Gardening Plans 2022

[isha]

All spuds, onions, garlic in. I got two enormous blisters on my hands for my efforts, one very sore. I have been using a different kind of hoe, which is brilliant. But I will have to wait till himself wakes up to know what it is called again I don't remember stuff like that.

[isha]

Azada. Spanish type big hoe. Does a great job at loads of things.

[765489]

Azada. Spanish type big hoe. Does a great job at loads of things.

I have one of them. Didn't know the name of it but is very handy for scraping away small weeds between close rows.

[isha]

I have one of them. Didn't know the name of it but is very handy for scraping away small weeds between close rows.

It's heavy though! And I overdid it.

[CelticRambler]

I was digging the holes with a 6 foot crowbar and using one of them post hole digger things for taking out the loose clay. But you hit the marl fairly quickly after you pass the 2 foot mark. I went down about 4ft.

You wouldn't lift the posts physically but can drag them.

So when they are in the hole the slow process of a layer of broken concrete blocks, tamp the fck out of them with the head of the sledge, followed by dry concrete, followed by a layer of marl, tamped again and repeat the whole process another two times.

Takes about two hours in total. A man I used to work with showed me how to do it. Taking your time and ensuring each layer is tamped down properly is the key. The are basically immovable after that.

Had to rest for two days after just reading that!

Am happy to leave the posts to you, while I stick to building walls:

Before:


After:


This is a re-build rather than a new build: my landscaping required the wall to be moved about 30cm back, built deeper and be slightly re-aligned - so easier all round to pull it down and start again. The lower wall, running perpendicular, is due for re-building later in the year. When I built it previously, I'd run out of nicely shaped sandstone (I think that's what it is) and had to make do with way too many quartz boulders, which just don't stack the right way. The groundworks associated with the landscaping turned up a lot of better quality stone, though, so an upgrade is in the pipeline.

Incidentally, those are my new 30-litre "potato" buckets, doing temporary duty as holders of the smaller, rubbly stone that I use to pack the "cavity" between the dressed faces.

[765489]

15 kilos of Sunflower seed and 5 kilos of Phacelia im hoping to sow today. Waiting on the brother to arrive as he likes to do the rotovating of the seed beds. I'll be doing the grunt work as usual

Screenshot_20220423-113036_Gallery.jpg

Screenshot_20220423-113031_Gallery.jpg

[765489]

Good time of the year to prune cherry or plum trees that are a bit neglected with the least risk of the tree getting silver leaf disease. I always forget this. If you have a sealer to apply to the pruned branches this helps afterwards.

[CelticRambler]

It's looking like this'll be the first year in more than a decade that I won't have any plums of any kind. The crazy March-April weather seems to have thoroughly destroyed the flower buds of all three varieties. In fact, I have no tree-fruit at all - apart from one solitary Braeburn apple (if the maggots and wasps don't get it).

Berry fruits did/are doing well, all of which were moved to new beds over the last year (and I added four gooseberry bushes that I picked up in Lidl). The June-fruiting strawberries are already finished two weeks, and the "everlasting" varieties are into their rest period, but I'm hoping they'll be back to supply my desserts in a month's time when the first summer visitors arrive.

When it cools down this evening, I'll plant another 20m of potatoes, to add to 20m sown during the week. These are going into the final bed (lowest level) of my new vegetable terraces, the lowest level and only completed last month. The soil in these terraces still needs quite a bit of improvement so I'm keeping the rest of the levels for above-ground crops - peas, beans, peppers, chilis, artichokes (if they grow), leafy greens (and red cabbage), various annual herbs. I've also given all the bulbous members of the onion family a chance to identify as "above ground" veg, and they seem to reasonably content - except for a good number of red onions, which have bolted in the last fortnight.

[CelticRambler]

It never did cool down, so the potatoes are waiting till tomorrow morning to be planted.

In the meantime, I've dug enough "new" potatoes for three dinners. Normally they'd be maincrop (Desirée), but they're the ones that sprouted and grew from the spuds missed during December's harvest, so technically they're weeds - in amongst the onions - rather than a proper crop. But tonight's are just about finished cooking now and they taste delicious.

[CelticRambler]

It's been a funny old year - some great yields, some pathetic, and not always particularly logical. Amongst the top performers this year (apologies for crappy image quality - new phone isn't as rugged in indestructible as it claims to be):

Onions, shallots and garlic - all did very well (better than this, but my "little helper" managed to spike about 15% of the crop when harvesting )



Sweetcorn - impressive performance for a thirsty plant during a heatwave (especially as it had next to no supplementary irrigation)



Not shown: beetroot and gherkins - I now have bottles and bottles and bottles of them pickled.

