Two Chances Veg Plot Blog

Warming Up Nicely

Damo — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:14:52 +0000

What a cracking Bank Holiday weekend, not often you hear those words together! The good weather’s meant that there’s been much activity at the plot, a huge amount of sowing and some urgent jobs that needed attending to. One of the main tasks was fixing the mesh frames which were getting a bit tired after 5 years of good service and had taken the worst of the snow last winter. With new timber frames I recycled as much of the old mesh as possible and the first new frame is now covering a couple of cabbages (Ramco) and a line of calabrese (Aquiles F1). Also in are some Romanesco cauliflower the first time I’ve grown them.

The smallest bed is now full, with broad beans (Longfellow) at the back, some Hative de Niort shallots, garlic and a few onion sets.

The greenhouse is starting to fill up and the lastest sowings of sweetcorn and french beans are now coming through. Hopefully the warm weather will continue!!

Spuds In

Damo — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 12:09:05 +0000

What a glorious day to be out in the garden and about time too! Today I needed to get the first batch of potatoes in using 17 litre polypots filled with Medwyn’s Potato Mix – these are aimed at the SW Show at the end of August. There’s 12 bags of Winston, 10 bags of Kestrel and 8 bags of Amour. A week later than last year.

These were then sunk into the large raised bed with some Vitax pellets in the bottom of the trenches. It’s now just about managing the water and any feeding through the season until they come out in the middle of August.

I’ll fill up some more polypots to go in the trench along the back edge of the lawn and the rest of the spuds will go in up at the allotment next weekend, along with the onion sets which are coming along nicely.

Other jobs to do today are plant out the broad beans and shallots and get on with more sowing and potting on. I can really feel the new season starting to kick in now, it makes a big difference having the sun on your back for a change! Have a great weekend all!

April showers…..

Damo — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 16:20:24 +0000

More like April torrential rain today! I feel like this year is already well behind with the cold winter and early spring. Hopefully we’ll get some decent weather and everything will catch up soon.

There’s three main areas of activity at the moment. Firstly the south-facing living room windowsill the best place for young seedlings. There’s a couple of pots of rocket – interesting in exactly the same conditions Runaway is far outstripping Va-Va Voom – Lettuce (Little Gem), Aubergines (Money Maker), Chillies (Joe’s Long), Celery (Morning Star) and Tomatoes (Sungold). All are making good progress and I’ll keep sowing rocket and lettuce every couple of weeks throughout the season. Later in the spring these will be sown direct into a three tier planter that I’m putting near the kitchen door for ease of picking when we need a few leaves.

Next is the cold greenhouse which is housing shallots and onion sets that haven’t gone out yet. Broad beans (Longfellow), and various brassicas – Cauliflower (Romanesque & Cornell), Brussel Sprouts (Wellington), Cabbage (Ramco), Calabrese (Aquiles), land cress and more lettuce.

And lastly there’s the pipes that I covered in the last post – and the carrots and parsnips have germinated so the cover is off and each one has the top portion of a plastic bottle protecting the seedlings which I’ll thin down to one in the next week or so. The stump carrots aren’t through yet but should be by next weekend. I’ve started three potato planters with Charlotte and the task of filling the polypots and getting the Kestrel, Winston and Amour out has begun and will be finished next weekend. On the showing front I’m aiming for the NVS SW show which is at the end of August so I have time yet.

I hope you’re all having a nice weekend and managing to get some jobs done despite the miserable weather. Here’s hoping we actually get a summer this year!!

All Tucked Up!

Damo — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 10:43:25 +0000

Despite the sub-zero temperatures the work has started on the Two Chances Plot. The mixes for the long parsnips and carrots have been made, passed through the shredder and the pipes are filled. I was going to sow this weekend but it’s too cold so I spent the time fixing four layers of bubblewrap around the pipes, then a couple of layers of fleece, then two bench covers – hopefully this will help warm the soil ready for next weekend’s sowing. There’ll be 6 pipes for the parnsips and 16 for the carrots so I should get some good ones for the end of August show I’ll hopefully be entering. The varieties will be Palace (parsnips) and New Red Intermediate (carrots) and I also have some bins to sow a stump carrot variety Sweet Candle.

Apart from starting some chillies and aubergines off indoors, planting the garlic out, and a few shallots and broad beans in the greenhouse that’s all I’ve done so far. I think it’s going to be a busy March,hopefully with some milder weather!!

Too cold!

Damo — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 12:22:46 +0000

A day off today as it’s half term and I thought I’d get some jobs in the garden done whilst supervising the children. But it’s far too cold – bitter – and it’s just started snowing again.

