Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: WendysLot on December 05, 2011, 12:42
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Hello
I am very new to growing (got my allotment in July) and have just harvested my very first home grown veg but was a little disappointed with my swede and beetroot.
I planted the seeds at the end of August and yesterday pulled up the swedes but they were very small, about the size of a golf ball.
The beetroot was much smaller and only two seeds grew from the whole row I planted - I put the two back that I pulled up in the hope they will continue to grow.
Please could someone advise me as to where I went wrong? Did I plant too late? Was there something else I should have done?
The soil is quite clay like when wet but crumbly/lumpy when dry. I put some chicken manure pellets in the soil when I planted my seeds.
Many thanks in advance,
Wendy
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I'm afraid the end of August is a bit late for beetroot and swede and your beetroot isn't likely to do much more growing now - if they're nice and small, you can use the beetroot grated in salads and think of the swede as posh mini veg.
This thread is discussing what you can be doing now:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=86352.0
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I agree with what's said above Wendy, just to short a growing seasons. Just prepare the soil correctly next spring and plant at the right time and you'll hopefully have a better crop.
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A small pointer for you, once you pull out a root crop, you can't replant it as it simply won't grow again. Roots are disturbed which ends any growth.
Adding chicken pellets will help feed the soil but you need to tackle overall soil problems in clay. Like adding loads of rotted manure to the soil and working it in either by digging over or rotovating. This can be done through winter or in early spring.
There's loads of info for you on this page:
http://www.allotment-garden.org/growing_information.php
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Many thanks for your help. Seems I need to pay a bit more attention to fertilisers, great articles on the site, especially the one about NPK etc.
Wendy :)
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Hi - yes, too late, but we all learn and here is a great place to do it. Beetroot can get going quite quickly from spring onwards; swede takes quite a bit of time to mature. They both need watering well, and beetroots supposedly love seaweed meal.
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I totally agree about the swede... sown around May they do Ok I've been told, but I forgot.
Beetroot though I carry on sowing right into September and they are fine.
In August it might have been to dry for germination and proper growth this year, so that might have been all that was wrong. You are not far north of me so it was not that.
Enjoy the small ones and look forward to more next year :)
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My beetroot and turnips were terrible this year and I tried twice. >:( Last year - fab! :mad:
It seems that even though they are supposed to be fool-proof, we can all get it wrong. The dry weather didn't help..... better luck next time! ;)
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and yet turnips were/are excellent this year... last year were rubbish
Every year different 8)
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I sowed my Swede and Beetroot in early June, I had small ones when thinning out then I harvested my Beetroot a couple of months ago to put into peat and my Swede I just pick now as I need them, the last one I picked weighed 5 pounds and I am fattening a couple up for Christmas day.
I also dont dig the ground I sow them in I sow them in 1/2" deep of John Innes seed compost on top of rock hard soil then feed with BF&B when they are growing.
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj202/nashsands/002-1.jpg)
The beetroot are on timber planks which are 8" wide each
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj202/nashsands/P1020149.jpg)
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Five pounds :ohmy:
FIVE POUNDS!!!!
Now that's just showing off
(says she who forgot to plant the seeds :unsure: )
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Wow Nash, they look fabulous! I think I need to feed my veggies more when they are growing and certainly water more too. Some great tips, thanks again.
My kale did well by the way, apart from being covered in white fly, I am still harvesting them now! ;)
Wendy
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Wow Nash, they look fabulous! I think I need to feed my veggies more when they are growing and certainly water more too. Some great tips, thanks again.
My kale did well by the way, apart from being covered in white fly, I am still harvesting them now! ;)
Wendy
I hate whitefly, the only brassica I grow now is Swede and thats because I eat the root only.
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Here is one I pulled today, nearly 4.5 lbs after trimming
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj202/nashsands/P1020222.jpg)
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Wow, that's a big one. I can picture it now cooked up with an equal amount of carrots, mashed, and buttered. Yummmmm.
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Wow, that's an incredible swede! The tiny swedes I did grow were absolutely delicious, really buttery and sweet, no comparison at all to the supermarkets ones. I shall keep trying as I really like swede.