Mix it!

Guess what i've been doing this week...

...answers on a postcard!

Spuds are a go go!

Its official- the spuds have arrived from Iain at JBA seed potatoes. I've knocked winston on the head this year and opted for twice the amount of sherine so my varieties are as follows:-
20x sherine
10x Amour
10x Bluebelle.
All will be grown in peat in polypots with added calcified seaweed (although i've thought about using seaweed meal instead) and to the trench they sit in i will add potato fertiliser and FYM.

Now i have my laptop in 100% condition i'm able to post some progress photos now which i did promise in a previous post. So these are some of the Peter Glazebrook onions that i sowed just before christmas- all grown in polystyrene cups which help to insulate and encourage a strong root system.

And.. these are the first batch of pot leeks 'Cumbrian' which are of Jimmy Dirden's strain. These are fast strong growers and are due for a bigger pot.

These are the later batch of 'Cumbrian' pot leeks which arrived last week from John Soulsby. These should be right to cover the later shows from September onwards. These have been potted straight into polystyrene cups to initiate a good root system.

The blanch Pendle Imp from David Metcalfe are progressing nicely and have their first collars on to force them upwards. This variety of leek needs to be 'pulled' in the early stages as its notoriously difficult to pull later on unlike others such as welsh seedling. Despite this i reckon pendle imp is the best leek to grow for a quality exhibit.

Pricked out my vento onions today destined for the 8oz classes. The germination has been fantastic this year since medwyn decided to ditch the seed coating from last year. A number of growers complained when their onions failed to germinate successfully and this was due to the seed coating that seemed to inhibit germination if a sufficient moisture level was not met. As you can see- like a patch of Stourbridge Fc turf!

Earlier than any other year, my dahlias are throwing some decent cutting material so, i've bit the bullet and started to strike some despite it being early. They are a bit like sweet peas- the more cuttings you cut the more they grow! So a later batch will cover me for most of the shows.

Last but not least...this week i intend to some my sprouts for the august shows. I always like to add a stick to my vegetable basket exhibits for something a bit different to what others put in them. Also, one of my shows has introduced, amongst many, a new class for 10 sprouts so these should be just fine...

So thats roughly where we're at at the moment. Now my laptop is up and running again there should be some more photos in the coming posts. I've got the new long carrot set up pics to post and the new onion and pot leek beds, then theres the new polyhouse for the cucs and the list goes on...and on...and on...and on... See you next week!

Down by the riverside

Im still experiencing problems with my laptop so I'm having to do this post from my iPad which, incidentally, will not let me post any photos for some unknown reason.
Anyway it's been a fairly busy week this week and things are moving on fast! The pot leeks I had from a mate, who had them from Jimmy Dirden(a seasoned leek grower), are really progressing well in 5" pots with flags about 1 1/2" across. At the 5" pot stage I start to add loam (sieves molehills) to the mixture just to add a bit of body but also to help prevent the compost from getting too dry. I also had a second lot of cumbrian come in the post this week. They came from John Soulsby though and are now in 3 1/2" pots. These will hopefully cover any later shows I decide to enter. On the topic of leeks, the blanch are pulling nicely now and are a lovely dark green colour which is down to the lights they are under. It is important not to pull the leeks too much all in one go. I've been to see a couple of friends leeks this week sand they seem to have pulled them excessively and they looked a bit sick and spindly. still it's early days yet!
I've potted Peter glaze brooks onions on today into polystyrene vending cups which I find help to establish a strong root system due to the insulating properties of the cups. After I pot any onions on I don't water them for a couple days as it is so easy to overwater onions and I also find keeping them on the dry side for the first couple of days helps the roots to surge through the compost in search of water. David Metcalfes and vin Throups onions are all taking off now and these are in cell trays at the mo but I will be sorting out the strongest and potting those on into polystyrene cups aswell.
All my disbud xanth cuttings have been taken and I just have some sprays to take now but as thes need a later stop there is no rush to get the cuttings took. I've even took a few dahlias cuttings this week as the tubers were growing away early this year.
My first lot of peppers have been sown this week aswell and put in the heated propagator along with several trays of sowing compost to warm up for next weeks sowings.
the sweet peas have also been sown this week, using up the last seed from an exhibitor collection I bought from Malvern last year. the three varieties I'm growing this year are Gwendoline, Misty and Our Harry. All will be grown using the cordon system which is the only way to grow if your thinking of showing them.
I have a very important meeting coming up next Wednesday with several other committee members of our gardeners guild as we try to set up a children's section involving several local primary schools who have established gardening clubs.
Last night was Stourports presentation evening and it's was a shocking turnout and it just shows what an ailing society it is. There was about a dozen people there and five of them was my gang from Stourbridge some 10 miles away. there seems to be no local support or interest from the Stourports locals and it really is disappointing as they hold a really good two day show with a traditional village show feel in a large marquee down by the river. However I came away with 8 trophies so I was happy and weve had confirmation that the two day show will go ahead this year but their local council is now putting pressure on the society with increased rent for the riverside venue and imposing pathetic health and safety laws which are putting the show at risk.
Before I go into a rant I'm going to leave it there and wish you all well for the coming week. And I hope you'll be back next week for my next update. I'll try and keep it weekly seeing as a lot of you were probably smithyveg followers, who is now taking a break from blogging, you will undoubtedly be looking for somewhere else to have a read so I'll try and oblige.

Don't get Cagey!

Hallelujah! My laptop is running somewhat better than before so i'm now able to get this post on the net. Since the last post a fair old bits been happening. With a little help from a friend my new brassica cage is up and running with only the roof netting to go on.

The construction of this cage presented me with a strip of ground running down one side that wasnt doing anything so i took the opportunity to construct a new bed for celery destined for Shrewsbury. I have added about a 12" layer of well rotted FYM and the bed is in close proximity to the mains water so the plants need never dry out.

Last week my onion seedlings came from Vin Throup and this week the onions came from David Metcalfe. They are all undr the light with the leeks that are doing remarkably well and have been repotted twice in the last few weeks.

I put thefirst small collars on the leeks today to slowly pull the barrels as pendle improved strain tends to need early pulling to get the desired length. All are doing very well and the cumbrian pot leeks (which i have forgot to photograph are romping away and are in need of another repot. All the plants are being fed with vitafeed 301, maxicrop and a concentrated seaweed liquid feed plus compost additives. As some of you may know i have pulled out of a couple of local villa shows this year to focus my attentions on Shrewsbury flower show where the midland NVS branch hold their show so i'm keeping my fingers tightly crossed as i take the next rung on the ladder before getting to the nationals at Malvern! Who knows i might be up against Smithyveg in the forseeable future- best get perfecting them tomatoes i think!

It's been A while since my last post as it's been very quite here except for a few odd jobs that needed doing. I hope everybody had a good Christmas and happy new year to you all.
we went down south for Christmas again and so my leeks went to their holiday home where I have a very good man to look after them. I've got them back now and they've been repotted since coming back. I'm trialling my own woe wry compost in their mixture this year and a few other 'popular' additives.
I managed to box up all the dahlia tubers before going away.I've used the old compost from the cucumbers grow bags to box them up in and just given them a light water to keep the compost damp.
My chrysanthemums are throwing up a lot of healthy looking shoots which should be ready for cutting in a couple of weeks time. I shall then be sowing my 8oz onions aswell. I had taken photos to accompany this report but I'm doing this from my iPad and it won't let me upload them for some reason so when I get my laptop working properly I'll post the photos then.
I had a nice surprise when I went and bought my copy of garden news last week as my name was in it under the listing of top tray winners.
I've got a busy week ahead so I'll see you soon.
That's all folks!

We've had some real rough winds this week which have ripped all the panels out of my polycarbonate greenhouse; torn polycarb sheeting off the top of my shecafe which had been wired on and nailed. Despite this, i know our northern friends are experiencing much more inclement conditions with snowfall and gales.
Had a break from it all this morning and took John the Baptist and John Boswell (known from now on as The Boswell) to  see a mate of mine and to see his setup at home and then down to his allotment some 400 yards away.
My mate is Mick Poultney. Some of you may know him from when he appeared on BBCs Great British village show where he entered with his pot leeks. Some of you avid exhibitors, such as Simon (smithyveg) should know Mick from the likes of Malvern and such shows and, of course, the DA of the NVS.
Mick starts his leeks and onions off in the loft (hidden away from the missus) under a lamp and with bottom heat. God knows what his missus would have thought if she'd have come back to find three strange blokes climbing the stairs of her semi detached! Boswell thought it was a sex party but we were all disappointed to discover there were no half dressed women waiting for us when we got to the top!

Mick had got a nice lot of both blanch and pot leeks growing. Some from our Northern growers and some from Jimmy Dirden from Wednesbury. Hi onions had just been pricked out and were from Peter Glazebrook seeds. After the disappointment of no fun and frivolity with the opposite sex we moved down to Micks allotment where he is Chairman. Going through the powers that be, he recently developed a piece of waste ground from the council and has created several allotments for the disabled. One plot is all kitted out with raised beds for those in wheelchairs and with a wheelchair-accessible polytunnel. The other plot is for the 'walking disabled' and they too have their own polytunnel. Mick informs me work is still very much in progress and with his team of volunteers fast diminishing; the work will be carrying on for quite a while. But here is a pic to show how much hard work has gone into the project so far;l

With John the Baptist being very much a newbie to the world of show produce he was very interested in Micks methods- he left no stone unturned. He now knows Micks methods better than Mick himself!:

Mick is also chairman of Colley Gate gardening club (formerly Cradley gardening club) and having moved show venue Mick has had to move their trading sheds down to he allotment site. So, being an opportunist i took the pleasure of purchasing a bag of Levingtons M3 and some Maxicrop for a very good price. John the Baptist had a good spend and i know he was buying things he'd never even heard of until today! However, a good day was had by all and it was nice to have a look at someone elses plot for a change!

Brum, Brum!

Took a day off from the plots today and caught a train withsome friends to Birmingham City Centre to go and have a look at the German Christmas market there. We have been the last three years now and it's beginning to become somewhat of a tradition for us! It was a cold day with us having our first real significant frost but the sun was out and it was dry which was the main thing. Being as cold as it was, the famous Bull situated outside the Bullring had even put on a nice wooly jumper.

In desperate need ofsomething warm to drink we headed for one of the German bars, knowing something alcoholic would be available. As a change from the usual Gluhwein i opted for a very homosexual-sounding 'Men's Dream'. New to me, this drink turned out to be krakoa rum and cream- what a bostin drink! As you can see from a very merry me:-

...And a very merry Dad and John...

Well, its back to work tommorrow with more xmas trees to deal with. Should have the full 900ish total in by now and i'm expecting it to be a busy weekend with trees and wreaths.
The lights were nice in Brum, very festive. I bought some funny marshmallow things that got scoffed as we walked round and a stupid bird whistle thing that didn't even whistle. However... i did manage to get a photo of this rather dapper young man:-

Quite a handsome chap isn't he? Don't know who he was though!