And saffron. This one's a bit of a puzzle, as the recieved wisdom is that the bulbs multiply so much that you have to lift and divide them every three years. However, it looks like only half of those I planted last year grew again this year ... but the remaining half produced about five times as much usuable saffron as the whole lot last year. With a RRP of about 2500€/kg, I'm not complaining! (Also not selling)



Growing amongst the crocuses there is a massive load of self-seeded lambs lettuce. That photo is a month old; I've started picking the salad leaves this week.

Figs - not quite part of the veg garden, but this year's crop is massive. Here's the most recent batch about to start their day of dehydration:

[CelticRambler]

And so on to the second half of the year: out with the old, in with the new.

A month ago, I cleared this bed and sowed late-late potatoes (left and right) and a line each of garlic and shallots between them:



This week - the shallots are racing away, and the garlic and potatoes are beginning to show foliage:



Over on the far side ...



Peas and spinach sown at the same time as the spuds. If the weather doesn't get too wintery between now and Christmas, I'd be hopeful of getting one last crop of peas before the end of the year. The spinach will keep me in leafy greens till the spring. I sowed red cabbage seeds there too, and saw some of them germinate, but the seedlings all disappeared within a few days ...

I have white/spring onion seeds sown now, as well as leeks (germinating in a spotty fashion); and I'm hoping that a "winter carrot" variety will arrive by Saturday so that I can try that for the first time too. I would have experimented with a pack of Lidl's 29ct summer carrots while the soil was still hot, but I can't find the one I thought I'd put aside for next year. I might have used it already; the carrots this year were generally very disappointing.

Those carrot seeds should be coming with the oats, but I'm worried I won't get to sow either of them as I've had no confirmation of the "2-3 working days" delivery date since the merchant told me the pack had been sent. I have three beds ready for the oats (about 40m² in total) but I'm supposed to be working away from home for the next month, so it's this weekend or "too late".

The other working-away dilemma - to pick or not to pick:



The first ripe chili of the year. With the sudden onset of November Weather, I doubt many more of them are going to turn red. I don't know whether or not to leave them on the vine for a month while I'm away, or pick the whole lot. In the background, my one and only successful tomato plant following the same pattern - loads of lovely big tomatoes, f i n a l l y, but no hint of red on them.

[KHD]

Really impressive results CR. love the Garlic and Onions. What variety of sweetcorn is that ? Looks like it has an orange hue off it... or is it the camera ? Great crop.

Should I ask how the Tomatoes went this year ? Any improvement on last year's results ?

[CelticRambler]

Just had a text from the courrier company telling me they'll drop off my seeds tomorrow. Yay!

The sweetcorn in real life was a more typically yellow (and quite an intense yellow too). Sorry, I can't remember what variety it was - an off-the-shelf pack from the supermarket or hardware/garden centre, nothing exotic. The label might still be out there - I'll have a look tomorrow (I left the stems in place after harvest to act as a wind break).

As regards the tomatoes ... in a word: desperate. I had all kinds of problems getting them started (not least due, again, to my "little helper" ) and out of a dozen plants that I finally got to the transplantable stage, only two survived - the one in background of that picture, and another down the far end of the bed. The main one is actually loaded up with fruit, and even now has more flowers on it. Unfortunately there's no way that I can build any kind of protection around it (wrong place, and I don't have the time or materials to hand) to help it along.

I'm trying to see the positive in this year's break, and hoping that it'll have reduced the risk of blight next year. Taking the same approach to the recurring coddling moth infestation that's plagued my apples for the last few years.

[KHD]

That's one of the reasons I didn't grow any veg or put anything in the polytunnel this year. To sort of give the ground a rest. But have to say I'm not sure I'll do that again. I missed the veg big time. The fruit trees I thought would keep me busy but apart from the bits of pruning and cutting around them there was nothing else to do on that front.

That's unfortunate about the tomatoes, but there is always next year

The codling moth is something I need to study myself. From memory and looking at this when you were typing of this before, I think there are two ways of dealing with them ( subject to a more in-depth study of the pest which I will have to do over the next year )

Grease bands or some for of sticky band around the tree at certain times of the year - I think one of the sexes crawls up the tree to the other half and the band stops this process as it gets caught on the band.

Pheromone traps - To monitor their activity and catch the males in them... again stopping them from getting it on and having babies which borrow into the apple.

[CelticRambler]

That's one of the reasons I didn't grow any veg or put anything in the polytunnel this year. To sort of give the ground a rest. But have to say I'm not sure I'll do that again. I missed the veg big time.

