Growing Tips

• Potatoes.I was about to buy some main crop seed potatoes and thought that Paddy would be a good source of information. The first thing he said was don't bother with King Edwards - they won't come to anything on these plots. Paddy's advice was - grow Picasso and Cara. He's right you know :-)
• Increase your stock of tomato plants for nothing.

Tomato seeds seem to be getting more and more expensive these days especially the F1 varieties and even then you only get an average of 5 seeds.

Here’s the tip :-

Once you have planted your tomatoes out in their final positions after a few weeks they will have started growing and sending out axial side shoots normally snapped out as most people prefer to grow their tomato as single cordon stems as this will be less strain on the plant and it can focus on producing flower trusses and eventually your tomatoes.

When you snap out the side shoots put then in seed trays just push them in the compost and water. Within a week or so they will have rooted and you will have more tomato plants grown from cuttings.

• Les (now deceased), who grows beautiful dahlias, doesn't get club root - is there a connection here? Comment: I’ve never given this a thought before but I did notice today that there are some beautiful brassicas on Plot 24 which until recently was used by Les to grow (guess what) dahlias !!
• Do you need some blackcurrent bushes? Autumn is the time to snip off the dormant twigs, from a donor bush. about 10 inches to a foot long. Using a spade, make a slit in the soil about two spade widths three to 4 inches deep and push the pruned twigs into the slit at about 3 inches apart. Firm the soil and forget about them. They should begin to shoot in the spring and be strong enough to pot up or move to their new positions by mid summer.
  • Crop Protection :
    • There are quite a few materials available to protect your crops from a variety of pests and you may be unsure what is best . It depends on what you want to protect and from what.
    • Fleece helps to protect from frost and is useful for creating a carrot root fly barrier, but when it gets wet it can become quite heavy so be careful what you use it over or it may flatten small seedlings unless it is well supported ( over hoops for instance). It can also get caught by the wind if not secured properly. In addition, we have found it torn to shreds on our plots and Den is sure the fox cubs like to play in it. I think he’s right !!
    • Old net curtains have their uses, particularly for short term use over fruit bushes etc., but again can get heavy when wet. However, it’s cheap. If it is fine enough, it can make a useful carrot root fly barrier if constructed as a screen around the carrots. Again it needs to be adequately secured to prevent wind damage.
    • Mesh is particularly useful against damage from birds, butterflies, carrot root fly etc, but I personally wouldn’t use it over anything that’s needs pollination (strawberries for instance). Bees and insects would not be able to get through the mesh to do their job. The downside of mesh is that it can create a micro climate of its own and pests like whitefly, greenfly etc, can flourish underneath it. I would like to suggest that the more you pay for mesh the longer it will last. I have bought cheaper quality mesh in the past, only to find that it frays on the cut ends and becomes shorter and shorter over time. I use Agralan mesh and have some that must be ten years old now. Yes it is somewhat grey and dirty, even a light tinge of green in places, but it still serves its purpose. It is possible to wash mesh. Mesh is sold either by the metre or in packs of various sizes. That sold in packs is bound on all four sides and will not fray, but when bought by the metre the cut edges are not bound. I have never known Agralan mesh to fray.
    • Some people use green netting that protects on building sites etc. and if you have the source it will keep birds and butterflies away although it does create quite a lot of shade and a finer mesh is needed to keep out carrot root fly.
    • Bird netting is good for strawberries – big enough holes to allow insects in and small enough to keep bird outs. There are different types of netting available and what is called ‘bird netting’ is more user friendly. It is a ‘knitted’ type netting, quite stretchy. There is something called ‘butterfly netting’ which isn’t stretchy and is made of plastic (normally supplied with fruit cage kits) but I always have trouble with this catching into buttons and rolling up on itself etc. It can be quite frustrating. It catches on everything and can become ripped quite easily becoming unfit for purpose. As with fleece and mesh, netting is available in different widths. When buying bird netting, because it is ‘knitted’ and stretchy, make sure you purchase sufficient width. You may measure what width and length you need, but I know from experience that when you use it, it tends to stretch lengthways and shrink widthways. Best to buy wider than you think you need otherwise it could result in not fitting what you want to protect. Also make sure you allow enough width to fix the top and bottom with fixing pegs, bricks etc. This also applies to mesh.
