Gardeners Tips

Kiwi fruit known as the Chinese goodeberry grow on the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and its hybrids. The vines should be grown on sturdy support structures as it crops more than the rather weak vines can support.This plant has a cold greenhouse for protection but they can be grown outdoors in a sheltered spot.

Growing Tips

• Plants are prone to frost damage.
• Fruit is borne on one-year-old and older canes, but production declines as each cane ages. Canes should be pruned off and replaced after their third year.
• Kiwifruit vines require vigorous pruning similar to that of grapevines.
• Only female plants bear fruit, and then only when pollinated by a male plant.
• The cultivar ‘Issai’, a hybrid  Actinidia arguta x polygama from Japan can self-pollinate; unfortunately it lacks vigour, is less hardy than most Kiwi fruit and is not a large producer. ‘Jenny’ is partly self-fertile and so is worth trying where space is limited.
• ‘Hayward’ is the most widely grown, least vigorous and latest-flowering female cultivar with oval fruits of a good flavour.
• Of the male varieties ‘Tomuri’ is the latest to flower so is the best to partner ‘Hayward’.

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Grow comical potatoes

I want to be amongst the First Earlies with one or two comments about spuds you like. When I talk about comical potatoes I am not thinking of those funny shapes you can grow in a stony garden. Nor am I thinking about the ones that look like someone’s anatomy and cause amusement at the village garden show to those who have aged but not matured.

I am thinking about the eyes in the potatoes that you want to sprout for half an inch before you plant them – if you look closely you will realise they are called Speck Tators for a good reason.

Some are always looking to cause problems with scab or burrowing keeled slugs and really get under your skin or their own skin They are called Aggie Tators. Varieties like Wilja and Pentland Dell Charlotte and Golden Wonder are a bit more resilient to slug damage.

If it takes you a long time to get around to planting your Earlies and are even late for main crop planting leaving it well after March We call them Hezzie Tators. Late main crop varieties include Golden Wonder, Valor, Sarpo Mira and Pink Fir Apple.

Some folks spent a lot of time sitting and peering into their garden, no double digging or earthing up for them. These gardeners are your Medi Tators.

There are the new varieties like Gary Lineker and Sue Barker but they are only Common Taters.

On a more serious note potatoes contain a lot of nutrition in the form of Vitimins C, B1, B6  and Potassium, Iron, Magnesium plus fibre and other healthy traces so it pays to grow a selection of spuds.

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.

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

Homegrown  vegetables are definitely worth the time and effort and organics are even better. Growing vegetables will reward you with a fresh and tasty supply of your favourite vegetables. You can also have the reassurance of knowing how they were grown without the unnecessary spraying of countless chemicals.

These are some tips to get the best results from growing organic vegetables.

 

Organic Fertiliser

To get the best vegetables you need to feed the growing plants well. Fortunately, there is a range of suitable organic fertilisers such as pelleted chicken manure, well rotted manure and many others. These organic fertilisers also have the benefit of realising the food over a period of time and helping to improve the soil structure.

• Remember, although vegetables benefit from good feeding, it is important that you don’t overfeed.
• The other tip to remember is that to get the best fruits use tomato (potash) rather than nitrogen fertilisers at the appropriate time.

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