Plans and Problems

Plans.

Potato Day

This is the time of year when I send out information about the Potato Day, a busy time in the village and an occasion which we hope helps and encourages people to grow potatoes, vegetables and much more.
See The Potato Days list for ours (on 6th February, and many more) here.
Worth Knowing: Orders can be placed in advance with the excellent nursery helping put on the day: Pennard Plants.

Problems.

Flooding, what can gardeners do to help?

This year, so far, the south west of England has not been subjected to flooding on the scale of that which struck the Somerset Levels in 2013 and 2014. That is not to say that other parts of the country have got off so lightly, far from it. This time around it is the north west of the UK which has suffered an endless battering of storms and daily we see, on our televisions, scenes of flooding to homes, businesses, fields and gardens. Even before this latest storm ("Frank") people in Somerset were wondering how they could help (see Western Gazette).

All of which sets me to wondering, what can we as gardeners do to help fellow gardeners in areas which have been affected by flooding?

The RHS offers some advice, but it seems (sorry about the pun) a drop in the ocean.

Here is just a little taste of the effect on one property (albeit the National Trust, with rather more resources than the average gardener): Wordsworth House and Garden.

So, what can we fellow gardeners do to help?

Did I say Final Potatoes?

Today I turned out more of the container grown potatoes, that leaves just one container (the largest one) to give us, hopefully, some new potato treats into the new year.

So, when I previously posted under the heading of Final Potatoes, I got that wrong didn't I; they just keep coming!

This is probably a good time to say Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year - happy growing!

Compost from potato containers around brassica plants

Lovely looking Charlotte potatoes

Emptying container

Something different

Different to me anyway.

I have a friend who buys plug plants quite regularly, whilst I have generally grown from seed (except for onion and garlic sets). Recently though I was looking in the Organic Gardening Catalogue and saw under Autumn Sowing and Planting, some collections of plug plants and decided to give them a go, so I decided to follow Roger's example.

The supplier for the Organic Gardening Catalogue turned out to be Rocket Gardens. I found everything very well packaged and the plants, when revealed, were good and healthy and clear growing advice was provided.

(By the way, I decided to post about this for interest, I haven't been approached by The Organic Catalogue, nor by Rocket Gardens, this is just me, and not any kind of advertisement).

I kept some photographs through the process and here they are.

Packaging

Growing advice

Lettuce plants under first layer of straw

Lettuce plants revealed (coin for scale)

First layer removed

Plugs in water prior to planting

Most plants in beds. Salads went mainly into greenhouse.

That was a few days less than a month ago, and now they are all growing quite healthily (except for some of the lettuce leaves which we have already enjoyed eating).

Final Chapter of Potato Experiment

If you have visited previously, you will know that I planted 6 varieties of potato in bags and containers, and gathered potatoes from under the plants, disturbing the roots as little as possible, and leaving the top growth flourishing.

Now that the plants (they were all first earlies) have died back, I tipped the containers and bags out, gathering the last of each variety, as hoped, they all produced a second crop, but not uniformly, see photograph below...

Well worth doing again.

Abbot, Dunluce, Sherine, Accent, Rocket

Here are the containers, now cleaned and planted up with (chitted) Charlotte potatoes, which I bought from Little Groves, Beaminster. Hopefully they should give new potatoes for Christmas (they'll go into a greenhouse when frost is in the air).

Containers of Charlotte potatoes planted today for Christmas

In the foreground is the cut-back green manure, soon to be dug in.

More Potatoes

The container-grown potatoes have now moved out of the greenhouse, but we are continuing to get plenty from the plants.

Here are the ones I brought in today, again by putting my hand down into the soil and pulling out potatoes, to (hopefully) have the plants carry on producing.

Dunluce (left) and Winston (right)

More information on the potatoes:

Dunluce
Winston

Potatoes in the greenhouse

Well, the previous post showed the potato bags and pots in the greenhouse, and that has been a most successful experiment, one to be followed again next year.

I have taken potatoes from three of the bags so far, each time putting my hand down into the soil, in the hope that the plants may carry on, though having grown in the greenhouse they are quite leggy and one issue is that the greater heat in the greenhouse means they do dry out more quickly.

Here is a picture of the produce of the rummage I just did in one bag.

Container Potatoes - Rocket

Raised beds no more

For the last 10 to 12 years I have grown vegetables in raised beds. I say raised, they were contained within boards about 25cm high - not very raised compared to some I saw in Austria which could be worked standing up, nevertheless, my beds helped to keep the plots organised.

I have done wooden sides twice now, I replaced them, the first time they rotted, with scaffold boards, they too have now rotted and so I have dug them out and the damp-proof membrane I put under them (which didn't inhibit rotting as it turns out). Apart from the cost of wood, something else putting me off is that, when I tool the boards up I discovered they had been excellent pathways for couch grass and bindweed.

I shall keep the same size of beds, so that I don't have to stand on the soil - one of the major reasons for raised beds - in this case I can achieve that by keeping them about 1 metre wide, so they can be reached into from either side.

Here are 2 photos of the now dug out beds and one in the greenhouse of six containers of potatoes (I couldn't of course plant outside).

Beds gone 

Beds gone, path remains

6 different varieties of potato in containers

Veggie Patch in Transition

The raised bed edges,  made from second-hand scaffold boards, have now rotted so badly that this year I have dug them all out. I will retain the same beds, of a width that I won't have to stand on them at all, but not with any edging around. Not much clearing left to do, before I then sow lots of green manure.

Leeks and Birds

As I sit, with the sound of near-freezing rain striking the study window, the aroma of home-made leek and potato soup (with leeks fresh dug this morning) rises up to temp me.
Between showers I have been treated to displays of visiting birds (which is more than can be said for the Big Garden Bird Watch at the weekend, when it seems the birds had, literally, taken flight). There has been a Nuthatch, several Long-Tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Bull Finch, Gold Finch, Blackbirds, Dunnock and Sparrows, all in the space of quarter of an hour or so.

Even on a pretty awful day for gardening, the garden has given both food and pleasure.