Stumped for time...

It's been a while as i've been really busy and, as always, one thing leads to another. Since the last post i've had two tonne of sand delivered which has enabled me to get my stump carrot set up complete. 45 gallon drums cut in half and filled with sand placed on top of raised bed of well cultivated 'fluffed up' soil. I shall bore the holes and use levingtons f2s. I aim to sow end of march. Variety Sweet Candle.

Had a nice find today! John took me to a manure heap that is only a 5 minute drive from the allotments! And i never knew it was there. There's some lovely well rotted stuff and some fresh so it is ideal for immediate use and for mixing with the compost heap. You can pull the car right up to it aswell- i shall be visiting this oasis more frequently from now on me thinks...

Made a few sowings this week: Peppers, tomato 'Cedrico', Sprouts 'Bosworth', aubergine 'Black beauty' and celery 'Redstar'.  Still taking xanth cuttings, will start dahlia cuttings in the next few weeks aswell.
Potted on Welsh Seedling into 6" square pots this morning. All leeks are on 12 hour light cycle and looking remarkable good for it- the biggest leeks i've had thanks to the new T5 growtubes. Peter Glazebrook onions are starting to motor now after a slow start. Had a small outbreak of thrip on some of the leeks so have started spraying with Dynamec (thanks Mr Trim!). Booked my tickets for the Edible garden show held at Stoneleigh Park this week for 18th March. Should be a good day out, looking forward to going over to the NVS stand where, i recently discovered, Smithyveg will be helping out so can't wait to see some friendly faces.........and Simon!

Good growing !

I've got worms!!!

The first signs of life from the Hative Di Niort shallotsare now clearly visible! I shall pot them into 2/3ltr pots once the roots emerge from the bottom of the pot and put them either in the cold greenhouse or in the polytunnel.-starting to need the room now! These are from a mate of mine and i would like to think that they will end up on the showbench hopefully at the district show. Who knows eh?

Potted on the welsh seedling tonight into Levington M3 with a few added extras. One thing i am trialling this year is wormcasts and i think they're working. Since i've used them the leeks and onions have really perked up and are exhibitng a lovely fresh green colour. As you can see from th photo great roots aswell. The roots hit the casts and really go for it and it doesn't take them long to fill the pot. The most important thing when growing leeks and onions for show is never let them stop growing by either leaving them in thepot for too long to become potbound or letting them dry out. Any check in growth now will have devestating results later on... You have been warned!

Progress pics...

These are some of the leks i had from Steve Wright. Cumbrian on th left, welsh seedling on the right. Tommorrow i shall be putting 6" pipe lagging on the blanch leeks to increase the blanch then as they grow i shall increase the length.

The derek raw onions are doing reasonably well considering i left them with a friend for three weeks while i was on holiday. Still got half a seed tray left but finding it hard to throw them away. Theres far more than i need so i shall probably end up giving them away.

I'll leave you with a few holiday pics...

Could this be my next venture??? I hear John Trim into sailing. Have to get a few pointers Ha! Ha!

Me and me best mate Cassy. Shes 17 this year and has been a loyal companion for every single one of those years- heres to as many more as she can manage!

And last but least theres always got to be one prat at christmas...

It's been a while people- i've been in Kent for the past three weeks but now i'm back and eyes firmly fixed on the shows. First one being only 7 months away!!!!
While we were away the sh*t weather dealt us a burst pipe which flooded half the house and we came back to a freezing cold house because the boiler decided to flunk. Bl**dy weather got alot to answer for. Still:

"COME ON ENGLAND"

talk about sh*t on a man while his down- The ozzies are having a crap summer AND now they've lost the Ashes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Personally i can't stand cricket but its nice to have something to celebrate- wiping the smug grin of the ozzies face is good enough for me!

Managed to get my 8oz onions sown when i got back. Growing vento this year after failing miserably last year with golden bear. Sown them in levington f2s as i do all my seeds. Now on sand bench with bottom heat. Same with shallots. First year ever that i'm trying them from seed. Trialling ambition which i know has had some success onn the showbench. However, not being one to put all my eggs in one basket, i am also growing hative di niort and jermor from bulbs. These have been planted into 3 1/2" pots and placed on greenhouse shelf to forget about for a week or two. I've also potted some leeks into their second pots into M3. Potted welsh seedling and cumbrian. Pendle improved yet to do.

