The First Pull plus Parsnips

Today I decided to start lengthening my leeks which is reffered to as pulling them,a different kind of pulling than the pastime carried out by Loughborough residents. I use 15mm  pipe insulation and the thinner Green garden canes to start with. I have used 2 different lengths as Dave Metcalfes leeks are not quite as long as my own Pendle improved so 5" on Daves & 7" on mine, they are all about the same thickness on the barrel and by planting out time Dave's will have caught up. I have Linda to thank for collaring them all up and marking each plant.

While Linda was at work on the leeks it me time to attack the new parsnip bed / box which I managed to get built outside. All that remains to be done with it now is to fill it with 3 ton of sand,another job for Linda when the weather permits. I chose to build a box rather than use barrels because barrels being round take up too much space and also I had little success last year with barrels while on the other hand I had some cracking specimens in my first year from a box outside,it remains to be seen what will happen this year but it is worth a try. The internal dimensions of the box are 40" x 77" so I should get 24 in there comfortably at 12" spacings.
The whole thing is about 6 planks deep as some are buried underground from the original bed

We also had a visit from Harley who now likes to tell the chickens to go to bed regardless of the time of day.The giant cabbages also got inspected although I am not sure what to do with 2 of them which are approaching 100lb each in weight.

I have also been booked to do a talk at the Huddersfield Allotments Federation I was asked by Jane the secretary who has the allotment next to mine, she has witnessed my progress and asked me if I would be prepared to come and share some of my experiences with the society. I have given a lot of thought to subject of the talk and finally came up with growing for collections. There are a few reasons for this firstly there is more subject matter to go at given that you need more types of veg for a collection, also I attended a good talk last year on collections so I already have a few pointers.Also I won best in show at the Huddersfield Allotments show with a 3x2 collection so hopeful will not be out of my depth. The talk will be on the 19th of March 745pm at Turn bridge working men's club Huddersfield HD1 6SB  all welcome no hecklers.Also if anyone reading this has any good photos of collections for my power point please could you email them to me paul.bastow@btopenworld.com
cheers in advance.

Safety first

Mediocre sense of direction

Well after waiting in most of the day yesterday Mr mediocre himself finally turned up for his leeks.I think he was delaying it as long as he could giving him less time to make a mess of growing them on, he did ask me if he could pick them up in August but I had to tell him where to go on that one.The reason for his late arrival was that he missed the exit on the M62 TOSSER.Good job he has an office based job at least he cant get lost.


Now I have re gained some space I have been able to pot on all my leeks and onions I was surprised to find that my leeks were on a par with the ones from Dave Metcalfe. I also phoned Dan to ask how many Giant onion plants he wanted but he also could not be arsed to answer so I made the decision for him.1 only kidding

GIANT ONIONS FINAL12

Giant and Kelsae transplanted

My Leeks

Daves Leeks

Going for a leek

Last Saturday I braved blizzard conditions to cross the Pennines and in to Lancashire to collect my leeks,

and also the ones that had been ordered by mediocre veg grower Simon umpa lumpa Smithyveg.

 As usual they were purchased from Dave Metcalfe and are his own strain called the Pendle improved, these leeks performed very well for me last year despite a few going to seed. Dave's greenhouse was crammed with leek and onion plants and just inside the door were some larger plants I was informed that these were his new variety and no one would be getting any this year until he knows if they are any good I now have 24 leeks from Dave plus another 30 of my own Pendle improved cultivated from the ones that went to seed.It will be interesting to see how mine perform along side Dave's.

Dave's new variety

Baby leeks in Dave's Greenhouse

Mine and Umpas Leeks safely home

My Leek plants doing ok

 Also my Onions are coming along nicely the giant Peter Glazebrook  ones have 3 true leaves

I have also got 30 Kelsae plants now potted on and have sown another sowing today. This is  to ensure I have plenty to go at .

I will also be sowing Vento in the next few days as soon as I have room, when Smithy collects his leeks next week.

I would also like to wish everyone who reads this a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

Lux (not the soap kind)

In reply to Dan Undsworth's comment regarding lux meter, I purchased said item last year from said auction site and have found it useful in gauging the amount of light the plants are receiving,as you can see in the photos mine are getting approx 2500 lux which is more than enough. Anything over 1800 is good according to the so called experts who knows? but it worked for me last year and if it aint broke don't fix it  Linda still has no voice :-) don't worry she does not read this unlike other peoples wives lol.

As can be seen from the picture the sensor is on a retractable cord
 allowing the user to check the light intensity at the back

An Enlightening Moment and more

This week I replaced a couple of my grow light bulbs, one had a couple of loops that did not light and the other was a smaller one than the others. I find the best and cheapest place to get these is on ebay. I did however have one arrive damaged it was well packed and factory sealed meaning that the seller had no idea of the damage.This bulb was replaced by the seller without question. I also got a second one with the repacement and both are now installed and working fine, the only problem is that they are a lot brighter than the other which are now 2 years old I may get another couple and then I will have new ones in all my lights, if anyone is interested the link to one being offered by the same seller is below.
GROW LIGHT BULB 
If you  are using them for Onions or Leeks you need the Blue light spectrum this is for Propagation & Vegetative Growth The Red ones are for flowering and fruiting.

