shorthorn types are the round stumpy ones I would imagine like Parmex for instance.
What do you reckon the shrinkage is from pulling to the finished dressed shallot ?
Basically my local show is for over 1.5" or under.
So what do you think's the minimum diameter to aim for for pulling to get them over 1.5" or 38 mm when they're dressed.
Cheers.
Danboy,
I would try and get them to at least 40mm if you can. I don't know what diameter yours are at but most of mine are already over 40mm and I'm hoping for 45mm minimum. This rain has really swelled them out.
If anything they may even grow slightly after harvesting, especially if you leave the foliage on. This also helps the bulb to round up where you get the flat sides. For this reason I've been harvesting my picklers at 29mm.
By the way....1.5"...strange. Not NVS or RHS. Must be a Yorkshire thing?
Cheers for the advice. I am pleased to know I can enter the Sweet Candle in the Nantaise section by the sond of things.
The AOV part I referred to was actually in the "carrots" section, and over here means "any other variety", rather than "any other veg". Each section seems to have this option other than the main ones.
Going back to the seaweed I should add that I use it primarily as a mulch, mainly to keep the weeds down and to add nutrients to the soil, so any slug deterrent factor is a bonus, and not the reason I break my back each week mulching around the veggies and down the paths between them, LOL.
Cheers again for sharing your wisdom on this.
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