VEGETABLE GARDENING IN DENTDALE

WEEKLY NOTES

Garden Diary: Week ending: 14^th June 2009

Runner beans require a supporting structure; a fairly substantial structure too as in fertile soil and with adequate watering, they can grow to well over six feet high. It’s a good idea to pinch out the growing tips when they grow to a height above which you cannot reach in order to pick the beans. A supporting structure for runner beans can take many forms but frequently you will see them grown up bamboo canes erected in a ‘tent’ or ‘wigwam’ (tepee) form. Bamboo canes tied together this way certainly provide a stable framework for the beans which is easy to construct. However, both ‘tents’ and ‘wigwams’ have a disadvantage in that they cause the bean arm (the stems and foliage) to bunch together at the top of the framework and this prevents the developing beans from hanging freely. The result is a high percentage of distorted beans. I planted out my Runner Beans (Streamline and Painted Lady) this week along the line of the previously prepared bean trench. (see diary w/c 31^st May) This year I’m trying out a different supporting structure. As you can see from the adjacent photograph, it requires some basic carpentry but it should avoid the bunching of the bean arm at the top of the structure. If you have planted runner beans this year, don’t forget, they like to keep their feet wet so watering in dry spells is a must if you want a good crop.

Runner beans and their support

Successional planting continues. This week, three short rows of Beetroot (Boltardy) were bedded out along with ten Lettuce (Webb’s Wonderful).

Beetroot ‘Boltardy’

Lettuce ‘Webb’s Wonderful

Kohl Rabi with its globe just starting to form

Weeding and searching out Cabbage White Butterfly eggs continues too. If you are growing Kohl Rabi remember to look there for the butterfly eggs as well as on the other brassicas. Kohl Rabi is one of the cabbage family and the cabbage white loves them all.

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Due to my wife’s illness, this will be the last diary entry although it isn’t a bad place to stop. The plot is more or less full now, only the bed to receive the over-wintering Purple Sprouting Broccoli remains empty. Had I planned things better, that bed could be producing the early lettuce, beetroot, rocket and carrots, all of which would have been harvested before the broccoli is ready for planting out. The Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants (F¹ Claret and Redhead) were only potted on into 4” pots this week so there would have been plenty of time for some early crops to mature.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli (F¹ Claret and Redhead)

Even though the plot is full there would, of course, be plenty of things to report; there’s always something going on in the vegetable garden. A few things are worth a special mention:

· The first wave of Cabbage White Butterfly is almost over now but do not relax your guard; another wave will be along in July.

· Watch out for early signs of Potato Blight, especially on your main crop planting. Unless you are ‘organic’, a Mancozeb spray at the first signs should rescue the crop.

· The gardening books will tell you to harvest your Onions when the foliage starts to turn brown and then to dry them thoroughly in the sun. The Dentdale climate usually ensures that, even when onions are ready for harvesting, the foliage is still green and lush so they will have to be lifted in that state. Drying in the sun is pretty much impossible but thorough drying is absolutely essential prior to winter storage. Putting onions on a tray in the airing cupboard in batches works well.

· Brussels Sprouts and Sprouting Broccoli are tall plants that warrant growing against a stout stick to avoid wind damage. Once there is six to eight inches of visible stem to the plant, tie it to the stick.

· Harvest your Runner Beans, French Beans and Courgettes frequently to encourage continuing production .

I’ll close the diary with a short photographic tour of the plot as it appears in the middle of June. This diary arose as a follow-on from the Beginners Vegetable Growing course held last autumn in Dent and with the hope that it would offer some guidance and encouragement to those starting out on their first vegetable growing adventure in an area with high humidity and rainfall. The methods and techniques that I have adopted are by no means exclusive but the pictures demonstrate that, on the whole, they seem to work.

Parsley	Ginger Mint	Courgettes forming behind the female flower

Cabbage and Cauliflower under netting	Shallots and Carrot	Lettuce, Rocket and Parsnips with second early Potatoes in the next bed

Kohl Rabi, Celeriac and Runner beans with Garlic	Over-wintered onions	Beetroot and Lettuce

Beetroot and Lettuce	Leeks	The Onion bed with a few Lettuce on the end

Brussels Sprouts

Rhubarb, Gooseberries and Raspberries

There have been a few disappointments but not enough to dampen the spirits and harvests like that gathered today makes it all worthwhile.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 7^th June 2009

If your Potatoes are growing in fertile ground and are getting adequate water then it is likely that the foliage (the haulm) will grow to well over 18” high. Once at this stage of development, the first heavy rain or strong wind will flatten the potato foliage. This, in itself, isn’t a problem and the potatoes will develop normally in spite of the collapse. However, if you have another crop planted close alongside your potatoes or they grow adjacent a well used path then there will be difficulties. Potato foliage is quite fragile and any attempt to lift the collapsed haulm away from the adjacent crops that are being smothered or the path that is being blocked will almost certainly result in broken stems and a reduction in the vigour of the potato plants.

If collapsed potato foliage is likely to be a problem, a simple supporting structure to contain the haulm and erected now before the foliage gets too top heavy, will save both time and potato quality at a later stage. Erecting such a support was my first job on the plot this week.

Sticks and bamboo canes to contain the potato foliage

Courgettes with their black plastic mulch

With the risk of frost now behind us my Courgette (Zucchini Hybrid) plants were bedded out onto the plot this week. Frost or no frost, there was still a stiff and chilly east wind so they got the benefit of cloche protection for a few days; courgettes are not long suffering at any time. My courgette plants were raised under glass and, before planting out, for each plant I dug a hole about a foot square and of similar depth and filled it with well rotted compost finishing with a slightly domed profile to the soil. The courgettes were planted into the middle of the domed compost pocket and well watered in. Courgettes need to be kept well watered with the water applied around the plants, not over the leaves. The compost provides their need for a humours-rich and moisture retentive growing medium. As the courgettes develop, contact between the soil and the fruits can give rise to rotting and increase the risk of slug damage so a black plastic or straw mulch needs to be put in place before the fruit forms. I have used black plastic and the domed soil profile ensures that water puddles will not spoil the fruit. Slug damage is a problem when growing courgettes and you will need to take appropriate action according to your ‘organic’ credentials.

Weeding seemed to occupy what was left of the time I could afford to spend on my vegetable plot this week.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 31^st May 2009

The first sown cabbage, lettuce and rocket are being regularly harvested now and the vegetable plot has that productive appearance about it.

Two weeks ago I mentioned the problems of the Cabbage White Butterfly. They are out and about in abundance now so if your brassicas are not protected by netting, you can expect a visit. My cabbages and cauliflowers are safely under insect mesh but my Brussels Sprout plants are, as yet, unprotected; I just haven’t got round to it. Daily inspection usually reveals the presence of eggs; so far it has been just the ‘easy to see’ clusters of yellow eggs.

A cluster of Cabbage White Butterfly eggs

Kohl Rabi (Left) and Celeriac (Right)

A successional planting of Rocket (Runway) was made this week, the first planting having been harvested and eaten. New plantings were Kohl Rabi (Lanro), Celeriac (Brilliant) and Cauliflower (Clapham). Like Rocket, Kohl Rabi is one of those fast maturing crops which are ideal for planting into those seasonal gaps to ensure your valuable plot is used to the maximum. If you have a shady place then Celeriac is something which will tolerate less than total exposure to the sun. It does need to be kept well watered. If club root is a problem for you then the Cauliflower ‘Clapham’ is worth a try with its higher resistance to this seriously damaging disease.