My Medwyns seed order arrived this morning all present and correct and I now also know that gyda chyfarchion means with complements. I ordered some old favourites plus a few new varieties, the list is as follows I have created links to each product 
Reselected Exhibition Variety - Stenner - a re selection from Enorma.  3 packets 
Carrot Sweet Candle                                                                               1 Packet
Sunset Cauliflower Yellow                        For a special class locally   1 Packet
Evening Star Celery                                                                                 1 Packet
Piccolo Courgette                                        For Trugs                            1 Packet
*NEW* Egery F1 Lettuce replaces Sandrine                                        1 Packet
Countess Parsnip                                                                                     1 Packet
Goldstar (Re Selected from the original F1 hybrid)                              1 Packet
Vento Onions for the 250g class                                                             1 Packet

The first of the Kelsae are just poking through the compost more should now follow

The Christmas tree has also gone up this week, only 4 weeks and we can get it down again and get back to norma.l I am looking forward to it as Harley will be more aware this year, and I think I am getting the latest Pink Flloyd CD if I behave till Christmas, another plus this week is that Linda has lost her voice heaven. 

The latest batch of Leeks have developed a great root system and are now in 3" pots.

Pricking out and potting on general tidying

The Giant onions were ready for pricking out today as most were a the crook stage this is the ideal time to do this so I potted all the ones that have germinated in to larger pots.Out of the 48 sown I managed 40 which is not bad at all I will have to get some money back off Peter Glazebrook for the ones that did not come through next time I see him (only kidding Peter)

I also potted on some of the Leek plants which I have grown from grass,the plants look good nice root system and lovely and straight,time will tell if they go to seed in the first year like their parent plant.

photos show all 3 lots of leek grass roughly 3 weeks apart in initial planting

I have now also sown my quality onions after having a chat with  Dan I decided to use Mr Fothergills Kelsae seeds. He grows his onions from plants that come from the same source and has excellent results, the seeds came a couple of weeks ago and were actually Johnsons which I believe is the same company. I have sown 84 seeds in modules and will keep selecting the strongest till I am left with about 40 plants to grow on

The new carrot bed is now finished and filled with sand and I also spent half a day cleaning all my water butts and sterilising them with Armillatox which apparently stinks awful when you come back in to the house with some on your clothes.

We also found a new use for the wheelbarrow

The overwinter onions and spring cabbage in the large tunnel are both doing well 

Liftoff

In the last 2 days my Peter Glazebrook giant onions have started to emerge from the compost ,at the moment I have about 50% germination but expect that more will emerge in the next few days.It will be a case of keeping them warm and giving artificial light over the next few months, this year I have re arranged the growing room and also purchased a Timeguard ET05 is a plug-in electronic temperature controller and am hoping this will enable me to get a more even temperature throughout the coming months

Get your Orders In Early To avoid Disappointment

Today I ordered my seed Potatoes from JBA. I like to get the order out of the way early to ensure I get what I want and also to spread the cost of everything needed for the growing season. The varieties I have chosen are the ones that performed best for me this year I have opted for 3 coloured and 3 White and will only be growing 10 bags of each variety they are
Cassablanca
Sherine
Nadine
Blue Belle
Amour
and Maxine
I also bought 3 ton of sand for my drums and beds at a bargain price of £90 delivered
and 1000 Pablo Beetroot seeds for £2.54 delivered which I think is also a bargain

The Beetroot bed that I created yesterday in the large tunnel has been planted with spring cabbage which will be ready well before I need to sow any Beetroot.

More on Leeks and Leek Grass

The other day I gave Dave Metcalfe a ring to reserve next years Pendle Improved Leek plants for collection mid December the same as last year.I also asked him about his thoughts on whether the ones that went to seed this year would produce plants that would not go to seed in the first year replicating the parent plants behavior His answer was that he has sometimes forced some plants to go to seed in their first year to increase stock with no adverse effects.I am still not sure as other people have given me conflicting information,with all this in mind and following Medwyns article in the GN. this week on the very same subject I have decided to root another batch of 70 plants from one of this years seeded Leeks to see what happens IE will they or won't they go to seed  in their first year. I will be growing them in parallel with Dave's plants to see what happens.

Head split in half

Grass planted to start rooting

These small leek grass will start to go upright in about a week I planted the bottom of the grass vertical so when the tops straighten as they grow towards the light i should have nice straight plants
You may remember that I had a go at rooting some grass about 6 weeks ago just to practice the technique,these plants are now doing very well but I will not be growing them on because they were too early I may grow them through the winter in the heated tunnel for kitchen use.

ones i rooted earlier

The head gardener has now moved back from Lancashire which is a blessing and we now see him every day as he is just across the road, he visited the garden the other day to check out the progress of the sprouts for Christmas only to find they have grown rather large.

I have also continued with the revamp to the large tunnel the long carrot and parsnip house has gone and the bed has been raised and filled with compost mix.This will be perfect for beetroot as the compost is nice and open texture which should allow the tap roots to grow nice and straight

Monday was the day that I bit the bullet  and sowed the giant onions for next year I was not going to bother but after being stood with Peter glazebrook when he officially beat the world record and just buying a packet of seeds from him I regained the bug to grow a giant, also I have promised Dan some plants for the spring to see if he can finally break 10 pounds, he will probably make a mess of it as usual but we will see.The packet of seeds had just over 50 in it for £6 I sowed 48 in modules and will now wait for some signs of germination we only need about 10 plants between us so some spares will be given away as I pot them on

    The over winter onion setts are doing nicely and I also have some plants from seed donated by Richard veg Patch which are also doing nicely