The gooseberry jam didn't last long, so I made some loganberry jam last night.
3 pounds of loganberries made 5 jars of jam
Put all the loganberries in a big pan, no water, mash a few with a wooden spoon, boil for about 20 mins - the loganberries break down in their own juice
Turn the heat down, add 3 pounds of sugar, stir in well to ensure all the sugar is disolved properly
Bring to boil for another 20 mins and test for set with a cold plate - if it isn't ready, boil a bit more and keep testing
When it's ready, pour into hot, sterilised jam jars
I used ordinary jam jars, the same as those we get from the supermarkets - I washed them in the dishwasher before storing with lids on
To sterlise them, I poured boiling water in them and rinsed them out
I then put the jars in the oven on the lowest setting to warm them up - pouring hot jam in a cold jar could break the jar
I used the ordinary jam jar lids, sterilised in boiling water - as the lids have the smooth waxy coating underneath, no need for wax discs or any messing about - as the jam cools, the pop-up safety button should pop down
The jam is very good but it's a bit runnier than I'd like. That might be because it wasn't boiled enough or didn't reach a high enough temperature. Or it could be that it didn't have enough pectin to cause a set. Next time I'll add a spoonful of lemon juice to help the set.
Monday 19 July 2010
Sunday 18 July 2010
Rain at last!
We've just had a week of badly needed rain. As I really only have potatoes, onions and sweetcorn on the allotment, and they only need watering, I haven't been up there for a week. However, I will go up there this week and pick all the redcurrants and gooseberries.
Fruit at home is doing well. I've picked about a pound of raspberries or loganberries per day from the garden - I have several pounds of each in the freezer, ready for making jam. The gooseberry jam at home has gone. I'll be making some more this week, along with either raspberry jam or loganberry jam.
The rhubarb crowns I split seem to be doing well. 3 of the crowns in the ground have new shoots, along with the one in the bucket. The other 3 are showing no signs of life at the moment. The big old crown in the old rhubarb bed is still doing well - it looks like that needs splitting into 3 crowns this winter.
I've picked some of the small Iceberg lettuces at home. Not sure if they were Mini Green or Little Gem, but they were good.
The seeds I sowed just over a week ago are doing fine - loads of seedlings showing, especially PSB. Hopefully will have time to build a frame and set up some netting for them this time. I'd rather feed me than the pigeons!
Fruit at home is doing well. I've picked about a pound of raspberries or loganberries per day from the garden - I have several pounds of each in the freezer, ready for making jam. The gooseberry jam at home has gone. I'll be making some more this week, along with either raspberry jam or loganberry jam.
The rhubarb crowns I split seem to be doing well. 3 of the crowns in the ground have new shoots, along with the one in the bucket. The other 3 are showing no signs of life at the moment. The big old crown in the old rhubarb bed is still doing well - it looks like that needs splitting into 3 crowns this winter.
I've picked some of the small Iceberg lettuces at home. Not sure if they were Mini Green or Little Gem, but they were good.
The seeds I sowed just over a week ago are doing fine - loads of seedlings showing, especially PSB. Hopefully will have time to build a frame and set up some netting for them this time. I'd rather feed me than the pigeons!
Thursday 8 July 2010
Pallet Compost Bin
A few weeks ago I built my first pallet compost bin at home. I used 3 pallets all nailed together for the sides and back. The one on the left side is a double-sided pallet - I'll be adding another compost bin on that side later. I nailed a length of 4 x 2 across the top to stop it pulling apart. I lined the inside with compost bags stapled to the pallets.
For the front of the compost bin, I nailed a few cut-down floorboards together. They are held in place by other floorboard pieces nailed to the front of the bin, so that they can be lifted out when I need to empty the bin.
I now have another couple of pallets, plus a big box of nails, so can build the 2nd bin when I get a chance. I'll be collecting a few more pallets to build compost bins for the allotment too.
For the front of the compost bin, I nailed a few cut-down floorboards together. They are held in place by other floorboard pieces nailed to the front of the bin, so that they can be lifted out when I need to empty the bin.
I now have another couple of pallets, plus a big box of nails, so can build the 2nd bin when I get a chance. I'll be collecting a few more pallets to build compost bins for the allotment too.
Rhubarb
All the crowns in pots seem to have died, except one, which was very large with loads of small stems. I felt that if I left it as it was much longer, it too would die, so I decided to split and plant it today.
When I emptied the bucket, the soil was very dry, despite frequent watering. That could explain the poor growth. As I rubbed the soil away, I found loads of roots and mini-crowns. I split the whole lump into 7 crowns. The first 6 all had a small single stem growing. The 7th (and largest) didn't have any stems growing.
I dug over part of the bed behind the greenhouse where the buckets have stood for a long time. The bed has been sheeted over, so mostly weed free. The soil was quite moist. I planted out the first 6 crowns out about 18" apart - that might be too close for the long term, but it's fine for the rest of this year and a smaller area means less weeding. If they grow well, they can be moved apart early next year. The 7th crown (with no stems) was put back in the bucket for the time being with fresh compost. I'll keep it well watered so it doesn't dry out!!
When I emptied the bucket, the soil was very dry, despite frequent watering. That could explain the poor growth. As I rubbed the soil away, I found loads of roots and mini-crowns. I split the whole lump into 7 crowns. The first 6 all had a small single stem growing. The 7th (and largest) didn't have any stems growing.
I dug over part of the bed behind the greenhouse where the buckets have stood for a long time. The bed has been sheeted over, so mostly weed free. The soil was quite moist. I planted out the first 6 crowns out about 18" apart - that might be too close for the long term, but it's fine for the rest of this year and a smaller area means less weeding. If they grow well, they can be moved apart early next year. The 7th crown (with no stems) was put back in the bucket for the time being with fresh compost. I'll keep it well watered so it doesn't dry out!!
More Sowings
I recently lost all my brassicas - pigeons ate the ones I planted out in the veggie patch, and the seedlings in the greenhouse all died in the heat. The lettuce I started a while back is almost ready to pick, and I'll need more soon. So time to sow some more veggies!
I sowed about 12 trays including:
36 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
24 Late PSB
12 PSB Rudolph
12 Winter Cabbage (Offenham)
8 Kale (Black Tuscany)
8 Swede (Magres)
8 Swede (Invitation)
8 Lettuce (Mini Green)
8 Lettuce (Little Gem)
4 Butternut Squash
4 Courgette (Green Bush)
8 Lettuce (Lollo Rossa)
8 Lettuce (Red Salad Bowl)
8 Lettuce (Salad Bowl)
12 Spinach (Hector)
12 Spinach (Picasso)
12 Spinach (Bordeaux)
12 Spinach Beet
Tray loose sown radish
I want to grow as much veg as I can now and get it planted out as soon as possible. I don't know how many brassicas I can actually plant out in the veggie patch and the allotment, and I know a lot of it has been sown late now, but I've got to try and grow whatever I can now.
The loose leaf lettuce and spinach will be used in patio tubs again. I must sow some rocket to go with it.
I've also sown several more climbing French bean seeds by each of the canes where the previous sowings didn't take. Fingers crossed I'll actually get a half decent crop of beans this year.
I sowed about 12 trays including:
36 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
24 Late PSB
12 PSB Rudolph
12 Winter Cabbage (Offenham)
8 Kale (Black Tuscany)
8 Swede (Magres)
8 Swede (Invitation)
8 Lettuce (Mini Green)
8 Lettuce (Little Gem)
4 Butternut Squash
4 Courgette (Green Bush)
8 Lettuce (Lollo Rossa)
8 Lettuce (Red Salad Bowl)
8 Lettuce (Salad Bowl)
12 Spinach (Hector)
12 Spinach (Picasso)
12 Spinach (Bordeaux)
12 Spinach Beet
Tray loose sown radish
I want to grow as much veg as I can now and get it planted out as soon as possible. I don't know how many brassicas I can actually plant out in the veggie patch and the allotment, and I know a lot of it has been sown late now, but I've got to try and grow whatever I can now.
The loose leaf lettuce and spinach will be used in patio tubs again. I must sow some rocket to go with it.
I've also sown several more climbing French bean seeds by each of the canes where the previous sowings didn't take. Fingers crossed I'll actually get a half decent crop of beans this year.
Gooseberry Jam
I've had several pounds of gooseberries in the freezer since last year. I was too ill to do much about anything last year and been really busy and lacking motivation at times this year. As the freezer was filling up again with soft fruit this year, I finally gave myself the kick up the bum that I needed to do something about it - I made jam and it's lovely!
I used just over 2 pounds of gooseberries with 2 pounds of sugar. Topping and tailing the gooseberries was easy while they were still frozen - just pick the tops and tails off with a fingernail. I then boiled them for just over half an hour in just over a pint of water. I then turned the gas right down and added the sugar, stirring for a few minutes while the sugar disolved. I then boiled it for about 10 minutes or so and potted it in saved jam jars. I got 3 jars full right to the top.
I gave two jars away, one to my neighbour and one to my girlfriend. Several other people said they really like it and have placed orders! I've said I'll give them a jar of jam if they give me a big bag of sugar - fair swap?!
I love jam so don't want to give too much of it away and don't want to use too much fruit making jams all the time - I want to make other things like gooseberry pie and gooseberry wine, and want enough gooseberries to make more jams throughout the year.
I used just over 2 pounds of gooseberries with 2 pounds of sugar. Topping and tailing the gooseberries was easy while they were still frozen - just pick the tops and tails off with a fingernail. I then boiled them for just over half an hour in just over a pint of water. I then turned the gas right down and added the sugar, stirring for a few minutes while the sugar disolved. I then boiled it for about 10 minutes or so and potted it in saved jam jars. I got 3 jars full right to the top.
I gave two jars away, one to my neighbour and one to my girlfriend. Several other people said they really like it and have placed orders! I've said I'll give them a jar of jam if they give me a big bag of sugar - fair swap?!
I love jam so don't want to give too much of it away and don't want to use too much fruit making jams all the time - I want to make other things like gooseberry pie and gooseberry wine, and want enough gooseberries to make more jams throughout the year.
A Catch Up - Part 2
Following on from the previous post .....
Not much has happened on the allotment. Most of it was sheeted over to prevent weeds. Fortunately most of the sheeting has stayed in place. so mostly weed free.
The potatoes have suffered. The late frost caused some damage and the hot, dry weather has taken it's toll too. The potato beds weren't covered so were full of weeds. I have now weeded the first bed and soaked the bed a few times (I now have a hose with attachments at last!) - the potatoes seem to be recovering. I'll weed the second bed this week and hopefully earth up too.
I planted out 30 sweetcorn through the weed sheeting - I had dug the bed over some weeks ago then sheeted it over. They are all doing "ok", but not very big yet. I also planted about 120 onions on the salads bed - again the dry weather has taken it's toll.
The gooseberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants all have a lot of tall grass growing through them and are covered in a climbing weed with big white flowers. I think it's all helping to keep the birds from eating the fruit, but I'd rather clear the weeds and net the bushes. In any case, it's just about time to pick the fruit, so will try and do that next week. The strawberries are completely lost in the weeds.
One grape vine is visible in the weeds. I'll try and find the other and clear more weeds from the plot. The plum and pear treeds on the plot seem to be doing well with loads of fruit this year. The raspberries are poor again, so will replace some or all of them over the winter with canes saved from home.
That's about it for the allotment - hopefully I'll have some brassicas to plant out soon.
Not much has happened on the allotment. Most of it was sheeted over to prevent weeds. Fortunately most of the sheeting has stayed in place. so mostly weed free.
The potatoes have suffered. The late frost caused some damage and the hot, dry weather has taken it's toll too. The potato beds weren't covered so were full of weeds. I have now weeded the first bed and soaked the bed a few times (I now have a hose with attachments at last!) - the potatoes seem to be recovering. I'll weed the second bed this week and hopefully earth up too.
I planted out 30 sweetcorn through the weed sheeting - I had dug the bed over some weeks ago then sheeted it over. They are all doing "ok", but not very big yet. I also planted about 120 onions on the salads bed - again the dry weather has taken it's toll.
The gooseberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants all have a lot of tall grass growing through them and are covered in a climbing weed with big white flowers. I think it's all helping to keep the birds from eating the fruit, but I'd rather clear the weeds and net the bushes. In any case, it's just about time to pick the fruit, so will try and do that next week. The strawberries are completely lost in the weeds.
One grape vine is visible in the weeds. I'll try and find the other and clear more weeds from the plot. The plum and pear treeds on the plot seem to be doing well with loads of fruit this year. The raspberries are poor again, so will replace some or all of them over the winter with canes saved from home.
That's about it for the allotment - hopefully I'll have some brassicas to plant out soon.
A Catch Up - Part 1
It's been several weeks since my last post - I've been very busy clearing junk in the house and decorating so I can get a lodger in. Although the lodger is now in, the veggie patch and allotment have suffered a bit. I also now have a girlfriend and it looks like this one could actually last more than a few weeks!
We had a late frost a few weeks ago that damaged a lot of the potatoes. We've also had a very dry spell the last couple of weeks with no rain at all, and some extremely hot days. All the seedlings I had in the greenhouse are now dead due to the heat and not watering them enough.
I planted out loads of brassicas at home. Sadly, the pigeons have eaten them all. What with the loss of all the seedlings in the greenhouse, I have no brassicas to plant out either at home or on the allotment. I have now sown a few more trays of brassicas, full list to follow. I have more time to look after them now so hopefully all will be ok!
The peas (Twinkle) I planted at home are a bit poor. Some didn't germinate, the plants grew slowly, the plants are short (12-18") and currently hidden by weeds, and the pods are small - overall a poor crop. I definitely prefer the Rondo peas I grew last year.
I now have only two rhubarb crowns growing at home - the big one in the bed, and the biggest one in the pot. The rest seem to have died. The pot one doesn't seem to be doing too well, nothing usable on it, so I'll split the crown and plant in sometime in the next couple of weeks.
I sowed loads of window boxes of carrots. Foxes have dug up one and knocked another over. The tub of parsnips seem to be ok.
The salad tub is past it's best now. The spinach has gone to seed and everything seems to be covered in blackfly. I did have more seedlings for a replacement tub, but those seedlings died. I will sow more this week.
The potatoes in the ground seem ok and have mostly recovered from the frost damage. I've had the sprinkler on most days, so they haven't dried out. I managed to earth them up a bit, and used a mulch of grass cuttings to help cover them up and keep the weeds down. The potatoes in buckets on the patio are not so good - I didn't top up the buckets with compost and water them early enough, so they look a bit yellow and wilted, but now they're topped up and well watered, they seem to be recovering.
The lettuce is doing well - no visible slug damage - hardly any slugs at all this year. The climbing French beans (Blue Lake) that have done so well in previous years are a dismal failure so far this year - only 6 plants on 14 canes, and the plants are only 12 inches tall at the moment. The aubergine plants are still there, not much bigger than seedlings - but fingers crossed they'll grow something useful. The spinach is "ok" - it looks usable. but nowhere near as good as last year.
Soft fruit is doing well though. I've picked loads of raspberries and loganberries in the last week or so - all put in margerine tubs and stored in the freezer. The gooseberry bushes have sprouted very long shoots so could grow quite big for next year - not many gooseberries this year tho. I had a handful of strawberries, not enough to be worth saving, so scoffed them all.
I saved one loganberry runner in a pot earlier this year and it seemed to take ok. I've given this to a neighbour. I've also pulled up several raspberry canes that sprouted everywhere, and put them in tubs in the shade. A few seem to be surviving. If they do survive ok, I'll take them up to the allotment over the winter to replace the rather naff raspberry canes up there.
The pear, apple and my little cooking apple tree seem to be doing well this year - all very well loaded with fruit. The plum tree has some fruit ripening, but nothing spectacular yet. Must check the plum tree in the street.
Tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse seem ok. I've paid a bit more attention to pinching out the tomatoes this year. They haven't grown as tall as last year, but I do have the first green tomatoes showing. I've set up the drip feeders again now, but using a different make of drippers to last years ones. Hopefully these won't get blocked as easily as last year's ones. The peppers have started to flower, so I've put them outside now in the hope they'll get pollinated by bees.
The herbs I grew in pots have mostly failed. I might give them another go next year, depending on time etc.
Leeks seems to be ok in pots at the moment - not sure how many I've got, but should fill up some of the potato beds when I finally dig up the potatoes.
Onions are doing ok so far - about 85 of them in the ground here. They're surrounded by weeds at the moment, but I'll get the weeds up over the next week or so.
And last of all, today, I picked up a large chest freezer, kindly given away on freecycle. I can see this being filled up pretty quickly with fruit over the next couple of months. My neighbour over the road will give me her apples for making cider - I'll simply bag them up and freeze all the normal apples until I get time to make cider. My next door neighbour will give me his cooking apples - I'll be peeling and slicing then freezing them - I should get loads of apple pies and crumbles any time I want them!
We had a late frost a few weeks ago that damaged a lot of the potatoes. We've also had a very dry spell the last couple of weeks with no rain at all, and some extremely hot days. All the seedlings I had in the greenhouse are now dead due to the heat and not watering them enough.
I planted out loads of brassicas at home. Sadly, the pigeons have eaten them all. What with the loss of all the seedlings in the greenhouse, I have no brassicas to plant out either at home or on the allotment. I have now sown a few more trays of brassicas, full list to follow. I have more time to look after them now so hopefully all will be ok!
The peas (Twinkle) I planted at home are a bit poor. Some didn't germinate, the plants grew slowly, the plants are short (12-18") and currently hidden by weeds, and the pods are small - overall a poor crop. I definitely prefer the Rondo peas I grew last year.
I now have only two rhubarb crowns growing at home - the big one in the bed, and the biggest one in the pot. The rest seem to have died. The pot one doesn't seem to be doing too well, nothing usable on it, so I'll split the crown and plant in sometime in the next couple of weeks.
I sowed loads of window boxes of carrots. Foxes have dug up one and knocked another over. The tub of parsnips seem to be ok.
The salad tub is past it's best now. The spinach has gone to seed and everything seems to be covered in blackfly. I did have more seedlings for a replacement tub, but those seedlings died. I will sow more this week.
The potatoes in the ground seem ok and have mostly recovered from the frost damage. I've had the sprinkler on most days, so they haven't dried out. I managed to earth them up a bit, and used a mulch of grass cuttings to help cover them up and keep the weeds down. The potatoes in buckets on the patio are not so good - I didn't top up the buckets with compost and water them early enough, so they look a bit yellow and wilted, but now they're topped up and well watered, they seem to be recovering.
The lettuce is doing well - no visible slug damage - hardly any slugs at all this year. The climbing French beans (Blue Lake) that have done so well in previous years are a dismal failure so far this year - only 6 plants on 14 canes, and the plants are only 12 inches tall at the moment. The aubergine plants are still there, not much bigger than seedlings - but fingers crossed they'll grow something useful. The spinach is "ok" - it looks usable. but nowhere near as good as last year.
Soft fruit is doing well though. I've picked loads of raspberries and loganberries in the last week or so - all put in margerine tubs and stored in the freezer. The gooseberry bushes have sprouted very long shoots so could grow quite big for next year - not many gooseberries this year tho. I had a handful of strawberries, not enough to be worth saving, so scoffed them all.
I saved one loganberry runner in a pot earlier this year and it seemed to take ok. I've given this to a neighbour. I've also pulled up several raspberry canes that sprouted everywhere, and put them in tubs in the shade. A few seem to be surviving. If they do survive ok, I'll take them up to the allotment over the winter to replace the rather naff raspberry canes up there.
The pear, apple and my little cooking apple tree seem to be doing well this year - all very well loaded with fruit. The plum tree has some fruit ripening, but nothing spectacular yet. Must check the plum tree in the street.
Tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse seem ok. I've paid a bit more attention to pinching out the tomatoes this year. They haven't grown as tall as last year, but I do have the first green tomatoes showing. I've set up the drip feeders again now, but using a different make of drippers to last years ones. Hopefully these won't get blocked as easily as last year's ones. The peppers have started to flower, so I've put them outside now in the hope they'll get pollinated by bees.
The herbs I grew in pots have mostly failed. I might give them another go next year, depending on time etc.
Leeks seems to be ok in pots at the moment - not sure how many I've got, but should fill up some of the potato beds when I finally dig up the potatoes.
Onions are doing ok so far - about 85 of them in the ground here. They're surrounded by weeds at the moment, but I'll get the weeds up over the next week or so.
And last of all, today, I picked up a large chest freezer, kindly given away on freecycle. I can see this being filled up pretty quickly with fruit over the next couple of months. My neighbour over the road will give me her apples for making cider - I'll simply bag them up and freeze all the normal apples until I get time to make cider. My next door neighbour will give me his cooking apples - I'll be peeling and slicing then freezing them - I should get loads of apple pies and crumbles any time I want them!
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Rhubarb
I picked my first rhubarb of the year on 12th April - 5 sticks made a very nice crumble. More sticks will be ready soon.
2 crowns in buckets appear to be dead. 3 others in buckets seem to be doing ok. One has a lot of 8" sticks, quite thin, the others have only just started sprouting.
2 crowns in buckets appear to be dead. 3 others in buckets seem to be doing ok. One has a lot of 8" sticks, quite thin, the others have only just started sprouting.
Potatoes
I've been up to the allotment, finished digging over the 2nd potato bed and planted potatoes in it. I also planted the remainder of the first potato bed.
As I've had spare potatoes, I've put some in large tubs at home. My neighbour wants a few and I'll save a few for a friend who wants some too.
The full planting out list is as follows:
ALLOTMENT
Potato bed 1:
17 Duke of York (first earlies) nearest raspberries
30 King Edward (maincrop) nearest path
Potato bed 2:
16 Charlotte (salad potatoes) in 2 rows nearest compost bins
16 Maris Peer (second earliest) in 2 rows furthest from compost bins
HOME
1 row Charlotte (salad potatoes) nearest the greenhouse
2 rows Duke of York (first earlies)
2 rows Maris Peer (second earlies)
1 row King Edward (maincrop)
8 large tubs for patio as follows:
1 King Edward, 3 Charlotte
1 Duke of York, 3 Maris Peer
(I'll keep them in this order so I don't get mixed up!)
As I've had spare potatoes, I've put some in large tubs at home. My neighbour wants a few and I'll save a few for a friend who wants some too.
The full planting out list is as follows:
ALLOTMENT
Potato bed 1:
17 Duke of York (first earlies) nearest raspberries
30 King Edward (maincrop) nearest path
Potato bed 2:
16 Charlotte (salad potatoes) in 2 rows nearest compost bins
16 Maris Peer (second earliest) in 2 rows furthest from compost bins
HOME
1 row Charlotte (salad potatoes) nearest the greenhouse
2 rows Duke of York (first earlies)
2 rows Maris Peer (second earlies)
1 row King Edward (maincrop)
8 large tubs for patio as follows:
1 King Edward, 3 Charlotte
1 Duke of York, 3 Maris Peer
(I'll keep them in this order so I don't get mixed up!)
Monday 19 April 2010
Other Work
Been to garden centre to pick up 4 sacks of multipurpose compost - it's good and cheap. I'm hoping to set up my pallet compost bins this year and get some proper compost rather than having to buy it. The stuff in the daleks looks like sludge and I don't really want to touch it yet.
Thinned out seedlings in greenhouse - all going well - lots need potting on or planting out soon.
Emptied tomato pots and potato pots from the stepped beds at the top of the garden - as tomato seedlings are ready for planting out, I'll have to crack on with these this week.
Went to allotment for BBQ Sunday afternoon, then dug over most of 2nd potato bed - it just needs raking over before planting spuds. Moved some weed sheeting to cover over what will become the 2nd brassicas bed - it had a partial dig over last year, but as it's been uncovered, has a lot of grass and weeds. The sheeting will kill some of it off and what's left can be dug up easily later on.
Thinned out seedlings in greenhouse - all going well - lots need potting on or planting out soon.
Emptied tomato pots and potato pots from the stepped beds at the top of the garden - as tomato seedlings are ready for planting out, I'll have to crack on with these this week.
Went to allotment for BBQ Sunday afternoon, then dug over most of 2nd potato bed - it just needs raking over before planting spuds. Moved some weed sheeting to cover over what will become the 2nd brassicas bed - it had a partial dig over last year, but as it's been uncovered, has a lot of grass and weeds. The sheeting will kill some of it off and what's left can be dug up easily later on.
Sunday 18 April 2010
Salad Tubs
This year I'm using a couple of large tubs for loose leaf salad plants. These will be kept on the patio for easy access for picking at any time - this also frees up more space in the veggie patch for veggies that take longer to grow. The loose leaf plants allow constant picking for a long time, until the plants bolt or die.
The first tub has:
1 Spinach Hector
1 Spinach Picasso
1 Lettuce Red Salad Bowl
2 Lettuce Salad Bowl
1 Lettuce Mixed Leaves
1 Lettuce Lollo Rossa
1 Chinese Leaves ?
2 "Stir Fry Mix"
I'm not sure how long these plants will be pickable / usable for. I have another large tub the same, so I'll be sowing and planting that one in a few weeks time. I'll probably sow more seeds every few weeks just so that I have seedlings ready for planting whenever they're needed to replace the first.
My neighbour wanted a similar salad tub - she had two large pots so we did the two with a mixture of lettuces and spinach.
The first tub has:
1 Spinach Hector
1 Spinach Picasso
1 Lettuce Red Salad Bowl
2 Lettuce Salad Bowl
1 Lettuce Mixed Leaves
1 Lettuce Lollo Rossa
1 Chinese Leaves ?
2 "Stir Fry Mix"
I'm not sure how long these plants will be pickable / usable for. I have another large tub the same, so I'll be sowing and planting that one in a few weeks time. I'll probably sow more seeds every few weeks just so that I have seedlings ready for planting whenever they're needed to replace the first.
My neighbour wanted a similar salad tub - she had two large pots so we did the two with a mixture of lettuces and spinach.
More Sowings
Bright, warm sunshine and I've been suffering with a heavy cold. Typical! Not to be deterred, I was sowing more seeds yesterday:
2 pots Leeks
2 pots Spring Onions
8 Lettuce Webbs
8 Lettuce Iceberg 2
8 Lettuce Iceberg Set
12 Lettuce Mini Green
12 Lettuce Little Gem
4 Butternut Squash
4 Courgette Green Bush
4 Cucumber Marketer
4 Cucumber Marketmore
4 Celery Sigfrido
4 Celery Lathom
30 Sweetcorn Minipop
1 King Edward in a large pot for the patio
24 Calabrese Sakura
10 Calabrese Belstar
14 Broccoli Green Magic
12 Cauliflower All Year Round
10 Cabbage Wheelers
2 Kale Black Tuscany
10 Climbing Beans Blue Lake (in 3" pots)
4 Thyme Old English
4 Thyme Orange Scented
4 Sage
4 Oregano
2 Parsley Envy
2 Sweet Basil
2 Basil Siam Queen
2 Rocket
2 Summer Savory
Small tub Parsnip Gladiator
2 Horseradish roots into deep square pots
Most of remaining onions sown in 2" pots
Most of the King Edwards were planted out on the allotment the other day. I've kept one for a patio pot at home. It's in a large pot of compost, so we'll see how it compares with the ones planted in the ground on the allotment and the veggie patch.
Having planted out a lot of onions, I've started more in the 2" round pots to give them a head start against the weeds. The ground hasn't been prepared for them just yet.
I've sown a huge batch of herbs. I'm not very clued up on herbs, so this is a bit of a learning curve. Last year I read about "companion planting" using herbs to attract bees and deter other bugs - I'll need to find the articles and read them again until it all sinks in.
