Things to do in January and February

Things to do in January and February
If you haven’t already done so order your seeds, potatoes and onion sets.
You could be picking

• Parsnips, winter cabbages and spinach, leeks, and kale and Jerusalem artichokes.
• My brassicas have survived this year using environmesh- which is expensive but long lasting.
• 
  
• You could still be using stored potatoes and onions. Remember to rub the sprouts off the potatoes
  to keep them from going soft. Keep in a cold, dark frost free place.
  You could still be digging and clearing

• If you dig, now is the time to get as much done as possible but only when the soil is dry. Do not
  dig if the soil is clogging your boots or when frozen as you will bury wet and cold soil. If you are digging try to add some organic matter (compost or manure) to make it worth while. 
• 
  
• Try to keep soil covered when not being used to keep clear of annual weeds.
• Clear and store any Jerusalem artichokes soon as they will start to sprout.
• Cut autumn fruiting raspberry canes to the ground
• Clear and cover strawberry bed for an earlier crop.
• Cut back vines to 1 year old wood for fruiting this year.
• Prune apples to develop fruiting spurs
  If you have a weed covered plot TRY
  
  • Covering it carefully and go away for the season. You must anchor the cover down firmly and
    check it stays down. OR cut down all growth as low as possible and keep well mowed for a year. It will develop turf which you can strip and cultivate as you have time. Keep the rest regularly mowed and even the worst of weeds will disappear. Both these methods allow you to develop bit by bit whilst keeping the entire plot managed.
  • If you do not want to be organic use glyphosate on all weeds that appear in first 6 weeks. (Probably twice at three week intervals.) Then be organic forever.
    
    You could be sowing and planting
  • If you have some fleece or polythene cover the soil to warm it up for first sowings.
  • When the soil is warmed, (weeds start) it is worth trying some early sowings of peas, broad beans,
    beetroot and possibly some early lettuce and carrots under cover if February warms up well.
  • You can plant Garlic until end of February.
  • If soil is warm enough you could try some onion sets by the end of the month but cover to protect
    from birds
  • Replant a few Jerusalem artichokes
  • Start chitting early potatoes. Put them in trays in a light frost free place to develop little buds.
  • Plant rhubarb crowns or force existing beds by covering with a dustbin. You will get lots of early
    pink rhubarb but give the clump the season to recover.

Floods

Because of all the rain in the last two months here in the UK, my allotment has been flooded from the river Thames.

The water is very nearly knee deep. I know that this will leave a mess and will take a time to clear up. Giving me more work to do.

My first job to do is pruning my apple trees and fruit bushes. I have also noticed that the roof felt is starting to tear, so I must also replace that. The old one has been there for nine and half years, so it has done well, really.

Blowing Sprouts

I normally grow Brussels Sprouts. Because I like them and are very much into winter veg.

In my view nothing like  a row of Brussels Sprouts in my Winter garden.

This year they looked happy and were growing strong until about a month ago when the ‘buds’ started to appear. 

Not tight little round balls ready for harvest but mini-cabbages glued to the side of the stalk.

This is called ‘blowing out’. Instead of staying compacted the sprouts open up like, well like ermm.. 

 This is not what I expected to see. So why did this happen? 

Is my soil not right? Did I plant them too close together? Should I have fertilised them? What?

There could be a few reasons.

Soil too Loose

I suspect the main reason is that I didn’t firm them in hard enough.

 Brussels, like Cauliflowers like to be snug so the soil needs to be firmed before planting and pushed in (with your foot) all around the plant.

I confess I didn’t do that. Brussels Sprouts get quite tall and when they rock in the wind their roots can snap resulting in ‘blowing out’.

Soil Too Acidic

Brussels Sprouts (like many Brassicas) will fail if the soil is too acidic. I am aiming for a pH of 6.5-7.5 so lime the soil to correct it. 

So… you live and you learn. That’s what I love about vegetable growing. And, armed with this kind of knowledge, there’s always next year!

Johnson

I hope that after a rather nasty election campaign, on all sides, and years of parliamentary deadlock, we can all start to heal wounds and get back to some kind of normality. Whatever that is!

Yes, I would say that whichever party had won.

Politics, both here and abroad, has become vicious.

