Keith's Blog

2018-01-04T06:45:00.001-08:00

Check out my latest newsletter for January 2018 for the tomatoes

https://us4.campaign-archive.com/?e=[UNIQID]&u=a5bbde05cc1e211bea765203c&id=eb2098f695

2014-01-22T05:05:00.002-08:00

View this email online if it doesn't display correctly

February Newsletter

Grow Your Own Veg In 2014

Here at Vegetable Plants Direct we are passionate about every one growing their own veg even if it is one pot on a patio there is no comparison with tasteless supermarket veg and we are actively involved with many schools and charities that are getting children into growing veg too

Hello
Well time is certainly marching on I cannot believe it is nearing the end of January already It will soon be time to start sowing in earnest for the new season.
I have already got all the Aubergines and a lot of the peppers underway and those are all up now so we have a great start on those I think it is the earliest I have started them off They are indoors at home at the moment But will go into my heated greenhouse soon once I am confident most seeds in the trays have germinated.

The most likely way I will go with these is into 6cm pots possibly the jiffy biodegradable ones as the peppers and aubergines didn't really work in plugs last year and I am trying to find a balance between supplying you with a decent plant whilst making them affordable for us to post to you.

I hope this mild weather carries on into March this year and it doesn't suddenly turn to cold It would be nice to get a decent start to the season for once and keep on top of things. Although I suspect a lot of you have rather sodden gardens just now I feel sorry for the poor folks locally here who are under water out on the Somerset levels.

As always I urge you to get orders in as soon as your able so we have an indication on what is needed and can plan ahead whilst we do grow stock for last minute orders it does make our lives very very difficult to plan if we have huge numbers ordering late.

It looks like the whole garden industry is making a huge shift for 2014 for years I have been on my soap box about the way garden centres and the big sheds (B&Q etc.) have tempted the public into buying plants earlier and earlier getting basket plants in to stores in January when they cannot go out until all frost has passed which last year was late May was just ludicrous well it looks like many of them finally got the message the hard way last year when hundreds of millions of pounds worth of plants got binned during last years cold spell because they were either killed by the cold at the outlets or were just not being bought.

From what I hear ordering from the growers has been tentative to say the least and many have ordered for at least 3 weeks later and some have not even committed at all for this Spring yet so I think we will see a change this year. I think many of them also got blasted by the gardening press last year with the like of Monty Don etc. blasting them. With many mild Winters in recent years they were seriously pushing their luck and sooner or later this was going to happen But their greed got the better of them and they learnt the hard way.

Remember we will only send orders out when the weather is suitable to do so

Happy Gardening

Keith And Sarah

We Still have 20% Off nearly all mixed packs on the vegetable website includes Spring Packs, All Year Round Packs and all the individual Packs Including Allotment Packs as well as things like the Brassica packs, Courgette and Pumpkin collections, Aubergine Collections, Herb Collections, Mint Collections and plant Mixes.

just enter the code packs at checkout

BUY NOW

Time is running out for Tomato orders for March/April delivery orders must be in by 31st January

For Mid-April/Mid-May orders need to be in by 28th February

Please place your orders as soon as you possibly can so we have time to grow them for you

BUY NOW

New Spring Packs In sizes 50, 75, 100, 150 and 200 Plants these will be a mix from the following early Brassicas, Peas, Salad Leaves, Carrots, Beetroot, Possibly Broad or French Beans, Chard, Kohl Rabi, Spinach, Onions, Salad Onions, Parsnips, Turnips, And Lettuce

And Don't forget there is 20% off all Packs Now

BUY NOW

We have some really nice looking perennial plugs at the moment ready for immediate dispatch

BUY NOW

Tomato Growing Tip 4 Mulch Your Tomato Plants to Conserve Water and Prevent Diseases Growing Tomatoes

Mulching around tomato plants will conserve water and help to warm the soil and promote a healthier root system. Mulching will also prevent soil born diseases by minimizing plant contact with the soil. Mulch either with compost or straw

Growing Veg In Pots or Containers

Suitable for...
The following vegetables lend themselves well to container cultivation:
Beetroot, Broad beans, Carrots, Dwarf French beans, Herbs, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Rocket, Runner beans, Chillies & Peppers, Salad leaves, Salad onions, Salad turnips, Tomatoes
.
When to grow vegetables in containers

Timings vary depending on the crop, but the main growing season is from early spring to autumn.

