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Post by roofgardener on Aug 24, 2015 15:52:24 GMT
I know dianthus.... and of course, there is something even BETTER than watching them grow....  (click on picture for larger version. This was a joint effort between the Roofgarden, and The Parents. Courgette (Home Grown) stuffed with Onions (HG), Tomatoes (HG), mincemeat, herbs (some HG), served with steamed white potato's (HG) on a bed of Steamed Spinache (HG). The only NON home-grown things where the minced meat (actually, I think this one was Qorn ? ) and some of the Erbs. And it tasted lovely! WAIT... did I mention home grown Onions and Potato's ? Why, YES... I believe I did. So much has happened on the Roof of late that my blog has fallen behind. I've been harvesting individual onions for two weeks now, but did a 'total' harvest on the weekend, resulting in ....  It's a small harvest... but the photo is only about half of what we got - the rest has already been eaten, or given to friends and family. In addition, I finally plucked up the nerve to empty my "diseased" potato bin. (I thought they where diseased based on the condition of the above-soil foliage.... ). But they weren't ! Full story in the Potato thread Here . Got to dash.. I'll try and post more. Big Things are Afoot ! |
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Post by daitheplant on Aug 24, 2015 20:03:00 GMT
Roofus, you really do need an allotment.  |
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Post by roofgardener on Aug 24, 2015 21:50:52 GMT
I don't have the time or energy Daitheplant.
I take the path less travelled.
Less is more.
To be continued !
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Post by dianthus on Aug 24, 2015 22:15:07 GMT
Great results, Roofy.
You can't beat the taste of freshly picked and cooked produce.
You have learnt so much this year. Next year will be even better....... watch this space rooftop |
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Post by roofgardener on Aug 25, 2015 6:09:24 GMT
Oh, I have plans dianthus... BIG plans.
Actually, they're a bit TOO big and are cluttering up my table.
Perhaps I should have used a smaller font ?
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Post by roofgardener on Aug 30, 2015 21:37:11 GMT
Big things afoot. Major Changes are being made.
All will be revealed tomorrow !
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Post by dianthus on Aug 30, 2015 23:24:42 GMT
It's now tomorrow..... spill the beans Roofy  |
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Post by roofgardener on Sept 4, 2015 13:45:55 GMT
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To everything there is a season
And a time to every purpose under heaven
Turn, turn, turn.
And now we feel winters fingers in the increasingly pale and wan morning sun.
Summer is over, and our thoughts turn to winter tasks, and preparing for next springs plantings.
For me, this means cleaning umpteen plantpots, and perhaps re-filling them in readyness.
Tidying things away into storage. Checking the weights on the polytunnel so it doesn't blow away again in the winter storms.
Perhaps finally getting that smoking jacket that Daitheplant has been bugging me about ?
And preparing to do exactly the same things again next year as I did THIS year.
I THINK NOT !
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I'm going to set myself a challange. Well.... five challanges, actually. FIVE targets to push myself into becoming a Better Gardener. - Firstly, I'm going to grow a SMALLER amount of tomatoes and runner beans, but PRUNE them properly to stop them over-growing their pots and crashing.
- Secondly, I'm going to ensure I have LOTS of pollinator-attracting flowers, so that THIS time my runner beans get pollinated.
- Thirdly - grow enough strawberries for my entire family to have strawberries-and-cream for the Wimbledon Men's Finals.
Fourthly, I'm going to research salad properly, thus that I can grow "salad pots" for my parents, wherein all the leaves etc mature simultaneously. - Fifthly, to grow Brussels Sprouts for Christmas Dinner 2016. (I tried this year, but the caterpillars got to them)
- SIXTHLY, and most importantly.......
... learn to count, and - SEVENTHLY.. and finally...
Pick ONE aspect of gardening....ONE type of vegetable or flower,
and REALLY learn about it. REALLY dig deep, and get to the root of it.
Read the Books.... ask lots of questions here in the forums... speak to other gardeners.
