Red & BBs retirement home......

[sandbender]

Cheers, will do.

 

[British Red]

Not too much to report - been mainly dodging the rain!

However a couple of old fashioned tools in use may be of interest

A three tine canterbury hoe. Great for weeding, breaking up the soil, earthing up etc.


Canterbury hoe by British Red, on Flickr

Next my new favourite tool - a soil ridger - effectively a hand operated risging plough


Soil ridger by British Red, on Flickr

Lets see it in use planting seed potatoes

One of the joys of standard beds is pegs and string can be kept together to mark rows - just space appropriately for the crop - then coil up and put away


Marking out rows by British Red, on Flickr

Hook the ridger under the string


Setting ridger under string by British Red, on Flickr

Pull through the soil and the trench is made and the soil piled up neatly each side. Clearly this works best with light friable soil that you get in well maintained, uncompacted beds


Drawing the ridger by British Red, on Flickr

Remove the string and set the seed spuds


Seed potatoes set by British Red, on Flickr

Use the canterbury hoe to pull the soil over - done!


Waiting to grow by British Red, on Flickr

On an exciting note, I think this is our first top growth on the Oca


Oca first growth by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[santaman2000]

Looks great Red. Did you keep the seed potatoes whole? IIRC my Uncle used to cut them up (making sure that there was an eye in each piece of course)

 

[British Red]

Yes I did. I have no shotage of potatoes and I always worry about introducing disease or reducing tuber vigour when cutting. I know others do it and it works fine - its just not something I do

 

[santaman2000]

That makes sense to me. I was just wondering.

 

[lou1661]

Looks great Red, i do like to see how you are getting on. Its not the same on the internet as having a natter in the bowman though!

 

[British Red]

True enough mate - you could always pop up though - if the old Landy can make it this far

 

[lou1661]

True enough mate - you could always pop up though - if the old Landy can make it this far

i will have to take you up on that one day! By hook or crook will make it up

 

[British Red]

A few "minor updates on the garden".

We have rain - lots and lots of rain

Smiley? Well sure. Its massively inconvenient, but better than last year when we went seven weeks without rain of any sort in the Spring. That was really bad for the crops. So yes, dodging the rain and hoping for things to dry out to make a seed bed is bad - but the alternative is worse! I'm learning why farmers obsess about the weather now!

Here is an interesting crop that I have a small number of to try thanks to the kindness of a fellow gardener (take a bow slowworm ). Its "Yacon"


Yacon 13-4 by British Red, on Flickr

The Yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius, Syn.: Polymnia edulis, P. sonchifolia) is a perennial plant traditionally grown in the Northern and Central Andes from Ecuador to Argentina for its crisp, sweet-tasting tuberous roots. The texture and flavour are very similar to jicama mainly differing in that yacon has some slightly sweet resinous and floral (similar to violet) undertones to its flavor. This flavoring is probably due to a sweet substance called inulin, as replicates the sweet taste found in the roots of elecampane, which also contains this substance. Another name for the yacón is Peruvian ground apple. The tuber is composed mostly of water and fructo-oligosaccharides.

Commonly called "jicama" in Ecuador, yacón is sometimes confused with this unrelated plant. Yacón is actually a close relative of the sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke. The plants produces a perennial rhizome to which the edible succulent storage roots are attached, the principal economic product of the plant. The rhizome develops just under the soil surface and produces continuously the aerial shoots. Dry and/or cold seasons cause the aerial shoots to die back, but the plant re-sprouts from the rhizome in favourable conditions of temperature and moisture. The edible storage tubers are large and typically weigh a few hundred grams to one kg.

These edible tubers contain fructooligosaccharides, an indigestible polysaccharide made up of fructose. Fructooligosaccharides taste sweet, but pass the human digestive tract unmetabolised and hence have very low caloric value. Moreover, fructooligosaccharides have prebiotic effect, meaning that they are used by "friendly" bacteria that favor colon health and digestion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacón

Why am I growing this? Well, my "quest" this year is to make out own sugar, sugar syrup or sugar substitute. We are taking a three pronged attack

1) Grow Sugar beet. (More on this later)
2) Grow Yacon and process into a syrup. Yacon has no "calorific value" for humans (which can be a good thing for diabetics as a sweetener), but I see this as a "difference" not a problem
3) Learn to keep bees. BB and I are taking a course right now, with a view to establishing hives for productivity next year.

