Potting on

This week the priority has been on sowing and potting on a variety of veg to keep them growing unchecked. The pic below showing the first of the Lolla Rossa sown on the 28th of Feb going into the tunnel. All were multi sown but some were pricked out to grow on singly. At this stage the fine root hairs are developed enough to hold the slightly moist compost from the module together and the entire root system is easily transplanted with minimal disturbance. Went for 150mm spacings.

Starting to harden off some plants including Borage below by bringing them outdoor during the daytime.This one will be great for the pollinators and for making a liquid feed and compost activator.

The first few seedlings including Brassicaceae. I will have some spares for give away and swaping.

Potting on some Tagetes and Spring onion.

Crates are a convenient way of moving trays and pots about.

The Iceberg lettuce are starting to heart up.

The radishes marking out the carrot rows. Thinning to 1 inch.

Treating a bit of mildew on the peas using a dilute solution of vinegar. The mildew seems to have spread from a nearby patch of lambs lettuce. Conditions may have been a bit too dry.

Sowed a drill of Greenshaft ( height 750mm) direct with a row of beet and rocket either side. Access for picking will be much easier with a single row accessible from both sides unlike the double row of overwintering with the mildew issue.

Planting out some Nasturtiams on the ends of the rows.

Home sowings 30/03/14:

1.  Cauliflower 2×4  cells

2. Kohlrabi 4×2 cells

3 Brussel sprouts 2×4 cells

4. Purple sprouting Brocolli 1×4 cells

5. Calabrese 1×4 cells

6. Red Russian Kale 1×4 cells

7 Brunswick Cabbage 1×4 cells

8. Nero di Toscana 1×4 cells

9. Basil Genovese 4×4 in 3 inch large cells

10. Red Basil 4×4 ditto.

11. Coriander 7×4 cells ( saved)

12. Celery broadcast in small seed tray ( not covered)

13. Cucumber Marketmore 2 in 7cm pots

14. Courgette Goldrush 3×1 in pots

15. Calendula 1×40 cells

16. Sunflowers 1x 24 cells

17 Limnanthes douglasii ( Poached egg plant) 1X24 cells

18. Ishikura Onion 7×12 cells

19. Leek Muselbourgh 1×24 cells

20. Mallow 2×12 cells

21. Minnesota Midge Melon 1×4  in 3 inch pots

22. Ushiki Kuri Pumpkin 2 in pots

23. Table Queen Acorn squash 2 in pots.

24. Butternut Squash 2 in pots

25. Sweetcorn Bantam 2 , 1×6 in large cells

26. Lolla Rossa 1×4 cells

27. Swede Western Perfection 1×12

 

A Great weekend cobbing in Carrig Dulra.

 

 

Hedgehog house

Made up this wooden box  350m x 350mmx 510mm ish .The entrance is 150mm square. The pipe allows for air in the chamber when the box is covered with logs and leaves.

Found a quite spot in the garden hidden away near a Laurel. Positioned the box on a slight slope for drainage.

Cover the box with logs and leaves and a little soil here and there.

The entrance way is kept clear with a log passage.

 

 

 

 

 

Paddys day

Quite a bit of the veg in the tunnel has bolted. Here the ducks are helping to clear part of the beds. The larger male duck is quite confident and enjoys running at the dog and occasionally at me. They are such characters. This was their first time in the tunnel and I think they knew there was grub to be had. They tend to stay close by if the soil is being disturbed.

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The compost thermometer peaked at 67 degrees celcius after a few days. It’s starting to drop off now at about 58 degrees. When its get to 50 degrees a turning will help it to heat up a little.

An older heap maturing gives a reading of about 37 degrees.

A bin placed over a crown of Rhubarb to ” force” the stems. After a few days the effect is evident.

The first of this years peas  “greenshaft” sown direct outside in a shallow trench.

Climbing support for the peas using string.

Red Onion “kamal” layed out for planting approx 3- 4 inches apart and 8 inches between rows.

Temporary netting to protect from pigeons and ducks pulling out the onion sets. The ducks will need to be managed while many of the plants are establishing.

Planted up a bed of “Radar” onions.

Some of the potted up tomatoes.

