Hey Ya,
I was watching Aust gardening the other day and pete cundle said that if your beetroot are not really getting a move along its most likely a boron deficiency. A pinch of boron in a bucket of water and sprinkle it on will fix the problem.

I did this and within a week the formerly tiny little struggling plants I had in my garden have doubled in size. Amazing. Up till now I couldn't grow the stuff to save myself.

Carrot love sandy soils with not much nitrogen in them. If your soil is not good enough for them I've heard you can bang a stake into the ground fill it with sand and plant the seed into this column. Pretty neat idea I reckon, but never tried it myself.

cheers
Karl

Thanks a heap, Karl! That's definitely a trace element deficiency here and I'm glad you've pointed me to it.

Carrots in sandy holes: with my clay-based alluvial soil I'd need to plant the poor little things with a life belt!

Sounds like a trip to the river for a bucket of sand before I go much further with this experiment.

In the past I have made a trench and filled this with potting mix to sow the carrot seed into, which gave a far better germination rate than straight into the garden soil. I seem to remember a boron deficiency is due to a pH imbalance of the soil.

It just seems to be this garden, suziebee. Once upon a time a creek ran through and the soil is quite acidic. Suits the rhodos but not the root crops. Where I used to live, not so far away, I had no problems at all.

Rather than try to get my tiny mind around the intricacies of balancing pH I'd thought I'd go for the lazy folks' option of containers BUT - I'm keen to know what you'd add to Karl's proposal.

I put down gypsum last year, and a light sprinkle of lime this year. No plans to add any more for 1-2 years at this point.

And each year the garden is topped with compost, zoo-doo, seaweed, and anything else I can collect to build the humus content. It may just be too 'juicy' for carrots...

A raised garden is basically just a large container. It is also easier to control the pH if necessary. I haven't had a decent vegie garden since the arrival of the puppies who are now three, but am planning raised gardens and am in the process of building the soil up in layers. I would like to stay as organic as reason permits. I would love to use sea weed but would probably have to nail it to the ground! I know it is not much consolation but the price of carrots is expected to rise. Have you seen the price of cauliflower at the moment.

Dogs, eh? Scrapes under the shrubs and stealthy forays to check for rats in the compost?? Or are they respectable dogs?!

I put my seaweed spoils in heavy-duty plastic bags and store them out of nose range until the contents are a black-brown mush, then it gets stirred in to a patch that's going to be used a little while further on - and left to itself.

I read about one woman who gardens on one of the offshore islands from Vancouver Island in Canada. The pictures showed these little 'ledges' made from driftwood and the gardens behind were regularly fed on fresh seaweed. Whatever was there seemed to take salt in its stride and flourished.

There's also the garden down at the mouth of the Orongorongo River which is breezy (straight up from Scott Base, I think!) which has been hedged with flaxes, toe toe and coprosma of various sorts. Plenty happening on the inland side, despite the droughtiness and the salt spray.

Are you coastal? Or inland? That book by, is it Jacob de Ruiter?, on gardening on windy sites 'Gardens in the Wind'(?) I found had some really helpful ideas. He's Wellington-Wairarapa based so I guess he's had PLENTY of experience!

I bought some 'baby carrot' seed - short and round variety - so, when the weather warms up a tad (and the thunder stops bellowing overhead) I'll start my first trough.

Thanks for helping. Appreciated.

I am in the Hutt Valley, facing North/South. The south side of the house gets the Southerly wind with a vengance and does not dry out in the winter. The dogs are part huntaways and tear around the place like, well I am not quite sure what! But they certainly make a mess in Winter. I have a fear of rats and if they caught one I would be horrified. I am thinking of planting a self fertile apple tree, not too large. Any good suggestions on a reliable disease free variety?

Most of my apples are used for chutney or sauce or stewed. For these purposes I like Lobo, Worcester Pearmain and a couple of the old 'Red Delicious'. I also have a wilding that has recently come into bearing. It keeps the parakeets off the rest - and the fruit, though small, keeps its shape when cooked. The Pearmain becomes fluffy and needs little to no sugar. The Lobo does keep shape and is another needing very little added sugar.

For eating, I prefer the Gala and Royal Gala from the commercial varieties, but I also enjoy a real Cox's Orange Pippin, or a Hawke's Bay Red, or a good non-watery Golden Delicious. For cooking - Sturmer, though it may be too sharp for most.

On a recent foray, credit card left at home, I noticed that Twiglands had a range of 'heritage' apples and some they reckon are suitable for container growing. I might. I might... but I'd prefer to know the taste before I buy something that might look cute but taste like sugary cottonwool! California GC also carries a reasonable range of fruit trees, and so does Carne Meadows in Masterton - at very reasonable prices, IMO. High Street Nursery, Masterton, same side as Carne's but a bit closer to town, also carries fruit trees.

Hope that helps.

Huntaways...Oh, gosh! Out there rounding up ducklings, kittens, and kids, for sure!! Workaholics of the dog world.