Winter Bits and Bobs.

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oldherbaceous
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Wet again here this morning, so have been reading some of the February issue of the Kitchen Garden Magazine.
Was reading the article on Bardney Manor….the gardener was saying about sowing Parsnip seed, she prepares the bed by weeding and raking, then makes a holes about six inches deep using a metal stake. Each hole is then filled with water, and once it has drained away, a Parsnip seed is dropped in. I don’t cover the hole with soil, the wind naturally fills it in!
Has anyone ever tried this method before?
Have you ever visited there, Clive?
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Clive.
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Hello Old H'
Even though I'm in the same county I haven't visited the garden at Bardney. I seem to think that there was a PGG visit there..but somehow I didn't get to that...
Maybe, like this morning, got too engrossed in the other one... this morning ended up setting up a bit of staging to put some pots of daffodil on to move them along as I did the sums and they are needed for a location quite soon..

Washing machine back home here thus had a delayed run and also straight into lunchtime...not much getting done in this garden today.!

Sunny at work location...back home the sun is about but a bit hazy grey and very wet underfoot..

C.
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oldherbaceous
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We have just had 30 mins of intense rain….sat in front of the open fire, at present!🙂
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Clive.
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...best not tell you then that it's bright sunshine here then ;)
..but it is

C.
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Clive.
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I just looked at the weather radar on met office and it showed your rain, very localised and in red in the 16 to 32mm and hour range.

..and I see that we have rain arriving at 7pm...

C.
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oldherbaceous
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I can confirm that they were right, Clive!🙂
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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The automatic North facing vent in greenhouse was wide open yesterday.
Picked up two bags of Taylor spuds for same price as last year £9.
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oldherbaceous
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What weight were the bags, Colin?
The price of seed potatoes seems to vary hugely these days!
I paid £4.95 per 2.5kg including postage but, had to buy quite a lot to get the free postage.
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snooky
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Morning OH.
Didn't Johnboy advocate something similar when sowitg Parsnips along the lines of dibbing a hole six inches deep.backfilling wih compost.sowing seed covering with more compost and watering in.
With regard to Leeks Johnboy used to dig a trench a spit deep and then dib holes in the bottom of the trench,place leek in hole water in and as the leeks grew backfilled the trench to give a longer white part to the leek.A method which I use to this day since learning about it on this Forum and I am rarely bothered with leek moth.
If you subscribe to Dobies E-mails they have an offer on potatoes ,£3.00 a 1kg bag a maximum of 4 bags but it will cost £6-99 for delivery!!!
Bought mine from Marshalls £6.99 whilst they had a free postage offer on ,along with couple of other large items which saved me postage costs,
Regards snooky

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Clive.
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I always try to follow JB's carrot sowing wisdom...work the land in the morning, let it sit, then sowing in the afternoon...I don't and indeed can't go with flame gun scorch of the seed bed.

Seed potatoes from a local independent nursery/garden centre very locally £5.75 for 2Kg.
...and from the big garden centre, part of the largest family owned group with over 70 centres..
£5.99 for 2Kg but £10 for 2 x 2Kg of same variety.

This morning I called at the local nursery for a mooch around...I staunchly though always make a purchase on a visit... got a few packets of beetroot and the Swift sweetcorn and some Turbo onion sets. I haven't grown onions in the home back garden for lot of years....so thought I would chance enough for a row and see how they go...

2.5mm rain overnight just to top up the wet...and none of that sunshine of yesterday although it is very visible how that sun generally moved things on yesterday.

C.
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oldherbaceous
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Afternoon Snooky, I know Johnboy used to germinate his Parsnip seed on damp paper, before he sowed/planted them….he may have well done the compost trick too, though….
I won’t be growing the Bantam sweetcorn this year, I know that….but what a harvest, just ashame there was no sweetness and just tasted of cardboard!🙂
I just left them standing in the end, and all the wildlife have been having the most wonderful time eating them….so not all was lost!
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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oldherbaceous
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Had a quick search for Johnboy and Parsnip sowing, and all I could find was, he used to pre germinate them, then put them in loo rolls filled with compost…..take it he planted them out, before the root made it to the bottom of the pot!
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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Clive.
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Must be keen wildlife... ;)

C.
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Clive.
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...and maybe good tall green manure... Isn't it said that sliced maize stem dug in keeps clay ground open.?

C.
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oldherbaceous
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The wildlife just has no taste around these parts, Clive….😀
I dig just about everything in….but I need it to start drying out quickly, if i’m going to do that this year….if it doesn’t happen, Big Bertha, will be earning her money this year!
Just thought, if anyone one new on here doesn’t know BB is my rotovator, they will be thinking badly of me….🤭
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.

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