Veg plans for 2020

The Master.

Haven't posted for a while but everything is flying. Haven't really had any failures to launch apart from I couldn't germinate spring onion or red onion seeds in seed trays, in cotton pads or in the ground. Any ideas? The weather has been unreal and I'm sure that's helped.
Think I found an Australian flatworm when I was digging. They were in the news for being an invasive species.

Seve OB

CelticRambler wrote: »

Every type of seed has a "best before" date which can be very short (a year) or quite long (5-6 years or more) and all of those you've listed would be among the longer ones. A lot depends on how and where they're stored, though, so if they were traumatised during storage (too cold, too hot, too damp - even for a short period) that would affect their viability.

well the beetroot has started to stick its head above ground over the last couple of days. just one mind you, so hopefully we will see a bit of movement in some more of them over the next week or so.

i've had spuds in pots which are going great guns over the last few weeks and some others in a bed with no signs of life till this week, they are next to the beetroot, so hopefully that patch will all come along nicely now together.

still nothing from the sunflowers and french beans though

kylith

Onions and carrots are doing well. Only got a 40% germination on the tomatoes, but those are doing well. 50% of asparagus is up (can it keep going with the tip nipped, does anyone know? Baby was ‘helping’) dwarf beans went down yesterday. Corn and broccoli will be planted later this week.

The Master.

The Master. wrote: »

Haven't posted for a while but everything is flying. Haven't really had any failures to launch apart from I couldn't germinate spring onion or red onion seeds in seed trays, in cotton pads or in the ground. Any ideas? The weather has been unreal and I'm sure that's helped.
Think I found an Australian flatworm when I was digging. They were in the news for being an invasive species.

Looking good !

SouthWesterly

The garden yesterday evening

pconn062

Seve OB wrote: »

well the beetroot has started to stick its head above ground over the last couple of days. just one mind you, so hopefully we will see a bit of movement in some more of them over the next week or so.

i've had spuds in pots which are going great guns over the last few weeks and some others in a bed with no signs of life till this week, they are next to the beetroot, so hopefully that patch will all come along nicely now together.

still nothing from the sunflowers and french beans though

Did you direct sow the beans and sunflowers into the ground? It's still very cold and too cold I would say for them to germinate unless they are covered in plastic. I propagate every thing indoors apart from carrots and parsnips. All salads, spring onions, beetroot, peas, peppers, beans, cucumbers and even all the brassicas are started indoors in module trays. It's a great way to get a headstart on the season.

I must take some photos when I'm over in the garden later. Took my first small harvest of new potatoes yesterday alongside some spinach and small turnips.

SouthWesterly

pconn062 wrote: »

Did you direct sow the beans and sunflowers into the ground? It's still very cold and too cold I would say for them to germinate unless they are covered in plastic. I propagate every thing indoors apart from carrots and parsnips. All salads, spring onions, beetroot, peas, peppers, beans, cucumbers and even all the brassicas are started indoors in module trays. It's a great way to get a headstart on the season.

I must take some photos when I'm over in the garden later. Took my first small harvest of new potatoes yesterday alongside some spinach and small turnips.

I direct sow everything. except for Artichoke, Oca and Mashua


Sowed peas at the begining of april in the same drills as the spuds which are all coming up.

Living Off The Splash

Seve OB wrote: »

still nothing from the sunflowers and french beans though

My wife planted sunflower seeds in a pot and they are all about 2" high. The slugs really like these.
Finally my French Beans are sticking their heads above ground. It's interesting. I have two raised beds with French Beans planted, one is in a slightly shaded position to the other. The one getting about 10% more sun has produced shoots quicker than the other by about 4 days. Next year these are going in full sun.

Living Off The Splash

I will start building a frame for my fruit bushes this week. Just some trampoline posts stuck in the ground and the safety netting used to wrap around the bottom half of the poles, to stop the birds coming in underneath. Then I put some fleece over the top of this, held to the trampoline netting using clothes pegs. Looks like I will have a good crop of Gooseberries and Blackcurrants this year.

Lots of ants in our garden. These are already feasting on our sweet rhubarb plants and they usually have a go at the blackcurrants also. I remember picking my blackcurrants from my bushes a few years back and the ants were running all over my hands and up my arms.

Just bought some ant baits off Amazon this week. I don't really mind ants but they are everywhere this year. All over our lawn as well.

Seve OB

pconn062 wrote: »

Did you direct sow the beans and sunflowers into the ground? It's still very cold and too cold I would say for them to germinate unless they are covered in plastic. I propagate every thing indoors apart from carrots and parsnips. All salads, spring onions, beetroot, peas, peppers, beans, cucumbers and even all the brassicas are started indoors in module trays. It's a great way to get a headstart on the season.

I must take some photos when I'm over in the garden later. Took my first small harvest of new potatoes yesterday alongside some spinach and small turnips.

in small pots which are outside, so yea that could be an issue alright. just don't have room to have them indoors. still holding out hope they might come up at some stage.

if they do come up, how long should i wait before sticking them into the ground?