I've sown a small tub of parsnips. Me and my son don't eat parsnips, but other people do, so will be useful if I end up cooking for other people. If nothing else, I could try making some parsnip wine.
The ground isn't ready for planting out horseradish - it'll be a while before I get that dug over. So for this year, I've planted 2 horseradish roots into deep square pots of compost. We'll see what happens!
2 pots Leeks
2 pots Spring Onions
8 Lettuce Webbs
8 Lettuce Iceberg 2
8 Lettuce Iceberg Set
12 Lettuce Mini Green
12 Lettuce Little Gem
4 Butternut Squash
4 Courgette Green Bush
4 Cucumber Marketer
4 Cucumber Marketmore
4 Celery Sigfrido
4 Celery Lathom
30 Sweetcorn Minipop
1 King Edward in a large pot for the patio
24 Calabrese Sakura
10 Calabrese Belstar
14 Broccoli Green Magic
12 Cauliflower All Year Round
10 Cabbage Wheelers
2 Kale Black Tuscany
10 Climbing Beans Blue Lake (in 3" pots)
4 Thyme Old English
4 Thyme Orange Scented
4 Sage
4 Oregano
2 Parsley Envy
2 Sweet Basil
2 Basil Siam Queen
2 Rocket
2 Summer Savory
Small tub Parsnip Gladiator
2 Horseradish roots into deep square pots
Most of remaining onions sown in 2" pots
Most of the King Edwards were planted out on the allotment the other day. I've kept one for a patio pot at home. It's in a large pot of compost, so we'll see how it compares with the ones planted in the ground on the allotment and the veggie patch.
Having planted out a lot of onions, I've started more in the 2" round pots to give them a head start against the weeds. The ground hasn't been prepared for them just yet.
I've sown a huge batch of herbs. I'm not very clued up on herbs, so this is a bit of a learning curve. Last year I read about "companion planting" using herbs to attract bees and deter other bugs - I'll need to find the articles and read them again until it all sinks in.
I've sown a small tub of parsnips. Me and my son don't eat parsnips, but other people do, so will be useful if I end up cooking for other people. If nothing else, I could try making some parsnip wine.
The ground isn't ready for planting out horseradish - it'll be a while before I get that dug over. So for this year, I've planted 2 horseradish roots into deep square pots of compost. We'll see what happens!
Thursday 15 April 2010
A Sunny Day!
Sunny day yesterday, so went down the garden again. Planted out 6 rows of spuds as follows:
1 row Charlotte (salad potatoes) nearest the greenhouse
2 rows Duke of York (first earlies)
2 rows Maris Peer (second earlies)
1 row King Edward (maincrop)
Then dug over half the onion bed and planted:
30 Stuttgarter Giant (nearest the greenhouse)
15 Reds
20 Setton
20 Reds
20 Stuttgarter Giant
Today, another sunny day so went to the allotment with my son. My neighbour had pulled up the old concrete slabs that used to be her front path, so we collected them for the allotment. Most are broken so really only useful to hold down weed sheeting, but there are about a dozen that can be used for part of a pathway.
We had a good tidy up. We lifted most of the old weed sheeting and turned it over and laid it neatly. The sheeting had been held down by mostly rotten timber and old branches that had been left on the plot, but we got rid of most of that and used the old broken bits of concrete instead. This makes the whole plot look neater and the sheeting is held down better than before.
I also cleared away the weeds that had grown under, over and through the blackcurrant bush. I only discovered the bush by chance last year. It's now in the open and should thrive this year. I'll put some weed sheeting around the base when I get a chance.
We also dug up a huge old mound of weeds and grass in the middle of the plot - this was a mound that built up last year, just for somewhere to put it. The 2nd potato bed had been under weed sheeting and is mostly weed free, so will just need a quick dig over before planting out.
We planted out 30 King Edwards in the first potato bed, from the centre path end of the bed. There is still plenty of space for other potatoes, probably the Duke of York first earlies. I'll plant the rest of the Maris Peer and Charlottes in the 2nd potato bed soon, and will divide them with a couple of rows of onions.
1 row Charlotte (salad potatoes) nearest the greenhouse
2 rows Duke of York (first earlies)
2 rows Maris Peer (second earlies)
1 row King Edward (maincrop)
Then dug over half the onion bed and planted:
30 Stuttgarter Giant (nearest the greenhouse)
15 Reds
20 Setton
20 Reds
20 Stuttgarter Giant
Today, another sunny day so went to the allotment with my son. My neighbour had pulled up the old concrete slabs that used to be her front path, so we collected them for the allotment. Most are broken so really only useful to hold down weed sheeting, but there are about a dozen that can be used for part of a pathway.
We had a good tidy up. We lifted most of the old weed sheeting and turned it over and laid it neatly. The sheeting had been held down by mostly rotten timber and old branches that had been left on the plot, but we got rid of most of that and used the old broken bits of concrete instead. This makes the whole plot look neater and the sheeting is held down better than before.
I also cleared away the weeds that had grown under, over and through the blackcurrant bush. I only discovered the bush by chance last year. It's now in the open and should thrive this year. I'll put some weed sheeting around the base when I get a chance.
We also dug up a huge old mound of weeds and grass in the middle of the plot - this was a mound that built up last year, just for somewhere to put it. The 2nd potato bed had been under weed sheeting and is mostly weed free, so will just need a quick dig over before planting out.
We planted out 30 King Edwards in the first potato bed, from the centre path end of the bed. There is still plenty of space for other potatoes, probably the Duke of York first earlies. I'll plant the rest of the Maris Peer and Charlottes in the 2nd potato bed soon, and will divide them with a couple of rows of onions.
Saturday 10 April 2010
Allotment Update
We've finally had some decent sun so went to the allotment to check the condition and make a start for this year. The good news is it wasn't too bad!
Most of the plot was sheeted over, so not many weeds. The unsheeted parts were a bit overgrown, but not bad. Some of the sheeting had blown out of place, but was easily replaced. I took more bricks with me to hold down the sheeting a bit better.
I dug up the brassicas from last year and dug over the bed - approx 12' x 8'. Most of it was fairly easy to turn over, but did have a lot of grass and weeds in parts. I removed as much of the mares tail root as I could find. I'll be planting spuds in this bed in the next few days - the spuds have been chitting for a few weeks so are ready for planting.
I'll need more space for more spuds, so will make a start on digging the other spuds bed up there over the next few days. I have also finished digging over the 8' x 8' spuds bed at home, so all spuds should be planted soon.
The gooseberries and redcurrants have a lot of grass growing under them. I'll need to rip out as much grass as i can at some point and put weed sheeting under the bushes.
The raspberries are in similar condition, but i can't put weed sheeting under them like with the bushes. I'll probably need to dig the raspberries up in autumn/winter, lay weed sheeting just like at home, and replant the raspberries.
The blackcurrant bush I found last autumn is clearly visible under something else that appears twiggy and dead, possibly lavender. I'll need to clear all that and the ground underneath when I get a chance.
Overall, not too bad - had feared much worse. The weather has set me back with the digging, but some good sunshine and hard graft and I'll catch up. Need to remember, I don't need to do it all at once! I've got plenty of time for planting out over next couple of months.
I'm also going to mark out some slightly wider paths - I don't need to use all the ground at once - and I'm being given some old slabs etc, so can use them for pathways. I will get a whole load more slabs eventually!
Most of the plot was sheeted over, so not many weeds. The unsheeted parts were a bit overgrown, but not bad. Some of the sheeting had blown out of place, but was easily replaced. I took more bricks with me to hold down the sheeting a bit better.
I dug up the brassicas from last year and dug over the bed - approx 12' x 8'. Most of it was fairly easy to turn over, but did have a lot of grass and weeds in parts. I removed as much of the mares tail root as I could find. I'll be planting spuds in this bed in the next few days - the spuds have been chitting for a few weeks so are ready for planting.
I'll need more space for more spuds, so will make a start on digging the other spuds bed up there over the next few days. I have also finished digging over the 8' x 8' spuds bed at home, so all spuds should be planted soon.
The gooseberries and redcurrants have a lot of grass growing under them. I'll need to rip out as much grass as i can at some point and put weed sheeting under the bushes.
The raspberries are in similar condition, but i can't put weed sheeting under them like with the bushes. I'll probably need to dig the raspberries up in autumn/winter, lay weed sheeting just like at home, and replant the raspberries.
The blackcurrant bush I found last autumn is clearly visible under something else that appears twiggy and dead, possibly lavender. I'll need to clear all that and the ground underneath when I get a chance.
Overall, not too bad - had feared much worse. The weather has set me back with the digging, but some good sunshine and hard graft and I'll catch up. Need to remember, I don't need to do it all at once! I've got plenty of time for planting out over next couple of months.
I'm also going to mark out some slightly wider paths - I don't need to use all the ground at once - and I'm being given some old slabs etc, so can use them for pathways. I will get a whole load more slabs eventually!
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Sprouting update
A quick look in the greenhouse shows most of the seeds are sprouting nicely. The Green Magic broccoli has shot up and died, as have the sprouts. Everything else looks fine.
Outside, the first leaves are starting to sprout on the gooseberries and loganberries. The raspberry canes have buds on, but no leaves sprouting yet.