How to grow vegetables in containers Container choice

Pots, troughs and grow-bags can all be used to allow gardeners without time or room for a vegetable plot to grow fresh, tasty produce

Container-grown vegetables can be started off in a glasshouse, conservatory or porch for earlier crops

Smaller containers can result in a lack of moisture and nutrients for plant roots. Aim for containers with a depth and width of at least 45cm (18in), otherwise frequent watering and feeding will be needed

Compost choice

Use sterile proprietary potting composts to obtain best results

The soil-based compost John Innes No 3 is especially easy to manage, but other composts, including peat-free varieties, are also suitable

Compost in grow-bags is often both good value and reasonable quality

Home made mixtures of two parts soil and one part well rotted organic matter fortified with extra fertiliser can be an economical substitute, but home-made mixtures are not sterile, so may pose a risk for pest and disease problems

Organic growers who wish to avoid fertiliser use can get good results from mixing well-rotted manure into the potting compost in the lower half of their containers – 20 percent by volume should be sufficient

Further care

Aftercare should involve provision of a constant water supply, but take care to avoid prolonged waterlogging. A feed of general-purpose liquid fertiliser can be applied every two weeks. If frost is likely, cover the plants with horticultural fleece and move the pots to a warm, sheltered spot.

Crop Selection
Rewarding vegetable crops for containers include:

Beetroot: sow in March at 10cm (4in) spacings. The young leaves can be used as ‘spinach’. Follow these with quick growing crops of late summer salads.
Broad beans: sow from February at 20cm (8in) spacings. The tops can be pinched out to reduce blackfly attacks and also for use as ‘greens’. The broad beans can be followed in June or July with beetroot for late summer crops.
Carrots: sow Nantes or Amsterdam cultivars from February for June harvesting. Thin seedlings to 8cm (3in) between plants. Cover the containers with fleece from April onwards to exclude carrot fly. After the carrots, sow French beans to gather in September.
Herbs: parsley, for example, can be sown in March for harvesting from June; coriander is also an attractive and popular crop. Basil is another great herb for pots. Repeat crops can be sown for late summer harvest
Lettuces: mini lettuces such as ‘Little Gem’ and ‘Tom Thumb’, spaced at 15cm (6in), can be sown from January for June harvesting. Follow the lettuces with leeks for winter harvesting.
Peas: sow ‘mange-tout’ cultivars with edible pods from March; plant them out at 15cm (6in) spacings; harvest in June and follow with salad leaves for late summer.
Potatoes: plant early cultivars from March with one tuber for every 30cm of pot diameter.
Salad leaves: sow from February aiming for 5cm (2in) between plants. Rocket, coriander, lettuce, chicory and spinach are tasty choices. Harvest by pinching off the top few salad leaves leaving a stump to re-sprout for follow-on crops
Salad onions: sow from February with 3cm (1¼in) between plants. Pull them up when they get big enough. By July, you should be able to re-sow with finger carrots for bunches of baby carrots in October.
Spinach: sow from February aiming for 10cm (4in) between plants. Spinach quickly runs to seed, so follow it with courgettes in June for late summer fruits.

Problems
Growing vegetables in containers are generally quite easy with the main problems being;

Drying out is a common problem, so ensure a regular water supply, avoiding floods and droughts

Lack of root space can be a problem in small containers, and may result in wilting and symptoms of

We have a range of veg plants that we have selected as suitable for pot and container growing

BUY NOW

10% Off Vegetable Plants Direct Orders

10% Off Tomato Plants Direct Orders

10% Off Mail Order Plants Direct Orders

2013-11-10T10:19:00.002-08:00

2013 Review

Well as i sit here on a cold crisp October Sunday evening it is time to reflect on 2013 and another some what challenging year.

