Wow I love your site. so much info. I now have so many questions. Because I like to keep learning every year we put my veg. garden in. Thought if anyone else had any questions this might be a good place to ask: 1. I see you also use the newspaper cups. I've been seeing them in my flower magazines. Can you put the paper cup and all right into the ground when your ready to plant? 2. What is the idea for laying the tomatoes down verses standing them up in deep soil? I've gotta read more up on your asperagus page. Hubby was interested in planting some last year but never did-maybe this will be the year. 3.Have you ever done cabbage, broccli, cauliflower? We're thinking about opening up a whole new space for these vege's, and could use any good info. Our area is zone 4 if this helps anything. Your allotments are inspiring me. Now I can't wait for spring to get here. I have alot of work to do in the garden this year.
Hiya Petunia, I am thrilled to bits that you liked the website. I am busy making some updates for certain pages at the moment and mulling over ideas for new articles. Now, down to business-- #1- Yes, I use them to germanate lots of seed types...mostly veggies. The thing that I like is that you can make the paper "cups" as thick or as thin as you like by cutting the strips as long or short as you want. I try not to make them too thick though. Yes, generally when the plantlets have 2-3 sets of leaves, I take one of those multi-purpose tulip planters and make a hole in the loosened soil, pour in water and lower the seedling in...paper and all. Usually by the time that the seedlings are planting size, the paper has already begun to fall apart. Do you know why I use these cups in the first place? It's because I can lower the plantlet into the ground and cover it with minimal root disturbance. It's the root disturbance that sets a transplanted sedling back those 2-3 weeks after planting. #2- To understand why I lie the toms nearly horizontally you must undferstand the root functions of the tomato. The factors are: A) Toms need warm to hot soil for them to produce optimally. I have already said that for toms it's the heat that makes them work, not the sun, per se. B) Roots nearer the surface are the "feeders", they take up the nutrition, and really like the heat. Growing them in the greenhouse is perfect for this; however, I have seen some folks using black plastic, although removing it frequently to feed and water would be too much work for me. ha ha ha. There's too much real work that needs to be done to have to piddle with plastic...but it no doubt works, especially in the beginning, as it is known that heat facilitates new root growth. C) Roots deeper are the ones that take up the water that fills the fruits and gives the stems and leaves turgor. (Do you know this word? It's usually used in relation to skin, but I'm adapting it here in a botanical sort of way. heh heh ) So, essentially the roots, depending upon their location, have different functions is what I';m saying. If you look carefully on the pics, you can see that there is a white , plastic cup--that is over the deepset root ball Water goes there. And there are short pieces of bamboo-- that is where the stem is. this way I know where to give water, and where to give food. See what I mean? #3- Yes, I have grown brassicas. If you look on page 2 of the "On Your Plot" page, you will see a method discussed. http://www.volkstuindersvereniginghoorn ... age31.html The first years I had no success at all. It was because sadly, I have Clubroot fungus, Plasmodiophora brassicae in my soil--and it last's years and years and years. Once I developed a a way to combat it then I found that I could grow cauli's, broccoli and calabrese. The planting procedures and philosophy is tbasically the same for all brassicas. I hope you can gain some helpful information from the website in terms of growing asparagus. I interviewed a real pro to write the article. A side note on this co-allotmenteer: His garden is immaculate and he won first prize for the best strictly veggie garden this year. He is highly successful on his patch, where he doesn't go for quantity, but rather quality...and succeeds. I enjoy talking to people generally, but for knowledge, older hands like this man are a golden reservoir of gardening knowledge. Ã? apologize that I got a bit long-winded with answering your questions, but I hope that you can filter through the chat and gleen the bits you need. Good luck this coming year, I hope that you will give pictorial as well as verbal commentary as you progress.
