The Vegetable Patch Mark 2

[MereDintofPandiculation]

A continuation of the thread for those of us growing edibles, to share triumphs and failures, swap expertise and solve problems

My experience with peat free is that it is pretty dismal and only improves with about 50% added something. For seeds I tend to sieve the peat free compost plus some of my own homemade compost and add a bit of perlite and that doesn't do too bad.

I look forward to when all the compost companies have put a bit more time and research into producing better quality material.

I couldn’t agree more about the lousiness of peat free compost. I fully appreciate the reasons for cutting back on peat extraction, but it irks me when the RHS, Gardener’s question time etc pretend it’s as good as the peat containing stuff. Although lately they have been admitting it doesn’t perform as well. Last year my aubergines and some herbs’ seedlings just failed to thrive in the stuff. I try and move them on ASAP to commercial compost mixed in with my home made kitchen compost and then into the ground when risk of frost has passed and there I add horse manure.

Oh dear! Just reading this and I have a summer fruiting raspberry and an autumn fruiting planted side by side. Could I dig the autumn one up and move it? When is a good time to do so? Thanks

It’s not that it doesn’t perform as well, it doesn’t even resemble compost! Last year, my first batch of tomato seedlings completely failed and I had to start again - not a single one germinated. This is unheard of, I usually get greater than 100% (for reasons that aren’t clear ).

Thanks to those who’ve responded. I don’t currently make my own compost, I’ll have to look into that, so if you can point me in the direction of an idiot’s guide, I’d be grateful! In the meantime, I’ll see what I can do with what I’ve got!

it irks me when the RHS, Gardener’s question time etc pretend it’s as good as the peat containing stuff.

Totally agree with this. They also then go on the add the same caveat I did which is that they add plenty of their own homemade material to make it perform.

The very point of buying compost - which is expensive and awkward to get home - is for those people or times when homemade is not feasible. So having to make up 50% again with something else rather defeats that purpose.

I do fully support not using peat but really look forward to them improving the offering! Though, as it's been clear for 10 years or more that peat-free was the future and no one seems to have developed anything decent yet that's widely available, I won't hold my breath

seeyouinanotherlife - i think now would be a good time as its pretty mild and they are dormant...maybe best to google and check. i would definately move one as you chop autumn raspberries down to the ground each winter and summer ones you take out the old stems that have fruited that year, leaving the others to fruit the next year. they are thugs, so i cant imagine you would kill them - i keep trying to but its really hard.

Compost:

For seeds, I buy coir blocks and mix it with anything else from the previous year that was bought in compost as it is less likely to have weed seeds in it.

For potting compost I make my own now. A mix of worm compost, tumbler compost, sieved compost bin compost and leaf mould. Plus I often half fill the bottom of pots with the loam I've now made from the turfs we removed and stacked to rot down.

Last year I didn't have to buy one bag for my plants, I used my own which is pretty good going being that I moved here in November 2021 so had none to start with. I got given one bag of absolute crap in exchange for some tomato plants, which got dried out [it was sopping and stinky] and used in pots. Later inthe year I bought one grow bag to try germinating spinach in, which worked well so I have now used that as my mix with the coir blocks I bought this week for the first batch of seed sowing.

Here in France there is genuinely zero decent compost so if I buy one I will only be buying through a local organic nursery which buys in bulk. It is more expensive but it makes you less careless with it.

In the UK I used to use Fertile Fibre, which was the best and expensive but again, worth it. Or New Horizon. Apart from that I'd stick with using grow bag compost, it does tend to be better quality than just bags of peat free.

There used to be a company who made peat free john innes mixes, which were superb but I'd not seen any for a fair while before I left. After Covid there wasn't any peat free so I had to buy 3 bags of peat stuff and I hated it. Which is basically why I decided to just pitch in, use my own and pull out any weed seedlings that grow from it.

Just remembered another compost that had good results, which was a bracken and sheeps wool one. Dalefoot is the manufacturer.

I could never use it as I am highly allergic to lanolin, and when they came to work [I used to work in a large organic place] years ago to show us the compost, even in the car park with an open bag of it my eyes were streaming and I started sneezing. So I couldn't use it or go anywhere near it.

The problem is, for decades the cheap option of peat compost has been the norm. It takes alot of actual input to make good peat free, and time to allow the materials to compost enough to be nutritious and not needing the nitrogen itself to carry on breaking down. So when you buy peat free and you can still see what the materials were [woodchip mainly], it uses the nitrogen that the plants need hence why the plants don't grow very well. I used to take it back if it had visible woodchips in it, and hence why so many bags have the corners opened by potential customers to see what is actually in the bag before lugging it home.