First we had the Spring that barely never was the coldest in 50 years and boy was that cold and all that snow i think we have become to accustomed to mild Winters so when we get a bad one it comes as a bit of a shock

This was our garden at the height of the snowy weather although we missed some of the really bad snow that seemed to skirt around us.

To make my life easier i decided i needed to put a greenhouse up at home after a few hitches i eventually got a nice 8ft x 6ft greenhouse up at home and benched it out ready to get sowing, which i was also able to heat with a 3.5kw propane gas heater which was badly needed with the weather not letting up well into Spring and even in May we were still getting ground frost so i delayed sowing as long as I could.

The biggest problem i had was heated space I have nowhere at the derelict nursery we rent to heat so once things were up at home they really had to take their chance. It did cause me some major headaches and was one of the toughest starts to Spring i have ever had even worse than when we got snowed in for 2 weeks in March down in Cornwall.

Then out of the blue we had a glorious Summer i think that was as much a shock to most people as was the cold Spring.

For us it was the latest we have ever started dispatching plants I usually manage to start dispatching at least something by the end of March but this year it was the last week in April when the first orders went out and we never really caught up from their.

We launched two new websites this year one dedicated to Tomatoes with now over 250 varieties listed and loads of information on the Tomato and how to grow them as well and the other website for flowering plants I have also dramatically reduced the number of veg varieties we have on the vegetable website for 2014 we are in a restructuring phase of the business at the moment with some major changes before next year that I am still working on.

The launch of the Tomato website came as a bit of surprise in how it took off I did not expect it to be that popular that quickly and the demand alongside the cold Spring did cause us a few supply issues.

By all accounts it has been a really difficult year for Tomato growing even the professional growers have had huge problems even with the highly technical climate controlled greenhouses they say that growth was poor early season and they have never caught up and i know many people have reported that crops ripened very late this year.

I will be starting my Tomato sowing much earlier next year and on a much larger scale to hopefully be ahead of the demand .

The flowering plant website is more to give me something to sell during the leaner months for veg plants and we have some lovely perennial plugs ready now from a massive sowing in seed trays that i did back in August that have now been pricked out into 44mm Jiffy plugs

www.tomato-plants-direct.co.uk/
www.vegetableplantsdirect.co.uk/
www.mailorderplantsdirect.co.uk/

2013-03-26T13:20:00.002-07:00

Well this has been an interesting March !! Looks likely to be the coldest since 1963 so i guess that makes it the coldest March in my lifetime then (just) and boy has it been cold even over here in the west the wind cut through you like a knife so I dread to think what it has been like for those of you in the East !

Fortunately we have not had the snow here that many of you have had either we had one lot of snow in January and a few flurries since But nothing like what a lot of areas got this week we had torrential rain instead.

However it has been cold enough for me to be once again struggling with my growing But I did always have a plan to get a greenhouse up at home this year to make heating and propagating easier. I did start this process at the beginning of March and purchased a polycarbonate greenhouse BIG BIG mistake it was very complicated to erect and utter rubbish with just a narrow channel to hold the polycarbonate sheets in place the first puff of wind blew it to bits that one has now been demolished And I am now wrangling with the company what they are going to do about it.

I have since bought and erected and nearly filled a glass one which is being nicely warmed day and night by a 3kw propane gas heater Most of the Tomatoes, Peppers and Aubergines for March/April are sown and some Tomatoes are up and a fair bit else has been sown as well and we have lettuce and peas up so I think by Mid April I will have some things ready to go It will depend then on the weather and if people have the ground ready for them we will probably e-mail people prior to dispatch to see if your ready for them as the weather is so iffy and not forecast to change much any time soon. We would hate to send things out and find your still under two feet of snow or have hard frozen ground and no where to put them.

13 Tips for Growing Better Tomatoes

2013-02-21T14:23:00.001-08:00

13 Tips for Growing Better Tomatoes

Why In February ??

