Onions putting on girth

The onions I bought in March are probably the best I've ever grown at this stage in their development. Planted in the greenhouse border soil, and supported by canes and metal rings the foliage is large and strong, giving hope that this will convert into large bulbs within the next couple of months. The bases of the plants are already a good inch in diameter and are getting noticeably larger each day.

The pic above shows them planted next to tomatoes and the idea is that the onions will have grown and been harvested before the tomato plants get too large. As I should soon start to feed the tomatoes with a high potash feed this will be ideal for ripening the onions also.

My one big fear is that the disease onion white rot will reappear and ruin my chances. Once it takes hold the onion can quickly wilt and when you lift it there is a fluffy mould on the bottom of the bulb. As I treated the soil with a special powder I'm hoping that I won't have this problem this year.....fingers are crossed!

AC Milan 2 Liverpool 1

Hahhahahahahhhaaa haha heheheeee hahaheheee hahehe hahee

I'm so happy!

Thinning long carrots

On the 16th April I mentioned that I'd thinned my long carrots to 2 per 'station'. This allows the strongest 2 to grow away and means you have a spare should one of them die for whatever reason.

Last weekend I reduced each pair to one only per station and the pic shows me cutting away at soil level the carrot that I don't want to keep. If you pull it out you risk disturbing the one you are leaving behind. Sand is pulled up around the remaining carrot to keep it upright. The trick is to try and leave all the remaining carrots that are as alike to each other as possible, bearing in mind that uniformity is an important criteria in the judging of show vegetables.

A scattering of slug pellets was applied also as despite the fact that they grow in coarse sand some slugs always manage to climb up the barrels and to crawl across the sand in search of a tasty morsel.

This therefore makes me laugh when I hear the organic, beardy weirdies banging on about coarse grit and eggshells etc deterring slugs......what a crock of sh*te. Don't let them put you off using pellets. They are the only things that actually work....slugs seem drawn to them as if they're under some death trance and death is fast.....so they never get to your prized produce. And you'll also be told they're harmful to pets and wildlife. This is also a bag of b*ll*cks. I've never yet seen a bird chewing on a slug that has been killed by a pellet. They are just so unappetising the putrid remains will lie there festering for weeks. And if a bird did somehow decide to eat such a thing don't worry.......it's probably so thick it deserves to die !

Last year I started to grow a pumpkin that appeared to be aiming for huge proportions. At one point it was putting on 2 " of circumference every day reaching about 1000mm ......but then it just stopped for no apparent reason and started to rot.

After clearing it away I found the tell-tale sighns of a mouse nest right next to the decaying remains of the pumpkin. I think a mouse had managed to tunnel into the pumpkin and caused it to collapse. Mice cannot resist the seeds you see.

I wasn't going to bother trying again but I couldn't resist and I purchased another packet of seeds (not the 'special' ones I acquired last year however). The seeds were sown a fortnight ago and they were through in a few days. The first 'true' leaves are now showing and the plants will need potting on into a bigger pot fairly soon.

Hopefully, I'll have more luck this year.....but I'll have to set a few mouse traps nearer the time.

Sowing dates

After discussion with a couple of guys in my office I thought I ought to explain about my sowing dates. If you're growing for kitchen use only then ignore my advice.....all my sowing dates are geared to producing vegetable exhibits for the 'show season' which runs from the end of August to early October. As a result I have an absolute glut of veg all at once from which I will choose the best looking and most uniform specimens for the show bench. My wife has to freeze an awful lot of produce but we also give loads away as there's just too much for us to eat!


Most growers who grow for culinary purposes only will have already sowed their runner and french beans for example....whereas mine will not be sown for at least another fortnight.


That's not to say my veg doesn't taste good........any veg destined for the show bench should be of the utmost quality and fit for the table also. (Although, truth be known I'm not a great veg eater .....gimme a plate of dead animal any day!!!!)

