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Allotment/garden thread 2013
Allotment/garden thread 2013
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Replies: 941
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I've raved about this before but try some Khol Rabi.
Plenty of time to order and grow some and a great veg. like Turnip. |
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Thanks Ovalman. I have tried it before but as it was sown in the spring we didn't do it justice as there was too much other veg coming on-stream at the same time. Growing now seems much more sensible.
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yep - too late
but one to note in next years plan... |
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Foinavon, looked back on tread now and it was ur celeriac advice i remembered [poor year with that, but have an idea for one more go with that next year]
cloughandtaytlor was the sweetcorn man... |
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Ah yes, CloughandTaylor.
"Ivor Thirst for Shipstone's Ales" Lovely brew,always conditioned in wooden casks. Sadly closed down a few years back. What went wrong with the celeriac? |
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bit like you said before ...
Foinavon 22 Jun 13 17:19 Growing celeriac (Delta). This really is one for the experts. I tried it a few years ago, the results were useless. It needs an early start, a warm sunny site, rich soil and plenty of water. Needs a liquid feed weekly. If you live in the UK better use the space for something else. I prefer to buy celeriac from Lidl than try to grow it. funny year really should have started off in deeper tray - then moved out of g/house earlier as too hot and 'burney' , then hard to keep well watered in hot year next time deeper tray - once sprouted too cooler/warmer quicker - well watered..... as previously posted, interestingly nowt in garden centre this season... |
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Yes, I think you are right about the prolonged dry spell this year messing things up. At least you're not discouraged by it.
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Went blackberrying with the dog beside the Tone yesterday evening. An absolutely bumper crop for the freezer, one of the best ever, though anything would have been welcome after last year. I don't think I'm being greedy - I waited and waited to see whether any other walkers were interested, but the berries were now beginning to shrivel up and be wasted.
Kohl rabi is excellent, isn't it, ovalman? So straightforward, tasty and versatile. For some reason the plants seem to mature at different rates, so there's an ongoing crop even when sown simultaneously. I wonder whether being grown close together with little thinning out has something to do with it. As you pick early-maturing plants, the ones next door then get the space to mature later in the season. |
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I gave up my (private) allotment, it was just too expensive (£220 for 90m2) but it was the 10 mile round trip that got to me in the end. It was no fun getting stuck in traffic and having to drive to it several times a week. I've my name down for a council site but I'm 70th on the waiting list and about a 10 year wait
 I didn't bother with the community garden I mentioned at the start of this thread. I don't like the idea of a shared harvest, nor do I like being told what I have to do. It just wasn't for me. Khol Rabi is something you could plant right now and it will crop. It's very quick growing, has very little pests and you can eat every part of it. The leaf is like spinach and the roots are like turnip. It was the biggest surprise when I had my plot. Blackberries are in full season Screaming, I might do it myself  |
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See your point Ovalman. Council allotments here now cost £78 and are half price for over 60s. Demand seems to be waning and everyone on the waiting list will be accommodated this October.
Have bought Kohl Rabi seed (Suttons Purple and White Vienna Mix) and sowed some in modules to avoid slug damage to seedlings. I have more photos, could someone advise how to set up a link as done by some previous posters? |
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Could someone check my arithmetic if they are so inclined. According to .http://www.agrimoney.com/news/uk-land-prices-hit-record-and-set-to-gain-further--6023.html
agricultural land sells for around £6,500 an acre. An acre is just over 4000 square metres ( 4047 to be more exact ). So 90m2 of agricultural land would be around £145 to buy outright. And there are private allotment providers who want £220 for that amount of land ( is that per year, or for as long as you live? ). Either way, purely on land cost, never mind the travel, Ovalman has made a good decision to turn that down. |
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Where can you get 90m2 of agricultural land for £145?
Although it may be a fair point that if we could get 100 names on the council list we could buy our own site but I don't think it would be that simple. You'd need planning permission/ fees for buying the land/ water rates/ fencing/ toilets/ parking and maintenance to run it. The £220 was per year but it was the 10 mile round trip that done my conkers in. Getting agricultural land close to home would be hard to impossible. The nearest council allotments are 2 miles from me and are £30 per year. I'd much prefer that TBH but I fear I will have to wait Foinavan, as long as you can get your photo's onto your PC then use www.tinypic.com or www.imageshack.us Both are free and easy to use, just remember where on your PC you put your pictures. |
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Thanks Ovalman.