2013-02-21T11:50:00.005-08:00

Why In February ??

Posted on 7:19pm Thursday 21st Feb 2013

One of my biggest bug bares over the years has been young plants early in the year the relentless earliness and rise of places doing it in February it is utterly ridiculous and unless you have a heated greenhouse a complete waste of money for the customer.
For goodness sake these plants can't go out into the garden until at least May when all risk of frost has gone what on earth do people do with them for three months like i say unless you have a heated greenhouse it is pointless. But even then you then have these plants clogging up your valuable growing space for three months when it is best served growing other things like food for the table there is plenty you can grow in a cold greenhouse for early veg.But it is a long time to have these other plants in there let alone your heating costs trying to keep them alive and if you don't have a heated greenhouse and are going to attempt growing these on indoors then they will end up a pretty sorry state if you have the heat indoors you certainly won't have the light and they will just stretch.
The likes of the big sheds are the worst they take these poor barely seedlings from a heated nursery and stick them at best in a freezing doorway like my local store had last weekend with Courgette seedlings (in Feb come on please we don't even sell them until April) if they were animals people would soon be reporting them to the RSPCA maybe we should have a Royal Society For The Protection Of Plants I hate going into these places in March and seeing all these dying seedlings that either have not been looked after, baked in a hot store or killed off by the frost in an outside plant area
The temp this week is barely above freezing and you have to wonder why they do this, is it so you all by them now loose them and then come back for more whatever it is a practice I do not agree with it is fine if they want to put easter eggs out before new year and christmas cards in August But plants in February what next buy a Tomato plant for Christmas instead of a poinsettia.
So far on my rounds recently I have seen all the usual tot pots of basket plants and now traditional bedding seedlings which will seriously struggle being kept for 3 months But now were getting tomato seedlings, pepper seedlings, Courgettes i have also seen last week, and numerous packs of brassicas some of which should not be planted until May/June for next winter
Here at Vegetable Plants Direct you will not find these items available at this time of year we only sell our plants during the seasons that they are supposed to be planted in and we always will, as seed breeders tell us various varieties can be sown earlier or later we offer them But only if they are recommended for use out of what you would call their normal season.
So please choose wisely when buying your plants the choice is yours But remember it is a long way to Summer !!

February Newsletter

2013-02-16T13:12:00.001-08:00

Our latest Newsletter is out it is packed full of all the new veg we have on offer for 2013 as well as some great offers and tips

To Read Our Latest Newsletter Click On The Link Below

Newsletter

20% Off All Orders This Weekend Only

2013-02-16T11:55:00.001-08:00

Click on the link below for more

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/20--Off-For-One-Weekend-Only.html?soid=1102607553910&aid=XK56TEQ6UHk

Vegetable Plants Direct : Last chance to get money off your orders for 2013 ...

2012-12-16T08:24:00.001-08:00

Vegetable Plants Direct : Last chance to get money off your orders for 2013 ...: Last chance to get money off your orders for 2013 we have 20% off until 1st January. @ http:// www.vegetableplantsdirect.co.uk /

2012-12-16T07:56:00.001-08:00

Last chance to get money off your orders for 2013 we have 20% off until 1st January. @ http://www.vegetableplantsdirect.co.uk/

freebie

2012-10-20T12:31:00.001-07:00

Fancy a Free 100 Autumn/Winter/Spring Vegetable pack worth £42 ? Like Our Facebook Page to have a chance to win thishttps://www.facebook.com/madaboutveg

orders update

2012-10-17T14:34:00.001-07:00

51 orders shipped this week which is spectacularly good considering we only had two days at it we couldn't do any yesterday as we ran out of several of the brassicas on Monday and my delivery didn't arrive from Cornwall until 8.30 this morning as this weeks order (4800 brassicas) was so large he missed the delivery pick up deadline on Monday as he was still pulling them.

we have approx 100 left to do and we will do our best to get as many as we can of the remaining orders out next week.

