Vegetables Growing - some thoughts
Beetroot - Boltardy variety has been a good cropper on our clay soil. One tip is that the clay becomes very compact and will not let the roots penetrate the soil. This results in poor beet development and a disappointing crop. So improve your soil by adding good compost to break it down. Raised beds also work well by providing a nice deep base for root growth. The taste of home grown beetroot is something you don't get in a supermarket jar. Crop as soon as ready as the mice like a good nibble at the sweet bulbs!
Broccoli - Grows well on our plots. Watch out for the dreaded white butterfly which can devastate your crop. Protection using a fleece cover can help. Belstar variety has worked well for me.
Brussels Sprouts - Sprouts will grow well on most soils. Just keep the cabbage butterfly off them and you will get a good crop. Its nice to pick your own sprouts at any time, but particularly at Christmas and New Year. White fly can sometimes be a pest that can be controlled with Bug Clear or blasted off with plain water from a sprayer.
Cabbage - Like all brassicas the white butterfly is a menace. However, if you give your plants some protection, you can have a great crop. Had a good crop of ordinary and curly cabbage this year (2015). Another menace is the cabbage root fly. The pupae hatches in the soil in late spring onwards and the maggots burrow into the soil and attack the cabbage roots by tunnelling into them and this in turn causes plants to wilt and die. If adult plants are attacked they may struggle on, but the crop will be poor. To protect plants from the female fly laying her eggs cut flat carpet underlay into 4-6 inch discs and put them round the base of the stem.
Celeriac - Looks like and tastes like turnip with the added light flavour of celery. Grows well. Try sowing your plants on ridged rows.
Celery - I love celery with a dip, chopped up in a salad or to give added flavour to soups. Bring on your own plants from seeds. They sometimes take a little while longer to germinate compared to other seed, but once the plants are established they can be transplanted into nice deep beds, ridges or pots to be left to grow on and on and on. The plants are particularly hardy to the cold and frosts and the aroma around the plot in the breeze is lovely. If you put your plants in compact soil the roots will not bed down sufficiently to generate big juicy stalks so ensure your soil is a nice deep tilth for best results. Generally disease and bug free. Celery does not like dry conditions so make sure you water well in hot dry periods.
Carrots - Carrots find it difficult to penetrate heavy clay soil, sow them in raised beds and add plenty of nice floury sand to get a nice crop. Carrot root fly can be a menace resulting in horrible black tunnels in roots and destroy your crop. Beware of the root knot eelworms when growing in raised beds and greenhouse borders. Lift carrots before they rot and slugs (eat young flesh and roots) and wireworms (neat holes bored straight through roots) get at them. Store in a dry sand clamp and they will keep until March. You could leave them in the ground, but protect them from frost with a layer of straw.
Cauliflower - So far, have not been successful with cauliflower, but persistence will no doubt provide success in due course.
Leeks - Dibble a deep hole and drop your plants in. Just water them well, don't fill in the holes, and then leave them to grow.
Kale - This leafy vegetable grows well and the curly leaved red variety not only tastes great but looks very nice when growing. Space them well apart for best results.
Kohlrabi - The brassica that grows with tall leaves and produces golf ball type swede turnip fruit. Lovely.
Onions - Sow autumn leeks sets in September/October for a nice crop the following June. Vulcan and Radar sets have worked well. For nice big show onions grow your onions from seed sown on Christmas day. You can also grow your onions from sets starting in March/April. Keep the plants weed free and feed them a little Growmore or Chicken pellets from time to time. When the foliage starts to die you can start to lift them. Most people lift their onions on a dry day and let them lie on top of the soil to dry for a few hours before taking them in and storing them in bunches in a cool dark dry place. Putting them in old tights and hanging them in the garage or frost free place will ensure they are preserved for months. Sowing your own onion seed can provide you with a lovely crop of tasty bulbs. Ailsa Craig sown indoors in December/January will give you lots of big, cheap, juicy onions. Watch out for onion white rot at the base of your plants, onion downy mildew or onion neck rot when in storage.
