Growing Vegetables
- Thread starter Mike
- Start date
gone
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be in a rush removing the dead leaves till this cold snap is over, they may help protect the lower leaves and the fresh wounds will allow the frost get into the stem itself.
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
Onions are coming well. Planted close together. We use a lot but a small one is perfect for us.
Several potato stalks got burned by the wind yesterday and today.
cabbage is coming great. Will be thinning out the bigger plants for dinner in the next week to give the smaller ones some space 
the garlic in the front of this pic is the only thing not doing well. It's alive and has green shoots but not getting and bigger. But the spuds in the background, even though a little burned, have very strong stalks and will thrive with growth. I sprayed them for blight earlier this week with the damp weather forecast. 
Turnips. Thinned out last week but looking like they will have to be thinned again this week.
kale. The kids will be getting green smoothies. 
beans are only planted 3 weeks tomorrow and up. Will put some wire on the frame to help them grow tall. 
The lettuce is ready to eat. We have been eating the small greens for the last few weeks, rocket etc, and today cut it all off low so that some fresh and tasty short greens will come up.
We got a multi pack of seeds from gyo which is grow your own from changex for free this week. Lettuce, onion, carrots, tomato, beetroot and more greens. The kids helped me pot some of them today and we will plant them into a new ridge in a few weeks and pot a then pot a few more seeds so that we can have new veg until the frost comes again at the back end of the year.
It has been a great learning experience. Biggest lesson is with seed like beetroot, turnip, lettuce etc that we planted straight into the ground. It would be much better to grow them in very small pots first and then transfer them out into the ground where they can be spaced properly and we could grow in rotation so as we don't have a lot of veg coming ready to eat at the one time.
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
Harvested the onions tonight. About 10 bundles of 10. Tied them together and hung them off the rafters in the garage where it is cool and dry. Should last us into 2021.
Anyone know about carrots? Have a lovely crop that was planted strategically between the onion beds to try to keep the fly away and they have made it safely this far. They are not too big so should be tasty. I was told that I need to harvest them all together because once you start harvesting, the smell will attract the carrot fly. Would it be worth chancing to thin them out and eat them over the next 2 month or should I pull them all the one day? They don't really freeze that well.
Will change tack next year and be more strategic with my planting. Ideally I'd love a small greenhouse in order to start veg in trays or pots and then plant them out into beds so that there is no thinning to be done. When I was young the parents used to have a greenhouse made from a wooden studded frame and sheeted with corrugated clear roof sheets. It's an idea I might try to resurrect in the autumn months. We have a fairly exposed site. Have tried a small poly tunnell but it got wind damaged so anything I put up will need to be sturdy, small and secure.
Anyone know about carrots? Have a lovely crop that was planted strategically between the onion beds to try to keep the fly away and they have made it safely this far. They are not too big so should be tasty. I was told that I need to harvest them all together because once you start harvesting, the smell will attract the carrot fly. Would it be worth chancing to thin them out and eat them over the next 2 month or should I pull them all the one day? They don't really freeze that well.
Will change tack next year and be more strategic with my planting. Ideally I'd love a small greenhouse in order to start veg in trays or pots and then plant them out into beds so that there is no thinning to be done. When I was young the parents used to have a greenhouse made from a wooden studded frame and sheeted with corrugated clear roof sheets. It's an idea I might try to resurrect in the autumn months. We have a fairly exposed site. Have tried a small poly tunnell but it got wind damaged so anything I put up will need to be sturdy, small and secure.
MF30
Well-Known Member
I’m planning to build a greenhouse also, a poly tunnel wouldn’t survive a good storm here. I have most of the materials got, I bought second hand double glazed windows and a door for the four sides, will weld an A frame portal frame together with 6x3 RSJ as a structure and corrugated clear lights for a roof. Size is 15 ft by 12 ft, it was the most practical size I could build. It’ll cost a nice bit but might be frost proof and it’ll last many weathers hopefully. Hoping to start building it after the harvest. The rabbits harvested any effort of growing veggies that we tried here.
nashmach
Well-Known Member
Is it a man shed you are building or another workshop
a big 6x3 as well involved! No danger of it being blown away anyway.
MF30
Well-Known Member
One workshop is enough for me! 6x3 RSJ is the same price as 4x4 box so thought it’d be handier for slotting the window frames into, some overkill for a greenhouse I know. No substitute for strength where there’s a lot of glass involved. :sweat:Is it a man shed you are building or another workshop
jf 850
Well-Known Member
Carrots here are used by thinning the bigger ones as you use them . The smaller ones will then grow . They are left in the ground , until they are all used , or next spring comes around. Right or wrong I don't know. Taste far better fresh from the ground. Maybe you could pull them , and store them in sand , like beetroot?
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
They definitely taste better if they are fresh. I think I'm going to start thinning them out - I was careful when planting them and kept seed well apart, but as they grew, they got very big leafed.
Hope to use some of the carrots to pickle along with beetroot for winter storage, but not for a few weeks yet. It will be a good way to use them though.
your a commerical grower obviously, fair play i bet there is a lot of labour
how do you keep these root fly my mother does be on about away
do you grow much other veg
JohnBoy
Well-Known Member
We let the weeds get a bit ot of hand again so been on my knees a bit over the last few days. Spuds are doing great, have dug a few, cant bate them being fresh. Have three types of peas and beans on the go but hard to get enough for a meal at once, the young fella is eating them raw every time he passes
muckymanor
Well-Known Member
My potato plants got really badly damaged by the rain over the last few days. Some of them are ready to eat but half of them need another 6 weeks. I don't know if they will grow again, they are lying flat after taking a hammering from the wind and rain.
jf 850
Well-Known Member
That was the 3rd blight spray I gave them yesterday. The drills nearest the ditch are lying flat enough . I didnt dig any yet , as there are a lot of crows about . They are annoying the only grain farmer around here , about 1/2 a mile away , As the Crow flies :rolleyes2:
BasilSeal
Well-Known Member
My other half dug these out of her garden today.
one potato.
I'm pretty impressed with her gardening this year, she used to be a professional gardener, so she has a lot of expertise and knows what she's doing. The ground has been conditioned with composted manure from cattle sheds bedded with wood chip, it's fantastic stuff for improving the soil.
one potato.
I'm pretty impressed with her gardening this year, she used to be a professional gardener, so she has a lot of expertise and knows what she's doing. The ground has been conditioned with composted manure from cattle sheds bedded with wood chip, it's fantastic stuff for improving the soil.