Hi,

Whilst in BnQ yesterday she managed to talk me into buying some seeds (though secretly i wanted to do it too but shhhh, dont tell her .

Anyway, what we got was sweetcorn, carrots, lettuce and lettuce mixed salad.

Now ive planted the sweetcorn. Perhaps 80 ,arge seeds and it said to put 3 in each hole 30cm apart. No problem.

However the rest also say 30cm apart but theres literally hundreds of them. ive got a reasonably sized garden but 1 seed that far apart id need next doors garden too.

Is it literally 1 seed a hole again or is it more, say 50 in each hole (joke).

Any advice chaps.

Also, i turned over the soil then mixed in some compost (BnQ) again and also a couple of handfuls of perlite. is this the right thing to do?

Regards

Tam

In article ,
taminglis wrote:

Hi,

Whilst in BnQ yesterday she managed to talk me into buying some seeds
(though secretly i wanted to do it too but shhhh, dont tell her .

Anyway, what we got was sweetcorn, carrots, lettuce and lettuce mixed
salad.

Now ive planted the sweetcorn. Perhaps 80 ,arge seeds and it said to put
3 in each hole 30cm ( 1 foot) apart. No problem.

This is the problem with corn. To grow corn you need a lot of space (4'
X 4' min.), a lot of water, a lot of fertilizer, and a lot of sun and
heat.

However the rest also say 30cm apart but theres literally hundreds of
them. ive got a reasonably sized garden but 1 seed that far apart id
need next doors garden too.


Is it literally 1 seed a hole again or is it more, say 50 in each hole
(joke).

Any advice chaps.

Also, i turned over the soil then mixed in some compost (BnQ) again and
Compost isn't normally a fertilizer. What kind is it; compost from
vegetative matter, or manure?
also a couple of handfuls of perlite. is this the right thing to do?

http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/Research/chili.html
Chicken manure (three to four tons per acre) is custom applied a week or
more prior to listing.
--------
For corn, tomatoes, peppers, ect. spread the following on your garden
beds:

N: 18.37 lb. chicken manure/ 100 sq.ft. (2.88 oz/sq.ft.)

P: 3 lb. / 100/sq.ft. (.48 oz/sq.ft.)

K: How much wood ash should you use in your garden? The late Bernard G.
Wesenberg, a former Washington State University Extension
horticulturist, recommended using one gallon of ashes per square yard on
loam to clay-loam soil, and half as much on sandier soils.

Cover with sheets of newspaper

Cover newspaper with 3" to 4" alfalfa (lucerne)

Hose the beds with water

Wait 4 - 6 weeks and plant with seedlings (This allows newsprint a
chance to break down. You can plant right away but make sure water gets
to your plants. I use drip irrigation.). Use a dibble, ideally the
pointy (sharpened) end of an old shovel handle, to make the planting
holes.

For seeding directly to the soil
Rake in the amendments,
Seed,
add mulch as plants grow.

Mulch can act as cover for pill bugs, silver fish, and other insects
that can eat the very tender eaves of sprouting plants. Mulching will
also keep soil temp. down by a few degrees. Otherwise, mulch feeds the
soil (1st principal of organic gardening), and helps retain moisture in
the soil. As you can see, it is a balancing act, and it is up to you to
determine which course will benefit you best.

-----

As Charlie Underlog often recites,"There are no gardening mistakes, only
experiments." -- Janet Kilburn Phillips.

A damn good observation that
seems to have become a cottage industry with everyone quoting it, but
Ms. Phillips seems to be unfamiliar with chemical fertilizers.

Real gardeners grow soil as well as plants. Jobes tomato spikes and
Miracle Grow aren't healthy for your soil and they are a MISTAKE. It's
cheaper and more eco-friendly to get ORGANIC fish emulsion (the seas
have been polluted too: copper, lead, mercury, arsenic, PCBs, and PBDEs)
or manure for your plants. You don't even have to dig it in. Just cover
amendments with newspaper as described above, just below the ratings for
manure, or sprinkle it around your plants as a side dressing (18 lb/100
sq.ft., chicken manure). Don't water again until the top inch of the
soil is dry. Over feeding will encourage the plant to vegetate, instead
of setting and maturing fruit.

http://www99.epinions.com/review/Job...or_Tomatoes/co
ntent_40683146884

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fertilize...fertilizer-Mir
acle.htm
---

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...1_notill15.htm
l
Should your garden be a no-till zone?
--

If you have time, you may want to look at below.

Lasagna (No Dig) Gardening, a.k.a. Sheet Mulching.

