Grow Your Own Magazine

First year doing winter sowing, so I'm going to try Kale (Frosty), Lettuce (All the year round), Corn Salad (Cavallo), Radicchio (Treviso Precoce Mesola) and Peas (Meteor).

Still considering the onions and garlic.

I want to sow stuff but the rain was so torrential today that any seeds would have drowned!!!

__________________
Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

This is a case of the north/south divide Shirl - it was okay up here in the north, but by 'eck it were windy! I'm sure watching OH and I (re)stake up our peas would have been a really hilarious sight. Grrrr, I'm getting FED UP (sorry to shout, but I'm starting to feel like that!) with this horrible weather.

i am growing parsnips. this is my first year of growing anything so i dont know if i've started late or early!
my parsnips seeds started well then werent looking too happy on my windowsil so i have moved them outside. but being worried about anything potential eating them, i have made an obstable course of wooden bamboo skewers sticking up. i dare anything to come near them!! i just have to watch my eyes!

i found kale (black tuscany) seeds so gonna give them a go
everywhere seems to have sold out of spring cabbage, meteor peas etc - but i have got aquadulce broad beans
guess i'd better get in quick when the onion sets come into the garden centres ....

For brilliant Garlic the ISle of Wight Gralic Farm is the best place. Look them up on Google - they dleiver quite quickly...

i'm planting turnips, a big winter radish"weiner runder kohlschwarzer" :the size of a tennis ball apparently good to cook with in soups, mustard greens "osaka purple", broad beans, chard , perpetual spinach, corn salad"vit"and spring cabbage "pixie" .i transplanted my leeks last week into their winter home on the plot, i've also got purple sprouting early and brussels sprouts ready to over winter. it's my first year growing veg and my first attempt at over wintering anything so i'll see how it goes.
i thought as the plots empty good to bung in whatever i can to use the space...not sure about the effect of these inbetweeny crops on crop rotation though..as the majority of those i'm planting are brassicas anyhow give it a go..

Please help, I'm going to do onions and garlic. Do I plant these where the old onions were or the new bed? We are trying crop rotation.

Plant in a new bed, otherwise you won't be rotating crops .

__________________
Mark

Vegetable Kingdom blog

Ive just put up a greenhouse this year, can I grow any veg in there over the winter does anyone know? I planted some peas and some lettuce in a border I made, but do you think it would be better to leave certain things in the beds outside the greenhouse to overwinter instead?

For autumn/winter crops I have kale, broccolli, spring onions, carrots, leeks, perpetual spinach, salad leaves, lamb's lettuce, white radish
I have already sewn spring cabbage, red onion sets & white onion seeds to overwinter. I will also be sowing some broad beans (aquadulce claudia) and peas (pilot) in November. Might try shallots & garlic.

Hello Trulygreen,

What kale/broccolli are you sowing and when?

Cheers
Danny

__________________
Cheers

Danny

Hi i am a newbie so ignor my ignorance,
I have brought some cauli seeds to grow over the winter, how is the best way to do this. Ive also got some broad beans to put in. Im a bit confused cos some say put them straight in the soil and use cloches others say start in pots. I think I may have to try a bit of each and see what works ! I suppose it depends on where you live and the conditions there.

I am a bit of a novice when it comes to growing veg as I have never really attempted it before and spend a lot of time out of the country as I am cabin crew. But here goes - I have bought from the Internet willow hedging so I can make a raised bed. I am also having delivered some organic fertiliser and a winter vegetable garden. This consists of Kale, Brassica's, Beetroot, Cabbage, Turnips, Chard, Winter lettuce and Rhubarb. I am at a loss as to what I plant where in my raised bed.....any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. I will probably put the Rhubarb in a deep pot...any suggestions??

Kind regards,

VeggieFlyer

What variety of cauli have you got? When does the packet say to sow them? (I'm not expert and have never actually grown cauli but it does seem a bit late to sow them now?)

As for broad beans, my plan is to sow them in pots at home and transplant them to the veg plot when they're big enough to stand a figthing change against slugs. I'm not sure exactly when is the best time to sow them, so i was thinking f sowing some in early October and some in late October.

I'm sure a more experienced grape will be along soon with some better advice than mine though!

PS welcome to the vine!

__________________
Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

Hi there, welcome to the vine.

How big is your raised bed going to be? If large enough then it is worth considering crop rotation (that just means not planting the same types of crop in the same spot of ground over and over again, the idea is to slow down the buildup of pests and diseases and also it means the soil will not get exhausted so quickly). If you are just having one small raised bed though I would not worry too much about this!

If you've only got a small area then the thing to remember is that Rhubarb is a permanent crop which you will leave in place indefinitely while all the other plants you mention are annual crops that will not be in the soil more than 1 year. In fact the plants you list will probably all be finished in time to plant a summer crop next year. So that means once you have decided where you want to put the rhubarb you can stick everything else wherever you like. Not sure whether rhubarb would be OK long term in a pot - alright as a temporary measure until you have space somewhere but better to get it in the ground if you can.

If you will have a bigger area and want to try crop rotation, then the trick for the first year is just to make sure you keep the same families together. "Brassicas" isn't a vegetable it is a type of vegetable and the brassica family includes cabbage, kale and (I think) turnips. These can all be grown together. Beetroot and chard are in the same vegetable family so should go together. Lettuce can go anywhere.

Hope that helps!

__________________
Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

This may sound like a silly question but..overwintering onions and garlic. When are they ready to eat? Will they still need space on my veggie plot when I will be planting out other plants e.g. tomatoes?

Depending on the variety I think you could be harvesting any time between say late May and about July. So you can certainly follow some crops on after any type overwintering onions / garlic, but the ones that don't come out until later will obviously restrict you a little bit in terms of what can go in next.

__________________
Warning: I have a dangerous tendency to act like I know what I'm talking about.

I've just been given a couple of troughs that are about 20in x 56in and 20in deep. One has been sown with Nantes Frubund carrots and will also have some garlic interspersed when it turns up to help keep the carrot fly off. The other trough I want to use for potatoes next year. Is there anything I can plant now that will be ready in time to crop before I need to start the potatoes off mid-March?

All suggestions gratefully received

hi got the caul seeds from wilko 49p for 400 seeds ! called all year round cauli sow sept oct or jan - june. Ta