Sweat equity is an American expression describing their system of plant swapping.

Gardeners acquire many of their plants by hanging a notice on bulletin boards (local library or corner shop) stating that they will thin brassica plants, or clean out and divide rhubarb for a very cheap price. Interested parties bid for the trash and new, swapped plants are acquired for the garden.

Sweat equity is a great way to expand a collection of herbs, fruit and vegetables, as long as weeds and diseases are controlled!

It is difficult to grow straight carrots in heavy or stony soil.
Carrots grow best on light stone free soil, such as sand, loam and peat soils, where there is no restriction on the tap root growing straight down and therefore producing a perfect, straight carrot.

• Caroline has posted a comment about growing straight carrots:

I heard that a good way to stop carrots from ‘forking’ in rocky soil is to use the end of the rake or something long and cylindrical to make a deep narrow hole, fill it with lovely fine compost and sow the seed directly on top of the compost. Even with a bit of soil movement this should still help you have relatively normal shaped carrots.

• alternatively, on stony soils a narrow slit trench could be made with a spade & filled with sand or peat. The slit can be about 2″ wide at the top. Carrot seeds are sown in this strip so there is no restriction on tap root development.

• grow medium rooted varieties instead of long rooted carrots
• Ben has added a comment about the problems of adding manure to carrot land:
  It’s also important not to plant carrots in soil that has had slow release fertilizer added or clumps of manure. The carrot root can come into contact with it and fork from the extra nutrients.

It is possible to grow straight carrots by creating the correct environment for carrots.

A frequent question about potatoes being grown in tubs is:’ Should the container be covered?’

When spuds are planted in tubs, they are covered with soil, leaving enough room to “earth up”. The soil should be reasonably damp to allow the potatoes to grow, and the tubs must allow good drainage. The tubs need drainage holes in the bottom, and a stony layer for water to percolate through at the bottom.

The container with potatoes  may then be covered over for a week or two until the first leaves appear. If it rains a lot, the soil will get very cold and wet, which will not encourage the potatoes to grow and they may rot if too wet.

Click the link for more information on the eBook ‘How to Grow Potatoes’ which costs £2.99.

Sow seeds:

Directly into the ground:

• • broad beans
  • kale
  • kohlrabi
  • parsnip
  • leeks

• at the end of the month, under glass, to plant out at the end of May:
  • • runner beans
    • french beans
    • courgettes
    • squash
    • pumpkins
    • sweet corn

• repeat sow directly in ground:
  • • salad leaves
    • lettuce
    • rocket
    • parsley
    • coriander
    • carrots
    • spring onions

Plant:

• Onion sets, garlic and shallots if not already done Read More »

Six Steps to Show How to Make Raised Beds:

1. Mark out the position of the bed. Any size will do - but they should be no more than 4 foot wide - so that you can reach in to the middle of the bed from either side

Read More »

hypercharleyfarley on the BBC Gardening message boards dropped an interesting aside:
‘By the way, Jerusalem artichokes & sunflowers are related - the name’s nothing to do with Biblical names, but a corruption of Girasole - turning to the sun, which is what sunflowers do.’

Further investigation on Wikipedia brought up ‘ when the Jerusalem artichoke was first discovered by Europeans it was called Girasole, the Italian word for sunflower.’ Read More »

Wiggly Wigglers have a great collection of Salad Leaf Seeds to help grow your own salad!

• fresh, crisp leaves
• different flavours and colours
• a selection of various leaves
• no food miles

Read More »

plant seed

Growing Five a Day in the Vegetable Garden for the Easter Celebrations is quite a thrill.

The remaining parsnips have started to grow and take quite a bit of digging out of the garden.

Read More »

Urban gardeners with no space, and no wish to dig, can grow potatoes in simple containers:

• growing potatoes in a bag
• planting potatoes in pots
• buckets make ideal containers for growing potatoes

• or, buy  a kit to make  growing potatoes easy!
• and an ebook on how to grow potatoes

plant potatoes seed vegetable garden

Top 10 grow-your-own vegetables and fruit, 2008

• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce and salads
• Runner beans
• Peas
• Carrots
• Onions
• Garlic
• Herbs
• Fruit bushes

Source: The Guardian