The Garden Lover's Thread

[Jules]

Thanks Ubbrd; I hear that stuff works as well as perkins paste and is just as tasty!

Thanks Col; I will try more manure and water....Arent seed potatoes just any spud thats sprouted? I know on a few occasions Ive had spongy spuds....LOL.....which I think is through lack of water and/or excess heat. Im in the Hunter, that has hot, hot summers and lovely cold frosty winters and very little happy medium. Ive been thinking of shade clothing a greenhouse...just gotta get motivated to do it.

[*barny*]

Hi Jules,

No, seed potatoes are not just anything lying around.  I worked for 25 years for a company that processes around 400,000 tonnes of potatoes per year in Australia... One of our biggest aims was to have the best seed for our contract farmers that we could get... So we had a breeding program just for that..

You see, a potato is a cloning plant... whatever disease the plant picks up in a growing will be carried on the the next generation...(scab for instance lives in the soil) If you breed up the plant over, say, four generations to get a final commercial crop, it may have 4 or more diseases...

So, for best results, go to a nursery and ask for "certified" seed..

Cheers

[col52]

Thanks Ubbrd; I hear that stuff works as well as perkins paste and is just as tasty!

Thanks Col; I will try more manure and water....Arent seed potatoes just any spud thats sprouted? I know on a few occasions Ive had spongy spuds....LOL.....which I think is through lack of water and/or excess heat. Im in the Hunter, that has hot, hot summers and lovely cold frosty winters and very little happy medium. Ive been thinking of shade clothing a greenhouse...just gotta get motivated to do it.

No, as barny said, to get decent crops you need decent seed potatoes.
I know what you mean about the hot & cold. We're in the Hunter too. Been a few cold mornings of late!
A few years ago, I used to work at Cessnock and the drive through Buchanan during winter mornings reminded me of the UK...............frosty white fields!!! YUK!

[*CountessA*]

Well, it seems my dream of a herb garden is doomed to fail, according to a few gardening experts. I could continue if I planted things in pots, but that's not how my vision had it planned.

Oh well. I'll concentrate on other things instead.

[*barny*]

Don't give up on the herb garden countess... You could still have a Roman style central theme statue (Clavdivs perhaps, he was a goodie).. then tier down the slope with roman style amphora as planting pots...

Cheers

[*wheels*]

Has anyone ever grown tomatoes in an upside down hanging basket thingy?

It is advertised today on Catch of the Day.

http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/index.php

[*wheels*]

Nobody?

Well, I've ordered one so I'll give it a go and let you know how my tomatoes are hanging! 

[*CountessA*]

No, I haven't grown tomatoes in upside-down hanging things. It might be worth trying out. I love the look of new-growing tomatoes on the vine. They're so sumptuous and Italianesque, so alive and glossy...