How To Grow Beetroot – A Simple Month by Month Guide

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beetroot, grow your own, growing guide, how to grow, recycle works

If you’re thinking of growing beetroot then we hope this step by step monthly guide will hopefully make it as easy as possible for you!

To start: Make a 2cm deep drill by dragging a hoe or rake in a straight line through the soil. Place two to three seeds at 10cm intervals, cover, firm and water. When the seedlings reach 2cm high, thin out the weakest to leave one strong plant every 10cm (larger, cylindrical roots may need slightly wider spacings than globe-shaped varieties – place the former at 15cm intervals). During hot, dry spells water thoroughly and regularly to prevent the roots becoming woody.

July – Keep plants well-watered to encourage growth and prevent woodiness.

August – Keep watering! harvest roots when they’re golf to tennis ball size.

September – Continue harvesting beets, twisting off their spinach-like leaves.

October – Harvest tennis ball-sized roots for storing in boxes of just-damp sand.

November – Eat stored roots, keeping the boxes in a cool, well-ventilated spot.

December – Consume the last of your stored roots, discarding any that have dried out.

January – Rake a general granulated fertiliser into your growing area to prepare the soil.

February – Continue with your soil preparation. In mild areas make the first sowings under cloches.

March – Continue sowing bolt-resistant varieties under cloches or horticultural fleece.

April – Beetroot seeds can be sown straight into the soil even without plant protection.

May – Continue sowing every three weeks for a steady stream of Summer crops.

June – Harvest the first crop of beetroot – remember that the leaves are edible and very tasty too!

Saving ‘Grey’ Water – Making The Most Of What We Already Have

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recycle works, recycle works. grey water, saving water, water conservation, watering for vegetables

With water at its scarcest since the great drought of 1976, it’s essential to make the most of what we have. Everyday household waste water – also known as ‘grey’ water – can safely be used on any vegetable garden if you follow a few simple rules.

 

‘Light grey’ water, that’s water that is used to cook or rinse vegetables is great for absolutely anything. Simply keep a bucket outside your back door and when you’ve been cooking at home, tip your cooking water into it to cool and then transfer it over to your watering can next time you go out in to the garden.

‘Dark grey’ water, that is to say washing up or bath water containing soap or detergent, is much better confined to fruit or vegetables which are either peeled or podded, like peas, beans and pumpkins or squash.

Whatever you use though, please make sure it’s fresh as any grey water left lying around quickly turns stagnant and shouldn’t be used!

A Weekend of Picking Soft Fruit

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berry picker, fruit steamer, mehu liisa, recycle works, soft fruit, vigo

Mehu Liisa Fruit Steamer

My weekend was spent picking soft fruit. The sun came out and everything seemed to ripen the same day. The sugars are not as well developed as I would have liked, but the volumes and size of the fruit evokes envy in all who see. I panicked with the thought of preparing and consuming all this produce. Jam is rather a fiddle and there is too much for one person. Next door will eat lots, but they have their own crops as well as access to mine. So I bought a Mehu Lissa on Monday morning. It arrived Wednesday and wow I am so thrilled with it. I admit my first thought was I will use it to steam a mega huge treacle pudding the next time we are all together.

The fruit I had picked then frozen last weekend I will sort as soon as I can. On Wednesday evening, wanting to put my new Mehu Liisato use I picked half a bush of Red Currants and made 4 litres of fabulous juice which was amazingly evocative of high summer and tasted utterly divine. For drinking I diluted it about 2.5 times. I will keep some as it came out of the Mehu Liisa to use for ice cream making or topping. It was so de-liciously refreshing. It could easily be boiled up to make Red Currant Jelly. The thought is driving me to do some fresh Mint Jelly any time now. Picking the mint now will allow it to recover and I may get a 2nd go at it later on. I am both speechless and wanting to shout about it from the rooftops. Then we have the Damsons, which I did on Thursday evening. Another 4 lts, this time picked from the whole bush. White

Berry Picker

currents are still on the bush but I as I am not ecstatic about white currents I will probably mix this juice with something else, the Damsons maybe! We have all the tomatoes and the apples and vegetable juices to come. I feel excited about the savings I can make and perhaps recover my outlay in the forst summer.

The operation is simple and washing up the Stainless steel is a doddle. The pans might go into a dish washer, one at a time, but in my view I can get them done myself in a jiffy.

Whilst the Redcurrants were juicing away for an hour I casually entertained the Batman. Yes Bats had been getting into the utility room and flying all around the kitchen every evening. I was beginning to get fed up with them entertaining me and the dogs at bedtime. He thinks the bat visits will be temporary, thankfully. Bats have been having a lousy time with the scarcity of insects this summer so I must put some Bat Boxes out as their habitat has been encroached upon when next door built the holiday let. I can imagine the bat boxes being as popular as the Hogitats and Frogitats in preparation for winter. ‘Batman’ told me Bats have even been abandoning their young in droves to survive this year. By the way, he told me not to touch any of them directly (too late). As he was leaving we got into a conversation about the moths that were emerging into the evening air, the bats joined us and it is remarkable that we ever stopped talking at all.

Planning Guidelines – National Planning Policy Framework

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national planning policy frameworks, recycle works

In a bid to end what has to many become known as ‘garden grabbing’ culture and to safeguard our green spaces for many years to come, the government has released a new policy, known as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which has reduced planning and development regulations from what was originally 1,000 pages to a much smaller 50.

The aim of the policy is to make the system much less complex, more accessible and it will give increased control over decisions regarding planning to local authorities, which in turn should help to promote sustainable growth and protect the environment on a much longer term basis. The policy also prioritises previously developed brownfield sites and gives extra protection to gardens and allotments – great news for us anyone who loves GYO!

Love your environment! Love your GYO!

Diamond Sharpening Tools Now Available

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Coarse, diamond sharpener tools, Double Sided Coarse, Fine, Fine grain, Folding Mini Sharp, Medium, recycle works, Three Pack

Just in time. We have been waiting for weeks to bring you a superb range of pocket size fast working Diamond Sharpening Tools. Try them for size.

There’s a choice of Three Pack, Coarse, Medium and Fine; Folding Mini Sharp; and the Double Sided Coarse and Fine grain. They come with full instructions for getting the best sharpening angle with your tools. These diamond sharpeners are especially good for hand tools and very sharp pointed tools.

These and the Barnel Secateurs Pruning Knives and Barnel Scissors make excellent companions.

 

 

 

Plant Heritage – The National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens

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NCPG, recycle works, The National Council for the Conservation of Plants & Gardens

At an inspiring evening about Chinese and Tibetan Alpines this week my attention was drawn to Plant Heritage, The National Council for the Protection of Plants and Gardens. Yes I have heard of them before and probably you have too, but it began to dawn on me slowly what very important work they do. Plant Heritage’s (NCCPG’s) mission is to conserve, grow, propagate, document and make available the amazing resource of garden plants that exists in the UK. We know that a vast proportion of the plants we buy at the Garden Centre, including the veggies, have foreign roots and have been brought back to this country by explorers, travellers and botanists and then propagated here in the British Isles. Why here?

Well we do love plants as a nation, but actually this is a country where most plants grow really well in our climate. It is a great place for growing almost anything. Yes, the climate is massaged in places like Kew and the Eden Project and we all have a microclimate somewhere nearby, but the plants respond. So, as part of their work, members of the NCCPG are not only responsible for introducing and keeping dedicated national plant collections they also hold an AGM where members can offer, or bid for, rare plants. If you get a rare plant at the bidding you keep it for two years and then you put it back in the pot, for someone else to bid for and propagate from. Sounds like a good idea to me. For more information visit here.