If, like most people over Christmas, you’ve eaten too much and not had enough exercise or fresh air, it’s time to shake off your lethargy and get back out into the garden.
The New Year is a good time to re-evaluate our gardens, whether they’re the size of a small postage stamp, or a sprawling country estate. Like many gardeners in January, I’m thinking about the things I’d like to change. These plans are known around here as mummy’s ‘New Year revolutions’ — because like most resolutions, they get repeated each year!
First on my list of ‘revolutions’ is the vow to improve my meagre success with carrots. Only the purple varieties seem to work for me, so I’ll be sticking with them in 2009; I think I’ll skip a year before trying orange cultivars again.
On the basis that next summer surely can’t be any shorter or cooler than the one we had in 2008, I’ve sent off for some sweet potato slips. I’m hoping that we’ll have the right conditions for producing a successful harvest this time around (last year it seemed I was producing a crop of water chestnuts).
I’m also intending to start a small asparagus bed. Asparagus is a fascinating vegetable. Until a couple of years ago I heartily disliked it, but now I’ve fallen for its charms I’m going to attempt to grow it myself. Wish me luck.
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Good Luck!
try early nantes in buckets ,got a great yield. good luck
I’d be interested to read people’s views of purple carrots with respect to taste. I am tempted to try them this year but am a bit worried the taste will not be as good as orange. I seem to recall reading this somewhere but can’t remember where!!
Good luck!
I’ve never grown asparagus before…..is it hard?
Good luck with the asparagus hope you have good slug control.I’m going to try carrots this year because they came up allover the boarders last year and we had’nt even planted any so hopefully we’ll get a good crop.
Keep a look out for asparagus beetle – I failed to notice it last year until it became a severe infestation then had to spend hours picking the blighters off.
I am going to try the sweet potato, have really gone mad on this veg, will also try plenty of new varieties of the veg we enjoy. This year I will also use the allotment more than last year due to studies and exams.
another seed catalogue arrived in the post today and I’ve been having a lovely time browsing through while the rain has battered off the windows. Have only grown in pots on the patio before now, but going to invest in a raised bed so I can grow even more!
Purple carrots YUM ! I’m generally a bit conservative (with a small c!!) when it comes to veg, can’t see the need for some of the wacky colours but we grew some purple carrots in my carrot comparison for Gardeners’ World Mag and they were gorgeous, grew well and tasted lovey with a serious crunch too. But I’d suggest avoiding the white ones they were….vile !
As for sweet potatoes, I suggest you choose any of the orange fleshed varieties I once grew a white or cream fleshed one and the taste was , well, nothing much….grow orange and they are delicious !
PG
Has anyone ventured down the root advocated by American author Mel Bartholomew entitled Square Foot Gardening? He is suggesting growing veg and square foot blocks rather than rows and claims that this is far more suitable for small gardens, containers. Some disciplines remain the same but he says that the yields are greater.
I am moving back to veg growing after a long while but only have some long wooden containers and just the two of us hence my interest.
The only problem with asparagus is that when you first start out, you can’t pick any spears for two years apparently! I bought som elast year which just grew ferny things (I now know this was as it should be!) but as I had to re-do my raised bed veggie patch, I’m having to start over this year. I understand that you have to dig out a trench about 15″ wide, lay a mound of earth down the middle and sit the crown astride it, then fill it in gradually as the crowns sprout…but I’ve yet to try this myself!
Good luck!