Friday 27 January 2012
POP BOTTLES
We are all getting ready for the growing season so today i started to get all my pop bottles ready for my stump carrots. Altogether i have 40 bottles which have now been washed with a mild disinfectant and then washed again so they are now ready.In one of my old posts there is a photo of the stump carrots which i grew last year and i thought they were not to bad. What i will be doing this year is to alter the mix as i think i did not have it quite right so it is going to be very interesting to see the results. I am hoping to enter a few in shows this year as well as long carrots which will be grown in pipes. No doubt there will be people who would not grow carrots in pop bottles so i would say to them what is the difference in growing stump carrots in pop bottles and long carrots in pipes. You do have to remember that some people do not have a big garden but it does not mean that you cannot grow veg in pop bottles ware you can get good results. Another reason why i grow in pop bottles is because i know that what they will be grown in will be clean compost and soil (sieved). To change the subject a little it is awful to think that we are not going to see smithyveg blogg any more as i found it very interesting and i also learnt a lot especially re to showing methods. I wish him all the best and hope that he will blogg again some time in the future.
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Hi there Geoff. I grow my Stumpys in a raised bed of used compost/peat. I bore out stations with a ordinary 3 inch down pipe and fill with my mix. I tried long carrots for the first time last year but made a hash of the watering as all but about 8 out of forty went to seed and only one was decent. So I'll try again this year and pay more attention to my watering. Good Luck.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Hi john, thanks for your comments, last year was my first time for growing long carrots and i was realy pleased with the results, if you go onto my old post and scroll down you will see photos of the long carrots and the stump carrots. First of all i had to decide were i was going to grow the stump carrots and because i only have a small garden for veg i decided to grow them in pop bottles around the edge of my onion bed. As to the long carrots i managed to get hold of some disused 5" wide and 4-3" long water pipe which were blue in colour which i was very pleased about. I found that with the water pipes they were lined with a layer of tin foil and they also seemed to keep the compost fairly moist. As to watering i first make sure that the mix is wet before i fill the pipes and because of the type of pipes i noticed the compost kept moist for a very long time. A few people has said dont use black water pipes and if you can use at least 4"ones.To test for moisture in the compost i use my 2 prong meter and put it in the side of the tubes by drilling 2 holes the same distance apart as the prongs. Drill 3 sets holes in a 4ft pipe.If you are using raised beds of compost and peat i must be honest by saying that you are the first i know of that uses compost and peat instead of sand so i cant realy comment. As to my mix it is just sieved compost and part soil. What strain of carrot seed do you use. All the best geoff.
ReplyDeleteHi Geoff
ReplyDeleteThe stumpys worked well. I had Sweet Candle and Supreme Chantenay Red Cored. If you look onhttp://ukveggardeners.com/profile/JohnMartin you will see some of my show veg. The Long carrots were Javalot from exhibition seeds. 2011 was my first year trying for show carrots and the reason I used peat/compost is because I can have as much as I like for the lifting. (tight git I am) Any way the finish on the stumpy carrots was lovely so I think if I get the watering right on the long ones I should be alright.
Good luck for this season
John