The rhubarb crown under the plum trees has sprouted 4 leaves up to 5" wide, with stems of about 3" long. The large rhubarb crown in the pot behind the greenhouse is not far behind. This time last week they had only just started to sprout. Other rhubarb crowns are not sprouting just yet.
The peas are looking ok - they all seem to be alive, but not upright yet. Maybe they just need a bit more time and good weather to sit upright more?
The garlic cloves have started to sprout. It looks like a fox might have had a dig around in one end of the tub, but I smoothed it out and replanted the garlic cloves. Garlic is supposedly better when it's sown in autumn as the frosts will cause the bulb to split into cloves, so we'll see what we get from these spring sown ones. I'll plant more in autumn.
The tomatoes and peppers I've sown for sale at the Scouts Easter Fair are doing ok. They are still indoors in the plug cells and need potting on tomorrow.
It's all looking good so far!
Outside, the first leaves are starting to sprout on the gooseberries and loganberries. The raspberry canes have buds on, but no leaves sprouting yet.
The rhubarb crown under the plum trees has sprouted 4 leaves up to 5" wide, with stems of about 3" long. The large rhubarb crown in the pot behind the greenhouse is not far behind. This time last week they had only just started to sprout. Other rhubarb crowns are not sprouting just yet.
The peas are looking ok - they all seem to be alive, but not upright yet. Maybe they just need a bit more time and good weather to sit upright more?
The garlic cloves have started to sprout. It looks like a fox might have had a dig around in one end of the tub, but I smoothed it out and replanted the garlic cloves. Garlic is supposedly better when it's sown in autumn as the frosts will cause the bulb to split into cloves, so we'll see what we get from these spring sown ones. I'll plant more in autumn.
The tomatoes and peppers I've sown for sale at the Scouts Easter Fair are doing ok. They are still indoors in the plug cells and need potting on tomorrow.
It's all looking good so far!
Clearing the brassicas bed
Started off nice and sunny today, so went down the garden and cleared the old brassicas bed. This will become the new potatoes bed.
Last year I planted out various broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, kale and sprouts in this bed. Illness meant I couldn't harvest all the crops in time, so some were left over the winter and rotted. The whole lot came up easily.
I'd used weed sheeting and planted through, so the ground was weed free. I moved the weed sheeting to the old salads bed, which will become the new brassicas bed this year. The underside of the weed sheeting was cleanest, so it was turned over and held down with old roof tiles.
The ground was still sticky, but fairly easy to dig. I managed to dig about 3/4 of the 8x8 bed before it started raining again. I decided to give up for now and carry on when it's dry and sunny again.
The potatoes are chitting upstairs, almost ready for planting out. I'll plant half the bed with earlies and half with maincrops.
When the potatoes are dug up, I'll plant leeks straight into the ground. The leeks are sprouting now in the greenhouse, so it's all looking good.
Last year I planted out various broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, kale and sprouts in this bed. Illness meant I couldn't harvest all the crops in time, so some were left over the winter and rotted. The whole lot came up easily.
I'd used weed sheeting and planted through, so the ground was weed free. I moved the weed sheeting to the old salads bed, which will become the new brassicas bed this year. The underside of the weed sheeting was cleanest, so it was turned over and held down with old roof tiles.
The ground was still sticky, but fairly easy to dig. I managed to dig about 3/4 of the 8x8 bed before it started raining again. I decided to give up for now and carry on when it's dry and sunny again.
The potatoes are chitting upstairs, almost ready for planting out. I'll plant half the bed with earlies and half with maincrops.
When the potatoes are dug up, I'll plant leeks straight into the ground. The leeks are sprouting now in the greenhouse, so it's all looking good.
Thursday 18 March 2010
Peas
Another lovely sunny day, so went and planted out the peas
They are Twinkle peas, an early variety. I sowed 96 of them in 2" cells a few weeks ago. 73 sprouted and grew up to 6" tall, so that's about a 75% germination rate. Must bear that in mind for next year's sowings.
I set up a basic frame using plastic netting supported by bamboo canes. It's worked well in previous years, but this year I went higher as the peas grow up to 4ft tall.
They've been planted in the potato bed I dug out a few days ago.
They are Twinkle peas, an early variety. I sowed 96 of them in 2" cells a few weeks ago. 73 sprouted and grew up to 6" tall, so that's about a 75% germination rate. Must bear that in mind for next year's sowings.
I set up a basic frame using plastic netting supported by bamboo canes. It's worked well in previous years, but this year I went higher as the peas grow up to 4ft tall.
They've been planted in the potato bed I dug out a few days ago.
Monday 15 March 2010
Digging the spuds
It's been a lovely sunny day today, so I went down the garden to dig up some of the spuds.
I planted the spuds around March/April last year and they should have been dug up months ago, but I was really ill last year and couldn't. I had expected the spuds to have all rotted, but found about 1/3rd were perfectly fine and usable.
The spud bed is 8ft x 8ft. The ground was quite hard from not having been touched for so long. I managed to dig about 3/4 of the ground before I ached too much - it's the first real digging for a long time and I'm not quite as fit as I should be! But I did get 3 large pots of spuds, and might get one more large pot when I finish the digging.
Last year I mixed varieties in the garden, so I have no idea what varieties I've just dug up. The reds are easy to spot, but there are a mix of reds, small salad sputs and large whites. It doesn't matter too much, I'll just use them!
Last year I didn't earth up properly either. There were lots of ruined spuds on the surface. This year I'll pay more attention and earth up properly.
I did ruin a few good spuds by digging down into the soil and digging through some spuds. I've realised now that spuds don't grow very deeply, and it's easy enough to fork underneath and lift the soil to lift the spuds without damaging them.
I will do a lot better this year with spuds. I will !!
I planted the spuds around March/April last year and they should have been dug up months ago, but I was really ill last year and couldn't. I had expected the spuds to have all rotted, but found about 1/3rd were perfectly fine and usable.
The spud bed is 8ft x 8ft. The ground was quite hard from not having been touched for so long. I managed to dig about 3/4 of the ground before I ached too much - it's the first real digging for a long time and I'm not quite as fit as I should be! But I did get 3 large pots of spuds, and might get one more large pot when I finish the digging.
Last year I mixed varieties in the garden, so I have no idea what varieties I've just dug up. The reds are easy to spot, but there are a mix of reds, small salad sputs and large whites. It doesn't matter too much, I'll just use them!
Last year I didn't earth up properly either. There were lots of ruined spuds on the surface. This year I'll pay more attention and earth up properly.
I did ruin a few good spuds by digging down into the soil and digging through some spuds. I've realised now that spuds don't grow very deeply, and it's easy enough to fork underneath and lift the soil to lift the spuds without damaging them.
I will do a lot better this year with spuds. I will !!
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Onions
200 onion sets started in 2" pots of compost.
I've started them in 2" pots so they get a good headstart to beat the weeds. When they're growing well, they'll be planted out in freshly dug ground. This has worked well for me in the past.
I've chosen a few varieties to see how well they grow and which ones we prefer. What I've started so far is:
40 Centurion
40 Stetton
60 Stuttgarter Giant
60 Red Baron
Centurion are supposed to be a good early variety that will grow well whatever the weather. I've grown Red Baron before and was very happy with them.
I'll be planting them in blocks of white, red, white, red, white, so I can identify them more easily. I'll be planting them fairly close together to minimise space for weeds - the less weeding, the better.
I have at least 100 more, some of each variety, for planting a bit later. I'll plant a few on the allotment to see if they grow better in my garden or the allotment.
These summer onions should last me quite a while - I'll be planting out a few autumn onion sets, but they won't be ready until about May next year, so what I grow now needs to last. I'll need to find a good solution for storage until the autumn sets come up next May.
Apart from normal cooking and salads, I'll be making various pickles and chutneys this year, hence growing 300 onions ....
I've started them in 2" pots so they get a good headstart to beat the weeds. When they're growing well, they'll be planted out in freshly dug ground. This has worked well for me in the past.
I've chosen a few varieties to see how well they grow and which ones we prefer. What I've started so far is:
40 Centurion
40 Stetton
60 Stuttgarter Giant
60 Red Baron
Centurion are supposed to be a good early variety that will grow well whatever the weather. I've grown Red Baron before and was very happy with them.
I'll be planting them in blocks of white, red, white, red, white, so I can identify them more easily. I'll be planting them fairly close together to minimise space for weeds - the less weeding, the better.
I have at least 100 more, some of each variety, for planting a bit later. I'll plant a few on the allotment to see if they grow better in my garden or the allotment.
These summer onions should last me quite a while - I'll be planting out a few autumn onion sets, but they won't be ready until about May next year, so what I grow now needs to last. I'll need to find a good solution for storage until the autumn sets come up next May.
Apart from normal cooking and salads, I'll be making various pickles and chutneys this year, hence growing 300 onions ....
Monday 8 March 2010
VAT on Food?
I heard a discussion on the radio (LBC 97.3) on Sunday. There is a rumour that the Government might add VAT to food.
The UK currently has massive debts from the recession and bailing out the banks. Taxes apparently need to be raised somehow, and VAT is one of many taxes.
The majority of food is currently tax free - only luxury foods are subject to VAT.
Rumour is that VAT could be applied to food at a lower rate, maybe 3% to 5%.
I guess it's just another bloody good reason to grow my own. The more I learn now, the more I'll grow, the better I'll grow it, the more I'll save .....
