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Author: hortoris

Growing Carrots Not Carrot Flies

Growing Carrots Not Carrot Flies

gnome

I hope my carrots will taste better than the pottery gnome variety. Gonsenheimer have not been grown in my garden before but as they are promoted as crack resistant I thought I would give them a go. The blurb says ‘a bunching variety producing heavy crops of smooth skinned, good flavoures bright orange roots.’  Just about what you need from a packet of Carrot seed. Sown now they can be harvested from end July until December.

Autumn King Improved Carrots are my maincrop (and main picture) variety ready in August- October from May sowing. I will sow the seed thinly half inch deep and only thin if they are really close together. The other varieties picture are Amsterdam Forcing and Nantes but what ever you grow i hope you have juicy tender Carrots to show for your efforts.

Amsterdam ForcingAutumn KingNantes

Tips to Avoid Carrot Fly

  • Sow in February or early March or waiting until Mid June will help as the Carrot fly is not laying its eggs at that time and it is the egg larvae that do the damage.
  • Covering new sowings with horticultural fleece is the best prevention.
  • Mulching with grass clippings can create a barrier for flies and also reduces green tops on the carrots but beware of slugs and snails under the mulch.
  • Carrot fly are attracted by the smell of carrots which is strongest when leaves are bruised or damaged. Thin out and pick carrots late in the day when there is little wind
  • Grow Carrots in 2 foot high raised beds as most Flies are ground hugging.

Odd Carrot Facts

  • The World Carrot Museum has a variety of Carrot name for every letter of the alphabet
  • Most carrots are orange but they can also be white, yellow, red, and purple.
  • One carrot provides enough vitamin A for one day – the deeper the orange the more beta carotene and healthy impact they produce.
  • About half of the worlds carrots are Chinese
Thyme and Time Again

Thyme and Time Again

Thyme has over 350 varieties and can make an interesting collection. Thymus is claimed to have volatile oils that have anti-ageing properties and good anti-oxidants to aid health. It retains its flavour after drying and can be stored successfully.

Time for some Growing Tips on Thyme

  • Place container or grow in a sunny position to get stronger flavoured leaves.
  • Use free draining soil or plant through a good layer of gravel
  • Thyme looks good in a pot but avoid using a rich compost or you will get tasteless leaves and no flowers
  • Trim the plant after Thyme has flowered to stop it becoming woody.
  • Propagate from cuttings before flowering in spring or divide in spring.
  • T. vulgaris, T. frgrantissimus and T. Serpyllium can be grown from fine seed which should be sown with sand on top of soil watered from the bottom.
  • Bees are attracted to the pink flowering Pink Ripple.
  • Cooking with Thyme and home grown Tomatoes is a special joy but add Thyme early so it has chance to release its flavours.

Herb Garden Design Using Thyme

  • Create a carpet on a path on banking to display the herbs.
  • For best ornamental effect mix upright varieties and creeping varieties and vary the leaf colour ‘Archers Gold’, ‘Coccineus major’ and ‘Doone Valley’ have a mix of magenta and purple flowers with varigation on leaf colour.
  • A wheel shape or Octagon effect can be created as a garden feature
  • ‘T. Vulgaris Silver Posie’ is reliable in winter weather

Common Larch – Root and Branch Review

Common Larch – Root and Branch Review

Larch trees are common in forestry plantations and high ground in the UK. Larch are fast growing and loose there leaves in winter. The wood from Common Larch trees is still used for a range of purposes.

Key Features of the Common Larch

  • Latin name – Larix decidua other common names European Larch
  • Height – up to 120 feet
  • Type of tree – Deciduous Conifer
  • Leaves – flat soft needles growing in whorls on side shoots and stems
  • Flowers – male yellow, female pink catkins
  • Fruit – oval brown cones with straight scales and visible bracts
  • Bark – Grey, smooth when young fissuring with age
  • Family – Pinaceae

Origins and Distribution of the Common Larch

  • Indigenous to hilly regions of Europe.
  • Now widely planted in north America.

