Veg plans for 2021

scarepanda wrote: »

****e. Did you order any potatoes or onions? I ordered on the 7th Jan.

My order was mostly potatoes and onions with a couple of seed packs thrown in. Was waiting on some of the seed potatoes to become available as they were main crop but were sent almost straight away then. I'd say get onto them with your order number or if you have an account should see your order there

scarepanda wrote: »

I can't remember if I set up an account or not, either way I can't log in or reset my password. Ill contact them tomorrow but they have a note on their website saying that they are only dealing with commercial customers queries at the moment.

Definitely get onto them. Dealing with commercial customer queries only is bad business. If they missed your order since January then any good customer service should deal with that first as it's their mistake

scarepanda wrote: »

I can't remember if I set up an account or not, either way I can't log in or reset my password. Ill contact them tomorrow but they have a note on their website saying that they are only dealing with commercial customers queries at the moment.

We had issues with them a few weeks back, ordered seed potatoes, kept telling us that yeah they'll ship this week (when they actually replied back to us), nothing arrives.....get back to them again.....yeah they'll ship this week....again nothing arrives....and repeat!!! Eventually the order arrived but won't be giving them any more business, poor customer service.

MacDanger wrote: »

Finished digging my veg patch over the weekend, it's more than doubled from last year to ~80m2 this year. Will be planting early potatoes this weekend or the following weekend.

I'll start some carrots indoors in toilet roll inserts also for planting in April along with carrot seeds sown directly in the soil, snap peas, onion sets and a few heads of calabrese.

I've also had a request for some beetroot - what's the option for that? From seed or buy small plants in a garden centre?

beetroot grow easily enough from seed in my experience, I usually wait until april and plant them directly

CelticRambler wrote: »

Plant seed. Beetroot seed germinates very successfully, and transplants equally well.

I have not been hugely successful planting beetroot. I often get very small beetroots, any reason for this?

I transplanted some last year to a new location. They grew to a decent size. Pulled them and ate them yesterday. So tasty and delicious in a mixed salad.

Just thought I'd update here.

I got an email today off fruithill farm to let me know that my order is being shipped today.

I have decided not to grow spuds this year (very controversial decision in my house). On the trying something new front, I am going to give sweetcorn a shot. Got a nice sounding F1 jobby from seedaholic. Have visions of putting cobs on the bbq within seconds of picking, probably end up with a few manky looking green 4 cms things.....

CelticRambler wrote: »

If that's your vision, you'll be having them for breakfast! Sweetcorn should be picked first thing in the morning.

Be warned: if you plant all the seed at the same time, you tend to get all the cobs ripening at the same time, and their "use-by" date is very short. Very, very short. Like really, very, very short - a few days at most. Cooking it is easy enough; eating it is messy, but easy enough; saving it for later is a whole lot of work!

I'll be growing it (again) this year, but I'm staggering my germinations at fortnightly intervals to try to keep it manageable. Germination rate is poor enough from my saved seed, though - 40% at the moment, giving me just 8 plants so far out of two batches. I'll triple the amount of seed I'm sowing for the rest of the batches.

Thanks for this. Have an 8X4 bed that will be dedicated to corn, will probably do it in 2 sowings. Four teenage boys plus myself and wife will not be long getting through whatever happens to grow.


What variety do you grow and can I ask where in the country you are? I'm in Dublin and my garden faces almost due south so am assuming I should be ok.

Do you start seeds inside and when would you start?

Thanks


edit: bbq for breakfast - sure why not. There is no such thing as normal anymore!

CelticRambler wrote: »

If that's your vision, you'll be having them for breakfast! Sweetcorn should be picked first thing in the morning.

Be warned: if you plant all the seed at the same time, you tend to get all the cobs ripening at the same time, and their "use-by" date is very short. Very, very short. Like really, very, very short - a few days at most. Cooking it is easy enough; eating it is messy, but easy enough; saving it for later is a whole lot of work!

I'll be growing it (again) this year, but I'm staggering my germinations at fortnightly intervals to try to keep it manageable. Germination rate is poor enough from my saved seed, though - 40% at the moment, giving me just 8 plants so far out of two batches. I'll triple the amount of seed I'm sowing for the rest of the batches.

I get nearly 100% germination.
There is a trick to it though.

• Get seed tray.
• Line it with 3 layers of kitchen paper.
• Dampen it.
• place kernels on top, spaced ~2cm apart.
• Cover with 3 more layers of kitchen paper.
• Spray it with a water mister to dampen the paper.
• Keep in a warm place, but not so warm that it dry's out.
• Mist the top paper regularly, but don't let it get sopping.
• Carefully peel back the top paper after a few days to have a peep.
• The kernels will "fill out", then produce a "bump", then send out a hairy root.
• Once the roots are 1.5cm long, then carefully plant them into little pots, or toiler rolls filled with fine soil/compost.
• Don't let the roots get too long, or the lot will get tangled and be difficuly to separate.

Plant out the rolls into the garden when the threat of frost has passed.
Enjoy the sweetcorn and butter!

The last few years I’ve been growing small veg plants and some herbs in a raised bed type box that was here when we bought the house. It was just fashioned from an old pallets from what I can tell. Unfortunately it’s now fallen apart and rotten and unusable. I’d like to get something to replace it but that would be moveable but also that’s OK to leave out all year round!

I like the look of the attached but I fear one windy night might take it out entirely!