Free Offer

2012-10-16T13:10:00.001-07:00

Fancy a Free 100 Autumn/Winter/Spring Vegetable pack worth £42 ? Like Our Facebook Page to have a chance to win thishttps://www.facebook.com/madaboutveg

Orders Update

2012-10-13T09:31:00.003-07:00

ORDERS UPDATE 13/10/2012

We have just over 100 orders left to get out currently, providing we do not get any more hold ups we hope to have pretty near most if not all of these done within 2 weeks.

Sorry for any delay we have had hold ups for the last 3 weeks firstly Katherine was off sick meaning me and Sarah had to pick and pack in shifts. The following week we could only work one day as the road to the nursery was under a foot and half of water so we just couldn't get there. Then because we hadn't used the Brassicas from that week I hadn't ordered a new batch from Cornwall until the end of the flooding week Unfortunately I did not know his Broadband connection was down until the Friday and he hadn't received it so we didn't get them until last Tuesday But we still got 46 orders out this week despite that.

So What About Now Then?

2012-10-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

We are now settled into our new compact and Bijou growing space But much less stressed with it we have restricted the amount of orders we took this year and just dealt with it on our own just the two of us and would have had a pretty successful year had it not been for the weather scuppering us what a God awful Summer that was.

I have never grown in such challenging conditions in my life things just would not grow due to the poor light levels and we really struggled especially with Peppers and Aubergines then we lost over 400 Tomato plants to blight which was handy not.

Nearly Two Years On How It All Went Wrong And How We Bounced Back

2012-10-12T11:25:00.001-07:00

Well as you saw in my previous writings we were very excited to have found huge new growing space and were all signed and sealed and started growing ready for a new season last year and everything looked promising and we got off to a great start with the sowing and growing we took on an unemployed chap who showed great enthusiasm and promise and all looked great.

The owners of the nursery were starting to talk about us growing everything for their three garden centres and promising this that and everything else. But then as the summer went on we heard more and more rumour's about them and it was all being denied by them.

But when the staff from one of the garden centres started cutting up and collecting any metal round the site for scrap to pay their wages we new trouble was brewing in hind site we should have looked elsewhere then But we didn't.

Then in September last year they started demanding money we felt we didn't owe as we had been supplying them with plants and when we couldn't raise it they illegally chucked us out and stole all our stock and equipment and took it to their garden centres to sell leaving us with no where to grow no stock and loads of orders we could not fulfill they then went bust owing millions and leaving us no chance of redress.

But we clawed our way back found new premises to grow in which although substantially smaller has done us OK and we were back on track.

The Summer at the bigger nursery was a disaster we had loads of "free" help courtesy of a scheme to get unemployed working but in all honesty none of them wanted to work we even offered some that were slightly better jobs But none of them wanted them even taking on an apprentice was a disaster we only had one applicant and he had a condition that meant he was very difficult to teach and drove everyone mad all day repeating everything anyone said which distracted my packers to a degree they were making mistakes with orders so he didn't last longer than the first week of a two week trial.

At one point we had 14 staff and i was stressed to the hilt trying to keep them all doing a proper job. By the time we were evicted it was just myself and Sarah getting twice as much done on our own as we were with all the staff so this year we pruned the business back and did it on our own.

Time marching on sowing getting done

2011-02-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

I am now getting settled in to my new nursery and surroundings over in Somerset however we have yet to find a house to rent over there so at the moment I am still commuting back and forwards between Cornwall and Somerset.

I go over to the nursery on Mondays and stay down at my parents in Sherbourne just over the Dorset border during the week and travel up to the nursery from there Tue to Thur and then go back home to Cornwall on Thursday evening for the weekend.

