Your Veg Seed Sowing Plan

 There are quite a few things that you have to take into consideration when deciding what vegetables you are going to plant, things like:

The soil

how big your garden is

Food value

Food storeage for winter use

What your land can grow

What you and family will eat

Frequently it is feasible to alter the soil to the crop, but often it is  better to adapt the crop to the soil. 

A rich loam will support nearly all of the vegetables and produce good crops.  On the other hand, a thin, sandy soil which has not been suitably fertilized is only really good for such crops as bush beans, beets, swiss chard, tomato, and New Zealand spinach. Of course other crops can be grown on such a soil, but not very well. Potatoes, on the other hand, like a sandy soil, however the soil must be well fertilized.

You will find that Heavy clay soil will grow good cabbage, kale,maize,

parsnips and rhubarb. If you have a shallow soil, do not try to grow any roots.

If you do not have a big garden, do not bother with potatoes, for they will take up too much room.

It is far better to focus on smaller vegtatbals like: bush beans, radish, beets,chard and salad crops, for the smaller garden.

 What is really limiting is shaded ground. Most  vegetables need sun   for most of the day. The kinds which are grown for their leaves are more satisfactory in a shady garden, and if the soil conditions are favorable the following may be tried: beet, cabbage, lettuce, and Swiss chard. 

A few thoughts on soil:

 

If the land has not been used before find a competent grower to check it out. Such people are usually available in any community.

In case that such a person is not possible, take a look around. If there is grass growing it will be alright for growing vegetables. Dig a few holes, if you come up with a few old tins and broken glass, it is not safe for growing. If you find that the top soil is thin, like no more than a couple of inches, then it will be no good for growing. 

  Good top soil should be dark in colour due to the presents of humus and at least eight inches in depth.

You do not want any large stones or to be over looked by a rocky ledge.

A good idea to test the soil for lime, you want to aim for 6.5 or there about.

Best to apply lime in the autumn. The soil will need lime because it makes plant foods soluble. Never let lime come in contact with cow manure because it could make ammonia in the form of gas which will cause the fertility to be lost.

Braking up the soil to a good depth will give the soil a greater water holding  ability. This is a very point because of the fact that plants have to take all of the food substances that they obtain from the soil in solution. It provides a greater bulk of soil in which the plant roots may ramify in search of food. The less fertile the soil the greater is the necessity  of digging deep, because the looser the soil the further down the roots can go making them less likely to succumb during a dry spell.

Do not dig during hard frost.

If it is a new bit of land that you are working, begin by removing large stones and rubbish that may be on the surface.

Get the land as-fine as you can by raking.

Double digging is a great way to open up new land: A trench should first be dug a foot or eighteen inches wide and a foot deep, provided that the topsoil goes down that far. 

The soil from this trench should be placed on one side so as to be accessible for filling in the last trench when digging is finished. 

When you opened the first trench, proceed with the digging, turning each spadeful of soil bottom up in the trench. The soil can be turned over with greater ease and more efficiently by always maintaining a trench when digging. It is the only way by which sods, manure, and weeds may be properly buried so that they may decay and form plant food.

How to Improve Clay Soil

  How to improve Clay:

First off, this is hard work and the more solid clay your clay is, the harder the work.

Clay soils are immensely improve by adding organic matter and this organic matter is best supplied in the form of strawy stable manure. The more the better. Only apply in the autumn and dig in as deep as you can.

If you cannot get hold of stable manure, leaves, sand,or any other animal manure is good. The idea here is to break up the solid clay and get as much other fiber in amonsg the clay. 

Over years, and I do mean years, the clay will break down. As mention above, it is very imporant to dug in the autumn with clay soil and leave it, hoping for a long winter of hard frost to break it down.

The main way to improve swamp soils is to get rid of the water. In many cases, this will be easy said then done. Doing so will depend on the local circumstances.

In my case, I raised the soil two feet and keep topping up with compost which I get from Oxfords schools and college. I move tons every year and in my case; free. 

How to improve Sandy Soils:

 How to improve Sandy Soils:

It will be remembered from my earleyer post that Sandy Soils greatest drew back is its un-ability to hold moisture.  The best way to deal with this is to add as much organic matter as you can, doing so will increase the of the soil to withhold water.

The foremost way to do this is to add farmyard or stable manure, what we in the UK call “muck”. Do this in the autumn.

If you are not able to obtain any muck, then collect leaves and pile them up to decay. I leave my heap of leaves for a year before I apply to my beds, the reason is very little action takes place during the winter months because it is too cold, decaying taking place during the warmer weather.

