On 2009-04-30 23:26:14 +0100, Judith Smith said:



I am so careful when potting on to three inch pots and then the ten
inch pots - handling with kid-gloves.

There was a programme on TV last week about mechanisation/automation
of horticulture - absolutely fascinating.


It was interesting to see the tomatoes being planted in the Channel
Islands - in rows in the fields - as per old days.

Two people - one with a spade made a "slot" - second dropped/threw in
a plant from the bunch in his hand - first person "heeled" in.

Job done!! - next plant !!

I remember seeing those fields when I was a child. There were rows of
crosses the growers tied the tomatoes into as the vines grew and
because I was born just after the war, I somehow associated them with
dead soldiers and the churchyard my Rector grandfather presided over,
just down the hill! I don't think anyone in that parish grows tomatoes
that way any more. The last fields were still there up to about 3
years ago but last time I drove that way they'd been cleared. Can you,
by any chance, remember which channel that programme was on? I'd love
to see if I can watch it on my computer.
Thinking of mechanisation in horticulture, it was and is, quite
something to watch a plough being pulled up a côtil (very steep piece
of land) by a winch on a tractor parked at the top. The workers,
following behind planting potatoes, look like ants swarming over the
soil.
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Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon