THE END OF 2011 IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER

No doubt  there are a lot of gardeners who will be casting there thoughts on how well or what they achieved in this year which is about to end. I have noticed that a few gardeners have already started planting early and i think it is because they enter quite a few shows  and need to get there vegetable  seeds to germinate early so as to get them at a certain size and weight. I my self did sow a few onion seeds  and the reason is because they were seeds which i had from a onion which i put to seed in 2010. The onion was called ailsae so it is going to be interesting to see what the outcome will be. I will post  pictures at a later date.  On to the weather now and as most gardeners will remember we had a very cold winter last year and that made things like fruit trees stay dormant for a very long time before the started to bud  but i get the feeling that it will not be the case this winter because the weather is and has been very mild, so lets keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way. Although i am not a big veg grower or a big show man i would say that i have won many garden shows with  flowers and onions but not to the standard as to what  is required in the county shows . It is my intention to have a go in 2012  ,i might even challenge the boys in the midlands and even the yorkshire boys ha ha. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.  

SEED PURCHASED FOR 2012

Made a final decision re to what to grow in 2012 and now have all the seed i need.
ONIONS
1 unwins exhabition onions x 20
2 kelsae x 12
3 own ailsae seed x 8 sown on 6-11-11 now at the crook stage
4 marshalls show master depending on space

Tomatoes
1 Ailsa cgraig
2 goldstar
3 shirley
4 gardeners delight

Runner beans
1 unwins white lady

Carrots
sweet candle stump
exhabition strain long

Just a bit of info on 2 items.
re to the showmaster onions i must say that it is a very good onion for eating an more so i think does very well for showing. Over the years i have had them get to 5lbs with tlc like you all do with other onions, so depending on the space i will purchase a few plants. You might say that if they are that good why do i not just grow them , Answer is i like to try all sorts when i can.
It was not to long ago you could get the onion sets from marshalls but as you might know they do not sell them any more.
The other bit of info is that i have had very good results with unwins white lady runner beans, i do think they might be good for showing (OPINIONS WOULD BE APPRECIATED) by all you top showman. I have found that they are stringless and the lenght is about 10-12" long and straight. The end for now.

This years tomatoe plants

As promised, this is my tomatoes that i grew this year, on the right is goldstar and on the left is shirley. It is the first time i grew these two sorts but must say i am very pleased with the results

SUCCESS WITH MY OWN SEED FROM AILSAE ONIONS GROWN IN 2010

Yes i have been successful with the germination of seeds that i had planted on the 6-11-11. The seed i used were the seed i got from a 20" bulb which i grew in 2010. It was in 2009 when i purchased the ailsae seed from exhabition seeds. The 8 seeds that are through are now at the crook stage so i will be transplanting them in a few days time. Apart from the ailsae onions i will this week end plant a different type but only about a dozen as i have not got a lot of room but we shall see how things turn out. Now i will say that in october i planted 12 unwins exhbition seeds and they are nowabout 12" tall whith a good looking stem. now i dont know how they will fare but unless you try you just dont know. I will put some photos of them on the blogg later and you will all be able to see for your selves. For many years i always grew marshall showmaster and to be very honest i think they are a good onion for show and also eating. The only problem now is that marshalls do not sell the sets but they do sell the plants. I am a bit cautious about buying plants because you do at times get some that has not been growing long enough to be taken out of the ground and transported, but there you are that is only my opinion. It is nice to have an opinion but it is also nice to get other peoples opinion especialy from people who are experts at gowing oinions for showing. Re to growing onions from seed i use a jemp propagator which i have had for about 25years now and it is still going strong as to the lighting i use a fish tank lighting system which uses a 4watt bulb and yes it does the job. The propagator will hold 3 trays of seeds or pots if you wish to use instead. As stated erlier on will post photos later.

