No dig diary, 11th April 2021

Posted on April 11, 2021 by james

Today was a lovely sunny day, but the chilly wind meant it wasn’t entirely pleasant being outdoors. My first job was to get all of the potatoes planted out, which actually didn’t take too long once I’d got the hang of opening up a hole with the trowel to put the potato in. They didn’t take up as much space as I was expecting either, but then I remembered that I was given quite a lot of seed potatoes last year in addition to the ones I’d ordered. I already have International Kidney in the ground and today I added Charlotte, King Edward, Maris Piper and Picasso. They’re all planted on a grid of about 35cm square.

I planted out the first of my sowings (7th March) of calabrese and they looked quite lonely in the bed at the recommended spacing of 60cm, so I added a row of radish down the middle. By the time the calabrese are big enough to need all the space, the radish will be well gone.

They’re now covered by fleece which will stay on for a couple of weeks at least. My plot looks like I’m growing enormous amounts of fleece at the moment. I must have getting on for forty-five square metres of the stuff laid out and there’s probably more to come. Once the fleece comes off I’ll be putting 0.8mm mesh over the top of the plants, supported on the hoops in the top right of the photo, in an attempt to keep pretty much all possible insect life off them. Whilst I was there I had a quick look at the radishes I planted out on 21st March (still under fleece). They’re not far off being ready to eat which is very pleasing. I reckon they’ll be on our plates before the end of the month.

I’ve sown more peas for pods, for shoots and sugar snaps as well as sweet corn and butternut squash. The squashes are in 3″ pots, two seeds per pot to be thinned, but the rest are in module trays.

I’ve not had a lot of success with sweet corn in the past, but I can’t stop trying. I’ve sown 33 seeds, so if I get 25+ plants I’ll be happy. I’m wondering if I should perhaps plant them out spanning two beds to get more of a “square” block overall rather than a long thin rectangle. The recommended spacing appears to be 45cm and my paths are only 60cm wide, so planting close to the edge of the bed on either side wouldn’t be too far off for the purposes of pollination. I’d have six plants spanning the two beds then, which might mean I don’t get very many along the bed. I wonder if I shouldn’t sow a few more and go for a block of 6×6 or 6×7 plants? On the other hand, how much sweetcorn will we want to eat? On the third hand, I guess they can be frozen 🙂 And 42 plants is such a nice number to have… I reckon they’d take up about six and a half square metres of bed, which might leave a handy amount of room for three butternut squashes and three Uchiki Kuri squashes to grow around their feet, and with a path up the middle there’d be no need to fight one’s way through the outside plants to harvest cobs. I’m going to need to buy some more compost for sowing seeds this week anyhow, so perhaps I’ll pick up another packet of seed, just in case 🙂 I think I’ve talked myself into this. I’d best mark out a suitable space somewhere in the plot so I don’t accidentally use it for something else and spoil the plan…

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No dig diary, 10th April 2021

Posted on April 11, 2021 by james

Busy day today. The last thing remaining to do with the “no dig” greenhouse was sorting out some seals to close the gap between the frame and the door. To be fair it probably would have been pretty much ok without any, but in the high winds we’ve had over the last month or so it has been noticeably draughty inside, so I wanted to get it sorted. The manufacturers weren’t able to help (didn’t really try, to be honest), so I bought four three-foot long brush-type draught excluders (normally fitted to the bottom of doors) and have managed to clamp them in a suitable position, two each side of the door, with self-tapping screws. I had to trim the bristles down to about 15mm which was a bit laborious, but they’re a noticeable improvement on leaving the gap.

I’ve also been busy sowing. In the potentially vain hope that my calabrese might not all be ready in the same few days, I’ve made a third successional sowing. My second sowing was half a module tray, with the other half used for Greyhound cabbages which have germinated very poorly by comparison. For some reason I appear to have several packets of the cabbage seed, so I sowed some seed from each of the packets in separate trays to try to determine whether I have a dodgy batch or something like that. I also sowed more radish in module trays (four seeds per cell, once again), and having found some seed for other varieties that my father-in-law had and wasn’t going to bother sowing, I’ve sown a few samples of those in small trays to see if any of the seed is still viable.

Out in the main plot I made a second sowing of carrots — Amsterdam Forcing, Maestro F1 and “Rainbow” varieties, exactly the same as for the first sowing on 20th March. Pleasingly those first rows have germinated very nicely. Last year my carrots did pretty well (except for the root fly), but prior to that I’ve always struggled to grow good carrots so I’m happy to see things going well this early. Given that I have good germination I’m hoping that a permanent mesh covering will keep the root fly off and with a little luck perhaps this year I will have my best carrots ever. I also sowed parsnips, which possibly wasn’t a good choice given the stiff breeze, but I got it done eventually without too much of the seed behind blown off-course between hand and ground. Both the carrots and parsnips are under fleece for the moment.

Back in the greenhouse I went into full-on cucurbit mode, sowing courgettes (Orelia F1), cucumbers (Marketmore), a squash called Uchiki Kuri (which I’m sure should be pronounced “you cheeky curry” 🙂 and a loofah gourd. These are all in 3″ pots rather than module trays, and I’ve put two seeds in each. I’ll thin them down to a single plant once they germinate. They’re now all in the propagator.

