Search found 7251 matches

by alan refail
Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:22 am
Forum: General chatter
Topic: potato help needed
Replies: 14
Views: 5201

Welcome to potato growing. Once you have got used to your own crops you will never want to buy potatoes again - so you will need to try to be self-sufficient. You have had so many suggestions that you will soon be back where you started - with a bewildering choice. I won't add to the problem by list...
by alan refail
Sat Dec 30, 2006 11:44 am
Forum: Weeds, Pests and Diseases
Topic: 'Preferred' Slug Killer
Replies: 17
Views: 9440

At the moment my vegetable garden is open house to our hens and ducks. Come summer there will be no significant numbers of slugs or snails, at least judging by previous years' experience. This year I have had no slug damage in potatoes or anything above ground. Just wish I could let them into the po...
by alan refail
Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:00 am
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Swiss Chard
Replies: 29
Views: 24327

Whichever way you look at it, it seems that beet/chard/spinach all belong to the same family if Chenopodiaceae are all subsumed under Amaranthaceae. I have learned a lot more than I expected from this thread. Chenopodiaceae From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Chenopodiaceae is the botanical name ...
by alan refail
Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:29 pm
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Swiss Chard
Replies: 29
Views: 24327

Certainly beta is a goosefoot (tired of trying to spell Cheno*******iae) family member.
Research this http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/family.pl?254
And here's another to look at http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Beta.html
Best wishes Alan
by alan refail
Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:19 pm
Forum: Best practices
Topic: Best Gardening Books List
Replies: 19
Views: 10610

Here – in no particular order – are the books I use: Roger Phillips & Martyn Rix, Vegetables , Pan Books, 1993 (not 100% accurate, but great photography) Simon Hickmott, Growing Unusual Vegetables , eco-logic books, 2003 (exactly what the title says – great for the adventurous) Sue Stickland, He...
by alan refail
Fri Dec 29, 2006 10:01 am
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Swiss Chard
Replies: 29
Views: 24327

Let's get New Zealand "spinach" out of the frame once and for all. I cannot imagine why anyone attached the name spinach to it - it doesn't cook like spinach or taste like spinach. It is quite pleasant, though bland, in salads. It is totally unrelated to Chenopodiaceae (Beta etc). It is Te...
by alan refail
Fri Dec 29, 2006 7:32 am
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Swiss Chard
Replies: 29
Views: 24327

Hi JB bonjour CJ. Yes it certainly is. For more on the huge goosefoot family have a look at m Happy reading. We too have masses of wild sea beet growing on the shores of Menai around Caernarfon. It is very good in the spring - just like perpetual spinach/chard, but maybe a little stronger in both ta...
by alan refail
Thu Dec 28, 2006 12:06 pm
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Swiss Chard
Replies: 29
Views: 24327

Perpetual spinach, which is usually listed with, or as a synonym for Swiss Chard, is another plant, but not "another plant altogether" as Johnboy suggests. Same Beta Vulgaris ssp Cicla, only smaller. Have a look at this article - http://www.floridata.com/ref/B/beta_vul.cfm
by alan refail
Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:29 pm
Forum: Technical Data
Topic: Pak Choi Joi Choi and other hybrids
Replies: 3
Views: 6449

I have checked my Mei Qing Choi and it is definitely (light) green stemmed - certainly not white.
by alan refail
Sun Dec 24, 2006 2:15 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Christmas Blues.
Replies: 22
Views: 6964

Well said Weed. We remember them every day. I prefer to remember that the Winter Solstice was two whole days ago. The days are now lengthening by 1 to 2 minutes every 24 hours. The holiness of this festival is that new life is about to burst with the coming of the light back to the world. Remind you...
by alan refail
Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:11 pm
Forum: Birds, Animals and Livestock
Topic: A Merry Christmas to our feathered friends
Replies: 2
Views: 2653

A Merry Christmas to our feathered friends

Nadolig llawen a blwyddyn newydd dda i bob un ohonoch sy'n cadw ieir a hwyaid.

A merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you who keep hens and ducks.

We have not appeared much recently in the forum :!: Hope to see more of you in New Year.
by alan refail
Sun Dec 17, 2006 1:56 pm
Forum: General chatter
Topic: Has the world gone mad?
Replies: 30
Views: 10590

As I suggested in my previous post, we should not be marvelling at all this. Is nobody else but me and Alison worried about this? Is anyone doing anything about it? Maybe switch off a few unused lights, drive a bit less. And why don't we write to our local councils and ask them to switch off most of...
by alan refail
Fri Dec 15, 2006 11:28 am
Forum: Best practices
Topic: French Shallots from Aldi
Replies: 23
Views: 10677

In reply to Johnboy - yes Jermor are grown from sets - what I have always thought was the way to grow shallots. All I have read in the past about "shallots" from seed is that you only get a reasonable crop by sowing a lot of seed and taking a lot of care - as with onions from seed. Whereas...
by alan refail
Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:54 pm
Forum: Seasonal tips
Topic: Holly with berries for Christmas.
Replies: 7
Views: 3601

We have a large variegated holly (Golden King?) which provides us with masses of berried branches every year. The birds - mainly blackbirds - which eat all our wild holly berries, will not touch the variegated tree's berries until well into the new year, March usually.
by alan refail
Thu Dec 14, 2006 2:33 pm
Forum: Best practices
Topic: French Shallots from Aldi
Replies: 23
Views: 10677

I too have been growing Germor for several years, but not as long as Mike T. Since they grow reliably from year to year, they have got to be better value than any unnamed variety from a supermarket, however cheap they seem. Germor are pretty much the same as what the French chefs prefer - echallote ...