Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: wendycas on February 20, 2012, 20:21

Title: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: wendycas on February 20, 2012, 20:21
Hi there
I'm new to the forum and I'll be bothering you all with lots of questions!  :wacko:
We have an allotment with my Dad and we spent all last year clearing and digging over so now we've manured all beds and are raring to go. My first question is: we manured all plots in November last year-are we OK to add lime now to the brassica beds or will the manure still counteract the lime? Next question is: when books and seed packets say a crop is due out say May/June-is that how is works or do you end up with beds being taken up for most of the growing season? I'm asking as we want to plan for the second half of the year when some crops will come out; eg, potatoes or beetroot. If you can plant more crops does this then mean you have 2 crop rotations to consider each year? Last one is that we have cabbages in now and they are pretty well nibbled! Is this likely to be rabbits? If so, how best to protect them-using netting?
Thanks and really looking forward to your replies!! :D
Wendy
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: mattwragg94 on February 20, 2012, 20:30
right i havent got a clue about your question regarding lime as i dont use it, but as for the timings of crops - the seeds packets only give you an estimated time as different crops grow at quicker rates depending on what area of the country you are in, however they are not usually far off. you will be able to plant things in your beds after your crops have finished, like for example when you potato's come out you'll ne able to plant another crop in their place  - but im not sure if you have to account for your second crop in your rotation plans.

last but not least, do you have rabbits in your area, if you do its most likely going to be them, if you havent it might be slugs or snails.
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: leeks r us on February 20, 2012, 20:49
First of all you need to test the ph of your soil before adding lime brassica dont like acid soil so your looking for a ph between 6.5 and 7.5. after your first crops are harvested there is plenty of crops to replant for growing over winter such as onions garlic spring cabbage to mention a few, when it comes to crop rotation i personally dont do it twice a year my leek and onion beds have been in the same place for years but i do rotate other crops yearly.
cabbages getting nibbled could be rabbits there is usually some poo on the ground nearby but whre i am its normally pigeons what do the damage.  Hope that helps a little
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: sunshineband on February 21, 2012, 08:06
To add to previous comments re crop rotation:

Stick wth one family per bed per year for crops that you would plant two successions of -- roots like beetroot and carrot for example, cabbages where you can plant out winter cabbages as you take up the spring ones. I also plant leeks after my autumn onions are out of the ground in June too.

Potatoes you only have one crop of per year, so I plant something I can get a quick crop out of after first and second earlies (like more beetroot, dwarf french beans, more leeks, spinach, florence fennel, winter radishes, turnips) that will mean the ground is free for the planned rotation family in the spring. Main crops potatoes are out too late to plant much else that year, but I follow on with peas and beans the next year, so start making a trench to enrich the soil for runner beans in that area, so it is ready in the late spring.

Early peas/mange tout are followed by another sowing, and main crop peas get salady things after them

Some veg are in the ground for a very long time, such as purple sprouting broccoli and sprouts, so I keep those together, which helps with protecting them from butterflies and pigeons, and means I am not trying to work around them al the time. I keep short brassicas like cabbages, caulis and dwarf kale together in another bed/part of the same brassica bed, not dot them all about. This way once the shorter (in time and in height )brassicas are out, I can plant more that will crop later. Swede go with them too.

Parsnips are there from sowing in April until around now, so plant those in part of your roots bed where they will not be in the way later in the season. I keep them with carrots as then I can cover then whole bed against carrot fly (learned that the hard way)

I plant courgettes about two feet in front of my runner beans - both are there all summer and get planted at about the same time - and sweetcorn with other squashes.

Beds are rarely empty for long, and when they are, they are being got ready for the next crop the following spring.


I hope that is not too muddly to follow!!



Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: wendycas on February 21, 2012, 10:59
Thank you all for your responses. It's been really helpful. It's wonderful to get sensible answers from those with experience. We've read lots of books but find the books often contradict each other and you can guarantee the one question you have, you can't find in the book!  :blink:

One more question-how do you companion plant-eg, marigolds, basil for tomatoes, chives for carrots etc.? Do you plant the companions amongst the veg or on the outside of the beds to deter beasties?

Thanks once again-this is a great forum and I'm happy to have found it! :D
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: TerryB on February 21, 2012, 14:39
Yes you can add lime now. As long as you leave 3 months between then you will not have any problems.
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: sunshineband on February 21, 2012, 14:50
You can do either with companion plants --- some grow them all mixed in with the crop but other prefer a border or a strip in the middle.

Please don't believe that anything gives protection against carrot fly though except a physical barrier. Chives are pretty but they don't deter the little devils at all really  :ohmy:
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: mattwragg94 on February 21, 2012, 17:21
i put my toms in florist buckets with a marigold in front of them (in the same pot), if your having problems with carrot fly, you could always try a carrot fly restistant variety such as 'flyaway', ive never tried these varieties tho so i dont know if they work?
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: DD. on February 21, 2012, 17:39
They're fly resistant, not fly proof, as we always stress.

Sunny's right in that a physical barrier is the only fool-proof way. We've got the "t" shirt!
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: sunshineband on February 21, 2012, 20:02
They're fly resistant, not fly proof, as we always stress.

Sunny's right in that a physical barrier is the only fool-proof way. We've got the "t" shirt!


Awww Yuss  ::)
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: engineer on February 22, 2012, 12:41
You can do either with companion plants --- some grow them all mixed in with the crop but other prefer a border or a strip in the middle.

Please don't believe that anything gives protection against carrot fly though except a physical barrier. Chives are pretty but they don't deter the little devils at all really  :ohmy:

Yep certainly agree, i did companion planting last year in the greenhouse, filled the tomato beds with marigolds, also grew cucumbers and chillies, never saw a white fly at all. :D

outside was a different matter, tried it with brassics, the white fly loved them  :( made no difference at all  :nowink: even under netting!  >:(
Title: Re: Adding lime for brassicas/crops later in year and
Post by: wendycas on February 29, 2012, 11:25
Hi there

Thank you all for your replies and advice for my questions  ::) We've managed to get on the 'big garden' as my daughter calls our allotment. It's great to see the frost has broken the soil up really nicely so we just did some forking over. It's lovely to see how the soil has changed with some muck in it and having the frost at it-when we dug it all over last year (-several times!-no rotavators here!) it was still really clumpy-so fingers crossed it'll be fine for when we want to plant.

I wanted to ask if anyone uses garlic spray as a slug repellent. We saw it on Gardener's World for Hostas but can it be used effectively on veg and fruit? If so, how long does it last when you make it up?  Also, does anyone use seaweed as a mulch or as a soil enricher? I know it's meant to stink to high heaven but I wondered if it could be made into a liquid feed like Comfrey is?

Thanks  :D