Experiments For 2017

[Snadger]

I am really and using rock dust for the first time ever, just having a bit of fun at others expense

I used rock dust last year. Can't say I was too impressded with it.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

I'm cutting down on the number of raised beds due to Arthur-it-is, so just going to bung stuff in wherever there is a place except for potatoes which have their own spot. My non-gardening niece is taking over one of the beds so it will be interesting to see if she is more successful than I, given that we'll be growing the same things in the same way. Another experiment will be to paint or cover the strawberry troughs in a red colour as per James Wong's book because he says it gives them a better taste.

[veggiechicken]

I'm going to grow a Cardboard Box garden

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...den_92459.html

[Mr Bones]

Didn't think to say earlier, I'm also having an experiment using curry powder to ward off allium miner and leek moth.

[the big lebowski]

home made led any chance of pics ? and a rough descripition of how you made them bm ? cheers

[veggiechicken]

^^^ Try this http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...hts_69290.html and start near the end

[the big lebowski]

thanks for the link vc

[Bigmallly]

Only a few pics Leb due to the recent downtime.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...7-a_91723.html

[KevinM67]

I'm going to grow a Cardboard Box garden

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...den_92459.html

I want buried in one of them, preferably with a few of my favourite veg/herbs planted amongst my body.

[Penellype]

I thought I had posted in this thread, but clearly not.

One of my experiments this year was brought about by finding a bag of potatoes lurking at the bottom of my tomato storage rack. They were Charlotte, all the little ones that I'd harvested in a hurry as the foliage looked like it might have blight (but probably didn't). This must rank as one of the silliest things I've ever tried to do in the garden.

I think I'll call this the "how to break all the potato rules" experiment.

Ingredients:
About 15 small Charlotte potatoes from potentially diseased stock which have been stored for 8 months in a warm room in a paper bag and have developed 4 inch long, fragile white shoots.
1 plastic raised bed 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m high, half full of a soil/compost mixture, positioned against a north facing brick wall, with additional shade to east and west.
Horse manure, fresh from the stable.
Polythene sheet, fleece, canes, 2 mesh shelves from a blowaway greenhouse, clothes pegs.

Method:
15th February - Dig out the centre of the bed and put the soil in a skip.
Fill the hollow with horse manure and tread down well.
Place seed potatoes on top of horse manure, about 6 inches apart in all directions.
Cover with the soil that came out of the middle of the bed.
Cover with polythene and peg down with clothes pegs.

Once the foliage emerges, replace the plastic with fleece pegged onto the 2 shelves which are secured on canes at the back and front of the bed. Fold back the fleece during the day to allow some light to reach the leaves.
I didn't bother with earthing up.
I didn't feed them but I have watered the plants every day once they had plenty of foliage.

1st March:



2nd April:



1st May:



The bed is the one behind bucket 10.

1st June:



The foliage is now badly damaged by snails. I decided to harvest the right hand half of the bed today so that I could put my gooseberry bush on it. This is what I got:



0.65kg of potatoes, some very small, but quite a few reasonable sized ones.

While I wouldn't advise doing this intentionally, the only other place I could have put those potatoes in February was the compost bin.

[DWSmith]

Something simple that I have wanted to do for a while. I'm using cattle panels to trellis several types of plants. Not really an experiment but just a different way for me to do something.

[Jay-ell]

Em lets see - got my runner beans growing underneath my french beans. I'm harvesting my leeks after I've cooked them. I'm plan on eating the same root veg for the third year in a row (not the same variety, the exact same plants). I'm looking to sort out a sitting area underneath a pumpkin patch.

Nope can't think of anything experimental

[Mr Bones]

I tried curry powder to deter allium miner. It didn't work.

[Cadalot]

SoilFixer SF60 Super Soil Improver

I'm undertaking a SoilFixer SF60 Bucket Potato experiment



The SoilFixer SF60 Super Soil Improver biochar/colloidal humus matrix acts as ‘sponge’ for water and essential nutrients – storing them ready for use. The ‘sponge’ matrix supports increased levels of soil microbes. The microbes (notably mycorrhizal fungi) can access the stored nutrients. They form symbiotic relationships with plant roots and supply nutrients to the roots. This mechanism is sometimes described as ‘improved soil health leading to improved plant growth’. (More detail around SF60, the role as an improver versus fertiliser, versus compost can be found in the SoilFixer SF60 FAQ blog post)

The test mixes on Mill Green Allotment in front of Bed 12 Brussel Sprouts are from left to right:-



1) My Own Compost & Coir 50:50
2) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume
3) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 10% by volume
4) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 20% by volume
5) My Own Compost & Coir with Potato Fertiliser
6) My Own Compost & Coir with SF60 & 5% by volume with Potato Fertilizer

This is a bit of an adjustment to what I had planed to test, but I'm running late this year due circumstances outside my control and normally these would have been started early in the greenhouse at the end of March, but as I never really got the greenhouse clear enough I've waited for the last frost plus a couple of weeks.

In about 13 weeks from 22nd May when the foliage begins to turn yellow and die back I will harvest all six buckets and compare the weight and number of spuds from each bucket, As I'm using the Marshalls PotatoPots so I may have a sneak peek at 5 & 10 weeks in before harvesting.

For more on the experiment & results see Alans Allotment: SoilFixer

[Miss Mousetrousers]

We're following the advice of James Wong re- feeding our big tubs of strawberries only with diluted molasses and, so far, they look amazingly healthy. The leaves are a lovely deep green and the berries are just about to ripen.