Hobbit Allotment!

[horticultural_hobbit]

Sno, this is why you are useful, and good piece of kit to have around.

I'm not too convinced about insulating the Wendy house yet. There is nothing in yet, bar embryonic spring hero cabbages I planted early this month. I will worry about heat rentention when I start kicking seedlings off ma's window sill.

Didn't know that about Carrots. I could try say a meter squared and see where I go with that. But Loads i want to try

The carrot bed is 12 sq m without the leaf mould builders bag. Pops doesn't need an excuse to w*ckes, though he might think it odd that I want to go. Previously, my only experience of growing carrots was in using MPC and in pots. The results were all right, I was amazed. Was fluke that there was no carrot fly. Am still deliberating about I sow them. Direct as expected or toilet roll inners, with fleece over the top.

[snohare]

Am still deliberating about I sow them.

I wouldn't even think of pots, or even loo roll inners. What I was going to do - this week in fact - was test germination in an old packet of Amsterdam Forcing 3, by using clingfilm and damp tissue paper, a la parsnips. (If you search around, there were some long threads on this a year or two back which gave some very successful techniques for germinating parsnips.)
Doing this with parsnips - I don't know about carrots - you can put the germinated seeds in a fridge to halt development, and plant them out when the outside conditions are appropriate. Either way, I am hoping that I can check the viability of the old seed, maybe use the viable ones; I suppose I should be researching the germination temperature for carrots, rather than non-anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions !
Mark you, my experience which I think is mirrored by many, is that regardless of germination methods, it's the slugs that do for the young 'uns. (Carrots, not hobbits.)
Folk think the seed didn't germinate - nah, they came up overnight and were eaten ! That might be another reason to have dry sandy soil on the surface...

[snohare]

You need deeper drawers

Have you been looking at my washing line ? !

[horticultural_hobbit]

Using Snadgers logic then, if I had a narrow furrow where I wanted to sow carrots. This was then lined with a couple of inches of MPC. I think I like that option....and if sowing thinly is a carrot fly preventer...I can see that...pots were never crammed full of carrots. That makes sense

[snohare]

Yes, it certainly sounds like Snadger has the germination thing well sorted. He's well clued up - I would probably be doing the same thing if it wasn't that I simply don't have any MPC, and can't afford any. I may have in a year or two, when my compost heaps have rotted down - if only I had done my leaf mould the first year I was there ! - but for the moment all I can do is mix the local molehills, all very claggy clay sadly, with sand and a tiny bit of peat. (My father burns peat. Being his gopher, I sometimes actually have the now-incredibly rare job of lifting peats by hand from the bog.)
There was something I was reading about the other day, which was supposed to be able to deter carrotfly from attacking carrots, when planted in amongst the rows. Not alliums, they are debatable, a root crop - salsify ? Scorzonera ? Hamburg parsley ? Can't remember, but I think it was something I've grown, so I was thinking to do one to every five carrot plants. Worth reading up more, if I can keep paying for the leccy I will have to chase it up.
The other thing I decided to do recently is to earth up my carrots this year, with a wee ridge. Read about that recently via the Vine, seems likely to protect the seedlings and expose the fly to predators/dehydration/grief.
Happy New Year by the way, young Hobbitling ! Best of luck for 2012. (How sad am I, saw the New Year in purely by accident, didn't realise the time because I was trying to find out the global emissions of non-anthropogenic greenhouse gases ! Gave up eventually, gave the dog a biscuit, went to bed. I think that qualifies for an anorak. )

[horticultural_hobbit]

Happy new year, Sno! Couldn't miss the new year. Had to face it head on. Who knows what is going to happen.

Have stashed the MPC. Some of it is spent. Some of it I found in eager anticipation. The leaf mold won't be ready for some time. And my compost bins need more to be thrown into them over the coming year.

Definitely want to grow carrots. Window shopping for fleece to cover them.

[Two_Sheds]

if sowing thinly is a carrot fly preventer...

It isn't !

Seriously, the only thing that will keep them off is very fine mesh, and that needs to be tacked down all the way round, because Momma Fly will get through even little holes

(look in my photo album if you're curious about trying Resistafly or Flyaway seed)

[veggiechicken]

Have you been looking at my washing line ? !

My binoculars aren't that powerful!

[snohare]

My binoculars aren't that powerful!

I thought you might have powerful friends in the Google Earth mapping company, veggie...I know they've been up Millan View once already, must be about time for an update.

