It is useful to know how many potato tubers will be produced by one seed potato when calculating how many seed potatoes to plant in the vegetable garden.
plant-potato-in-hole
The number of potatoes produced by each seed potato varies according to:
- variety
- number of chits
- apical dominance
- planting distance
- early or maincrop
- growing conditions etc…
new-potatoes-lifted
The new potatoes, in the photo above, all came from one root.
Any number of new potatoes, from 2 – 10, can be produced from one seed potato. But most vegetable gardeners would expect at least 6 and preferably 8 -10 new potatoes from each seed tuber planted in the vegetable garden!
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The apple tree grafted with mistletoe last year is carrying the first leaves of mistletoe.
year-2-mistletoe-leaves
The mistletoe seedcase has been pushed off by the new growing leaves. A constant watch will be kept for woodlice and other pests, to make sure these leaves are not eaten off.
mistletoe-1st-leaves
All that happens in the second season of mistletoe is the emergence and growth of the first leaves.
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tayberries
Olivia is wanting commercial growers of tayberries:
Hi, Looking for commercial grower(s) of Tayberries. Trying to source large quantity for expanding jam producer. Long term requirement. Initially around 2 tonnes then increasing. May be interested in discussing contract to grow for future season.
Any suggestions? Please contact us & we will pass the info on to Olivia. Thanks.
TopVeg replied:
Hi Olivia
Thanks for contacting TopVeg. Tayberries were first raised at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, near Dundee.- and I think you would be more likely to find commercial growers in Scotland, & there are several in Angus. I have found this link http://www.berryscotland.com/farmshops.htm.
In June last year, TopVeg had a message from Alaistair, who grows tayberries in Kent & was trying to set up a network of growers.
Hope that helps
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Carrots---Nairobi
Carrots are hardy enough to start sowing the seed right now.
- the soil must be dry
- if it is wet, cover the soil for a week or two to keep the rain off
- carrot seed can be sown directly into the ground outside & does not need any protection
Click this link to buy carrot seed to sow now.
SweetheartCarrots
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It is not necessary to chit potato seed.
chitting-in-egg-box
But chitting does bring an earlier crop because chitting starts the growing process.
- This is particularly important for new or early potatoes, as the growing season is short & every day counts!
- Many people do not chit maincrop poatoes because the potatoes seem to catch up over the long season.
Chitting does act as an insurance. If the planting season is delayed because of bad weather, or family duties, the potatoes have actually started growing so will not be quite so delayed.
Chitting is not necessary, but it does start the shoots growing on the seed potatoes, so chitting is popular with early potato growers.
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Fiona has contacted TopVeg asking:
Can you please let me have a list of suppliers of Ambience petit pois seed? I would like to try these having seen them on your website but cannot find a stockist.
What attracted me to them was the fact that they have few leaves. Just wanted to try them out as a comparison.
semi-leaflesspeaplant
TopVeg replied:
Dear Fiona
Thank you for contacting TopVeg. I am sorry you are having trouble sourcing Ambience pea seed. I had not realised it was hard to find.
After some research I have just learnt that Ambience is supplied by Seminis. However, you found that ‘Unfortunately Seminis don’t supply individual customers’
The grower who gave me this info said:
- Ambience is not a particularly bad variety
- but the seed is very expensive
- Ambience doesn’t offer any extra benefits over other cheaper Petits Pois varieties
pea-flower--Ambience
I have found these links to peas which look similar to Ambience:
These pea varieties have reduced leaves,too. It amazes me that the leafless pea can be so productive! This post has more info on leafless peas.
Good luck with the pea growing & I hope you find suppliers of leafless pea seed similar to Ambience petit pois seed.
TopVeg
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Research by PoshCloche shows that cloches increase soil temperature in a matter of hours. This is good news for vegetable gardeners as it was previously thought that cloches should be in place for 2 weeks before planting.
Seedling_Cloches
PoshCloche, took a series of soil temperature measurements in December 2009. The tests, carried out at a depth of 5cm, revealed that the soil warmed by 1.5 ºC in the first 5 hours of the trial. Details of the experiments can be found by clicking this link: Click Temperature Trial
Cloches are a great tool for vegetable gardener:
- giving extra protection against cold & windy weather
- extending the season by bringing sowing earlier & lengthening the growing season
- increasing soil temperature
PoshCloche provide a selection of cloches for the small vegetable gardener and allotment holder. Their recent work showing that cloches increase soil temperature in hours, rather than weeks, will interest all vegetable growers.
Gill has grown some purple sprouting broccoli in her new raised bed.
broccoli----raised-bed
This is the first season that Gill has grown veg & she says that she will not grow broccoli again because it takes up so much room and stays in the bed for a long time (from April till March – a full year!).
Gill has 3 raised beds, so she plans to grow vegetables which have:
- a short growing season – like radish, french beans
- a compact habit – like carrots
This way she will produce more vegetables for the kitchen. She feels that broccoli has taken up valuable space & has not produced much yield – as she could only fit about 4 plants in , together with a few cabbage.
purple-sproutg-raised-bed
BUT, Gill has not tasted the broccoli yet. It is such a treat to be able to pick fresh veg from the garden at this time of the year. The broccoli in the photo was picked this afternoon – so will Gill change her mind once she has tasted her purple sprouting broccoli from her raised beds?
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