• Everything other than hot peppers. Questions, discussion, and grow logs. Cannabis grow pics are only allowed when posted from a legal juridstiction.

Comptine's Veggie Glog

They came back to me,I put the wrong address,lol. Got them back out to you yesterday. Still no seeds yet. Could just be a delay of some kind. No worries.
 
Comptine said:
 
Completely forgot about potatoes! I will probably plant a few in buckets, we did last year and that was fun! At this point though we're running out of space. There are so many things I want to try, but the backyard still has to have space for a trampoline, and we have a small bbq area where I might put some plants. I'm sure I'll be posting pictures later. Right now it's all covered in snow again, so the pictures won't be the best. 
 
This is a picture of when I was just setting up the raised beds. The two closest to the greenhouse are now double stacked. That's where my runner beans, peas, and carrots, maybe beets and spinach pak choi will go. The middle one I transplanted thyme and rosemary into, I might put some dill or parsley there, and maybe some more beets. The second from the camera will be radishes and leeks. And the closest to the camera is already completely filled with garlic. The bbq area is sort of visible next to the greenhouse on the right side, it looks like lots of bushes. My mum has planted flowers around it, but I hope to squeeze in a few pots on the inside. I have three more raised beds, one is occupied by starwberries, and then I have two more to figure out what to do with. I think one will be used for swiss chard and mint, and maybe dill and parsley too. 
Click to expand...
Stunning garden Comptine, love your work.
 
OK guys, I need some advice. We've played a little with an idea here at home. Our trees seem to produce biennially, so we're not expecting any cherry trees this year. We toyed with the idea of using the tree for support for beans. By either planting beans in 10 litre pots, or straight in the ground. Last year I dug a trench around the tree and filled it with new soil, I could put even more soil down around it. Then just drawing strings to the tree and have climbing beans go up it. Do you guys reckon that could work? 
 
This is the tree that has been chosen for that purpose. It's the same tree that was loaded last summer. 
 
Interesting, ours fruit each year, must be the much colder conditions you have. we can get down to - 7c but not close to your temps. Having just pulled the last of the beans from the frame, they do hold on tightly and could cause some minor damage to small branches when you clear them at the end of the season. Mine always grow to the top of the frame and would keep going if they could. Cherry trees do have shallow roots, may be worth doing pots, noting more watering time implications.
 
Bumper said:
Interesting, ours fruit each year, must be the much colder conditions you have. we can get down to - 7c but not close to your temps. Having just pulled the last of the beans from the frame, they do hold on tightly and could cause some minor damage to small branches when you clear them at the end of the season. Mine always grow to the top of the frame and would keep going if they could. Cherry trees do have shallow roots, may be worth doing pots, noting more watering time implications.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, we're not sure why it doesn't fruit every year. 
 
This is a pretty big tree, I would have thought that all the roots it needed would be well established. I guess that picture doesn't give you the best size reference, but I would say that it's at least 15 foot tall. 
 
Some minor damage to the branches is not the end of the world to be honest, it has enough of them anyway. 
 
The thing about pots is that it's harder to mow the lawn with them around. But pots have not been discarded entirely yet. So you think it could work then? Having the beans climb up the tree?
 
15 feet? wow, no problem.  I say go for it.  Cherries are damn near bullet proof anyway, so a few roots disturbed will mean less suckers for a year! 
 
And we're off! 
 

 
These are the only two onions I will be growing for the bulb bit. Got leeks and sallad onions of some sort that will be planted too. I wanted to plant my leeks at the same time, but the seeds for the second leek I ordered were out of stock, so I've had to place another order for a different one. I expect to start them off soon too. Tomatoes will be sowed on the 10th, I need to start planning how many seeds to put in of each type soon.  It's my first year growing onions, I hope it goes well. I didn't put in too many seeds, definitely not more than 50, probably a little less. Some will be culled.
 
I have leeks, chives, scallions, shallots and walla walla sweet onions growing this year. You will enjoy growing them as they are very easy to grow and taste so much better than what you get in the stores.
 
If you aren't already Comptine, have a read up on crop rotation.  Your raised bed is perfect for a rotation system.  It is the best for long term growing, as the soil is never stripped from repeat grows.  I set up an excel spreadsheet for seasonal rotation so I can follow the rotation over a 4 year cycle across our 8 beds with spring and autumn plantings.  So far so good! 
 