You're garden soil shouldn't be more than 10%, or less than 5% organic
material.

Garden soil should be 30% - 40% sand, 30% - 40% silt, and 20% - 30%
clay. You can check your soil by scraping away the organic material on
top of the ground and then take a vertical sample of your soil to 12 in.
(30 cm) deep (rectangular or circular hole). Mix this with water in an
appropriately large glass (transparent) jar. The sand will settle out
quickly, the silt in a couple of hours, and the clay within a day. The
depth of the layer in relationship to the total (layer/total = % of
composition) is the percent that fraction has in the soil.

Garden soil needs a constant input of nutrients, i.e. carbon, e.g. brown
leaves, and nitrogen, e.g. manure in a ratio of C/N of 25. This is the
same ratio you will what in a compost pile.
-----

Let it Rot!: The Gardener's Guide to Composting (Third Edition)
(Storey's Down-to-Earth Guides)
by Stu Campbell

http://www.amazon.com/Let-Rot-Compos...580170234/ref=
sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294901182&sr=1-1

p.39

Compostable Material Average C/N

Alder or ash leaves ............................ 25

Grass clippings ................................ 25

Leguminous plants (peas,
beans,soybeans) ............................. 15

Manure with bedding ........................... 23

Manure ....................................... 15

Oak leaves .................................... 50

Pine needles .............................. 60-100

Sawdust................................. 150-500

Straw, cornstalks and cobs .................. 50-100

Vegetable trimmings ........................... 25
Aged Chicken Manure**........................* 7
Alfalfa ................................................ 12
Newspaper........................................ 175
-----

http://www.composting101.com/c-n-ratio.html

A Balancing Act (Carbon-to-Nitrogen Ratios)


All organic matter is made up of substantial amounts of carbon (C)
combined with lesser amounts of nitrogen (N). The balance of these two
elements in an organism is called the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N
ratio). For best performance, the compost pile, or more to the point the
composting microorganisms, require the correct proportion of carbon for
energy and nitrogen for protein production. Scientists (yes, there are
compost scientists) have determined that the fastest way to produce
fertile, sweet-smelling compost is to maintain a C:N ratio somewhere
around 25 to 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen, or 25-30:1. If the C:N
ratio is too high (excess carbon), decomposition slows down. If the C:N
ratio is too low (excess nitrogen) you will end up with a stinky pile.
(cont.)
------

No reason to till after the first preparation of the garden (no reason
to till the first/last time but it does speed up soil development).
Spread out your soil amendments:

N: 18.37 lb. chicken manure/ 100 sq.ft. (2.88 oz/sq.ft.)

P: 3 lb. / 100/sq.ft. (.48 oz/sq.ft.)

K: How much wood ash should you use in your garden? The late Bernard
G. Wesenberg, a former Washington State University Extension
horticulturist, recommended using one gallon of ashes per square
yard on loam to clay-loam soil, and half as much on sandier soils.

http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm
€ Manure Chicken Diary cow Horse Steer Rabbit
€ N 1.1 .257 .70 .70 2.4
€ P .80 .15 .30 .30 1.4
€ K .50 .25 .60 .40 .60

€
Sheep Alfalfa Fish Emulsion
€ N .70 3 5
€ P .30 1 1
€ K .90 2 1

€ Sources: Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, An
Illustrated Guide to Organic Gardening, by Sunset Publishing, and the
Rodale Guide to Composting.

http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm
€ Manure Chicken Diary cow Horse Steer Rabbit
€ N 1.1 .257 .70 .70 2.4
€ P .80 .15 .30 .30 1.4
€ K .50 .25 .60 .40 .60

€
Sheep Alfalfa Fish Emulsion
€ N .70 3 5
€ P .30 1 1
€ K .90 2 1

€ Sources: Rodale's All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening, An
Illustrated Guide to Organic Gardening, by Sunset Publishing, and the
Rodale Guide to Composting.

Cover this with newspaper (to block light from weeds and provide a
barrier to sprouting weeds). Cover the newspaper with mulch (up to 6" in
depth). Spray the garden bed with water, and wait 6 weeks before
planting (if you can).

A dibble can help with planting. The dinky little ones from the nursery
may be of some help, but I prefer a sharpened, old, shovel handle for
making a hole through the mulch and paper for planting seedlings.

Adding drip lines takes a little time, but saves a lot of time during
the season.

