Grow With Joe

Growing food sustainably

[grow-with-joe]

Hey, here's a little walk through on how to sow smallish seeds such as Lettuce, Pak Choi and Tomatoes in a pot.

Sowing in pots, seed trays or modules can be a great way of growing if you plan to prick out or transplant you veg once they have germinated.

Doing it this way means that you don't have to thin out the seed bed, you reduce the likilhood of pests and diseases damaging seedlings and you can make better use of bed space.

Here's the steps for the photos.... In this pot I sowed Lettuce:

1. Overfill a pot, seed trays or module tray with compost.

2. Tap the pot down to consolidate the compost and use a flat piece of wood or your hand with a sawing motion to push excess compost off.

3. Firm the compost down using a piece of wood that's been cut to the same shape as your container or the bottom of a similar size and shaped pot. The compost should be just below the rim of the pot for small seeds.

4. Get your seeds out of the packet!

5. Carefully sow the seeds evenly over the surface of the compost.

6 and 7. Use a sieve to cover your seeds to the rim of the pot with compost. Carefully remove any excess compost being careful not to remove seeds that are buried just under the surface.

7. Water the pot gently. Be careful not to let water puddle, otherwise the seeds will float away.

8. Wait for the seeds to germinate!

[supercool-plants]

A little update on some previously mentioned sowings, and a few new ones.

First two photos are the Lettuce ‘Webb’s Wonderful’ and Basil ‘Classic Italian’ that were sown on 16/05/2016 and then pricked out on 30/05/2016. They are both looking sturdy and have taken a few days to settle in. They now appear to be putting on some good growth.

Third photo is Courgette 'Zucchini’ which was sown and potted-on on the same dates as the previously mentioned Lettuce and Basil. The growth rate of these crops is astounding and I’m sure that they will catch up with earlier sowings that have now begun flowering.

Fourth photo is Pea 'Kelvedon Wonder’ that was sown on 27/05/2016. They began germinating 7 days after sowing and are now almost all up. I’ve put a portable net over them to protect from birds (which can be a problem in the first few weeks).

The final photo is of Dwarf French Bean 'Tendergreen’ which was sown on 27/05/2016. They had begun to emerge within 5 days of sowing and are almost ready to be planted out in the vegetable garden after 12 days. Might get them out on Friday or Monday.

[grow-with-joe]

I miss having a glass house. Here's a post from a few years ago when I had one.

I'll get one again in the near future, but there's loads that you can grow without one too.

[grow-with-joe]

Here's a young tomato plant that was struggling when it was first planted. It was given by a friend and had been in the pot way too long. As you can see in the first photo, nutrient deficiencies were really visible when it was first planted.

Well, after a couple of weeks in the ground and some chicken manure fertiliser, it's looking much better. It's leaves are now a healthy green colour and it's also sent out it's first flower truss.

Don't forget to remove the lower leaves as the tomato plant grows. They usually become deficient in various nutrients as the plant re-directs it's nutrient reserves towards fruit development and new growth.

[grow-with-joe]

It's really exciting to see the plums forming on the young plum tree in my parents garden.

I wasn't sure how much pollination had taken place this year due to the cold and wet weather when they were flowering. By the looks of it, I needn't had worried!

[grow-with-joe]

Radish are so easy to grow and make for an amazing catch crop! You can sow them in between larger crops. By the time the large crop has grown too big, the Radish will have been harvested.

[supercool-plants]

If you’re growing produce for yourself and your family at home, or for others at work; it’s easy to forget about some of the smaller catch crops.

Cress and Mustard can be harvested very quickly and make a task addition to a sandwich or salad.

These photos of Cress were taken over an eight day period. The crop was ready to harvest ten days after sowing in a glasshouse.

Simply sow the seed on compost or blotting paper and water carefully (so that you don’t wash the seed in to one patch). If you use compost, you only need a thin layer of (unlike this photo). Keep in a warm place (this was c. 17.5 degrees Celcius average) and allow to germinate. Keep watered. Harvest when approximately 5cm tall.

If you want Mustard to harvest at the same time; follow the same procedure, but sow the mustard 2-4 days before the Cress.

This is not restricted to classroom experiments in primary school! Folks gotta eat!

[grow-with-joe]

Here's one of my posts from way back! Enjoy!

[grow-with-joe]

Sometimes, not as many seeds germinate as you'd like.

This can be because of too much mositure in the soil causing the seeds to rot, because of using old seeds with reduced viability, or a whole load of other reasons.

If some seeds germinate but others in the same row don't, you can start again from scratch. Another option is to just fill in the gaps like I've done with the Peas in these photos.

This way you will get a some Peas cropping earlier (the ones that germinated first time round) and some cropping a little bit later (the second sowing).

[grow-with-joe]

If you've sown seeds a bit too thickly and don't want them to go to waste, worry not.

