It's the end for all the courgettes and squash plants. Powdery mildew won.
I think they might have been planted out quite late and it's been an extremely wet and cold year. We did get quite a good crop from the normal courgettes and a few Lebanese courgettes too.
Nothing whatsoever from the marrows, butternut squash and other courgette varieties.
We have one tiny pumpkin, just 3in big, which was growing at the end of 18ft of pumpkin plant. Somehow I couldn't see it turning orange in time for halloween, especially as the main part of the plant was dying.
Better luck next year! We like the courgettes so will definitely grow them next year. We probably won't bother with pumpkin or some of other things we planted - maybe one butternut squash, but we'll see.
Tuesday 2 October 2012
Leeks
About a week ago, I dug over a bed and planted out some leeks. I planted the Musselburgh that I'd put in troughs about 5 weeks earlier. They'd grown well in the troughs, thickening up nicely. These ones didn't have the roots trimmed for transplanting into the pots or into the ground.
I planted something like 80 leeks approx 6in apart. They've taken well, growing strongly. It might be too late in the year to get full-sized leeks, but hopefully they'll do well enough for a decent crop. I might thin them by pulling alternate leeks as required, but we'll see how they come along.
The Bandit leeks are still in the tomato pots, doing well. These are the ones that were trimmed. It's far too wet to dig up the spuds yet so no chance of planting them out any time soon.
The Autumn Giant and others still in the original pots will probably end up in the compost bin if the weather carries on like this ....
I planted something like 80 leeks approx 6in apart. They've taken well, growing strongly. It might be too late in the year to get full-sized leeks, but hopefully they'll do well enough for a decent crop. I might thin them by pulling alternate leeks as required, but we'll see how they come along.
The Bandit leeks are still in the tomato pots, doing well. These are the ones that were trimmed. It's far too wet to dig up the spuds yet so no chance of planting them out any time soon.
The Autumn Giant and others still in the original pots will probably end up in the compost bin if the weather carries on like this ....
Winter Onions
Just a note - 100 each of Electric (Red) and Senshyu (White) onions started in seed trays of compost about a week ago.The first ones have started sprouting.
We've had torrential rain so no chance of digging over the onion bed for more planting out yet.
We've had torrential rain so no chance of digging over the onion bed for more planting out yet.
Mushroom Hunting
It's a bit late, but was a great day out! Shame about the rain - we all got soaked through to the skin.
We went on a fungi foraging course run by Andy Overall http://www.fungitobewith.org/
There were about 20 of us in the group. After a quick chat, we all went off into the woods. We picked anything we found and took them back to Andy for identification. He was great - explaining the characteristics of each mushroom and how to positively identify it. We kept him very busy!
We found loads of Ochre Brittlegill (Russula Ochreleuka) and Orange Birch Bolete, as well as various other smaller mushrooms. Many were a bit raggedy, past their best, but we found enough to bring home for dinner. They were lovely cooked in a creamy garlic sauce.
We feel confident that we can go back into the woods and identify some of them again - some good and some bad. We feel confident that we can feed ourselves without poisoning ourselves, so it's all good!
We went on a fungi foraging course run by Andy Overall http://www.fungitobewith.org/
There were about 20 of us in the group. After a quick chat, we all went off into the woods. We picked anything we found and took them back to Andy for identification. He was great - explaining the characteristics of each mushroom and how to positively identify it. We kept him very busy!
We found loads of Ochre Brittlegill (Russula Ochreleuka) and Orange Birch Bolete, as well as various other smaller mushrooms. Many were a bit raggedy, past their best, but we found enough to bring home for dinner. They were lovely cooked in a creamy garlic sauce.
We feel confident that we can go back into the woods and identify some of them again - some good and some bad. We feel confident that we can feed ourselves without poisoning ourselves, so it's all good!
Wednesday 19 September 2012
Foraging
We enjoy making wines and jams, so any fruit we can find for free is a bonus. Friends normally give me bags of apples and plums, or they pick tubs of blackberries for me. This year, it seems I'm the only one with apples, and nobody has plums or blackberries.
We've taken a couple of trips out to the countryside recently. After driving about 30 miles on one trip, we finally found one blackberry patch that gave us 2lbs of blackberries, and another place where we picked 3lbs of cherry plums. It was too early for the blackberries, hence only 2lbs. We couldn't get to the rest of the cherry plums as they were deep inside a hedgerow.
One of the small spots on our street has been stripped bare - the brambles are all gone. The house owners preferred everyone to see their bare fence than the brambles that were hanging over. Never mind!
My huge elderberry tree is completely bare. Not a sign of any elderberries at all. And very little we can find out in the wild.
On the plus side, we found some sloes and we've picked 2.5lbs so far. We'll need 3lbs for sloe wine and more for sloe gin, so the more we can get, the better.
I've found rosehips dotted all over the place, so hoping to get loads of these soon.
Me and the missus are out on a mushroom hunting course on Sunday, looking forward to it!
We've taken a couple of trips out to the countryside recently. After driving about 30 miles on one trip, we finally found one blackberry patch that gave us 2lbs of blackberries, and another place where we picked 3lbs of cherry plums. It was too early for the blackberries, hence only 2lbs. We couldn't get to the rest of the cherry plums as they were deep inside a hedgerow.
One of the small spots on our street has been stripped bare - the brambles are all gone. The house owners preferred everyone to see their bare fence than the brambles that were hanging over. Never mind!
My huge elderberry tree is completely bare. Not a sign of any elderberries at all. And very little we can find out in the wild.
On the plus side, we found some sloes and we've picked 2.5lbs so far. We'll need 3lbs for sloe wine and more for sloe gin, so the more we can get, the better.
I've found rosehips dotted all over the place, so hoping to get loads of these soon.
Me and the missus are out on a mushroom hunting course on Sunday, looking forward to it!
Harvest Festival!
Been busy over the last month - the mother-in-law was ill, so I haven't had time to post on here. This is a quick update.
Beans
We've been able to pick and eat beans straight from the veggie patch, and we have 2 or 3 dinners worth of beans frozen for later. At this time of year I would have expected to have 2 or 3 carrier bags full of beans in the freezer. Mice eating the seeds followed by poor weather and then losing my seeds put paid to that. Hoping next year will be better.
Parsnips
They looked great on the surface, but they're all stunted at about 2 inches. Some people have theorised that it's because I started them in cell modules and planted them out. I'm going to try the toilet roll middles next year.
Brassicas
All very slow and late this year. Caterpillars shredded a lot of leaves, but ordinary bug spray got rid of them Must use the spray more often.
We've had broccoli with two dinners now. I was hoping to have a few bags of broccoli in the freezer by now, but it wasn't to be. It'll be a few weeks before any more is ready.
Our first cauliflowers are hearting. One white (All Year Round) and two Romanesco. We're still several weeks away from anything worth picking.
The kale in pots is very small. I've started feeding with Miracle Grow. This is my first year of growing brassicas in pots, so feeding wasn't something I'd thought about before.
Squash / Courgettes
We've had loads of courgettes, some up to 2ft long. Yes, I know we should pick them smaller, but they grow so quickly and with the shortage of other veg, we thought we might as well let them grow bigger. We now have a couple of bags of lightly fried courgette slices in the freezer. They're great for bulking up stews and things.
We know we've had a couple of Lebanese courgettes as they are a different colour and shape to the other courgettes (Green Bush).
We had nothing from the butternut squash, the outdoor cucumbers, the marrow or the pumpkin. We want to be as self-sufficient in veg as possible, so we might skip marrow and pumpkin next year. A butternut squash would be nice to have though, and hopefully we'll get a cucumber next year.
Leeks
Transplanting them into pots seems to have worked well. They're thickening up nicely. Still 3 more pots of them that I haven't had a chance to transplant yet.
I'll be digging over another bed for them to plant them out properly over the next week or two.
Onions, Garlic & Shallots
We've pulled most of these up now. They're all smaller than normal, probably due to the poor weather this year, but still good to have them. I doubt we'll have enough to last through the winter, but some is better than none. I'll keep some winter onions growing in the greenhouse so we get them as early as possible next year.
Potatoes
We've scoffed the two sacks of Desiree. We still have 8 sacks of Charlottes to get through, plus the potato bed of King Edwards and Desiree to dig up. Lesson for next year - more maincrop, fewer salad spuds!
Beans
We've been able to pick and eat beans straight from the veggie patch, and we have 2 or 3 dinners worth of beans frozen for later. At this time of year I would have expected to have 2 or 3 carrier bags full of beans in the freezer. Mice eating the seeds followed by poor weather and then losing my seeds put paid to that. Hoping next year will be better.
Parsnips
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| Stunted parsnips |
Brassicas
All very slow and late this year. Caterpillars shredded a lot of leaves, but ordinary bug spray got rid of them Must use the spray more often.
We've had broccoli with two dinners now. I was hoping to have a few bags of broccoli in the freezer by now, but it wasn't to be. It'll be a few weeks before any more is ready.
Our first cauliflowers are hearting. One white (All Year Round) and two Romanesco. We're still several weeks away from anything worth picking.
The kale in pots is very small. I've started feeding with Miracle Grow. This is my first year of growing brassicas in pots, so feeding wasn't something I'd thought about before.
Squash / Courgettes
We've had loads of courgettes, some up to 2ft long. Yes, I know we should pick them smaller, but they grow so quickly and with the shortage of other veg, we thought we might as well let them grow bigger. We now have a couple of bags of lightly fried courgette slices in the freezer. They're great for bulking up stews and things.
We know we've had a couple of Lebanese courgettes as they are a different colour and shape to the other courgettes (Green Bush).
We had nothing from the butternut squash, the outdoor cucumbers, the marrow or the pumpkin. We want to be as self-sufficient in veg as possible, so we might skip marrow and pumpkin next year. A butternut squash would be nice to have though, and hopefully we'll get a cucumber next year.
Leeks
Transplanting them into pots seems to have worked well. They're thickening up nicely. Still 3 more pots of them that I haven't had a chance to transplant yet.
I'll be digging over another bed for them to plant them out properly over the next week or two.
Onions, Garlic & Shallots
We've pulled most of these up now. They're all smaller than normal, probably due to the poor weather this year, but still good to have them. I doubt we'll have enough to last through the winter, but some is better than none. I'll keep some winter onions growing in the greenhouse so we get them as early as possible next year.
Potatoes
We've scoffed the two sacks of Desiree. We still have 8 sacks of Charlottes to get through, plus the potato bed of King Edwards and Desiree to dig up. Lesson for next year - more maincrop, fewer salad spuds!
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Blackberries
We want to become self-sufficient in fruit and veg and wine. Blackberries are great for jams, crumbles and wine. I'm currently using the last jar of apple and blackberry jam from last year.
We can make jams and wines from various fruits, but they're not all easy to get hold of. We had just one plum on our plum tree this year and the roadside plum trees don't have many plums either. That means only 2 gallons of plum wine and no plum jam. Fortunately, brambles grow everywhere, so we should be able to get loads of blackberries.
I've set myself a target of 20 gallons of blackberry wine, 10 jars of apple and blackberry jam, and a handful of blackberries to throw in apple crumbles. I'll need something ridiculous like 75-100lbs of blackberries.
We picked just over 3lbs of blackberries from the mother-in-law's garden at the weekend. They're now in a bucket, slowly turning into wine. That's a good start!
My son came out blackberry picking with me this morning. We went to the usual spot on the common, only to find virtually nothing. It looks like the brambles had been cut down early this year. Lots of nettles growing where the blackberries were. I normally visit there once a year and pick several pounds of blackberries, but today we got just a handful. We walked over a mile on the common and still managed only about 5oz.
Fortunately we found two small spots on our street where the brambles had grown over the fence, so managed another half a pound from each place. I've now frozen them all.
Ho hum ....
Transplanting Leeks
We started our leeks in medium sized pots - about 6-8in pots. Just a pot full of compost, sprinkle the seeds, hope for the best. Each pot is now packed with baby leeks, so we're very happy.
The leeks will go in the potato bed once I've dug up the potatoes, but the potato foliage has only just started to die off. That means I won't be planting out for a good few weeks yet. The pots are far too crowded for the leeks to thicken up.