Parsnips - A big favourite with many people, but not with myself so I have no information on growing this vegetable. Feel free to post your own experiences, recommended varieties and suggested growing techniques.
Peas - I love peas, in particular freshly picked peas from the plot. Kelvedon Wonder and Hurst Green are varieties that have been good for me. Sow your seeds in nice deep, well fed soft soil and stake well for best results. I have had better success growing my plants from seed in the greenhouse and brining them on in pots before planting them out in deep trenches at the plot. Succession sowing will keep you going throughout the season. Mice can smell out the seeds from a distance so protect them until they produce good leafy growth.
Potatoes - Have grown a variety of early, second early and main crop tatties at the plot with good results. The worst results I had was when I sowed the tubers on a heavy wet area and the crop developed blight. I have learned my lesson and now always use well manured improved areas of the plot and have not encountered the same problems. Lift your spuds on a dry day before the first frosts. Bag them in paper sacks, keep in a cool frost free place. Potatoes that have been exposed to the air and gone green are poisonous and should be discarded. Use up any bruised or damaged potatoes first. Check your stored stock frequently and get rid of any that have started to rot before they infect the lot.
Potato blight is a common and fatal disease of potato and tomato plants. The symptoms are a rapidly spreading of watery lesions and rotting on the leaves, which turn brown. The stems may show brown patches and then the plants collapse. If not checked the disease then spreads into the tubers, which turns into a horrible rotting and inedible mush. If detected early, the haulms (shaws) should be cut off at ground level leaving the underlying tubers unharmed and perfectly good to use. The diseased haulms should be burned and not put on a compost heap. The disease spreads by airborne spores and can rapidly infect neighbouring plots. Do not use potatoes from infected plants as seed for next year and do not used ground that has been infected by blight for your crop of potatoes in the next season. It is always recommended you practise crop rotation to prevent the spread of disease and also the disappointment of failed crops.
Tomatoes - Grow your own from seed and save a lot of money. Alicante, Moneymaker, and Shirley have worked well for me. Shirley seed can be expensive therefore save your own seeds at the end of the year for sowing the next. Sun Gold yellow toms are delicious. Roma Italian plum tomatoes and black cherry varieties also provide a plentiful tasty crop. One problem about tomatoes is if you keep them inside you need to be around to water them each day or your efforts may be wasted. Irregular watering, lack of light and poor ventilation are major reasons for failure of tomato crops. Outdoor bush varieties can work well. I have has good and bad results with outdoor plants. As always it's down to the seasonal weather conditions much of the time. I have tried the new TomTato plants that are available. They are tomato plants grafted onto potato stalks and are promoted to the public as yielding a dual crop of tomatoes and potatoes. This is certainly the case. The crop of tomatoes you get is terrific. The fruits are medium sized and beautiful and sweet. However, you will be lucky to get a boiling of potatoes off each plant. So while the tomatoes are great the plants are very expensive to make them a genuine consideration for most budgets i.e. £14.99 for one plant, two for £19.99. The plants are usually available in the spring from Thompson and Morgan.
Turnip - I grow my turnip plants at home and transplant them to the plot with good results. The plants thrive on both poor and improved soil. Tweed F1 has always produced a tasty crop for me.
Use your produce fresh for best flavour.
Please support your local Garden Centres. Their prices for plants and seed is usually very competitive. Knox's in Dunbar High Street, usually have a good range of everything you need at very reasonable prices.
As a nice gesture to your fellow allotmenteers pass on any surplus plants you might have.
Remember and recycle all your veg leaves. They breakdown to make nice juicy compost that will improve your clay soil.
If you can recommend any particular variety of veg that you have tried then pass it on in a blog.
