Tuesday 27 October 2015

Чтобы тыквы и кабачки долго хранились!

Им место под кроватью - Садовое обозрение
Тыква и кабачок не требуют каких-то особых условий для хранения. Главное, чтобы было сухо и прохладно. Желательно темно. Если в вашей квартире нет утепленного балкона или специального ящика для хранения овощей зимой, то тыква с радостью ляжет в спячку в вашей спальне. И нет для нее лучше места, чем под супружеской постелью: сухо, темно и не жарко. Впрочем, она согласится пожить и под шкафом. Главное, подальше от батареи отопления.

Условия

На хранение рекомендуется закладывать зрелые плоды, так как у них кожура со временем грубеет, тем самым предохраняя их от порчи и гниения. Лучше хранятся плоды, снятые с плодоножкой длиной 5-6 см. Обязательным условием длительного хранения является прогревание плодов на солнце в течение двух недель. Нельзя хранить тыквенные культуры в одном помещении с картофелем и корнеплодами.

Перед закладкой на хранение плоды надо осторожно очистить от земли, смазать зеленкой все царапины и потертости.

Способы

Идеальным способом хранения является специальное помещение, где поддерживается температура 5-10 градусов тепла с относительной влажностью воздуха 70-75%. Пол выстилают соломой слоем 8-10 см, раскладывают тыкву плодоножками вверх, кабачки и тыквы кладут так, чтобы они не касались друг друга. Десертные мелкие тыквы лучше хранить в ящиках, выстеленных сухим мхом.

Комнатный способ хранения прост и доступен каждому. Нужно выбрать сухое, прохладное и темное место. Это может быть кладовка или шкаф, место под кроватью. Конечно, лучше хранить в ящиках, в крайнем случае на подстилке из гофрокартона или нескольких слоев газеты, а кабачки вообще можно завернуть в газеты. Тыквы и кабачки не любят тесноты.

Часто случается, что во время хранения хвостик плода начинает мокнуть. Его следует вырезать до здоровой ткани, а срез обжечь над огнем свечи.

Thursday 1 October 2015

Plant garlic cloves.

Keep garlic well watered during dry weather.
If it's dry for long periods, the cloves will not swell and the resulting crop will have a short storage life.

‘Solent Wight’: Late summer maturing, very good for storage. Autumn Planting-Softneck Type.
‘Germidour’: Late maturing, purple skinned cloves. Spring/Autumn planting. Softneck garlic.
‘Red Duke‘ Garlic is a heritage, hardneck variety with bright white skins with fierce and spicy flavours, which are the signatures of this exotic garlic from Czech Republic; with plump purple cloves. This variety of garlic is noted for being one of the very hot and strong varieties commonly planted in the UK.
Autumn Planting-Hardneck Type.
Growth should really take off during next February and the crop will be ready for harvesting by June/July.

Hardnecks
Produce a hard flowering spike.
Cloves form around a central stem.
Varietiesinclude: Purlpe Moldovan, Lautrec Wight, Chesnok Wight, Red Czech & Red Duke Wight (new).
Plant harneck garlic types typically in the Autumn for harvest end of June - July.
Lautrec Wight suitable for planting until early Spring.

Softnecks
Produce a softer stem with no flowering spike, typically more cloves to a bulb, bunched together in tight circles.
Varieties include: Early and Extra Early Purple Wight, Albigensian Wight, Provence Wight, Picardy Wight, Iberian Wight, Tuscany Wight & Solent Wight.
Plant September to March - end of April for Picardy Wight.
Time to buy garlic bulbs: Amazon.co.uk: garlic - Bulbs / Plants, Seeds & Bulbs: Garden & Outdoors

Sow or plant in October

Broad beans - sow seeds of early varieties, they should overwinter and give you a crop in the following June.
Cabbages - last chance this year for transplanting spring cabbages. Plant them in ground that has been well firmed and cover with nets to protect from birds, especially pigeons.
Garlic - plant garlic cloves, as long as they are not in a waterlogged are they will overwinter. the longer they are in the ground, the bigger next years bulbs will be for harvesting.
Rhubarb -they should be entering the dormant period now, from now until March, so now is the best time to plant new sets or divide and replant old crowns.
Fruit Bushes - plant new, bare root bushes this month, allowing them time through autun to get their roots down before start of next growing season.

September – The National Allotment Society – National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners Ltd

Wednesday 23 September 2015

Try a new, improved strawberry.

Try a new, improved strawberry - Telegraph
Straw suppresses weeds and protects the ripening fruit from rot.
However, it is vital to wait until there is very little risk of frost before laying straw.
Too early and you will only succeed in making the flowers more vulnerable to frost: the straw acts as a barrier between them and the insulating effect of the soil.

Tabletop growing:
Tabletop growing is a commercial technique that uses growing bags raised off the ground and fitted with automatic watering.
Use eight to 10 plants per bag, and support them on a couple of upturned packing crates. Cut a plastic water bottle in half and insert it into the compost upside down. Give a regular dose of liquid tomato feed containing seaweed extract.

