10th April, 2012

I feel that I should be busier in the garden than I am but I'm relatively up to date with the chores.  I've plant the potatoes in what I call the middle bed where the soil is still very sticky and stony.  But this year digging the trench was much easier, so all that compost I've been adding is slowly but surely working to improve the soil structure.  This time I added a nice layer of compost to the bottom of the trench, sprinkled on some potato fertiliser and then placed the chitted spuds about 18" apart.  This is a bigger gap than I usually give but I seem to have more space this year.  I may regret saying that.

The tomatoes, basil, aubergines and peppers have germinated nicely on the windowsill.  When the first true leaves appear I'll pot them on into their own pots.  I've already done that for the Tigerella tomatoes and they are in the greenhouse.

My lemon tree did not survive the winter.  It dropped all its leaves and I hoped that new ones might sprout but no.  I'm not very successful at overwintering tender trees in the conservatory.  I lost a peach tree too.  I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong as I thought the lemon tree I had was tolerant to -5C.  I was really looking forward to eating home grown lemons too.  All that I can get to survive are cacti and Venus fly traps.

The Aloe cacti produced lots of side shoots which I potted up for friends.

The Swiss chard is getting bigger after over wintering.  I had nearly given up on these but maybe there will be a meal or two there.

I added a nice compost mulch around the base of the greengage and plum trees.

Now it's time to mow the lawns but this year I'm going to experiment with leaving areas uncut to generate a meadow effect.  Well that's my excuse for not mowing it.

18th January, 2012

Nearly 2 months since my last post! I haven't been very busy in the garden so not much to report really. I've done the following on occasional weekend when I can becase it has been quite wet.
Cut down the asparagus and weeded the bed.
Collected the leaves for leaf mould.
Emptied compost bin contents and spread it over the bed to break down over winter.
Harvested the parsnips.

In the greenhouse the broad beans are growing rather too well. Here they are flopped over after a frosty night. But I think they will be OK.

Here is part of the side bed where I have lad a relatively thick layer of the compost.

The purple sprouting broccoli are safely protected under netting. The unprotected ones (I don't have enough netting) have been stripped bare.

The parsnips have grown good tap roots this year but haven't fattened up much. They taste fine though and were a lovely addition to the roasting pan for xmas dinner.