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No dig diary, 4th April 2021

Posted on April 5, 2021 by james

On 27th March I sowed a single twenty-cell module tray, half with a second sowing of calabrese and half with spring cabbage. Whilst the calabrese have germinated well, there’s no sign of the cabbages yet, so I decided to sow another tray full in case there is something wrong with the first batch. Same method again — three seeds per cell, to be thinned to a single one if several germinate.

I also sowed a tray of multi-sown spring onions, with around ten seeds per cell.

Both of these can sit in the greenhouse to germinate and we’ll see how things go.

The dill and coriander sown on 20th February is starting to reach a reasonable size, so I’ve planted some of them in the polytunnel in the space where I previously had radishes. The rest will go out in the main plot, but they can wait until the current cold spell is over which looks like it could be at least a week.

There has been some action in the main plot though. I removed the mesh cloches over the broad beans as the plants are getting too tall. Around each double row I’ve put in stakes and run a few strings between them to give the beans a bit of support in the wind.

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No dig diary, 3rd April 2021

Posted on April 3, 2021 by james

Today I’ve sown more peas for shoots, using up the last of the seed from last year, some leeks and green and red basil. I’ve returned the aubergine seedlings that were in the greenhouse to the propagator as they seem to be struggling in the colder nights, particularly after they suffered a slug attack a few nights ago. Whilst reorganising trays to make room I noticed that I now have eleven multi-coloured pepper seedlings and all of the seeds of the two varieties of melon that my daughter sowed on Monday evening have already germinated.

As a counterpoint to the chilly forecast, this evening I decided I’d put some cardboard across the front of the compost bin we’ve been filling since November and rake the composting material level. Initially there’s no front on the bins so we can walk in with stuff and dump it in a pile against the back wall, but the pile is now reaching the front anyhow. To allow us to keep filling it I put a pallet across the front and use cardboard to stop things falling through the holes. The compost seemed quite warm when I moved it, so I put the thermometer in:

I was quite impressed given that bar a couple of unusually warm days the maximum temperature here is hovering around 10C at the moment and it’s dipping close to freezing most nights.

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No dig diary, 2nd April 2021

Posted on April 3, 2021 by james

It being Easter weekend I felt that I should follow John and Yoko’s advice and give peas a chance. So yesterday afternoon I collected up all of my germinated pea plants, some giant matchsticks (or wooden stakes with worn out tennis balls over the ends) and jute string (because when the peas are done I can just cut it free and put it on the compost with all the plants — no need to separate it out). It took a while to get everything done, but now, in this little corner of West Somerset at least, we have peas on earth.

Last year I grew them with only a single set of strings and they struggled a bit to find their way up, perhaps because it can be quite breezy at times, so I’m hoping that with strings either side they’ll get the idea a bit more easily. I’ve also reduced the spacing between the strings a little.

Unfortunately we’re forecast a very chilly week next week with temperatures dropping below freezing overnight, so I’ve also smothered them with fleece to give a bit of protection. The, err, peas de (frost) resistance, as it were.

I also planted out some peas germinated from seed left over from last year under the fleece in the foreground, but they’re just for shoots to eat in salads so they can trail on the ground.

Once the fleece comes off (hopefully by the end of the month) I’ll still need some sort of protection for all of them as the pair of partridge that raided the veg plot last year are still around and if I leave the plants uncovered I know they’ll be straight in there, taking the peas.

I had various types of lettuces and some wild rocket ready to plant out, so I’ve put them down the edges of the centre bed in the polytunnel. There’ll be a double row of tomatoes down this bed in the fullness of time, with some calendula in a single row right down the middle. The lettuces will get removed as we eat them and have more ready outside.

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No dig diary, 29th March 2021

Posted on March 30, 2021 by james

High time I planted out my first batches of beetroot and spinach, today. These were sown on 5th February with a few additional seeds sown on 19th February to make up for the fact that germination wasn’t brilliant. The beetroot were sown four seeds to a cell and the spinach three seeds to a cell. Where the beetroot germinated more than four seedlings, I thinned them back down to four.

For the beetroot I dibbed holes in the compost on a 12″/30cm grid and dropped the plants from the cells into the holes. Again I wasn’t really happy with the size of the cell. Having done it a few times I really do now think that the 5cm-ish cells are too large for this process.

The spinach was the same, but on an 10″/25cm grid.

Once planted I watered all the plants in and covered them with fleece as despite the weather being warm enough to wear shorts, it is possible that we may still have frosts for the next few weeks and the fleece should give the plants a little protection from the cold.

