Unofficial retrobike allotment thread....
- Thread starter grumpycommuter
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Sweet corn.
Durning the first 3 years of 5 on the plot so to speak, the Missus & I had good success with growing sweet corn . How ever the last 2 summers which as you all know have been very wet and not very warm.Hence little or no crop.
Apart from the weather anyone any tips.The plants we have set are not coming on very well :?:
Watering x3 weekly at present.Is this enough .Good soaking each time.
Durning the first 3 years of 5 on the plot so to speak, the Missus & I had good success with growing sweet corn . How ever the last 2 summers which as you all know have been very wet and not very warm.Hence little or no crop.
Apart from the weather anyone any tips.The plants we have set are not coming on very well :?:
Watering x3 weekly at present.Is this enough .Good soaking each time.
Iwasgoodonce
Old School Grand Master
bagpuss":2gf1fbnv said:
Corn has a very shallow root system. So keep up with the watering and occasionally add a liquid feed to the water as the corn uses all the shallow nutrients.
We have a saying, "How do you know when your corn is ready to harvest?"
"When the squirrels eat it all."
Edit: Did you grow them in pots and then plant out? Most in the UK do. I have read that the best way to do this is in individual cells. If you plant a few seeds in a pot, and they all grow, the roots will be well entwined. Corn hates having its roots interfered with.
I didn't have time to plant any of my own thanks to the cold spring so have bought some. I had to take the root ball apart and they have been sulking ever since. Past experience tells me that they will get going in good time.
If you plant your own, use individual cells next time.
Silvergoat
Senior Retro Guru
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Our hens love to peck at a corn cob, keeps em happy for ages. Last year's crop didn't do well because of a poor summer, so the resulting small cobs were used as chicken treats.
grumpycommuter
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Sweetcorn in and watered today. Dad spent the day there and i rocked up after work to claim all the glory 
I took some great photos and then realised that the memory card wasn't in :facepalm: I'll take some more tomorrow. Found a great seed catalogue, i'll post a link tomorrow as well. All old veggies and cross pollinated so you can save the seeds.
I took some great photos and then realised that the memory card wasn't in :facepalm: I'll take some more tomorrow. Found a great seed catalogue, i'll post a link tomorrow as well. All old veggies and cross pollinated so you can save the seeds.Harry Porter
Dirt Disciple
Mayflies by Richard Wilbur
It was no muddled swarm I witnessed, for
In entrechats each fluttering insect there
Rose two steep yards in air,
Then slowly floated down to climb once more,
So that they all composed a manifold
And figured scene,
And seemed the weavers of some cloth of gold,
Or the fine pistons of some bright machine.
The whole thing is here: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=413 but I just like the pistons of the bright machine.
K
It was no muddled swarm I witnessed, for
In entrechats each fluttering insect there
Rose two steep yards in air,
Then slowly floated down to climb once more,
So that they all composed a manifold
And figured scene,
And seemed the weavers of some cloth of gold,
Or the fine pistons of some bright machine.
The whole thing is here: http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=413 but I just like the pistons of the bright machine.
K
Silvergoat
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grumpycommuter":2htfqzvb said:Sweetcorn in and watered today. Dad spent the day there and i rocked up after work to claim all the glory
Looking forward to the great photos....
Iwasgoodonce
Old School Grand Master
What can I say? Thanks for all the mayfly poems. I am not a poetry fan, although I love books and literature. The two mayfly poems I really like though. I may even look up some of the authors' other works!
To celebrate the mayflies' all too short lives, I have tied a couple of the fishing variety. I made them up rather that look at a book of fly patterns and I'll try them at the weekend if the weather is suitable.
So far you have seen one of our plots. I'll try and get a couple of pictures of the other one now that everything apart from gherkins have been planted.
Everything is in now so it'll be a case of weeding and picking hopefully. Anyone want some runner beans in a few weeks?
To celebrate the mayflies' all too short lives, I have tied a couple of the fishing variety. I made them up rather that look at a book of fly patterns and I'll try them at the weekend if the weather is suitable.
So far you have seen one of our plots. I'll try and get a couple of pictures of the other one now that everything apart from gherkins have been planted.
Everything is in now so it'll be a case of weeding and picking hopefully. Anyone want some runner beans in a few weeks?
What a great thread! Your plot looks fantastic, Iwasgoodonce.
I used to love growing most my own veg but sadly have been too ill for the last few years, though I did manage a hundred or so leeks a year ago. They had to cope without any watering at all bless 'em, other than when they were first planted out and once again during the driest period. I didn't fancy their chances at all (nor did anyone else), but after hardly growing and just about hanging on for most of the summer, they came to life when the rain came in August and actually managed to catch up with every one elses pampered ones.
All in all the 'no water' experiment was a resounding success really - seems if you treat their roots mean when they're young, you keep 'em keen.
Hopefully I'll be able to do a bit more next year, the farmer next door's offered a patch of land, though the Dock's and Couch are mocking any intentions at the mo'
Soo miss me homegrown kale and tom's and spuds and, and...
I used to love growing most my own veg but sadly have been too ill for the last few years, though I did manage a hundred or so leeks a year ago. They had to cope without any watering at all bless 'em, other than when they were first planted out and once again during the driest period. I didn't fancy their chances at all (nor did anyone else), but after hardly growing and just about hanging on for most of the summer, they came to life when the rain came in August and actually managed to catch up with every one elses pampered ones.
All in all the 'no water' experiment was a resounding success really - seems if you treat their roots mean when they're young, you keep 'em keen.
Hopefully I'll be able to do a bit more next year, the farmer next door's offered a patch of land, though the Dock's and Couch are mocking any intentions at the mo'
Soo miss me homegrown kale and tom's and spuds and, and...
Iwasgoodonce
Old School Grand Master
ferrus":mgvr3mdp said:What a great thread! Your plot looks fantastic, Iwasgoodonce.
I used to love growing most my own veg but sadly have been too ill for the last few years, though I did manage a hundred or so leeks a year ago. They had to cope without any watering at all bless 'em, other than when they were first planted out and once again during the driest period. I didn't fancy their chances at all (nor did anyone else), but after hardly growing and just about hanging on for most of the summer, they came to life when the rain came in August and actually managed to catch up with every one elses pampered ones.
All in all the 'no water' experiment was a resounding success really - seems if you treat their roots mean when they're young, you keep 'em keen.
Hopefully I'll be able to do a bit more next year, the farmer next door's offered a patch of land, though the Dock's and Couch are mocking any intentions at the mo'
Soo miss me homegrown kale and tom's and spuds and, and...
Hope you're well enough to get back to it soon, ferrus. I'm not going to get any kale this winter either now. Bloody pigeons have had the lot!
The potatoes are flowering now so I'll have a look in a couple of weeks. Gherkins are in although the slugs have had a couple of the squash plants. I didn't put any pellets down as we had seen a big old toad on the plot and we didn't want to poison him. The very least he could have done was eat the slugs. Perhaps he did, he just waited for them to be 'squash stuffed!'
Did anyone else's broad beans get battered by the unseasonable winds last weekend?