So - sugar beet. There are multiple potential problems here - not least propogation of seed in the UK climate.

The stuff grows well enough from established seed, but is not a native plant and can be hard to set seed from here. We are determined to try though.

We have bought in seed this year (from the US) and are experimenting with growing it. If we are succesful, we will kepp some tubers for propogation and seed saving.

So here is the story - I planted up a module tray on 17th of March. Not knowing how well it would germinate, I put about three seeds in per module. These have been kept in an unheated greenhouse


Sugar beet by British Red, on Flickr

This is the sight on 1st of April


Sugar Beet by British Red, on Flickr

Within a month (13th of April) - we had this


Sugar Beet Plugs 13-4 by British Red, on Flickr

Clearly germination is good. Should I ahve direct sown? Who knows? I'll certainly try that in future - its harder to understand what is happening when you direct sow though.

Extracting a seedling showed roots at least as deep as a module

Sugar beet seedling 13-4 by British Red, on Flickr

I'm a little concerned by this. What happens if the roots coil? Will this affect growth? They are too small to plant out.....

My "try lots of things" mind advised me to transplant some into much larger pots and try growing on both plugs and larger pot grown specimens.

So that's what we have done.


Sugar beet potted on 13-4 by British Red, on Flickr

I'll watch them develop and plant out into the "experimental" bed as they develop. I'll update you later on success & failure

Red

 

[santaman2000]

Looking good as usual. I haven't tried the yacon (TBH I hadn't heard of it until this post) but I have had the jicama. It's available in many grocery stores here now. It's quite good raw; just peel it and shred it into slaws or salads. I'd be interested to know how the yacon works out.

 

[udamiano]

This is one of the best threads I've ever read. It really is both informative and compelling, in seeing how your garden and house progress. A real good job there, keep it coming

 

[slowworm]

It's taken us a few years to get used to the yacon but it's certainly worth growing for it's huge, sweet easily storable tubers.

Looking forward to see how you get on with the sugar beat, that's something on our list to start growing.

Funnily enough our spring wheat turned up today, that's another first for us.

 

[British Red]

I've got a number of varieties of heritage long stem SPring Wheat on order mate - I'll happily send you some as a "thank you" for the swap if you like?

 

[slowworm]

Not this year thanks, I've got fresh blisters digging over a patch for the wheat we've got. (It's a Garden Organic trial, variety called Paragon). I'll be interest to hear how you get on with your varieties though, I recently bumped into someone who's also interested in growing their own wheat and they mentioned someone had successfully grown very old wheat seeds from old thatch...

I'm currently worrying about ergot though, living in a warm and wet area where it might thrive.

 

[British Red]

Right this is an old post about pruning gooseberries for fruit. I'm including it here because the post afterwards will cover how to propagate goosberries and it seems to make sense to keep them together

From 2008

I noticed today that the leaf buds are starting to open on my gooseberry plants

So I thought "time to prune that plant and show how I do it". Now I tried photographing the process on a big one - but to be honest its hard to see against the soil. However I picked up some cheap ones on sale recently that I want to pot grow so I've taken a few pictures of doing one of those.

First thing was to look the plant over

What was immediately clear was that a nurseryman had done a good job growing it already - notice the scar from previous pruning out of the middle?

However you can see that that central portion is starting to regrow. I want to achieve a "bowl shape" growth to let light and air into the middle of the plant, and to help get my hands in for picking - so the central growth had to go

Next any of the side growths that were growing back across the centre were pruned out

I also tend to take out any new branches that will cross other branches as they grow - I learned this pruning fruit trees - it keeps things nice and open.

As I said - I want to pot grow this guy so I knocked him out and was delighted with the root ball

Now that he's potted up, I hope the "open centre" is more apparent

Red

 

[British Red]

How to propagate a gooseberry bush.

Further to the "gooseberry pruning" thread, I thought it might be interesting to see how to propagate gooseberries. I love a gooseberry crumble - and BB makes a stunning gooseberry fool. They are hard to find in the shops - and expensive when you do. So, here, we decided to have a really good sized gooseberry patch (we should end up with two or three dozen bushes over time).

