Saturday 28 April 2012

A week of Sunshine & Showers

 It's been a week of sunshine & showers, so today while it was dry I decided to plant out the Main crop 'Sarpo Mira' Potatoes, said to be highly resistant to all diseases, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they perform, both in the ground and in the pot.


I've had 30 tubers of Sarpo Mira 'chitting' since 25th of Feb, they have lovely stubby dark green shoots, so it was time they went in. 
I planted them in just the same way as the other Main crop Potatoes, in rows 15" apart, 30" between each row.
I watered the trenches with Comfrey Water before placing each tuber in the bottom, to give them a start. 
That's all the Potatoes planted now, the Rocket (1st early) have all sprouted & I have earthed them up twice, the Charlotte (2nd early) have just broken through approx 50% so far, will report on those soon.
 
Other jobs done today:
Planted out some Lettuce that had been started off in the greenhouse. I made mini-cloches from 2ltr pop bottles, by cutting off the bottom to protect the Lettuce from the still cold nights. About 25 have been planted in between the Onions. 
All the rain we have had has topped up the pond and the rain barrel too, thats 3/4 full already.
We planted some Marsh Dasies & some marsh grasses around the pond, that we had grown ready in pots. The Tadpoles are still very active and getting bigger, will be Froglets soon.
Crops Harvested this week:
Asparagus
Kale
Peas
Rhubarb
Spinach

The Chickens had a day out today too.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian.

6 comments:

  1. I think the plastic bottles will keep slugs away too, but what happens if you have a hot sunny day, after a cold night? My cold-frame is getting to over 30 when the sun is on it - surely the little lettuces will wilt inside the bottles? Or do you go and take them off each day?
    Lovely blog, love the chickens' adventures.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Franny Zorback,
      Never thought of that, but we can remove the bottle tops when its sunny, they are only placed on loosely now :)

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Can't believe how dry your plot looks ,mine resembles a swamp

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    1. Hi Shaun,
      We have very light sandy, free draining, soil. So it hardly ever gets swamped, but we do have to grow drought proof spuds :(

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  4. Hi Ian,
    As a woman who'd love to keep chickens, but won't/can't,I follow a blog in USA http://www.tillysnest.com/

    It's very readable and informative, if you're into all things chicken.... have a look and see what you think :-)

    ReplyDelete