Youngling, I operate on the principle that working with other scents around to cover the smell of disturbed carrot vegetation (such as an open bag of moist manure nearby, or a trayful of compost bree) may - perhaps - work, but really the only thing you can do is try to make sure there are no carrot flies around. That may simply mean ensuring there are none of the wild pest reservoirs like cow parsley - my area of ground is pretty likely to be the only area around that has such things, most of the gardens nearby are very enclosed and prettified, no veggies or weeds to be seen, and there is virtually no "wild" ground, just mown grass - but alas, I don't know what all the species are that would harbour carrot fly. And besides, if I have to choose between having keystone habitat species like tansy that attract some of the few butterflies ever seen around nowadays, or a good carrot crop - well, damn the carrots, there are enough of them in the world ! Better to rely on fleece and netting.
My ancient piece of Wondermesh has small tears in it, which may well be why I had such problems this last season. I have a cunning plan (we'll see how it goes) which involves getting builder's metal bands - stiff but curvable flat strips of metal about a centimetre wide, with perforations for screws every few millimetres - and cutting netting to fit a framework of these bands (in lieu of alkathene piping, which is a pain to work with and tends to wobble about, causing dips in the netting). The netting would be screwed onto the banding with very small nuts and bolts, or perhaps I will use a double layer of banding, one underneath and one above the net, screwed together twice at each end (to avoid longitudinal flexing). But I have a limited supply of banding so I am loathe to use it, and actually, as Two Sheds may bear out, I have used cheapo fleece very successfully in the past !
I have never yet bought an expensive piece of fleece, it has all been Poundland stuff, yet when I used it well weighted down at the edges, just draped over the carrots, as long as I remembered to avoid chafing on sharp objects the only problem I had was remembering to unfurl it to allow more room for the growing foliage. There may be a lesson there...KISS...

[horticultural_hobbit]

I'm feeling the skinflintness, I wince everytime I see a the price of something that I would like to play with on the lotment. I will definitely keep an eye out for the poundland fleece. I'm back to school this week, so I will have to sneak time to go play with the lotment. Went into poundland today, and first of the gardening stuff has come in. I might also try planting onions around the carrots. Just as a hypothesis test. If it works, it works, if not, more space cultivated.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Surviving the Siberian beast from the East



Well, it is nearly half term, and I've not really had much opportunity to go play. There have been a couple of hours here and there, when I have been along and shuffled around. Last weekend, I did go and dig over what will be the pumpkin patch after having gone to the Ryton 'tato day-where I bumped into the lovely VVG and Zazen. I naively ignored the advice to stretch before I started to dig, and boy did I feel it later. This had been on my mind for some time, and I still have to add the FYM that is sat next to the water butt. Job for Half term that. There is long list of things I want to do.

I have also cannibalised the struts from the wendy house that fell down last year, and they will be forming the basis of the supports for the legumes in addition to bamboo canes. I plan to string pea net across them. The plan was to sow legumes this week, alas the cold snap has persuaded me otherwise. Will wait for a bit.

As it stands-and it does, for the moment-the wendy house is still there. I did worry this morning, that post snow, it may have fallen over. Looked a lot warmer than the rest of the plot. Was all right, didn't need to sweep snow off the top That would have been interesting, on tip toes in pink wellies. I assure you, grandad Mike was supervising.

The broadbeans-claudia aquadulce-are as VVG said, are now has beans. I forgot to cloche and cover them as I was having a fight with a tooth ache(grinding your teeth in your sleep does that to you, apparently). Ventured over on Friday after school, to find them keeled over as ex-beans. Beans that have ceased to exist.

The pics are of the plot this morning and of yesterday. The over wintering onion and garlic patch was altogether depressing, looked like everything had keeled over. I was not in the least bit buoyed when I bumped into the 'lotment secretary busy chopping down dead branches; who told me that that nothing over wintered on the site as it was so cold. "oh, right, thanks" said I, wandering off to my plot with fleece under my arm, muttering under my breath.

I dare not to even open up the wiggly woo's. Just made sure on Friday, that they were covered up. Haven't opened up since before Christmas when they were stuffed with paper, fed and covered up. If I have ex-worms as well, I will not be a happy hobbit.

Chillies have been sown inside, with a fair few causalities. Early Jalapeños, don't quite like it this early. Killed a few early tomato sowings, but second ones are coming along. The aubergine analogue study has also started. Once the heated propagator is empty, they will be moved there. Currently on a warm window sill.

I like my bog basic heated 'lectric propogator. Makes me feel that bit more confident!

Am itching to sow curcurbits but will most definitely wait til March. March will also be the time for carrots and parsnips. For the carrots at least, the generous advice garnered means digging in some sand. March will also see Maris Pipers and King Ed's spuds going into the ground. I don't fancy digging a huge trench, so I'm taking Zazen's advice about bulb planters. Just need one industrial strength to do the job.

There's lot more to be done. I'm just not there yet

[Two_Sheds]

Am itching to sow curcurbits but will most definitely wait til March.

April. You meant April

[horticultural_hobbit]

Sowing inside in march April, yes and won't be sending them out to the lotment til end of may!

[snohare]

There's lot more to be done. I'm just not there yet

It's very unfortunate if life is not a work in progress, young Hobbit...

[snohare]

who told me that that nothing over wintered on the site as it was so cold.

Ah, but do not be deceived by the musings of yesteryear, Hobbit. Things change; each year the amount of heat retained by Earth's atmosphere, and transmitted to the soil, grows. Once upon a time, a hard winter was one where the soil was as hard as iron with cold from reradiation to space, for weeks or months on end; now we think it bad if we have snow in any quantity. The blocking highs that gave the hard frosts are what make the difference, and although there have been more this year, there are still ways around the chilling. (Fresh horse manure straight from the horse's end, dug into a pit, with a "cold" frame above.)
All my planting plans are set back, so you are not alone. All my hopes for this year look to have "bean destroyed" as well; but still, take the chance when it comes and do not second guess desperation's opinion. Despair grinds worse than bruxis, but it's counsel though loud is often foolish. (I don't know if hypnotism works with despair, it works with bruxis.)
Wormest wishes,
Sno (without the "w")