As I mentioned last week, the runner beans have been sown into grow tubes and quite a few are well through the soil now, just a week later. No time to lose then in getting the bean trenches dug and a liberal filling of well rotted compost put in so that the runner beans will enjoy having their roots in this moisture retaining material. This year I am planning to plant out my runner beans in a double row so the bean trench was dug about 12” wide and 12” deep with the rotted compost taking up about half the depth. The soil is returned on top of the compost and the beans will be planted along the line of the trench.

Runner Beans showing through

Well rotted compost in the bean trench

If you like the idea of harvesting your own Purple Sprouting Broccoli next April and May then now is the time to sow the seed. This week I have sown F¹ Claret, which I grew last year and was successful, and Redhead, just to try something different. Both were sown into seed compost in cell trays and put in an unheated greenhouse in the way described many times before in these diary pages.

All that does not seem very much for a week’s work on the vegetable plot but there is always the never-ending weeding to do together with the watering of the few things being raised under glass.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 3^rd May 2009

Welcome rain! That’s what I wrote in my notes at the beginning of last week and, since we haven’t had too much, I still feel the same way.

The routine of pricking out and potting on continues. If you get the impression that I have the process of successional planting honed to perfection then I have misled you. The idea is that when one sowing of a particular crop has matured and produced a harvest, more stock, just ready for planting out, is ready to occupy the vacated space on the plot. Well, that’s the theory but, of course, it often doesn’t work that way. Weather conditions affect growing rates, domestic issues, holidays or other jobs delay the propagation process. The only way is to sow more frequently than is theoretically necessary so there is always stock available ready for planting out when space becomes available. This, of course, leads to waste (though unwanted stock can be given away and wouldn’t a Dentdale Allotment Association thrive on such exchanges) but better this than seeing unused growing space sitting empty in the growing season.

Parsley sown in icecream tub

This week I made successional sowings of Hispi and Red Jewel Cabbage and Webbs Wonderful and Lollo Rossa Lettuce. I also made another sowing of Parsley (Moss Curled 2) but this time the seed was sown onto seed compost in a large recycled ice cream tub with suitable drainage holes in the bottom.

As I have recorded in earlier weeks, my first sowing of Parsley was into a cell tray with the small seedlings pricked out and potted on for eventual planting out. These early plantings will hopefully develop into sturdy plants producing a good crop when a large bunch of Parsley is called for in the kitchen.

If you just need the odd sprig of parsley for use as a garnish then it’s useful to have a tub on the kitchen window sill from which a piece can be cut when required. For this, I sprinkle the seed into a suitable container (the ice cream tub) filled with the usual mix of seed compost (see Compost), covered with a further 3mm to 4mm of the same material, germinated on a warm window sill and allowed to grow to maturity in the same container. Remember to gently firm the surface of the compost both before and after sowing and water in. Parsley sown this way, where the seedlings are not pricked out and separated, will not produce large individual plants. But the whole process of propagation is a lot less time consuming and produces a handy supply for use in small quantities. One tub sown every month in the growing season will keep a useful supply going for a significant part of the year.

The sprouting broccoli harvest is over now and the old plants have been removed from the plot. The leaves went into the compost bin, of course, but the woody stems were consigned to the bonfire pile. Evangelical composters will wince at the thought that I didn’t compost it all. My excuse is that woody broccoli stems have to be smashed with a hammer if they are to rot in a reasonable time and even my commitment to composting doesn’t go that far.

With the broccoli out of the way, space was available to plant out the leeks that have been sitting, waiting in the cold frame. This year I am planting Leeks F¹Carlton which were sown back in February. The leek bed had received a dressing of rotted compost during the winter (spread around the broccoli). With the broccoli gone, I chopped this in with the sharp edge of a spade and applied a dressing of Growmore at 5oz per square yard raked in with the surface left reasonably flat. Making a shallow groove in the raked surface with a straight stick, I marked out the rows for the leeks about 9” apart and then made a hole, about 5” deep for each plant using a pointed round stick approximately 2” in diameter.

Leeks ready for planting out

Make holes for the leeks
with an improvised dibber

Photographs above & left- Separating the leeks

The leeks have been grown in their original sowing containers, (10oz plastic cream pots with drainage holes), with about 30 plants to the pot. Prior to planting, the compost plug containing the 30 leeks was taped out of the pot and the whole plug immersed into a bucket of water and the compost gently teased away from the root mass. Free of compost, the individual plants can be gently separated without damage to the tangled roots. .

Keep the Leeks moist with wet tissue

If the plants cannot be put into the ground immediately, cover the roots with a piece of wet tissue to prevent drying out.

To plant the leeks, simply put each one into the ready-made hole, twirling the stem gently between thumb and finger so that the roots curl round in the bottom of the hole and the stem leans against the side of the hole. Water in each plant, allowing the water to wash down just enough earth to cover the roots. Leave the hole open, to be filled gradually as rainfall or watering washes more earth in. This planting method helps to produce a blanched stem. However a longer blanched stem will be produced if the leeks are earthed up in stages as they grow taking care to always keep the earth below the first leaf separation to avoid ‘gritty leeks’ on the dinner plate. To do this, row spacing will have to be increased to about 15” to 18” to give earthing up space. Unless you are chasing prizes, I wonder if earthing up is worth the sacrifice of growing space. The transplanted leeks may look a bit listless at first, leaning against the side of the planting hole but, within a day, they will be standing upright and looking perky again.

The Leeks transplanted

Lollo Rossa under glass

Lettuce Lollo Rossa was also planted out this week; they were sown six weeks ago. Left to mature fully, Lollo Rossa can get fairly big so a spacing of 12” in both directions will be needed. With a forecast of a wet and windy week ahead, I put these lettuces under glass cloches. Lollo Rossa is also one of the more ‘floppy’ lettuces and without this protection, mud splashing and wind damage can spoil the crop.

A few fine days last week saw the vegetables growing well but the weeds are doing well too, so keeping the plot reasonably clean is taking more time. If the soil is in good condition and just damp, the weeds seem to come out easily and the very small ones can be ‘knocked back’ by simply disturbing the soil. I conclude there’s no substitute for getting down on ones knees and using fingers in order to weed effectively although a bricklayer’s small pointing trowel is a useful assistant. It is particularly handy for getting weeds out of gravel paths.

A useful weeding tool

Spare onion sets to replace those which rot

It’s three weeks since the first onion sets were planted and it is obvious now which will succeed and which will not. There are usually a few which just rot off. So now is the time to pull out the ‘duds’ and replace them with the spares you wisely put aside in pots.

Finally, I must put in another good word for the F¹ Hispi Cabbage. A small pointed cabbage, ideal for the small plot, it is listed in the catalogues for its fast maturing qualities. Compare the picture opposite with the one in this diary just two weeks ago. Well done Hispi!

