If ever there was any doubt about potting on one's toms before planting them out--this is the proof of the value in going to the extra trouble. The small plants as well as the larger tom plants on the right were both planted on the Ides of March, and three weeks later we planted one row of each (Roma's and Ferline's) on in old Clematis pots. We use these because they are deep. We remove the lower leaves and bury the entire stem in the new pot. Once in that new pot, the toms took off like gangbusters. We will continue clipping leav4es off the stems and letting the plants grow taller until it is time for the greenhouse (mid-May). The chaps on the right will have a definite head start, but I believe that the smaller ones will catch up; however, I expect them to have at least one bunch along the stem less than their taller counterparts. No worries tho. We have been melting old wax frames from our bee hives. You know, the queens do not like laying in those dark frames...so we melt it and sell the wax to buy new sheets of foundation. Here you can see our jury-rigged melter. It is an old cooler, lined with a black bin liner and an piece of glass is over the top to hold the heat. We have an elaborate structure inside to keep the melting pan at an incline and there is a soft silicon reservoir to catch the wax. A large brood frame will melt in ~15 or 20 minutes on a good day. As you can see, we have cleaned up the mulch that kept the plots protected. We have also weeded the strawbs and given them a good summer mulch of compost (that is the darkish material around the plants). We temporarily placed the solar melter in the greenhouse while the weather is cool and rainy. We have now planted our brocs, which you can see in the Enviro- mesh tunnel. I did not take pics, but the spuds are above ground. It won't be long before I can to the first earthing-up...we just need more warm and sunny weather. The gap there in the foto above is destined to have parsnips in it. Where you see the broad beans, Swiss chard and spinach... the new strawb plants will go in August. Yeah, I know it all sounds a bit planned out and structured, but one has to be that way in small spaces. About those strawbs-- We found some yellowish leaves as well as some green leaves with brown, crispy leaf edges. Ironically, our strawb supplier sent us a newsletter in which he described this very phenomenon. According to him it comes from too much manure pellets. Oops! I thought that I would pass this along to you folks who grow strawbs. Take a look: Just last week we had to remove loads of strawb flowers with black faces. The frost had gotten to them...but even more disturbing--many of them were frozen black whilst still in the bud. I did not know this could happen...or should I say, I thought that it was very uncommon. This occurred whilst we were away on a mini-vacation. Darn it! Finally to end on a flowery note-- The Wisteria is beginning to bloom here. There are hundreds of buds. Here is a pic of the pergola under which we sit to take tea and bikkies. It is at the front front of the garden house. If they continue to develop into something lovely, I shall post another pic at the top of their blooming period. Below, a final close-up of those sweet-smelling wisteria bunches.
My goodness, you have been busy and it's beautiful now. Can't wait to see things in full bloom. Gorgeous just gorgeous!
@Sjoerd I so appreciate your photos and descriptions of what you do. I have learned a lot from you over the years. Okay, here are my questions on this post: 1) Why do you remove the mulch after your plants have come up? I have been so pleasantly surprised by how friable my soil was with its mulch over the winter....I tend to be one of these people who thinks "If it helped a little, then a lot will help even more!!". But seriously, why remove the mulch? Wouldn't it keep moisture in, keep weeds down, etc? 2) How do you tend to your rows of veggies without compacting the soil? You obviously have to walk between them in order to weed & water. 3) Why do your strawberries look so healthy (even with the brown edges)? Mine are puny compared to yours. What am I doing wrong? (I am guessing you have put a strawberry posting somewhere on this website). 4) Is that wisteria yours? Or a communal plant in a communal spot in the allotment? If it is yours, my, you truly have a BIG lottie! 5) This is a comment not a question. Thank you so much for doing the tomato demonstration!!! A picture says a 1000 words.
Sjoerd, okay, I just searched for 'strawberry' under your name & came up with a posting dated 8/17/17. It looks like you replace them after 2 years in August, right? At the very least that is where I am going wrong, My plants have been in about 4 years! What was the result of your mycorrhizae experiment? Anything memorable?
Good posting Sjoerd. I have been meaning to ask you about your michorizae experiment. Cayuga strawberry patches need to be moved every 2 to 3 years. They are also heavy feeders.
