Happy New Year and Master Plot Plan for 2009

Happy New Year to everyone!

I like the festive period off work because I always have enough time to sit down and plan what vegetables I’m going to grow in the next year and actually purchase the seeds online. I also can plough through the seed company catalogues and try and choose the best varieties for my vegetable plot.

I have also been looking at my plot and areas to improve on. I have reviewed the on/off haphazard cloche system of enviromesh held up with bamboo canes and then last year I tried to upgrade it to build-a-ball to make a cube cloche over the beds but that was a disaster as well. So this year I’m hoping for third time lucky and decided to do a ‘Geoff Hamilton’ special cloche and build it myself from 2 x 2 timber, water pipe and enviromesh covering, so watch this space for news of that project coming soon. To wet your appetite for this project, here’s a garden blogger who has already had ago at this method.

My New Years Resolutions for my vegetable plot are:

1. Buy a cheap compost bin.

I have been growing veg for 2 years now and in that time I keep thinking I could have a good supply of lovely homemade compost out of my garden and kitchen waste, so this year I’m actually going to do something useful with this waste!

2. Buy a water tank/butt.

Again for the last couple of years, I have seen hundreds of litres of rainwater pour off our workshop roof and make muddy puddles on our pathway for me to try and avoid them when maintaining my plot. This year we are going to put up guttering and a downpipe to fill up the water tank so I can water the garden and vegetable plots and not waste our money from using tap water from the water meter.

3. Remember to add Nemotodes to the plot in March before the new ground slugs hatch for the season and they eat my veg.
4. Come to terms with the fact that I cannot grow lettuce in my plots (because of the slugs) and grow it in planters instead.
5. Grow a new vegetable that I have never tasted before – this year it will be Kohl Rabi and Sweet Fennel.

Here’s my Seed List of what I’m going to grow this year:-
Plot 1

• French Climbing Bean – Cobra. Sow April – June, Harvest June to Aug,
• Runner Beans – Scarlet Emperor. Sow April / May, Harvest July – Sept,
• Runner Beans – White Embargo. Sow April / May, Harvest July – Sept,
• Pea – Cavalier. Sow Apr – July, Harvest June – Sept,

Plot 2

• Carrot – Nantes 2. Sow Feb – June, Harvest June – Oct,
• Carrot – Napoli F1. Sow Feb – June, Harvest June – Oct,
• Carrot – Chantenay. Sow March – June, Sow June – Oct,
• Carrot – Flakkee. Sow April – July, Harvest May – Oct,
• Carrot – Eskimo. Sow April – June, Harvest Nov – Jan,
• Swede – Helenor. Sow April – June, Harvest Oct to Feb,
• Fennel – Romanesco. Sow May – July, Harvest June – Nov,
• Kohl Rabi – Olivia. Sow April – June, Harvest June – Sept,

Plot 3

• Perpetutal Spinach – Leaf Beat. Sow April – July, Harvest July – Dec,
• Broccoli – Veronica F1. Sow April / May, Harvest July – Sept,
• Kale – Cavolo Nero. Sow April – May, Harvest Sept – Jan,
• Kale – Dwarf Green Curled. Sow April – May, Harvest Nov to April,
• Cabbage – Minicole F1. Sow March – April, Harvest Aug – Oct,
• Cabbage – Christmas Drumhead. Sow May – June, Harvest Oct – Dec,
• Cabbage – Vertus Savoy. Sow May – June, Harvest Dec – Feb,
• Spring Greens – Greensleeves. Sow July – Aug, Harvest Oct – April,
• Pak Choi – Canton Dwarf. Sow June – August, Harvest Oct – Nov,

Seeds to be sown in Planters/Pots

• Salad Leaves – Baby Leaf Salad Mix, Sow March – Sept, Harvest May – Nov,
• Salad Leaves – Finest Salad Mix. Sow March – Sept, Harvest May – Nov,
• Salad Leaves – Salad Bowl. Sow March – Sept, Harvest May – Nov,
• Leek – Siegfried (Giant). Sow March – April, Harvest Oct – March,
• Leek – Pandora. Sow March – April, Harvest Sept – Jan,
• Radish – Scarlet Globe. Sow March- June, Harvest June- Aug,
• Mange Tout – Ezethas Krombek Blauwschok, Sow March – April, H. June – Aug,
• Dwarf Beans – Tendergreen. Sow April / May, Harvest June – Oct,
• Dwarf Beans – Major yellow. Sow April / May, Harvest June – Oct.
• Potato – 2 Types – To Be Decided.

Please click on the below PDF documents to view my Plot Plans for 2009 (they can also be found on my Master Plan Page):

Plot 1 – Beans & Peas,
Plot 2 – Roots and Onions,
Plot 3 – Brassicas.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Happy New Year and Master Plot Plan for 2009

Sowing Now – Broad beans, peas, carrots, onion sets, spring cabbage plants and chinese cabbage

Today I have been mostly sowing and planting:

Plot 1
Last year this plot had roots and salads in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that legumes are going to be grown here instead.