Lime
It is known that calcium is a vital plant nutrient and if there is a deficiency in the soil, plant cell don't form properly that causes leafy vegetables to develop brown spots and dead leaf tips. It is also important to fruit formation in apples and plums and is know to help break up clay soils. Lime is beneficial to brassicas as it helps reduce clubroot. However, Potatoes and strawberries dislike lime so don't apply it to their growing areas. Lime is added in autumn and winter and never at the same time as adding fertiliser.
Broccoli - Grows well on our plots. Watch out for the dreaded white butterfly which can devastate your crop. Protection using a fleece cover can help. Belstar variety has worked well for me.
Brussels Sprouts - Sprouts will grow well on most soils. Just keep the cabbage butterfly off them and you will get a good crop. Its nice to pick your own sprouts at any time, but particularly at Christmas and New Year. White fly can sometimes be a pest that can be controlled with Bug Clear or blasted off with plain water from a sprayer.
Cabbage - Like all brassicas the white butterfly is a menace. However, if you give your plants some protection, you can have a great crop. Had a good crop of ordinary and curly cabbage this year (2015). Another menace is the cabbage root fly. The pupae hatches in the soil in late spring onwards and the maggots burrow into the soil and attack the cabbage roots by tunnelling into them and this in turn causes plants to wilt and die. If adult plants are attacked they may struggle on, but the crop will be poor. To protect plants from the female fly laying her eggs cut flat carpet underlay into 4-6 inch discs and put them round the base of the stem.
Celeriac - Looks like and tastes like turnip with the added light flavour of celery. Grows well. Try sowing your plants on ridged rows.
Celery - I love celery with a dip, chopped up in a salad or to give added flavour to soups. Bring on your own plants from seeds. They sometimes take a little while longer to germinate compared to other seed, but once the plants are established they can be transplanted into nice deep beds, ridges or pots to be left to grow on and on and on. The plants are particularly hardy to the cold and frosts and the aroma around the plot in the breeze is lovely. If you put your plants in compact soil the roots will not bed down sufficiently to generate big juicy stalks so ensure your soil is a nice deep tilth for best results. Generally disease and bug free. Celery does not like dry conditions so make sure you water well in hot dry periods.
Carrots - Carrots find it difficult to penetrate heavy clay soil, sow them in raised beds and add plenty of nice floury sand to get a nice crop. Carrot root fly can be a menace resulting in horrible black tunnels in roots and destroy your crop. Beware of the root knot eelworms when growing in raised beds and greenhouse borders. Lift carrots before they rot and slugs (eat young flesh and roots) and wireworms (neat holes bored straight through roots) get at them. Store in a dry sand clamp and they will keep until March. You could leave them in the ground, but protect them from frost with a layer of straw.
Cauliflower - So far, have not been successful with cauliflower, but persistence will no doubt provide success in due course.
Leeks - Dibble a deep hole and drop your plants in. Just water them well, don't fill in the holes, and then leave them to grow.
Kale - This leafy vegetable grows well and the curly leaved red variety not only tastes great but looks very nice when growing. Space them well apart for best results.
Kohlrabi - The brassica that grows with tall leaves and produces golf ball type swede turnip fruit. Lovely.
Onions - Sow autumn leeks sets in September/October for a nice crop the following June. Vulcan and Radar sets have worked well. For nice big show onions grow your onions from seed sown on Christmas day. You can also grow your onions from sets starting in March/April. Keep the plants weed free and feed them a little Growmore or Chicken pellets from time to time. When the foliage starts to die you can start to lift them. Most people lift their onions on a dry day and let them lie on top of the soil to dry for a few hours before taking them in and storing them in bunches in a cool dark dry place. Putting them in old tights and hanging them in the garage or frost free place will ensure they are preserved for months. Sowing your own onion seed can provide you with a lovely crop of tasty bulbs. Ailsa Craig sown indoors in December/January will give you lots of big, cheap, juicy onions. Watch out for onion white rot at the base of your plants, onion downy mildew or onion neck rot when in storage.
Parsnips - A big favourite with many people, but not with myself so I have no information on growing this vegetable. Feel free to post your own experiences, recommended varieties and suggested growing techniques.