Hispi cabbage

Garden Diary: Week ending: 26^th April 2009

With seed potatoes, onion sets, cabbage and lettuce all put in the ground last week, this week has been a bit quiet in the garden. The long spell of fine weather has demanded more frequent watering of the recently planted-out stock and items under glass have been drying out very quickly, especially where they are still in cell trays or small pots. One really must keep a close eye on them if they are not to be lost. In spite of the fine weather, my plot has felt the keen edge of a stiff east breeze at times so the glass cloches have stayed in place. Limiting the run of cloches to four feet and using a long-reach watering can means that watering stock under cloches is less of a chore than it might otherwise be. Only the end-closing panels of the cloches have to be removed to enable watering and even they can be left open without harm most of the time.

Long-reach cans reduce the chore
of watering under cloches

Potted-on Red Jewel cabbage
and Ashbrook lettuce

Successional sowing of cabbage, lettuce and carrots should have continued but I didn’t get around to it; never mind, a week’s delay is no disaster. However, I did get around to potting-on the Ashbrook lettuce and the Red Jewel red cabbage both of which are looking very perky. Red Jewel deserves a mention. It is a sturdy F¹ variety that matures fairly early and stands well on the plot providing you can keep the usual pests at bay. Like other red cabbage, once harvested and stored in cool conditions, it keeps very well but if you enjoy red cabbage braised with onion and apple with cinnamon and clove served up with well browned sausages and mashed Wilja potatoes, then keeping it for a long period will not be an issue. You will just be pleased that you made a successional sowing and have another harvest on the way. The recipe for braised red cabbage? Just click HERE.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 19^thApril 2009

As a child, “helping” on my father’s allotment, I recall that the planting of seed potatoes seemed to mark a milestone in the gardening year. Things haven’t changed. As well as the potatoes; cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce and the red onions all went out onto the plot this week. Shallots and parsnips are developing well and carrots, spring onions and beetroot are all showing through the soil. There’s a useful crop of chives too. The whole plot no longer has the look of winter dormancy.

Beetroot, Chives, Parsnips and Spring Onions all doing well

Planting seed potatoes

This year I have sown a ‘second early’ potato called Wilja. The chitted tubers were planted 12” apart, each in a hole about 5” deep with a space of two feet between rows to give adequate room for earthing up. To avoid damaging the shoots, I put a handful of multi-purpose compost into the hole before backfilling the earth and marked the rows with a stick at each end as a guide for earthing up when it is time to do so.

Last week I mentioned how growing over-wintering sprouting broccoli can tie up valuable plot space well into May. So it was that when my Red Onion sets (Hyred) arrived this week, I could only plant out half of them, ( see last week’s diary for method) the remainder of the allocated space being taken up by the broccoli. The remaining red onion sets were sown into 3” pots where they will develop happily for a few weeks until the last of the broccoli is harvested. The onions will be left in the pots until the root tips just begin to show through the bottom of the pots when they can be easily planted out in their plug of earth with no root disturbance. In any planting of onion sets there will always be a few that fail to develop and just rot away. If the consequent gap in the row is an irritation for you then it’s a good idea to always sow a few ‘spares’ into pots to fill in the gaps.

Onion sets sown temporarily into pots
awaiting space on the plot

This week’s successional sowings were Lettuce (Webbs Wonderful and Lollo Rossa), Beetroot (Boltardy) which,as the name suggests, is a bolt resistant variety, Savoy Cabbage (F¹ Traviata) and Rocket (Runway). I also made my first sowing of Kohl Rabi (Lanro). I came across Kohl Rabi when it was recommended to me as a fast maturing vegetable which could be planted to fill the gap between summer maturing crops and the end of the growing season. It can be harvested within about 10 weeks of sowing the seed. I now sow it throughout the season. The bulbous root, about the size of a small apple, is peeled, cut into ¼” slices, boiled or steamed until al dente, and served with a dill-in-butter sauce as an accompanying vegetable. It has a delicate flavour.

Over the past few weeks, this diary has made frequent mention of sowing seeds and potting-on. I recall just a couple of years ago, as a complete beginner to vegetable gardening, how I struggled to find out what the ‘correct’ procedures for seed propagation were. It all seems so obvious to me now and I expect most Dentdale gardeners looking at this will feel the same way. However, if there are folks out there who are searching for a recommended routine, then click HERE and you will find some notes about seed propagation that might help.

Webbs Wonderful, Little Gem and
Can-can lettuce planted out under glass

The first sowings of cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce made back in February were planted out this week, the brassicas going into the previously limed bed. I planted out just eight cabbages, four Hispi and four April both being small pointed varieties spaced 12” to 15” apart.

Cabbages and cauliflower with Rocket and Little Gem lettuce making use of the temporary space between

I also planted out five cauliflowers (All-the-Year-Round and Concept) spacing these about 24” apart. The ground received a dressing of Growmore raked in a week or so prior to planting. A word of warning here; when planting out cabbage and cauliflower as small plants it is very easy to forget how big they can grow and there is a great temptation not to ‘waste space’ and plant them too close. Cabbage and cauliflower on the supermarket shelf have had their outside leaves removed so don’t be fooled into using this as your yardstick. If the ‘wasted space’ grieves you then do as I do and plant a fast maturing salad crop between your brassicas that will be harvested and out of the way before the brassicas get too big. Rocket is ideal for this as is Little Gem lettuce. Rocket is a cut-and-come-again plant which you can leave in place until it starts to get in the way. Little Gem can be pulled before they have gained their maximum size yet still give a worthwhile yield.

Finally, a brief update on the issue of damping off (see Pests and Diseases on home page). The notes mention the occasional appearance of white fibres radiating from around the seedling stem. The adjacent picture illustrates this as a guide to what you should you should be looking out for.

A sign of damping off
A watering of Cheshunt compound will help.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 12^th April 2009

The first harvest of Purple Sprouting Broccoli sown in May 2008

Last week, the reward for work in the vegetable garden was the first harvest of forced rhubarb. This week it was the first harvest of Purple Sprouting Broccoli. For the benefit of those not familiar with this vegetable it may be useful to draw the distinction between Sprouting Broccoli and what may be helpful to describe as supermarket broccoli which is, in fact, Calabrese. Sometimes called American or Italian Broccoli, calabrese has a large floret which can be bigger than a clenched fist and it is only this large floret which is cooked and eaten. Sprouting broccoli, on the other hand, has florets which are typically the size of a 10p piece, on a stem four or five inches long bearing two, four or maybe six young leaves. Floret, stem and leaves are all cooked and eaten and have a delicate flavour which is very different to calabrese.

Calabrese has quite a short growing season; a little under four months from sowing seed in spring to harvest. Sprouting broccoli needs a little more patience; seed sown between late April and early June will not produce a harvest until late March through to May the following year. This long period of care and attention presumably accounts for the very high price of sprouting broccoli in the shops. However, the long wait is worthwhile. Properly cooked so that the stems retain a degree of firmness, sprouting broccoli is a delicacy on a par with asparagus although very different. There are both white and purple varieties of sprouting broccoli, the purple variety seems to over-winter better in our climate. There are also varieties of sprouting broccoli which mature more quickly so that a spring sowing can be harvested in the autumn of the same year. My experience with these is that they produce sturdier stems with larger florets which, although much smaller than calabrese, still lack the delicacy of the over-wintering varieties of sprouting broccoli.

