Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Its good to know there are other small scale growers out there JLo. I have 0.2 acres, and supply mainly salad bags, and have also benefited from Charles’ course and books.
Like Charles, I harvest into buckets without water. I don’t leave them standing in water; I found that this makes some types of leaves deteriorate at the edges. They get a quick spray from the hosepipe, and are covered with a damp tea towel.
Like bushby, I found bagging up time consuming, initially, as i wanted to ensure an even mix. What works best for me now is between what bushby does and what Charles does. I group leaves by size and strength of flavour (large: lettuce; medium: brassica, spinach etc; small: purslane, herbs, etc), mixing the different types within a group, in water. I bag the larger leaves first then the rest. I used to add herbs to the bags last as I didn’t have many and would have risked someone missing out on the “high notes”. Now I have more, the small and medium leaves get mixed together.
I take a break from harvesting to wash the first group, before harvesting the rest. Its nice to stand up part way through the morning! As custom picked up I got tendon injuries from all the fine movements you need for harvesting. So its good to exercise different muscles periodically! Its good to get a helper for harvesting too!
I think your method, Charles, of mixing everything then bagging would be more efficient. I shall try it when i am sure i have enough of the most flavoursome leaves to distribute well. With your advice on what order to put the leaves in it should be easier – good tip for the feathery leaves to stop them sticking together. You must have clean leaves! I have to rinse twice to remove bits of straw left in the compost, spiders, etc, and at the moment – splashes of muddy soil, and slugs which hide under the lambs lettuce! I use two large tub trugs and a seive to remove the debris between batches.
To drain the leaves I use a commercial salad spinner (luckily only cost me £5 plus postage from ebay). They sometimes come up at local auctions. It probably takes a bit longer than the basket method but it does allow you to collect the water.
Diverging a bit from the thread, but worth mentioning, it’s worth taking time to note the weight and time taken to harvest each type of leaf. You see which leaves pay their way, and which are a too much of a faff to put in in large quantities. It also allows you to see the yield of each bed and learn what cultivation methods work best, and identify what you need more of next year. The difference I noticed between neighbouring beds of lettuce after adding manure to the surface of one but not the other, following Charles’ course was striking. You can also compare different seasons.
I had a similar problem with wild rocket under enviromesh at the end of August. I had put this on specifically to exclude flea beatle from the pristine plants! Unfortunately it was badly affected by flea beetle (the most likely candidate given the damage), whereas wild rocket in the neighbouring bed was unaffected. I suspect that the flea beetle was already on the soil and was trapped under the mesh. But the neighbouring bed got more water which the flea beetle didn’t like. I removed the mesh and the rocket is now looking good.
However I am starting to suspect another pest as the cause of “flea beetle-like” damage on brassicas in September. Perhaps Charles or someone else may be able to shed some light on it. They are tiny grey/brown weevils, the same size as flea beetles, which nestle at the base of brassica salads, such as wild rocket and mizuna. I deliberately waited til September to plant out the mizuna to avoid flea beetle. Again the plants were pristine on planting out, but soon got peppered with tiny holes (along with some slug damage). I’ve checked on the internet and they look like brassica stem weevils or seed weevils. They’ve been troublesome in the past and first appeared when three neighbouring fields were all planted with oil seed rape. According to what i’ve seen on the internet they’re not supposed to be a problem on the leaves. Has anyone else had a problem with them?
Hi Sarah
Your compost is not necessarily the problem. I found the same happens with some bought in compost, especially those with a finer texture such as those containing peat, and when the compost gets too damp, which is likely at this time of year.
It can also happen when the soil surface is pressed down. My dad taught me to avoid this when potting up and filling seed trays by pressing the compost into the pot until it is nearly full and then sprinkle a layer on the top and not press it down. Watering seed trays and pots from below helps. For compost in beds I would just hoe if the soil is damp or has the green algae on it. This will loosen the surface and and help dry it off. Good ventilation will also help.
BarbaraThanks for posting this for me Charles. Are there any other growers with advice on crops that survived last winter’s snow? Any with even more snow to contend with?
The snow is troublesome here, but half the battle is to accept it, and now that all the shovelling and the excitement has died down, I’m ready for some planning time, to ensure there are plenty of other things to fall back on when the purple sprouting broccoli succumbs to the weather again. Since the snow is so deep it makes sense to have some vegetables in storage before the weather puts a stop to outdoor harvesting. It’s too late for me this year. The snow came earlier than expected. I found lambs lettuce, overwintering lettuce, and winter spinach (Verdil) had survived last years snow covering. I should try savoy cabbage as you suggest, Charles. Last year, besides the broccoli I lost a few red cabbages as well, but probably ought to have picked those before the snow came!
Whilst dealing with this weather, I’ve learnt a few things that might be useful for other siberian polytunnelers.
1. Bash the snow off the tunnel from the inside. I used a rake with a towel wrapped around it. A local news magazine recently reported on local garden centre which had lost a tunnel due to the weight of the snow. Unless you’re a ballet dancer its easier reach the ridge, to bash off the snow, if you have somewhere free of plants to stand between each of the hoops, from where you can easily reach the ridge. This is an excellent workout!
2. You’ll also need to clear snow from the sides as the weight of it builds up around the sides and pushes the polythene inwards, stretching it. I left too much clutter to close the polythene inside, so the polythene now has a some damage where it was pushed against the sharp edges of the “clutter”! Hindsight is wonderful!
3. You need somewhere to pile the snow up that has accumulated along the sides, so don’t plant anything right next to the polytunnel that hates being squashed under a heap of snow. I have a bed of cabbages about a metre and a half a way. Even that was a bit close.
4. Don’t leave stuff next to the tunnel. It will either get damaged by the shovel, or hinder your attempts to clear snow from the sides.
5. Go home if you’re tired, and come back later. Don’t do what I did and rush. Shovel+tired+polythene=damage! (Fortunately it was only a small hole!)I look forward to any recommendations for hardy veg. Thanks
Barbara