1. Broad Bean ‘Super Aquadulce’ (2 rows and 3 rows spare to sow in Nov) Sow Oct – Feb, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
2. Pea ‘Meteor’ (2 rows) Sow Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
3. Parsnip ‘Countess F1′ (1 row) ready for harvest now to Nov from a sowing in February.

Tip for covering peas and beans:
I cover my peas and broad beans over-winter to protect them from the frost with enviromesh and horticultural fleece if snow is forecasted. I remove all covers in spring when flowers are forming so they can be pollinated by flying insects.

Plot 2
Last year this plot had brassicas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that roots and onions are going to be grown here instead.

1. Carrot ‘Nantes Frubund’ (1 row and 3 spare to sow in succession) – Sow Feb to October, Harvest April to November. Bought from Gardens4less.
2. Onion Set ‘Red Cross’ (3 rows) – Plant Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Marshalls Seed.
3. Spring Onion ‘Hardy White Lisbon’ (2 rows) – Sow June to Oct, Harvest July – Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Onion Set Planting Tip:
I planted my Onion sets out in a mound with just the tips showing, spaced about a hand width apart in the row. This was recommended by an allotmenteer at Joe’s Allotment on Gardener’s World. He said this was better for drainage and sun exposure. Pea sticks or canes have been placed over the bed to protect from birds and cats.

Click here to see Friday 10th Oct Episode of Gardeners World on BBC iPlayer.

Plot 3
Last year this plot had beans and peas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that brassicas are going to be grown here instead.

1. Cabbage ‘Greyhound’ plants – Plant Oct, Harvest April to May. Bought from Ebay.
2. Chinese Cabbage ‘Tatsoi’ ( 2 small rows) – Sow July to October, Harvest Sept to Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Tip on planting out cabbages:
Dig a small hole with a trowel, water the hole well, firm in plants with fingers and then firm in with heel of your foot. Cabbages require firm ground to grow in to support their stems and leaves.

And finally I harvested the last of the french beans and some parsnips for tea.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing Now – Broad Beans, Peas, Carrots, Onion Sets and Spring Cabbages

No Room in Plot for Runner Beans!

As you can see from the picture above, I have not left any room for my runner beans, big oops!

It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare this year as I’ve decided to grow new crops and haven’t quite researched the correct harvesting dates. I had planned to put the runner beans in Plot 3 after the broad beans and peas had finished their crops, however the broad beans and pea pods are only just forming in May and my runners are a week away from needing to go into the ground, doh!

Nothing came up out of the soil with my first sowing of brussels sprouts so luckily i’ve managed to squeeze my dwarf beans into the last scrap of space left so at least thats something.

Solution
I have decided to build another narrower raised bed plot just for the runner beans this year. This will be done next week so I can get then runner beans into the ground.

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• No Room in Plot for Runner Beans

Week 12 – 04.05.08 – Plot Report

The weather this week has been more favorable to gardeners with a mix of sunshine and showers. This is the perfect weather for seedlings to put on a spurt of growth and tender plants can be planted out without fear of frosts.

My lovely dwarf beans will be planted out soon on Plot 3. I’m growing varieties Ferrari (same as last year) and a new one – Borlotto. I can’t wait to see the mottled red and white pods on this variety. Then my runner beans won’t be far behind.

Below are some comparison photos of my plots so you can see the progress in just 2 weeks. The first picture is 2 weeks ago on 19.04.08 and 2nd is a current picture of my plots on 03.05.08:-

Week 8 – 5th April 2008 – Veggy Plot Progress Report

The weather was lovely and warm last week with temperatures higher than normal with the thermometers hitting 17 degrees on Friday 4th April 2008, I was happy thinking my seeds will finally get underway with their growing, until today Sunday 6th April where the temperatures dropped off the scale at a frustrating minus 2 degrees centigrade.

Heres a picture of my snowy vegetable plot:

Week 6 – 22.03.08 The Wind, Rain and Snow of Spring

Last week we endured the gale force winds and heavy rains, of which my mini greenhouse door snapped under the force of the wind and is currently being propped up. The heavy rain however did seem to help my peas, broad beans and cabbages put on a spurt of growth. I did manage to transplant a few of the tomato and calabrese seedlings that survived the onslaught of the weather and my clumsy handling.

I also couldn’t wait and sowed the rest of my tomato seeds last week and bought some more cucumber seeds (variety: marketmore) and sowed them as well.
Somehow in the wind I managed to tip up my tray of pepper seedlings, however I have saved most of them and sowed some more just in case the current ones don’t survive!

This weekend the wintery weather has continued with heavy snow showers here in Essex, it did settle briefly on my broad beans and then turned to slush.

Update on Raised Beds on Week 6