Pot bound mint cut back a few weeks ago.

Buds on the Shinseiki pear tree.

Buds on an apple tree.

Crocus through the mulch. The ducks tend to flatten them a bit.

One needs a hint of colour.

Last years sown lupins should put on a display this summer.

Parsley grows well here.

The winterkeef with its beautiful flowers.

The flowers on the broadbeans.

French Lavender grown from seed.

Ishikura bunching onions

4 x 3 foot drills of nantes 2 carrots with radish as row markers.

Boltardy Beetroot at 2 inch spacings.

A spare pane of glass to help some rocket germinate. I love rocket.

An old skylight to help with some Spring onion germination.

A few strawberries Elsanta and Symphony in pots for an earlier crop.

The chives have literally shot up in recent days, yummy.

We use alliums nearly every time we cook. With  about 24 little areas outside about 1/4 of these are alliums. 3 beds for overwintering and 3 beds for summer grown.

 

 

 

 

Hot compost, Strawberries, Vitapod and Golden Gark etc.

The hot compost has had 3 days to heatup so I went down to check it this morning. It’s breaking down very fast. I have a compost thermometer in the post and this will help to tell when turning is necessary.

Planted the strawberries Elsanta and Symphony from Englishes nursery. I had been looking into getting some day neutral which supposedly fruit through out the growing season but it seems such a strawberry does,nt really exist yet! Elsanta will fruit earlier than the symphony ( smaller leaves if you forget to label them) and by having some of both inside and out there should be no shortage this year. The plants have the most fantastic long root system which you just can’t get from the the packs now avaialble in the multiples. They come in bundles of 25 for 12 euro with 15 euro shipping.

The bed I,m planting these into has been covered over the winter with seaweed and covered in straw. I have also sprinkled rock dust, coffee grounds and seaweed meal at various stages in the past few months. I parted the mulch layers which are quite rotten down now ,add some compost and planted into this carefully not to cover the growing tip followed with a good drink. I will rub out the flowers on 3 or 4 of these and allow one strong runner to develope. This can be trained into a sunken pot untill September and once established cut and lifted for re-planting next year. As the fruits begin to ripen bamboo canes and netting will keep the birds and duck out.

This is the small Vitapod  560 x 560 ish ,available from quickcrop.ie or greenhousesensation.co.uk. I,m using it for germination of heat loving seeds before they are moved to the green house. Worth the investment.

Thermostat controler

Inside a small probe is placed into the soil within the seed tray.and this temperature can be controlled. For the domestic scale it’s the business.

Germination on the shelf in the green house.

Potting up the yacon untill the weather heats up.

Planted out 4 Jerusalem Artichoke at home last week at 2 foot spacing  at 6 inch depth and a few in the perrienal bed in work. This will grow to 2 metres and may need support if exposed.

Sowing soapwort and Stevia.

Sweet Marjorum

This is a pic from last week of the germinated tomatoes.

The same tomatoes this morning  they all germinated. In work we potted on 85 yesterday into 3 inch pots planting them with the leaves just above the compost surface. We placed these in shade to prevent them wilting while they take. The peppers here did’nt all germinate.

After fiddling about with different ways of supporting peas with mixed success I,m going for timber post and chicken wire this year. Three sucessive sowings from late March ( covered), April and May each about 6 foot long. These supports are for second early Hurst Green shaft. The wire will be fixed after they have been direct sown in a shallow trench at 2 inch spacings staggered..

This is the “golden gark” mentioned in the last post. It’s brilliant and really well made.

Rake

Spade and sieve

Exciting times and great weather too.

Hot composting using coffee grounds

Recently I have been adding coffee grounds to my compost heaps and garden beds. Spent grounds have a ph of 6.5- 6.8 ideal for vegetables.Fresh grounds have a ph of 5 but most of the acid is removed when brewed. The grounds provide a source of slow release nitrogen as the worms and soil bacteria consume them. P , k and other elements are immediately plant available.

Here I have spread some grounds around garlic. When used in this way an occasional sprinle is sufficient. Coffee grounds can be had for free from places like starbucks etc usually in little bags or if your lucky they will give you the larger bag from behind the counter. Even so in a modest sized garden they won’t stretch very far. I have been calling into local coffee shops recently to see if I can get access to the brown bins filled with grounds daily . By law the coffee shop cannot store these grounds up for you as they must be removed for the usually health and safety concerns.