Wanting this amount, we have laid out a large bed at the edge of the property for gooseberries. Currently we grow extra seasonal veg in amongst the bushes until we can propagate enough bushes to fill the bed. I'm embarrassed to admit I have been too busy to weed the bed this year.


Weedy Gooseberry bed by British Red, on Flickr

Shameful I know

Well - I attacked it today with my favourite tool - a three tine Canterbury hoe

That tidied it up quickly


Hoed Gooseberry bed by British Red, on Flickr

It was nice to see though that our cabbages that we have inter planted will easily see us through "Spring Starving"


Cabbages 13-4 by British Red, on Flickr

Anyway, as I was hoeing, I noticed that a number of bushes we put in last year are ready for propagation. Note the flat side branches on this one


Gooseberry branching by British Red, on Flickr

To propagate a gooseberry, we want that side branch to root. The best way to do this is first to remove the outer bark. This can be done by gently scraping (not cutting) with a knife blade or just scratching with a thumbnail.


Gooseberry scratched bark by British Red, on Flickr

The scraped area of bark is then buried in the soil. You can peg it down - but I find a spadeful of soil does the job quite nicely.


Layered gooseberry by British Red, on Flickr

Now...wait for a year

Seems a long time, but every time you do this, you get a free gooseberry bush.

Now, I guess you don't want to wait a year for results - so here is one I did last year


One year on layered gooseberry by British Red, on Flickr

When we move the soil - gently - with a spade, we see the branch I buried last year


The joining branch by British Red, on Flickr

To create the new bush, cut through that branch in the middle with a sharp spade. Then loosen the soil around the new bush with a fork. Don't just dig up with a spade - the roots are fine.

This is what you get when you lift the end of the old branch


Roots on layered branch gooseberry by British Red, on
Flickr

See what I mean by fine roots?

What I'm trying to do is fill in the largest gaps between bushes - so I dig a hole much larger and wider than the roots.


Hole for new gooseberry by British Red, on Flickr

Now, here is my favourite planting medium for fruit "layers". A load of sieved garden compost, a handful of pelleted chicken manure and a small shake of moisture retaining gel. When I haven't got gel I add manure as it holds water


Compost, manure and water gel by British Red, on Flickr

To this I add about one third sieved sand to ensure that although moist, the soil drains well and avoids root rot


Sand in planting mix by British Red, on Flickr

Then, of course, mix well


Planting mix by British Red, on Flickr

Then I hold the new "layered bush" at the right height in the hole. I push in the planting medium and spread the roots through the hole.


Roots in mixture by British Red, on Flickr

The mixture is firmed in with a boot


Gooseberry firmed in by British Red, on Flickr

Finally water in well to prevent drying and remove air pockets


Watered in Gooseberry by British Red, on Flickr

There we have it - a free gooseberry bush, larger than you can buy, for about ten minutes work and a year of patience!

The bed looks much better now too


Finsished gooseberry bed by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[RonW]

Ehhhh looks very good, Red, but who's been attaching the bandaids and plasters now??
Here these berries' buds are just starting to turn green.....

 

[British Red]

Yep they are spiky things - keeps the birds off the berries though

One project I have yet to start is building a large fruit cage. I really want to undertake this next Winter. Big, old fashioned walk in fruit cages are amazing things - totally bird free with no hassle. Then I can grow the raspberries and Tayberries I want. We can't do blueberries or cranberries though Wrong kind of soil

 

[wattsy]

Yep they are spiky things - keeps the birds off the berries though

One project I have yet to start is building a large fruit cage. I really want to undertake this next Winter. Big, old fashioned walk in fruit cages are amazing things - totally bird free with no hassle. Then I can grow the raspberries and Tayberries I want. We can't do blueberries or cranberries though Wrong kind of soil

as far as blueberries go there's a substitute i grow on my allotment called juneberry (saskatoon in canada where it's from). dead easy to grow, no special soil requirements (will grow anywhere a gooseberry will), tastes pretty much the same as a blueberry but crops much heavier

 

[RonW]

Hello Wattsy, you have a latin name for us?
Makes it easier to search for...