Yeah, I was reared in the tradition of leaving land (even a few square metres of it) fallow every so often, but I'm no longer convinced that it's either necessary or a good idea. The more I read about "no-dig" and permaculture methods (and the more I walk deep in the woods! ) the more I see the logic in keeping the ground in use constantly throughout the year, and from year-to-year.

Now that in itself is a challenge, especially when crops are slower to mature than you were expecting, and the 12m² that were supposed to be planted with whatever next aren't yet available when the time comes. But I've partially resolved that problem by growing some crops in the same place over a much longer period, e.g. there have been peas in that bed non-stop since March, and those seedlings have grown from the over-ripe peas collected from their predecessors on the same spot.

Something else I've changed this year has been not to clear all the weeds and inedible foliage out of the bed and off up to the compost heap. Instead, I'm heaping it up along the dividing line between the beds, where it can break down in its own time and leach nutrients back into the soil, and also encourage all kinds of creepies and crawlies to hang around, so that creatures like frogs, toads and hedgehogs know where to find them!

[CelticRambler]

The codling moth is something I need to study myself. From memory and looking at this when you were typing of this before, I think there are two ways of dealing with them ( subject to a more in-depth study of the pest which I will have to do over the next year )

Grease bands or some for of sticky band around the tree at certain times of the year - I think one of the sexes crawls up the tree to the other half and the band stops this process as it gets caught on the band.

Pheromone traps - To monitor their activity and catch the males in them... again stopping them from getting it on and having babies which borrow into the apple.

When I was putting in the order for the oats, and trying to make up an order worth the hefty delivery charge I looked into this a bit more. The consensus is that grease bands are of no use whatsoever for codling moth, but a cardboard trap around the trunk can be a help (the larvae hide in that instead of the bark, and then you remove it in the spring and burn it). The glue works against a different caterpillar; hereabouts, the traditional lower-cost treatment is lime (which everyone has for touching up their old stone mortar) mixed with cow dung (which everyone has easy access to, whether they've got cows or not) and pasted up the trunk.

The product guidelines for the pheromone traps said you need one for each tree and they need to be replace three times a year (maybe only twice in Ireland). And they don't actually control the moths, only give you an indication of how bad the infestation is so that you can spray accordingly. Feck that.

However, my new word for the week is kairomone, also available from the pheromone supplier and you only need one of these for every two trees, and they don't even cost twice as much. The marketing department raves about them, and how they attract both males and female and confuse the hell out of the poor critters, so they are (supposedly) a form of control. But then there are "big picture" people who say that that also confuses the hell out of the birds that are trying to figure out where the little feckers are so that they can eat them; or that the birds do figure out where they are, and camp out beside the trap stuffing their gobs for no effort instead of flitting around the trees.

So didn't buy either product, and ordered a mini seed dispenser instead.

[CelticRambler]

What variety of sweetcorn is that ?

Rustler (jeez, those packets are indestructible!)

http://www.focalpoint.it/productdetail/119

(Not sure what's going on there - an Italian website featuring a French product with description in English? But it's what came up quickly on Goog )

[KHD]

When I was putting in the order for the oats, and trying to make up an order worth the hefty delivery charge I looked into this a bit more. The consensus is that grease bands are of no use whatsoever for codling moth, but a cardboard trap around the trunk can be a help (the larvae hide in that instead of the bark, and then you remove it in the spring and burn it). The glue works against a different caterpillar; hereabouts, the traditional lower-cost treatment is lime (which everyone has for touching up their old stone mortar) mixed with cow dung (which everyone has easy access to, whether they've got cows or not) and pasted up the trunk.

The product guidelines for the pheromone traps said you need one for each tree and they need to be replace three times a year (maybe only twice in Ireland). And they don't actually control the moths, only give you an indication of how bad the infestation is so that you can spray accordingly. Feck that.

However, my new word for the week is kairomone, also available from the pheromone supplier and you only need one of these for every two trees, and they don't even cost twice as much. The marketing department raves about them, and how they attract both males and female and confuse the hell out of the poor critters, so they are (supposedly) a form of control. But then there are "big picture" people who say that that also confuses the hell out of the birds that are trying to figure out where the little feckers are so that they can eat them; or that the birds do figure out where they are, and camp out beside the trap stuffing their gobs for no effort instead of flitting around the trees.

So didn't buy either product, and ordered a mini seed dispenser instead.