 So it is my hope that a calmer, more consensual form of politics can emerge now.

I call for more cross-party discussions and less cross-burning demonisation.

Bolting in Vegetables

Bolting in vegetables 

Bolting is the term applied to vegetable crops when they prematurely run to seed, usually making them unusable. A cold spell or changes in day length initiates this behaviour. It can affect a wide range of vegetables including lettuce, spinach and fennel.

Quick facts

Common name Bolting

Plants affected Annual vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, and biennial vegetables that as onions, leeks, carrots, fennel and some of the cabbage family

Main causes Cold spells, changes in day length, prolonged dry periods

Timing Usually seen on crops which are approaching maturity 

Cause

Bolting is triggered either by cold spells or by the changes in day length through the seasons. Although bolting is only seen on crops approaching maturity, it is initiated much earlier.

Annual crops will flower naturally in the first year, whereas biennials do not usually flower until the second. In annual crops, bolting occurs before they are ready to gather and, in biennials, when an over-wintering organ (carrot roots for example) flowers before the winter.

Annual crops

Annual crops sensitive to photoperiod (how many hours of daylight received) include lettuce, some radish cultivars and spinach. They are long-day plants, which initiate flowers when day length increases. It is a natural progression for spring-sown annuals to run to seed as summer progresses, but this can happen prematurely under the influence of stress or day-length.

Biennial crops

Some biennial crops (which grow in the first year, flower in the second) such as onions, leeks, carrot and beetroot can initiate flowers in the first year. This is due to unsettled weather conditions early in the season and usually occurs after a prolonged cold spell, often during the propagation phase. Cold nights, hot days and late frosts may also contribute to premature initiation of flowering.

Control

Sowing times

With cold-sensitive plants, sowings can be delayed until temperatures are more stable. This strategy is advisable for endive and Swiss chard 

Alternatively, for early crops of vegetables such as onions, beetroot and kohl rabi, plants can be raised in modules in a greenhouse and planted out when temperatures are warmer, or they can be directly sown under cloches or horticultural fleece to provide additional warmth 

Spring cabbages, which are always quick to bolt in spring, should be sown around 20 July (one week earlier in the north and one week later in the south). Although such crops will still run to seed in spring, they will bolt later than crops sown earlier, while later-sown crops may be too small to survive winter 

Successional sowings will also help to achieve a constant harvestable supply if the season is changeable 

To prevent bolting in Chinese cabbage and other oriental brassicas, these crops should be sown from July onwards 

Vegetables such as radicchio, Florence fennel, and oriental greens bolt when the nights become warm – on average above 10-13°C (50-55°F)

Soil conditions

Annuals will inevitably flower but good growing conditions will encourage rapid growth and formation of a usable portion (lettuce hearts, for example) and so an adequate crop should develop before flower production  

Dry soil can also encourage bolting, particularly with cauliflower, rocket and spinach. Careful watering can avoid this 

For over-wintered onions, bolting can be suppressed by topdressing with 70-100g per sq m (2-3oz per sq yd) of nitrogen rich fertiliser in January

‘Bolt-resistant’ cultivars

Gardeners can grow specially-bred cultivars that are resistant to bolting, such as ‘Boltardy’ beetroot. These are useful for early sowings of annuals, such as spinach, and for sowings of biennials such as onions, carrots and turnips in autumn or early spring 

Red onions seem to be more prone to bolting than white or brown types, so home trials are worthwhile. If bolting in onions is a recurring problem, plant heat-treated sets in early spring (exposure to high temperatures suppresses flower-bud formation) 

Florence fennel is particularly prone to bolting so try AGM winners such as ‘Amigo’, ‘Victorio’ and ‘Pronto’ F1 and sow in mid-summer

In other words:

The only thing under your control in the garden is not the weather, or the soil, or the pest, it is how hard you work.

In other words, if you really buckle down today and do your intelligence, the planing , and the execution a hundred per cent then you are bound to prevail.

Now is the time to really tidy up after last season and get ready for tomorrow.

The winter time is also a good time to get rid of rats. The are hungry and will easily take bait on a trap. I caught four yesterday, making a total of 78 caught since 1/1/'19.  

best allotment in Oxford.

I have won the cup for the best allotment in Oxford...........a lot of hard work