Episode 332. When is it time to harvest beetroot and potatoes - a podcast by Richard

Join me in today's podcast where I am answering some questions I received about when is it time to harvest beetroot and potatoes. I also have the latest from the allotment and modern victory garden.



A transcript of this podcast is available below if you want to read instead of listen.In this weeks diary section I have tackled the following tasks



Built a wood store water-butt standWorking out how much compost I needHarvested my onionsand much more.



When is it the right time to harvest beetroot and onions?This is the question I received in last nights live stream and I thought it'll be one to explore today. In this podcast, you will hear how I work out when my beetroot or potatoes are ready.





Podcast transcript.Episode 332. Transcript.



Hello and welcome to episode 332 of the veg grower podcast. My names Richard and I am on a mission to grow as much food as I can in my allotment and garden.Coming up a little later on I shall be answering a couple of question’s that came in through the Sunday night live show. Where I was asked when is the right time to harvest potatoes or beetroot but first what have I been up to over the weekend.



DiaryIt's Saturday the 13 June 2020. Today I have tried to do some work in the garden at home, unfortunately, I have found it a struggle to find motivation. I think I need to get out for a bit and visit a garden or something. I believe gardens are slowly opening.



Anyway, with the lack of motivation, I built the wood store slash water-butt stand I started building the other day. It's now in position and I started filling the wood store up with the wood from the trees we have cut down over the last few weeks. Which in turn has tidied up my lawn area because I had all this wood piled up on the lawn.



All I’ve got to do now is place some water butts on top of this stand and fill with water. Which I’m going to wait for the rain to come along and fill the other butts up. Well, that’s what I’ve been up to today.Birds tweeting



Its Sunday the 14th June 2020 and today I have been at home again. Firstly I popped out to get more compost in order to fill more pots up and plant more of my plants out mainly my squash plants. Something I am trying to work out is just how much compost I have bought this year and needed. Obviously my preferred way would be to make compost which I do anyway and like to use on my beds. I used to use this in pots a lot too unfortunately I don’t seem to be able to make enough compost for this too. The reason I'm analysing this is so that next year I can work out how much compost to bulk buy in advance to make my life easier and potentially cheaper. I reckon I need to buy about 1000 litres which giving that most compost bags are 50 litres would be about 20 bags which if I can buy in advance and store on my garage would potentially l work out well.



After this I ran over the lawn with the lawnmower now there were a few smaller brunches that got run over too which is something I do in order to make compost. Now I have said this is not the safest method and today I proved to myself why because a large brunch I must have missed did fly up and hit me on the nose. Fortunately, it's only a small cut but if it had my eye it could have been a lot worse. I think I may have to look at some sort of shredder in the future for this.



I have also harvested my first potatoes this is my homeguard potatoes that where planted at the end of February in the greenhouse. The plant themselves had died back so I knew it was time to harvest. So I emptied out the bucket and removed what potatoes were contained inside. Have to admit there were a few potatoes but all a little small. They are still edible of course and I expect will taste delicious.Anyway that's what I have been up to today



Birds tweetingIts Monday the 15th June 2020 first time I’ve been on the allotment today in nearly a week and boy can I tell the difference that rain we had last...

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