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No dig diary, 27th March 2021

Posted on March 27, 2021 by james

Today I wanted to sow a second batch of calabrese (Marathon F1) and some early cabbage (Greyhound). I’m hoping that successional sowings of the calabrese will give a crop over an extended period as last year we had heads ready to pick for about a week and then it was all over. I have been wondering if I shouldn’t perhaps just sow enough seed for perhaps four plants every two weeks for as long as three months to try to get a decent number of heads over the summer and autumn, but management of the plants would appear to be quite awkward in that case. It might in fact be easier to have an area of the plot that is “brassicas ready in July”, then “brassicas ready in August” etc. rather than keeping each variety in its own space. I have time to give that some thought, anyhow.

I used one of the new twenty-cell module trays with enlarged holes in the bottom of the cells and sowed one half with calabrese and the other with cabbages, three seeds to a cell. I’ll thin them down to two and then one as the plants germinate and start to develop, assuming all three seeds germinate in the first place. The seed is from last year so it may be the case that germination is patchy.

I also sowed a couple of trays each of cornflowers and calendula, mainly with the intention of using the flower petals in salads, but also because the calendula are supposed to be good companion plants for tomatoes, so I’ll plant a row down the middle of the double row of tomatoes in the polytunnel.

I noticed that some of my peppers have been attacked by greenfly that presumably moved over from the winter salads. I’ve been knocking the aphids off the plants and removing them, but more aggressive control may be required in time.

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The trouble with module trays

Posted on March 26, 2021 by james

We have plenty of module trays around, but whilst they’re very convenient for sowing seeds in and raising seedlings they can be really awkward when it comes to getting the plants out without damaging either the plant or the plastic of the tray. I could buy different ones, but I don’t like throwing away plastic just because it doesn’t suit me and in fact the only ones I’ve seen with decent size holes in the base are about three times the size, which would be inconvenient from the point of view of keeping batches of seedlings separate. I have about forty of these trays (about 23cm x 18cm) in use at the moment and I could easily add another ten more this weekend:

To remove a plant it’s often necessary to squidge the sides of the cell and pull the plant out by the stems, often whilst tipping the tray on its edge and risking other plants falling out or getting damaged. And if that doesn’t work then forcing the base of the cell upwards seems to be the only way, but that often splits the sides. What’s really required is a decent size hole in the bottom that I can put my finger through, to be able to push on the compost rather than the plastic. These are too small even to use a pencil:

Trying anything with scissors or a knife to make a large hole would probably drive me insane, especially if I were trying to do fifty or sixty trays. I did try grinding a length of 20mm electrical conduit to sharpen one edge and then hammering it into the bottom of the cell like a hole punch, but that just bent the bottom of the cell out of shape. What I didn’t realise at the time was that the piece of timber I was using to support the base of the cell at the time was just too soft. My father-in-law suggested I use a lump of lead that he has (he used to cast his own fishing weights) instead.

It works a treat! 🙂 I now have a number of trays with lovely big holes in the bottom of the cells.

The holes are about 15mm in diameter which is big enough for a finger to just push the plug of compost up from the bottom quite easily, and a quick “test drive” confirms that as long as it’s gently firmed into the cell, no compost falls out of the bottom. I can even cut the holes in several trays at once, though it was a bit awkward to separate them afterwards. When the time comes to replace them I’ll probably look for a different solution — perhaps soil blocks, but for now it (hopefully) means that more plastic won’t be needlessly going into landfill.

I have some brassicas to sow this weekend amongst other things. I look forward to seeing how well they work in a month or thereabouts when it comes to planting out time.

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DIY hoops for supporting mesh over veg plot beds

Posted on March 26, 2021 by james

My intention is that crops such as radish and carrots should be permanently under protective netting this year, to minimise the damage done by carrot root fly and flea beetle. I also want to try to protect the brassicas from whitefly as much as possible (and butterflies, come to that). In the kind of volume that I want them, hoops to support netting start to look quite expensive, so I’ve been thinking about DIY solutions.

Initially my plant was to buy some 4mm galvanised fencing wire and bend my own hoops around a former. It’s a bit of a faff, but considerably cheaper than buying them. Last night I read some suggestions online about using either MDPE water pipe or lengths of garden hose, fitted over short lengths of garden cane at each end to make a hoop. As luck would have it I have a few off-cuts of MDPE pipe lying about, and some black 12mm hose pipe that must be close to thirty years old and has lost much of its flexibility, so I’ve made up a few hoops just to see if they stand up ok. Half of them I supported with canes pushed into the ground. For the others I found a 25mm square tree stake and ran it through the band saw to quarter it lengthwise and used lengths of those instead. My concern with the hose (which I certainly have plenty of) is that it might become too soft to support its weight in hot sun, but it may well work fine for the other 364 days of the year.

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No dig diary, 26th March 2021

Posted on March 26, 2021 by james

The no dig strawberry bed is now complete!

I went through all the runners that we rooted last year and picked out the ones that were already showing signs of life, planting them down the left and centre of the bed in the photo below. I then broke the original plants out of the growbags they were in and planted them down the right hand side.

There are about thirty runners that aren’t showing any sign of life yet, though it’s certainly early in the season, so I’ve brought them all into the greenhouse where I can look after them properly and I’ll see what happens. If many do burst into life then I’ll have to find somewhere new to plant them out, and perhaps make another no-dig bed for next year.

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