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Our first year we used bracken to keep them cosy and some survived but quite a few rotted. Now I do nothing (a lovely technique), and it’s rare to lose any.
We’re at 600 ft in Derbyshire so quite cold and considerably wet.Keep it simple: everything into the compost bin, compost onto everywhere.
Wood ash can clump up when wet so I sprinkle it on as pile grows.
I wouldn’t worry about ink on cardboard.I don’t find it necessary to feed other than an annual compost mulch, and I don’t water much in poly tunnel either, except in this years heat. Last year multi stemmed plants were producing average 12 trusses per plant so my ex-meadow underlying soil must be good.
So, the answer, as usual, depends on your individual circumstance and inclination. For me, a massive help has been Charles practice to put everything through the compost pile and treat all beds, all crops with the same input ie. compost. No separate applications of comfrey, wood ash, whatever, just compost the lot and spread annually. So simple. (Thanks Charles).
Incidentally, the next really big help is not being too concerned about rotation. So, thanks again, Charles Dowding!Three weeds must have been taxing to remove! You could try geese next time: mine are brilliant in maturing allium beds, although their flat feet aren’t so good on young onion seedlings.
Does this problem only involve horse manure? Cows manure is never mentioned: maybe their digestion is more thorough?
Are there any “nasties” in ex non organic mushroom compost?
I really don’t want to import anything into our garden that’s not 100% safe.The big seed sellers you mention are marketing companies and not seedsmen/growers. Fancy packets, advertising and retail distribution cost money. So you end up with poor overpriced product.
My solution is to save the easy seeds, buy as much as poss from Real Seeds and any other bits mostly from eBay sellers (Premier and Seekay- usually organic- usually 99p for generous quantities). I’ve never had a problem. And don’t sneer at Wilkos who seem to clear all their stock each year and start with fresh. I’ve tried basics like Ailsa Craig onions and Greyhound cabbage from them and they germinated so rapidly it was startling.
Can’t complain at rapid service, good quality and low prices. Or have I just been lucky?Ordinary garlic needs a period of cold to start the plant forming cloves, else you end up with a solid bulb, and I should think that applies to Elephant as well. Garlic doesn’t just tolerate cold , it needs it, so I’d plant asap with protection from birds etc.
Mayan Gold potatoes are fabulous to eat, especially cooked in their skins. I grow them as any other potato: some in 40 litre containers, generally mainly well rotted cow muck, or else on the ground covered with own made garden compost, including a fair amount of shredded woody material.
They don’t want to get too hot, never a problem here but maybe with you, and they need to be moist at all times.
They store reasonably well: currently we’re eating the last few which are still delicious despite growing shoots and going soft and wrinkly.
I grow 20 odd varieties each year and MG are currently number one!
Apart from feeding the soil a la Charles Dowding, I add nothing to the growing medium except comfrey leaves to containers, if I remember. My aim is absolutely best flavour and not yield or size.
HTH.I grow sweet potatoes in 40 litre bags and, so far, the yield has benn abysmal. Don’t try unless you relish a challenge and have time and space to spare.
Three difficulties are lack of hot summers, short seasons and critters that come and get the crop before you can.
This year I’ve overwintered some cuttings and plants(last years with crop removed then re-potted) to allow maximum growing time. (Bought slips sent out in May are too late imoh.) They started to look sad at year end but perked up under lights alongside overwintered tomatoes. Incidentally, I left one flower on a Rosada which has now developed into a surprisingly ripe fruit.
All I need now is a long hot summer and some wire netting – not much to ask for….Mark, some chipper shredders have different screens as an option. So, for very green material you’d use a more open screen to alleviate clogging. For allotment type use I think a hammer/small axe is quite sufficient.
However, with a few acres to tend, I’ve just bought an Eliet Maestro which is a reasonably chunky petrol engined machine and find that mixing the green in with branches works ok.The downside of the m/c, for most people, is the noise and if you have neighbours, you’d be most unpopular.
The big plus is the fantastic compost material that heats up very quickly and must destroy any weed seeds (& any good bug life). The plan is that the hot compost plus cold compost from general greenery will make my garden self sufficient without the tons of cow manure usually spread.
Plus it controls the amount of woody waste piles we accumulate otherwise.
PS We don’t have neighbours!I can’t add anything useful to this discussion except to say I find the decision when to transplant the most difficult part of growing, and possibly the least explained.
Sarpo seem to just keep growing and growing till frost hits, thus you can have big yields. For quite good flavour, harvest before the tubers get too big.
I tried leaving flower sprouts unprotected and someone had a nibble but it was probably pheasants rather than pigeons.
I’ve not had any other problems at all, in fact a very easy crop whereas other brassicas rarely reach the table!
The plants do vary considerably in vigour and colour and I wonder if the best could be propogated, perhaps using the sprouts as cuttings as seeds from F1s aren’t advisable. Any thoughts?Nettles you’ll cope with, the bracken and hazel will be very useful, but you could well regret all that wild life. Wonderful to have around – unless you’re growing veg/fruit.!!