    • If you use plastic to protect a crop, make sure it’s securely fixed. An allotment site is generally more ‘open’ than a garden and I have seen a heavy large hooped frame of mine, which was covered in plastic, flip over in the wind and land on a neighbours plot. Fortunately he had nothing planted where it landed. The frame is now covered in mesh which the wind will blow through.
    • For links on where to buy mesh, fleece and netting, look on the USEFUL LINKS page on this site.
    • Growing Peas in Guttering:
    • I always grow peas/mange tout etc. in guttering now, having had those sown directly into the soil just disappear. Mice are the main culprit.
    • Cut guttering into lengths of approx. 18”/45 cms. Longer lengths can cause problems when transplanting (see below). Drill drainage holes in the bottom. Use duck tape (or similar) on each end to prevent soil from falling out. Put soil into the guttering and sow seeds in normal way. Put the guttering in a frame/greenhouse/polytunnel etc . or just outside. The important thing is to create a ‘mouse proof area’ using mesh under, over and around the guttering making sure there are no holes that mice can creep through. (They love peas). Obviously keep an eye on the guttering to ensure they don’t dry out. When the peas are approx. 2” /5cms high, remove the duck tape at one end to see if a good root system has formed. If the roots and soil look almost pot bound they are ready. If not, replace the duck tape and look again a few days later. When ready, water the guttering well and make a small ‘trench’ in the soil where the peas are to grow. Water this as well. The ‘trench’ needs to be approx. the same depth at the guttering and a little longer. Remove the duck tape and slide your fingers between the guttering and the root system from both ends. Your fingers won’t meet in the middle, but the movement should be enough to loosen the soil from the whole length. ( If the guttering is more than 18”/45 cms. the soil will probably stick in the middle and you will find it more difficult to transfer the plants). Place the guttering into the trench and lift one end gently above ground level and then slide away. The peas and soil should slide into the trench. (This is when you find out if the root system is holding the soil). Use the loose soil from making the trench to fill in around the length and ends of the plants and firm down. Give the peas a generous drink of water and talk to them nicely. I normally grow two lengths of guttering at a time and when the peas are just showing through the soil, sow two more. I normally find that when the second sowing are just showing through, the first sowing are ready to be transplanted. This system helps to spread the harvesting period and you tend not to get a glut of peas at one time. However, the weather can disrupt this system quite easily.
    • Seed Potatoes - https://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/
    • Seed Catalogues:
    • Whilst the internet is really useful, there’s nothing like paging through a seed catalogue in anticipation of the forthcoming season. I keep the postman in a job having had catalogues from most of the seed companies delivered for years. They used to arrive in December, but this year they arrived in September. Franchi Seeds (Seeds of Italy) are the exception. They are sent out later. I spend quite a lot of time seeing what’s new and which catalogue is offering the varieties I can’t do without and comparing one with another. I can also easily check who is offering free postage or a free packet of something or other and how much I need to spend to get that offer. Occasionally I can get some free seed potatoes if I play my cards right. Garden centres only offer what they think the public want and normally someone growing vegetables on an allotment needs something more. You also have the opportunity of seeing the full range of a company’s stock. Another bonus of being on the mailing list, is that most seed companies have more than one catalogue a year. There is always their main annual catalogue, the 2013 edition arriving in September 2012, but they invariably have others through the year reminding you they have flower and vegetable plants for a summer delivery and another offering seeds and plants for late summer/autumn planting. Those who stock bulbs, overwintering onions etc have a catalogue to let you know what varieties they have as well as seed potatoes to plant for a Christmas harvest. If you prefer to order on the internet you can always do that by finding what you have chosen on the web sites, but I think looking through a catalogue to choose what you want is more relaxing than looking at a computer screen.
• Chris Reed says he has used Neem Oil as an organic solution to protection from whitefly etc. We bought some from the Pink Sun website last year and mixed it 50/50 10ml of Neem, 10ml of liquid soap to 1L of warm water and sprayed the cabbages etc. with reasonable success at controlling whitefly, caterpillars,