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Planting perpetual spinach
Aug. 1st, 2012 11:59 am Another morning down the allotment. The key to today was to ignore the weather forecast. It predicted showers, but I decided to go anyway and just take my jacket. In fact, it never got beyond spitting once or twice, so I didn't get wet at all and got in a good morning's gardening.
I've dug up more of the onions. We didn't record which row was which variety, which is a real shame as some rows did far better than others. However, I note that I shan't bother trying red onions again. We've have bad results both years we've tried them. They tend to give up and die too easily.
A good harvest of mangetout - they've done very well this year in spite of the weather. We'll definitely grow both mangetout and sugarsnap peas again.
I cleared a space where some of the onions were to plant a row of perpetual spinach. It doesn't have a variety name, but it's one of the leaf beet family and a very useful plant.
I'd originally intended to plant spinach (the real kind) which has smaller seeds, so I hadn't put the the seeds to soak. (The beetroot that I planted this way on Tuesday last week have already emerged). However, when I came to plant them, I realised the seed was several years beyond it's 'plant before' date. I may try them anyway if I have some space to spare, but I'm going to try the within date seed first.
It'll be interesting to see if the perpetual spinach emerges as quickly as the beetroot without the soaking. They're related plants with similar seeds.
I'll need to thin the beetroot soon, but I'll wait until the whole row have emerged - which will probably be in a few day's time.
The perpetual spinach will need thinning to 8 inches (20cm) apart. I also note that it says it's better to pull leaves from the plant rather than to cut them and that cropping the leaves regularly will encourage new growth. (I'm noting this stuff down as one tends to lose seed packets...)
If tomorrow is reasonably dry, I'll probably plant either radishes or a different variety of beetroot.
The area where I'm thinking of planting them is still fairly weedy (though I did get some out today.)
Would anyone be interested in photos of the process from start to finish? I could include pictures of different tools I'm using and what they contribute to the process at each stage.
I've dug up more of the onions. We didn't record which row was which variety, which is a real shame as some rows did far better than others. However, I note that I shan't bother trying red onions again. We've have bad results both years we've tried them. They tend to give up and die too easily.
A good harvest of mangetout - they've done very well this year in spite of the weather. We'll definitely grow both mangetout and sugarsnap peas again.
I cleared a space where some of the onions were to plant a row of perpetual spinach. It doesn't have a variety name, but it's one of the leaf beet family and a very useful plant.
I'd originally intended to plant spinach (the real kind) which has smaller seeds, so I hadn't put the the seeds to soak. (The beetroot that I planted this way on Tuesday last week have already emerged). However, when I came to plant them, I realised the seed was several years beyond it's 'plant before' date. I may try them anyway if I have some space to spare, but I'm going to try the within date seed first.
It'll be interesting to see if the perpetual spinach emerges as quickly as the beetroot without the soaking. They're related plants with similar seeds.
I'll need to thin the beetroot soon, but I'll wait until the whole row have emerged - which will probably be in a few day's time.
The perpetual spinach will need thinning to 8 inches (20cm) apart. I also note that it says it's better to pull leaves from the plant rather than to cut them and that cropping the leaves regularly will encourage new growth. (I'm noting this stuff down as one tends to lose seed packets...)
If tomorrow is reasonably dry, I'll probably plant either radishes or a different variety of beetroot.
The area where I'm thinking of planting them is still fairly weedy (though I did get some out today.)
Would anyone be interested in photos of the process from start to finish? I could include pictures of different tools I'm using and what they contribute to the process at each stage.
