|
Post by tod2 on Aug 30, 2020 13:01:16 GMT
Yes, you are so naughty Mossie! Many of us don't bother with such restrictive paraphernalia in our old age…...
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Aug 30, 2020 13:31:20 GMT
Wow! I am so very impressed with the neat and tidy raised brick beds you have going on there Tod!! That's what I want. And, an irrigation system to boot!! Is it set with a computerized box, timer and all? I helped put on in at a client's garden years ago. Part of the process entailed having to drive a pipe under a concrete sidewalk. This woman was a slave driver but, she did have a lot of redeeming qualities too. (she's the one who coronated me the "Potato Queen".) Bless her heart. I was sorry when she moved away to California. Palo Alto I believe.
This week I am going to start my seedlings of our cool season vegetables. They are much easier than the springtime/summer vegetables. Aside from being cooler, there is far less pestilence to have to deal with and of course rot. At present there is nothing to harvest in the vegetable garden. Only herbs.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Aug 31, 2020 11:21:04 GMT
Casimira we built those when we built the house. I don't know why or how their raised construction came about because I was still in my thirties. Must have seen into the future at the time…… No, the irrigation for the potatoes is manual at the moment. And that means turning it on, sitting on a wall and watching until you are satisfied all have had sufficient water….takes about 10 min. I was wondering why your gardening lady put a pipe under a concrete area? Damn hard to find out where a leak was. Unless under the concrete was the shortest way between two areas.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Sept 1, 2020 14:47:43 GMT
Yes, it was unavoidable as it was the only route to take it to the other flower beds. It was only the two of us who did this ambitious project. She put it on a computerized timer system, that part I let her handle. It would go on the fritz from time to time but overall it was a very sophisticated set up. I wish more of my clients had done the same. I spent more time watering when I had that job than I did anything else. Not much money to be made having to spend maybe an hour at each job during a drought when these people had enough money likely under their sofa cushions to put in a decent watering system. It was so very annoying and frustrating.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Sept 12, 2020 11:21:58 GMT
I was able to harvest some ikibana eggplants yesterday and found some baby pumpkins underneath some vines.
We are in for a lot of rain in the coming days so, I will be able to do some easy weeding afterwards. Goodness knows it needs doing. I want to prep my beds for fall cool season vegetables. Mostly greens; mustard, collard, turnip. Some radishes and carrots.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Sept 28, 2020 14:29:53 GMT
This is the first time we have ever grown onions. As sugested by YouTube gardeners, we planted them in bucket containers. So far it looks like they are doing OK, but when do I know when to harvest them? Must the greenery die off first. Then I heard about "hardening" the outer skin but its hellish hot now so maybe just eat them?
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Sept 28, 2020 15:56:01 GMT
The only onions I grow in containers are spring onions (scallions?) simply because they germinate poorly in the ground.
The main onion crop is grown directly in the ground from sets (tiny immature heat treated onions) and are left until the leaves fall over and start to brown when I lift them. I then spread them out on the greenhouse floor to dry off and harden.
I think you might do better to treat your onions like large spring onions. You can always get that sort of onion in Spain and I'm going to try to do that next year.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Sept 29, 2020 13:48:00 GMT
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 1, 2020 11:49:46 GMT
That way of growing tomatoes is not a very well known tip but I found out about it this year from YouTube. So I tried it. Mine did not 'take'. I haven't tried it again but maybe now is the time. Tomato growing is like potato growing in that they both have : tomatoes that are: "Determinate" ( grows, flowers & fruit appears, then dies) and "Indeterminate" ( grows, but keeps flowering and producing fruit until the growing season ends, then it dies) - And potatoes: " Determinate - grow on one level forming fruit, or Indeterminate that grow and make fruit above and below the seed potato. All this fascinating information gathered from vegetable growers mainly in the UK. Now for the disappointment of the day: My husband pulled out a carrot from the first lot of seed planted and was horrified to find the darn thing looked like 'The Hunchback of Natre Dame'!! The compost had been sifted until it resembled fine coffee granules to avoid bendy carrots. I think because they are so close together, it has grown around another close carrot. Nothing you can do about that except plant them very parsley I guess.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 1, 2020 13:15:21 GMT
Still tastes like a carrot though. Bit confused by that second paragraph.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 1, 2020 14:00:32 GMT
Oh sorry Mick - About the tomatoes and potatoes? It has taken us quite a few gardeners to explain this phenomena, and then it can actually get more complicated as to how one can manipulate the plants and planting methods! Dozens of gardeners with their YouTube channels explain several methods of planting with expertise on specific vegetables.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 1, 2020 15:25:30 GMT
Oh sorry Mick - About the tomatoes and potatoes? It has taken us quite a few gardeners to explain this phenomena, and then it can actually get more complicated as to how one can manipulate the plants and planting methods! Dozens of gardeners with their YouTube channels explain several methods of planting with expertise on specific vegetables. I think it's making a relatively easy subject too complicated. There are 2 types of tomato, bush and cordon. Bush are as they sound with multiple growing points. They can take up a lot if space and many tomatoes get hidden. Cordon are kept to one growing point by removing side shoots and tying in to a support. Trusses of tomatoes grow up the stem and you keep it growing as long as your weather allows. That's it!