PENSIONADA--Thanks ever so much, miss. Answers: (1)-- I remove the excess mulch (the hard stems and tough roots) so that I can plant and give water more easily. I do not remove the mulch after the plants come up, rather before I plant them. The fine mulch, I leave lying on top. For instance, I use a hand plough to make the trenches for the spuds...were I to leave the refuse on top, I would have great difficulty making those furrows. Some crops; like the strawbs, I re-mulch with straw when the first fruits appear, and at the same time the nets on on to protect them from marauding birds. This is to keep the strawbs off the soil where slugs and fungus can be a prob...but also to hold the moisture. I a,m also afraid that if I could find a way to leave the mulch on the beds all year round I would have a terrible slug problem and vole and mouse problem. The clearance gives me a bit of control for six months of the year. So then, my mulch schedule is ~six months on, six months off. You are right, that soft and wormy soil is a wonderful thing to experience. It is just wonderful. (2)--I avoid seriously compacting my soil in-between rows by using planks to stand/walk on. This distributes the weight evenly, so that it doesn't all come down where the footprint would be. Like this: This handy for me and means that I do not have to dig the soil to loosen it again. I also have things arranged in such a way that I can reach a great deal of things from the ends of the patches. The Bride cannot reach as far as I, so she uses the planks more than me. (3)-- Of course I cannot tell you why my strawbs look better than yours. chuckle. All I can do is tell you how I do my strawbs. One important thing may be is that strawbs seem to do better in soil that is a bit acidic. You can accomplish this by using a commercial rhodi or hydrangea soil. If you go this route, do not skimp and put a one inch layer...add the acidic soil in "overkill-looking" amounts. Watering-in and rain will cause the soil to crimp in as the air disappears. You are right, I have written about this subject several times on here. Perhaps you can find some of my older threads. (4)-- The wisteria is mine. Our plot is 263 m². A meter is rough equal to a yard. (5)-- You are so welcome. The re-potted toms are now 40.1 cm tall at the moment, the non re-potted ones are less than half the height. I am glad that you liked the post and I can really appreciate your questions. I hope that my answers are clear, if not let me know and I will try again. Addendum: I do replace my plants every two years..and not only that, but I rotate beds for the very reason that Odif has said. The mycorh. experiment yielded no noticeable benefit as of yet. This year is only the second year for my strawbs, so perhaps there will be a difference in the fruit yield. There is no noticeable difference in the foliage. In the past I have made my own cuttings from the runners. That is fun and economical to do, but I have found a very inexpensive commercial plant seller. The quality of plantlets that he sells are gobsmacking to see. (I have posted fotos on some of my older threads). The root balls are unbelievably large.
Sjoerd when I have used michorizae the difference in my plants was marked and very rapid. I suspect that your supplier may inoculate the strawberries, hence the humongous roots, or you may have a whole host of michorizae already in your garden.
You may be quite right about that, Odif. I have used the micor. on other veggies and a fruit tree, but have not noticed anything special. It is expensive, so I shall have to think long and hard if I want to invest in more bags of the stuff. The plants in my gardens always seem to do so well...who knows perhaps there is a preponderance of the micor. in the garden soil already. Wouldn't that be something!
Yeah Sjoerd when you use good gardening techniques like min till and mulching, you will be less likely to destroy mycelium networks in the soil.
You know Odif, what you say is entirely true...and I have been doing min-til and the heavy mulching for so many years now that there could (and actually should be) good mycelial strata in my garden. That was the whole purpose of adopting my style of gardening. Cayu--I go to gardening seminars and expositions here and at one of the do's, I became engaged in a conversation with a very serious gardening lady and she was as fired-up as a sort of religious zealot. she was giving me a whole lecture on what turned out to be what is known as "Permaculture". She finally inquired as to how I gardened and after I had told her a few things, she stopped me told me that what I was doing was essentially "Permaculture". She then apologised for the lecture. hahaha. She asked if I was actively trying to "convert" to this sort of gardening philosophy, but i had to disappoint her and say no. I told her that people have too garden the way that they want...but if folks ask, then I tell them my ideas. It is; of course, then totally up to them what they do with the info. Well, she did not agree with this at all because her horizons were much higher...further than an individual lottie--shew wanted the world to adopt this philosophy. It is idealism, and like all idealistic ideas, difficult to realize large-scale; but having said this, the ideals are solid and good...and realizable on a smaller scale. World-wide participation....I dunno. I do feel that as a gardener, one cannot go wrong reading and researching gardening things that they do not know...I do that constantly. One must also be open to the possibility of change and reason. If you decide to look more deeply into the Permaculture-like gardening philosophy and technique, I would be very interested in hearing your take. You know-- what you agree with and what you do not agree with. Conversations with gardeners really excite me, the problem for me here is that there are so few people in my circle with which I can talk. Just fellow gardeners, but oddly enough we do not socialize off the complex. Anyhow, I hope that you do inform yourself about min-tilling and other gardening techniques.
Sjoerd, I recently read a couple of interviews of Ruth Stout. She does no till gardening. It was interesting. One of her books is Gardening Without Work. Several of the gardeners in our community garden have commented on how good my plot looks. We have had an incredible amount of rain. My plot is puddle free because I keep adding compost to it, thus making the beds a bit higher. And, with the winter mulch, the soil is soft & friable: ready for planting! I have been able to plant a bunch of stuff while everyone else is waiting for their plots to dry out.
@Sjoerd permaculture, where to begin. Permaculture is all the rage here. About 12 years ago I did a course to be accredited as a permaculture design consultant. Because the 10 day course was squeezed into 7 days and the teacher had been kicked out of the permaculture organisation we did not receive our certification. The course is based around Bill Mollison‘s books. We were taught that permaculture is a trademark of Mollison. The Wikipedia disagrees and says that he tried to register it but wasn‘t able. Lots of people I know practice permaculture and they are all holier than thou. Mostly they are lazy people who do nothing in their garden and boast about it. Lots of the things I learned about permaculture were good too, but on balance I think it is a cult.
