Early Spring Bits and Bobs.

[oldherbaceous]

Good afternoon, Barney, lovely to see you on the forum and I hope you are keeping well!

In answer to your question, I suppose the answer could be both….a round potato could be cut sideways, while a long oval potato could be cut longways…..

[Shallot Man]

Thought I liked to cut them longwise, the number of eyes dictated where I cut them.

[oldherbaceous]

But a round potato doesn’t have a long-side, Shallot Man……or am I being too clever for my own good….

[Shallot Man]

Just filled up with petrol. Wonder if I can get a mortgage.

[Cider Boys]

Good afternoon, Barney, lovely to see you on the forum and I hope you are keeping well!

In answer to your question, I suppose the answer could be both….a round potato could be cut sideways, while a long oval potato could be cut longways…..

I suppose it was a bit of a silly question OH but I have always slit them down from where the eyes are showing which is generally longways. I was however watching an old Geoffrey Smith Vegetable garden video a couple of days ago and he cut them in half across the tuber and as he was such an excellent gardener and presenter I questioned the way I had always done it.

Yes 0H, I'm keeping well and I do hope that you (and your family) are also keeping well; you have been the mainstay of this forum.

I don't do as much gardening these days but I managed to plant a few onion sets today and have sown some flowers, chillies and tomatoes in my glasshouse I rushed to get my potatoes in and cheated as I used an old Ferguson potato ridger to draw out the furrows as rain was forecast but it has been quite dry and sunny here in Somerset and I could have taken my time and done it a little more carefully by hand.

Best wishes, keep posting and gardening

Barney

[oldherbaceous]

I think yourself and Shallot Man are certainly doing it the correct way, cutting them with some eyes/shoots on both parts….just me being silly about round potatoes,!

All well here thank you, Barney…..just a little slower at doing some jobs but, I think we are al like that…

Glad you are still getting your hands in the soil….do yo still do your Broad beans, Barney?

[Shallot Man]

OH. Brought back memories as a boy in WW2. No seed potatoes. Only varieties where red & white. No names. My job at planting time was to cut the head from the spud that had the eyes. Mum cooked the rest for dinner.

[Cider Boys]

I think yourself and Shallot Man are certainly doing it the correct way, cutting them with some eyes/shoots on both parts….just me being silly about round potatoes,!

All well here thank you, Barney…..just a little slower at doing some jobs but, I think we are al like that…

Glad you are still getting your hands in the soil….do yo still do your Broad beans, Barney?

I only grow broad beans for my wife and me now, the fields I used to rent to grow them on have all got houses built on them now.
I've also slowed up now but whenever I visit a village, town or city I still like to wander around people's allotments and see what they are up to. I must try and visit some NT gardens this year I always enjoy seeing their vegetable gardens.

Best wishes

Barney

[retropants]

My lower back has forced me to take it easy now. Long gone are the 4 allotment plots I shared with my parents, who retired to Dorset in 2018. I now have a very small rectangle plot at the bottom of the garden.
Garlic is looking good & healthy. Tomatoes & peppers growing on in the greenhouse, and lettuce 'little gem' ready for pricking out. I've also sowed carrots, but last year foxes and slugs destroyed all 3 sowings, so I'm not hopeful!
I also lost all the tomatoes last year to blight - first time in 30 years of growing that has happened. I've got a teeny plastic grow house for them this year, I'll put the peppers in there too, on the small rectangle plot.
I pulled up the kalettes last weekend, after scavenging the last sprouts. They could have gone on, especially as it's been cold this week, but would have bolted fairly soon I think. They were still forming little sproutlets. They've been a huge success, fed us greenery since early winter.

[Primrose]

Retropants - good to know that you're still gardening despite the aches and pains which seem to be increasingly affecting us all.
It's surprising how much one can still grow in a small area. I think our main vegetable patch will have to be grassed over this spring after 45 years which is a real blow for me.

However, we still have a comparatively long south facing border for hopefully growing tomatoes, climbing beans , the odd cucumber and some clumps of salad greenery. I find it hard to contemplate not growing anything at all to pick and eat but what we grow will now dependent on my OH's ability to manage it. Strangely I would much rather be out there getting my hands dirty and doing it than standing on the sidelines adopting a "managerial supervision" role !

[oldherbaceous]

I bet your OH wishes that too, Primrose….

[Primrose]

Too right OH !!!

He can't believe my beady eyes spot all kinds of issues which come screaming out at me that completely pass him by.
Last summer he complained I could spot a tomato sideshoot at 10 yards whereas he barely still realised what a sideshoot was !!

[retropants]

Primrose, my DH does not do gardening AT ALL! He will cut the grass, and always miss a bit, it's a running joke now. He'll lop back something too big for me to reach, or help digging something out that I have battled and lost, but that's pretty much it. He enjoys the looking bit, the flowers, bees, doves, robins etc.

[Primrose]

:Retropants. - no point in offering to do a swap then ?

[oldherbaceous]

You do make me smile, Primrose…