Re: The vegetable patch
 

This sort of thing:

http://www.okanaganvacationguide.com...s.html#central

http://www.bcfarmersmarket.org/findamarket.asp

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Though there seems to be some things similar near you, namely i suspect because of the fruit hence, the seasonal nature of them near you. I am on about something that is open year long that sells all produce, but in a very up market way..i wonder if they are in VI? Farmers markets are not what i'm after, farmers shops...when did you leave UK?

Re: The vegetable patch
 

I left in 2005. There are several farmers stores around here with a cafe or restaurant that helps promote their fruit/honey/meat or whatever, together with a rustic sort of storefront catering mostly for the tourist trade. A couple have farm animal petting zoos for kids, maize mazes, and pick your own options too.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Sounds very much like it. Now, anyone in VI know if these are popular there?

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Same as everywhere else, loads of them.
http://www.oldcountrymarket.com/
http://www.redbarnmarket.ca/
http://www.peninsulacountrymarket.ca/10p_contact-us.htm
http://www.matticksfarm.com/

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Just an update, peas are now through! second set of Broad beans are not:(

Thought I would give you a picture of the 1st batch of broadbeans that have come through. Anyone got any news of their growth/thaw?;)


I'll be back once I have worked out how to do it.:confused: Bugger, can't work out how to do it! HELP! Daughter showed me.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Dandelions in full bloom, lawn needs cutting, can't start the bloody mower. :frown:

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Too bloody wet.:frown: vancouver will seem like a bloody desert compared to the last week of rain, i thought the river was coming over the bank at the bottom of the garden earlier this week.:thumbdown:

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Looking good Fletch:thumbsup:

We are defrosted, I have just raked the grass, cleaned up poop - he was a good doggy this winter and mainly pooped on walks so there was very little poop to pick up:thumbup:

Strawberry plants are going green, some bulbs are peeking through, rhubarb has yet to do anything this year.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Top tip for the rhubarb, if you have anything like those large black composters you may have had in UK, a water butt would do, pop that over the rhubard and it will atract the heat, put some compost in, 2 or 3 inches and the nexttime you look, you will have 2 to 3 ft long tender pink rhubarb with leaves no bigger than your hand. Good to know youcan get rhubarb.:) I'll pick mine next week to show you.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Not the heat that does it, it is the lack of light, much like a Rhubarb forcer (even though it is Wikipedia, it is correct!). All things Rhubarb http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/ A website for everything.

Our Rhubarb is currently 18" high, we've had three pies already this year and some of it is in flower, pretty, but useless.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Rhubarb grows like weeds around here:thumbup:

Re: The vegetable patch
 

But you are not living in alberta. The warmth will stimulate the growth, the dark/a little light does the forcing.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Not quite how it works, a forcer reduces photosynthesis, tropisms make the stem grow weak and soft (more tender) as they try to grow toward lights (photo & geo tropisms in play here). If plants grow with low light and too warm the stems are weedy and lack flavour. The temperture inside a forcer is pretty much the same as ambient. Not all plants need heat alone to grow, Artemesia dracunculus for example responds to light levels.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

I'm quite happy to wait until it goes pink on it's own, we then get so much it can see us through the winter. One of our neighbours hasn't got a rhubarb plant (weird they are everywhere) so she picks the stuff when she is out walking the dogs. I don't understand the supermarkets selling the stuff and it's not cheap either.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

If you use a forcer (clay ones are better) the stems are more tender, or feed with a high nitrogen fertiliser and that softens the stems, but they are not a flavorsome.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Surely if they grow naturally it's better? I mean our growing season is only something like 53 days, so things are pretty quick here anyway:eek:

Re: The vegetable patch
 

It softens the stems, growing 'naturally' in daylight, the stems are a bit tougher and robust to support the foliage (which is toxic, so don't eat the leaves). One should also only eat stems from the 2nd year on. Forcers are an old Victorian method of growing Rhubarb. Works well, use a clay forcer though, anything plastic sweats too much and is not good for the plants, can also promote disease. None is better than plastic.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

What can i say....an expert speaks.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Oh, don't give up so easily. I've never seen an argument about rhubarb on the site before. I was enjoying it. :rofl:

BTW when I was a nipper my dad owned a market garden and he had a rhubarb forcing house which was pitch dark inside. We used to play in there and it seemed like the size of a football pitch to me, but it probably wasn't. No heating though.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Not giving up, I accept the information and he has an opinion. My point is, the wind chill is kept off the plant, the black surround attracts some heat from the sun, making the ground warmer and it also keeps the frost off. It will grow sooner as I will prove this weekend when I photograph those specimens, which has had some protection and those that did not. Same variety, very big difference between the results.

It is likely that the plants were frost protected thanks to the building they were grown in. what do you think?

Re: The vegetable patch
 

I haven't the foggiest. Gardening was never my strong point. Your theory sounds credible, but I recall that the forcing shed had no windows, just openings covered by poorly fitting wooden shutters during the rhubarb season. It was very drafty.

I think it was used for growing mushrooms at other seasons.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Couldn't wait any longer, so here are the pics.

the green stuff (rhubarb) on the left is 6 inches high + the leaf. Note composter next to it,



under the composter, what do we find, 3 ft rhubarb.

You will have to take my word for it, it is delicious!

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Here are the other pics, i must get use to doing this.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Green grass, green plants, yeay :thumbsup:

Re: The vegetable patch
 

That rhubarb looks a bit floppy doesn't it?

Re: The vegetable patch
 

It is very tender and ahead of the game. That is why you go to such lengths, veg/fruit for an extended season. By the time I have eaten this the rest will be ready to be picked. No just theory about this, it works! fletch

Re: The vegetable patch
 

Nothing worse than when it goes floppy, my OH says.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

;) yep, may as well chop it Mr Bobbit.

Re: The vegetable patch
 

This is the wettest april on record, going back almost 130 years. So far this month we have had 153 mm of rain. Another wet weekend to come - grief.

York is at bursting point again...it is the closest I have seen the river coming into the garden..:thumbdown: