Advice for a hopeless gardener

Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
jansman
Posts: 13622
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jansman »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 6:28 pm Can anyone suggest an onion variety that good for pickling??
Paris Silverskin.
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jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 6:28 pm Can anyone suggest an onion variety that good for pickling??
Sarsons. :p

My go-to seed book (Kings Seeds ) suggests Paris Silverskin
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

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jennyjj01
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Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

Meanwhile...... Disaster! Two lost crops.

Two small planters with garlic have gone to hell. Crop of a dozen cloves had sprouted above the ground by about a cm, but have now rotted below ground. I can only guess too much trapped moisture in the soil. Meanwhile a separate sowing of 6 in a 2 gallon bucket are doing great and 8 inches ( metric inches :p) tall

The rotten ones were cheap from the local garden centre and the surviving ones expensive from amazon about the same time.

And mini crisis. The compost heap which was blazing away at 65C went cold for no obvious reason. I've given it a stir and 'watered it' and it's back up to 30C. Fascinating how the central grassy stuff actually looked charred.

Latest hope..... I can't wait to see my peas grab hold of their climbing canes. Every morning patrol, I see them getting closer..... It's the little things that bring joy.
Last edited by jennyjj01 on Tue Apr 26, 2022 8:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
jansman
Posts: 13622
Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:16 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jansman »

Shallots are also superb for pickling,and so easy to grow. I grow Welsh and Egyptian onions,and whilst not conventional pickling onions,they are perennials,and are good for for sandwiches,salads and side dishes.
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.

Robert Frost.

Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.

Me.
GillyBee
Posts: 1047
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

My HDRA book also suggests varieties called Purplette and "Brown pickling" but I dont think I have ever seen those sold as seed. I did have a good batch of pickles from a sowing of North Holland Bloodred spring onion that went over and formed small bulbs.
I did find mention of a professional brown pickling onion called Onion Brown Pickling SY 300 Seeds but suppliers look thin on the ground.

The cook books & websites seem to have given up on pickled onions in favour of shallots. My oldest book (1950s) has basic instructions and it is clearly a matter of pickling whatever onions you have managed to lay your hands on. I think the key features are firm and small with a good flavour.
ForgeCorvus
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Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:32 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by ForgeCorvus »

I've decided what I'm trying to grow, I've got my troughs sorted filled and positioned, its past a reasonable chance of frost...... And now I'm not sure how to proceed.

Do you need to use the same row spacing in containers as you do in the ground (I know I'll need to thin along the rows after sprouting) ?

Should rows run north/south or east/west ? (Roughly...... What I'm asking is does it make a difference?)


If you're companion planting carrots and onions, how near do they need to be to confuzzle their enemies ?


The only daft question is the one you don't ask :oops:
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jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

ForgeCorvus wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 7:02 pmDo you need to use the same row spacing in containers as you do in the ground (I know I'll need to thin along the rows after sprouting) ?
Should rows run north/south or east/west ? (Roughly...... What I'm asking is does it make a difference?)
If you're companion planting carrots and onions, how near do they need to be to confuzzle their enemies ?
The only daft question is the one you don't ask :oops:
Not that i know the answers with any authority... :D
I more or less ignore the row spacing instructions and sow at the corners of equilateral triangles. So equal distance between each seedling and its nearest neighbour
____X___X___X
__X___X___X___X
X___X___X___X___X
__X___X___X___X
____X___X___X

Charles Dowding says, of sowing onions: Sow seeds in clusters of about three and get a bigger crop of smaller produce. No prize winners, but a bigger crop overall.

Thinning.... I don't. Sometimes I sow individually, but if a couple of seeds together, let them take their chances.. Thinning encourages carrot fly? I've not yet pulled my first crop of carrots, so no idea if i'm wrong.

North/South. Dunno. But I rotate my containers as seedlings lean to the sun. Make the little devils work at being upright.

