Started Planting yet ?

[Martin Page]

This is the time of the year for planting out your Garlic, shallots and Onion sets - Plant on the shortest and harvest on the longest days.

Also time for sowing Tomatoes and Peppers in pots onthe window sill (if you have one) or just leave then somewhere bright till they germinate. You can also sow Onion seeds in individual seed strays for plannting out in 4/6 weeks if you want Onions from seed.

Just hold back on everything else till the New Year

[La Raya]

Good advice Martin.

I would add that there is still time to plant habas (Broadbeans), I find lettuce plants still grow well throughout winter - if you are frost free - and next week I start planting early potatoes. The plants grow at an accelerating rate as the days lengthen to crop in April.

[oliveview01]

Frost due by next Thursday this way, down to minus 1 on Thursday So cover up the seedlings.

[ken2]

i only can grow in pots, but like to have ago at things, so today i potted 8 runner beans, (scarlet emperor)?? will let you know? great fun here planting against what the packet says, he he he but it does works.(sometimes)last year chillies was a great success, but all was toooooo hot, and most would not touch them, so this year looking for odds ,so lets see how the beans do,

[Martin Page]

Your a bit early for runner beans Ken but its worth a try !

They would be better sowing about March, after its warmed up abit - they really like the heat !

I have a neighbour that suffers badly with standing flood water and grows everything in Tubs and Pots
It does seem strange seeing 6 perfect Large Cauliflower heads in a single tub.

His only problem seams to be parsnips not having enough depth ....

[oliveview01]

Potatoes grow well in tubs (so I am told) as long as they are deep (ish) put in soil/compost, add spuds and more soil then as the green leaves grow through add more soil till you reach the top of the tub. Earthing them up as you go along
My runner beans were rubbish last year, plenty of flowers but the heat caused them to fall off, so I am planting more this year but much earlier. I got a few beetroot through last year, first time I had ever had beetroot roasted on the BBQ- lovely
Just want the ground to dry a bit and warm up so I can plant a few more things.

[Martin Page]

Round here, Olive, the soil is very alkaline. I grow spund in pots very sucessfully. but only use potting compost and extra fertiliser in the form of chicken s..t.
If I plant direct into the soil at best I get sever potato Scab and at worse Blight. This wiped out a complete planting in 24 hours last year and you couldnt tell the crop form the seed spud ,they all went squelchy.
I tried again in the soil this back end - and again, the wet triggered the blight and I lost the lot. And this time I plannetd then in a potting compost lined trench to keep they away from the soil

[oliveview01]

Spring 2 years ago we had blight, I dug up my potatoes and disposed of the tubers but the Spanish neighbour left his in the ground, we told him not to explained in my best Spanish (not good then) that blight was serious too for toms..... he ignored us, his spuds rotted and he lost lots of his tom plants. Last year we were in France for a week got back to find our tom plants damaged badly with blight, so had to pull loads up. I´m ready this year- I have the spray Neighbour insisted I should have left in the tom plants, he went on and on about me pulling up the manky toms all summer as he had far more toms than me (well he would have, his plot is about 6 times the size or more of my veg plot) He still doesn´t understand that blightwipes out tomatoes and potatoes. I just say rude words under my breathe and ignore him

[La Raya]

We are planting potatoes this week as are most of my neighbours. Local supplier has stacks of seed pots and says best time for here is after Los Reyes. As plants start to grow the weather warms and the days lengthen. We cut each seed into about 4 pieces to make them go further - again this is something that local growers recommend.

We plant into soil with plenty of muck well rotavated in. As soon as they are showing through by about 10cm we spray them with copper-sulphate as a prevention against blight. Then spray them every 2 weeks or so, to keep them healthy. Seems to work quite well for us.

[Martin Page]

Ill try that copper sulphate thing - I havent hear of that - thanks

But there is no way I can plant spuds yet - im far too wet !

[geegee]

Have got the garlic planted, having just dragged myself out of hibernation now the festive season is well and truly over. Our November-planted aquadulce broad beans (usually gives us a good early crop in Spring) have fallen victim to the recent severe frosts/snow up here so won't be planting anything else out directly just yet, apart from some trays of onion seed in the coldframe. I suspect its too early for us to sow peppers, toms etc, even indoors , risk being that they will be ready to transplant outside before its warm enough. Even our phacelia green manure, which was really stong and healthy a few weeks ago, has been got by the frost but is probably strong enough to survive as it has not flowered yet, unlike the habas .

I still find the different climates around here amazing, within even a 20k radius, which means what you can grow when varies enormously.

[Bluebell]

i only can grow in pots, but like to have ago at things, so today i potted 8 runner beans, (scarlet emperor)?? will let you know? great fun here planting against what the packet says, he he he but it does works.(sometimes)last year chillies was a great success, but all was toooooo hot, and most would not touch them, so this year looking for odds ,so lets see how the beans do,

I have only got a roof terrace, so plant pots. What kind of success can I get with broad beans in a plant pot? Tips appreciated.
I´ve got lots of herbs and have chillies too.
What about tomatoes, rocket, onions... is it possible in a pot?
Last week I discover ice on the roof, that´s a first..brrr!

[Martin Page]

Hi Bluebell - and welcome.

The habas (broad beans) round here are nearly always 'Aquadulce' which grow to about a meter high. This then has the problems associated with wind and would need to be individually staked.

If you can get a variety called 'TheSutton' these are more dwarf and are prety sturdy, meaning that you can plant them in October to over winter upto around March.

Everything else can be grown in pots like tomatoes, onions, rocket...

The two big things about pot culture are :-
WATER
FOOD
You are responsible for both - which can be a chore in the summer without timed irrigation

[Bluebell]

Thanks Martin.

I'm going to give that a try can you get the sutton variety you refer to in Chiclana? Also what food do you recommend and do you only feed in spring/summer?

[Bluebell]

Has anybody had any success with avocados? I have tried to get a stone from an avocado to seed, but with NO success?
I have tried sitting it in an egg cup with water; poking 4 cocktail sticks in it and hovering it over a jar with water in; leaving it lying around and waiting for it to crack; I've even just stuck it in a pot. Nothing has worked.
Is there a certain month to plant these? I'm not expecting a tree producing fruit, but a shoot would be nice.
I remember growing one in the UK.

[katy]

Grew one about 3 metros high but never had a single fruit on it.

[Bluebell]

Mmmm, how did you do that? Go on you can tell me!

[katy]

Just put it in a plantpot and then in the garden

[Bluebell]

Hurumph!

I'll give it another go.... any particular month?

[chrissiehope]

I've grown several avocados from stones in UK - they tend to die off outside in winter (tho some in a N Wales coastal town seem to cope better - ?microclimate), but I have one in my kitchen which gets thoroughly neglected but is still about 4 ft high. But like Katy, no fruits - I wonder do they need another plant for cross pollination ? Some varieties seem to germinate better than others too - I think all the ones I grew were the same type, but can't for the life of me remember what type

I planted a couple in our 'garden' in Spain, so will see what happens - I'm not holding my breath as we're not there to water it.....