I've been doing more reading up on this issue with the codling moth. It's probably public enemy number one with me at the moment as most other pests can be handled with good orchard hygiene. The Kairomones are interesting. I don't quiet understand what they are as various research papers say they may not be a signal / attractant but something that evokes either a behavioral or physiological response in the receptor... which must surely point that it must be some sort of signal but may not be a hormone. I'm confusing myself here now. Anyway, there was a study done on both Kairomone and Pheromone traps by the University of California. Your gut was right in that although the marketing department raves about them, they are effective in the early part of the season ( the Kairomones ) but decrease in effectiveness in the latter part of the season as the fruit ripens. The Pheromones are more effective after the Kairomones start decreasing in efficacy if you want to call it that. I don't think it's worth paying up to 40 euros per 50 square foot to set these up. Also as you rightly point out, these are really only ways to alert a fruit grower when to take other measures to control the moth, either via a spray program or some sort of physical barrier ( such as netting ). I'll be staying away from the spray program as doing so will defeat one of the main purposes of my orchard project.

BUT, having said all the above, I see Con Trass in Tipperary, who would be an established fruit grower here, has given his views on Pheromone traps, which are quiet positive. So I might get a couple of the Pheromone traps just to try them out and see how the work. I will have no fruit next year anyway but need to start looking at all of this.

https://www.theapplefarm.com/newsletter/0841.htm

"Obviously people do not want to eat apples containing caterpillars, but luckily a really eco-friendly way of controlling them has been found.
In order to have caterpillars, adult moths must mate. And for this to happen, adult male moths must be able to find the females. In nature, male moths are able to detect females by the scent that they give off. These scents, called pheromones, can be detected by male moths even if they are a kilometer away from the females. So once a male picks up the pheromone trail, all he needs to do is follow it until he finds the female. Now though, scientists are able to manufacture this pheromone or scent in the laboratory.

As a result, plastic “traps” containing the scent have been made, and apple growers can place these in their orchards. Once these “false females” are put in the orchard, the male moths, instead of finding females, only find the plastic traps, and then mating cannot happen. And if there is no mating, there are no pregnant females, and so no caterpillars can be born. The best thing about these traps is that they do not require the use of any pesticides in the orchards, and that the codling moth scent does not affect any other butterflies or moths, so other species are not harmed.
For an apple grower like me, there is no greater satisfaction than the clever application of science."

The UC report on the Kairomone trials is in the following link -> https://ucanr.edu/sites/cccoopext/files/80964.pdf

The live cycle of the moth is interesting. I've a link to this below. Although I cannot find much information of how many generation of codling moths are in an Irish year ( France, going by your gardening activity, would have an even longer growing season ). It is important to find that out for control reasons. In the following link there is information about the life cycle of the moth. One thing I've being noticing about myself over the years about the care of my fruit trees is not checking the fruit regularly and taking away any that look damaged or attacked. This is especially true for my apples and pears. I sort of have this false hope that they will still grow into something edible so I leave them. My plum tree used to be infested with plum saw fly. What I done with this is when the plums are growing I'd check them, remove any I see that were attacked. Even if I missed any and I came across them I am very disciplined with removing the fruit, but not just chucking it on the ground, but taking it away and bringing them into another field far away and disposing of them. This greatly helped my plum crop and notice ( when I do get a crop ) that the prevalence of sawfly attack is not anywhere like it was when I didn't bother checking or purposely removing them from the tree. I will have to do the same with the Pear and Apple trees from now on and not just leave them to their own devices. It can also be part of the fruit thinning exercise anyway.

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7412.html

[CelticRambler]

As regards the tomatoes ... in a word: desperate. I had all kinds of problems getting them started (not least due, again, to my "little helper" ) and out of a dozen plants that I finally got to the transplantable stage, only two survived - the one in background of that picture, and another down the far end of the bed. The main one is actually loaded up with fruit, and even now has more flowers on it. Unfortunately there's no way that I can build any kind of protection around it (wrong place, and I don't have the time or materials to hand) to help it along.

That's unfortunate about the tomatoes, but there is always next year

Woohoo - I have one and a half red tomatoes! Before leaving home, I picked a couple of punnets of the biggest green ones, put them in a box with my potatoes and onions, and stowed them away in the boot of the camper. One of them has (finally, finally) properly turned red, another is making a determined effort.

Now, of course, I'm hoping that the temperatures back home don't drop low enough for a frost so the ones I didn't pick might yet be salvageable.

[CelticRambler]

Technically part of the 2022 plans, the last of the spuds lifted today:



This was something of a sacrifical crop, planted late in a bed that was having its first year of conditioning - a 250m² hole filled with ancient straw and manure, and some poor quality topsoil, along with clods of clay; and the whole thing allowed to do whatever it wanted, potatoes, weeds and all. As of today, it's completely weed-free, and beautifully crumbly, easy-to-work soil to a depth of about 40cm.

[Hairy-Joe]

First grass cut of 2023 done.

It's stupid how much the grass is growing this early in the year!

Plans in reality is to cut and keep in check. Plans in fantasy land is 45 tonnes of weedkiller and concrete the lot!