Harvesting sprouting broccoli needs care if one is to get the most out of the crop. Most important is the need to harvest the shoots when they are young and tender and to do so frequently. This encourages more shoots to grow and the harvesting period can extend over a period of six weeks or more. The first shoot to develop is at the very top of the plant and tends to be shorter and fatter than all the other side shoots. These top shoots are best removed at an early stage as this too encourages the formation of the more slender side shoots. The top shoots are nonetheless edible although they are best cut vertically prior to cooking, A glut of sprouting broccoli is never a problem; it freezes really well with a two minute blanching which should be done quickly after cutting.

If you are planning to grow sprouting broccoli, now is the time to be buying seed to sow in May and into June. Redhead, Red Arrow and F¹Claret are varieties to look out for. Claret is the variety in the photograph of this week’s harvest. Although seeds can be sown direct to the soil, I prefer to sow into trays and pot-on in the usual way. Last year I kept my over-wintering sprouting broccoli in pots until the early autumn. They finished up in 9” pots and were over a foot high when finally planted out. This leaves the ground free for other crops which is important if you have a small plot. Planting out well established specimens also helps in the battle against club root. If you decide to grow over-wintering sprouting broccoli do remember that, in fertile ground, they can grow to a height of three feet or more and all plants will need a stout stake for support. Each plant will end up with a leaf spread to cover a circle of ground 21” to 24” diameter; a few plants take up a lot of space. Also remember that the harvest period can extend well into May so, once again, if you have limited space, the presence of the broccoli may well delay other plantings.

Turning to something less exotic, I planted out my Onion Sets this week into the previously prepared bed (see last week’s diary). The variety, Setton, is a yellow onion and I chose to buy heat treated sets which are less prone to bolting. The sets are pushed into the soil leaving the tips showing with about 4” between sets and 10” between rows. It is not unusual for birds to pull out newly planted onion sets. The birds do not eat them; it is ornithological vandalism. Something to keep the birds off the onion bed is needed; I use pond netting.

Pond netting over the onion sets

Last week’s diary also mentioned planting out potatoes. This year’s potato patch was dug over and received a liberal application of rotted garden compost back in the winter. This week I chopped in the compost with the sharp edge of a spade and applied and raked in a dressing of Growmore at about 5oz per square yard ready to receive the potatoes in a week or so.

Leeks (Toledo) sown into growtubes

Successional seed sowing continued this week with another half tray of Little Gem lettuce and a third sowing of leeks. This time I sowed a variety of Leek called Toledo. I have not grown this variety before but it is claimed to be a late season leek with good resistance to bolting. Leeks which have bolted develop a hard central core which cannot be eaten. The leek can only be used in the kitchen if it is cut lengthwise and the hard core removed so anything which reduces bolting is worth considering. The traditional textbook solution of removing the seed head doesn’t solve the problem. By the time the seed head is visible, the hard core has formed. Having exhausted my supply of cream pots (see diary 15.02.09) I sowed the leeks into homemade growtubes, about 35 seeds per tube.

Both the lettuce and the leeks were sown into homemade seed compost (again, see diary 15.02.09) and germinated indoors on a warm window sill. Previously sown lettuce and leeks are doing well; I shall be planting out the Webbs Wonderful lettuce next week (under cloches) and the F¹ Carlton leeks should be ready for planting out in two or three weeks.

Previously sown lettuce and leeks nearly
ready to plant out

Corgettes (Zucchini Hybrid) in 3" pots under cling film to germinate

Finally, this week I made my first and only sowing of Courgettes (Zucchini Hybrid) putting the large seeds into seed compost, one each in a 3” pot, and germinating indoors. As always, my enthusiasm for growing vegetables is already seeing far more stock coming on than my plot will accommodate so I think the courgettes will finish up in a large container.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 5^th April 2009

Cabbage and cauliflower plants after second
potting-on and awaiting planting out.

The planting/sowing plan (see week ending 25^th January) demanded, unusually, that no seeds be sown this week. Nevertheless, there was still plenty of potting-on to do and, with some sunny days, stock under glass needed watering.

April is the month to be planting out Onion sets and in preparation for that I have prepared my onion bed; previously applied compost chopped in, a dressing of Growmore (about 5oz per square yard) raked in and the soil trod firm, raked level and tamped flat with the back of the rake. The onion sets (Setton: heat treated) arrived in the post this week and were removed from their plastic wrapping and stored in a light, cool, dry place for planting in a week or so. Planting heat treated onion sets reduces the risk of the onions bolting (going to seed) which spoils both the quality of the harvested bulb and its storage life. Setton is a white onion. I’m planning on planting red onion sets too (Hyred) which should go in at the same time but have yet to arrive!

Onion sets

The onion bed firmed
and levelled

Seed potatoes sprouting well

I am also planning to plant out my seed Potatoes toward the middle of this month. Remember, potato foliage is prone to frost damage so, unless you can guarantee good protection as well as generous ‘earthing-up’, don’t be tempted to plant too soon. A single layer of fleece will not help much if there’s a sharp frost. My seed potatoes are still in their sprouting (chitting) boxes on the workshop window sill where they will stay for at least another couple of weeks.

Beetroot (Globe 2), sown two weeks ago, was planted out into the salad bed this week and protected under glass cloches. The seedlings, one per cell in cell-trays, were about an inch high and planted out in their plug of seed compost with the minimum of root disturbance spacing the plants about 3” apart and 8” between rows. The salad bed had been prepared in much the same way as the onion bed without the firming of the soil.

Beetroot seedlings under glass

The first harvest of forced rhubarb

Poached rhubarb with orange and ginger

It was just nine weeks ago that the Rhubarb forcer was put onto one of our rhubarb crowns and, as a small payback for gardening effort, this week saw the first harvest. Forcing Rhubarb is not without some cost to the plant and a useful rule is only to force a crown of rhubarb one year in three, to feed it well during the summer following forcing and not harvest further stems in that year. Commercially forced rhubarb is lifted after harvesting and replaced with new crowns.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 29^th March 2009

Last week I recall using the word routine more than once in describing the jobs with which I had been occupied in the vegetable garden. This week has been no different; more successional sowing, more potting-on and the continuing task of moving seedlings and young plants to increasingly cooler locations in the process of hardening them off before they are finally planted out.

Parsley and Lettuce seedlings potted-on

Successional planting this week included Brussels Sprouts. Three weeks ago I sowed Maximus, an early variety. This week it was F¹ Wellington which should come later giving a crop over the Christmas period. I also made another sowing of Lettuce, a small tray of Little Gem and also Red Deers Tongue, a variety I’ve not tried before. With long, red, narrow, outward arching leaves, Red Deers Tongue looks most un-lettuce like but it’s fun to try these odd varieties from time to time. All these new sowings were made in the usual way, into damp seed compost in ’12 cell’ trays with about four or five seeds per cell and raised indoors up to the point of germination.

When sowing tiny seeds like lettuce and any of the brassicas into trays I find it easier to sow them individually with tweezers, pushing the seed about 5mm below the surface, rather than attempt to sprinkle them with thumb and finger. It is time consuming to sow in this way but not in the long term because, with each seed well separated, the task of potting on is so much easier and, as a bonus, the separated seedlings are less liable to damping-off. Less wasted seed is also a significant issue at today’s prices, especially if using an F¹ variety. Devices for sowing tiny seeds individually are available from garden centres but the tweezers serve me well so I haven’t tried them.

My mother would claim that Parsley could only be grown with any prospect of success if the seeds were sown on Good Friday. If you are similarly superstitious then you had better be off to the garden centre soon; there are many varieties from which to choose. I sowed my Parsley seeds about three weeks ago. Sorry, I think I omitted this from the diary. Contrary to what I have just said, I did sprinkle the Parsley seeds onto the seed compost; Parsley seed is too small to do it any other way. The same goes for Celeriac too. I chose a variety of Parsley called Moss Curled 2 and this week it was time to pot the seedlings on into individual cells for planting out in late April or May. Several varieties of lettuce and brassica were also ready for potting-on, hence the rather routine feeling to the week that I mentioned earlier.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli almost ready to harvest

Seeds sown directly to the soil are not showing any signs of life yet; maybe I’m too impatient. At the other end of the growing cycle, the over-wintered Purple Sprouting Broccoli is approaching maturity. Plenty of purple buds showing so I’m optimistic of an Easter harvest with more to follow.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 22nd March 2009

You may remember the term ‘lime alone’, an easy mnemonic to remind us that lime should not be applied at the same time as fertilisers. I was late spreading compost on my plot this year but two months with plenty of rain have passed since I did and so I judged that this week it would be safe to lime the beds which are to receive the brassicas this season. I did check first that the soil was a little acid and used hydrated lime (bought from the builders merchant) at about 4oz per square yard. Ground limestone from a garden centre would have done the job for about the same price (based on 25kg bags). Hydrated lime has a more immediate effect although it is a bit messy to use.

Liming the barrasica beds

New rhubarb crown grown from cell culture

This week I also planted out two new rhubarb crowns. The existing rhubarb was inherited with the garden and I’ve no idea what variety it is so, a year ago, we bought in two new varieties propagated by cell culture simply to try something new and see if we could tell the difference. The varieties are Giant Grooveless Crimson and Fulton’s Strawberry Surprise. They arrived by post as tiny specimens and have spent the last year in pots in a cold frame. This week they have been planted out into their final position to face up to the real world.

The routine of successional sowing has continued this week with more lettuce (Little Gem and Ashbrook), cabbage (Hispi and Red Jewel, the latter being, as the name suggests, a variety of red cabbage) all sown in cell trays as I have described in previous weeks. I’ve also made my first sowing of beetroot (Globe 2). Although beetroot are normally sown directly to the soil, I have found early sowings are very successful if sown into cell trays (two seeds per cell and save the best one) and planted out when about an inch high as a complete plug without root disturbance.

What I have sown directly to the soil this week are carrots (Amsterdam Forcing 3 and Early Nantes 2) and spring onions (White Lisbon). Although sold as an over-wintering variety, White Lisbon gives a good harvest if sown now and at three weekly intervals throughout the spring for summer salad cropping. My second attempt at propagating parsnips (Gladiator) in growtubes has achieved germination (see diary week ending 8^th March) and this time I’ve taken care to plant them out before the roots hit the bottom of the pot. I have also sown some of the same variety direct to the soil, so I will be interested to see which does best. All the seeds sown directly to the soil were into a finely raked seed bed which had received a dressing of general fertiliser (Fish, blood and bone or Growmore) a week or so previously.

Parsnip seedlings in growtubes prior to planting out

Routine successional sowing means routine potting on and so it was with lettuce, rocket and the first sowing of brussels sprouts. All in all, a busy garden week but what a pleasure to be working in that beautiful sunshine.

Finally, if you are growing your plants from seed and are experiencing some unexplained losses of apparently healthy seedlings, it might be ‘damping off’. There’s now a short passage about this: click on ‘Pests and Diseases’ on the gardening home page. (or Click HERE)

Plants for sale

PLANTS FOR SALE

If you are not growing your plants from seed then maybe Dent vegetable gardeners will be interested in the young plants which are now on sale at my garden gate. Only broad beans at the moment but over the coming weeks everything I’ve mentioned in these weekly notes that has been sown and raised indoors will be available. All proceeds to go Dent Over 60’s Club. If you are interested, I suggest you ‘phone to check what is available first.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 15^th March 2009

It’s at this time of the year we are reminded that one is not alone at work in the garden; the plants are hard at it too. Cabbages, cauliflower, leeks, broad beans, shallots, all still tiny but noticeably bigger than a week ago.

This week the vegetables have really got on with the job of growing.

Cabbages, cauliflower, leeks and broad
beans in the cold frame

Rhubarb under the forcing 'pot

Shallots under the cloches

In these early spring days it’s a good idea, if you have time, to make a quick tour of your plot each day just to check all is well. One sunny day and those seedlings you’ve got under glass and have remained moist for days, will suddenly dry out. When the humidity is high, keep an eye open for any seedlings that may be damping off and be ready with the Cheshunt compound. If seedlings are getting leggy, time maybe, to move to the next stage of hardening off or perhaps it’s time to pot them on; are the roots coming out of the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot? Outside in the beds, over-wintered stock will be putting on noticeable growth and it’s time to give them a helping hand with a dressing of general fertiliser.

This week my over-wintered onions and garlic got a dressing of fish, blood and bone (picture 0222) and so did the cultivated blackberry. Remember, nitrogen is easily leached from the soil so any over-wintered brassicas with their high nitrogen needs will benefit from a dressing of high nitrogen feed. My early sprouting broccoli got a dressing this week.

It may only be a few weeks since the first sowings of this year’s vegetable seeds were made but it’s time to do it all over again. That is, of course, if you want a reasonable succession of produce over the harvesting period. Cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts, lettuce, carrots, beetroot, spring onion and many others too, all crop over a period of months and this can be extended by growing early and late varieties. But within a single variety, cropping can only be extended by successional sowings and, particularly if you have a small plot, only a few seeds need be sown each time. Unless you are supplying a large family or are obsessed with a particular vegetable, then with Hispi cabbage, just for example, there’s no point in having more than four or five mature plants coming together. A couple might be harvested early and used as greens and the remainder will stand a few weeks before they are past their best; it depends to some extent on the weather. To get these four or five plants, sowing twenty seeds is probably too many. There will be losses in germination and a few more may fail on the way but from twenty seeds you would be unlucky not to get ten healthy plants from which to select when finally planting out. Five to plant out, five to give away! To get more cabbages when you need them, you will need to make second and further sowings at, say, four week intervals until the end of the sowing period which is usually advised on the seed packet. (But we have to allow for the Dentdale climate, remember). Four weekly sowings will not guarantee a four week spacing between harvestable plants; weather conditions can slow things down or speed them up but with successional sowings, you’ll be in with a chance.

With all this in mind, this week I’ve made further sowings of cauliflower ‘All-the-year-round’ and also F¹Clapton which is a club root resistant variety. Club root became evident on my plot last year and I’ll be taking the usual precautions; planting in a different bed and liming the ground, but this will be no guarantee of defeating what is a very persistent disease. A resistant variety is just one more piece of ammunition in the locker. I also made two second sowings of lettuce; two frilly varieties this time, ‘Can-can’ and ‘Lollo Rossa’. Neither of these two stand up too well to rain so it’s likely that they’ll be kept under glass until maturity. Again, it depends on the weather. I’ll not repeat the sowing technique, just look back in this diary; it’s all there.