Bumper said:
If you aren't already Comptine, have a read up on crop rotation.  Your raised bed is perfect for a rotation system.  It is the best for long term growing, as the soil is never stripped from repeat grows.  I set up an excel spreadsheet for seasonal rotation so I can follow the rotation over a 4 year cycle across our 8 beds with spring and autumn plantings.  So far so good! 
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Bumper! So far I've only looked into companion planting. I'm living with my parents at the moment, but I don't intend to do that forever, so I'm not sure how long term this thing is. They are pretty lazy about planting things themselves. 
 
And now the leeks are started. The varieties are 'Herbstriesen 2' which is sold by a Swedish brand, and 'Lincoln F1' by a British brand, I did not order the latter one, I ordered a different one that was out of stock, it looks like they replaced it with this one. I'm quite happy with the alternative, Lincoln is supposed to be an early one, just like the one I initially ordered, and this one is more expensive, so yolo. I've just made a small separation with an old plastic card, and I'm using an old grape container, it's like a mini green house. 
 

 
The onions seem to be doing well, I've seen a lot of them let out tap roots (I didn't bury them too deeply, I just spread the seeds out on the top and mixed the soil around with my finger.)
 
My tiny little onions are doing great. 
 

 
Started cherry tomatoes 2 days ago in paper towels, many have let roots out already. 
 
If you are super curious about what I'm growing, the list is as follows (some are Russian varieties)
 
изюм
Yellow Pear/Cherrybelle 
медовая конфетка
розовый спам
де барао черный
пуговка
Igleheart Yellow 
Angelle
 
Tomatoes have popped up, they look a little leggy, thank god you can plant them pretty deep later. 

 
The leeks finally started coming through as well, I'm super excited about growing leeks this year. 

 
And it was time to plant my aubergines. Got two seeds in each pot, two pots per variety, and we're keeping one of each variety ultimately. I'm quite excited about these as well, I'm a big fan of aubergines. The middle one you can't see the picture of, but it looks very similar to the one left of it. 

 
The varieties are once again mostly Russian. 
Ophelia
эпик
бернар
лунная соната
Блэк дракон
 
I still need to start my full size tomatoes, might do it later today, I'm running short on windows though. In 4 days the Swedish day will be longer than the night, actually, that probably only applies to where I live. 
 
Replanted my onions into a cell tray, just to give them some individual space. I bought a 60 cell tray, so essentially there will be 30 onions of each. It's the first time I try to grow onions, let alone from seed, so it's still very experimental. The are looking quite sad this morning still, they looked worse yesterday. I didn't realise how many seeds I'd sown until I had to transplant them, at least 70 per variety, a lot had to go in the bin. 
 

 
The leeks are looking fine, and from what I understand they will be fine crowded like that until I start planting them in the garden. I also sowed some rocket, to try growing it indoors. 
 

 
 
Large tomatoes and aubergines are also starting to come up now. The remaining large tomatoes I'm growing are
розовый спам
розовый слон
японский трюфель розовыи
ямал 200
as well as 3 mystery varieties, that my grandma gave us before she passed away, no idea what they are. 
 
My mum is from Russia, and she regularly goes back there. She's been picking up seeds on her last two visits. They are much cheaper, and we're not bothered about things being heirloom or even necessarily pure, our palette isn't fine tuned enough to care. A tomato is a tomato. What does appeal to us is how they look though, so that's usually how we select things. 
 
I usually trim my onions back to 3 to 4 inches in length until I plant them out. It keeps them from going all over until sturdier.
 
skullbiker said:
I usually trim my onions back to 3 to 4 inches in length until I plant them out. It keeps them from going all over until sturdier.
Click to expand...
 
I'd say they're about 3 to 4 inches at the moment, still very tiny. Most have started producing their second 'leaf'. Do you think I'd get away with cutting them down to just above the place where the second leaf is, or is that too much? 
 
If anyone knows the answer to this, please don't hesitate to answer. From what I understand, onions are quite cold hardy, and it looks like our night temps aren't dropping below 0 (40F) anymore, do you think I could get away with taking the onions out to the greenhouse permanently in two weeks ish time if temps stay the same, or will it still be too cold.
 
Comptine said:
 
I'd say they're about 3 to 4 inches at the moment, still very tiny. Most have started producing their second 'leaf'. Do you think I'd get away with cutting them down to just above the place where the second leaf is, or is that too much? 
Click to expand...
I wouldn't trim them back any shorter than the length of your index finger. Your's may just need better light. If you put them out I would go through a bit of hardening off to prepare them for extended cool temps. They actually grow best in cooler temps. Also, they don't have much for roots so I try to water the top soil some until they get a good start.
I posted a pic of some of mine here:
http://thehotpepper.com/index.php?/topic/59188-ONIONS%21%21%21
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top