Growing your own - is it worth it?

[Dave2002]

It isn't often that one digs up potatoes in February, but I've just dug up this small crop.

Interesting. What variety are they, or were they "random" ones?

I had modest success with potatoes over a few years, but not harvesting at this time of year. Trying to get early potatoes for later on in the year is one pastime, I suppose. I wondered about carrots, but someone I know tried that, and said they were all attacked by carrot fly.

[vinteuil]

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... I think waitrose is wonderful.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Interesting. What variety are they, or were they "random" ones?

Charlottes

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

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... I think waitrose is wonderful.

Would you like me to wash the potatoes before posting?

[Dave2002]

Just found these which might be of interest here - http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/moz...s-pid5041.html

[oddoneout]

It isn't often that one digs up potatoes in February, but I've just dug up this small crop.

When I still had my allotment I was often able to get out of season helpings of spuds thanks to volunteers and compost hideaways.One thing I noticed was that if the selfsets grew and were harvested at the usual time they were invariably either blight-free or less affected. I suspect my somewhat casual approach to cultivation helped - I was definitely of the no-dig school, largely because I was physically unable to do it all - but self-seeding etc did provide extra crops. Things like chard, parsley, lettuces, chicory, rocket, lambs lettuce, popped up everywhere and were especially welcome in winter/early spring. Tomatillos were a surprise return for several years.

[Dave2002]

Charlottes

Indeed. I grew some of those a few years back, and also some anyas. One snag was the ants which got underneath them, but they were fine to eat - the potatoes - not the ants! Maybe I will try again this year.

[doversoul1]

Just found these which might be of interest here - http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/moz...s-pid5041.html

...and this

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/albert-bartlett-seed-potato-vivaldi-pid7332.html?gclid=CNWh_rHrjdICFROZGwodnz4LiQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

Not all year round though.

I have been growing this for many years now. As it’s quite high and cold here, the earliest I can prepare the ground is too late for early varieties and main crop is too susceptible to blight.

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/wilja-seed-potatoes-pid5040.html?gclid=CO3j-NnsjdICFfcK0wodGb4O0Q&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Dave2002]

As the summer (!!) reaches its peak, I wonder whether it's OK to buy compost with peat. I normally avoid this, on environmental grounds, though I do think that peat based compost is often better. Is it still the case that we are depleting peat bogs at an unsustainable rate, and if so, why are shops and garden centres continuing to sell compost with substantial proportions of peat? Recently I was unable to buy peat free compost, and inadvertently bought a bag with peat, and then felt guilty afterwards.

[oddoneout]

Shops etc continue to sell peat based composts because they can - it isn't forbidden yet. Peat does 'grow back' in that if conditions are right then plant remains will form peat rather than decay more completely, but I have yet to see a regrowth rate that sounds like a solution in terms of replacement, and in any case it doesn't address the question of the flora and fauna that are lost when peat is removed. I went peat free at least 25 years ago, initially compressed coir bricks with mineral additions as need to provide nutrients, and then all-in-one bagged. After about 10 years it became increasingly difficult to get either and the alternatives that were starting to appear I either considered far too expensive or, in all too many cases really poor quality. I got fed-up of having to try and get money back and, more annoyingly sometimes losing a crop because of poor germination and development. For all the campaigning and awareness raising I don't think much real progress has been made as far as the average gardener is concerned. If you can afford it there are good peat-free composts out there,but the more affordable but still good alternative I used to use(New Horizon) became intermittent in availability and has run foul of the parent company's activities re possible illegal peat extraction for some of its other products, and now seems to have disappeared. I now use coir when I can, JI for its lower peat content, and try and reduce the overall need for peat based. I don't raise lots of veg and flowers anymore so it's a case of limiting the number of plants in pots. I think there is still a peat based compost(Moorland Gold?) which doesn't involve the direct removal from peat bogs as it uses the peat washed down into reservoirs which is then removed during maintenance.
It's a knotty problem, not helped by misleading bag labelling('reduced peat content' is a prime one), nor it has to be said by well-known gardening persons saying things like 'there's no excuse to use peat-based composts', when they are able to afford and obtain the good peat-free alternatives, and don't have to experience the awful versions that are out there.
I don't think you need to feel guilty - after all it's not as if you are denying the need to avoid peat use. Also in the scheme of things garden use is pretty small, especially compared to the use of peat as a fuel to power electricity generating stations. One could argue that addressing that use might be more worthwhile environmentally.

[Dave2002]

Shops etc continue to sell peat based composts because they can - it isn't forbidden yet. Peat does 'grow back' in that if conditions are right then plant remains will form peat rather than decay more completely, but I have yet to see a regrowth rate that sounds like a solution in terms of replacement, and in any case it doesn't address the question of the flora and fauna that are lost when peat is removed.

This suggests that there really are good reasons for avoiding use of peat, and for there to be restrictions on sale.

You mentioned coir, about which I know little, but I found this which makes interesting reading - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coir
I think I tried some once, a block of material which expands when wet, but I've not noticed it on sale since. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places.

[umslopogaas]

The peat issue is complicated. Proponents of peat point out that there are vast areas covered with peat. This is true, but in a very large part of those areas the deposits are too shallow to be economically extracted. The areas that are economically extractable are being depleted much faster than the peat is replaced and the extraction is therefore unsustainable.

It is possible to do without peat. After all, its use is a fairly recent phenomenon, horticulture used to get on perfectly well without it. I once worked for the RHS at Wisley and by the time I left about ten years ago they had almost completely eliminated peat use, retaining only a very small amount for specialist use - orchids I think. By now I expect they have eliminated it completely.

[oddoneout]

I think I tried some once, a block of material which expands when wet, but I've not noticed it on sale since. Perhaps I'm not looking in the right places.

My local £land has small blocks of compressed 'complete'(ie has the necessary nutrients added) coir compost, which make up to about 10 litres when rehydrated. They are useful for the voluntary work I do with a local care home as I can keep a couple in the shed and make up fresh as and when, as only small quantities are needed. Various firms supply online as well - there appear to be other uses than potting compost . I may well go back to them as they are easier to store and handle than the big sacks of readymade, and no worries about how fresh or otherwise the contents are.
It has its detractors, as one might expect - a frequent negative being the shipping from abroad. However coir is imported for other uses besides horticulture, and in any case as far as I'm concerned it's a more worthwhile use of fuel than the mountains of plastic tat from China!
Big organisations like the RHS and National Trust can go peatfree since they have the resources to supply alternatives.The production of leaf mould, loam and well rotted compost require acreage, which they have, and information is available from the days of the big Victorian estates as to how such things were used. Not quite so easy for the average domestic gardener...

[Dave2002]

Hot weather problems?

Is the hot weather causing any problems with your gardening? Maybe you have to water frequently and try to rescue any plants which have "passed out".

Perhaps it's disrupting your holiday plans - can't risk going away for fear of losing a lot of plants. Could be almost as bad as having pets to have looked after.

[doversoul1]

I don’t know if the hot weather is affecting them but if you can’t keep badgers out from your garden, growing your own is really not worth it. I put up a wire fence round my two strawberry patches. No use. Even the pegs which were originally used for a fence to keep horses in were pulled out and thrown away. They ate all the ripe ones on their first outing and all the green ones the following night The only thing left to try is an electric fence but I could buy enough strawberries to last me for the rest of my life with £110. Broad beans and carrots will be the next to go...