Garden Diary: Week ending: 8^th March 2009

Two weeks ago, after sowing parsnip seeds in pots with a view to transplanting, I promised to let you know if my departure from the rule, which says that parsnips must be sown directly to the soil, was successful. I didn’t think I would be reporting failure so soon but that it what I must do. Planted into home-made seed compost and set on the airing cupboard window sill, the parsnip seeds germinated both quickly and with almost no failures. I was delighted but then, as I moved them to a cooler place to start hardening off, I noticed a tiny thread of root showing from a drainage hole in the bottom of a pot. To investigate, I took one of the healthy seedlings from its pot and gently removed the soil. I was amazed to see that the thin, single root had grown to a length three times the height of the seedling above the soil and had coiled at the bottom of the pot.

Long roots of parsnip seedlings

Second parsnip sowing in
home-made growtubes

I had failed to realise just how quickly these seedlings develop their deep roots. Even at this early stage , just two weeks after sowing and when the seedlings were still too small to handle, it would be too late to transplant them undisturbed in their plug of compost. Parsnip roots must grow straight from the outset! With the roots already coiled in the pot, transplanting would have produced very distorted and almost certainly unusable parsnips.

So what is the solution. Well, planting parsnip seeds directly to the soil is one answer of course, and I will be doing this in a few weeks time when the soil warms a little. But, I know others have succeeded in transplanting so this week I’m trying again using 5” homemade growtubes to give the roots a greater depth of compost. As I said last time, I’ll let you know if it works.

Apart from this the garden week has been pretty much routine; keeping an eye on recently sown seeds, moving them to a cooler place as part of the hardening off process after germination and new sowings to make as well. This week I sowed:

· Lettuce ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Webbs Wonderful’. Both of these weresown into seed compost in ‘12cell’ trays with about four seeds per cell. Unlike the floppy leaved varieties, these lettuce varieties are reasonably sturdy and are good for early sowing although I will be raising these under glass cloches if our spring weather follows its usual pattern.

· Cabbage ‘Greyhound’ and Brussels Sprouts F¹Maximus. Like the lettuce, these were sown into cell trays. Greyhound is another small, pointed variety of cabbage which is useful for the small garden. Maximus is an early sprout which will give a crop from late September onwards.

· Celeriac ‘Brilliant’. This variety has a slightly smoother root than some other varieties of celeriac so is a bit easier to handle in the kitchen. The seeds are tiny so sowing is best achieved by sprinkling as thinly as possible onto seed compost in a half-tray and covering with a thin layer of sifted compost.

All of this week’s sowings are starting off on the spare bedroom window sill under propagator lids, plastic bags or cling film.

This weeks seed sowing starting
off on the window sill

Garden Diary: Week ending: 1^st March 2009

Work in the garden this week has been mainly about sowing seeds and moving those sown previously to cooler locations as the first stage of the hardening off process.

Brassica seedlings hardening off in cold frame

The carrot seed bed raked to a fine
tilth before sowing

It isn’t too early to sow some varieties of carrot in February especially if one is able to provide protection with cloches, so this week I sowed three short rows of Amsterdam 2 Sweetheart. Early Nantes 2 is another carrot variety for early sowing but, again, cloche protection is recommended. One should sow carrot seeds in ground that has not been recently manured although an application of leaf mould during the winter will help keep the soil structure in good shape.

A dressing of general fertiliser (Growmore / Fish, blood and bone) can be applied about two weeks before sowing. Loosen the soil using a fork with a twisting action and then rake to form a fine tilth for the seed bed.

Use a stick to make a drill about ½” deep and sprinkle the carrot seeds very thinly to reduce the tedious and fiddly task of thinning out later on. Pull fine earth over the seeds and lightly compact the soil with the back of a rake.

Sprinkle the carrot seeds very thinly

Mark the rows and label, showing the variety and date

Most seeds are best sown into soil which is moist but not saturated. If your soil is dry, it is better to water it some hours before sowing seeds. If you are using cloches, beware letting the soil get too dry. When watering the seed bed, be careful not to over-do it and use a watering can with fine rose.

By the end of last week both the cabbage and cauliflower seeds, sown about two weeks ago, were standing about an inch high and big enough to handle; time then to prick them out and pot on. Having sown into cell-trays (4 seeds per cell) I can avoid the fiddly task of pricking out by simply lifting each soil plug from the tray complete with its seedlings which can then be gently separated with no damage to the tiny roots.

I have potted on into the same size cell-tray (12 cell) but putting only one seedling in each cell, taking care to plant deeply so that the two cotyledons (seed leaves, the first two leaves to appear) are only about ¼” above the soil. I have used the same seed compost mix to fill the cell-tray and made a hole with a pencil to receive the root end of the seedling, lightly firming the compost around it after planting. Water sparingly after potting on and return the seedlings to the cold frame.

Potting on cabbage seedlings

Garden Diary. JS. Week ending 22 February 2009

Things have moved quickly this week. The cabbage, cauliflower and leek seeds I sowed last week all germinated well and have been moved from the house into the unheated but frost-free greenhouse as part of the hardening off process. Left too long on the bedroom window sill they would grow thin and leggy.

This week has seen some good dry days so I had plenty of opportunities to plant my shallot bulbs in the bed prepared a week ago. I have planted French Shallots 'Delvad' this year. If you are planting shallots, remember, they like firm ground and a spacing of about 6" between plants and 9" between rows.

Shallot bulbs, Delvad

Shallots after planting

Make a small hole with the end of a stick and push the shallot bulb into about half its depth. This may seem like stating the obvious but with some shallot bulbs one has to look very carefully to tell the root end from the top end. Do be sure to plant them the right way up!

Some birds seem to have a passion for newly planted shallot bulbs, not to eat but just to throw about. If this happens, just push the bulbs back in but, better still, protect them with netting (fruit netting or pond netting is useful) or even just cover the bed with a few twigs. I put my glass cloches back over the shallots as I have no other use for them at the moment.

Cloches over the shallots, one way to defeat the birds

From now until well into the Spring, there will be seeds to sow almost every week. This week I made my first sowing of Parsnips (variety F1 Gladiator). The seed packet says "sow in February direct into moist, warm soil", Not in Dentdale I think! Although Parsnips do not transplant easily, this year I am trying to get an early start by sowing into 2" pots (2 seeds per pot) and germinating them on the airing cupboard window sill. My aim is to save the best of the two seedlings and plant out when they are still quite tiny and before the root develops. I shall not attempt to prick out the seedlings but carefully plant out the whole plug of compost containing the seedling with no disturbance. I'll let you know if it works.

Leeks one week after sowing.

Brassicas one week after sowing.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 15 February 2009

A hot poker is ideal for making holes in plastic pots

As someone said the other day, V is for vegetables, V is for Valentine. So if you are in love with your vegetable plot, the 14^th February is a timely reminder that the propagation of this years vegetable crop should start in earnest this week.

So where do we start? If you intend to grow your vegetables from seed and want to get an early start by sowing in pots or trays indoors then a good place is with seed compost. You need to get some! Why not use multi purpose compost? Well, it will do but seed compost is better and if you want to know why and how to save money by making your own, click HERE

Using my homemade seed compost, this week I have made my first sowing of leeks into 250ml plastic cream pots. The variety is F1 Carlton which produces a long, slender leek without a bulbous root end. Leeks need a reasonable soil depth and if one sows about 30 seeds into one of these deep pots then the process of washing of the roots at transplanting time is so much easier than if a 6" flower pot is used to give the equivalent depth. Of course, drainage holes have to be made in the pot and a hot poker does the job well.

Continuing the trend of recycling food packaging, I have sown my broad bean seeds into 1kg margarine tubs, again with suitable drainage holes. The variety is Bunyards Exhibition and I've spaced out 6 seeds to each tub. By transplanting time, broad bean seedlings are fairly robust and this spacing in this depth of tub makes for easy transplanting without risk of damage to the plant.

To sow the first of this years brassicas I didn't recycle anything but used purchased cell trays. (12 cells/tray). This weeks sowing includes cabbage, F1 Hispi and April, both of which are small, pointed cabbages which are ideal for the small garden, and cauliflower All-the-year-round and Concept. Sowing four seeds per cell, when it comes to pricking out, it is so much easier to lift out the whole plug of compost from each cell and gently separate the seedlings for transplanting into larger cells or small pots, whatever your preference.

Whatever seeds you are sowing, do make sure that the seed compost is gently compacted; air voids do not help rooting. Be sure to keep the compost damp at all times but not saturated. This will prevent vital air getting to the germinating seed and also cause rotting. Consider the propagation temperature too. My leeks and brassicas are on the spare bedroom window sill in a heated house. The tougher broad beans are in my tiny lean-to greenhouse. It has no heater but is built against the stove flue wall so stays above 40 F even in freezing conditions.

Broad beans in their margarine tubs

Cabbage, cauliflower and leeks set
to germinate on the window sill

Here in Dentdale, Valentines day also saw the ground thaw sufficiently for the shallot bed to be prepared. My shallot bulbs have been stored in a cool dry place but, even so, are showing signs of sprouting and will need to be planted soon. The shallot bed, along with most of the vegetable plot, received a dressing of well rotted compost a few weeks ago. This week I chopped that in with the sharp edge of a spade and applied and raked in a base dressing of general fertiliser at about 5oz per square yard. I used Fish, Blood and Bone because I had some in store but Growmore would have done just as well. Glass cloches are now in place over the shallot bed with some black plastic laid on the soil just to try and warm the soil a little before planting. More an act of faith maybe! If all goes well and our dale remains unfrozen, the shallot bulbs will be planted in a week or so. Shallots can be planted up to the middle of March so it's not too late if you have not got yours yet.

Chopping in the compost with
the edge of a spade.

A dressing of general fertiliser

Warming the soil with cloches and black plastic

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 8 February 2009

With freezing conditions, not much went on in the garden last week although I did manage to erect supports for the autumn raspberries. In spite of the cold weather, the over-wintering sprouting broccoli is optimistically producing shoots that will become harvestable stems in April.

Supports for the Autumn Raspberries

Broccoli shoots: Spring can't be far away

If you are planning to get an early start and raise some of your vegetable plants from seed in trays indoors then this month you can be sowing leeks, cabbage and cauliflower. Time for a visit to the seed merchant maybe.

My early sowing of leeks will be F1 "Carlton". If you have a small garden then "Hispi" cabbage would be a good choice as it can be planted out with only a 16" spacing. Cauliflower "All-the-Year-Round" can be sown indoors now but if you anticipate a club root problem then why not try F1 "Clapton" which has some resistance. If you choose this, postpone sowing indoors until next month. Also remember that cauliflower needs a good 24" diameter growing space so think twice if you only have a small vegetable patch.

On the subject of club root, remember that a soil that is slightly alkaline also helps reduce the incidence of this damaging disease. If your soil is acid (and most soils in Dentdale do seem to be at least a little acid) then, some time over the next few weeks, apply a dressing of ground limestone or hydrated lime to the area where you plan to grow your brassicas this year. If, like me, you have recently manured your ground, then leave it a little longer before applying the lime. Remember the rule: Lime Alone.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 1/02/09

Seed potatoes

This week I have taken delivery of my seed potatoes and I have set each tuber on end in cardboard egg boxes to sprout (or 'chit') them. It is important to place the tubers the correct way up which is most easily determined by noting the small crescent shaped markings on the tuber which indicate the points where the tuber will produce shoots. The tubers are placed for sprouting with the crescents facing up, like a 'C' laying on its back. Potato tubers set for sprouting should be kept in a light, dry place that is cool (even cold) but definitely frost free.

There is still some argument about whether or not it is worth sprouting potato tubers before planting. The case for sprouting prior to planting goes like this. Potato foliage is very susceptible to frost damage and where there is a risk of late frost, planting has to be delayed. By planting sprouted tubers, the seed potatoes get off to a flying start, thus making up for some of the delay. Another minor advantage of sprouting is that any tuber which is not viable will not sprout and so can be rejected, thus avoiding a gap in the row.

This year I will be planting a variety of potato called 'Wilja' which is a second early. I plan to plant the sprouted tubers in mid April, by which time they should have developed strong, stubby, green sprouts about 10mm to 15mm long. The new shoots of potato foliage will take about 2 weeks to show through the soil but, with two stages of 'earthing up' the soil into ridges above the row, it will be late May before the foliage is finally exposed to the air and any risk of frost. By late May the risk is minimal, even in Dentdale, but I will keep a roll a fleece to hand, just in case.

It's not too late to buy your seed potatoes but don't delay if you want a particular variety.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 25/01/09

This week, gardening has been all about muck and rhubarb. Last week saw the somewhat late completion of my autumn digging so, with a few dry days this week, I managed to get a good dressing of rotted compost onto my vegetable beds and some around the fruit bushes too. On the beds where I will be growing my parsnips and carrots, I put on a fairly generous layer of well rotted leaf mould.

Spreading compost

The compost heap was in good heart. Below the layer of freshly applied material was another layer, about 15" deep, that was thick with the little red brandling worms. Below them, perfect compost. Before spreading the compost, I set aside the layer containing the worms and, later, returned it to the now empty bin. This will ensure that new material added to the bin will get off to a flying start in rotting down.

The worms were not bought in. They just arrived! Uninvited but very welcome. It's taken two years to get the compost bin working like this but now I have a healthy population of brandling worms, it's worth taking care to keep them.

Brandling worms

Rhubarb tips peeping through

The tiny red tips of next years rhubarb crop are just beginning to peep through. Rhubarb needs a cold snap to stimulate growth after winter dormancy so it should be well and truly stimulated this year. The rhubarb too got a liberal dressing of compost. If it is your intention to force some of your rhubarb, now is the time to put on the forcing pot. Proper earthenware forcing pots are incredibly expensive and at only 12 to 15 inches in diameter, don't cover much rhubarb.

Plastic forcers are not quite so costly but are still not cheap so this is yet another case where some gardeners improvisation is called for. An upturned bucket will do at a pinch but is restrictive both in height and diameter. I acquired a plastic dustbin for £4.99 which does the job well. It needs anchoring down to stop the wind taking it away; a large stone on top or a couple of bent rods pushed through holes in the lip of the bin will do the job. The catalogue price of a large terra cotta forcer is £119.95!