If you have not got the room or the time to make a heap of leaves, you can dig the leaves into your bed as you collet them, it will not be so good but better then nothing.

because I live in Oxford, I have access to some of the collages where they have huge grounds and are very glad to have somebody to take their leaves. It might be worth your while to have a word with your local street cleaners who will, I am sure, will be only to glad to help them out. 

Liming sandy soils will be helpful, because the lime will bind the coarse particles together. Also compacting the sandy soil with a roller is a  excellent horticultural.

Soil Types

 Most vegetables like to grow in sunshine to mature, however most of us cannot choose if our gardens or plots are north or south facing. 

The perfect garden is not over shadowed by tall buildings or have large trees on or near them. Trees will rob your soil of moisture as well as goodness, which your growing vegetables will need.

The most important element on your plot is the soil. There are several types of soil which vary in their natural aspect and chemical composition.

Sandy soils: dry out quickly, warm earlier, which means this type of soil can be made ready and planted up sooner then any other. However, on the downside, this type of soil will dry out in a hot summer and will need a lot of building up to maintain a natural fertile growing soil.

Clay soils are very cold and dry out very slowly, which means late sowing, however in the summer, because of their water holding ability they will hold moisture longer then sandy soils.

Clay soils are very difficult to work and in a very hot spell, will crack and do not have a good structure to feed and grow vegetables.

Peat soils are good because they are mostly made up of organic decayed matter, they are, however, deficient in minerals. With the right management this type of soil can be made to grow great crops, particular of onions and celery.

Loam is the best soil, a natural mixture of clay and sand, together with decayed organic matter. Loam is very easy to work, deals with water and air in such a way as to grow good crops because plant foods are soluble and available for your plant.

Days from Seed Sowing to 1st Pick

 I have come across a book about gardening during the First World War and it had this chart in it, which I assume is more or less right today:

Approximate number of days from seed-sowing to first picking of crops. Variation is caused by temperature and character of variety—early, midseason, or late.

Approximate number of days from seed-sowing to first picking of crops. Variation is caused by temperature and character of variety—early, midseason, or late.

Beans (bush)	45	to	65 days
Beans (pole)	60	”	80 ”
Beets	60	”	80 ”
Cabbage (early)	95	”	120 ”
Cabbage (late)	100	”	130 ”
Carrots	75	”	110 ”
Cauliflower	100	”	130 ”
Celery	125	”	150 ”
[5]Chard	60	”	80 ”
Corn (sweet)	60	”	100  ”
[5]Cucumber	60	”	80 ”
[5]Egg-plant	125	”	160 ”
Kale	100	”	120  ”
Kohlrabi	60	”	80  ”
Lettuce	65	”	100  ”
[5]Muskmelon	115	”	140 ”
[5]Okra	90	”	100 ”
[5]Onion (seed)	130	”	150 ”
[5]Onion (sets)	90	”	120 ”
If “sets” are planted for use as bunch onions they are ready in about 40 days.
[5]Parsley	90	to	100 days
Parsnips	125	”	150 ”
Peas	45	”	80 ”
[5]Peppers	120	”	150 ”
Potato (Irish)	80	”	140  ”
Potato (sweet)	100	”	130 ”
Pumpkin	100	”	130  ”
Radish	25	”	50 ”
Salsify	125	”	150  ”
Spinach	30	”	60 ”
[5]Spinach New Zealand	60	”	70 ”
[5]Squash (summer)	60	”	80 ”
Squash (winter)	125	”	130 ”
[5]Tomato	100	”	125 ”
Turnip	60	”	80 ”

[5]War Gardens A Pocket Guide for Home Vegetable Growers Author: Montague Free

Wise Rats

 I have been looking at ways to get rid of rats, because they are now wise to my traps, which I have been using for the last three years.

In those years I have caught: 53 1st year/ 84 2rd year/ 24 third year. This year, to date I have caught 4. The problem is, the rats have got to sharp. They take the bait without getting caught or leave it alone.

So I am going to try three methods:

Buy some instant potatoes and spread it around the rat hole.They should eat the potatoes flakes which will swell up and kill them.

Mix Plaster of Paris with cocoa or chocolate poweder and feed to the rat. As soon as they drink water they will die.

Put peppermint stems down their hole to make them move house.

Garlic Tea for Rats

 I am still looking for ways to get rid of rats from my plot.

What I am trying at the moment is spraying garlic tea around their holes. I just take a few bits of garlic and boil it and them spray around their holes.....It seems to work.

Taunton Dean Kale

 Taunton Dean is a tasty, beautiful and diverse kale and the best thing is that it is a perennial. Its adapts to both winter and summer conditions; and its purple tinge deepens as the weather gets cooler. A perfect plant for the allotment garden. What more could you ask for!

Only problem is......Getting hold of of some. I cannot find any for love or money.

Anybody know where I can get some please, just leave a note on this blog.

Thanks