Has anyone any recommendations? I don’t have the space to plant directly in the ground unfortunately.


https://www.aosom.ie/item/outsunny-wooden-planter-raised-elevated-garden-bed-with-2-shelves-for-vegetables-flowers~845-475V01.html

Michellenman wrote: »

I like the look of the attached but I fear one windy night might take it out entirely! https://www.aosom.ie/item/outsunny-wooden-planter-raised-elevated-garden-bed-with-2-shelves-for-vegetables-flowers~845-475V01.html

One of it's selling points: "Spacious space to load more mud" ... yeah, I think I'd spend my 300€ on something else.

The whole feel of that site looks like a UK front for a Chinese* supplier. Nothing .ie about it at all, so I'd steer well clear.

Edit: *Ningbo Two Birds Co Ltd

Get a local Men's Shed or equivalent to knock you up something similar for a third of the price.

Michellenman wrote: »

I just meant would something like that be practical for growing small tomato plants and some herbs while also being moveable?

Meh ... it looks too "decorative" to me, at the expense of being functional. If the primary purpose of this structure is for growing veg, you don't need all that wasted space at the bottom, and you don't need the fiddly tray at the top. The trellis could be handy, but not for small tomato plants - if they're to be of any use, you want them big!

With the very limited space available, you'd want to be growing high-value plants, so mostly herbs, cut-and-come-again lettuce, edible flowers such as nasturtiums, and maybe a couple of tomato plants. I can't see it being all that great for root veg or anything of the leafy veg (such as cabbage) that you harvest in one fell swoop.

Google "planter with trellis" for better designs than that, then build something that suits your space.

Hi

I'm trying to grow a couple of tomato plants with my kids, we don't have a greenhouse or anything so they'll be grown in window pots.

I don't have any expectations of a huge (or perhaps any) crop but we'd like to give them the best chance possible. Since they're growing in a window, should we rotate them regularly so they don't just grow in one direction?

Any other advice would be appreciated

Zardaz wrote: »

What variety are they?
What size are the plants at the moment?
How big is the window?
Is it south facing?
Do you have any outside south facing and sheltered path or patio you can put them out on during the summer?

Dont even think of putting them out overnight for at least a month .Outdoor tomatoes are a major challenge and apparently blight is becoming far more of an issue .If you have a serious suntrap in your garden (consider painting walls behind it white) and you plant out in June they MIGHT crop well .I had success with yellow pear shaped mini tomatoes outdoors last year but many still had a mildly fungal flavour Then again they were neglected for weeks on end .I think there were dozens of toms on it in October . But basically keep them indoors at night and in any hint of rain or cold wind etc for at least another 5-7 weeks .

EDIT If exclusively kept indoors you will eventually need very big pots .Indeterminate tomatoes grow VERY fast in mid to late Summer .If a purely window sill planter you will only grow cherry tom varieties Id say .

MacDanger wrote: »

1. 2 x Tumbler and 1 x Moneymaker
2. Just bought them at the weekend, ~10-15cm tall I'd say
3. The window is medium size, maybe 0.8m * 1.2m
4. Faces W-SW
5. Not really

You might have a chance with the tumblers. They are a small bushy plant. If the window sill is wide, and you get a rectangular pot and tray, it should give you a crop. But turn it round every couple of days as you mentioned.
It will want to "tumble" over the sides of the pot and down, so you will need to train it up with a few small canes and string or something.

Forget about the Moneymaker indoors. It will want to grow 3 foot high before it even sets fruit.

Given the Irish weather you will need to make the best of the light. If you don't need the light from that window, consider a reflector behind the plant to bounce a bit more light at it.
Or one of those 50cm long cheap under-cupboard countertop led lights would also give it a decent bit of an extra boost. (I use three of them above my indoor propagator and they work brilliantly, even though they are only 8W each)

MacDanger wrote: »

Ah well, you live and learn. I guess I should have researched a bit more before buying!! Are there any varieties that would be suitable for a windowsill?

Well, a dwarf cherry is your only real option.
I'd recommend "Tiny Tim", or "Little Sun".
Especially "Little Sun", but you probably wont find that one is a garden centre, have to grow it from seed.
Very hardy, tidy plant, gives lots of small sweet yellow toms.

Here's two pics of "Little sun",
my 4 plants last year in AutoPots in the glasshouse on July 17th,
And one of this years plants, today (in 10cm square pot). (yes, it's flowering already!)

Has anyone here grown a few square metres of cereals? I got a notion there over the weekend to plant oats, but it seems like I've left it a bit late for this year (advice here in agri-France is to get it sown by the end of Feb at the latest for a decent crop). I think I could make good use of a small sack of oats; not sure I could grow enough wheat or barley to be worth the effort, though.

And then, other than asking a friendly farmer for a fistful of seed to start, where do you buy packets in quantities of less than about 50kg?! :pac:

Bill Hook wrote: »

I think you can buy oats from Brown Envelope Seeds and Irish Seed Savers.

So you can ... but at least as expensive as what I've been looking at here, on account of being sold in quantities for just about 1m². If I'm going to do it, I'd be thinking of at least 5m², maybe 10, at which point it'd be cheaper to buy from a proper agri-merchant ... ... ... and have enough for about twenty years! :pac:

Hmmm ... just wondering if I called into the local agri-merchant whether he might have a damaged sack or half a bucket left that he'd like to get rid of seeing as the sowing season's finished?

Yes, I'd thought about linseed too, especially because of the flowers. How many of these grain(-like) products can be propagated from the product bought in mainstream commercial outlets (including agri suppliers)? My experience with two small bits of Lidl's ginger has - so far - been very satisfying, but I could see those on the shelf and pick good candidates; it's not always easy to tell when a packet of something has been treated "for human consumption" and rendered useless for the garden.