The horse poo king is back

in the soupermarket t'other day, carrots $1.49 a bag. Was thinking I'm going to put quite afew hours into 6 or 8 dollars worth of carrot crop. Probably be my one and only.
Anyone tell me why I can't grow capisums, and whats the secret togrowing leeks??? Love leeks!

My caps went okies this year, still in fruit, are they getting enough water and sun Tony ?? I grew leeks for the first time and most went to seed and I'm hoping they will pop up in due course

Hey Tony... If my Tony a Taffy *Welshman* can grow leeks up here with hardly any watering and from seed you should be able to grown them down there where ever there is..

Caps are easy to grow too..

Tony the key to growing good leeks is dont buy the plants in the autumn,being a biannual means that come spring they will go into reproductive mode.Sow seed thick in a short row and wait till 30cm tall,Leeks do well in deep rich soil so dig over the area where you are going replant them as deeply as you can with compost added.With the handle end of my shovel push deep into the soil to about 40-50cm and drop a leek to the bottom,pour a little water down the center being careful not to disturb the sides of hole, the young leek will soon climb its way out giving you the long white section that commercial growers dont bother growing for these days.
To me thats the best part.

tony...there is, as with most things, NO COMPARISON between store bought and home grown carrots. if you want to remember what carrots are supposed to taste like...i can pretty much assure you it's worth the effort for that reason alone.
also...don't forget the beets!

richard.
so what are you saying?
when should i plant my leeks?
i love the advice about the deep hole. i will definitely take that on board.

caps are not so easy to grow, i find. but i keep trying anyway...because they are so darned expensive in the stores!

hey i was going to bed but,your sunlight hours would get short enough in winter to trigger the reproduction mode but then again i dont how your weather would interferes with this.I would think for you July-Aug planting ready by Xmas,what do you think?
This time i'm off though bye

Cool looking leeks, I wonder if I can grow some like that

I haven't grown leeks but I'll leave that to the "Leek King"... well he has an award

I don't have any problems with capsicum... I have two different ones at the moment... one has been in the ground two summers now and the other for 3 summers... they yellow off a bit in winter and only have the occasional fruit but come back once the weather warms up. I treat them the same as tomatoes and other warm weather plants. They don't like the cold, love full sun and regular water but not drowned. If mine are lucky, they get the odd general purpose feed when I think of it If I get a chance I will take a pic of them tomorrow.

I always forget to feed my veggies

Cheryl please treat your veggies like you do ya roses OK?

Gail that's amazing that your capsicum is still growing after all that time,can ya take a photo of it for me please

Tony sorry we have hijacked your thread yet again

Okies Richard will do

Gee if I treated our veggies like I do the roses Richard we would not have any.

Richard there is a Capsicum growing near the chook yard fence our side of course that has been there for five years most likely not the same one as it fruits every year for many months then drops its seeds and a new one comes up a couple of years later they do last for ages here, ours is a big sick looking at the moment as it has nor had any water since we transplanted the Nectarine tree close by as that gets all the left over water now..

It was seeds from a store bought one originally

It doesn't bother me that a thread meanders, to me thats how interesting conversation starts.
As for the leeks, I love the white part the best, hopefully I can produce some to rival yours, richard. thanks for the help
My caps are in the suniest part of the garden, I'll just hang in, maybe it my technique.
t

tony...i was researching leeks and found this very useful website:

http://www.hort.wisc.edu/mastergardener/Features/vegetables/leeks/leeks.htm

A WOOFER here last September planted leek by seed and they are not deep, just planted like all veggies. I have enjoyed eating them all summer and I slice them thinly and add to salads. They have quite a white bit - not any different to the store ones - but they are so sweet and lovely.

I will plant more in early spring. They were planted in my asparagus raised bed as ... three years on ... the asparagus is still woeful. I will clean up the bed and put lots and lots of Seamungus on it and come next spring/ summer those asparagus corns better get their act together. Get a few stalks, just not enough and masses of fernery.

Thanks for that link
t

Interesting link tessa,didn't know there where so many varieties, i thought that idea of digging trenches made for a lot of extra work though.

Tony my caps are only about 2 foot high max. and usually only around 6 fruit per plant, but enough for me

yeah...i reckon your way is a lot easier, richard.
that's what i'm going to do.

it gets confusing trying to grow veggies over here...because in canada, at least, it's all a no brainer. EVERYTHING is a summer crop.
but here...there are (not complaining now) TWO seasons...and it is hard to figure out which veg to grow when.
with the leeks...i can't figure out if the variety i have likes to grow on lengthening or shortening days. you'd think they could say something about that on the packet, but NNNOOOO. the only thing it says there...is to not plant in summer.

You a mounty tessa I have a friend living in Canada ATM, been over there for a few years now Mmm must catch up with him and his foe

Richard, do you find you get a lot of soil in between the leaves of the leeks growing them that way? Also, do you always grow the same variety?
It certainly sounds an interesting and easy way to grow them. I think I'll give it a go in the Spring
Thanks Richard.

Val no they dont have much soil between the leaves as they are only below soil leavel for short time,when i plant them i make sure the soil is nice and damp so hole sides remain stable and dont fall down on to young leek.

This season we used the variety Tadorna,my oldest boy Damien grew leeks plants this season and my father sold them from his front gate in Big Smoke ,theres a good market for them here as all the gardencenters only sell small pathetic plants,he made $500 this season.
He pays leek tax to his father where he gives my 30 of his largest young plants to me

Wow! $500 for leeks!! Well what a gold mine
Thanks for the info Richard.