LEEKS 2 -- SWEET CORN -- PARSLEY -- TOMATOES: 6 June 2004
ML e-mails: Could you please let me know when is the best time to plant leeks, sweet corn, parsley and tomatoes, as your book does not mention it?
RJH replies: This lady does not say where she gardens, so I can speak only for how things are done where I garden, which is in that part of the U K known as the county of Cornwall -- and which, arguably, possesses the earliest and finest gardening climate in the whole of the British Isles.
I sow leek seeds in John Innes seed compost in seed trays in an unheated greenhouse -- or a suitable conservatory would do -- at any time after Christmas right up until March. In other words, whenever is convenient during the Winter; it makes a useful Winter-time job done under cover and away from Winter's weather conditions. Leeks germinate in an ambient temperature of 50-to-55 degrees F or 10-to-12 degrees C whether by day or by night. If they are made to germinate at a higher temperature than that the mature plants are likely to run to seed in their later stages. Any temperature lower, and they will not germinate, so wait for the greenhouse or conservatory to be at that temperature before picking up the seed packet. This says, of course, be guided by a room thermometer, and don't guess. When the seedlings have been removed from the seed trays, divided and then moved into modules as single units for growing on into plantlets, they accept a slightly lower temperature without suffering. Each module is filled with John Innes No 2 compost. After that, the plantlets can be transferred from the modules to the open ground at any time between April and June -- or between the start of the Spring and the start of the Summer. Remember to put them into my Bed/3 during the first year of its four-year life span, and do so at the start of the moon's first or second quarter. I prefer the first quarter, because that gives the newcomers about one week's longer exposure to the increased moisture in the top soil and the increased pressure from the rising water table that the first and second moon quarters generate. If mini leeks are being grown -- for these are becoming more and more popular nowadays, since they demand less space -- station the plantlets 2-to-3 inches, or 5-to-7 centimetres, apart. If the leeks are the old-fashioned, full-sized, white-shafted type, then insert them 6-to-8 inches, or 15-to-20 centimetres, apart. In either case, plant in rows which are 12-to-15 inches, or 30-to-37 centimetres, away from each other. Then, getting in with the hoe to lift out the weed seedlings and to increase the moisture in the top soil at the same time presents no difficulty at all. Don't worry if onions go into the bed at the same time in their own section of it. The two plants make good friends. 'R J Harris's Moon Gardening' explains fully about creating and using Bed/3, and about the performance of the water table. It also describes the moon way of producing onions very fully indeed.
Modules, by the way, are containers made of very thin plastic. Usually, they are black in colour, and they each measure about an inch or two centimetres in diameter and about an inch-and-a-half or three-to-four centimetres deep. I get mine from the local garden centre, free of charge. Most garden centres are only too glad to get rid of them, for the alternative is to throw them into the rubbish skip.
Sweet corn -- one of my favourites -- can be sown in the U K in an unheated greenhouse between mid April and mid May, or between the beginning and the end of the Spring. The greenhouse temperature at that period is quite suitable. Usually, I sow in modules, pressing the individual seed -- which is a large one -- half an inch or 7mm or more into John Innes No 2 compost in the individual module. The deeper the planting, within reason, the better the root structure. Farmers insert this kind of seed as much as two inches, or about five centimetres, deep when sowing a field. I then wait for the cold winds to be totally gone before moving the plantlets out into my Bed/3 in the first year of that bed's four-year life span. With luck, this is at the warmest, sunniest part of the garden. But if it is not, don't worry. The four-year rotation programme must be maintained, no matter where in the garden it sees the Bed/3 being located. Usually, for me in Cornwall, the planting-out time is late June, or when the Summer has well and truly arrived. It is also at the start of the moon's second quarter in the chosen planting-out month. The sweet corn is the hungriest of plants -- it's a truly gross feeder -- hence the use of the Bed/3 in its first year. This is when the bed's two-year-old manure foundation is untapped and at full strength. That way, too, sweet corn finds its proper place in my four-year crop-rotation programme. For a really full discussion of the principles of my crop-rotation system see the section Rotation in the manual. It is at page 222.