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Hawthorn – Root and Branch Review

Hawthorn – Root and Branch Review

Hawthorn blossum DSCF0995

The Hawthorn flowers in May hence one of its common names. Gnarled old trunks give testimony to the Hawthorn’s ability to survive in exposed windy conditions. The thorns help make the tree a good hedging subject.

Key Features of the Hawthorn

  • Latin name – Crataegus Monogyna other common names May, Quickthorn, Whitethorn or Thornapple
  • Height – 33 feet-
  • Type of tree – deciduous
  • Leaves – deeply lobed glossy green leaves
  • Flowers – Dense clusters of creamy white borne on shoots
  • Fruit – Oval red pome (Berry)half inch wide
  • Bark – Brown with shallow ridges
  • Family – Rosaceae,

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Veg as Cheap as Chips

Veg as Cheap as Chips

Book Cover

The last of my root vegetables and Leeks are now consumed and a distant gastronomic memory. New baby salad leaves have been available but I do not take enough care to be able to binge on them until later in the season. Rhubarb once again is prolific and abundant so that I and the neighbours are enjoying the fruit of my labours literally.

The early potatoes that I tried in the cold greenhouse are full of growth, above the soil at least, so I look forward to my own new spuds fairly shortly. The majority of the Earlies or Second earlies have been grown in pots or tubs rather than the ground and I am interested to see how they crop. I have heard good reports of growing Carrots in large pots to avoid pests and get long straight roots but I have just put my new seed in a new bed so that idea will have to wait for next year.

My Tomato plants are starting to go out into the greenhouse now they are six inches high but I need to watch for frost with my fleece at the ready. If you want more information on Vegetable Growing month by month the book will cost less than a fiver from Amazon.

Quinine Tree- Root and Branch Review

Quinine Tree- Root and Branch Review

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The Quinine tree or large shrub has provided medical cures for malaria and fever for 400 years. The ground up bark is the key substance for this and as the additive in tonic water.

Key Features of Quinine Tree

  • Latin name – Cinchona calisaya other common names Fever tree, Quina, Jesuits bark
  • Height – up to 80 feet
  • Type of tree – Evergreen
  • Leaves – green shiny elliptic or oblong
  • Flowers – Fragrant terminal tubular panicles in white to pink
  • Fruit – Ovoid capsule containing winged seeds
  • Bark – Grey-brown and special see below
  • Family – Rubiaceae,

Origins and Distribution of the Quinine Tree

  • Native to South America and Peru.
  • Named after Countess of Chinchona who fell ill with malaria in 1638 but was saved by a treatment of bark administered by local indians.
  • Peruvians tightly controlled the drug until the tree was established in Java by the British and Dutch.

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Hazel – Root and Branch Review

Hazel – Root and Branch Review

waiting for photo – if you have a suitable image let us know
Hazel DSCF8046

Corylus are large shrubs or trees that produce nuts. The common ‘hazel’ is native to the UK and is often found in old hedge rows.

Key Features of the Hazel

  • Latin name – Corylus avellana
  • Height – up to 40 feet
  • Type of tree – Deciduous
  • Leaves – Green, round and double toothed
  • Flowers – Male long catkins female small bud like with red stigma on same tree.
  • Fruit – Nut surrounded by husk
  • Bark – Silver-grey to pale brown
  • Family – Corylaceae related to beech

Origins and Distribution of the Hazel

  • Found throughout Europe and North Africa.
  • Thrives in woodland and hedges.

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Indian Bean Tree – Root and Branch Review

Indian Bean Tree – Root and Branch Review

Indian Bean Tree

Some trees are named to confuse. The Indian Bean Tree is not from India and it doesn’t grow beans. As a native of north America it is named for a North American native Indian tribe. The seeds are produced in long bean like pods.