Securing the rhubarb forcer

Improvised rhubarb forcer

Sowing Plan

If you don’t have Rhubarb in your garden and are keen to have some, it isn't too late to start. Small crowns can be bought from nurseries but they will be small and you will not get a harvest in 2009. Rhubarb crowns spread out from their centre. After a few years, the central growth dies off and it's time to lift the whole crown, split the healthy outer parts into several pieces and replant them. If you want a rhubarb crown, find a friend who has a large crown that needs to be split and ask them to give you a piece. If it's a fairly large piece, you will get a small harvest this year. Beware cutting too much; the new crown needs time to get properly established. There's more information about growing rhubarb on the propagation page and a few hints about cooking it on the recipes page.

NOTE: Click HERE for more information on RHUBARB

Finally, if you are planning to start some vegetable seeds in the warmth of your kitchen (or a heated greenhouse if you have one) then it will not be long before you need to start sowing. Leeks, Hispi cabbage and some of the cauliflower varieties can be started off indoors next month so it's time to buy your seeds and draw up your sowing plan (see picture above).

One last point; seed potatoes are now in the garden centres so now's the time to buy them.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 18/01/09

The long cold spell [and it was cold – down to -8°C in Gawthrop] ended last weekend but it was midweek before the ground had thawed sufficiently to allow proper digging. The rains returned on Thursday so Wednesday gave a small but welcome opportunity to complete [at long last] the autumn digging of my plot – see picture. A dry day yesterday saw a reasonable dent made in the task of spreading compost. All a bit late but I don't suppose next year's crops will notice.

Digging complete

Over-wintering onions and garlic

The over-wintering onions [Radar] and over-wintering garlic [Solent Wight] seem to be doing well and their condition is ample evidence that they don't mind the cold [See picture]. Holmes Nursery in Natland do not sell over-wintering onion sets on the ground that our climate is too wet. Those you see in the picture have been under glass cloches. The cloches, with open ends, do little against the cold – especially in such a protracted period with sub zero temperatures. But they do help protect against excessive rain of which we have had plenty since they were planted back in early November. Even then, about 10% of the crop rotted off before sprouting green leaves. Fortunately, a few spares brought on in pots replaced the losses. However, there's clearly something in the decision of Holmes not to sell over-wintering onion sets and without cloches I doubt whether Dentdale would be a good place to grown them.

See also the picture of the over-wintering purple sprouting broccoli. Again, evidence that it doesn't mind the cold. It did look a bit droopy when the frost was really intense but it soon perked up with the thaw. Note too the strong supporting stakes. The plants are well over 2 feet tall by this time and without support would suffer bad wind damage. This variety is 'Claret' and it will not be ready for harvest until April/May. It was sown as seed last May [2008] so if you want to start a relationship with over-wintering broccoli, it's a bit like marriage, ie, for the long term. There are purple sprouting broccoli varieties that are sown in spring and give a harvest in the autumn and don't tie up valuable growing space for so long, but they don't produce those thin tender shoots peculiar to the over-wintering types. Try some of each and see what you think.

Over-wintering broccoli.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 11/01/09

Ground frozen; nothing done!

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 4/01/09

The ground's frozen again so the remainder of the "autumn digging" and all of the compost spreading is back on hold. But there was a huge pile of woody prunings from the hedge trimming and from the clearing/cutting back in the flower garden so, with a cold, bright day, it was just the time to have a good bonfire.

Gardening Diary. JS Week ending 28/12/08

The long spell of wet weather followed by freezing conditions has meant that the tasks of "autumn digging" and "compost spreading" have been severely put back. And of course, it’s a typical application of "sod's law" that a window of opportunity arises in the busy few days just before Christmas. However, it was an opportunity not to be missed so, with those few days with no rain and unfrozen ground, I got on and did some much overdue digging.

Gardening Activity. JS Week ending 14/12/08

The prolonged wet spell followed by freezing conditions means that autumn digging and compost spreading is well behind schedule.
The thaw of the last two days has at least enabled me to clear the ground of leaves and weeds around the raspberry canes, the gooseberry bushes and rhubarb crowns. After clearing, I loosened the ground and it is now ready to receive a dressing of garden compost.
The recent thaw also enabled me to harvest a few leeks and celeriac bulbs for immediate use in the kitchen. Monica's observations about the hardiness of the Musselburgh leeks is certainly confirmed – they are in perfect condition in spite of all the rain and frost. Not so, regrettably, the celeriac. The sodden soil seems to be the cause of early decay so I lifted them all and they will be peeled, diced, cooked, pureed and frozen as the basis for soups.
The raspberry canes were pruned as follows:

Summer fruiting varieties: The canes that carried fruit last summer were cut back to within a couple of inches of the ground leaving the new growth to bear fruit next year.
Autumn fruiting varieties: All canes were cut back to a little above ground level. The new growth will come in the spring and bear fruit the same year.
Seeds and shallot bulbs for 2009 arrived from the seed merchant. Another vegetable growing year is soon to start.

Gardening Activity. JS Week ending 7/12/08

With frozen ground all week, there has been little opportunity to work in the garden
Completed cutting back side growth on boundary hedges
Pruned cultivated blackberry
(the blackberry is trained along horizontal wires fixed to a wall. Annual pruning involves cutting out the growth that carried the fruit last summer and detaching it from the wires. The new growth, which will carry fruit next summer, is then tied back to the wires.)

Gardening Activity. JS Week ending 30/11/08

Yet more leaf clearing
Cut back asparagus, removed supporting canes and put canes away for winter
Trimmed side growth on boundary hedge [vertical growth left for laying in future year]
Ordered packet seeds and onion sets for 2009 [via Dobies catalogue]

Note:

This year I am trying the following varieties not tried before:

Beetroot: "Globe 2"

Brussels Sprouts: "Maximus" (early)

Cabbage: "Red Jewel" (small red)

Celeriac: "Brilliant"

Leek: "Toledo" (late)

Lettuce: "Ashbrook" (frilly leaf)

Parsley: "Moss Curled 2"

Runner Bean: "Streamline" and "Painted Lady"

Gardening Activity. JS. Week ending 22/11/08

Continued leaf clearing and placing into composting bins.
Harvested leeks and celeriac for immediate use
Pulled rampant ivy from stone walls.

Gardening Activity. JS. Week ending 16/11/2008

Emptied leaf bins containing 2006 leaves; now a very good leaf mould. Put into old compost bags for later use.
Leaves from 2007 now rotted down to one third of volume in their bins. Put these together into fewer bins for further year's rotting. The emptied bins are now ready for this year's "crop" of leaves.
Endless leaf sweeping and placing into net bins with chicken wire lids to prevent wind emptying them.
Harvested leeks [Musselburgh] for immediate use.
Harvested sprouting broccoli [early purple] for immediate use.
Removed yellowing lower leaves from Brussels sprouts and sprouting broccoli.
Winter Onion sets sown in October [Radar] beginning to sprout. Similarly, garlic [Solent Wight]. Both under cloches [open ended] but still concerned that excessive rain and wet soil is causing some to rot off.

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