The new Svalbard global crop seed bank is being officially opened this week.
The Norwegian government has hollowed out a cave on the ice-bound island of Spitsbergen to hold the new global crop seed bank. The seed will be stored in a reinforced concrete tunnel drilled 70 metres (230ft) into a mountain, guarded by two steel doors and remote-controlled from Sweden. (more…)
One broccoli plant in the vegetable garden has been looking very sick, due to cabbage root fly.
The plant was dug up to reveal a very small root system because the cabbage root fly larvae have eaten all the roots away.
damaged-cabbage-root
All the other broccoli plants are looking very healthy, as are the sprouts. Just as well as the picture at the top shows that cabbage root fly in broccoli can kill the plant.
Saxon is a good all-round potato variety to grow in the vegetable garden,
suitable for mashing, baking or chipping.
potato-Saxon
Saxon:
Saxon
The second-early potato variety Saxon is well worth growing in the vegetable garden, suitable for mashing, baking or chipping, it also stores well.
2 Comments »
We are currently eating Saxon and can confirm the reports about them, excelent mash.
Comment by Johnny Norfolk – September 29, 2008 7:08 am
Each variety of potato grown in the vegetable garden has its own particular length of time between planting and harvesting. Potato varieties may be listed according to the number of weeks they need to grow to become large enough to harvest.
The length of time between planting and harvest will depend on:
Although all potato varieties can be planted in the vegetable garden at the same time, the list shows that each variety will take a different length of time to grow to a suitable size to harvest.
rhubarb-clump
So glad Freddie of the GreatBigVegetableChallenge likes rhubarb, and has been eating it straight from the vegetable garden.
We went to Wakefield to see the rhubarb sheds, which are surrounded by
huge water pipes carrying hot water to keep the sheds warm. Small
fireplaces in each shed glow as they heat the water for the heating pipes.
But the most amazing thing was seeing the stocky Yorkshire-men carrying
small candles into the shed to pick the rhubarb stalks. Only very small
flames are allowed, because the tender, pink stalks need absolute
darkness! The roofs are low, and there is a strange silence in the sheds.
For more information on rhubarb see:
* freezing rhubarb
* flowering rhubarb
* how long to pick rhubarb
Rhubarb crumble is the ultimate reward for growing rhubarb in the
vegetable garden.
When choosing seed potatoes for the vegetable garden, determining what seed to buy is a difficult task. Here are ten factors to take into consideration:
1. How many potatoes do you normally use? Do you cook potatoes every day or once a week? It is a shame to fill the garden with more than you can possibly eat!
2. How much space is there in the vegetable garden for potatoes? Think about the other vegetables you are hoping to grow, and work out how long the potatoes will be taking up their allotted patch. Perhaps other vegetables should take precedent over potatoes?
3. Look at your diary and note the time that you will be away from home. If you are on holiday for two weeks in early June, you will not need early potatoes for those two weeks.
4. Would you like to store some main crop potatoes over the winter? Do you have space to store them, and the right conditions?
5. Are you an experienced potato grower? If not, don’t jump in at the deep end and grow masses of potatoes, of different varieties etc – it could be
overwhelming and put you off gardening for ever. There is nothing like success to give a sense of achievement, so if you have never grown potatoes before, just try a few, and spend time looking after them and learning how they grow.
6. Calculate how many seed potatoes to buy, bearing in mind the above points.
Work out how many early potatoes you would like, and how many main crop potatoes it is sensible to grow.
7. How do you like your potatoes cooked? Mashed potatoes tend to be more floury than salad potatoes which are waxy. Bakers need to be larger than salad potatoes, and some varieties are particularly good for chips! Do you like to ring the changes – and try several different sorts of potato, or do you prefer to keep it simple and just grow two varieties?
8. Choose the early varieties and main crop varieties that will give you the
characteristics needed to satisfy item 7
9. Where will you source your seed potatoes from? The Internet or your local garden center? There are plenty of vegetable seed catalogues to look through for ideas. Whichever you decide, it is important to buy certified seed.
10. February and March is the time to buy seed potatoes in the UK. This will
give them plenty of time to chit.
Give it lots of thought.
Like all these things there is a large amount of trial and error and often you
will find yourself constantly changing your numbers and gauging the ratio of potato varieties to plant in the vegetable garden. The more you think about your reasoning behind your selection of potato variety, the easier your choice will become.
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