Key Features of the Indian Bean Tree

  • Latin name – Catalpa bignonioides other common names Catalpa, Cigar tree or Catawba
  • Height – up to 60 feet
  • Type of tree – Deciduous
  • Leaves – Bright green heart-shaped leaves taper to a sharp point.
  • Flowers – Trumpet shaped 2″ long white and yellow flowers in panicles
  • Fruit – Pendulous and numerous seed pods
  • Bark – Orange to pink-brown and scaly
  • Family – Bignoniaceae

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Linden Tree Common Lime -Root and Branch

Linden Tree Common Lime -Root and Branch

linden tree blossoms
The Lime is a tall growing well shaped tree which is often grown along avenues and public places in the UK. The flowers have an exquisite fragrance.

Key Features of the Common Lime

  • Latin name – Tilia Europaea, other common names Linden tree or Basswood
  • Height – Can grow over 150 feet tall one of the UK’s tallest trees
  • Type of tree – deciduous – dictoyledons
  • Leaves – Thin, green and heart shaped with a tapering tip and fine teeth. Lighter green underneath
  • Flowers – Highly scented pale yellow-green with green bracts at the base. Flower in clusters
  • Fruit – Woody round drupe covered with grey-brown hairs dispersed on the wind by wings.
  • Bark – Grey with shallow fissures when mature
  • Family -Tiliaceae

Origins and Distribution of the Common Lime

  • The tree is widely cultivated throughout Europe.
  • Linden trees are now popular in North America.

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Papaya – Root and Branch Review

Papaya – Root and Branch Review

Papaya

The Papaya is a widely grown fruit tree of the tropics. It’s large fleshy fruit contains many seeds but can weigh from 1 pound up to 20 pound on some varieties.

Key Features of the Papaya

  • Latin name – Carica Papaya – other common names Papaw, or Pawpaw or Mugua
  • Height – up to 33 feet
  • Type of tree – evergreen
  • Leaves – Long deeply lobed dark green and alternate
  • Flowers – Males and females on separate trees with yellow or pink petals
  • Fruit – Large, ovoid, fleshy fruit up to 12″ long. Orange or pink flesh surrounding multiple soft black seeds
  • Bark – Light brown with leaf scars
  • Family – The only member of the Carica genus

papaya

Origins and Distribution of the Papaya

  • Widely grown throughout the tropics.
  • Originally native to Mexico and central America.

Uses and Attributes of the Papaya

  • The fruit contains many vitimins and trace chemicals. The latex and leaves can be made into drinks and there are many medical uses for the Papaya.
  • Ripe fruit with sweet, yellow or pink flesh make a traditional tropical breakfast.
  • The raw fruit and the leaves contain an enzyme, papain, that is used to tenderise meat.
  • Green unripe Papaya are used in several folk remedies and for both contraception and abortion.
  • The bark can be used to make rope.

Gardeners Tips for the Papaya

  • Another tree to leave for the hotter (and wetter) climates.

Other Types of Papaya

  • There are many varieties available. Some have small pear shaped fruit others have large round heavy pawpaws.
  • One type has sweet, red and the other has yellow flesh not surprisingly called “red papaya” and “yellow papaw”, respectively. Either kind, picked green, is called a “green papaya.”
  • Large-fruited, red-fleshed varieties include ‘Maradol’, ‘Sunrise’, and ‘Caribbean Red’.
  • There are a growing number of genetically modified species including ‘SunUp’ and ‘Rainbow’,
  • Generally Hawaiian variety are smaller and pear-shaped, while Caribbean and Asian papayas are long and large.
  • Confusion exists with the Custard Apple family of Asimina triloba and Asimina tetramera, commonly known as the four-petal pawpaw in some countries.

Papaya

Papaya comments from elsewhere

  • ‘Deliciously sweet with musky undertones and a soft, butter-like consistency, it is no wonder the papaya was reputably called the “fruit of the angels” by Christopher Columbus. Once considered quite exotic, they can now be found in markets throughout the year. Although there is a slight seasonal peak in early summer and fall, papaya trees produce fruit year round’. for more on health benefits .

Credits
Papaya by enbodenumer CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
papaya by mars! CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Papaya by mwanasimba CC BY-SA 2.0