Reckon i've got one failure already this year- the heavy onions i sowed from Peter Glazebrook germinated great and looked promising when i went on holiday but when i got back half of them look like they're about to kick the bucket and the other half dont look a picture of health. They look really thin but i have been advised this is the result of them growing under lights. Whether they suffered not being under lights whilst i was away?

I must post some photos but just havent had the time to take any yet! Hoping to take some xanth cuttings this week while i'm off so will probably post some then.

Merry Christmas to all...

Well, here i am reporting from windy Margate. I want to wish everyone (followers an all) a very merry christmas and a grand growing season for 2011! Look out for more posts in the new year

LIghts On!

Put the growtubes on today for the first time. I've only got onions under at the moment but have leeks coming this week so i shall bung those under aswell. Started building a temporary growbox out of turkey foil and the reflective stuff you stick behind radiators to reflect the heat back into your room. The temperature under the tubes will now regulate at 10oC which is just enough to keep evrything ticking over nicely.
Went out this afternoon and bought 4x 100ltr bales of Irish moss peat ready for the potato bags. I bought a shredder a few weeks back so i'm going to try passing the peat though this as it took me ages last year sieving it with the rotasieve. I'm growing 40 bags of potatoes this year, NVS Amour and NVS Sherine. All the bags and seed potatoes i've purchased from JBA see potatoes again. This is my second year dealing with them and i woukld reccommend them to anyone.
Got all my dahlia tubers boxed up now, thoroughly dried and any cut surfaces are dusted with sulphur to stop any areas of rot forming. I use old mushroom boxes (these can be picked up from your local greengrocers or at market stalls) to box t tubers and i keep the compost dry until after christmas when i will start to water every week or so depending on the weather.

More or less every show grower i know likes to think they have one thing that they grow best and i like to think mine is Chrysanthemums. And to that end i have got most of the stools boxed up aswell. Again, i use old mushroom boxes and keep them on the dry side until after christmas which is when i shall start to take the first batch of cuttings. (If i have enough i am thinking of selling rooted cuttings of my best show varieties- anybody interested please do let me know).

More on chrysanthemums in the weeks to come...
Well, i've come to the end of another post and i'll leave you with the weather forecast here in Stourbridge:

It will be 25oC with lots of sunshine.  The wind will be a southerly one bringing warmer air in helping all those Midlands growers to get a headstart on the rest of the country!

Went to my first DA meeting ever last night at Rugeley. It took just over an hour to get there but it was well worth it. They had a short AGM which was followed by a talk on tomatoes by the master himself- Charles Maisey- which actually turned out to be a talk on toms, cucumbers and runner beans! I have to admit i went thinking "God, i'm not going to know anybody and it's going to be a room full of miserable old men, disgusted at the fact that a young 'lad' was growing for show"
HOWEVER, when i entered the venue i woukld say there was about a dozen people i knew and those i didn't were VERY friendly indeed. I must thank Si Smith (Smithy veg) for coming over and introducing himself- it was great to meet him after following his blog for sometime now- i hope we bump into each other again. Wh knows we might even come up against each other on the showbench! What do you say Si?
It was great to meet Colin Higgs and to see good friends such as Bob Plant (a wonderful leek grower with a wicked sense of humour!), Mick Poultney and Stan Greenway (a fellow xanth grower).
I would strongly advise anyone with the slightest bit about them to go to their next local DA meeting because i thought it was great and i shall definitley be going again.
The weather here is supposed to turn milder towards the end of the week so i shall be recieving my leeks from a couple of top growers. Greenhouse heaters been cranked up and bottom heat is up and running. Looking to construct a temporary housing unit for my growtubes in the next three days as there's little else to do whilst the grounds frozen.
Coming back from the meeting last night we came through Cannock and it was -12oC!!! Is it me or are our winters reverting back to ho they used to be?
I'll leave you with a joke for all those unfortunate enough to suffer with moles:

"There was a papa mole, a mamma mole, and a baby mole. They lived in a hole out in the country near a farmhouse. Papa mole poked his head out of the hole and said, "Mmmm, I smell sausage!" Mamma mole poked her head outside the hole and said, "Mmmm, I smell pancakes!" Baby mole tried to stick his head outside but couldn't because of the two bigger moles. Baby mole said, "The only thing I smell is molasses."

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