On the veg front there’s chillies (Joe’s Long) and aubergines (moneymaker) in the propagator, garlic on the plot and broad beans and shallots in the greenhouse. The only harvestable veg left are parsnips and artichokes. I am yet to get really motivated for the season ahead, a spell of mild weather would help.

To change topic – as there’s not much veg growing happening – one thing I have been concentrating on is losing a few pounds – which had crept on in the run-up to Christmas (and recent years!). This has developed into a challenge to get somewhere near the weight I was when I came back from travelling, thirteen or so years ago now. Turning 40 and a recent MOT at the doctors has helped spur me on as well.

But the real catalyst was watching the Hairy Bikers – “Hairy Dieters” – series. They like and eat the same food as I do, not diet food, but hearty meals – pies and curries etc – so I thought if they can do it and lose 3 stone a piece so can I. Now I’ve never been skinny (well maybe when I was 8 years old) but according to google I should be 15 stone for my height of 6’5″. I’ve set myself a target of 16 stone – like I said I’ve never been skinny and I’m 40 now – which when weighing in on Jan 5th left me with a 3 stone 12 oz weight loss target. Quite a bit to shift but so far so good as I’m 1 stone 10 oz down in 5 weeks. It’s not revolutionary though – it’s not the latest craze, the 5 day 2 day diet thing, just eat less and exercise more. Plan the week’s meals in advance, cook everything from scratch, no processed rubbish – quite timely with the horsemeat scandal – and count the calories. 1200 – 1300 a day which is roughly half or the normal daily allowance for a man. 300 for breakfast, same for lunch, 400 for dinner and 200/300 for fruit, snacks and milk during the day. A 2 lb a week loss will get me to 15 stone by the end of August.

I can recommend buying their book from which I have cooked many of the recipes. For example last Sunday was bacon with poached egg and balsamic tomatoes for breakfast, chicken ceasar salad for lunch and chicken jalfrezi for dinner.

All I need to do is keep at it and I’ll let you know how I get on – and try and do some more gardening as well!!

Where there’s muck……

Damo — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 16:24:06 +0000

Lovely sunshine today and whilst bitterly cold it was dry, the first chance I’ve had to get a few jobs done around the garden. The raised beds needed a bit of attention. I built them quite cheaply six years ago using 6 foot gravel boards from Scats (£2 each) and a couple of them had rotted through. But at that price they’re easy to replace and it wasn’t long before they were all fixed up.

I have three raised beds in the back garden – the smallest is 6′ by 6′, then 12′ by 6′ and 18′ by 6′. There’s also a narrow strip at the side of the greenhouse. In the front is a bed for soft fruit and another 12′ by 6′ veg bed – this will be home for the winter brassicas and leeks this year.

With the beds repaired I gave Stanleys a call and within 30 minutes a delivery of manure arrived – they’re in Pitton just down the road and always have decent stuff available. Then it was just a case of transferring it to the beds leaving half a bed free from manure where the root crops will go.

Not much happening on the sowing front just some broad beans (Longfellow) and chillies (Joe’s Long) on the go. And the potatoes are all set out for chitting. The next priority is sorting out the mixes for the parsnips that will go in by mid-Feb followed by the long and stump carrots late Feb into March. The serious work has started!

Seed Sort Out & Free Giveaway

Damo — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:30:13 +0000

I had a long overdue sort out of my seed packets this evening and, as always, there’s far too many – will I ever learn?

Then I thought why not give a few away? So if you want to have this “summer salad” collection (5 packets – all are sow 2013/4 bar the Radish which should be OK but a little old) – Wild Rocket, Mixed Lettuce, Golden Sunrise Tomatoes, Radish Rudi and Telegraph Improved Cucumbers – just leave a comment on this post. I’ll contact the first person to say “YES” and get your address and post them to you. Simple as that!

And for the record here’s what’s left:

Aubergine F1 Bonica
Beetroot Burpee’s Golden
Beetroot Pablo
Broad Bean Longfellow
Broccoli (Autumn) Beaumont F1
Broccoli Purple Sprouting Late Purple Sprouting
Broccoli Purple Sprouting Sprouting Redhead
Brussel Sprouts Bedford
Brussel Sprouts F1 Cumulus
Cabbage (Spring) Pixie
Cabbage (Summer) Ramco
Calabrese Aquiles F1
Carrot Autumn King 2
Carrot Sweet Candle
Cauliflower Cornell
Cauliflower Romanesco F1 Celio
Celeriac Brilliant
Chilli Pepper F1 Joe’s Long
Courgette F1 Orelia
Courgette Soleil F1 Hybrid
Cress American / Land
Cress Curled
Cucumber Carmen F1
French Bean Climbing Barlotta Lingua di Fuoco
French Bean Climbing Cobra
French Bean Climbing Sultana
French Bean Dwarf Pencil Pod Black Wax
French Bean Dwarf Prince
French Bean Dwarf Sprite
French Bean Dwarf Ferrari
Garlic Solent Wight
Kale Scarlet
Leek Toledo
Lettuce Artic King
Lettuce Little Gem
Lettuce Salad Bowl
Lettuce Tom Thumb
Lettuce Webbs Wonderful
Lettuce Winter Density
Marrow Table Dainty
Onion (Sets) Stuggart Giant
Onion Spring White Lisbon
Parsnips Pinnacle
Pea Oregon Sugar Pod
Pea Show Perfection
Potatoes Amour
Potatoes Charlotte
Potatoes Kestrel
Potatoes Red Emmalie
Potatoes Winston
Pumpkin Rouge Vif D’Etamps
Radish Albena
Radish Rudi
Rocket Runway
Rocket Va Va Voom
Runner Bean Stenner
Shallots Hative de Niort
Squash Butternut Autumn Crown F1
Squash Butternut Butterbush F1
Squash Butternut Hunter F1
Squash Winter Sweet Dumpling
Swede Invitation
Sweet Pepper Etiuda
Sweetcorn F1 Earlibird
Sweetcorn F1 Sweetie Pie
Tomato Tumbling Tom Red
Tomato Sungold F1

The 2013 list!!! 35 different types of veg and 60-odd varieties, don’t think I’ll get round to them all!

Seed Potatoes

Damo — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:02:50 +0000

I helped out on the Hampshire DA NVS stand at the Hampshire Potato Day in Whitchurch today. We had a really good day selling merchandise, seeds and plants plus quite a few tickets for our vegetable growing seminar in March (more on that in a later post). The organisers said the numbers were way down this year which is a shame, I guess this may be a result of the poor growing conditions last year, but there was still around 1200 people through the doors over the two days.

This year’s purchases were first early Winston, second early Kestrel and main crop Amour. With a bag of Charlotte and a few Red Emmalie (red flesh), a bag of onions sets (Stuggart Giant), Broad Bean seeds (Longfellow – reselected by our Chairman) Dwarf Bean Prince and Pea Show Perfection.

Thankfully all the snow has gone now. This is what it was like last Friday in the village.

Next job is to set the potatoes out to chit and then start shredding the 8 75-litre bags of F2S compost I have. Early season preparations are now well and truly underway!!

Hampshire Potato Day 2013

Damo — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:38:25 +0000

The 15th Hampshire Potato Days will be held on

Sat 26 & Sun 27 January 2013

10am – 3pm

Testbourne Community Centre, Micheldever Road, Whitchurch RG28 7JF

Entry adults £2, accompanied children free

Sorry I’m a bit late in posting this as it’s on tomorrow and Sunday but if you’re in the area why not pop in to stock up on your seed potatoes, onion sets, shallots etc. The great thing about this event is there’s dozens of varieties and you can buy tubers singly for just under 20p each. I’ll be there on Sunday on the NVS stand so come and have a chat if you’re there. This is a good site to see what potato days or seed fairs are near you.

I’m slowly coming out of hibernation after being offline for most of the last 3 months so you’ll start to see more activity on here and I’ll be stopping by from time-to-time to catch up with my favourite blogs as well. Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and here’s to a successful growing season!!

End of Season

Damo — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 13:44:44 +0000

There are a few things that mark the end of the season for me. The first ground frost about a week ago which took out my Dahlias, had to remove about 150 flowers and buds, such a shame as they had a good few weeks left in them and we haven’t had a frost since. The flowers on the Jerusalem Artichokes and the pumpkins turning a lovely orange colour mean it almost time to turn the clocks back. By then everything, bar a few brassicas, parsnips and leeks, is pretty much finished and the plot can be dug over and manured.

I had three small pumpkins off one plant this year as you can see next to the last of the Ramco cabbages. The veg for Sunday lunch was all from the garden – parsnips, potatoes, carrots and cabbage – and hedgerow blackberries and cooking apples from a friend up the road made the crumble. Not bad that, considering the weather we’ve had, you can still feed the family from your plot!

And the last of the carrots came out of the pipes as I was clearing the plot yesterday. This one was around 3 foot long and 6 inches round at the shoulder – not a bad specimen but I noticed a crack in it early on which meant it wasn’t any good for showing – tasted good though.

The plot (and blog) has been rather neglected recently due to a spate of DIY activity – normal service will resume very soon!!