The UK currently has massive debts from the recession and bailing out the banks. Taxes apparently need to be raised somehow, and VAT is one of many taxes.
The majority of food is currently tax free - only luxury foods are subject to VAT.
Rumour is that VAT could be applied to food at a lower rate, maybe 3% to 5%.
I guess it's just another bloody good reason to grow my own. The more I learn now, the more I'll grow, the better I'll grow it, the more I'll save .....
Sunday 7 March 2010
More Sowings
The plan this year is for continual sowing and continual harvesting. Storage space is limited, so I don't really want huge gluts of everything at once. So the idea is to sow a small number of each of lots of different veg every few weeks throughout the year.
So yesterday I sowed the following:
8 Cauliflower AYR
8 Cabbage Wheelers
4 Red Cabbage Kalibos
4 Kale Black Tuscany
4 Lettuce Iceberg Set
4 Lettuce Iceberg 2
8 Lettuce Little Gem
4 Lettuce Mini Green
4 Lettuce Webbs
4 Lettuce Salad Bowl
4 Lettuce Red Salad Bowl
4 Lettuce Lollo Rossa
4 Lettuce Mixed Leaves
8 Leaf Salad Stir Fry Mix
24 Brocolli Late PSB
8 Celery Sigfrido
4 Celery Lathom
4 Spinach Hector
4 Spinach Picasso
4 Spinach Perpetual
Tub of 40 beetroot
2 seed trays radishes
30 Sweetcorn Incredible
Large pot leeks Lathom Galaxy
Large pot leeks Winter Atlanta
Tub of 23 garlic
The late PSB will be for picking over the winter. I have several varieties of broccoli and calabrese that means I can sow and harvest about 11 months of the year.
I want to make better use of land this year too. Last year a friend had various loose leaf lettuces, spinach and rocket in patio tubs for picking as and when required. I'm going to try the same this year. A couple of friends want patio tubs of salads too, so I've sown enough for me and them.
The celery was a dismal failure last year and didn't grow upwards, so will try planting some in between the loose leaf lettuce patio tubs. Theory is that the lettuce growing around the celery will help force the celery. Other celery will be planted in the ground normally.
I want to avoid open soil where possible to avoid weeds where possible. Weeds can smother veggies and I don't want to spend any more time than necessary clearing weeds. Beetroot and radishes grow well in my veggie patch, but mean leaving ground open to weeds. So this year I've sown the radishes in flat seed trays and the beetroot in an old window box. Using fresh compost means they are growing in a weed free environment. Using the window box and seed trays means I can also use more ground for other veggies.
Sweetcorn isn't normally sown until May. This year I found a variety called Incredible, which can be sown in March. Anything I can sow now will save me time later when I'll be busy digging and weeding and planting out. I've sown these in larger cells (15 cells to a tray). This will allow them to grow fairly big before planting out, maybe in May.
I still have onion sets and herbs to start - that's a job for this evening.
So yesterday I sowed the following:
8 Cauliflower AYR
8 Cabbage Wheelers
4 Red Cabbage Kalibos
4 Kale Black Tuscany
4 Lettuce Iceberg Set
4 Lettuce Iceberg 2
8 Lettuce Little Gem
4 Lettuce Mini Green
4 Lettuce Webbs
4 Lettuce Salad Bowl
4 Lettuce Red Salad Bowl
4 Lettuce Lollo Rossa
4 Lettuce Mixed Leaves
8 Leaf Salad Stir Fry Mix
24 Brocolli Late PSB
8 Celery Sigfrido
4 Celery Lathom
4 Spinach Hector
4 Spinach Picasso
4 Spinach Perpetual
Tub of 40 beetroot
2 seed trays radishes
30 Sweetcorn Incredible
Large pot leeks Lathom Galaxy
Large pot leeks Winter Atlanta
Tub of 23 garlic
The late PSB will be for picking over the winter. I have several varieties of broccoli and calabrese that means I can sow and harvest about 11 months of the year.
I want to make better use of land this year too. Last year a friend had various loose leaf lettuces, spinach and rocket in patio tubs for picking as and when required. I'm going to try the same this year. A couple of friends want patio tubs of salads too, so I've sown enough for me and them.
The celery was a dismal failure last year and didn't grow upwards, so will try planting some in between the loose leaf lettuce patio tubs. Theory is that the lettuce growing around the celery will help force the celery. Other celery will be planted in the ground normally.
I want to avoid open soil where possible to avoid weeds where possible. Weeds can smother veggies and I don't want to spend any more time than necessary clearing weeds. Beetroot and radishes grow well in my veggie patch, but mean leaving ground open to weeds. So this year I've sown the radishes in flat seed trays and the beetroot in an old window box. Using fresh compost means they are growing in a weed free environment. Using the window box and seed trays means I can also use more ground for other veggies.
Sweetcorn isn't normally sown until May. This year I found a variety called Incredible, which can be sown in March. Anything I can sow now will save me time later when I'll be busy digging and weeding and planting out. I've sown these in larger cells (15 cells to a tray). This will allow them to grow fairly big before planting out, maybe in May.
I still have onion sets and herbs to start - that's a job for this evening.
Saturday 6 March 2010
Clearing the Brambles
The sunshine finally got the better of me - I couldn't wait any longer - the garden was calling me and seemed just soooooo much better than plodding through piles of admin.
The veggie patch is a bit of a mess. I cleared the old salad bed, removed the remains of sweetcorn, runner beans etc, then made a start on tidying up the soft fruit bed along the fence.
Over the last year, the entire soft fruit bed became overgrown with brambles and covered in leaves. I just wasn't well enough last year to control it all. So I spent a couple of hours yesterday cutting out the brambles and sweeping the leaves clear. I found using a normal pair of pliers was the easiest way of pulling the thorny brambles out.
The bed is covered in weed sheeting to control weeds. This has been a major help in keeping it all under control. Dirt had blown all over the sheeting and I'd used a few piles of soil on top to help hold the sheeting down. Some brambles and soft fruit had taken root in this soil, so I've cut them out and pulled them up.
Some raspberry canes have reached 8ft tall. These are canes that grew last year and will carry fruit this year. There are now about 16 loganberry branches from the one plant. Some branches reach out about 15ft. I have fixed wires to one fence panel, but will have to fix them to the adjoining panels too.
I did have about 20 strawberry plants in the bed, planted through the weed sheeting. At least 12 still survive. I've found the 3 gooseberry bushes among the brambles and have cleared them again.
A couple of loganberry branches spread out into the veggie beds and took root. I've pulled these up and will plant them into pots of compost and see if they take. If so, I know people who would love loganberry plants. I've had gooseberry bushes do the same in the past, but when I tried planting the rootings into pots, they just died off. Fingers crossed for better luck with the loganberries!
I still have more clearing to do and of course, it's time to sow more seeds. The weather's warming up, got to get cracking!
The loganberries:
The veggie patch is a bit of a mess. I cleared the old salad bed, removed the remains of sweetcorn, runner beans etc, then made a start on tidying up the soft fruit bed along the fence.
Over the last year, the entire soft fruit bed became overgrown with brambles and covered in leaves. I just wasn't well enough last year to control it all. So I spent a couple of hours yesterday cutting out the brambles and sweeping the leaves clear. I found using a normal pair of pliers was the easiest way of pulling the thorny brambles out.
The bed is covered in weed sheeting to control weeds. This has been a major help in keeping it all under control. Dirt had blown all over the sheeting and I'd used a few piles of soil on top to help hold the sheeting down. Some brambles and soft fruit had taken root in this soil, so I've cut them out and pulled them up.
Some raspberry canes have reached 8ft tall. These are canes that grew last year and will carry fruit this year. There are now about 16 loganberry branches from the one plant. Some branches reach out about 15ft. I have fixed wires to one fence panel, but will have to fix them to the adjoining panels too.
I did have about 20 strawberry plants in the bed, planted through the weed sheeting. At least 12 still survive. I've found the 3 gooseberry bushes among the brambles and have cleared them again.
A couple of loganberry branches spread out into the veggie beds and took root. I've pulled these up and will plant them into pots of compost and see if they take. If so, I know people who would love loganberry plants. I've had gooseberry bushes do the same in the past, but when I tried planting the rootings into pots, they just died off. Fingers crossed for better luck with the loganberries!
I still have more clearing to do and of course, it's time to sow more seeds. The weather's warming up, got to get cracking!
The loganberries:
The raspberries with strawberries in front and loganberry runners behind:
Monday 1 March 2010
The sun is shining!
After a couple of really dismal months of cold, rain and snow, the sun is shining!
I'm very tempted to get down the garden and make a start. Sadly, tons of work to do today and probably tomorrow too. Even worse, the weather is due to turn cold again by the end of the week.
But it's the first sign of spring, so won't be waiting too much longer!
I'm very tempted to get down the garden and make a start. Sadly, tons of work to do today and probably tomorrow too. Even worse, the weather is due to turn cold again by the end of the week.
But it's the first sign of spring, so won't be waiting too much longer!
Wednesday 24 February 2010
Carrots
I've sown two window boxes of carrots. These are currently outside on the patio but will be moved down to the veggie patch soon.
Early Nantes is an early variety, suitable for sowing in February. There seem to be several varieties of Early Nantes, each with a number - I think these are either 2 or 5, but can't remember. I must look up what the difference is between those numbers.
I have other varieties such as Purple Haze, which is purple, and Autumn King, which is a later variety. I still have these in window boxes on the veggie patch.