Living Off The Splash

We cover our sunflower seedlings at night but leave them in full sun throughout the day. We will wait until they have grown another 2" before planting out. About 4" tall.
We grow these every year, they are beautiful. Also our giant red poppies are opening a couple every day. Have about 9 of them open at the moment. About another 20 to go.
Spotted some unusual red poppies when out and about recently growing wild. Larger heads than the Welsh yellow poppy and more flat when they open. We will collect as many of these seeds when we can. Can't have enough of poppies.

tom1ie

Has anyone tried square foot gardening in raised beds?

Vicarious Function

tom1ie wrote: »

Has anyone tried square foot gardening in raised beds?

Yes me! Very good idea, if your space is limited like mine is.

Living Off The Splash

Some years ago I purchased the ready to assemble 4 x 4 wooden raised beds from Aldi. They are about 5 years old now. Probably another few years left in them. I have been able to patch a few of them where they became damaged.

I have about 18" between them when placed in a row plus a 3' pathway down the middle from rows on the other side.

The surface is all gravel around beds. Ten raised beds in total. Works very well. I rotate from bed to bed each year.

MacDanger

How do I know when my spuds are ready for earthing up? I planted in late March and they're up ~2-8inches depending on the plant?

And how often should I earth up?

Thanks in advance

Harry Palmr

Earth up when you've got about 6-8 inches of stalks above ground. Usually you do it once piled up as there isn't enough earth to do it twice! But you can do it again.

Speaking of earthing up needed

Harry Palmr

and a week later



I could compost up again but at this stage I'd need about 100 litres to make a real impression.

CelticRambler

You sure they're not sunflowers? :pac:

Seve OB

I’ve a few beetroot starting to show now and the spuds are doing ok but probably will leave it a few more days before earthing up.
Still no sign of the sunflowers or beans, but still holding out hope

Think I’ll pop out today and look for some strawberry plants,

Harry Palmr

CelticRambler wrote: »

You sure they're not sunflowers? :pac:

Sunspuds is surely what the world has been waiting for! A bright pollinator friendly flower which finishes up as a mature tuber in mid summer.

CelticRambler

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Sunspuds is surely what the world has been waiting for! A bright pollinator friendly flower which finishes up as a mature tuber in mid summer.

And free oil to fry the spuds in! I'll take 500 as soon as you have them available!

In the meantime, I've planted a load of sunflowers this year alongside my peas, to act as a natural support. Planted the peas directly in the soil (first ones already in flower when I last saw them 10 days ago) and started the sunflowers off in pots. Am itching to get home to see how they're getting on ... and also a little bit worried, seeing as the temps here have shot up to the high twenties since yesterday. :mad:

Seve OB

Seve OB wrote: »

Think I’ll pop out today and look for some strawberry plants,

no strawberries in the local shop so had a spin past woodies but big queue so didn't bother. i'll be chancing B&Q in the morning on way to work as have to try for some stuff that local shops all seem to be out of so will see what they have in regards strawberries or similar.

i heard Padraig Horkan on the radio this morning saying that Strawberries are good to plant amongst regular flowers etc what are you opinions about that. im limited to space really so was thinking of sticking a couple in beside the azalea i got recently

pconn062

A lot of my veg taking an awful hammering in the wind today. At risk of losing about 25% unless it eases off. Potatoes are very established and are taking a beaten but should survive but my runner beans are wrote off and I've lost about 1/3 of my brassicas already.

Wish I had some windbreaker fabric but I don't.

Harry Palmr

It's been worse than I expected.

My spuds are also being blown this way and that, I slung some old washing up bowls over the spicy greens which I transplanted outside only two days ago. Everything else seems to be okay and as I type the overall wind activity seems to have died down a bit.

Just been out and staked them as best I can, a few broken stems but nothing terminal.

MacDanger

Dunno how my spuds are doing but I'm hoping that earthing them up last weekend should save them partially. It's still very stormy here in north Mayo

pconn062

Harry Palmr wrote: »

It's been worse than I expected.

My spuds are also being blown this way and that, I slung some old washing up bowls over the spicy greens which I transplanted outside only two days ago. Everything else seems to be okay and as I type the overall wind activity seems to have died down a bit.

I agree, much worse than I was expecting. Very strong gusts are doing the damage. Seems to be getting stronger here on the east coast.

Living Off The Splash

The netting covering our fruit bushes ended up on the other side of the garden. Fixed it. Now it's back on the other side of the garden again. Let's hope the birds don't notice.

scarepanda

The wind has been bad here as well. But it's given me food for thought as it's the first bit of wind we've had since we moved in. What kind of permanent wind breaks do people use in their veg garden? At the moment the area that the veg garden will be in is getting the brunt of the wind, so if I could build a proper windbreak fence it would be handy as a base to work from. I'd prefer to stay away from the green wind break you can get as the veg garden will be in full view of the main garden rather than being stuck down the back out of view, so I want it to be easy on the eye if that makes sense.

Harry Palmr

I just put up a wind break which is a repurposed chicken wire/fleece/beanstalks combo used to protect the salads when they were young, hopefully it'll last the day

scarepanda

Hopefully it will!

I was planning on putting in a 3.5ft ish high picket fence type, 4*1 timber with a 3 or 4 inch gap between each timber. It's what I used in the rented house and did the job of keeping the dogs out. I don't know if it would provide enough shelter to wind though, I might increase the height to 4ft. I'll have a flower bed on the garden side as well eventually with some climbers running along it which will help. But that won't happen for a few years.