Yesterday I hit the jackpot so to speak when I found a coffee shop who were happy for me to take as much as I wanted any time from their recycling area. They fill 1 brown bin per day on average. Companies like enrich are developing new richer composts using these types of materials and will be selling this back to the general public. On a smaller scale at home one can do the same.

One of the upsides of living in an urban environment is the availability of resources. They are quite literally everywhere. The trick is to take only what you need.The bike shop, lidl and aldi provide sources of cardboard for mulching, no dig beds and carbon for composting, Most of the time they are only too delighted to give you some. Just ask at quiet times of the day. A stack of clean cardboard out in the rain is ready for when you have a lot of greens like grass clippings for your heap. Its similar to storing woodchips etc for compost use. In previous post I talked about how arborist are only too delighted to drop woodchips to your driveway as fuel cost rise.

Another fantastic source of carbon materials are pet shops. They change the sawdust and hay beddings twice a week where I source mine to prevent smells. If you live close by you can include a pickup within your routine.This material is still extremely clean just ask if they use strong chemicals in cleaning out the hutches. Some us a coloured edible cotton for some small animals but this composts. My local shop sets aside about 40 to 50 litres a week. Provided you don,t mess them about by not showing up it’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.

To break down the sawdust and hay I used this as bedding for the ducks within their enclosure. As I mentioned before its really clean ( 3 days old) I put fresh bedding in their house. Muck whats inside out ( ususally still very clean) and muck whats outside into a bucket to add to the compost heap. This way the material is already pre mixed with droppings and rained on. The bacteria will be working away on this. 

I put bits of cardboard in here too, they wont blow away in the wind and the rain softens them for easy tearing on bigger bits. The “golden gark” (rake shovel and sieve) is on it way to help with this job.

On saturday I gathered together materials to make a hot heap within a small composting cone. The materials are coffee grounds, sawdust bedding from the rabbit, and ducks bedding, spoiled vegetables , spoiled apple juice and handfull of soil. The cone was already half filled with “weeds” bedding etc.

Steps to achieve a hot heap.

1.It’s all about the layering then mixing( aerating) When I looked in the bin there was green material so I added browns. In goes the rabbit and guinnea pig droppings.

2.  This material has a high c:n ratio perhaps 400:1 so I need to now put a lot of “Greens” in. This means nitrogen and while we refer to this as adding greens they may not actually be green in colour which may cause some confusion. Better to think in carbon / nitrogen I think as some greens like grass when old and dry act as browns !!

mix it all up a bit .

4. After putting in the coffee grounds (nitrogen) I put in some torn up cardboard. As this is dry it needs to be moisened.

5. Next in a half bucket of spoiled veg.

6. Bedding material and coffee grounds.

7. More bedding from ducks enclosure.

8. More spoiled vegetables.

9. Some more coffee grounds.

10. Some more bedding material.

11. More coffee grounds

12. I now use this compost aerator to mix up the layers. The more mixed up the better.

13. Put the lid on and wait

The mix should have the moisture consistency of a damp sponge. You don’t want the water filling in all the air pockets within the materials. I have a compost thermometer on it’sr way so will monitor the heat buildup. It shoud take a few days to heat up and need aeration after a week. As the mix slumps I will add a little more materials to the mix repeating as per above and then at some point stop adding new material and allow the compost to mature. Building a heap in a short space of time is important for a hot heap. We turned a pile in work the otherday and it was beautiful. If you turn your compost once a week with a good mix it is possible to have compost in 12 weeks.

Sowing seeds etc

Friday the 28th of Feb was a warm morning and i could’nt resist sowing a little seed. The first number is how many seeds per cell.

