Coping with food price inflation, small-space growing experiment with a wicking bed, strolling up the new steps to the small greenhouse and a lovely Easter cactus display. Plus my parsnip germination trick.
Prepping a bit for inflation
Oil prices and stock markets are bouncing up and down, predicting what’s coming is well-nigh impossible. However, it’s now certain that we’re going to see inflation rise. Some conservative predictions are that food prices will go up by 12% over the next year. Personally, I think nearer to 15%.
At the moment, the supermarkets are pushing Easter discounts on meats and vegetables. We’re taking advantage, vegetables are easily blanched and frozen. Cheap beef joints are being cubed and frozen in 500gr packs. Great for stews etc. Offer on cat food? Stock up. It’s a hedge against inflation.
Even if the inflation rate is only 10%, that’s twice the best cash savings rate I can find. Worst case, I’m wrong about the inflation, and we have food in the freezer. Let’s face it, prices never go down.
Wicking Bed
Wicking Bed with Lights under bench in greenhouse
I’ve set up my wicking bed in the small greenhouse. It’s more of an informal experiment in small-space growing than a necessity. I’m very aware that many people don’t have much space to grow on, so they need to maximise results from what they do have.
Because the bed is underneath the benching, it’s shaded, so I’m supplementing with grow lights. They’re T5 fluorescents, which also produce heat. LED lights are more efficient in terms of light output per watt consumed, but they run cool and the plants benefit from the extra heat.
The bed consists of a 111cm by 58cm, 20cm deep tray, sat above a reservoir. It could sit directly on the floor, but I’ve popped a frame under made from scrap wood. The main reason is that it’s easier to get at being slightly raised. The reservoir supplies the bed via eight wicks made from capillary matting.
The bed is filled with multipurpose compost with added vermiculite in a 1:5 ratio. The reservoir gets S-Chelate Protom at two 5ml scoops per 10 litres of water. Our tap water is low in calcium, so the added calcium from the Protom is beneficial.
Initially I’ve just planted salad crops; lettuce, spring onions and radish. When the lettuce is harvested, I’ll sow some Adelaide forcing carrots, which I’ve not tried before. They’re an F1 with the RHS Award of Garden Merit, so I’m expecting them to do well.
Steps to the Small Greenhouse Finished
Steps to Small Greenhouse Completed
The steps up to the small greenhouse are now finished, which will make access much easier in wet weather. They’re very shallow steps, so you don’t feel like you’re climbing. Quite odd, but in a good way. File under: preparing for my dotage!
Parsnips Germination Trick
Parsnips in Paper Pots, kept warm in the propagator.
I use a trick I got from an American small commercial grower. The seeds are sown in paper pots and kept at 17ºC or over for a week to ten days. Then the pots are planted out, despite no seedlings being visible at that point.
Leaving them longer, until you can see the seedlings appear, is too long and the root will be a little constrained by the paper pot. That, in my experience, results in twisted bunches of gnarly roots.
Anyway, this method works well for me.
Easter Cactus
Easter Cactus
A lovely display from our Easter Cactus. They love being fed on S-Chelate 12 Star, we’ve never had such great shows until we started using it.
For a few years I’ve been sowing my parsnips in the cardboard tubes from kitchen roll filled with multipurpose compost with a topping of seed compost. That way the roots can grow un-restrained. The thing you need to be careful of is that the soil doesn’t fall out when you’re transplanting them.
Thanks for the parsnip tip – I’ll definitely be doing this.
No parsnips germinated last year on my allotment – first time in 23 years!!
I had no parsnips for the last 2 years despite buying new seed. So I was delighted with the success of both chitting the seeds and starting them off in looroll tubes in the propagator. Seeds germinated both ways are happily growing in raised beds (if I can keep the blackbirds off