compost and nick-knacks for onions-long carrots-stump carrots

Spent a few enjoyable hours on sunday with my son at the nurseries whare i get my gardening assessories. I decided not to change my way of growing so i got the following .
3 60ltr bags of vitax multipupose compost with q4.
2 bags of dried kiln sand.
I did make enquiries re to 6x manure but was told it will not be in stock for a week so i have ordered 1 bag which i will collect next sunday. The reason why i use 6x is because it is very highly concentrated and it saves a lot of back breaking work which unfortunetly i just cannot do these days and the reason for dried kiln sand is it has been sterilized so there is no fear of any germs or bacteria that also applies to the 6x. One thing i did forget is ground lime but i can get that when i get my bag of 6x. I have got all the rest that i need even for the sowing of onions so all i need to do now is get cracking and decide how to go about getting things done.

long carrots grown in tubes- stump carrots grown in pop bottles

here is a photo of the 2 types of carrots grown this year. I must say that i am quite pleased with the results but i do think there is still room for improvement. I think next year i will have to pay a bit more attention to how i prepare the growing mix to get a better structured carrot both in the tubes-pop bottles. In my last blogg i did say the mix that i use is a simple one but after giving it a lot of thought i do think i can improve it a bit better.

stump carrots grown in pop bottles

Above is a photo of the stump carrots that i grew in pop bottles this year. The type was sweet candle. As you will see they were not grown in sand but a very good make of compost which i have found to be excellent for many years. Like all gardeners they have there own litttle secrets on the way they use there growing mixtures but as i just mentioned they were not grown in any sort of sand which is used in drums ware drill holes are to be made for the growing mixture. I must admit i was not in a position during there growing period to give the attention re to watering and also checking for carrot fly which i have been very lucky by not having that problem. As to the water i did use water gel which i mixed with the growing mixture i use.

TIME TO THINK ABOUT 2012

My results on the garden for 2011 has not been very good and it is put down to ill health, any how i did manage to achieve a couple of good results with the carrots runner beans and tomatoes i am afraid my onions did not get the attention that they should have got there for i did not get a decent one that i can talk about. I have in the past mentioned that i do grow stump carrots in pop bottles and this year i grew them again with what i call reasonable results. the name is well known (sweet candle). As to the long carrots i grew them in 5" water pipes which were 4ft-6" long and again with reasonable results.(red intermediate) My method of growing is quite simple, i have mentioned what i grow the carrots in so i will now tell you what the mixture is. vitax multipurpose Q4 compost sieved and fish -blood -bone- meal. I the bottom of the pipes i do add water gell.

This is the first time i have inserted a picture . more to follow.

finale preperation for carrots-onions

I need to first say that in my last write up i said that all my tomatoes have germinated but i made a mistake by saying one of them is cedrico but it should have said GOLD STAR.

For the last 2 days i have completed my mixtures for the carrots and also prepared the 11ft polly tunnel by adding manure to the bed and also hung up the fly catchers (5 in all). I found that last year it realy paid off and did not have any problems so lets hope it will be the same this year. I would like to change the subject A bit and go on to runner beans which is one of my favorites. Last year i grew the bean called white lady and also gallaxy And the results were excellent so i will grow them again this yaer, it would be interesting to find out how they would do in shows. I would appreciate all info re to the beans.

PREPERATION AND PROGRESS

The weather has been nice lately and at least it has been dry. Apart from giving my son a little help in installing a new front door to the house i have been able to do a little work in the pollytunell. Although most gardeners would already have steralized everything in there green houses i am a little bit behind so that was done today, Ialso checked on my tomatoes (shirley, cerise, and cedrico)and they have all germinated except for 4, i dont think that is to bad as there is still time for them to come through. One thing which might be of interest is that i cover all the seed with the tops of pop bottles which i find better than using glass or polythene. why isay that is because it acts as a mini green house and it is not so fidely to check or water if required.

Another job i managed to do was sieve some more compost to fill my pop bottles ready for the long and stump carotts the only thing i have to do is to mix the ingrediants. No doubt ther will be a few comments about my method but i can say that it does work and with little exspence.

I will have a go at using water pipes which are 5" in circumference but i am not to sure wether to fill with sand and then bore holes or just use compost with ingediants.