For many years I used Arthur Bowers New Horizon and found that to be good. It was coir based I think. But that’s not available now and I haven’t yet tried the current “best buy” which is Melcourt Sylvagrow.

When Covid hit, I was without compost, and it didn’t seem fair to ask a delivery driver to bring it, so I went over to using my own compost. For seeds, I sieve it first.

Hello - I'm new round these parts but finally have some land for edibles and have a question! Can I put autumn fruiting raspberries in now or is it best to wait a few weeks? If I put them in now do they need fleecing?

I'd put them in now a long as the ground isn't actually frozen.

Yes Sylvagrow was also good, I bought some from a local supplier around 2018 ish.

Yes autumn raspberries can go in now.

Thanks all - was planning to put them in this weekend but realised that I need4ed to clear a lot bigger area of couch grass beforehand so next weekend it is.

got my seeds for this year.

yellow pearshape again - they were awesome
plus some black nightshade cherry tomatos. they look nice in the description

will not go for cumcumbers this year, they are too temperamental for me.

I need to sort through what I've got to see if I need anything more.

I bought my seed potatoes last week - just doing Charlottes this year.

I have a team of lads here at the moment working on my kitchen garden. It's quite exciting. DH got fed up of looking out of the kitchen window at my allotment style mess and so they're prettying it up for me. Chunky raised beds and gravel going in rather than pallet collars and muddy pathways. I think he's overpaid but it will be nice to have it done. I did have to go out and rescue my bluebell bank though so I'm now going to have to dig the sods of bluebell laden turf in somewhere else and might not get flowers this year.

I've pricked out peppers, and sown some early tomatoes (remember I'm in France so a little earlier last frost date).

I have also pricked out mange tout beetroot, celery and celeriac seedlings. And will be sowing more mange tout, and a range of lettuces and other leaves this afternoon.

anyone else find seed companies getting stingy with seeds?

8 tomato seeds in a pack

Yes! Very stingy. It makes me very grumpy not to have a good number of seeds in a packet.

Honestly, unless they are very rare seeds, anything less than 20 is not acceptable (to me).

Exciting stuff! Going to sort potato seeds soon.

Has anyone done King Edward? Have some Cara but would like to try KE too.

My plans have been ruined due to needing urgent surgery in a few weeks (with a 6-8 weeks recovery). I am frantically trying to dig everything over ready to get potatoes and onions in but it’s hard work as some days I am not well enough. I have my raspberry canes in, started tackling the couch grass around my other fruit bushes and dug half of my smaller plot. I’m dreading what state it will be in when I have recovered. Maybe I’m better off just planting wild flower seed or a green manure over half of it? I was really hoping to have a good crop this year as last year was my first year and I didn’t get the 2nd plot until late in the season. Hoping for some dry weather so I can get more done.

We are getting our shed in a couple of weeks - that will hopefully be transformative. Anyway my seedlings are not yet dead. And potatoes are chitting.
The red onions I bought at the same time are sprouting in the bag - do I pot them up into small pots? Or wait to put them in when frost danger passed - that will be ages though.

Sorry to hear about your upcoming surgery @Lovemusic33 . That’s a bummer especially at this time of year. Can you lay thick cardboard over clear or weedy areas to stop further weed growth and weaken the existing stuff? Do you have access to horse manure, which you could put in top of the cardboard, and around the fruit bushes ( if it’s well rotted) to suppress weeds. I put it around my blackcurrants. Unfortunately the council has stopped delivering it to our allotment site so I have nothing to put around my raspberries and the couch grass is reigning supreme there.

I did king Edward but they were always quite small, except on the year I grew them in soil where I’d dug in winter mustard. Then they were great, apparently spuds after mustard is a winner. One of the old boys told me king edwards are always small on the plot. Maybe it’s the clay soil. I do a lot better with Charlottes.

I managed to get a bit done on the allotment today, hoping I can get potatoes in before my surgery. Couch grass is driving me nuts. I got my plot last year and did no dig, a small part of plot I used manure from the communal pile on the allotment and that’s the part that has the most couch grass, I think the manure wasn’t rotted enough and contained grass seed? The rest of the plot I covered with spelt compost and it’s only got a dandelions and a few other weeds growing on it (a small amount of grass). My other plot is dig and luckily I dug it over in autumn so it’s only the tiny new weeds that need removing before I can plant.
I think I’m going to plant peas the weekend before my surgery and just get my mum to water them, hopefully by the time they are ready to plant I will be more mobile and be able to get dd to plant them with supervision.
I think I will be planting a lot of squash and pumpkins later in the year to fill the gaps.