Best new varieties
EARLY (pick mid-June to early July)
'Darlisette’ Which? Best Buy.
'Mae’ Very early with large fruit.
'Sallybright’ Which? Best Buy.
MID-SEASON (late June to mid-July)
'Alice’ Large fruits, sweet and crops late into season.
'Amelia’ A favourite for taste in Which? trial but very low yield.
'Elsanta’ An established Dutch variety, reliable with big fruit even in first year, widely available.
'Sonata’ Which? Best Buy, top mid-season for taste, sharp flavour.
'Sweetheart’ Heart-shaped fruit with sweet aromatic flavour, good yields.
LATE (pick early to late July)
'Cupid’ sweet, juicy fruits, good disease resistance.
'Malwina’ Which? Best Buy. Juicy with plenty of flavour, fruits very dark red, yields low.

Where to buy
DT Brown (0845 371 0532; www.dtbrownseeds.co.uk)
Dobies (0844 701 7625; www.dobies.co.uk)
Marshalls (01480 443390; www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk)
Mr Fothergill’s (0845 371 0518; www.mr-fothergills.co.uk)
Pomona Fruits (0845 676 0607; kwww.pomonafruits.co.uk)
Suttons (0844 922 0606; www.suttons.co.uk)
Thompson & Morgan (0844 248 5383; www.thompson-morgan.com)

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Which are the best pumpkins? By Sarah Raven.

16 May 2015
Onion Squash 'Red Kuri':
"I have some tried-and-tested favourites: 'Red Kuri' is a useful size, with waxy texture and excellent taste.
It can climb (photo - on Teepee Trellis), which is handy in a smaller garden and is a good producer.


-Squash 'Red Kuri'
Looks and longevity 9/10
Eating 10/10
Also called 'Uchikiri' and red onion squash, this medium producer has deep orange skin and similar coloured flesh with a lovely sweet flavour and waxy texture.
The skin is soft enough to eat.
Seeds tough and not tasty.
This still remains in my top two or three.

The number-one squash in my family, because it has great taste and texture – waxy and sweet, tasting of chestnuts – and doesn't get too huge.
Three or four people can easily eat one of these at a sitting, not possible with some of the larger kinds.
It's also hugely ornamental and looks fantastic climbing up over frames (Teepee Trellis).
Sow under cover in late March.
Soak the seed overnight, then sow 2.5cm (1in) deep vertically (to prevent rotting), one to a 9cm pot.
Once they have 5 or 6 leaves, they're ready to go out.
Harden them off and then plant them out once the frosts are over.
You can also sow them direct into the ground outside from mid May.
Once arms reach 4ft long, pinch out tips to help fruit ripen.
HARVESTING August - October, 4 months from sowing.
Harvest when the skin is hard, leaving out in the sun for 10 days to ripen further.
COOKING NOTES Brilliant for soups and roasted in the oven.
I bought seeds and ready to plant!

How to store winter squashes
Harvest as late as possible and only cut once the skin has thickened and the stalk has become dry, and then store them until late November before starting to eat them.
They are tasteless if eaten fresh because they need six weeks to a couple of months to develop the nutty, sweet flavour.

When you harvest them try to leave a couple of inches of stem if you can and then store them upside down by slotting the stem through a wooden bench or the greenhouse staging.

Squashes stored upright tend to catch the moisture in the depression round the stalk and then they rot off more easily.
Once in store they should keep for at least three months - so they make an excellent winter vegetable from early November until the end of January or February.

To prepare the squash, simply slice it in half, scoop out the seeds, and then cut it up into chunks. Now you're ready to sauté, steam, braise, roast, or boil.

Saturday 12 September 2015

How to make a bulb lasagne.

Layering bulbs - How to make a bulb lasagne | Sarah Raven:
General Bulb Planting Tips

Bulbs ideally suited to pot growth include Snowdrops, crocus, Iris danfordiae and reticulata, grape hyacinths, scillas, puschkinias, chionodoxas, anemones, hyacinths, narcissus (particularly the small-cupped and species varieties) and tulips (particularly the fosteriana varities (such as ‘Orange Emperor’ and ‘Purissima’), Single Earlies (such as ‘Prinses Irene’, ‘Couleur Cardinal’ and ‘Cairo’), Double Earlies and Triumph tulips (such as ‘Havran’)

Drainage is key with bulbs, so all pots and containers need one of more holes in the bottom. These holes then need to be covered with crocks – pottery shards or pebbles – to keep the holes from being clogged with earth.

In pots, you can plant your bulbs closer than you do in the garden. Even so, they shouldn’t touch each other or the sides of the pot.

If planting just one layer of bulbs, plant at the same depth as you would in the garden – at a depth of twice their height at least (a minimum of 3 inches).

Water on planting, and regularly in the first weeks when their roots are forming. Don’t let the compost dry out.

Pots planted with spring-flowering bulbs can tolerate a certain amount of freezing weather, but will need some protection in moderate to severe periods of frost. Cover them with branches or circle the pots with bubble wrap to insulate.
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