I've sown the carrots in window boxes full of fresh compost. The soil in my veggie patch is quite stoney, so not very suitable for carrots. Carrots I sowed in the veggie patch last year were very twisted and not very good. Carrots I sowed on the allotment last year didn't grow very well and were overtaken by weeds. The window boxes seem like the best idea!
I sowed 8 window boxes of carrots last year too. I've only emptied two window boxes so far, and the carrots were a good size and fairly straight. The carrots seem to have stored well over the winter by being left in the compost.
Using window boxes has other advantages - they fill space between other veggies on the patch and the boxes hold down the weed sheeting. It just all makes sense to me!
Books say not to use fresh compost for carrots as it makes them fork. I haven't seen that problem so far. The compost I'm using is just cheap multi-purpose compost, so nothing special.
I'll empty the other window boxes whenever I need carrots - the sooner they're empty, the sooner I can sow some more, so it looks like i could be eating a lot of carrots over the next couple of months!
Last year:
This year, showing 2 freshly sown tubs and a few of last year's tubs with the dead greenery - I've pulled a few carrots out to show they're fine:
Early Nantes is an early variety, suitable for sowing in February. There seem to be several varieties of Early Nantes, each with a number - I think these are either 2 or 5, but can't remember. I must look up what the difference is between those numbers.
I have other varieties such as Purple Haze, which is purple, and Autumn King, which is a later variety. I still have these in window boxes on the veggie patch.
I've sown the carrots in window boxes full of fresh compost. The soil in my veggie patch is quite stoney, so not very suitable for carrots. Carrots I sowed in the veggie patch last year were very twisted and not very good. Carrots I sowed on the allotment last year didn't grow very well and were overtaken by weeds. The window boxes seem like the best idea!
I sowed 8 window boxes of carrots last year too. I've only emptied two window boxes so far, and the carrots were a good size and fairly straight. The carrots seem to have stored well over the winter by being left in the compost.
Using window boxes has other advantages - they fill space between other veggies on the patch and the boxes hold down the weed sheeting. It just all makes sense to me!
Books say not to use fresh compost for carrots as it makes them fork. I haven't seen that problem so far. The compost I'm using is just cheap multi-purpose compost, so nothing special.
I'll empty the other window boxes whenever I need carrots - the sooner they're empty, the sooner I can sow some more, so it looks like i could be eating a lot of carrots over the next couple of months!
Last year:
This year, showing 2 freshly sown tubs and a few of last year's tubs with the dead greenery - I've pulled a few carrots out to show they're fine:
Leeks
Leeks should be easy to grow. They can be planted out in the potato bed as soon as the potatoes are dug up, so the ground gets used twice. They can be picked through the winter and can be used in soups etc.
Last year I sowed them in seed trays but they didn't grow very well. I saw a TV programme where they grew leeks and transplanted them - the leeks were about pencil thickness and the roots were quite long and tangled. Maybe they need longer / deeper roots to grow to pencil thickness and maybe starting them in seed tray cells didn't let them grow long enough roots??
This year I've sowed loads of seeds into a 5 inch pot - hopefully the deeper pot will help them grow better. I'll need to sow a lot more later but need to work out how many I'll have room for.
Last year I sowed them in seed trays but they didn't grow very well. I saw a TV programme where they grew leeks and transplanted them - the leeks were about pencil thickness and the roots were quite long and tangled. Maybe they need longer / deeper roots to grow to pencil thickness and maybe starting them in seed tray cells didn't let them grow long enough roots??
This year I've sowed loads of seeds into a 5 inch pot - hopefully the deeper pot will help them grow better. I'll need to sow a lot more later but need to work out how many I'll have room for.
Tomatoes and Peppers
Last year was dismal for both tomatoes and peppers.
The pepper plants grew and flowered, but I was lucky to get a few peppers from several plants. I gave pepper plants to friends and they had 2-4 peppers from each plant. I had no chillis from about 8 chilli plants.
Some were grown in the greenhouse, some outside. The greenhouse ones grew faster and matured earlier, but only gave me one pepper. This year I have a few more varieties and have bought sweet pepper seeds to compare with the saved seeds I've been using from supermarket peppers.
I did get some tomatoes though. Some varieties did better than others, but I was too ill to make a proper note of which ones did best and tasted best. This year I'm repeating experiments.
The one tomato that I know did very badly 3 years running is Roma VF. It's a plum tomato, but the fruits it gave me were very small, and not many of them. This year I've replaced that with another plum variety just called Italian.
I do know Moneymaker and Gardners Delight grew well though. I've grown them over the last couple of years and not had any problem.
I will do better with pinching out tomatoes this year. I did ok with it last year, but when I got ill, the plants did get a bit neglected.
Another problem I found was that of shallow roots. The tomatoes and peppers were in large pots last year and I used a drip feeder in the greenhouse. I'm guessing the drip feeders wet the top of the soil so the roots just didn't grow down into the pot. I'll experiment with drip feeding some tomatoes and normal watering of others.
The pepper plants grew and flowered, but I was lucky to get a few peppers from several plants. I gave pepper plants to friends and they had 2-4 peppers from each plant. I had no chillis from about 8 chilli plants.
Some were grown in the greenhouse, some outside. The greenhouse ones grew faster and matured earlier, but only gave me one pepper. This year I have a few more varieties and have bought sweet pepper seeds to compare with the saved seeds I've been using from supermarket peppers.
I did get some tomatoes though. Some varieties did better than others, but I was too ill to make a proper note of which ones did best and tasted best. This year I'm repeating experiments.
The one tomato that I know did very badly 3 years running is Roma VF. It's a plum tomato, but the fruits it gave me were very small, and not many of them. This year I've replaced that with another plum variety just called Italian.
I do know Moneymaker and Gardners Delight grew well though. I've grown them over the last couple of years and not had any problem.
I will do better with pinching out tomatoes this year. I did ok with it last year, but when I got ill, the plants did get a bit neglected.
Another problem I found was that of shallow roots. The tomatoes and peppers were in large pots last year and I used a drip feeder in the greenhouse. I'm guessing the drip feeders wet the top of the soil so the roots just didn't grow down into the pot. I'll experiment with drip feeding some tomatoes and normal watering of others.
Chitting the spuds
I now have 4 trays of seed potatoes chitting in the spare room.
Last year I chose numerous varieties, just a few of each. They all grew fine, but I couldn't remember what I'd planted where. First earlies were left in the ground longer than necessary, some lates and earlies are still in the ground right now.
This year I've decided to stick to 4 varieties and be more organised with planting and digging up. They were bought ready bagged, each bag having about 40 seed potatoes in it.
The varieties I've chosen are:
Charlotte - a salad potato - fairly waxy, suitable for salads, boiling and roasting
Duke of York - first early - very waxy, suitable for roasting
Maris Peer - second early - fairly waxy, suitable for salads / boiling
King Edward - a maincrop - fairly floury, suitable for roasting and mashing
The info about waxy / floury etc was from the Potato Council website at http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk
By being more organised with the planting, I'll be able to dig up a whole bed of spuds and plant leeks straight away (providing the leeks grow this year!)
I haven't yet worked out how much room I have for spuds and whether I'll need to buy any more. I'll check that up next week.
Last year I chose numerous varieties, just a few of each. They all grew fine, but I couldn't remember what I'd planted where. First earlies were left in the ground longer than necessary, some lates and earlies are still in the ground right now.
This year I've decided to stick to 4 varieties and be more organised with planting and digging up. They were bought ready bagged, each bag having about 40 seed potatoes in it.
The varieties I've chosen are:
Charlotte - a salad potato - fairly waxy, suitable for salads, boiling and roasting
Duke of York - first early - very waxy, suitable for roasting
Maris Peer - second early - fairly waxy, suitable for salads / boiling
King Edward - a maincrop - fairly floury, suitable for roasting and mashing
The info about waxy / floury etc was from the Potato Council website at http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk
By being more organised with the planting, I'll be able to dig up a whole bed of spuds and plant leeks straight away (providing the leeks grow this year!)
I haven't yet worked out how much room I have for spuds and whether I'll need to buy any more. I'll check that up next week.
February Sowings
I sowed loads of seeds on 15th Feb. The spare room is filling up!
I'm going to try better at successional sowing this year, so have sown some of each now. I will sow more of each every few weeks in the hope that later sowing mature later, so that I can pick and use throughout the year instead of having huge gluts at various times and needing to freeze everything.
I've sown 4 trays of Twinkle Peas - these are a very early variety. I have other varieties that I can sow later in the year to extend the growing and picking season. There should be enough for an 8 foot row. Last year I tried sowing peas directly in the ground, but a row of about 96 peas produced about 5 pea plants and the weeds just took over. Previous year's sowings were started in cells, and that worked fine, so back to the cells again this year. So far, these peas are about 2-3 inches tall - taller than I was expecting, but that's probably because they've been started indoors.
I have a tray of 24 Green Magic broccoli. Again, this is an early variety and I have other varieties for sowing and harvesting later in the year. They're all looking healthy so far.
