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Post by Stuart@AmericaLane on Jan 24, 2018 16:19:21 GMT
I imagine everyone is excited about a the new year down the plot. It won't be long before we go into full scale sowing and planting. In an effort to be better organised this year and not waste time I've created my short list of what to grow, when to start and where it will be going. Every inch of the plot will be required. I've already made a start on the windowsill at home on the shallots, leeks and chillies. This is what I intend to grow this year. Anyone else got anything exciting or new they are trying?
Broad Bean – Hangdown Green.
Shallot – Figaro, Zebrune.
Leek – Musselburgh.
Salad Onion – Evergreen bunching, White Lisbon.
Chilli – Cayenne.
Potato – International Kidney, Abbott.
Radish – Scarlet Globe.
Tomato – Rosella, San Marzano, Gardeners Delight.
Beetroot – Cylindra, Boltardy, Detroit 2.
Parsnip – Student, White Gem.
Cabbage – Greyhound, Savoy Best of All.
Sprout – Bosworth.
Red Veined Sorrel.
Cucumber – Chinese Slangen.
Lettuce – Lobjoits Green Cos, Little Gem, Mixed Leaves.
Wild Rocket.
French Bean (Climbing) – Cherokee Trail of Tears, Monto Gusto.
French Bean (Dwarf) – Rocquencourt, Purple Teepee, Borlotto.
Runner Bean – Moonlight.
Pumpkin – Rouge vif d’Etampes, Crown Prince.
Courgette – Patriot, Romanesco, Cocozelle v. Tripolis.
Butternut Squash – Hunter
Squash – Blue Banana, Honeyboat.
Sweet Corn – Amaize.
Sweet Basil.
Turnip – Purple Top Milan, Petrowski.
Swede – Best of All, Gowrie.
Kale – Nero di Toscana, Redbor, Dwarf Green Curled, Scarlet.
Pak Choi.
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Post by wilbarra on Feb 6, 2018 7:47:11 GMT
just been sent five runner bean seeds from an allotment holder on a preston site the variety won the longest runner bean competion in parts of wales and he got some seed from the original plants and thought i might like to try some. will be interesting to see how long they grow. the beans have been known to grow between twenty inches four to thirty inches. so as i say could be interesting.
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Post by Chris Plot 16 on Feb 6, 2018 9:51:24 GMT
Hi all, I'm going to try cucamelons :0 & lemon basil. Love trying something new
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jonie
Clearing the weeds
Posts: 7
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Post by jonie on Feb 6, 2018 18:06:41 GMT
we are g0ing back to growing some giant pumkins,the seed came from America many years ago so don't know the name of the variety. all I know is that they grew to a giant size without any great effort
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Post by wilbarra on Feb 6, 2018 21:20:47 GMT
think i may have got hold of some quite content pea this pea was put on the ban list by our great masters in europe, many years ago but some seed evidently survived. but wont know until this summer if they are the real mccoy or not. quite exited over the prospect will be sowing a row of senator pea along with champion of england pea. champion of england is a great pea and has done me proud over the years.
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Post by Stuart@AmericaLane on Feb 7, 2018 8:46:35 GMT
I think wilbarra may be familiar with this but for those that are maybe not this is a great place to get hold of rare, unusual and heritage seed varieties. All are open pollinated and come with detailed instructions on how best to save seed so it comes true the following season. A couple I have tried that are real winners are the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans and the Blue Banana squash. www.realseeds.co.uk/wintersquash.html
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Post by wilbarra on Feb 10, 2018 12:09:52 GMT
agree with you about cherokee trail of tears a very good bean one to go with either that one or ryders blue is ryders top of the pole comes in after the other two are past their best. but if you can only grow one then my choice out of them all would be, for taste and cropping, ryders blue
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Post by murrayc on Feb 11, 2018 9:04:22 GMT
I haven't raced to bring on any seeds so far in this cold weather but last week I started off a couple of trays of tomatoes and as a kind of experiment placed some to germinate in an unheated cloakromm cupboard and some on the top shelf of the very warm airing cupboard. Both lots were in compartmented seed trays, both wrapped in polythene or with polythen cloche covers, the way I have always started them off.
The downstairs seeds, mostly Sam Marzano tomatoes and also some tomatillo seeds saved from the plant kindly given to us last year by Gareth, showed a few signs of breaking the surface but no vertical growth, so I have re-moistened and put them back and expect them to come up fully by next week, which is time enough. But the upstairs ones from the hot cupboard, Saraceno tomatoes, are all up and leggy! Clearly about 3-4 days is all that is needed to bring them on with that level of heat. They will be fine now and are in mini-cloches on a windowsill, and in a few days I'll start off the cycle of pot transfers.
Armed with that knowledge I've started off some Tumbling Toms and also some long red peppers, perperone Corno Rosso in the hothouse and will check their status around Wednesday! What techniques and results do others get for germinating seeds this early?
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Post by Stuart@AmericaLane on Feb 12, 2018 19:04:36 GMT
Normally since I'm greenhouseless (bar one of those plastic 4-tier jobs) I am restricted to germinating on the windowsill. And the airing cupboard went a few years ago when the combi boiler arrived. However this year I have done a bit of infrastructure investment and bought a heated seed tray. It is the size of one regular seed tray but with 4 separate, covered, 1/4 trays sitting in it. It doesn't have a thermostat. it just provides a gentle heat from below raising the temperature about 8 degrees above the room temperature. First seeds I tried were the Figaro shallots given to me by Wilbarra last year). (BTW the Figaro proved a much better bet than the Zebrune I also tried so Figaro are my preferred choice now). They were up in 3 days. Once I had a good few seedlings showing through I took them of the heat and onto the window sill to grow on for a couple of weeks. I've just transplanted them into 9cm pots and I am putting 3 seedlings as a group into each pot to plant out as a group later. Since you only get one shallot per seed rather then the cluster you get with a set by planting out little groups of seedlings you get a small cluster of shallots per station. Well I say small, these banana shallots are often as big or bigger than regular onions and in much less time.
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