Peas - I love peas, in particular freshly picked peas from the plot. Kelvedon Wonder and Hurst Green are varieties that have been good for me. Sow your seeds in nice deep, well fed soft soil and stake well for best results. I have had better success growing my plants from seed in the greenhouse and brining them on in pots before planting them out in deep trenches at the plot. Succession sowing will keep you going throughout the season. Mice can smell out the seeds from a distance so protect them until they produce good leafy growth.
Potatoes - Have grown a variety of early, second early and main crop tatties at the plot with good results. The worst results I had was when I sowed the tubers on a heavy wet area and the crop developed blight. I have learned my lesson and now always use well manured improved areas of the plot and have not encountered the same problems. Lift your spuds on a dry day before the first frosts. Bag them in paper sacks, keep in a cool frost free place. Potatoes that have been exposed to the air and gone green are poisonous and should be discarded. Use up any bruised or damaged potatoes first. Check your stored stock frequently and get rid of any that have started to rot before they infect the lot.
Potato blight is a common and fatal disease of potato and tomato plants. The symptoms are a rapidly spreading of watery lesions and rotting on the leaves, which turn brown. The stems may show brown patches and then the plants collapse. If not checked the disease then spreads into the tubers, which turns into a horrible rotting and inedible mush. If detected early, the haulms (shaws) should be cut off at ground level leaving the underlying tubers unharmed and perfectly good to use. The diseased haulms should be burned and not put on a compost heap. The disease spreads by airborne spores and can rapidly infect neighbouring plots. Do not use potatoes from infected plants as seed for next year and do not used ground that has been infected by blight for your crop of potatoes in the next season. It is always recommended you practise crop rotation to prevent the spread of disease and also the disappointment of failed crops.
Tomatoes - Grow your own from seed and save a lot of money. Alicante, Moneymaker, and Shirley have worked well for me. Shirley seed can be expensive therefore save your own seeds at the end of the year for sowing the next. Sun Gold yellow toms are delicious. Roma Italian plum tomatoes and black cherry varieties also provide a plentiful tasty crop. One problem about tomatoes is if you keep them inside you need to be around to water them each day or your efforts may be wasted. Irregular watering, lack of light and poor ventilation are major reasons for failure of tomato crops. Outdoor bush varieties can work well. I have has good and bad results with outdoor plants. As always it's down to the seasonal weather conditions much of the time. I have tried the new TomTato plants that are available. They are tomato plants grafted onto potato stalks and are promoted to the public as yielding a dual crop of tomatoes and potatoes. This is certainly the case. The crop of tomatoes you get is terrific. The fruits are medium sized and beautiful and sweet. However, you will be lucky to get a boiling of potatoes off each plant. So while the tomatoes are great the plants are very expensive to make them a genuine consideration for most budgets i.e. £14.99 for one plant, two for £19.99. The plants are usually available in the spring from Thompson and Morgan.
Turnip - I grow my turnip plants at home and transplant them to the plot with good results. The plants thrive on both poor and improved soil. Tweed F1 has always produced a tasty crop for me.
Use your produce fresh for best flavour.
Please support your local Garden Centres. Their prices for plants and seed is usually very competitive. Knox's in Dunbar High Street, usually have a good range of everything you need at very reasonable prices.
As a nice gesture to your fellow allotmenteers pass on any surplus plants you might have.
Remember and recycle all your veg leaves. They breakdown to make nice juicy compost that will improve your clay soil.
If you can recommend any particular variety of veg that you have tried then pass it on in a blog.
Lime
It is known that calcium is a vital plant nutrient and if there is a deficiency in the soil, plant cell don't form properly that causes leafy vegetables to develop brown spots and dead leaf tips. It is also important to fruit formation in apples and plums and is know to help break up clay soils. Lime is beneficial to brassicas as it helps reduce clubroot. However, Potatoes and strawberries dislike lime so don't apply it to their growing areas. Lime is added in autumn and winter and never at the same time as adding fertiliser.