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Friday, April 29, 2011

All 4 Vegie Beds Going

We have finally finished filling the last two beds and have planted them out. About THREE WEEKS AGO I put in the larger seedlings (that come in a tray of 6 with a handle) - 6 broccoli, 6 caulies, 6 cabbage. Also some fennel that I hope will be the bulbing, Italian type (ssp. piperitum).
Wild fennel lacks the swollen base and must have been the variety I have grown before. Its leaves are used as a herb but I find the root is very invasive and even the smallest part left behind regrows with even more verosity. I am still confused with the naming of the three main different types, even after reading an explaination on  http://www.innvista.com/. I thought Florence fennel was the vegetable...but no, this is the wild type var. dulce (sweet).
Glen and I also started our potato growing competition. After much disagreement on the way to cover them we decided to have two half wine barrels each to grow our own. I lucked out from the outset as Glen decided to plant his out that day - I'd had them sitting in the dark shed for about a week or so. The eye-shoots were just starting and he chose his half (the best ones I'm sure LOL). Then covered them in cut up pea straw. He then arrange the barrels so that his recieve the most sun!
I have left mine until today to plant them out. I hope it helps that it is waxing moon, the best time to plant root veg. The shoots are about 1cm now and the spuds are starting to go soft. I put them in and covered them in a bag of soil conditioner and some trace elements. Soil is the traditional covering down here along with 'potato E' which I'm not using because I don't think its organic.  Wish me luck!