To date I have one whole bed of Sweet Candle carrots sown with 266 bore holes in the bed, these are hopefully for the Welsh and National as well as for my Malvern display. Each bore hole is spaced out domino fashion at 6 inches apart and the holes were cored out with a pipe measurin
g just under 3 inches in diameter.
I have always used a plastic down pipe for this function in the past until my friend Del decided to have a Rolls Royce version made from stainless steel. It is obviously a little heavier than the plastic one but it certainly cores through the sand like a knife through butter. The other beauty seems to be that the sand sticks to it when the corer is withdrawn and one tap of the side removes the sand easy as well. I’m definitely having one made for myself by the same engineer at a cost of £40 and it should core out thousands of holes without wearing out too fast.
The version I’ m having made will be mark two as it’s going to have a circular bubble level on the top of it so that I know that every bored hole will be perfectly vertical in every way. The mix this time is a new one using the Special Growing Medium that I have had specifically made for my by Everris called Levington F1S with peat and coir used in it being graded Superfine. To the mix I have added the same nutrients as Ian stocks, my Own Complete Base Fertiliser (this exactly the same as Q4 or Trev4) and my own finely ground calcified seaweed all at 12 ounces each to every 75 litre bag. I still have another longer concrete block bed to core and sow yet and this will have a selection of different carrots in it including one new variety on trial.
My leeks are doing well in the glass house, all potted up into 30 litre pots with the first batch of 15 Pendle Improved already on eighteen inch collars. The second batch haven’t been collared yet but they consist of the Pendle Improved as well as some of David Metcalfe’s new blanch cross. At the moment this New Cross certainly looks the part and would seem to be a more vigorous than the Pendle. My first sowing of Sweet Candle, primarily intended for the Tatton Park display are already three inches high and have just been thinned down to one in each station.