Additional info:

http://www.diggers.com.au/articleWhatsNewIsOld.shtml
What's new is old
CLIVE BLAZEY EXPLAINS WHY HEIRLOOM SEEDS ARE SUPERIOR TO HYBRIDS AND
GENETICALLY ENGINEERED (GE) SEEDS.
-----

http://www.choiceinagriculture.com/a...d-business-rol
e-revealed

AP INVESTIGATION: Monsanto seed biz role revealed

By CHRISTOPHER LEONARD AP Agribusiness Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
Dec. 13, 2009, 11:54PM

ST. LOUIS ‹ Confidential contracts detailing Monsanto Co.'s business
practices reveal how the world's biggest seed developer is squeezing
competitors, controlling smaller seed companies and protecting its
dominance over the multibillion-dollar market for genetically altered
crops, an Associated Press investigation has found.
---

http://transitionculture.org/2009/02...re-essential-v
iewing/

#3
harvesting winter grass for cattle is the largest expenditure of fossil
fuel on this farm.
Winter grazing at a neighboring farm is possible because of the mix of
grasses, which make the grasses strong enough not to get dug up by cow
hooves.
Grasses don't require fossil fuel.
Grasses inspired by woodland grass that grew naturally, without
encouragement.
Woodland grass grew on soil with biological diversity.
Plowing killed soil organisms.
Fossil fuel allows more plowing, and provides chemferts.
Fossil fuel is used to grow crops in soil that is essentially dead.
When fossil fuel runs out, we will need living soil.
Cattle require a lot of land, and for Britain to become self sufficient,
people will need to eat less meat, and farmers will need to raise other
crops as well.
Introduction of permaculture and permaculture expert Patrick Whitefield.
Three ways of farming, drugery, fossil fuel, and design.

#4
Woodland are the most efficient growing system for the British climate.
Farming based on natural ecology. "What we got to do is take the
principals of this (the forest), and think how far we can bend them
towards something more edible."
- Patrick Whitefield
The demonstration farm is a collection of small clearings in a massive
woodland.
Chris & Lynn DIxon produce all the fruit, vegetables, meat, and the fuel
they need to cook them, in return for a few days work per week. When
they started, 20 years before, the farm was degraded, marginal, pasture
land. The first thing that they did was let the land return to its
natural state, a chaotic woodland, but in its present state, the chaos
is very highly structured.
The gorse fixes nitrogen, the bracken collecting pot ash, and by
encouraging the birds, they are encouraging the phosphate cycle through
the system. Thus no need for sacks of fossil fuel fertilizers, it's all
provided by nature. Carkey Campbell (sp?)ducks provide insect
protection.
All the plants provides some service.
Willow Leyland Ash (tree) branches are fed to horses, cattle, and sheep.
Using the full height of trees and hedges, you can squeeze higher yields
out of the same piece of land. Plants not producing crops are recycling
nutrient. Cannon (?) Alder supplies nitrogen through its leaf litter
;O), root system

#5
and by beneficial fungi that link up everything under the ground, and
move nutrients around. All the plants are there for a reason, or
multiple reasons. Plants that attract beneficial insects do away with
the need for pesticides. The garden requires, over the year, a day a
week of work, but a lot of that is harvesting. Maintenance is 10
days/year. Yields from a forest garden (a low energy, low maintenance
system) should be able to feed 10 people/acre, which is double the
amount of people that contemporary farming can feed. What you can't
grow is cereal crops, which can be replaced by nut crops, which are more
sustainable. Orchards require less energy than a field of wheat.
Nutrient composition of chestnuts is similar to that of rice.
--

Gardening with hand tools is more productive and energy efficient than
farming. It's the attention to detail that an experienced gardener can
give to a small plot that makes it so productive. They can provide up to
5 times more food per sq. meter, than a large farm.

Modern farming and distribution methods are unlikely to survive the
increasing costs of petroleum. The modern demographic change of the 21st
Century will be re-ruralization. Proportion of people involved in food
production will increase.

The above remarks come from Martin Crawford, Patrick Whitefield, and
Chris Dixon. See site below.


http://transitionculture.org/2009/02...ure-essential-
viewing/

http://www.shade-growing.com/permacu...uture-transcri
pt

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5241

------

p.2

Most gardeners think of plants as only taking up nutrients through root
systems and feeding the leaves. Few realize that a great deal of the
energy that results from photosynthesis in the leaves is actually used
by plants to produce

chemicals they secrete through their roots. These secretions are known
as exudates. A good analogy is perspiration, a human's exudate.
Root exudates are in the form of carbohydrates (including sugars) and
proteins. Amazingly, their presence wakes up, attracts, and grows
specific beneficial bacteria and fungi living in the soil that subsist
on these exudates and the_ cellular material sloughed off as the plant's
root tips grow. All this secretion of_ exudates and sloughing-off of
cells takes place in the rhizosphere, a zone immediately around the
roots, extending out about a tenth of an inch, or a couple of
millimeters (1 millimeter = 1/25 inch). The rhizosphere, which can
look_ like a jelly or jam under the electron microscope, contains a
constantly changing mix of soil organisms, including bacteria, fungi,
nematodes, protozoa, and_ even larger organisms. All this "life"
competes for the exudates in the rhizosphere, or its water or mineral
content.

