Vegetables to plant

KelvinZalaszengrot wrote:

Only signed in to find what vegetables are best to start growing here in April welcome to suggestions

Do you live here is my first question?

2nd maybe you are joking?

3rd Maybe you really are joining?


Sorry, The country is on lockdown as is Europe, and if you don't know now. Why are you asking?

SimCityAT wrote:

KelvinZalaszengrot wrote:

Only signed in to find what vegetables are best to start growing here in April welcome to suggestions

Do you live here is my first question?

2nd maybe you are joking?

3rd Maybe you really are joining?

Sorry, The country is on lockdown as is Europe, and if you don't know now. Why are you asking?

Might be a move to self-sufficiency in these trying times.   Googling works pretty good.

We know some smallholding farmers out East near Romania and they had to stop doing arable crops because they couldn't make any money out of it.  They now make less money from renting their land to another farmer who has installed pigs.  Apparently pigs are more profitable than vegetables commercially.  Less green cred though.

Hi seems you may be confused I live in Zalaszengrote  Tuesday morning I got up to feed my chickens and let them out it was -6 the previous week it snowed, 3 weeks ago it was sunny and I was in shorts, I have a cat a dog 2 ducks, 4chickens and a cockerel, I have planted some garlic last month and the shoots are just starting to break the surface. I put in a sack of potatoes over the last 2 weeks, I've researched the seasons last frost is meant to be April 11, I wondered what other people where planting. Maybe if you get off your high horse and help us common folk who work the land you could be gracious enough to give us some advice when needed thanks Kelvin

KelvinZalaszengrot wrote:

Hi seems you may be confused I live in Zalaszengrote  Tuesday morning I got up to feed my chickens and let them out it was -6 the previous week it snowed, 3 weeks ago it was sunny and I was in shorts, I have a cat a dog 2 ducks, 4chickens and a cockerel, I have planted some garlic last month and the shoots are just starting to break the surface. I put in a sack of potatoes over the last 2 weeks, I've researched the seasons last frost is meant to be April 11, I wondered what other people where planting. Maybe if you get off your high horse and help us common folk who work the land you could be gracious enough to give us some advice when needed thanks Kelvin

You really need klsallee to comment here.  He's got a vineyard and grows loads of stuff.

My own experiences growing here are not good but we live in the burbs on what is still a building/construction site.  One thing is having plenty of good water available given the summer heat.  We've had good raspberry crops and cherries always do well.  Our toms have always been weak as have our potatoes.  I tried British varieties and they  grow terribly here. Definitely not up to it. Local stuff only IMHO.    We've got some greengage (plum) plants going and they seem to be doing really well but it'll be years before we get anything out of them.  Our pet chickens do 1 egg a day each if we're lucky.   

Weatherwise, the general rule is from 15th April,  there won't be snow.  In Winter, 15th November is when the snow starts.   One thing interesting here is that it's like on a timetable.  Like someone throws a switch and suddenly it's summer all over.

Thanks fluffy 2560
My biggest problem is I don't have any water on the site, I have built a cold frame, for stating seeds off and have also constructed a 60ft long Hugelkulture bed. I do have 2 IBC's for water harvesting, which will contain 2000 gallons of water if it ever rains. I have planted the potatoes in wood chip, charcoal, no till soil and the normal way rows of turned soil as a test case for this first year. About 3 weeks ago I planted onions, garlic, carrots and sweet corn. I have a 2 pear trees, 2 apricot trees a massive cherry tree, plums, chestnut tree and about 7 walnut trees oh and 3 apple trees. Thanks for the advice about the 15 April. My chickens 4 of them are giving me between 2&4 eggs a day. Found it really difficult to find anyone that sells sea shells or grit, so that the chickens can make the eggs, have been digging up the lane to get some. Any suggestions welcome on the grit, my soil is very sandy. Romberg as a kid we used to buy grit from the pet shop for our chickens. Thanks again keep safe Kelvin

SimCityAT wrote:

KelvinZalaszengrot wrote:

Only signed in to find what vegetables are best to start growing here in April welcome to suggestions

Do you live here is my first question?

2nd maybe you are joking?

3rd Maybe you really are joining?


Sorry, The country is on lockdown as is Europe, and if you don't know now. Why are you asking?

Actually... Hm....

First. Hungary is not (yet) in lock down.

Second, agriculture is exempt. And that includes gardening on your land. If you have land. And if you have land, it is easy to stay 2 meters away from anyone.....

Well actually, starters last month would have been ideal. Even direct sowing of some plants radish or peas were last month. But, even under fleece my radish took a beating with the very unusual week long frost at the end of last month..... 

Also last month was the best time for starters for lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, onions from seed, herbs, eggplant, etc.

What to plant now or later this month direct sow: Green beans, some peas, some radish, carrots, parsnip,, celery, zeller, onion bulbs, leeks, garlic (bit late -- I plant my garlic in October, but now will also work), corn (after April 15th), and maybe roots vegies like beets or marigold (i.e. Rutabaga).

What to plant now as starters (keep them warn), cucumbers, squash, zucchini, and similar (planting out by mid May). Also can start beets and corn now as starters if also kept warm for later planting (especially the beets as you can rotate and keep up an all summer beet harvest if you plant starters then replace those you harvest with your starters -- and mult-sow your starters for best results). You want such seeds to be warm till they spout so keep them indoors till the sprout. Then bring them in at night, or put them under cover during night -- a low tunnel is a cheap option.

Side note: This discussion is better moved to the Gardening tips for Hungarian soil and climate topic:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=563994

Hope this helps.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Weatherwise, the general rule is from 15th April,  there won't be snow.  I.

Well, actually... No.

It depends on what you plant. Many plants are okay with cold weather.

For example, I planted my peas in February. And they are doing fine despite cold weather:

https://stcoemgen.com/2020/03/27/under-fleece-reveal/

I started onion seeds and radish in February. Planted my onion and radish starters on March 12th.

https://stcoemgen.com/2020/03/12/planti … -starters/

The radish took a huge hit due to unusual week long sub zero weather this past week (first time in the past decade I have seen such weather and after both above posts), but the onions are still fine and doing well.  And even many radish plants are coming back. When I can harvest them simply will be delayed.

And don't ignore wild plants that are edible, that may now be in your lawn. Such as dandelion, dead nettle, stinging nettle, curly dock , etc.

Hi Kisallee
I have currently about an acre and a quarter on a south facing slope, with the middle section of about 150 vines, the top paddock is about 30 square meters with 8 trees, 1 chestnut and 7 walnuts all under 7 years old. I started planting corn up there, about a foot deep, as i have a lot left over from a purchase I made when I first got my chickens. I have built a Hugokulture bed half way down the slope, which I really want to start planting in this is why I asked my initial question.
Thanks for your advice will go to the other area
Keep safe Kelvin

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Weatherwise, the general rule is from 15th April,  there won't be snow.  I.

Well, actually... No.

It depends on what you plant. Many plants are okay with cold weather.

...

I was going on the dates where winter tyres are not thought to be required.  Might be different agriculturally.   

i don't ever remember it snowing past April but I guess there's always a chance of some freak occurrence.  Would of course depend on other factors - up a mountain etc.

KelvinZalaszengrot wrote:

Thanks fluffy 2560
My biggest problem is I don't have any water on the site, I have built a cold frame, for stating seeds off and have also constructed a 60ft long Hugelkulture bed. I do have 2 IBC's for water harvesting, which will contain 2000 gallons of water if it ever rains. I have planted the potatoes in wood chip, charcoal, no till soil and the normal way rows of turned soil as a test case for this first year. About 3 weeks ago I planted onions, garlic, carrots and sweet corn. I have a 2 pear trees, 2 apricot trees a massive cherry tree, plums, chestnut tree and about 7 walnut trees oh and 3 apple trees. Thanks for the advice about the 15 April. My chickens 4 of them are giving me between 2&4 eggs a day. Found it really difficult to find anyone that sells sea shells or grit, so that the chickens can make the eggs, have been digging up the lane to get some. Any suggestions welcome on the grit, my soil is very sandy. Romberg as a kid we used to buy grit from the pet shop for our chickens. Thanks again keep safe Kelvin

2000 gallons is about 9000 litres.   That's a lot of water but you probably only need it for some plantings.   You could get a well drilled and with that you can take 6 m3 per day with a water license.

If your chickens are free ranging during the day, they should get some grit no problem from just their foraging around.  There are special bags of chicken feed you can get in a variety of forms including ones with ground up material in it for grit and different minerals.  We've never had any problems with egg formation without buying shells (you can feed their crushed up egg shells back to them). Any agricultural feed supplier will be able to easily provide that.  We get ours from a local supplier who seems to operate out a large garage and has no obvious sign on the door other than open/closed.  You'd never even know it was there!  You shouldn't need to go to a pet shop.  That would be too expensive long term.  We get out feed in 25kg sacks - lasts about 2 or 3 months or so with free range foraging.

We're on  our second set of chickens.  The fox got the first set due to my MIL forgetting to lock them in at night.  As layers they really have a pretty low life expectancy - 3-4 years.   We had 5 and now we're on 3 - two of them died about 6 months apart. One died last week. Just stopped eating and then gave up and died.  They have a pretty good life here overall. I think if we have more, we're probably going to have more pedigree ones - perhaps Dorking or Rhode Islands if we can find them here.

I had to look up the Hügelkultur method.  Presumably the rotting material provides heat.  I can easily build that if my back doesn't give way.  I don't have leaves but I have lots of straw from the chicken's house I think I could use. I also have a fair amount of wood - twigs and sticks from my tree pruning.  I'm thinking of building one of those now.   We had a raised bed but it's too small.   Might have a good go with that while in lockdown.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I had to look up the Hügelkultur method.  Presumably the rotting material provides heat.

It provides long term deep soil organic martial, better water retention in the short term than typical of long term native soils, as well as good aeration and other benefits. Warmth from bio-degradation is not really that important. Putting starters in trays over a compost pile is better and more efficient  for starter warmth, as starters are more sensitive to warmth than mature plants.

Down side is, it must be rebuild after 5 to 10 years. So fine for a starter method, but other methods should be considered for the long term

Personally, i prefer the no-dig option:

https://charlesdowding.co.uk/

And when I say, "prefer" that does not mean even I can do it all the time (even if it gives the best results). Because it requires a huge amount of compost. Which one may not have.. So..... One must do with what one has. But I am increasing my compost production, so I will eventually have enough.

So.... For this year, and that being said, I just put in a Hügelkultur like bed, with added charcoal (raw vine cuttings burred plus vine cuttings burned down to charcoal), with a mix of sand and native local clay soil on top (most of the ubiquitous stones removed after considerable effort).  Will plant carrots and parsnip there this week. Then a layer of fine wood chips later in the year (yes, I have a wood chipper). Next year, or rather in December, a layer of compost only.

It is an experiment.....

klsallee wrote:

.....

That being said, I just put in a Hügelkultur like bed, with added charcoal, with a mix of sand and native local clay soil on top (most of the ubiquitous stones removed after considerable effort).  Will plant carrots and parsnip there this week. Then a layer of fine wood chips later in the year. Next year, or rather in December, a layer of compost only.

It is an experiment.....

Yes, sounds like a lot of work. 

What's the clay for?  Keep the moisture in? Or out?  Charcoal?  Did you make your orwn? Why not just bury the logs as per Hügelkultur?

My Dad used to do something similar to these types of beds in raised form but he used mushroom compost from the local mushroom producer    Did very well for cucumbers and toms and the occasional mushroom!

fluffy2560 wrote:

klsallee wrote:

.....

That being said, I just put in a Hügelkultur like bed, with added charcoal, with a mix of sand and native local clay soil on top (most of the ubiquitous stones removed after considerable effort).  Will plant carrots and parsnip there this week. Then a layer of fine wood chips later in the year. Next year, or rather in December, a layer of compost only.

It is an experiment.....

Yes, sounds like a lot of work. 

What's the clay for?  Keep the moisture in? Or out?  Charcoal?  Did you make your orwn? Why not just bury the logs as per Hügelkultur?

Growing your own food is work. But I find it fun, productive, purposeful and enjoyable work.

Not everyone does, but I personally like digging in the dirt. 

The clay is just the native soil I have. I can not change that local fact. So it will be part of the seed cover layer this year. It was what I had. So I mixed it into the cover layer. Would have preferred a no dig compost... but it is an experiment of digging. Especially for a no-cost garden. That is, I buy nothing. I use only what I have. I also have beds layered in not dig compost. Already have onions, radish and peas sown this year in my no dig garden. Not to mention the onions, garlic, kale and lettuce that are growing that I planted last autumn.

So the current "deep dig" Hügelkultur "like" (because I am not claiming full compliance to full Hügelkultur) garden extension is an experiment. So don't bury logs. Because I am experimenting. (Which I already said, more than once .... I am experimenting).

Regarding charcoal, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

Yes, I made my own. Burning down my vineyard cuttings and stopping the fire at the correct time.