A good tip is, when each developing sweet corn plant reaches 18 inches, or 45 centimetres, in height, insert beside it the seed of a climbing french bean. That way, you get two crops in the one spot, for the bean, as it grows, twists itself around the sweet-corn's stem and turns it into a climbing pole. These are compatible plants, so they get on well together. Also, the climbing french bean grows slightly faster than the sweet corn, so it catches up with the sweet corn from a height point of view. This is how the native North Americans did it a century and a half ago and long before that. They were great economisers, those people, never cutting sticks for use as canes when it could be avoided, never preparing ground when another way made it unnecessary. The trees were left in peace, unharmed, and energy was not used unnecessarily.
Plant out the sweet-corn plantlets in blocks of at least three or four rows, never in a single row. They are pollinated by the breeze, not by the insects. So one plant must be positioned where it can get the benefit of its immediate neighbours' pollen, no matter in which direction the wind blows.
If this lady has studied the Rotation section of 'R J Harris's Moon Gardening' she will note that this method breaks one of my rules. In the manual I say use my Bed/1 in its first year for the climbing french bean. There is all the difference in the world between these two beds, it is true, but no matter. The result from combining the corn and this kind of bean in the corn bed -- the Bed/3 -- is quite good enough to make not having to build a bean-support frame worth a great deal.
Parsley is a herb, of course. Do not, I recommend, try to grow it from seed. Guarantee getting results -- and much more quickly, into the bargain -- by going to the garden centre and buying plantlets in modules. Transfer them to the herb bed at any time from mid April onwards; in other words, at the start of the Spring, choosing the start of the moon's second quarter in the chosen month so as to give the plantlets the best chance of surviving the trauma of being planted out.
The other way, of course, is to transfer them to John Innes No 2 compost in six-inch, or 15-centimetre, pots, one per pot, which you locate within easy reach from the kitchen door. There is no moon connection, here, of course. The potted plantlets are not within the reach of the water table.
Either way, plant in succession -- three or four plantlets per month -- so that the herb in a young, fresh state is there when you need it. This is for the average size of family, of course. If, like me in the walled kitchen garden at Tresillian, you need a much greater quantity, and you know all about the moody ways of this cussed herb, you start from seed. Today, for example -- and this is in early June -- we have just taken out of the cold frame 300 modules of parsley plantlets for planting out. They were the result of just one sowing. We make three or four sowings per year, first in seed trays and then into the modules. The fact is, a packet of parsley seeds, developed successfully, caters for a small village. So, as I say, if it is only for the family, keep it simple and sensible, and buy a few plantlets at a time from a reputable source.
When the season turns, protect the potted plants in a cold greenhouse, cold conservatory or cold frame, and they go on right into the heart of the Winter. Bear in mind, this is a herb that loves to be in a moist, uncold medium, and to be fed once per week on a regular basis with a nitrogen feed. Comfrey solution, as described in the manual, is perfect for this, as well as organically correct and very, very low-cost and environmentally friendly.
Tomatoes. This one is not easy. I need to know more about what this lady is hoping for. If she buys tomato plants from the garden centre, she can plant them outside any time between the end of May or early June at the start of the second quarter of the moon. In other words, at early Summer time at the correct moon time. The best she can hope for, of course, being a U K gardener, is a limited crop of green fruit, which then has to be ripened on indoors. The non-U K gardener who enjoys a kindlier, non-U K climate has a quite different experience, be it said, being able to grow and harvest beautiful crops in the open air.
With me, even blessed as I am by the Gulf Stream, the vast majority of my tomatoes spend all of their time in pots and in a heated greenhouse, developed from seed and managed from germination to harvesting in a very highly-organised kind of way. I produce a wide range of types, nearly all of which you never see in the shops, and including some extremely old varieties. A detailed instruction on this was prepared for the manual. It proved to be too long to be included, so had to be held over against the day when an enlarged edition can be got ready.