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 1, 2020 16:03:25 GMT
Mick, we are only just starting out and are hungry for any information gardeners can share. I have never heard of Bush or cordon tomatoes until now. I'm sure its just terminology that's different to each gardener. The way you explain it sounds exactly like "determinate and indeterminate" varieties of tomato.
This is how this expert explained it to me, besides Tony O'Neill its his lovely Welsh lilt!
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 1, 2020 16:57:47 GMT
The video was pretty much ok but it's how to grow in California. Bit different outside in the UK!
Who's Tony O'Neill?
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 2, 2020 7:46:24 GMT
Mick this is Tony O'Neill the allotment gardener in Wales. He has numerous videos on gardening and bee keeping .
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 2, 2020 9:34:07 GMT
He grows in polytunnels so not much for those of us which grow in the open. He's not entirely right about bush tomatoes flowering and then stopping. In years with exceptional late summer weather I have had them start up again but that is the exception rather than the rule.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 2, 2020 10:04:34 GMT
Oh no Mick - He has a huge allotment and grows a variety of vegetables, fruit trees and so on. I agree the tomatoes are inside a polytunnel but if I was in the UK and had that facility I'm sure I would use it. I think his tunnel is closer to our warm weather conditions with heat and sun. What a bonus having your tomatoes giving you a long fruiting! I wonder if ours will. So far we have no luck with tomato growing so am growing them out in the garden and in buckets so that I can take them under cover if need be. You will be the first to see any tomatoes that may appear!
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 2, 2020 10:31:28 GMT
Why would you need to bring them in tod? Your weather is far better than ours! Why not grow them directly in the ground? Makes watering so much easier.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 2, 2020 11:52:52 GMT
Mick the reason being we have the most dreadful thunder, lightning and hail storms. There is nothing we can do about the veg in the raised beds open to the heavens, but we can drag the buckets in under the patio roof and if there's a howling gale , can put them right up against the house wall under cover. It's already happened with three of our bucket potatoes. The leaves are turning yellow and we can see the potato plant is coming to an end after about 4 months. A threatening rainstorm would have flooded the plants and may start rotting the spuds if too wet. This is our third day of on and off rain and drizzle. Hopefully the newly planted spuds are managing outdoors.
We have about 2 dozen tomato plants growing all over the garden and are keeping our fingers crossed that they will get to produce some fruit before nature could wipe them out! I'll try and get some visuals to you when the rain lets up.
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 2, 2020 12:33:51 GMT
Good luck Tod x
I only have carrots and leeks still to harvest. I've already ordered some fresh vegetable seed for next year from D.T.Brown online. Still have plenty of old seed but I like to replenish every now and again. Also pre ordered my potatoes for next spring. This year they'd sold out of a lot of the stuff I wanted when I tried to order in January.
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Oct 2, 2020 12:56:53 GMT
Your weather is far better than ours! Until it's not Mick. Like in Zambia we usually didn't get that nice European drizzle/rain at all. Maybe once in a rainy season. When it did rain it was more often than not, a thunderstorm of often biblical proportions. Not unusual every day to see a tree brought down somewhere and roads inundated.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Oct 2, 2020 12:59:54 GMT
Not as good as I thought then. Tricky..,
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Oct 2, 2020 13:45:31 GMT
Mick, this is the 'normal/typical/average/every day' rain in the rainy season when there isn't a thunderstorm, so you can see what Tod means (Tod, similar for you?) - taken outside what was my back patio door. Your plants have to be somewhat robust -
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 3, 2020 15:31:41 GMT
Meanwhile in France, near Nice, a lot of vegetable gardens are certainly missing now thanks to Alex.
|
|
|
Post by mossie on Oct 3, 2020 18:16:40 GMT
Horrific
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Oct 4, 2020 13:33:28 GMT
Kerouac, I am confused by that video. Is it a river gone awry? I don't know the language so I can only make out a few words like "house" and a couple of others. I know this sounds stupid of me but...
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on Oct 4, 2020 15:52:38 GMT
Yes Mark, that is a typical downpour here but not the norm except for the thunderstorm months of Nov-Feb. There are lessons to be learned about house building and weather in various cases. In ours: I wanted a very high pitched roof. OK, looks good on paper but useless - unless you use the attic space which requires special trusses. We did not do that because we had no intention or desire to have a loft. Secondly, the concrete tiles weigh a massive amount and are water absorbent to a degree which can double their weight. Only when saturated to their max do they allow water to run off. And with the high pitch it runs darn fast.- so fast the normal house guttering cannot cope. Even then, we get leaves from the nearby trees blocking the downpipes so the downpour looks like a huge waterfall all around the house. We were young and stupid and had never built a house before. Talk about live and learn, but we are still here after completing 5 more houses for a speculative investment.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 4, 2020 19:58:32 GMT
Kerouac, I am confused by that video. Is it a river gone awry? Three different rivers north of Nice went on a rampage.
|
|
|
Post by casimira on Oct 5, 2020 16:10:34 GMT
That is really, really scary!! It reminds me of some of those movies made with Sally Fields and another with Jessica Lange about some river disasters in the Midwest US. And, also some footage I've seen of Hurricane Katrina of what happened when the levees broke.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Oct 6, 2020 19:10:05 GMT
|
|