Peppers

What an awful weekend....too wet to do anything on the garden and very frustrating therefore as I had loads of plans such as spud-planting etc, although I did manage to sow my first couple of rows of beetroot. I'll sow another couple of rows for the next 3 weekends which will give me a succession of beet for most of the late Auguest to September/October shows. At least all this rain has topped up the empty water butts.....but there's no need to overdo it!!!

The greenhouses are bursting with trays of flowers and veg plants, so it's a constant juggling act over the next few weeks as I fight for space and time. One thing I'm pleased with is the growth of my sweet peppers. These are creeping into shows more and more as more people grow them. I grow them in large pots in my tomato greenhouse or in my conservatory where the hot, dry conditions suit them. However, they inevitably take a back seat to my other veg and don't get the care and attention they need for really good specimens like the ones above (bottom) that I photographed at last year's Malvern Show. The variety was 'President' but I haven't located it in any seed catalogues. They were a beautiful bright orange colour and very large succulent looking too.

Mine tend not to ripen in time for the shows but it's perfectly acceptable to show green peppers as long as they are even in size and in good condition. The other pic above (top) is of my 2nd prize entry at last year's Sutton Bonington Show.......I've never won a 1st with peppers so I'll be hoping to rectify that fact this year.

Happy 40th Birthday !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not bad for an old bird !

Happy birthday xxx

Cabbages and brussels planted

I planted my cabbages and brussels at the weekend.....the varieties i'm growing are


Red cabbage - Maestro 6 plants
Green cabbage - Brigadier 8 plants and Kilaxy 6 plants
Green brussel - Brilliant 4 plants
Red brussel - Rubine 2 plants


I don't grow many as I simply haven't got the space and I grow more or less the exact amount I need per show. This means I really have to look after each plant because if one fails then I won't be able to exhibit cabbages at all the shows I want to.


Each planting hole is dusted with a liberal amount of lime to ward off club root and well watered. The base of each plant is then squirted with derris dust at soil level to kill off any of the cutworms that often nibble the stalk and cause it to collapse. Slug pellets are also scattered around the plants.


I also have to make sure I erect some form of barrier to stop pigeons from nibbling the new green leaves. They are a real nuisance in my area. In past years I've erected green netting over the entire patch but this can be awkward and hinders watering....and the cabbage white butterflies still manage to get through ! This year I've opted for tying string from post to post across the patch about 2 foot off the ground. Pigeons don't like having things above them as they cannot take off so they tend to leave you alone.....I didn't believe it either until last year when I tried it and it works! Old CD's dangling down also help to spook them and keep them away.


I shall still have to spray later in the season when the cabbage whites are around. Someone has told me that a smelly 'stew' made from rhubarb leaves watered over your cabbages and caulis deters them from laying their eggs and also acts as a liquid feed....so I'll certainly be giving that idea a go.

Stumps part II

Further to my last post here are couple more pics showing me boring the holes in the sand bed and a close up off the prepared stations with a small indentation in the top of the compost where I place 5 or 6 seeds. The seeds are covered with about 4 or 5mm of compost and the whole bed will be kept moist until germination.

Stumps

Last weekend I sowed my 'stump' carrots. These differ from the 'long' carrots in that they are shorter and must have a distinct stump-shaped base from which the finer, hair like tap-root comes. They are grown in raised beds (paving slabs on their sides in my case) filled with sand as for the long carrots but they only need to be a couple of feet deep. Whereas the long carrot drums are deliberatly kept dry to force the root to go down in search of moisture stump carrots must be kept moist at all times to ensure even growth, making them squat, plump specimens about 6-8" long.

5 or 6 seeds were sown in each station and at this time of year they'll soon be through. The biggest problem I have is stopping cats digging in the sand to have a shit (bless 'em eh?). Each cluster of seedlings will be thinned to 2 then 1 after a couple of weeks or so. Carrot root fly may be a problem but I've been sold a special powder (God it stinks!) which I'm told will ward them off. It needs to be sprinkled around the shoulder of the carrot during July when the root fly are around.

A set of 3 matching 'stumpers' like the ones above always look quite striking on the show bench. The judge is looking for good uniformity, good even colouring (usually orange !) and above all good condition.

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?????