I have already made significant progress with the sowing having sown Aubergines, Celeriac, Celery, Cabbages, Calabrese, Cauliflowers, Onions, Brussels, Hot Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Parsnips, Broccoli, Spinach, Carrots, Turnips, Komatsuna, Mizuna, Lettuce, Globe Artichokes, Leeks, Tomatoes, Chicory, Salad Leaves, Mustard, Sorrel, Chinese Chives, Minutina, Dandelion, Mibuna, Leaf Radish, Choy Sum, Senposai, Amaranth, Namenia, Kintsai, Peas, Broad Beans, Rhubarb, Beet Leaf, Pak Choi, and Raddichio as well as over 1000 pots of Herbs and 300 pots of Sweet Peas.

At least were having far better weather than last year since Christmas it has been not to bad down here in the South West last year we were snowed in in February and March so I am hoping for a proper Spring this year.

Here are some pictures of the Nursery:

This is my 13 bay multispan tunnel

This is my nice large Greenhouse

The trays of Brassicas and Onions

The Celery, Celeriac, Peppers and Aubergines in the heated propagator

More Brassicas and Peppers

The Plugs of other veggies

Ready to Go

2011-02-04T08:49:00.000-08:00

It is all signed and sealed for the new nursery and the greenhouses and polytunnels have been cleaned out ready for me to use.

I am picking up a van tomorrow that the owners are very kindly letting me borrow for a few weeks so I can get over to Somerset to start growing and I will be over there Mondays to Thursdays sowing away in the heated greenhouse

Here are a couple of Pictures

Contract has arrived

2011-01-12T14:23:00.001-08:00

Received the contract today nothing too scary in it apart from a few minor mistakes so it is full steam ahead to the big signing next week. Then we can start getting going for the new season.

New Beginings

2011-01-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

We have really struggled down here in Cornwall since we lost our original place for the nursery down here 6 months after moving from Scotland and ever since I have been borrowing space on other peoples nurseries and not much of it at that for the last 3 years I have been severely restricted for space and had all sorts of problems that have not endeared us much to our customers.

We have been constantly on the look out for somewhere better and after a second holiday in Somerset last summer we decided that is where we wanted to be and to be honest that was where we were supposed to be heading when we left Scotland but the Cornwall place came up first. I have always wanted to move back to Somerset one day after living there a short time post college.

The weather in this part of North Cornwall is always a problem as It is very wet and therefore also not very sunny at times and this causes me huge growing problems affecting the quality of our crops.

I have recently shook on a fantastic deal that sees us moving to a huge property in North Somerset in the next few weeks as soon as we find a house to rent although I will start growing over there shortly

I now am renting 4400 sq feet of heated glass and 26,000 sq feet of polytunnels which if necessary can also be heated. With acres more polytunnels to expand into if I need them.

The site is a 44 acre former shrub nursery that went out of production three years ago due to cheap Dutch imports.

I came across it after I placed a note on the Downsizer forum about looking for a place to rent in Somerset and someone sent me the link to an advert on Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Landshare scheme website about this opportunity they were offering

"Are you looking for land any size large or small. We have over 40 acres set in Churchill North Somerset consisting of Poly Tunnels, Green Houses, Gravel Beds, Stores, Shade Areas, Despatching Area, Dutch Barns, Paddocks and Bedding Areas all availiable to rent. This Land is offered for Commercial Growers, Small Holdings, Single Allotment areas or a Co-op with a mix of Fruit Trees, Veg, Hens, Pigs, Bees, etc. animals are not a problem although animal husbandry and welfare would need to be at the highest of standards. There is also office space for an educational centre in any of the above sections. This Land has good access to major roads, and on site access for lorries and machinery, If you are looking for land to grow as a single plot or something larger or a Co-op withFruit/Veg and livestock we are open to suggestions "

At first I dismissed it as we were originally looking for somewhere with a house. But it niggled at me and in the end we had to go and see it and see what it was all about and boy oh boy am I glad I did.

It is being run as an amazing opportunity for all sorts of people and I think will be an amazing community once everyone settles into their various things they want to do they have all sorts of people coming on board to do all sorts of projects.

The site is going to be run as an eco site and they hope to have the whole site carbon neutral by supplying their own gas and electric on site and already have their own water supply

It is a fantastic opportunity for us and secures our growing future for years to come"