At the bottom of the soil food web are bacteria and fungi, which are
attracted to and consume plant root exudates. In turn, they attract and
are eaten _by bigger microbes, specifically nematodes and protozoa
(remember the _amoebae, paramecia, flagellates, and ciliates you should
have studied in biology?), who eat bacteria and fungi (primarily for
carbon) to fuel their metabolic_ functions. Anything they don't need is
excreted as wastes, which plant roots are _readily able to absorb as
nutrients. How convenient that this production of_ plant nutrients takes
place right in the rhizosphere, the site of root-nutrient_ absorption.
At the center of any viable soil food web are plants. Plants control the
food_ web for their own benefit, an amazing fact that is too little
understood and_ surely not appreciated by gardeners who are constantly
interfering with Nature's system. Studies indicate that individual
plants can control the numbers_ and the different kinds of fungi and
bacteria attracted to the rhizosphere by the exudates they produce.
During different times of the growing season, populations of rhizosphere
bacteria and fungi wax and wane, depending on the nutrient needs of the
plant and the exudates it produces.

Soil bacteria and fungi are like small bags of fertilizer, retaining in
their_ bodies nitrogen and other nutrients they gain from root exudates
and other _organic matter (such as those sloughed-off root-tip cells).
Carrying on the _analogy, soil protozoa and nematodes act as "fertilizer
spreaders" by releasing ,_the nutrients locked up in the bacteria and
fungi "fertilizer bags." The nematodes and protozoa in the soil come
along and eat the bacteria and fungi in the,_ rhizosphere. They digest
what they need to survive and excrete excess carbon_ and other nutrients
as waste.

Left to their own devices, then, plants produce exudates that attract
fungi_ and bacteria (and, ultimately, nematodes and protozoa); their
survival depends on the interplay between these microbes. It is a
completely natural system, the very same one that has fueled plants
since they evolved. Soil life provides the nutrients needed for plant
life, and plants initiate and fuel the cycle_ by producing exudates.

Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web
Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
http://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microb.../dp/0881927775
/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206815176&sr= 1-1

"Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years."
- Anon



Regards

Tam

and good luck.
--
- Billy

Bush's 3rd term: Obama plus another elective war
Bush's 4th term: another Judas goat

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
http://theuptake.org/2011/03/05/michael-moore-the-big-lie-wisconsin-is-broke/

taminglis wrote:
Hi,

Whilst in BnQ yesterday she managed to talk me into buying some seeds
(though secretly i wanted to do it too but shhhh, dont tell her .

Anyway, what we got was sweetcorn, carrots, lettuce and lettuce mixed
salad.

Now ive planted the sweetcorn. Perhaps 80 ,arge seeds and it said to
put 3 in each hole 30cm apart. No problem.

3 per hole is exceedingly generous, what are you going to do when all three
sprout in most of them, whcih will happen if the seed is good? i would
normally plant corn in a block (not in rows) one per hole and put up with
the odd one that doesn't germinate.



However the rest also say 30cm apart but theres literally hundreds of
them. ive got a reasonably sized garden but 1 seed that far apart id
need next doors garden too.

The lettuce and lettuce salad will do best if started in a seed tray and
then transplanted when about 7-10 cm high. Plant them about 15 cm apart.
The carrots you sow direct in a row about 3-6cm apart (or several rows about
20 cm between rows). You will thin them later to about 15-20cm spacing
depending on the size. You need to keep the seeds damp until they germinate
which is not as easy as it seems as they are so small. Both have rather
small seeds so don't plant them too deep, a few mm will do.


Is it literally 1 seed a hole again or is it more, say 50 in each hole
(joke).


No

Any advice chaps.

Also, i turned over the soil then mixed in some compost (BnQ) again
and also a couple of handfuls of perlite. is this the right thing to
do?


It wouldn't harm but not knowing the quality of your soil I cannot say if it
is sufficient. Corn is a heavy feeder so it will probably need more
fertiliser. The others don't need much fertiliser and carrots will
bifurcate if over fertilised.

David