And I have decided what vegetable it is to be, based on having a fun, successful and minimum-effort crop this year. Ladies and gentlemen.... it is my intention for 2015-2017 to become.... An Onion Whisperer !I must become an expert in the different breeds of onions; their benefits, durability in storage, pests and diseases, and so forth. I must learn how to "dress" onions for a vegetable competition. (apparently I have to tie their necks together with Rastafarians (1) ) The goal is to be able to keep my Sister, Mum, and Dad in Onions (such that they don't need to purchase any) from June 2016 to May 2017. A full year. So that's probably around 400 onions. BUT... of appropriate types such that each successive harvest will keep in storage long enough to ensure an uninterrupted supply. (Onions shall be taken to include red onions and large Shallots). I can't simply grow 400 onions in one crop, as they will rot in storage before the full year is up. AND ALSO.... to submit onions in both the "Novice" category, and the "Over 3lb" categories at the Gedling Show, September 2017. A new blog will be created detailing my progress, or lack of it, to run in parallel with this one. Notes (1) That.... can't possibly be correct  ? |
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Post by dianthus on Sept 4, 2015 16:43:04 GMT
You will need to take over your sister's garden to grow 400 onions. I would suggest that you need about 12 sq meters to grow that number, but that would be for kitchen use. I've never grown show onions, so you'd need to ask another for that info. Also, don't grow them in the space where you grew them last year, so you'll need at least three times that space, to get your crop rotations sorted.
The biggest veg are not always the best for eating, so also bear that in mind when you select seed.
Sorry to hear about your runner bean crop failure.... your bees aren't thinking that they'll find tasty morsels on a roof. Maybe hanging baskets on the side walls will encourage them to take a look higher up! From my 80 or so plants, I'm picking about 1.5kg each day. Two varieties - St George and Liberty. The latter is a show bean variety, but I pick them when they are best for eating. In the milder climate of Kent, my Dad used to get them to over 2ft long. A trugful looked very impressive. 
I might also suggest courgettes as a good choice, as you can fertilise them with a brush, taking pollen off the males and twirling it in the female flowers. This is best done in the mornings, as the flowers are only open for about two days, so you have to be vigilant, but you don't have to rely on bees and hoverflies etc. |
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Post by daitheplant on Sept 4, 2015 19:00:32 GMT
I grow Enorma runner beans, they are superb for eating AND showing. Before deciding on your onions, try and get hold of a copy of this years show schedule. I always grow Sturon onions, they are a very good kitchen onion, and keep well.
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Post by roofgardener on Sept 4, 2015 20:39:37 GMT
Dai's... I'll address the onion-related comments in the new blog, once it is created. Dianthus.... I agree with your thoughts about hanging baskets. Ultimately - whether the baskest be hung, or on the floor, the key thing is to HAVE some polinator-attractors IN BLOOM at the same time (or earlier) than the beans produce their flowers. On this occasion, that did not happen ! I had a HUGE array of Petunias. But guess what.. they are feeble as attractors. Well, certainly for Bees, anyway. This is why I need to do a LITTLE more research. Dianthus... Daitheplant....my old phillosophy of "stick 'em in a pot, water 'em, and beat 'em with a stick" sufficed me for the first two years or so... but now... I fear it has reached its limit. I need to move beyond this. I need to know what SIZE of stick. Which is why I have been scouring the shelves of the second-hand book shops. And .. in a couple of cases.. the shelves of the garden centres.  The truth is in there ... somewhere... It may not make me a genius gardener, but at least it might help me ask the right questions on this forum. (click to enlarge... as I said to my girlfriend (1)).
Notes
(1) She clicked. It didn't work. She left me Pffft... she was hopeless at potting anyway !
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Post by dianthus on Sept 4, 2015 22:01:30 GMT
Ahhhh..... bless!
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Post by SueA on Sept 4, 2015 22:15:42 GMT
Roofy, I see you're considering shallots, I can recommend them for growing in containers as I have done many times, they're great too, easy to grow from sets, you just pop one compost, water it etc. & it grows & splits to form several lovely new shallots!  |
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Post by roofgardener on Sept 5, 2015 9:27:30 GMT
Thanks for that thought SueA - I may ask you more about that closer to the time. Do you have any experience of the large shallots that seem to be en-vogue at the moment ? ("banana" shallots).
Autumn Roundup
What worked, and what Wilted ?
What worked ?
Spring OnionsGrown in a Wilko's under-bed storage box. Need to be spaced out a bit more evenly to avoid clumping together. (I have a plan for that, involving a wire mesh grid). Otherwise.... a nice fuss-free vegetable. CourgettesYou can't really go wrong ! CarrotsWell pleased, but see comment on spring onions. Also, perhaps use a slightly deeper container (wilko's box) next year ? Spudlinks Love 'em. Fuss free, though the foliage got me worried this year. (unnecessarily). OnionsWell pleased. Fuss free for the most part. Will be going big on these next season, as commented earlier. Tomatoes Well, they WORKED, and I have SOME ripening. But I really need to give them more TLC, prune them properly, and stop them growing too large for their pot (see notes below) Salad leavesWeelll... they WORKED... if only I could persuade them to mature at the same rate RadishesBrilliant. Love 'em. Well, I can take 'em or leave 'em, but my Sister eats them by the fistfull ! Thyme (four plantpots worth)Delighted. I've struggled to grow this before, but now all four pots seem to be growing strongly. I've even been harvesting them for dinner. SageAs per Thyme ParselyMy three-year old potted parsley has bolted ! Perhaps its like strawberries; the plant is only quasi-perrenial, and dies back after a few years ?? Strawberries Delighted ! My three neglected plants (donated by Miss. M) sprang into life after a bit of TLC, and threw out lots of colonising stalks. I now have TEN strawberry plants ! (soon to be more, as some of the newly colonised plants are throwing their OWN stalks out.. even though they are only just rooted themselves...). Roll on Wimbledon 2016 ! SpinacheSuccess ! I shall definately grow more next year. Capsicums Well pleased ! One plant died, another was attacked by some sort of leaf-eating critter and is badly damaged, but the other two are thriving, and are throwing off peppers of a decent size.
The Wilted Runner beansDisaster. They grew strongly and vigerously, but hardly any flowers where polinated. They died and fell off without producing beans.My entire crop thus far is six tough inedible beans. I have a suspicioun that I simply let them grow too big. The huge foliage area, with the corresponding evaporation, overwhelmed the pot. I would have needed to water them every day, and perhaps feed them every 2-3 days. But I didn't. BrocclieI wasn't convinced by them to be honest. Then the caterpillars attacked, and reduced them to sticks. Pak ChoiThe leaves never seemed to become edible. Either they where immature (suitable only for adding a few to a salad), or they became over-large and rubbery overnight. And THEN the caterpillars attacked.
"The Jury is still out"LeeksWell.. they show every sign of thriving and being healthy.. BUT.. they're only pencil-thin. Perhaps they just need more time ? (grown in a Wilko's container, as per the carrots)
Brussel SproutsThey're growing strongly, and producing LOADS of little baby sprouts.. BUT.. one was attacked by spray-resistant caterpillars, and its leaves have been BADLY munched. I don't know whether it can grow new ones, and I doubt the surviving ones will produce enough energy to mature the plant ? The second one is a BIT better, but also showing signs of attack. I don't know what to do, other than visually inspect them every day and pull the caterpillars off, along with any obvious eggs. Perhaps the cooler weather will help ? LavenderThey germinated OK, and went to the 6-leaves stage, but now seem to have stopped ? One has just randomly died... and I have a sneaking suspicioun that some of the others are weeds, and not lavander at all. Time will tell. Not bad for an ignoramus who started off with a basil pot on a windowsill |
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Post by daitheplant on Sept 5, 2015 18:57:11 GMT
Banana shallots don`t split like normal ones. They are more like long onions, really. I started them from seeds last year, stopped them at a small set stage. Then grew them to maturity this year. Parsley is better grown as an annual. Don`t worry about the sprout leaves. It is the sprouts you want. Will you be using much lavender in your cooking? If not, why not invest a few pence and buy a small plant at the local garden centre? Your leeks are about the size as mine. They will be ready over winter. As you are growing in containers, why not try DWARF runner beans next year?
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