After pulling up some carrots, I had two deep troughs empty. We have a lot of large 12in pots spare now that we've destroyed the blighted tomato plants. I've decided to temporarily transplant the leeks into these pots and troughs. This will give them room to grow properly for a couple of months and then I can transplant some to their final positions in the ground.
I've seen some people trimming the roots and top-growth on their leeks, but I've also seen others not trimming. I've definitely seen a video on YouTube of Monty Don planting out without trimming and pretty sure I've seen a video of him trimming the leeks too.
I spent a while reading up on whether to trim the roots or not, and the pros and cons of trimming or not. It seems that that only reason to trim the roots is to make planting easier - as we're dropping them in to holes, a bundle of roots just gets in the way. However, if the hole is big enough, it should be easy to twist the leeks as we lower them into the hole, thereby twisting the roots.
I decided that as our leeks are still very small, I would prefer not to trim the roots. If roots are trimmed, the leeks (as with all aliums) will grow new roots. Trimming the roots might slow down growth as it's putting more energy into growing new roots than in to growing the leek. This shouldn't normally be a problem, but we've had really poor weather this year, so the leeks are a lot smaller than they normally would be at this time of year.
I separated the Musselburgh leeks and planted them into the deep troughs. I made holes about 3in deep just using my finger - there's no point making the holes any bigger at this time. I planted out 90 leeks in total. They were a bit fiddly with the roots there.
The Bandit leeks are being transplanted into the 12in tomato pots, 9 per pot. I've decided to trim the roots on some, and not on others. Apparently if we trim the roots, we should also trim the leaves back, so I've done that too. 63 done so far, plenty more to do later.
The Autumn Giant leeks are looking good, but I haven't touched them yet. Probably a job for this evening ....
The leeks will go in the potato bed once I've dug up the potatoes, but the potato foliage has only just started to die off. That means I won't be planting out for a good few weeks yet. The pots are far too crowded for the leeks to thicken up.
After pulling up some carrots, I had two deep troughs empty. We have a lot of large 12in pots spare now that we've destroyed the blighted tomato plants. I've decided to temporarily transplant the leeks into these pots and troughs. This will give them room to grow properly for a couple of months and then I can transplant some to their final positions in the ground.
I've seen some people trimming the roots and top-growth on their leeks, but I've also seen others not trimming. I've definitely seen a video on YouTube of Monty Don planting out without trimming and pretty sure I've seen a video of him trimming the leeks too.
I spent a while reading up on whether to trim the roots or not, and the pros and cons of trimming or not. It seems that that only reason to trim the roots is to make planting easier - as we're dropping them in to holes, a bundle of roots just gets in the way. However, if the hole is big enough, it should be easy to twist the leeks as we lower them into the hole, thereby twisting the roots.
I decided that as our leeks are still very small, I would prefer not to trim the roots. If roots are trimmed, the leeks (as with all aliums) will grow new roots. Trimming the roots might slow down growth as it's putting more energy into growing new roots than in to growing the leek. This shouldn't normally be a problem, but we've had really poor weather this year, so the leeks are a lot smaller than they normally would be at this time of year.
I separated the Musselburgh leeks and planted them into the deep troughs. I made holes about 3in deep just using my finger - there's no point making the holes any bigger at this time. I planted out 90 leeks in total. They were a bit fiddly with the roots there.
The Bandit leeks are being transplanted into the 12in tomato pots, 9 per pot. I've decided to trim the roots on some, and not on others. Apparently if we trim the roots, we should also trim the leaves back, so I've done that too. 63 done so far, plenty more to do later.
The Autumn Giant leeks are looking good, but I haven't touched them yet. Probably a job for this evening ....
Friday 17 August 2012
Cherry Plums
We have a large conifer hedge dividing our driveway from next door's driveway. I've always known about the big red plum tree at the front of the drive - it only produces a few plums per year.
But while trimming the connifer hedge, I found another variety of plum. They were green, now turning a lovely shade of yellow. Most seem to be heart shaped.
The photo doesn't really show the true colour - they are a brighter yellow in real life.
Not sure what variety they are, but I'm sure they'll make a nice crumble sometime in the winter. As with any other plums, they'll be picked, stoned and frozen, ready for when we want to eat them.
Next month I will have lived here for 19 years. I can't believe I've never spotted these before!
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| Yellow plums in my front garden |
The photo doesn't really show the true colour - they are a brighter yellow in real life.
Not sure what variety they are, but I'm sure they'll make a nice crumble sometime in the winter. As with any other plums, they'll be picked, stoned and frozen, ready for when we want to eat them.
Next month I will have lived here for 19 years. I can't believe I've never spotted these before!
Sloe Hunting
I love the whole foraging thing - free food! Or even better, free wine! Unfortunately I'm not very clued up yet. I can spot a few basics like plums, elderberries, blackberries and so on, but not much more. I probably walk past loads of free food every day without realising it.
I finally found some sloes. I had to do a lot of research to find out what sloes looked like, how big they would be, the likely places to find them etc. I had to send photos to other people to get confirmation, and finally, I have it.
I know other people will be eyeing them up, so I'll keep watch on them for a while. Hopefully we can pick them before everyone else does. Naturally I won't reveal the location - it's my little secret!
Sloes are apparently best after a frost - the frost sweetens them up. We'll pick them before the first frosts and freeze them - the freezer should do the same thing as a frost. Once we have them, we'll be making loads of wine and sloe gin.
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| Sloes turning blue in August |
I know other people will be eyeing them up, so I'll keep watch on them for a while. Hopefully we can pick them before everyone else does. Naturally I won't reveal the location - it's my little secret!
Sloes are apparently best after a frost - the frost sweetens them up. We'll pick them before the first frosts and freeze them - the freezer should do the same thing as a frost. Once we have them, we'll be making loads of wine and sloe gin.
Potatoes
We've done fairly well with the spuds this year. We haven't had to buy any for a couple of months now.The yield per sack is fairly low though - I'm sure we could get twice as many per sack in a good year.
The Charlottes are nice. We had Swift were good, We had another variety that I forgot the name of, which is a real shame, because they were very very nice.
I've emptied the first sack of Desiree potatoes. They're a nice red colour, not as big as I'd hoped for, but easily enough for a dinner. They'll make a nice change from the Charlottes we're still working our way through.
We have another 9 sacks of Charlottes to empty. That should be enough for about 25 dinners. Might be better next year if we grow more maincrops in sacks rather than salad potatoes - the bigger the crop, the better!
The greenery in all the sacks has died off. The greenery on the King Edwards and Desiree that were planted in the ground has started to die back. I'll be leaving these potatoes in the ground for a few more weeks yet. When I dig them up, I'll plant leeks out straight away - the leeks are slowly thickening up.
I'm going to get some seed potatoes today so that we can have new potatoes for Christmas.
The Charlottes are nice. We had Swift were good, We had another variety that I forgot the name of, which is a real shame, because they were very very nice.
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| Charlottes left, Desiree right |
We have another 9 sacks of Charlottes to empty. That should be enough for about 25 dinners. Might be better next year if we grow more maincrops in sacks rather than salad potatoes - the bigger the crop, the better!
The greenery in all the sacks has died off. The greenery on the King Edwards and Desiree that were planted in the ground has started to die back. I'll be leaving these potatoes in the ground for a few more weeks yet. When I dig them up, I'll plant leeks out straight away - the leeks are slowly thickening up.
I'm going to get some seed potatoes today so that we can have new potatoes for Christmas.
Saturday 28 July 2012
A Sad Day
Lovely weather, so spent most of the day in the garden catching some rays in between work in the veggie patch.
The tomatoes were looking very sorry for themselves. The cold wet weather meant very few tomatoes growing and all 59 outdoor tomato plants had blight. The handful of tomatoes growing were tiny and some were rotting. Some plants had no tomatoes at all.
Meanwhile, we had 46 brassicas (broccoli and kale) in small pots, desperately needing to move into bigger pots.So we took the difficult decision to abandon all hope of outdoor tomatoes this year and use the buckets for the brassicas.
I picked all the tomatoes and they're now in trays. They're almost all green, apart from a couple of Sungold that are turning yellow. We have to leave the tomatoes in the trays for a week or so to see if they start rotting from blight. If they don't, we can make green tomato chutney.
All the tomato plants are now bagged up for the council to take in their green waste collection.
At least the buckets are going back to productive use now!
The tomatoes were looking very sorry for themselves. The cold wet weather meant very few tomatoes growing and all 59 outdoor tomato plants had blight. The handful of tomatoes growing were tiny and some were rotting. Some plants had no tomatoes at all.
Meanwhile, we had 46 brassicas (broccoli and kale) in small pots, desperately needing to move into bigger pots.So we took the difficult decision to abandon all hope of outdoor tomatoes this year and use the buckets for the brassicas.
I picked all the tomatoes and they're now in trays. They're almost all green, apart from a couple of Sungold that are turning yellow. We have to leave the tomatoes in the trays for a week or so to see if they start rotting from blight. If they don't, we can make green tomato chutney.
All the tomato plants are now bagged up for the council to take in their green waste collection.
At least the buckets are going back to productive use now!
Winter Brassicas
Brassicas are quite big and take up a lot of space, so we can't plant many in the veggie patch. Even with all year round growing and harvesting, there isn't anywhere near enough space in the veggie patch to keep us fed with brassicas.
The simple solution is to use all the tomato pots and buckets in the summer, and for winter brassicas in the winter. We'll use the compost from the potato sacks and tomato buckets for the winter brassicas.
So last week I sowed another 4 trays of brassicas:
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
12 Cabbage Kilaton
12 Kale (Black Tuscany)
12 Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Rudolph)
12 Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli
8 Cabbage (Durham Early)
8 Cabbage (?)
8 Cabbage (?)
The Black Tuscany Kale is winter hardy so can live outside without a problem. It produces large black leaves that can be used like cabbage. The leaves are "cut and come again", so we can pick what we need when we need it. We can also pick, chop, blanche and freeze leaves if we get enough.
There are 4 varieties of cabbage, all of which can live outside, and should mature at different times. With some luck, we should have cabbage throughout the winter. But my luck says that they'll all come at the same time ....
The AYR cauliflower is probably best either in the greenhouse or a coldframe / cloche. I have a greenhouse heater and I'm planning to run that throughout the winter. However, there is only so much we can keep in the greenhouse, so we won't get many cauliflowers in there. I'll have to look for some clear plastic sheeting to build a cloche.
There are two varieties of PSB which should give us PSB from December through to May.
The simple solution is to use all the tomato pots and buckets in the summer, and for winter brassicas in the winter. We'll use the compost from the potato sacks and tomato buckets for the winter brassicas.
So last week I sowed another 4 trays of brassicas:
24 Cauliflower (All Year Round)
12 Cabbage Kilaton
12 Kale (Black Tuscany)
12 Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (Rudolph)
12 Late Purple Sprouting Broccoli
8 Cabbage (Durham Early)
8 Cabbage (?)
8 Cabbage (?)
The Black Tuscany Kale is winter hardy so can live outside without a problem. It produces large black leaves that can be used like cabbage. The leaves are "cut and come again", so we can pick what we need when we need it. We can also pick, chop, blanche and freeze leaves if we get enough.
There are 4 varieties of cabbage, all of which can live outside, and should mature at different times. With some luck, we should have cabbage throughout the winter. But my luck says that they'll all come at the same time ....
The AYR cauliflower is probably best either in the greenhouse or a coldframe / cloche. I have a greenhouse heater and I'm planning to run that throughout the winter. However, there is only so much we can keep in the greenhouse, so we won't get many cauliflowers in there. I'll have to look for some clear plastic sheeting to build a cloche.
There are two varieties of PSB which should give us PSB from December through to May.
Thursday 26 July 2012
Chillies and Peppers
This is another crop failure this year. We sowed dozens of seeds, loads of varieties, but it looks like the weather ruined any chance of a crop this year. The biggest chillies and peppers are about 6in tall, still quite thin, and no sign of any flowers.
We currently have 5 sweet pepper seedlings, the biggest of which is about 2in tall. We have about 15 other chillies and peppers, the tallest of which is about 6in tall, thin, and no signs of any flowers or peppers.
We'll overwinter these indoors in the back room. With some luck, they'll produce a nice early crop next year.
We currently have 5 sweet pepper seedlings, the biggest of which is about 2in tall. We have about 15 other chillies and peppers, the tallest of which is about 6in tall, thin, and no signs of any flowers or peppers.
We'll overwinter these indoors in the back room. With some luck, they'll produce a nice early crop next year.
Tomato Blight
It looks like almost all of our tomatoes have blight, and we haven't had a single tomato yet. Very disappointing.
The one tomato plant that's safe at the moment is the Shirley, which is in the greenhouse. There are plenty of good looking tomatoes on it, so hopefully we'll have some tomatoes from it soon.
The other 59 tomato plants are all outside. We've stripped all the damaged leaves and sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, but it's probably too late. At best, we'll slow the blight down and we might get a few tomatoes, but as there aren't many tomatoes yet, it's not looking good. There are hundreds of flowers, dozens of tomatoes, nothing anywhere near ripe - the poor weather this year meant everything is very late.
But got to think positive: this year's weather has been the worst on record - next year is unlikely to be this bad, so we should do a lot better.
The one tomato plant that's safe at the moment is the Shirley, which is in the greenhouse. There are plenty of good looking tomatoes on it, so hopefully we'll have some tomatoes from it soon.
The other 59 tomato plants are all outside. We've stripped all the damaged leaves and sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture, but it's probably too late. At best, we'll slow the blight down and we might get a few tomatoes, but as there aren't many tomatoes yet, it's not looking good. There are hundreds of flowers, dozens of tomatoes, nothing anywhere near ripe - the poor weather this year meant everything is very late.
But got to think positive: this year's weather has been the worst on record - next year is unlikely to be this bad, so we should do a lot better.
Tuesday 17 July 2012
Fruit - Trees
The apple tree is loaded as usual. The pear tree seems to have quite a lot of small pears, but they're dropping off.
The cooking apple tree by the shed has just two apples on it. The tree isn't in good shape since the fox dug underneath it and partially uprooted it, so I think I'll just remove the tree.
The old plum tree (Victoria) seems to be alive, albeit with only 2 plums on it this year. The newer plum tree (Czar) that was planted a few years ago to replace the old plum tree, seems to have died of some sort of fungus. I'll cut that down soon. If the old plum tree doesn't produce anything worthwhile next year, I'll cut that down too. In any case, there are plenty of plum trees out in the streets.
The new cherry and peach tree seem to be growing well, plenty of greenery on both trees.
We managed to pick enough elderflowers to make some elderflower wine and elderflower cordial. The only thing that stopped us picking more was the lack of sunshine: elderflowers should be picked on a sunny day (apparently). There will be plenty of elderberries this year, so hopefully that will give us several gallons of elderberry wine.
The cooking apple tree by the shed has just two apples on it. The tree isn't in good shape since the fox dug underneath it and partially uprooted it, so I think I'll just remove the tree.
The old plum tree (Victoria) seems to be alive, albeit with only 2 plums on it this year. The newer plum tree (Czar) that was planted a few years ago to replace the old plum tree, seems to have died of some sort of fungus. I'll cut that down soon. If the old plum tree doesn't produce anything worthwhile next year, I'll cut that down too. In any case, there are plenty of plum trees out in the streets.
The new cherry and peach tree seem to be growing well, plenty of greenery on both trees.
We managed to pick enough elderflowers to make some elderflower wine and elderflower cordial. The only thing that stopped us picking more was the lack of sunshine: elderflowers should be picked on a sunny day (apparently). There will be plenty of elderberries this year, so hopefully that will give us several gallons of elderberry wine.
Fruit - Canes & Bushes
The soft fruit is looking good. We've picked several pounds of raspberries, loganberries and gooseberries, with plenty more to pick. It's all in the freezer ready for winemaking.
The bed with raspberries, gooseberries and loganberries is heavily overgrown with weeds. The weeds have loved the wet weather. I managed to clear most of the weeds from the raspberries the other day, but they're coming back with a vengeance. I really do need to keep the ground sheeted over, but that will have to wait until autumn / winter when everything dies back and I can see the ground more easily.
We've had a handful of strawberries, but the slugs seem to beat us. Regular slug pelleting seems to help.
Blackcurrants are doing well. They're big, fat and juicy, and are turning black. We weren't expecting any blackcurrants this year as it's a new plant, but they're coming. Likewise the reducurrants are doing well. No sign of any whitecurrants yet, but the bush seems to be growing well. No sign of anything from the blueberry either, although it's growing slowly, so that's a good thing.
The rhubarb is good, plenty picked, sliced and frozen. The rhubarb behind the greenhouse seems to have almost died off. That's the second lot I've planted there and it just does nothing. I'll dig it up and see if it comes back to life in pots.
The bed with raspberries, gooseberries and loganberries is heavily overgrown with weeds. The weeds have loved the wet weather. I managed to clear most of the weeds from the raspberries the other day, but they're coming back with a vengeance. I really do need to keep the ground sheeted over, but that will have to wait until autumn / winter when everything dies back and I can see the ground more easily.
We've had a handful of strawberries, but the slugs seem to beat us. Regular slug pelleting seems to help.
Blackcurrants are doing well. They're big, fat and juicy, and are turning black. We weren't expecting any blackcurrants this year as it's a new plant, but they're coming. Likewise the reducurrants are doing well. No sign of any whitecurrants yet, but the bush seems to be growing well. No sign of anything from the blueberry either, although it's growing slowly, so that's a good thing.
The rhubarb is good, plenty picked, sliced and frozen. The rhubarb behind the greenhouse seems to have almost died off. That's the second lot I've planted there and it just does nothing. I'll dig it up and see if it comes back to life in pots.
Hosepipe Ban Lifted
After an extremely wet start to the month, with serious flooding in some parts of the country, the hosepipe ban was finally lifted a couple of days ago.
We had some sunshine on Sunday, sunshine again today, more sunshine forecast for this weekend.
Hopefully the veggies will start to catch up ....
We had some sunshine on Sunday, sunshine again today, more sunshine forecast for this weekend.
Hopefully the veggies will start to catch up ....
Tuesday 3 July 2012
More Carrot Sowings
The fox dug up all the carrots last week. I'm not going to let the fox beat me, so I've sown some more.
From left to right:
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
We're hoping these will give us a carrots from September to November. It's almost a last chance thing, although Nantes Frubund can still be sown into autumn. We still have some Purple Haze and Rainbow seeds, but we won't sow these until next year.
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| 12 troughs of carrots |
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
2 troughs Autumn King
2 troughs Early Nantes
2 troughs Nantes Frubund
We're hoping these will give us a carrots from September to November. It's almost a last chance thing, although Nantes Frubund can still be sown into autumn. We still have some Purple Haze and Rainbow seeds, but we won't sow these until next year.
Weather Update
So ... hot on the heels of the wettest April on record, we've had the wettest June on record. We've had twice as much rainfall as we normally would. Not only that, but we've had the second dullest June since records began.
And we still have a hosepipe ban.
It's raining out there again and rain is forecast right through to Saturday.
It'll probably rain right up to the day they lift the hosepipe ban .....
And we still have a hosepipe ban.
It's raining out there again and rain is forecast right through to Saturday.
It'll probably rain right up to the day they lift the hosepipe ban .....
Monday 2 July 2012
Carrots
Over the last couple of months, we've pulled up and scoffed some of our carrots that we sowed at the beginning of October last year. They were still quite small at 6 months, but quite good at 7 months. They were Early Nantes and I didn't think they'd take that long to be a reasonable size.
Last week, the local fox raided our carrot tubs, probably looking for slugs. Carrots everywhere. Most of them were tiny, having only been sown on March and April. Many were too small to even be classed as baby carrots. Very disappointing as it will be several more months before we get any more carrots.
Anyway, there was no chance of replanting them all, so we decided we'd use them for carrot wine. We got a total of 1.5lbs (after topping) from 9 troughs, a mix of Early Nantes, Autumn King, Chantenay and Purple Haze. This wasn't enough for a gallon of wine so we had to buy more cheap carrots to have enough for a couple of gallons.
We still have a couple of troughs of carrots down in the veggie patch. One is Early Nantes, sown in mid-October last year, the other is Rainbow. Both troughs are less than half full - many seeds just didn't sprout in the poor weather we've had.
Back to more carrot sowings later.
Last week, the local fox raided our carrot tubs, probably looking for slugs. Carrots everywhere. Most of them were tiny, having only been sown on March and April. Many were too small to even be classed as baby carrots. Very disappointing as it will be several more months before we get any more carrots.
Anyway, there was no chance of replanting them all, so we decided we'd use them for carrot wine. We got a total of 1.5lbs (after topping) from 9 troughs, a mix of Early Nantes, Autumn King, Chantenay and Purple Haze. This wasn't enough for a gallon of wine so we had to buy more cheap carrots to have enough for a couple of gallons.
We still have a couple of troughs of carrots down in the veggie patch. One is Early Nantes, sown in mid-October last year, the other is Rainbow. Both troughs are less than half full - many seeds just didn't sprout in the poor weather we've had.
Back to more carrot sowings later.
Brassicas
After seemingly endless rain, we're now getting a mix of wet and dry days. As the forecast was for a dry day and we had loads to do in the veggie patch, we cancelled our day out to spend the day in the garden instead. And it rained.
Luckily it wasn't heavy rain, just short showers. And the ground had dried out enough to make it diggable. So I dug over the whole brassicas bed and planted it out. I had recently dug over about half the bed anyway, so it wasn't too bad.
After sheeting over, I planted through. I will be covering the bed with an old gazebo frame and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off. Brassicas are quite large plants, so I've planted away from the edges where the netting will go.
I was a bit disappointed with the variety of brassicas, especially the lack of cauliflowers. We had wanted lots of coloured cauliflowers, but have only 1 Romanesco and 1 Purple Graffiti and a few Violetta. Many other brassicas had cooked in the greenhouse on the handful of hot days we've had. We will need to sow a lot more for the winter.
The total planted out in the brassicas bed is:
5 Cauliflower All Year Round
1 Cauliflower Purple Graffiti
1 Cauliflower Romanesco
7 Cauliflower Violetta
2 Red Cabbage Kalibos
3 Broccoli Summer Purple
4 Broccoli Belstar
4 Broccoli Green Magic
Other brassicas have been potted on into 5in pots. Later on we'll move them into the large flower buckets. The list so far is:
28 Kale Dwarf Green
12 Broccoli Summer Purple
3 Broccoli Green Magic
5 Broccoli Belstar
More sowings later.
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| Brassicas bed, greenhouse is to the right. |
After sheeting over, I planted through. I will be covering the bed with an old gazebo frame and netting to keep the pigeons and butterflies off. Brassicas are quite large plants, so I've planted away from the edges where the netting will go.
I was a bit disappointed with the variety of brassicas, especially the lack of cauliflowers. We had wanted lots of coloured cauliflowers, but have only 1 Romanesco and 1 Purple Graffiti and a few Violetta. Many other brassicas had cooked in the greenhouse on the handful of hot days we've had. We will need to sow a lot more for the winter.
The total planted out in the brassicas bed is:
5 Cauliflower All Year Round
1 Cauliflower Purple Graffiti
1 Cauliflower Romanesco
7 Cauliflower Violetta
2 Red Cabbage Kalibos
3 Broccoli Summer Purple
4 Broccoli Belstar
4 Broccoli Green Magic
Other brassicas have been potted on into 5in pots. Later on we'll move them into the large flower buckets. The list so far is:
28 Kale Dwarf Green
12 Broccoli Summer Purple
3 Broccoli Green Magic
5 Broccoli Belstar
More sowings later.
Sunday 17 June 2012
Planting Out the Salad Bed
Now that we have some sunshine at last, I've managed to plant out the salads bed, although strictly speaking, there isn't much "salad" stuff in there.
We planted out the mangetout and the first of the runners and french beans a couple of weeks ago, but then had endless rain. The mice scoffed most of my bean seeds, so we picked up some french bean seedlings from B&Q. We set up another 2 wigwams and planted the new beans, with iceberg lettuce inside the wigwams.
I dug over and levelled the rest of the bed and planted out the sweetcorn, courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, butternut squash and an outdoor cucumber. I'm going with the 3 sisters methods to maximise use of space, so it's a bit of a tight squeeze. Sweetcorn is in a block, each plant about 15in apart. In the middle of each 4 sweetcorn is a squash, cucumber or similar. When the sweetcorn is big enough I'll sow more french or runner beans up each sweetcorn, although maybe only on the ones we can reach easily.
The planting plan is shown in the image. Not all the plants are in yet - some of the sweetcorn isn't big enough and one of the cucumbers is too small.
The pumpkin, marrow and butternut squash are in the middle where we can simple leave them. We need to reach the courgettes and cucumbers, so they're in the more reachable spaces.
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| First 2 bean wigwams |
I dug over and levelled the rest of the bed and planted out the sweetcorn, courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, butternut squash and an outdoor cucumber. I'm going with the 3 sisters methods to maximise use of space, so it's a bit of a tight squeeze. Sweetcorn is in a block, each plant about 15in apart. In the middle of each 4 sweetcorn is a squash, cucumber or similar. When the sweetcorn is big enough I'll sow more french or runner beans up each sweetcorn, although maybe only on the ones we can reach easily.
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| Planting Plan |
The pumpkin, marrow and butternut squash are in the middle where we can simple leave them. We need to reach the courgettes and cucumbers, so they're in the more reachable spaces.
Saturday 16 June 2012
More Sweetcorn Woes
I've had more problems with sweetcorn, but also found out some useful information about mixing varities.
Sweetcorn Problems
I sowed sweetcorn 5 times, but the mice ate the first two batches of seeds. I covered the next 3 sowings to protect them from mice, but the weather was cold and wet for several weeks, so germination was poor.
3 weeks ago I had 8 sweetcorn in the greenhouse. Then we had a bit of a heatwave and some were scorched. And then we went back to the cold wet weather again.
We were in B&Q 2 weeks ago and found a pack of sweetcorn, 4-5" high, looking really healthy - there were actually 16 in the pack. At £1.98 for the pack, it just seemed like the only way I was going to get any decent sweetcorn this year, so I got them.
As the weather turned cold and wet, I left them on the kitchen windowsill. 7 of them started wilting. I'm not sure what the cause is, but guessing the cold weather is part of it - the kitchen windowsill probably gets very cold.
I put them in the airing cupboard for a couple of days in the hope that they'd recover in the warmth, but no luck, they died. I've now left the pack outside on the garden table.
I now have:
2 Sweet Bounty (from T&M)
6 Swift (from T&M)
9 Extra Sweet (from Verve / B&Q)
Mixing Varieties
I've always known we shouldn't mix varieties of sweetcorn, but as I've never had problems before, I hadn't looked into it further. Essentially, some varities need to be separated from the pollens of other varieties. I'm not entirely sure what happens if they're not separated - it could be that they don't pollinate properly, or they could pollinate and taste bad.
It turns out that there are different "types" of sweetcorn: Standard, Supersweet, Sugary Extender and Synergistic. Each named variety is of one of these 4 types. Mixing types is not good, but we might be able to mix varieties within each type.
Sweet Bounty and Swift are both supersweet types. I couldn't find any information about the Extra Sweet ones. As other varities with similar "extra sweet" names are supersweet types, I've decided to take a chance and plant them all together.
There are ways to grow the types together and isolate them from the pollen of other sweetcorn by wrapping the cobs in bags or plastic bottles, but I'm not going to mess about!
Sweetcorn Problems
I sowed sweetcorn 5 times, but the mice ate the first two batches of seeds. I covered the next 3 sowings to protect them from mice, but the weather was cold and wet for several weeks, so germination was poor.
3 weeks ago I had 8 sweetcorn in the greenhouse. Then we had a bit of a heatwave and some were scorched. And then we went back to the cold wet weather again.
We were in B&Q 2 weeks ago and found a pack of sweetcorn, 4-5" high, looking really healthy - there were actually 16 in the pack. At £1.98 for the pack, it just seemed like the only way I was going to get any decent sweetcorn this year, so I got them.
As the weather turned cold and wet, I left them on the kitchen windowsill. 7 of them started wilting. I'm not sure what the cause is, but guessing the cold weather is part of it - the kitchen windowsill probably gets very cold.
I put them in the airing cupboard for a couple of days in the hope that they'd recover in the warmth, but no luck, they died. I've now left the pack outside on the garden table.
I now have:
2 Sweet Bounty (from T&M)
6 Swift (from T&M)
9 Extra Sweet (from Verve / B&Q)
Mixing Varieties
I've always known we shouldn't mix varieties of sweetcorn, but as I've never had problems before, I hadn't looked into it further. Essentially, some varities need to be separated from the pollens of other varieties. I'm not entirely sure what happens if they're not separated - it could be that they don't pollinate properly, or they could pollinate and taste bad.
It turns out that there are different "types" of sweetcorn: Standard, Supersweet, Sugary Extender and Synergistic. Each named variety is of one of these 4 types. Mixing types is not good, but we might be able to mix varieties within each type.
Sweet Bounty and Swift are both supersweet types. I couldn't find any information about the Extra Sweet ones. As other varities with similar "extra sweet" names are supersweet types, I've decided to take a chance and plant them all together.
There are ways to grow the types together and isolate them from the pollen of other sweetcorn by wrapping the cobs in bags or plastic bottles, but I'm not going to mess about!
Friday 8 June 2012
More Space
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| Before digging out |
There are 3 tiers with "retaining walls". The top tier uses log roll as the retaining wall. The middle tier uses a brick wall, the bottom tier uses large stones. It probably looked really good back in the day, but these days it's awful.
Half of the log roll on the top tier has rotted and collapsed. The rest isn't far behind. Parts of the brick wall on the middle tier have collapsed and the rest is leaning over. The stone on the bottom tier is fine. All 3 tiers were full of very large and deep rooted weeds and brambles and had some very large lumps of concrete on them, probably from old fence post supports.
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| After digging and sheeting |
After about 4 hours, we'd cleared as much as we could, so levelled the beds as best we could and sheeted over the whole lot. We then moved all the sacks of potatoes onto the new beds. It's nice to have that bit of extra space. We should be able to move more pots and troughs around this weekend.
We'll need to do a lot more work on these beds. Digging out to build new retaining walls will be a lot of hard work. Might give it a go over the winter.
Sunday 27 May 2012
Salad Tubs
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| Salad tub with spinach, lettuce and pak choi |
We've had a couple of salads from them, together with the Winter Gem lettuce which we grew in the greenhouse over the winter and planted out a couple of months ago. The missus loves them! The iceberg lettuces are growing and we'll have some outer leaves from them soon too.
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| The first 3 salad tubs. Crispy spinach in the first one. |
I must find other leaves we can use in salads. I've had Mizuna in the past but couldn't find any seeds this year.
Sweetcorn at last!
The first two sowings were eaten by mice - the mice left tell-tale signs of digging and the outer husks of the corns. We covered the next two sowings, but not a peep from the seeds.
We tried one last time about 4 weeks ago and 8 sprouted. I would normally have planted out by now, but they're very late and I'd like them to catch up a bit, so will keep them in the greenhouse a bit longer.
Beans & Mangetout
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| Runners by greenhouse, French beans nearest camera |
I've planted an Iceberg lettuce inside each wigwam. I saw this in an old gardening book with lettuce planted inside rows of bean canes. Beans put nitrogen into the soil, lettuces take it out, so the two should work together. Also, having the lettuce inside helps cover some of the ground and helps to keep weeds down. Well, that's the theory.
It's a bit disappointing that we've had poor results from the beans so far. We sowed about 56 beans, always two to a pot, but only 11 have sprouted. I've lost the seed packets now so can't sow any more. I know I put them somewhere safe ..... I'll pick some more seeds up soon, just in case. I'll need more anyway so I can grow beans up the sweetcorn, if the sweetcorn actually grows.
We've had really poor results from peas this year too - we must have sown over 200 in the greenhouse, but barely a dozen sprouted and all died pretty quickly. We tried several varieties but no real luck. The mice scoffed some of the early sowings, and the rest just didn't take.
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| Mangetout between beans and Winter Gem lettuce |
Toms-a-tumbling
This weekend we've dealt with all the tomatoes. 60 of them.
I've put the hanging basket brackets up for the Tumbling Toms. Lack of space means one is above the other.
All the other tomatoes have been potted on into the final large pots. They had all been potted on from 3.5in pots to 5in pots and kept in the greenhouse due to the cold weather. Some were only in the 5in pots for a week or so.
All the tomatoes are outside now, apart from the one Shirley, which is best grown in the greenhouse. We'll put a few of the others back in the greenhouse when we've planted out some other seedlings and made some room in the greenhouse.
Most of the rest will be moved to the stepped beds outside the back of the house in 2 or 3 weeks time. At the moment, the stepped beds are still in shade part of the daytime - in a few weeks they'll get full sun all day.
The list is:
1 Shirley (greenhouse)
3 Tumbling Toms (in hanging baskets)
Moneymaker
Belle
Plum
Beefsteak
Gardeners Delight (Cherry)
White Cherry (Cherry)
Sungold (Cherry)
Mr Stripey (Tigrella)
Pomodoro (Beef?)
Harbinger
1 unknown (probably Moneymaker or Belle - we lost the tag so weren't sure)
Most of the big pots are Morrisons flower buckets, 8 for 99p. They don't have holes in them, so I drilled holes around the outside, about an inch from the bottom. The idea is that the holes will still provide drainage, but the bottom inch of the pot will work as a bit of a reservoir to help keep the compost moist. I'm hoping that saves us a lot of watering, especially which is quite important as we have a hosepipe ban.
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| 3 tumbling toms in hanging baskets |
I've put the hanging basket brackets up for the Tumbling Toms. Lack of space means one is above the other.
All the other tomatoes have been potted on into the final large pots. They had all been potted on from 3.5in pots to 5in pots and kept in the greenhouse due to the cold weather. Some were only in the 5in pots for a week or so.
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| Some of the tomatoes in pots outside |
Most of the rest will be moved to the stepped beds outside the back of the house in 2 or 3 weeks time. At the moment, the stepped beds are still in shade part of the daytime - in a few weeks they'll get full sun all day.
The list is:
1 Shirley (greenhouse)
3 Tumbling Toms (in hanging baskets)
Moneymaker
Belle
Plum
Beefsteak
Gardeners Delight (Cherry)
White Cherry (Cherry)
Sungold (Cherry)
Mr Stripey (Tigrella)
Pomodoro (Beef?)
Harbinger
1 unknown (probably Moneymaker or Belle - we lost the tag so weren't sure)
Most of the big pots are Morrisons flower buckets, 8 for 99p. They don't have holes in them, so I drilled holes around the outside, about an inch from the bottom. The idea is that the holes will still provide drainage, but the bottom inch of the pot will work as a bit of a reservoir to help keep the compost moist. I'm hoping that saves us a lot of watering, especially which is quite important as we have a hosepipe ban.
Heatwave!
After 6 weeks or so of cold wet weather, we now have a heatwave, temperatures hitting 27C outside and considerably higher in the greenhouse.
The prolonged cold weather meant that many seeds simply didn't sprout, and most of those that did sprout were still quite small. They simply weren't big enough to survive the sudden heat. The greenhouse heater came too late to make much difference to the small seedlings.
We've lost our pumpkins, our 3rd sowings of cucumbers, most of the sweet peppers, some of the chillies, half our brassicas and probably a lot more too. Most of our veggies are outside now, but still in pots.
The cold wet spell made it difficult to dig the ground - not that we had much to plant out anyway. Now we have the heatwave and it's far too hot for me to do much digging or planting out. I can manage a bit early morning and a bit more late evening when it's much cooler.
We also have the hosepipe ban. We've had no rain for a week and the water butts are mostly empty now. Most of the veggies are in pots still, so need daily watering. Carrying buckets of water down the garden is hard work, but it's keeping me fit! I'll get the soaker hose set up this week. Of course, this is only any good if we get the rain to refill the water butts.
The weather forecast for next week looks better - it'll be warm and we should get some rain, probably thunderstorms. At least it'll save me a bit of watering.
The prolonged cold weather meant that many seeds simply didn't sprout, and most of those that did sprout were still quite small. They simply weren't big enough to survive the sudden heat. The greenhouse heater came too late to make much difference to the small seedlings.
We've lost our pumpkins, our 3rd sowings of cucumbers, most of the sweet peppers, some of the chillies, half our brassicas and probably a lot more too. Most of our veggies are outside now, but still in pots.
The cold wet spell made it difficult to dig the ground - not that we had much to plant out anyway. Now we have the heatwave and it's far too hot for me to do much digging or planting out. I can manage a bit early morning and a bit more late evening when it's much cooler.
We also have the hosepipe ban. We've had no rain for a week and the water butts are mostly empty now. Most of the veggies are in pots still, so need daily watering. Carrying buckets of water down the garden is hard work, but it's keeping me fit! I'll get the soaker hose set up this week. Of course, this is only any good if we get the rain to refill the water butts.
The weather forecast for next week looks better - it'll be warm and we should get some rain, probably thunderstorms. At least it'll save me a bit of watering.
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Summer Is Here
At last! Temperatures due to hit 21-26C daytimes, 13C overnight for the rest of the week. No rain due this week.We're going to be very busy in the garden for the next few weeks.
We spent the weekend catching up on some odd jobs. We tidied the front, cutting out the elderberry growing through the hedge and getting rid of the weeds on the drive. Loads more weeding out the back, especially the stepped beds that we're filling with pots this summer. We put the hanging basket brackets up by the front door (for flowers) and back door (for tumbling toms).
Last week I potted on about 40 tomatoes into 5in pots. Loads more are still in 3.5in pots. I didn't want to put them in the full size pots just yet as there isn't room in the greenhouse and was still too cold outside. We'll be doing a lot more potting on over the next couple of weeks.
We finally have some sweetcorn showing. Runner beans and french beans are shooting up in the greenhouse - I'm hoping to get them planted out this week. Mangetout is desperately in need of planting out. Still a poor show from peas, but a few newer ones are showing now.
We tidied up the berry beds. Raspberry canes had shot up everywhere and hidden the strawberries. Now that the strawberries have light again, they have perked up. It looks like 12 strawberry plants, all flowering. The white strawberries from Wilkos are doing well. One has flowers, a couple more have sent out runners. I'll plant them out soon. I'll actually plant them closer than I did with the reds to help keep out the weeds. The gooseberries are packed with fruit. I still need to get underneath to remove the grass and weeds.
Not much action from the courgettes and squashes, so we resowed them last week. Pumpkins are doing very well though. We now have cucumbers showing too.
Brassicas are doing ok, but as always, some have cooked in the greenhouse. Seems that it doesn't take much to kill them off. I prefer to keep them in the greenhouse until they're big enough to survive pigeon attacks. However, I do have a gazebo frame without a cover, so will use that with fine netting to cover the brassicas. Hopefully that'll keep both the pigeons and the butterflies off the brassicas this year.
Salad veg are doing well. The salad tubs are really taking off now and we'll need to plant out the 4th tub in a couple of weeks.
Herbs are doing very well. The missus picked up a couple of herb plants to fill her planters as the herbs we'd sown were doing so poorly, but now we have loads of herbs. We'll make up a couple of large herb tubs soon.
Jobs for this week - fairly urgent things that need to be done before the weekend:
Set up wigwams and plant first beans
Set up mesh for mangetout to climb up
Finish digging onion bed and plant out remaining 160 onions
Finish digging over the brassicas bed, set up frame and netting, put brassicas seedlings inside
Set up posts for raspberry cane supports
Clear weeds from gooseberries
Pot on tomatoes
Plant out white strawberries
Clear and level more of the stepped beds ready for tomato pots
We spent the weekend catching up on some odd jobs. We tidied the front, cutting out the elderberry growing through the hedge and getting rid of the weeds on the drive. Loads more weeding out the back, especially the stepped beds that we're filling with pots this summer. We put the hanging basket brackets up by the front door (for flowers) and back door (for tumbling toms).
Last week I potted on about 40 tomatoes into 5in pots. Loads more are still in 3.5in pots. I didn't want to put them in the full size pots just yet as there isn't room in the greenhouse and was still too cold outside. We'll be doing a lot more potting on over the next couple of weeks.
We finally have some sweetcorn showing. Runner beans and french beans are shooting up in the greenhouse - I'm hoping to get them planted out this week. Mangetout is desperately in need of planting out. Still a poor show from peas, but a few newer ones are showing now.
We tidied up the berry beds. Raspberry canes had shot up everywhere and hidden the strawberries. Now that the strawberries have light again, they have perked up. It looks like 12 strawberry plants, all flowering. The white strawberries from Wilkos are doing well. One has flowers, a couple more have sent out runners. I'll plant them out soon. I'll actually plant them closer than I did with the reds to help keep out the weeds. The gooseberries are packed with fruit. I still need to get underneath to remove the grass and weeds.
Not much action from the courgettes and squashes, so we resowed them last week. Pumpkins are doing very well though. We now have cucumbers showing too.
Brassicas are doing ok, but as always, some have cooked in the greenhouse. Seems that it doesn't take much to kill them off. I prefer to keep them in the greenhouse until they're big enough to survive pigeon attacks. However, I do have a gazebo frame without a cover, so will use that with fine netting to cover the brassicas. Hopefully that'll keep both the pigeons and the butterflies off the brassicas this year.
Salad veg are doing well. The salad tubs are really taking off now and we'll need to plant out the 4th tub in a couple of weeks.
Herbs are doing very well. The missus picked up a couple of herb plants to fill her planters as the herbs we'd sown were doing so poorly, but now we have loads of herbs. We'll make up a couple of large herb tubs soon.
Jobs for this week - fairly urgent things that need to be done before the weekend:
Set up wigwams and plant first beans
Set up mesh for mangetout to climb up
Finish digging onion bed and plant out remaining 160 onions
Finish digging over the brassicas bed, set up frame and netting, put brassicas seedlings inside
Set up posts for raspberry cane supports
Clear weeds from gooseberries
Pot on tomatoes
Plant out white strawberries
Clear and level more of the stepped beds ready for tomato pots
Monday 14 May 2012
Parsnips
I've never had any real success with parsnips and never really been bothered because I don't like them. However, the missus loves them, so we grew them this year.
We sowed them in a small trough of compost - the veggie beds are very stoney so anything carrot shaped grows all wonky in the ground, and weeds are always a problem. Sowing in troughs or pots gets round both problems.
Unfortunately we forgot to put holes in the trough so the snips were waterlogged. A couple of weeks in the greenhouse to dry didn't help.
Then I had a brainwave - we have a lot of taller pots that we weren't using, just the right size for big fat parsnips - so transplant the whole lot. There had sown a lot more than we thought and didn't have enough pots, so we used a large patio tub as well.
Two days later they're looking fine. Hopefully they'll stay that way and keep on growing!
Added 22/5/12 - foxes have had a dig around in the large tub, 2 parsnips have gone. Foxes seem to love rooting around in pots, probably looking for slugs for lunch ....
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| Snips in taller 6in pots |
Unfortunately we forgot to put holes in the trough so the snips were waterlogged. A couple of weeks in the greenhouse to dry didn't help.
Then I had a brainwave - we have a lot of taller pots that we weren't using, just the right size for big fat parsnips - so transplant the whole lot. There had sown a lot more than we thought and didn't have enough pots, so we used a large patio tub as well.
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| 9 parsnips in a patio tub |
Added 22/5/12 - foxes have had a dig around in the large tub, 2 parsnips have gone. Foxes seem to love rooting around in pots, probably looking for slugs for lunch ....
Bonus Potatoes
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| Bonus spuds - a mix of Charlotte and King Edward |
From checking back through older posts in this blog, these spuds are a mix of Charlotte (salad potatoes) and King Edwards (maincrop) - they were found at opposite ends of the bed and I kept records of what was planted where. I suppose I should really have thought to keep the two varieties separate when I dug them out, but it won't make any difference now, they'll all get eaten this week!
Last year's potato bed is this year's salad / legume bed. I've only dug up half the potatoes from this bed so far.
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| Potato bed - King Edwards & Desiree |
The pots of Swift were planted 12 weeks ago. According to various websites, they should be ready in anything from 60 days to 100 days. That's only likely to happen in ideal growing conditions.
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| Potatoes in sacks. Green sacks planted Feb, white Apr |
Must remember that the white sacks are salad potatoes so won't take very long. Guess we'll be eating a lot of salads this summer anyway!
A Glimpse Of Summer
A proper sunny weekend at last .... spent most of it in the garden. It's been a long time since I spent that much time in the garden in the sun, and I'm aching all over .... totally worth it though.
We popped out to get more compost. The missus found some more seeds that she wanted so we got them too - she's really loving this home growing lark!
I finally dug the strimmer out of the garage. The grass and weeds along the fences were nearly 2ft tall, but all gone now. I hate strimmers. The grass was cut a bit shorter than last time. Still a lot of holes and dips in the lawn from where my son used it as a football pitch for years, but we'll get those filled in time.
I shifted the big pile of slabs from the patio to the veggie patch. I sorted my son's football goals to get rid of them on Freecycle. The chicken coop is now in pieces along the fence so that I can clean it all properly. I dug my way through weeds and brambles to the old shed and got rid of the old lawnmower. I spent the rest of the weekend weeding, digging and generally sorting the veggie patch.
The missus spent most of the weekend potting on and sowing more seeds. The greenhouse is full. We really do need more decent weather so we can start planting out!
We popped out to get more compost. The missus found some more seeds that she wanted so we got them too - she's really loving this home growing lark!
I finally dug the strimmer out of the garage. The grass and weeds along the fences were nearly 2ft tall, but all gone now. I hate strimmers. The grass was cut a bit shorter than last time. Still a lot of holes and dips in the lawn from where my son used it as a football pitch for years, but we'll get those filled in time.
I shifted the big pile of slabs from the patio to the veggie patch. I sorted my son's football goals to get rid of them on Freecycle. The chicken coop is now in pieces along the fence so that I can clean it all properly. I dug my way through weeds and brambles to the old shed and got rid of the old lawnmower. I spent the rest of the weekend weeding, digging and generally sorting the veggie patch.
The missus spent most of the weekend potting on and sowing more seeds. The greenhouse is full. We really do need more decent weather so we can start planting out!
Sunday 6 May 2012
A New Look
I've taken advantage of the cold wet weather to give the blog a bit of a facelift. The old blog looked so bland ....
It's looking a bit nicer now, maybe a bit too girlie for me, but I'll find a better background when I get round to it ...
It's looking a bit nicer now, maybe a bit too girlie for me, but I'll find a better background when I get round to it ...
Heating The Greenhouse
The last 5 or 6 weeks have been pretty cold and wet. Most veggies in the greenhouse are doing fine, although we've lost things like cucumbers - seems it's just too cold for them. I'm sure the veggies would have done much better if the weather had been warmer. The temperature outside is only 7C today and it's not much warmer in the greenhouse.
Today I picked up a parafin greenhouse heater from freecycle. It's in pretty good condition and worked first time.
Parafin heaters are fairly cheap and simple to run. The wick soaks up parafin from the tank at the bottom. Twisting the knob on the front determines how much wick is showing - the more wick showing, the bigger the flame. The flame heats up the chimney and it's the heat from the chimney that warms the greenhouse. We're testing with a small flame, maybe 2in high.
Parafin heaters apparently also have an advantage over electric heaters - they give off carbon dioxide too, which plants love.
It's probably a bit late to make a huge difference right now, as the weather should warm up soon, but it'll definitely help over the autumn / winter - we want to be 99% self-sufficient in fruit and veg from this summer/autumn onwards.
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| Lit with one wick and small flame |
Parafin heaters are fairly cheap and simple to run. The wick soaks up parafin from the tank at the bottom. Twisting the knob on the front determines how much wick is showing - the more wick showing, the bigger the flame. The flame heats up the chimney and it's the heat from the chimney that warms the greenhouse. We're testing with a small flame, maybe 2in high.
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| Parafin heater lit |
It's probably a bit late to make a huge difference right now, as the weather should warm up soon, but it'll definitely help over the autumn / winter - we want to be 99% self-sufficient in fruit and veg from this summer/autumn onwards.
Wettest April for 100 Years
According to the Met Office, this has been the wettest April for over 100 years. It has rained almost every day since the hosepipe ban was introduced. We had 5 inches of rain in the last 10 days of April. The old boy over the road has been keeping rainfall records for years so I must ask how much we had last month.
Apparently it'll take 3 months of continuous rain to return water levels to where they should be and we've had a warning that we might need to use standpipes this summer.
And it's still raining, although not quite as much - more on/off. It's set to continue all next week.
All the rain means not much action in the veggie patch - it's just too wet to dig. But we've been making wine instead ...
Apparently it'll take 3 months of continuous rain to return water levels to where they should be and we've had a warning that we might need to use standpipes this summer.
And it's still raining, although not quite as much - more on/off. It's set to continue all next week.
All the rain means not much action in the veggie patch - it's just too wet to dig. But we've been making wine instead ...
Wednesday 25 April 2012
Rhubarb
We picked another 5 stalks on Sunday - it's been chopped and frozen. The missus wants to make rhubarb wine.
We had another break in the rain yesterday so I popped down the garden to try and do something with some weedy, unhealthy looking rhubarb behind the greenhouse. I can't remember where I got that rhubarb from, but I've had it a few years now.
It was in pots for a year or two, but was drying out quickly, so I stuck it in some unused ground behind the greenhouse. It hasn't done well there, and looked pretty unhealthy.
We picked a couple of stalks - the biggest one was tough and woody, the smaller one was whitish and floppy. The normal rhubarb is several time thicker and much longer, as shown in the photos.
Yesterday I dug the crowns up. I had originally planted 7 crowns, but there were now just 4. The roots looked quite strong and healthy, but a couple seemed "overcrowded" and clumpy, so I have split the crowns.
I had a whole sack of "spent" compost - ordinary multi-purpose compost that I had started seeds in in the greenhouse, but no longer used after seeds had failed or seedlings had been potted on and some of the compost had dropped off during the potting on. I dug this into the small rhubarb bed behind the greenhouse. I expect there are still some active seeds in that compost, and I might well find a tomato or cabbage sprouting up eventually, but should be easily removed.
I also dug in a sack of Croypost - it's a bit rough and heavy, "marketed" as a "soil improver" rather than a compost. Hopefully the combination will help the rhubarb recover and thrive, but it could equally kill it all off.
The 7 crowns were then replanted. Each one is in a slight mound. I can add more compost / manure or something around all the crowns later without burying them. I'll try and get hold of some well rotted manure this summer.
We had another break in the rain yesterday so I popped down the garden to try and do something with some weedy, unhealthy looking rhubarb behind the greenhouse. I can't remember where I got that rhubarb from, but I've had it a few years now.
I had a whole sack of "spent" compost - ordinary multi-purpose compost that I had started seeds in in the greenhouse, but no longer used after seeds had failed or seedlings had been potted on and some of the compost had dropped off during the potting on. I dug this into the small rhubarb bed behind the greenhouse. I expect there are still some active seeds in that compost, and I might well find a tomato or cabbage sprouting up eventually, but should be easily removed.
I also dug in a sack of Croypost - it's a bit rough and heavy, "marketed" as a "soil improver" rather than a compost. Hopefully the combination will help the rhubarb recover and thrive, but it could equally kill it all off.
Potting On & Sowings
The rain has barely stopped this month, but we took advantage of a couple of hours sunshine on Sunday to get down the veggie patch and sort out the greenhouse. The greenhouse is now tidy and organised again.
Mice & Sweetcorn / Peas / Beans
The mice have scoffed more sweetcorn and some of the beans - we have sown 15 more beans into cells. Peas have been very disappointing. We originally sowed 96, but the mice scoffed them. We sowed more, still only a total of 12 have come up so far. We now have new peas (Early Onward and another) and have sown another 24 of each. All of these are now covered to keep the mice out.
I remember reading about an old trick to stop the mice eating seeds - soak the seeds in parafin before sowing. This is the first time I've had problems with mice eating seeds so never tried it before. I don't have any parafin so can't try it yet, but if I ever get round to getting a greenhouse heater, I'll have the parafin so will try the soaking trick.
Tomatoes
The missus managed to sow about 126 tomato plants (lots of varieties). She got a bit carried away! We potted on and now have 60 tomato plants in 3.5in pots. I pulled the rest of them up and put them in the compost. The missus was very sad :( She would love to have kept them, but there are a couple of issues like finding space for them all and I don't think she realises just how much watering and pinching out she'll be doing this summer!
Chillies & Peppers
Not looking great at the moment. We have a small handful of seedlings from several trays of sowings. It might just take more time for more to come through.
Lettuce, Spinach & Salads
The new Iceberg lettuce is doing well in the greenhouse. We have a handful of other salad seedlings like pak choi and spinach - we simply haven't sown enough, so we now have another tray sown. We will need to do some more pretty soon. The pak choi seems to take a lot longer to grow than spinach and lettuce, so best sowing them separately.
The lettuce and spinach we planted out into the patio tubs isn't looking very healthy. It's probably been too cold and wet. But never mind, we've sown a lot more so can replant the tubs later if we need to.
Radish
French Breakfast radish was sown in seed trays of compost and both trays are doing well, but drying out very quickly now. They are starting to swell. Aim is to do one tray every 3 or 4 weeks so we have a constant supply of radish. The long rooted Hilds Roter radish is looking very healthy in the trough in the greenhouse. We have more to sow next month.
Carrots, Parsnip & Beetroot
We have a few Boltardy beetroot seedlings showing in the outdoor trough. The parsnip trough was looking good with 2 rows of healthy looking seedlings. However, it was waterlogged with the recent rain, so is now back in the greenhouse. All troughs of carrots are looking good.
I pulled up a single carrot from the first October sowing - it's looking good, but we'll probably leave them longer.
Onions & Garlic
The garlic and elephant garlic are looking good - the elephant garlic is looking very strong and healthy. I poked around in one of the garlic troughs yesterday, not much in the way of swelling of the bulbs yet. I'll be very surprised if it's ready in 2 months time, but no problem if it takes longer.
The winter onions are not doing too well. Even more have "disappeared" and some of those remaining are looking a bit squishy, like they're starting to rot in the wet. The summer onions are looking fine and healthy. I still have 160 in 2" pots. 120 of these are in a cold frame - there simply isn't room in the greenhouse and I want to protect them from the heavy rain which could simply wash the compost out of the pots.
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Kale
Lots of
seedlings have come up, most are looking good, but some are a bit
stringy. Some of the red cabbage got eaten by slugs or snails, but the
tray is now covered and the remainder seem to be doing well. Brassicas
tend to take up a lot of space, so most will end up in pots after the
tomatoes and potatoes have finished.
Potatoes
Everything seems ok so far. I took a quick look at the bags under the weed sheeting - the sheeting seems to be helping - the compost is moist, not soaked, and despite the cold weather, the compost is quite warm. The leaves are coming up nicely - not enough to earth up just yet.
Leeks
Several pots of leeks are doing well, some in the greenhouse, some outside. It looks like we'll have a lot of leeks over the winter!
We found more seeds at the weekend for a larger variety of leeks, so have sown some of them too.
Mice & Sweetcorn / Peas / Beans
The mice have scoffed more sweetcorn and some of the beans - we have sown 15 more beans into cells. Peas have been very disappointing. We originally sowed 96, but the mice scoffed them. We sowed more, still only a total of 12 have come up so far. We now have new peas (Early Onward and another) and have sown another 24 of each. All of these are now covered to keep the mice out.
I remember reading about an old trick to stop the mice eating seeds - soak the seeds in parafin before sowing. This is the first time I've had problems with mice eating seeds so never tried it before. I don't have any parafin so can't try it yet, but if I ever get round to getting a greenhouse heater, I'll have the parafin so will try the soaking trick.
Tomatoes
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| The greenhouse is looking very full |
Chillies & Peppers
Not looking great at the moment. We have a small handful of seedlings from several trays of sowings. It might just take more time for more to come through.
Lettuce, Spinach & Salads
The new Iceberg lettuce is doing well in the greenhouse. We have a handful of other salad seedlings like pak choi and spinach - we simply haven't sown enough, so we now have another tray sown. We will need to do some more pretty soon. The pak choi seems to take a lot longer to grow than spinach and lettuce, so best sowing them separately.
The lettuce and spinach we planted out into the patio tubs isn't looking very healthy. It's probably been too cold and wet. But never mind, we've sown a lot more so can replant the tubs later if we need to.
Radish
French Breakfast radish was sown in seed trays of compost and both trays are doing well, but drying out very quickly now. They are starting to swell. Aim is to do one tray every 3 or 4 weeks so we have a constant supply of radish. The long rooted Hilds Roter radish is looking very healthy in the trough in the greenhouse. We have more to sow next month.
Carrots, Parsnip & Beetroot
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| Our first carrot this year! |
I pulled up a single carrot from the first October sowing - it's looking good, but we'll probably leave them longer.
Onions & Garlic
The garlic and elephant garlic are looking good - the elephant garlic is looking very strong and healthy. I poked around in one of the garlic troughs yesterday, not much in the way of swelling of the bulbs yet. I'll be very surprised if it's ready in 2 months time, but no problem if it takes longer.
The winter onions are not doing too well. Even more have "disappeared" and some of those remaining are looking a bit squishy, like they're starting to rot in the wet. The summer onions are looking fine and healthy. I still have 160 in 2" pots. 120 of these are in a cold frame - there simply isn't room in the greenhouse and I want to protect them from the heavy rain which could simply wash the compost out of the pots.
Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Kale
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| Trays of everything in the greenhouse |
Potatoes
Everything seems ok so far. I took a quick look at the bags under the weed sheeting - the sheeting seems to be helping - the compost is moist, not soaked, and despite the cold weather, the compost is quite warm. The leaves are coming up nicely - not enough to earth up just yet.
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| 6in pot of leeks outside |
Several pots of leeks are doing well, some in the greenhouse, some outside. It looks like we'll have a lot of leeks over the winter!
We found more seeds at the weekend for a larger variety of leeks, so have sown some of them too.
Sunday 15 April 2012
Update
It's been a very cold and wet month so far. We've had some warm sunny spells, but only for a few hours on the odd day here and there. It's not been the best weather for gardening, so we've been decorating and sorting the house instead.
I've popped down the greenhouse to make sure everything is ok and water as required. One night of frost seems to have killed off our 3 grape vines - I'm not sure why Wilkinson's would sell grape vines that couldn't survive the local weather, so will be contacting them about it.
Not much action with the sweetcorn - only 2 out of 30 have come up so far. A root around in a couple of sweetcorn pots showed no seed left, so have re-sown them. Have also sown another 12, this time Swift.
Not much action with the peas either. Out of 48 each of Oasis and Jaguar, only about 10 have sprouted so far. Guess that's the end of my hopes of early peas - time to replace with normal peas, probably Kelvedon Wonder again. Ho hum.
We've made up 3 salad tubs for the patio. They have a mix of various loose leaf lettuces, spinach and a couple of pak choi. I'd prefer to have more variety including rocket and mizuna, but it seems that lettuce grows much faster than the rocket, and I don't have any mizuna this year. Not to worry though, we have plenty more salad tubs so we should plenty of variety.
I've also sown runner beans and french beans in pots in the greenhouse. We have green and purple French beans and 2 varieties of runner beans.
I've popped down the greenhouse to make sure everything is ok and water as required. One night of frost seems to have killed off our 3 grape vines - I'm not sure why Wilkinson's would sell grape vines that couldn't survive the local weather, so will be contacting them about it.
Not much action with the sweetcorn - only 2 out of 30 have come up so far. A root around in a couple of sweetcorn pots showed no seed left, so have re-sown them. Have also sown another 12, this time Swift.
Not much action with the peas either. Out of 48 each of Oasis and Jaguar, only about 10 have sprouted so far. Guess that's the end of my hopes of early peas - time to replace with normal peas, probably Kelvedon Wonder again. Ho hum.
We've made up 3 salad tubs for the patio. They have a mix of various loose leaf lettuces, spinach and a couple of pak choi. I'd prefer to have more variety including rocket and mizuna, but it seems that lettuce grows much faster than the rocket, and I don't have any mizuna this year. Not to worry though, we have plenty more salad tubs so we should plenty of variety.
I've also sown runner beans and french beans in pots in the greenhouse. We have green and purple French beans and 2 varieties of runner beans.
Friday 6 April 2012
More Potatoes
Been very busy, loads more potatoes planted.
The potato bed has been dug over and planted with potatoes and covered the bed with weed sheeting. This can stay in place for a few weeks until the frosts have passed. More potatoes are in sacks. The planting list is now:
8 Swift (1st Earlies) in black flower pots 25/02/12
10 unknown (2nd Earlies) in large dog food sacks 25/02/12
30 Charlottes (salad) in white compost sacks, 2 per sack 01/04/12
29 King Edward (Maincrop) in the potato bed 01/04/12
11 Desiree (Maincrop) in the potato bed 06/04/12
5 Desiree (Maincrop) in red compost sacks 06/04/12
We had a severe frost a couple of days ago. To protect the spuds, I folded over the tops of all the potato sacks and covered the potato pots with old weed sheeting. Unfortunately the sheeting blew off some of the stems so they got frost damaged - this may have killed some of the potatoes.
I have now moved all the sacks and pots together into a double line and covered the whole lot with weed sheeting which is being held down with bricks at the sides and garden tools on top. They can be covered or uncovered very easily. I just need to watch out for frost and remember to cover them!
When the weather warms up, the sacks and pots will be moved to the top of the garden - we don't get much sun at the top of the garden at this time of year, but the whole lot is nice and sunny in the summer.
The second photo shows all the potatoes covered up. In the background at the top is the potato bed, still sheeted over. This will be uncovered when the risk of frost has passed.
The potato bed has been dug over and planted with potatoes and covered the bed with weed sheeting. This can stay in place for a few weeks until the frosts have passed. More potatoes are in sacks. The planting list is now:
8 Swift (1st Earlies) in black flower pots 25/02/12
10 unknown (2nd Earlies) in large dog food sacks 25/02/12
30 Charlottes (salad) in white compost sacks, 2 per sack 01/04/12
29 King Edward (Maincrop) in the potato bed 01/04/12
11 Desiree (Maincrop) in the potato bed 06/04/12
5 Desiree (Maincrop) in red compost sacks 06/04/12
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| Potatoes all lined up so they can be easily covered |
I have now moved all the sacks and pots together into a double line and covered the whole lot with weed sheeting which is being held down with bricks at the sides and garden tools on top. They can be covered or uncovered very easily. I just need to watch out for frost and remember to cover them!
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| Potatoes covered to protect them from frost |
The second photo shows all the potatoes covered up. In the background at the top is the potato bed, still sheeted over. This will be uncovered when the risk of frost has passed.
First Rhubarb This Year
Saturday 31 March 2012
Heatwave & Hosepipe Ban
It's been a mild winter, not much rain, and we've had a couple of weeks of lovely sunshine. Temperatures were up to 22C here in the week. The heatwave has ended now, temperatures down to 12C. No rain in sight just yet - the BBC website showed rain due on Monday, but that's now moved to Tuesday and could well move again.
Several water companies in the South East have announced hosepipe bans to start next week. That means we can't use the sprinkler to water the veggies.
I have 5 water butts and hoses set up to transfer water from the back of the house, downhill to the water butt in the greenhouse and the sprinkler in the veggie patch. As I can't use the sprinkler, the sprinkler is being replaced this year with soaker hoses. These will be laid on the surface, which will then be mulched and covered with weed sheeting. Hopefully this will minimise watering and water evaporation.
I am also going to "water directly to roots" for some plants. It's simple enough - cut the bottom off a small drinks bottle and bury the neck end down close to the plants, then pour water into the bottle. The water goes straight down into the ground close to the roots of the plants. I've done this for the currants, will need a lot more bottles for when I plant other fruit and veg out.
Several water companies in the South East have announced hosepipe bans to start next week. That means we can't use the sprinkler to water the veggies.
I have 5 water butts and hoses set up to transfer water from the back of the house, downhill to the water butt in the greenhouse and the sprinkler in the veggie patch. As I can't use the sprinkler, the sprinkler is being replaced this year with soaker hoses. These will be laid on the surface, which will then be mulched and covered with weed sheeting. Hopefully this will minimise watering and water evaporation.
I am also going to "water directly to roots" for some plants. It's simple enough - cut the bottom off a small drinks bottle and bury the neck end down close to the plants, then pour water into the bottle. The water goes straight down into the ground close to the roots of the plants. I've done this for the currants, will need a lot more bottles for when I plant other fruit and veg out.
And More Shopping, More Sowing, More Digging, More Planting
The last 2 weeks or so have been very busy. So much to do in the veggie patch - not just the normal sowing, digging and planting, but even more, partly due to not doing much last year, and partly because Her Ladyship just can't stop shopping!
She picked up loads more seeds including Iceberg lettuce, several courgettes and squashes, plus some chillies, carrots and tomatoes (which we already had, but always going to need more of), a horseradish root, some spring onions, and a few other bits.
Last weekend
We popped down the garden centre to get some more seed potatoes as most of the ones we had were rotten, and to look for nice pots for the olives. We came away with 2 bags of seed potatoes (half price), 4 herb plants (because Her Ladyship had already bought the herb planters and didn't want to wait months for herbs to grow), 5 large pots for the olives and other things, another olive (much bigger than the ones we already have) and a peach tree.
I planted the cherry tree and 63 shallots and dug over part of the salad bed. Half the salad bed still has potatoes in from last year - I'll need to dig them up soon. I then spent 2 hours putting the new fence post in and putting the fence together again. Only two more posts to do on that fence (for now).
My son and I then finished digging out the first pallet compost bin. The bottom half was full of roots, so no good to use. Half the roots are thick and woody, possibly from the tree over the back, the other half seem to be bramble roots that have spread everywhere in the compost. The contents of the bin are now bagged up and I'll take them to the council dump for the green waste bins. In return I'll pick up loads more Croypost to use as a mulch.
Her Ladyship sowed loads of broccoli as the ones in the greenhouse had died, and another 96 peas as the mice had eaten the ones in the greenhouse. She planted out the Winter Gem lettuce - they were still in the 3.5in pots they'd been in for months. The olives, lemon, orange and fig were planted in the new large pots and the herbs were planted in the herb planters.
The Last Week
It's been a very hot week and I've plodded along doing something every day.
I dug over part of the onion bed and planted out about 60 Stuttgarter Giant and 60 Red Baron. We still have 40 reds in the greenhouse ready for planting out. I started another 80 Stuttgarter Giant in the 2 inch pots. These are the last of the onions for the summer.
I cleared remaining brambles along the rhubarb / plum side where the currants will go, and dug it over, breaking my fork in the process. I have now planted the blackcurrant, whitecurrant, redcurrant and blueberry. The are all several feet apart. Next winter I'll dig up the rhubarb and split the crowns and plant the newly split crowns between the currants.
Her Ladyship has sown loads more of everything. I've lost track for now, but will catch up with what she's sown over the next week or so ....
She picked up loads more seeds including Iceberg lettuce, several courgettes and squashes, plus some chillies, carrots and tomatoes (which we already had, but always going to need more of), a horseradish root, some spring onions, and a few other bits.
Last weekend
We popped down the garden centre to get some more seed potatoes as most of the ones we had were rotten, and to look for nice pots for the olives. We came away with 2 bags of seed potatoes (half price), 4 herb plants (because Her Ladyship had already bought the herb planters and didn't want to wait months for herbs to grow), 5 large pots for the olives and other things, another olive (much bigger than the ones we already have) and a peach tree.
I planted the cherry tree and 63 shallots and dug over part of the salad bed. Half the salad bed still has potatoes in from last year - I'll need to dig them up soon. I then spent 2 hours putting the new fence post in and putting the fence together again. Only two more posts to do on that fence (for now).
My son and I then finished digging out the first pallet compost bin. The bottom half was full of roots, so no good to use. Half the roots are thick and woody, possibly from the tree over the back, the other half seem to be bramble roots that have spread everywhere in the compost. The contents of the bin are now bagged up and I'll take them to the council dump for the green waste bins. In return I'll pick up loads more Croypost to use as a mulch.
Her Ladyship sowed loads of broccoli as the ones in the greenhouse had died, and another 96 peas as the mice had eaten the ones in the greenhouse. She planted out the Winter Gem lettuce - they were still in the 3.5in pots they'd been in for months. The olives, lemon, orange and fig were planted in the new large pots and the herbs were planted in the herb planters.
The Last Week
It's been a very hot week and I've plodded along doing something every day.
I dug over part of the onion bed and planted out about 60 Stuttgarter Giant and 60 Red Baron. We still have 40 reds in the greenhouse ready for planting out. I started another 80 Stuttgarter Giant in the 2 inch pots. These are the last of the onions for the summer.
I cleared remaining brambles along the rhubarb / plum side where the currants will go, and dug it over, breaking my fork in the process. I have now planted the blackcurrant, whitecurrant, redcurrant and blueberry. The are all several feet apart. Next winter I'll dig up the rhubarb and split the crowns and plant the newly split crowns between the currants.
Her Ladyship has sown loads more of everything. I've lost track for now, but will catch up with what she's sown over the next week or so ....
Sunday 11 March 2012
More Sowings
I love this time of year: the sun starts shining, seeds start sprouting, I try to keep up with digging, the sowings and potting on and planting out ....
Lots of seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse - all the cauliflowers have started, some spinach, a couple of cucumbers etc.
This weekend we've sown:
8 Tomato Golden Sunrise
8 Tomato White Cherry
8 Tomato Roma
8 Tomato Harbinger
8 Tomato Pomodoro
8 Tomato Tigrella
19 Sweetcorn Sweet Bounty
8 Pak Choi Rubi
8 Lettuce Mixed Salad Leaves
4 Aubergine Black Beauty
4 Pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
4 Pepper Heatwave
4 Pepper Inferno
4 Chilli Cayenne
4 Chilli Hot Stuff
4 Chilli Twightlight
Large pot Leek Bandit
2 large pots Leek Musselburgh
1 half size seed tray Lambs Lettuce
Small trough Beetroot Boltardy
Large trough Carrot Chantenay Red
Small trough Carrot Purple Haze
Small trough Carrot Charlemagne
2 small troughs Carrot Autumn King 2
24 Red Cabbage Kalibos
8 Cauliflower Violetta
16 Cauliflower All Year Round
24 Kale Dwarf Green Curled
4 Sweet Pepper Jumbo
20 Sweet Pepper WorldBeater
1 Ginger root into an 8inch pot
Phew!
Lots of seeds are sprouting in the greenhouse - all the cauliflowers have started, some spinach, a couple of cucumbers etc.
This weekend we've sown:
8 Tomato Golden Sunrise
8 Tomato White Cherry
8 Tomato Roma
8 Tomato Harbinger
8 Tomato Pomodoro
8 Tomato Tigrella
19 Sweetcorn Sweet Bounty
8 Pak Choi Rubi
8 Lettuce Mixed Salad Leaves
4 Aubergine Black Beauty
4 Pepper Hot Caribbean Blend
4 Pepper Heatwave
4 Pepper Inferno
4 Chilli Cayenne
4 Chilli Hot Stuff
4 Chilli Twightlight
Large pot Leek Bandit
2 large pots Leek Musselburgh
1 half size seed tray Lambs Lettuce
Small trough Beetroot Boltardy
Large trough Carrot Chantenay Red
Small trough Carrot Purple Haze
Small trough Carrot Charlemagne
2 small troughs Carrot Autumn King 2
24 Red Cabbage Kalibos
8 Cauliflower Violetta
16 Cauliflower All Year Round
24 Kale Dwarf Green Curled
4 Sweet Pepper Jumbo
20 Sweet Pepper WorldBeater
1 Ginger root into an 8inch pot
Phew!
The Big Clearup
The last couple of weeks haven't just been about sowing seeds, we've done loads more too, but haven't had time to post on here.
Brambles & Bushes
A week or so back, we had 3 lovely sunny days, 2 of which were spent in the garden doing a major tidy up. Most of this was clearing brambles. We'd started this a couple of weeks earlier and now we've mostly finished. We even cleared the brambles from the stepped beds down to the lawn - these beds haven't been cleared for years.
The stump of an old tree or bush has been throwing up shoots for some years now. These had reached about 6ft tall and some were 2 inches thick. We chopped this down and bagged it up too.
We took about 30 bags of brambles and "tree" cuttings to the dump.
Pots & Seed Trays
We also finished sorting the pots and seed trays etc. There are hundreds of pots of all shapes and size, dozens of trays, loads of troughs, and considering how many seeds we're sowing, I'm still not convinced we'll have enough pots!
Greenhouse
We emptied the greenhouse and washed it down inside and out. We used Jeyes fluid, diluted - I read on a forum somewhere that Jeyes fluid kills off nasty bugs etc. A quick hosing down after and it was nice and clean! Everything was put back neat and tidy.
Weed Control Sheeting
Today we put some new weed sheeting down on part of the veggie patch. A friend of mine is an upholsterer. He got me a 100m x 1.35m roll of the black fabric that upholsterers use on the underside of settees - it's exactly the same stuff as normal, decent weed control sheeting that you get from the garden centres, but much much cheaper to buy the 100m roll from a fabric supplier.
We also put weed sheeting on the 3 stepped beds one side of the steps down to the lawn. We put planks of wood across the length of the sheeting to stop it blowing away, and then put several carrot troughs on it to hold it all down. The stepped beds will be full of pots and troughs this summer, especially tomatoes.
A slight warning about weed control sheeting - we picked up some weed control sheeting from the pound shop, but it was so thin it was see through, so we took that back. Weed control sheeting needs to be dark so that it blocks out the light, which stops the weeds growing through. See through sheeting is just useless.
Compost Bins
We reorganised the dalek compost bins last week. The first large black one was almost filled last weekend. The smaller green dalek was half filled during the week - we compost all our veggie peelings, tea bags, banana skins etc, so the bins do fill up quite quickly.
All the veggie peelings etc are wrapped in newspaper and taken down to the compost bins when we go down there. I've been told we need a mix of green (veggie peelings / veggie leaves, grass cuttings etc) and brown (newspaper, cardboard, loo roll tubes etc) to make decent compost. I now rip up normal cardboard, old egg boxes etc and add that to the compost bins. I don't bother with the glossy cardboard though.
Today I cut the lawn for the first time this year, and the cuttings have filled both bins to the top. Everything will start rotting down and compressing, so there should be enough room for more peelings etc over the next couple of weeks. I'll need to find the front cover for the 3rd dalek before the grass is cut next time, probably in about 10 days time.
I want to get the first pallet compost bin dug out over the next 3-4 weeks, and then turn everything from the 2nd bin into the first. There must be some half decent compost in the bottom of both and we're really going to need the pallet compost bins soon.
Fence
The long fence I had replaced a few years ago has been wobbling. 3 posts have rotted through. I'm disgusted - fence posts are pressure treated and should be guaranteed for 10 years. My son and I spent an hour or so digging down to get the remains of the bottom part of the post out of the ground. It turned out it was only concreted halfway round, so the workmanship was poor anyway.
As we need trellis for the grapes and kiwi, I've ordered that plus 3 replacement posts for the long fence. And as we're putting the new trellis up and removing the old fence that divided the plot from the lawn, we've decided to site the trellis a few feet further up the garden to extend the veggie patch. We don't really use the lawn much so makes sense to me!
And now I'm going to settle down for steak and chips .... well deserved I think!
Brambles & Bushes
A week or so back, we had 3 lovely sunny days, 2 of which were spent in the garden doing a major tidy up. Most of this was clearing brambles. We'd started this a couple of weeks earlier and now we've mostly finished. We even cleared the brambles from the stepped beds down to the lawn - these beds haven't been cleared for years.
The stump of an old tree or bush has been throwing up shoots for some years now. These had reached about 6ft tall and some were 2 inches thick. We chopped this down and bagged it up too.
We took about 30 bags of brambles and "tree" cuttings to the dump.
Pots & Seed Trays
We also finished sorting the pots and seed trays etc. There are hundreds of pots of all shapes and size, dozens of trays, loads of troughs, and considering how many seeds we're sowing, I'm still not convinced we'll have enough pots!
Greenhouse
We emptied the greenhouse and washed it down inside and out. We used Jeyes fluid, diluted - I read on a forum somewhere that Jeyes fluid kills off nasty bugs etc. A quick hosing down after and it was nice and clean! Everything was put back neat and tidy.
Weed Control Sheeting
Today we put some new weed sheeting down on part of the veggie patch. A friend of mine is an upholsterer. He got me a 100m x 1.35m roll of the black fabric that upholsterers use on the underside of settees - it's exactly the same stuff as normal, decent weed control sheeting that you get from the garden centres, but much much cheaper to buy the 100m roll from a fabric supplier.
We also put weed sheeting on the 3 stepped beds one side of the steps down to the lawn. We put planks of wood across the length of the sheeting to stop it blowing away, and then put several carrot troughs on it to hold it all down. The stepped beds will be full of pots and troughs this summer, especially tomatoes.
A slight warning about weed control sheeting - we picked up some weed control sheeting from the pound shop, but it was so thin it was see through, so we took that back. Weed control sheeting needs to be dark so that it blocks out the light, which stops the weeds growing through. See through sheeting is just useless.
Compost Bins
We reorganised the dalek compost bins last week. The first large black one was almost filled last weekend. The smaller green dalek was half filled during the week - we compost all our veggie peelings, tea bags, banana skins etc, so the bins do fill up quite quickly.
All the veggie peelings etc are wrapped in newspaper and taken down to the compost bins when we go down there. I've been told we need a mix of green (veggie peelings / veggie leaves, grass cuttings etc) and brown (newspaper, cardboard, loo roll tubes etc) to make decent compost. I now rip up normal cardboard, old egg boxes etc and add that to the compost bins. I don't bother with the glossy cardboard though.
Today I cut the lawn for the first time this year, and the cuttings have filled both bins to the top. Everything will start rotting down and compressing, so there should be enough room for more peelings etc over the next couple of weeks. I'll need to find the front cover for the 3rd dalek before the grass is cut next time, probably in about 10 days time.
I want to get the first pallet compost bin dug out over the next 3-4 weeks, and then turn everything from the 2nd bin into the first. There must be some half decent compost in the bottom of both and we're really going to need the pallet compost bins soon.
Fence
The long fence I had replaced a few years ago has been wobbling. 3 posts have rotted through. I'm disgusted - fence posts are pressure treated and should be guaranteed for 10 years. My son and I spent an hour or so digging down to get the remains of the bottom part of the post out of the ground. It turned out it was only concreted halfway round, so the workmanship was poor anyway.
As we need trellis for the grapes and kiwi, I've ordered that plus 3 replacement posts for the long fence. And as we're putting the new trellis up and removing the old fence that divided the plot from the lawn, we've decided to site the trellis a few feet further up the garden to extend the veggie patch. We don't really use the lawn much so makes sense to me!
And now I'm going to settle down for steak and chips .... well deserved I think!
Saturday 3 March 2012
More Plants and Trees
Someone said that giving a woman a credit card is a bit like putting a shark in charge of a swimming pool. And now I see why .....
She's been to Wilkinsons. We now have:
2 Olives
2 Grapes Pinot Noir
1 Grape Chardonnay
1 Lemon
1 Calamondin (an orange)
1 Fig
1 Kiwi
She's also been to B&Q and bought:
1 Cherry Tree
1 Ginger Root
She then went online and bought:
Cauliflower Violetta
Lemongrass
Tomato White Cherry
The olives, calamondin and lemon will be grown in pots all year round. The calamondin and lemon will need to come indoors in the winter - not sure, but maybe the olives will too. We will need to buy some nice ceramic pots for them sometime soon, but for the time being, I've planted them into 8 inch pots.
I've seen grapes and kiwis growing over pergolas and trellis, but we don't have any of that here. We've decided to replace the DIY pallet fence dividing the lawn from the veggie patch with a new trellis fence. The downside is that the vines growing over the trellis will partially shade the veggie patch, although I don't think it'll be too much of a problem if we keep the vines under control.
We won't have time to take the old fence down and put the new trellis fence up for a couple of weeks at best, so for the time being, I've planted the grapes into 10 inch pots and the kiwi into an 8 inch pot.
When I had the allotment, the plot next to mine had a 10ft fig tree. Our fig tree is only 10inches tall at the moment, so that's gone in an 8 inch pot too. Later on I'll plant it somewhere on the lawn - probably along the fence.
The cherry tree is 6ft tall. It's been grafted onto dwarf rooting stock and after 10 years should be about 10ft tall. I'll plant this somewhere on the lawn area too, again, most likely along the fence.
Cherries need another cherry tree nearby for pollination. Most people round here seem to have apple trees, but no cherry trees. I did actually discover that one of the 'council' trees in the street is a cherry tree, but it's quite a way down the street, so no idea if that's close enough for pollination.
In any case, the cherry tree we have will give us pink / yellow cherries and it would be nice to have a red or black cherry tree too, so that's on the shopping list now.
Also on the shopping list is an apricot tree. I think that's where we'll have to draw the line for this year - so much to do, so little time!
She's been to Wilkinsons. We now have:
2 Olives
2 Grapes Pinot Noir
1 Grape Chardonnay
1 Lemon
1 Calamondin (an orange)
1 Fig
1 Kiwi
She's also been to B&Q and bought:
1 Cherry Tree
1 Ginger Root
She then went online and bought:
Cauliflower Violetta
Lemongrass
Tomato White Cherry
The olives, calamondin and lemon will be grown in pots all year round. The calamondin and lemon will need to come indoors in the winter - not sure, but maybe the olives will too. We will need to buy some nice ceramic pots for them sometime soon, but for the time being, I've planted them into 8 inch pots.
I've seen grapes and kiwis growing over pergolas and trellis, but we don't have any of that here. We've decided to replace the DIY pallet fence dividing the lawn from the veggie patch with a new trellis fence. The downside is that the vines growing over the trellis will partially shade the veggie patch, although I don't think it'll be too much of a problem if we keep the vines under control.
We won't have time to take the old fence down and put the new trellis fence up for a couple of weeks at best, so for the time being, I've planted the grapes into 10 inch pots and the kiwi into an 8 inch pot.
When I had the allotment, the plot next to mine had a 10ft fig tree. Our fig tree is only 10inches tall at the moment, so that's gone in an 8 inch pot too. Later on I'll plant it somewhere on the lawn - probably along the fence.
The cherry tree is 6ft tall. It's been grafted onto dwarf rooting stock and after 10 years should be about 10ft tall. I'll plant this somewhere on the lawn area too, again, most likely along the fence.
Cherries need another cherry tree nearby for pollination. Most people round here seem to have apple trees, but no cherry trees. I did actually discover that one of the 'council' trees in the street is a cherry tree, but it's quite a way down the street, so no idea if that's close enough for pollination.
In any case, the cherry tree we have will give us pink / yellow cherries and it would be nice to have a red or black cherry tree too, so that's on the shopping list now.
Also on the shopping list is an apricot tree. I think that's where we'll have to draw the line for this year - so much to do, so little time!
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