1. 1. Ishikura Onion (spring onion) 10×4 cells multI sown from Stormy hall
2. Musselburough leek 2×12 cells
3. Tumbler tomatoes 2×4 cells Brown envelope (Outdoor bush variety)
4. Mexican midge tomatoe 2×4 ,Seedsavers (Outdoor bush variety)
5. Moneymaker 2×2 Brown envelope
6. Blackcherry 2×2 cells Brown envelope ( indeterminate needs sideshooting )
7. Brandywine 2×2 cells ( indeterminate needs sideshooting )
8. Amish salad tomatoe 2×2 cells, seedsavers ( in or out, indeterminate)
9. Aurora Tomatoe (Outdoor bush variety)
10. Mixed peppers 2×2 cells
11. Kale Toscana di nero , Stormy hall through Fruithill farm
12. Mix salad leaves 5 x4 cells
13. Rocket 5×4 cells
14. Fenugreek 1×4 cells

I don’t expect everything to germinate but if it does a little thinning will sort this.

I use old shoe boxes to organise the seeds into various sections making sowing quicker.

You can buy wooden plant labels that are slightly wider than lolly pop stick but cost a lot more. I used the lolly pop sticks 1000 for 8.50 euro and last years. They are not reusable in many cases as they take on moisture and rot depending on watering and use.You can get these from art and hobby shops or school book shops.

I use a piece of glass beneath the trays for cleaning up and a bit of board.

The method I use for sowing seed is as follows.

Decide what you want to sow based on  available space, time of year and successional sowing.Setup a little corner somewhere sunny with all the bits and pieces you will need.

Seed trays,pots, compost, pens and pencils, note book, reference books, labels, nearby watering can with very fine rose or a plastic bottle with holes in top and leveling stick.

1. Overfill your tray with compost. Break this up by rolling a sealed bag about to breakup any lumps or rubbing between you hands as you fill. You can use a sieve but this compost should if dry be quite fine anyway.

2. level with a piece of timber 2×1 inch is ideal, using a sawing action.

3. pick up the tray a few inches from table and drop it twice. This helps to settle the compost.The level will now have settle a few mm.

4. Using you fingers make a slight depression in the centre of each cell. The exact depth is determined by the seed size

5. Place some seed on the palm of your hand and drop them into the cells. For fine seed fold a  piece of paper place the seed in the fold and use a pencil  to tease them one by one to the edge and into the cell. For very fine seed you can also use a small piece of glass with a tiny water droplet to pick up the seed and transport to the cell where the water disolves into the compost releasing the seed into position.

6. Rub some compost betwen your hands over the seed and re level using the timber. For some seeds celery, lettuce for exampe they like light to germinate so don’t cover them.

7.Label the tray with the variety and date sown and keep records in a log book .

8. Lightly water the seeds using a fine rose or perforate plastic bottle and leave in a sunny possition. Make sure the can is fairly full and get the flow doing before quickly passing this accross the trays to avoid big drips and trenches.

We have sown leek, borage, lovage, tagetes, sunflower, kale, chives, parsley, spring onion. Expecting a delivery of seed in the next few days ,

The radish seeds we used to mark out the early nantes carrot rows  have come up in the last few days. We sowed the rest of the bed with nantes carrots.

Setting up the carrot drills using a piece of bamboo cane.

The wood chipper is very handy at turing the bulk of branches into a usable mulch for paths etc.

At home I don,t have outdoor power or a sunny south facing window cill inside ,so I bring a tray of the most heat demanding seeds in at night to a small heating matt. Depending on the weather I use a termo- hygrometer to decide when to place the tray on the shelf in the greenhouse. This has worked for me before.Once germinated I do,nt use any heat other than a propagator cover for particularly cold nights or bring in doors. Last night temps dropped to 5 degrees inside the greenhouse but its well into the mid 20s on a clear bright day at the moment.

The ducks have both started to lay in the past week as the temperature and light levels are increasing and I have notice the pak choi and salads are bolting.

I made this little covered feeding area for the duck food recently with a little pot of oyster shells sunken in to ground..

I moved the blueberries into pots as the soil is too alkaline here for them. Recently potted up some Oregano, Thyme, Lemon balm, Goji berrys.

I planted some summer garlic “flavor” was very dissapointed with the quality as I had to throw away most of the cloves. They were soft, sprouting and rotten. Hopefully I will get a refund for this.

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Finally I turned the compost heap and closed it up for maturation. I won’t be adding any new material to this pile. Got some posts for fixing up the pea supports.