I've been fiddling around with flickr as I noticed someone had linked to it earlier on this thread. I think I have the hang of it now and have tightened the security from the original "non-existent" status. If it doesn't work then will have a go at tiny.com. £30 is very good value for a 90m2 allotment these days. West Midlands Council bumped their rents up in recent years after discovering that water bills were exceeding rental income by some margin. |
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They are half plots and I'm guessing on the price, it's been a while since I checked but I know it's not expensive. There is a fixed size for a full "plot" which is 250m2 so the 90m2 I was renting was a bit smaller again. Something around 60m2 would do me as I now know what it all entails and I also know what I'd like to grow.
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Sorry Ovalman, I think I was getting my units mixed up.
My plot is 10 yards wide x 28 yards long and costs £78 full price which is about 28p per square yard (£28 for 100 sq yards). Very similar to your cost it seems. |
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Some pics taken earlier this week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99177995@N03/ I liked the way the bees were gorging themselves on the artichoke flowers (honey bees and bumble bees together). Have bought some cow dung for £35 for spreading this autumn should cover half the plot. |
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Excellent photos Foinavon.
Lovely looking spuds! |
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Thanks Tommy, had a sackful from about 15 plants. The best crop of Desiree I've ever had.
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There's so much to like about Foinavon's plot - some of the Desiree spuds are nobbly ( they'll be soo tasty ), he knows the difference between bumble and honey bees ( how many would know that ) and I like the planks between the crops.
At this time of year, I wonder if he wears ballet shoes to tip-toe between the vegetables without causing damage. Nice photos, cheers. |
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quality photos foinavon, thanks for posting/sharing
them anticoke [flowers] seems worthwhile planting just for the bees... |
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what sort of antichoke are we talking about here?
also why do them photos say 2009 on... |
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Thanks for the kind comments guys.
They are globe artichokes Delta and were grown from seed many years ago. I propagated them by taking off-shoots from the best plants. They grow to about ten feet tall and have dozens of large flowers. The buds can be cooked and eaten, attracting bees to the plot is a bonus. The date on the pics is wrong, I couldn't be bothered to work out how to set the date and time on the camera (didn't even know it date stamped until recently). The planks between the tomatoes are mainly to stop the black fabric billowing up in the wind. They are useful for standing on when the soil is wet as they spread the weight. I only wear the ballet shoes in summer when the sun is out Bongo, nice surreal image though. |
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Foinavon, I've never eaten an artichoke (although I've read they're very nice) but looking at your photos I'd say it's worth growing them just for the flowers and bees alone.
Anything which attracts the bees and gets them pollinating is worth it - and they love purple flowers. |
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Thanks for the pics Foinavon.
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Agree with you Tommy, I eat only half a dozen or so buds and leave the rest to flower.
You can find globe artichoke buds in posh grocery shops and they cost around £1 each! Before eating them they need to be boiled for about 20 minutes then remove the tough sepals (scales) and the "choke" (fibrous part that becomes the purple flowers). You are left with the tender fleshy base of the flower which I like to eat with olive oil. You can also find pieces of cooked artichoke preserved in olive oil in small jars usually imported from Italy. Had a look at my camera and eventually managed to reset the date. It's not obvious and had to access a manual online. It was showing 08/10/2009 this morning so is possible to work out when my pics were actually taken (last Tuesday from memory). |
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Foinavon, you getting very techy now too......
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Cameras and mobile phones have too much clever carp installed for my liking these days, just want to "point and shoot" or make a phone call, that's all. Don't need to know the location of the nearest Costa coffee house.
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Potatoes are amazing vegetables when you think about it - when you wander round farming countryside and see wheat, barley, rapeseed, beans etc all about 5 feet in height waiting to be harvested, you wonder what is the point of growing that tall. There has to be an energy cost there. In the wild of course plants and bushes want to get some height to outcompete surrounding plants for light, and so that when they are ready to seed, the wind will carry their seeds a little further, but there's no need in commercial farming for these attributes to develop. Agri scientists are probably working on strains of these that grow about two foot, and then the rest of the energy goes into the product.
But cultivated potatoes have already got there, they grow to two foot maximum, about the height of a cat's tail, and all the rest of the energy taken from the sun goes into the tubers below. Such efficiency. Enough potato philosophy, check out my pink kerrs, smiles. . http://www.flickr.com/photos/97178879@N06/9603342022/ |
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Ah Bongo, the wondrous spud indeed.
I just love them. Really. That's why I get so incensed when people 'big up' pasta and rice as a main carb staple instead of the glorious spud. It's a total nonsense. We're so fortunate in this country to have excellent growing conditions for this most marvellous vegetable and it should be celebrated. I've just found a great book to read about the marvellous, wonderful King of vegetables: 'The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World': http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Potato-Humble-Rescued-Western/dp/0865475784 The reviews are well worth reading on that link - and I was amazed to read that the publisher of the book had first used my mantra "Eat More Spuds!" in 1998! |
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Bongo, can't see your Pink Kerr spud photos as that link takes you to a Yahoo account you have to sign into.
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Thanks for spotting the faulty link Tommy.
. http://www.flickr.com/photos/97178879@N06/9604014864/ should work. Other good thing about growing your own spuds is that no-one seems to mind if they are all different shapes and sizes. Try selling tomatoes or bananas in different sizes in the same bag, and you'd soon have no customers. But people aren't fussy about spuds - every size and shape can be used for something. |
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Yes, there's something 'real' about potatoes not being standardised - like so many other things in this world now, which just spits of 'fakery'.
I like real things. I also like you pointing out on your Pink Kerrs: "the rear one is in flower" Hahaha! |
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Hello gentlemen...I'm in the process of uploading some new pics...I'll post back when they are done (won't be too long I hope)
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Great stuff Petrus. If you can include a 'Skunk shot' too, it would be appreciated!
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There may well be some skunks Tommy...I think we got pics a few weeks ago but not sure til I look
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Cracking stuff Petrus!
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This was the original post Squeeze Firmly & his racist mates had removed = No right of reply!
This copy will now be posted on every thread on every forum & like it or not Betfair you are about to face criminal prosecution for publishing Race Hate material I've been threatened with violence but have never run to the moderators. As several of those welcoming Squeeze back admit he's a racist, as does SF himself, one can only conclude those particular forumites approve of racism. SF deliberately spews out his racist filth on a daily basis and actively seeks out those those with decent human values even posting on the politics forum to deliberately insult and offend (against betfair rules). His tactic of being so repeatedly offensive that the person of decent moral standards loses his temper & hey presto SF, reports to the moderator & their gone. Meneluas the latest casualty, who doesn't even post on Chit Chat. “Good morning all, thank you to my supporters, and also to Betfair Moderators. It looks like I have been reinstated because the forumite who we think reported everybody has now been banned himself. So, if any of you not so friendly chaps or chappesses leave me alone, my friends will leave you alone. I love you al1” Note the final Bold type threatening line, - to leave him alone, cos he's got plenty of mates, & knowing full well he'll be of to the politics forum to target decent & respectable posters with his race hate filth and getting them banned as soon as the dust settles. He actively applauds & supports the EDL – you know - that band of criminal racist thugs who throw bricks at the police. SF is a typical racist coward & s*** stirrer. - “leave me alone or my mates will get you!” How hard is he? Of course he helps run the placepot competition Well all is forgiven Placepot is for penny pinching B-etfred chavs on benefits! Betfair is supposed to be for the big boys! He actively supports the EDL – you know - that band of criminal racist thugs who throw bricks at the police. That's what we have to expect from a Labour & Trade Union movement that for decades has, after over a millennium of serfdom, improved the lives of the ordinary man to a degree he know feels above the common working man and who alines himself with Tory landed gentry. Don't forget where you came from, & where you would be without the Labour Party, Socialism & the Trade Union Moment, doffing your cap to the landed gentry and in the gutter! Betfair: You Are Soon To Face Criminal Prosecution- For promoting Race Hate. We are gathering the evidence and if you think you are an open forum, you are mistaken under your license to operate in the UK! |
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OK Tommy, the new pics are up...there are some comments attached to some of the pics...this particular upload starts at the pics of the Japanese Beetles that eat everything in sight. I have no skunk pics but I do have pics of the Hummingbirds that visit my feeder...I'll put them up next :-)
link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13783447@N03/ |
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Blimey Petrus, you're a veritable 'market gardener'!
You must have enough stuff there to fill a shop! Very well done to you. |
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As I thought I screwed up...the hummingbirds appear in two places...anyway here they are on their own...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13783447@N03/sets/72157635252093014/ |