Today I will mostly be growing

Today I will mostly be thinning cabbages and pulling out my mini leeks which have sucumb to greenfly.

Cabbage Plot 2

Before Thinning (Wk 38 28.12.07)

After Thinning (Wk 40 12.01.0

My cabbages showed signs of whitefly which is a good time to create some space in the plot by thinning so that the pests don’t infect all plants. I thinned and destroyed the ones that had whitefly. Thinning also encourages growth as we will see in a few weeks time.

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Today I was mostly concentrating on sowing in Plot 3. I pulled out the summer lettuce which was running to seed, raked over the bed and sowed 2 small rows of ‘The Sutton’ Broad Beans. This dwarf variety is particularly good for the smaller garden, as it doesn’t require as much staking as other taller varieties.

I also sowed some Pea First Early Douce Provence Seeds in a small quarter in Plot 3 as well.

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Sunday 14th October 2007

Today I was mostly cutting down my runner bean mountain.

It has come to the end of the runner bean producing cycle. The beans left on the plant are stunted, yellow and are showing no signs of fattening up anytime soon so this has forced me into cutting down the structure to make way for my broad beans (Sutton variety) and overwintering peas (If I ever get them as they are currently floating around the postal system somewhere).

As the beanstalks had curled themselves around the canes, the best way I saw to remove them was to cut the plants off at the base of the plant near the bottom of the cane and then cut the stems near the pole going upwards and pulling off the plants.

I have left the runner bean roots in the ground so they can fix all the nitrogen and give the soil a nutrient boose overwinter. The roots are doing the hard work for me otherwise I would have had to dig more manure into the bed for next years veg. Its all very clever really.

Whitefly Pest News

Cabbages
I am still quite concerned about my holey cabbages, I have found fewer green caterpillars on the plants this past week but now I have a problem with whitefly and it is all over the backs of the leaves.

Carrots and Turnips
The whitefly is now congregating on my carrot leaves and on the underside of my turnip leaves. This pest is becoming a real pain to deal with by picking off by hand.

Solution
I went through the plot picking off and squishing whitefly and now I am trying an organic solution which I have seen on a few forums now. I have put a 2 squirts of washing up liquid into my 7 litre watering can and stirred well. Then watered over the affected plants in plot 1 and 2. I will keep you posted if this worked or not.

Mini Vegetables

Heres my mini vegetable feast:

I had estimated my carrots to be ready to harvest this week but when I picked one out of the ground I realised they were no where near ready. I don’t think I calculated the harvest date correctly and definately didn’t take into consideration the less light and heat at this time of the year! So I picked a few turnips and a radish to add to my mini veg harvest. Just think, in a top restaurant these slim pickings would be used in a gourmet meal!

Please see below for pictures of the current status of my 3 plots.

This week I will mostly be harvesting yet more runner beans! and plenty of tomato’s.

My tomato plants dispite looking very dishevelled because I have occassionally forgotten to water them are still producing a harvest of red and yellow fruit.

My Maris Peer xmas potatoes have loved the recent warm weather and have shot up above the pot with just 3 weeks of growth. I have now earthed them up with compost to the top of the pots.

Crops Progress

• Mini Leeks - 10 weeks growth and growing strong as they are protected behind the chicory. Estimated Harvest Date: 27 Oct after 15 weeks growth.
• Chicory - 10 weeks with lots of leaf growth and no slugs!…. yet. Estimated Harvest Date: 13 Oct after 13 weeks.
• First sowing of Autumn King 2 Carrots - 10 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: 13 Oct after 13 weeks.
• Second sowing of Autumn King 2 Carrots - 3 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: 17 Nov after 13 weeks.
• Turnip (Atlantic) - 3 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: 27 Oct after 8-10 weeks.
• Pak Choi - 3 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: 17 Nov after 13 weeks.
• Cabbage - Advantage (spring greens) - 3 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: December after 20 weeks.
• Cabbage - Spring Hero - 3 weeks growth. Estimated Harvest Date: April/May 2008

Reminder of Cold Weather on the way.

After watching BBC1’s Countryfile on Sunday I saw the temperatures over the UK would be tumbling this week which reminded me to buy some fleece. I bought some Horticultural Fleece for the vegetable plot and my potato buckets 3m x 6m for £5.28 incl P&P from Ebay seller ‘All Seasons Gardener’.

Below are the Week 23 picture updates of my 3 vegetable plots.

Week 21 02.09.07 - This week I will mostly be growing…

• Sweet Baby Peppers Sown 31.03.07 have been very slow growing this year but as you can see from the photo growth is finally speeding up.
• Mini Leeks (8 weeks growth),
• Autumn King 2 Carrots (8 weeks growth)
• Chicory (8 weeks growth)
• Turnip ‘Atlantic’ (1 weeks growth)
• Pak Choi ‘Riko F1′ (1 weeks growth)
• Lambs Lettuce ‘Jade’ (1 weeks growth)
• Radish ‘French Breakfast’ intercropped with the chicory (1 weeks growth),
• Runner Beans ‘Red Rum and White Lady’ (still harvesting daily - Week 17 growth),
• Tomato ‘Roma, Tornado and yellow bell’ (still harvesting every few days)
• Xmas Potatoes ‘ Maris Peer’ (1 weeks growth in tubs).

Please click here to see a slideshow of the progress of my seedlings mentioned in the list above.

The pictures below show my 3 back garden vegetable plots on 02.09.07 Week 21.