I paired mine up by row. Clearly label the onions to leave the carrot fly in no doubt.
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
Posts: 1047
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

You don't want anything large shading out smaller stuff or it wont grow as well. Thisis the main logic behind the old advice about row orientation. For a container just make sure that you have it positioned to cast as little shade as you can.

I struggle with carrots but have learnt that one thing they cannot stand is competition from weeds or each other. Failing to give enough space resuts in micro-roots. I therefore do recommend cautious thinning unless you managed to sow thinly enough in the first place.
jennyjj01
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Joined: Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:09 pm

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by jennyjj01 »

Jeez, I'm really struggling with getting the watering right for my tomatoes. Many MANY casualties of drowning or drought, especially among my expensive Crimson Crush. I really am feeling a hopeless failure.
Can anyone give me any hints or tips to get it right. Please! My babies implore you. The symptoms of my damage look the same whether I under water or over water them: Droopy and curled up leaves. Saggy stems.

I THINK it's mostly that I over water them. Or maybe it's the shock of transitioning from drought to flood. I completely drowned two pots of garlic, too.

Is it easier to get the watering right if they are in a bigger pot or grow-bag, or easier in individual small pots. I planted some in a growbag, but I just feel sad when I murder them. And don't ask about the bell peppers and aubergine which seem to have given up the ghost after showing their baby leaves.
I'm trying to hold back a few babies in pots while graduating their bigger siblings to buckets, growbags and beds. But some are dying like cannon fodder.

I did buy a moisture meter, but that doesn't seem to work in small pots.

Here's one of my current casualties. A Crimson Crush baby that spent most of its short life in the East facing kitchen window.
Do you think it can be nursed back to health?

In other news, my carrots and parsnips direct into the planter are looking OK but tiny. My carrots in buckets are looking rather crowded, but I can't bring myself to murder any. Should I try to transplant any thinnings? I have planted out spring onions and leeks, but they look SO thin and fragile.

Sad, drowning baby...
IMG_20220509_110218 (1).jpg
Graceful Degradation! Prepping's objective summed up in two words. Turning Disaster into Mild Inconvenience by the power of fore-thought

Not Feeling Optimistic. Let me be wrong
GillyBee
Posts: 1047
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:46 am

Re: Advice for a hopeless gardener

Post by GillyBee »

Hi Jenny

There are several possibile reasons you are having trouble. Most of them come down to root damage.

1) Overwatering - Do you leave your pots to sit in water after they have been watered? this will drown the roots that are in the water. You may well be fine if that is a big pot but not for a smaller plant/piot.
2) Underwatering - if the soil is bone dry and the pant is wilting it needs water asap. Larger pots will last longer between waterings but are also much easier to overwater if a small plant is in them.
3) Nasty compost. Some compost providers just sell junk. This should not be a problem if you used a brand name product but might be an issue with cheap own brands.
4) Too MUCH fertiliser. Too much will burn the roots. Use at half strength for younger plants and none at all for seedlings until they have a couple of sets of true leaves.
5) Too cold. Cold weather can damage4 the pkant directly and also drastically slows down how fast it will grow and how well it copes in a pot of wet soil making it more likely to get a root rot

It may be possible to rescue your baby but it probably won't be able to give you a good crop now. if you want the learning experience, you will need to take drastic steps. I would take it out of it's pot and check the roots If they are OK, check that the soil is just damp, put the whole thing in a plastic ag and keep it ont h the widnows sill. It will either live or die. If the roots are are tiny and/or brown or mushy then cut off any rotten bits of root and dead leaves. If the bottom of the stem is also brown and soft then you will need to cut the bottom of the tomato plant off completely. That will leave you with a tomato cutting which is hopefully green all over and may or may not have a few roots. Pop it in plain tap water as if it was a cut flower and keep indoors. If it perks up then it may manage to grow some fresh wite roots in a week or so and can be put into a new pot once these are a couple of inches long.
If it all fails I recommend a trip to the garden centre for some that are almost ready to go out.

Everyone has trouble sometimes. My Moskvitch tomatoes which are usually tough as old boots have refused to grow this year while all the others given the same treatment are fine.