The list sown indoors in cells in January:
24 lettuce Winter Gem (all failing)
4 cauliflower Thompson (failing)
7 cauliflower All Year Round (failing)
13 broad bean Aquadulce Claudia (looking ok)
The full list sown indoors in cells in February:
96 pea Twinkle
12 celery Lathom Galaxy
8 cauliflower All Year Round
4 Aubergine
24 broccoli Green Magic
8 tomato Moneymaker
4 tomato Tamina
4 tomato Alicante
4 tomato Black Cherry
4 tomato Italian (plum)
4 spinach Picasso
4 spinach Hector
16 sprouts Brilliant
10 sweet pepper WorldBeater
10 sweet pepper from saved seeds (originally from supermarket sweet pepper)
10 pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
5 chilli Twighlight
5 chilli Cayenne
I'll explain choice of varieties in another post.
I'm going to try better at successional sowing this year, so have sown some of each now. I will sow more of each every few weeks in the hope that later sowing mature later, so that I can pick and use throughout the year instead of having huge gluts at various times and needing to freeze everything.
I've sown 4 trays of Twinkle Peas - these are a very early variety. I have other varieties that I can sow later in the year to extend the growing and picking season. There should be enough for an 8 foot row. Last year I tried sowing peas directly in the ground, but a row of about 96 peas produced about 5 pea plants and the weeds just took over. Previous year's sowings were started in cells, and that worked fine, so back to the cells again this year. So far, these peas are about 2-3 inches tall - taller than I was expecting, but that's probably because they've been started indoors.
I have a tray of 24 Green Magic broccoli. Again, this is an early variety and I have other varieties for sowing and harvesting later in the year. They're all looking healthy so far.
The list sown indoors in cells in January:
24 lettuce Winter Gem (all failing)
4 cauliflower Thompson (failing)
7 cauliflower All Year Round (failing)
13 broad bean Aquadulce Claudia (looking ok)
The full list sown indoors in cells in February:
96 pea Twinkle
12 celery Lathom Galaxy
8 cauliflower All Year Round
4 Aubergine
24 broccoli Green Magic
8 tomato Moneymaker
4 tomato Tamina
4 tomato Alicante
4 tomato Black Cherry
4 tomato Italian (plum)
4 spinach Picasso
4 spinach Hector
16 sprouts Brilliant
10 sweet pepper WorldBeater
10 sweet pepper from saved seeds (originally from supermarket sweet pepper)
10 pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
5 chilli Twighlight
5 chilli Cayenne
I'll explain choice of varieties in another post.
January Sowings
I'm making an early start this year. Most seeds need sowing around March/April, which is around the same time as the veggie patch and allotment need digging over. As those months will be very busy, I've sown some of the early seeds already.
I started with Winter Gem lettuce, which can be sown in a cold greenhouse in January, plus Thompson and All Year Round cauliflower and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans. I sowed them in cells indoors - they are in the spare room.
The seem to have got very stringy (lack of light) despite being on a desk in front of the bay window. It's been grim outside, often cloudy and grey. It looks like I didn't water them enough as some of them have fallen over. However, they don't appear to be dead, so will keep them going a bit longer.
I also sowed a tray each of Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes, Moneymaker tomatoes, and sweet peppers. These will be potted on for sale at the Scout Group Easter Fair at the end of March - all money will be for the Scout Group. Obviously I'd like these to look big, strong and healthy, and they're doing ok so far. I've been a bit more careful with the watering.
Indoor sowing isn't brilliant - the cells dry out very quickly and they need to be watered carefully so as not to make a mess.
I started with Winter Gem lettuce, which can be sown in a cold greenhouse in January, plus Thompson and All Year Round cauliflower and Aquadulce Claudia broad beans. I sowed them in cells indoors - they are in the spare room.
The seem to have got very stringy (lack of light) despite being on a desk in front of the bay window. It's been grim outside, often cloudy and grey. It looks like I didn't water them enough as some of them have fallen over. However, they don't appear to be dead, so will keep them going a bit longer.
I also sowed a tray each of Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes, Moneymaker tomatoes, and sweet peppers. These will be potted on for sale at the Scout Group Easter Fair at the end of March - all money will be for the Scout Group. Obviously I'd like these to look big, strong and healthy, and they're doing ok so far. I've been a bit more careful with the watering.
Indoor sowing isn't brilliant - the cells dry out very quickly and they need to be watered carefully so as not to make a mess.
Getting Ready
It's been a very busy few weeks. We've had a lot of snow and even when it's not been snowing, it's been pretty cold and wet outside.
We did have a fairly mild day a couple of weeks back, so went down the greenhouse and tidied it up. It's been too cold and wet to do anything to the veggie patch or the allotment, but it'll get done.
I did empty out a couple of window boxes of carrots - we had them with dinners, very nice!
I took a trip to the garden centre with a friend and bought my seed potatoes and onions, plus red cabbage and other bits like labels. Also bought horseradish so I'll give that a go.
I've sorted out all my seed trays and cell inserts ready for sowing. It's all looking good so far ......
We did have a fairly mild day a couple of weeks back, so went down the greenhouse and tidied it up. It's been too cold and wet to do anything to the veggie patch or the allotment, but it'll get done.
I did empty out a couple of window boxes of carrots - we had them with dinners, very nice!
I took a trip to the garden centre with a friend and bought my seed potatoes and onions, plus red cabbage and other bits like labels. Also bought horseradish so I'll give that a go.
I've sorted out all my seed trays and cell inserts ready for sowing. It's all looking good so far ......
Tuesday 5 January 2010
A New Year
So it's 2010 now, a new year, a new start.
My health has improved and I'm feeling a lot more positive about things. Still suffering financially from the recession, but hoping for a good growing year and to make the most of the veggie patch and allotment.
Did hardly anything over the winter - took a long break from it all. I did pull up the onions and they're strung up in the kitchen in a pair of tights. I did have 3 pumpkins on the allotment, but when I went to get them for my friend at Halloween, the big one was gone - looks like someone pinched it.
I didn't dig up the rest of the spuds though - a whole 8x8 bed full of spuds - will get them dug up sometime soon and find out if any are still usable. I still have 8 cabbages at home and there were a few swedes on the allotment too.
This week I've sorted through my seeds and good to know got most of what I need for this year. I will need to pop down the garden centre to pick up a couple of packets, plus of course, seed potatoes and onion sets. I'm also going to pick up loads of canes and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off the brassicas this year.
A friend has about 90 paving slabs to be lifted from her back garden, so that will do brilliantly for the pathways on my allotment. I'll have to help level her garden and seed it or turf it.
I'm also hoping to scrounge a good sized chest freezer this year. Whenever I mention something I want, there's always someone who says "I've just got rid of one", so fingers crossed that this year I'll actually get one before everyone gets rid of them. I've also been saving up the jam jars and wine bottles, so should be making lots of pickles, chutneys and wines this year (need more wine racks too, so before you chuck them away, offer them to me!).
I'll need to build some decent shelving in the garage for the wine racks / jars etc, and hopefully more so that I can grow mushrooms in the garage too. Still need to pick up pallets for compost bins at home and on the allotment. Will build a wood store so I can collect and store firewood for next winter. Also need to build some frames to support peas. I've probably got a zillion other things to make, but one thing at a time .....
So it's time to make a start .....
It's below freezing outside, snow forecast, not likely to go above freezing this week, so not much I can do outside. However, I have a spare room and can sow indoors.
I have Winter Gem lettuce - can be grown in a cold greenhouse throughout the winter. Also have Thompson cauliflower and Early Nantes carrots that can all be sown now, so I'll make a start on them all today.
My health has improved and I'm feeling a lot more positive about things. Still suffering financially from the recession, but hoping for a good growing year and to make the most of the veggie patch and allotment.
Did hardly anything over the winter - took a long break from it all. I did pull up the onions and they're strung up in the kitchen in a pair of tights. I did have 3 pumpkins on the allotment, but when I went to get them for my friend at Halloween, the big one was gone - looks like someone pinched it.
I didn't dig up the rest of the spuds though - a whole 8x8 bed full of spuds - will get them dug up sometime soon and find out if any are still usable. I still have 8 cabbages at home and there were a few swedes on the allotment too.
This week I've sorted through my seeds and good to know got most of what I need for this year. I will need to pop down the garden centre to pick up a couple of packets, plus of course, seed potatoes and onion sets. I'm also going to pick up loads of canes and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off the brassicas this year.
A friend has about 90 paving slabs to be lifted from her back garden, so that will do brilliantly for the pathways on my allotment. I'll have to help level her garden and seed it or turf it.
I'm also hoping to scrounge a good sized chest freezer this year. Whenever I mention something I want, there's always someone who says "I've just got rid of one", so fingers crossed that this year I'll actually get one before everyone gets rid of them. I've also been saving up the jam jars and wine bottles, so should be making lots of pickles, chutneys and wines this year (need more wine racks too, so before you chuck them away, offer them to me!).
I'll need to build some decent shelving in the garage for the wine racks / jars etc, and hopefully more so that I can grow mushrooms in the garage too. Still need to pick up pallets for compost bins at home and on the allotment. Will build a wood store so I can collect and store firewood for next winter. Also need to build some frames to support peas. I've probably got a zillion other things to make, but one thing at a time .....
So it's time to make a start .....
It's below freezing outside, snow forecast, not likely to go above freezing this week, so not much I can do outside. However, I have a spare room and can sow indoors.
I have Winter Gem lettuce - can be grown in a cold greenhouse throughout the winter. Also have Thompson cauliflower and Early Nantes carrots that can all be sown now, so I'll make a start on them all today.
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