You can use a pea stick, chopstick, knife or anything of a similar shape to prick out and transplant young seedlings.

I think the photos are pretty self explanatory on this one so no need for an explanation. Just remember to hold the seedling by the leaves to avoid damaging the stem and to plant deep enough to support the stem (only the leaves should be showing).

Oh, and always give young seedlings a good watering when you're done. Just be careful not to wash them away!

[grow-with-joe]

Who's heard of biochar? Well it's really just charcoal, but when gardeners or farmer use it to improve their soil it gets called biochar. It's probably just a snazzy name to make people buy it. But you don't need to buy it.... you can make your own.

First of all, let me tell you a little bit about it.

When you heat wood to a really high temperature, but in the absence of oxygen, the wood turns black (becomes charred). It's now pretty stable, meaning that it won't be decomposed by microbes. This is great because it can now potentially stay in the same state for thousands of years (or even way longer). By charring wood you have effectively taken carbon that would have been released back into the atmosphere within a few years and locked it up as solid black carbon.

Here's the special part. All of the wood structure that was created by the plant to form it's vascular system as it grew remains intact. It's black and charred, but look closely and it is intact.

These pores are a great habitat for soil microbes, and small lumps of biochar (a few millimeters across) can improve soil structure too. All you need to do it get it into your soil.

Here's the steps:

1. This first point isn't in the photos and take a little explanation. You can make specific and simple devices to make your own charcoal (I'll do a post on this sometime). These are quite efficient, but another way to do it is to extinguish a bonfire once the wood has turned to glowing embers. Just spray them with water until they're cold and leave them in a bucket of water for a bit (to make sure that they don't continue burning on the inside). The bonfire method isn't very efficient but is great if you need to have a bonfire anyway.

2. Drain away the water and chop up the lumps of coal with a spade or suitable machine. Spread out the lumps to dry off in the sun (this will make the next steps easier).

3. Use a fence post/brick/tractor to crush the lumps up a bit. You don't want to be left only with a powder though. Aim for around 10mm lumps. Remember, it's the structure of the wood that we want.... You'll get the hang of how much to crush.

4. Use a sieve (5-10mm works well) to separate the finer stuff into a separate container. Put the coarse stuff back into the original container and keep crushing. Repeat this until you're left with nothing.

5. You can now mix this biochar with compost or straight into the soil. Less is more, so add a little at a time.

[grow-with-joe]

Flowers are just as important in the garden as food plants, maybe even more so.

This Rosemary plant is both edible and attractive to insects like bees. As well as being a delicious herb for flavouring our food it increases biodiversity in the garden.

Furthermore, as it's roots reach out into the ground it improves soil structure and prevents soil errosion.

Try and space flowering plants throughout your vegetable garden wherever possible. You'll be pleased you did.

[grow-with-joe]

Do you put all of your kitchen waste in your compost bin and return all excited for your perfect compost a few months later only to be disappointed? Huge lumps of food that looks like it was put in there only yesterday? Whole melons and overripe bananas?

Here's a special composting tip?

Before putting all of your green waste into the compost bin or pile, shred it first. If you haven't got a shredder then put it all in to a trug/bucket and use a spade to chop it up.

This increases the surface area of the organic material and makes it much easier for microbes to turn it into lush compost.

[grow-with-joe]

This little fella is a Cock Chaffer! Funny name, I know. They feed on the roots of garden plants and can kill or seriously reduce the vigour of them.

They are the larva of the May Bug. That's the cockroach like animal that you see flying around haphazardly on spring evenings and nights.

If I find these I don't kill them. It's important to have biodiversity in your garden. I just throw them over the fence into the hedgerow. They'll either feed on a wild plant or be eaten by a lucky bird or badger.

[grow-with-joe]

The Spinach that I sowed almost two weeks ago has come through strong.

I've sown Peas in the bigger gaps after every three rows of Spinach. Unfortunately, next doors cat has been digging around them. I might end up replacing them with some potatoes depending on how many come up.

[grow-with-joe]

Hey, making new plants is really easy! Dividing them is a great way to establish new plants quickly.

Spring and Autumn are the best times to divide plants. Summer can be too stressful because of the dry weather and the fact that the plant is in full growth. Winter is fine but it's a bit trickier when you can't see the shoots as easily.

Not all plants can be divided, but pretty much every herbaceous or evergreen plant that has multiple growth points from the base can be.

In these photos I divided some herbs. They were Chives, Oregano, Mint and Lemon Verbena.

Here are the steps:

1. Either dig your plant out of the ground or remove it from the pot it's in.

2. If it's got weeds or moss around the crown, remove them

3. Cut the plant into half, quarters, eighths or as many sections as you think you can get away with. You might need to trim some roots to make it easier to replant or repot.

4. Either replant or pot up and you're done! Don't forget to put some organic fertiliser down and water everything. I used poultry manure this time.