12th May, 2010

I seem to like starting these blogs with a weather report. Well, it is quite crucial for the veg grower to keep a weather eye and what I thought was the last of the cold weather, turns out to be a return of northerly winds and frosty mornings. I was correct to leave the runner beans in the greenhouse. Here they are waiting patiently.



Harvesting

The first asparagus has been eaten and it was delicious. We've had 3 pickings so far and more to come.



Sowing

Cucumber, sweetcorn, dwarf bean, borlotti beans, more beetroot, more kohlrabi, more spring onion and turnips which I have all sown in seed trays or pots for planting out. I committed the cardinal sin and didn't label the trays so I will have to rely on my ability to recognise the seedlings when they emerge.



The greenhouse is filling up and I'd like to be planting some of the veg outside but it's just not worth risking a late frost. This is the sweetcorn.



I have had the leeks hardening off outside but they are painfully slow to grow.



Planting

Kohlrabi, rocket, lettuce, beetroot, more peas

These are the kohlrabi in the foreground with the onions and garlic in the background. I'm pleased with the onions they are bulbing up nicely. I'm making a net cloche for the kohlrabi from spare netting for the veg cage and wire frame of the old plastic cloches; the plastic finally became too brittle and it was ditched. I need to finish it soon before either the pigeons or the butterflies discover they are there. I've seen pigeons but it still seems to be too cold for cabbage whites.



I planted the rocket out in clumps from seed trays. Rocket is on the right, parsley on the left.



And some lettuce under domes. Maybe I should have removed a dome to avoid the reflections and show the lettuce properly.



In the garden the strawberry plants look very healthy with flowers developing.



I have let the purple sprouting broccoli flower, I don't need the space just yet and maybe the bees will appreciate them.



I spotted the first sign of the spuds but rather than wallowing in the glory of it, I should have covered them with earth to keep the frosts off.



The apple tree has plenty of blossom most of which is on the side spurs rather than the tips. So, I shall continue with the pruning method for spur fruiting. It's easier too.



The greengage is leafing up. There do not appear to be any dead bits which I'm pleased about given it was a bare rooted tree. There are no flowers though, so no fruit this year.

21st April, 2010

I took 2 weeks off work for the Easter break and had a lovely time getting a lot of the garden chores done, very satisfying, especially with some lovely weather; the rain seems to have also taken a holiday. The lawnmower came back from its service and despite its age (>40 years) it looked like new and started on the first pull. Of course, as well as mowing the lawn I did lots of weeding and sowing and planting out.

Harvesting:

I've finished off the leeks and had these with the purple sprouting broccoli baked in a cheese sauce. There is still plenty of PSB coming.

Sowing:

More radish. I haven't got much room in the greenhouse for any more stuff at the moment.

Planting:

Potatoes. As with last year I dug a trench and planted the spuds on a good layer of compost. The compost was not fully rotted but will hold the moisture nicely.

The asparagus has sprouted and there will be enough for a meal or two (hopefully more) which will be the first harvest ever.



The broad beans are flowering. It didn't look good for these plants a few weeks back but nature finds a way.



The early peas (Meteor) are attaching themselves to the pea sticks, but the germination rate of those I sowed later (celebration variety) in the greenhouse has been very poor. I will definitely have to sow more as these were very good eating last year.



The radish are growing well in the greenhouse. I'm trying them out this way instead of sowing directly outside. They certainly grow faster and look better, hopefully they taste good too. In the picture below, the radish are in the foreground with kohlrabi behind them and the beetroot behind the kohlrabi.



Aubergine coming along nicely.



A second sowing of spring onion. This method is working well. Sow a few seeds per station in a seed tray and then when they get to a good size, plant the clump outside.



Last year, I bought basil from the supermarket and grew that on but where is the fun in that? So, this year I have sown my own (I had the seeds anyway).



I'm pleased to report that the fruit trees are all showing good numbers of flower buds including the new greengage and cherry trees. I think the pear tree will be first into flower though.

4th April, 2010

It's April already and yet spring still feels like it hasn't arrived. At last the daffodils have flowered and there are signs of bud break on the trees. Ever the optimist, I've being busy sowing and planting.

First up though, I have been thinking about what to grow against a north facing fence that replaced the Leylandii hedge. It's a big expanse of boring wood that is close to the conservatory and is crying out for some green cover. As ever, with my economical nature, I wanted to get something that was edible. So my initial thoughts of a flowering climber were quickly replaced. The decision turned out to be not too hard as there are not many fruit trees or climbers that will grow on a north facing aspect. The solution came in the form of an acid cherry. As luck would have it I stumbled across a free cherry tree offer on the internet. All it cost was the post and packing at £6.99. So it came last week and it's now planted and pruned. Maybe the link is still alive and there are still free trees on offer?



I've severely pruned it so that I can train it into a fan against the hedge. The idea is to promote two lateral branches from which further laterals will develop. It came bare rooted so it will need lots of watering.

The greenhouse is looking more like its purpose, full of seed trays.



And it has that lovely warm feel to it at last.



Notice the loo roll method of growing parsnip and peas.



I put the fig outside so that it can get more sun as the greenhouse gets afternoon shade. The embryo figs are starting to swell nicely.



I planted out more strawberry plants that I'd propagated from runners last autumn. I was going to give them away but decided you can never have enough strawberries. The soil here was good for making pots, so much clay! I thought it best to grow the strawberries in it rather than struggle to get it in good condition. I can concentrate the compost application to other areas for now.



The gooseberry has plenty of pristine leaf, although it's far from a bush at the moment and will need a few years before it produces a decent yield.



The redcurrants are also looking rather stick like after I split the original so that I can prune them properly to form a productive bush; again I'll have to wait a few years for some decent yields.



The buds on the plum tree should open any day now.



All five of the rhubarb plants are sprouting which should allow me to force each crown on an annual rotation. The biggest plants look like they can withstand forcing so I'll try one of them next year.



I've sown the following:

Carrots, coriander, pumpkin, runner beans, sweetcorn, courgette, sprouts, parsnip, rocket, tomatoes, dwarf beans, Borlotti beans.

I have also planted the spring sown onion sets and the spinach. But I still haven't planted the potatoes, that will happen in the next few days.

22nd March, 2010

Finally, I felt it was warm enough to begin sowing in earnest, despite there being a frost this weekend. A good sign for me was that the leeks had germinated. It's good to see the greenhouse shelves filling up with seed trays. The leeks are in the black buckets in the picture below.



In the picture below, the spinach on the lower shelf will be ready to plant out soon I hope. On the top shelf I have peas, parsley, beetroot and celeriac.



Also in the greenhouse, I sowed some more peas (celebration) in loo rolls. The horseradish (tall black pot) is shooting up which I plan to keep in a container somewhere. I'm persisting with it because I understand the root has to be several years old before the heat develops. I tried it after two years and it had no heat at all. I'm also waiting to see if the cacti and succulents came through the winter, they seem OK.



Indoors, the aubergines have germinated. They won't go in the greenhouse until they have developed a few more leaves and the weather is warmer (mid-April?). I should have six plants if I look after them.



I sowed some tomato (Tigerella), melon (Edonis) and sweet pepper (gourmet) along with a pineapple top which I'm trying for a bit of fun. The pineapple top had its flesh removed and then the leaves removed to reveal about 1" of stem and then left to dry out for a few days. Then I dipped it in rooting hormone and laid it on its side on compost. The idea behind this method is to try and prevent the top from rotting.



Outside there are signs of life. The blueberries are budding up. I'm going to grow these in full sun this year rather than on the patio which gets afternoon shade. The idea being that this may encourage sweet fruit rather than the sour berries I seem to be getting up until now.



The broad beans have struggled this year. The winter has knocked them back but new growth is sprouting from the bases. Looking back at my blog this time last year, the beans were nearly 30cm tall.



But the purple sprouting broccoli looks very promising. I shall be picking some this coming weekend.



Should be a good garlic year too!



And onions. I'm ashamed to say that I am having to buy onions now. All because I bent the necks of last year's and caused them to rot.



The strawberry plants that I propagated from runners last year and had been sitting in the cold frame all winter were planted out; they were showing signs of new leaf growth. This bed is full of strawberry plants now and my plan is to have a glut of fruit. My family can't get enough of them. Also in the picture, there are the bright green shoots of the chives. I'm still waiting for the neighbouring rosemary, sage and thyme to burst into life.

21st February, 2010

I thought the cold weather had ended so I have planted out the broad beans and spring onions. They beans were getting a bit leggy and there have been a couple of nice sunny days which fooled me into thinking spring was here, but this morning I woke to 2-3" of snow.

Here are the broad beans before the snow; I planted 2 double rows (only one double row in picture).



And here are the spring onions.



This is the effect of the snow on the veg cage. I need to buy some more clips to hold the netting in place. The purple sprouting broccoli protected within, is coming along nicely and I hope to have a few meals from the plants despite the pigeon damage.



As well as the broad beans, I sowed leeks and more peas (to replace the failed sowings of November) in the greenhouse. The spinach I sowed is struggling along.



I have also sown aubergines, parsley, basil and celeriac which are indoors on a windowsill. I follow the packet instructions and these require a minimum of 15ºC for germination.



I did try a bit of digging and incorporated some home made compost. The soil is very wet though and I stopped after one trench.



Despite the nasty weather, signs of life are emerging.

The garlic is showing through.



Rhubarb.



Fruiting buds on apple tree. I'm fairly convinced that this is a fruiting bud as it is quite fat and hairy. It's forming on the tip, so I'm having to revise how to prune the apple tree (again!). I've taken off a few branches that are showing signs of damage or disease and then left it pretty much at that for now. I've not pruned those branches that clearly show a fat bud on the tips or spurs.



I was very pleased to receive a large package in the post this week. The greengage tree arrived from Thompson & Morgan. It had a very small root ball which worries me a little, but I went ahead and planted it with plenty of compost in the hole and a nice mulch.



Finally, a picture of some snowdrops that I bought in the green rather than bulbs which are less reliable. They should make a nice show in the front garden border.