Welcome to BST

I forgot to record what happened last weekend.  I am not sure I got up to much aside from buying some decent multi-purpose component and pricking out De Cayenne and Cauliflower seedlings.  Having found that the salad leaves, Chard and Spinach seedlings that been pricked out in the RocketGro compost had almost all died, I salvaged just a couple of the Chard and Spinach seedlings which I had kept back in the original pots of seedlings.  Lesson learnt though it is a shame to have to go further afield to get my favourite compost. 

According to the moon thing, it wasn’t the weekend to sow anything.  With slightly milder weather though, I did move a lot of the seedlings from the house to the greenhouse to get a bit more light.  With a lovely Mothers Day, I didn’t get anything done at the plot.  I did pick some deep purple Hellebore flowers for my mum’s resting place.

Yesterday it was bright but very breezy.  I spent around 3 hours at the plot and focused on transplanting out the Onions and Spring Onions - the former in what is now Bed 4 and the latter along the long sides of Bed 3.  I covered them with fleece.  I also covered the Garlic, in what I am now referring to as Bed 0, with Enviromesh.

Having freed up 3 trays from the Onions, today I spent an hour sowing the following leafy crops:

The Lemon Balm is covered by a plastic bag in the airing cupboard which the others are in the house for the next few nights while the temperature increases a tad.  Meanwhile, germination has continued for the Lemon Drop Chillies and King of the North Peppers so they’ll need pricking out very soon.  

While putting away these packets (all except the Coriander which was used up), I decided to pull out the Brussels Sprouts and Calabrese seeds to sow those tomorrow while there is still time in this leafy phase.  I had planned to sow these in April but if the summer is anything like the last one, I could do with giving them a head-start before the dry weather.  Perhaps I could prick out the Chillies and Peppers too.

I’ve treated myself to some Fruit and Veg Protection nematodes so hopefully they will arrive this week.  It is set to be cold tonight and tomorrow night but then I think the temperatures after that for the next couple of weeks mean it should be viable to water on the nematodes next weekend.

Laying down more paths

Today was set to be a fine day weather-wise.  It was certainly milder though a tad breezy at times.  I spent about 5 hours at the plot all told.  In that time, I weeded Beds 1 and 2 and laid down chippings for the paths.  There are now 3 of the 4 original main beds divided into smaller, more manageable beds with just Bed 3 to sort out.  I’ve made a decent dent in the pile of chippings on that bed so can hopefully sort that before Easter when I should be planting spuds there.  

In the process of weeding, I managed to almost fill Bin 4, using damp cardboard between layers of weeds. Before leaving for home, as the drizzle was getting heavier, I raked and bagged up some Holly chippings from near the gate as they had been left there for a few weeks.  Came to 3 full compost bags worth which I used to fill Bin 5.  Might be useful for mulching later in the season or next year.

I am really pleased with the progress made but still lots to do.  I did cut down the raspberry canes but need to properly weed around them before the new growth starts.  I need to do something about the nettles that are starting into growth near the Pear tree.  I also need to tame the hybrid berries in the top right corner (Bed 2).  

I didn’t get around to sowing any seeds this weekend so may need to catch-up in the next few days or next weekend.  

  

Tidying up in the back garden

For weeks, there has been random stuff on the back garden lawn from the greenhouse cleaning - it has been moving up and down my to-do list.  Finally I cleared it today.  I broke up the Ivy sticks to join a small pile of other twigs - this could be used for some hugelkultur pots or for the critters to shelter in.  I threw a few bits away (at last).

Some of the mess consisted of bags of the compost/soil mix I’d emptied from some of the pots on the patio.  It is a weekend for root crops and, as temperatures in the next couple of weeks are looking to be generally above zero most nights (not my much in some cases), I decided to plant out the Rocket potato tubers in pots.  These will start in the greenhouse but then be moved out by the last frost date (mid-May).  I used the compost/soil mix in the bags for the spuds.  Two in each of five pots.  Pairs of tubers offset on opposite sides of each pot and buried at slightly different levels.  I reason this provides more room for the tubers on each plant to grow as they are determinate so grow on a single layer.  

I am pushing it with two tubers per 20-30l pot I think.  For each layer of soil - the one before putting in the first tuber, the one between the two tubers and the one above the top tuber - I mixed in a handful of seaweed meal to provide some nutrition.  On top of each pot, I put an inch or so of half-rotted compost from the bin from last week.  This is to provide some protection from the cold and to add nutrition longer-term.  Lots of branding worms wriggling about.  I decided not to mix the home-made compost in to avoid tying up too much nitrogen given it needs more time to break down.

Another task was to plant out some of the strawberry plants I had potted up in the autumn from the ones growing on the fence.  I planted 8 around the bay tree (see below - please excuse the cat poo - I will net the berries once established to keep the cats away from any fruit).

Also, I planted some bulbils from some Elephant Garlic last year which had sprouted well over winter.  I planted 13 of these along the edges of the bed to see if they grow further into rounds that can be planted in autumn for full bulbs next year.  Many had an impressive root system growing.

Back indoors, the spring onions are growing well and there is some germination from the onions too.  

Yesterday, I brought a 50l bag of compost from the garden centre.  They didn’t have my usual Sylvagrow so I am trying the RocketGro fruit and veg compost.  When I bought it, I didn’t realise it was the RocketGro one which I’ve read mixed reviews about.  Seemed quite fibrous and sticky and I can now see why it is not recommended for seed sowing.  I hope it is ok for transplants as I potted up 10 Spinach, 10 Rhubarb Chard and numerous Red Salad Bowl Lettuce and Oriental Salad seedlings.  I’ll need to either buy some seed compost or use some of the compost left over from last year’s pots for sowing Turnips and Beetroot.

For tomorrow, the weather is set to turn milder so I plan to be at the allotment to get Bed 2 ready, and perhaps a bit of Bed 1.

Mulching the front garden

After a busy day with the kids on Saturday, I made the most of the dry weather yesterday to empty the left-hand compost bin and mulch some of the front garden beds.  It was a cold weekend so playing with compost numbed my fingers for the first hour or so.

The contents of the bin were compacted and could have done with some turning but the right-hand bin was overflowing so I emptied the left-hand bin out and managed to mulch almost all of the two front garden beds.  When turning the right-hand bin into the left, adding 3-4 bags of Ivy clippings and 2 bags of coffee grounds, I found a couple more bags worth of fairly well-rotted material so that enabled me to complete the mulching.  It always looks great to see the dark, crumbly layer of compost in Spring.  It took 2-3 hours though will all the walking between the back and front gardens.  There is set to be a very cold couple of nights this week so I was keen to get the mulching done before that.  I set aside 2 black plant pots’ worth of compost ready for planting first early spuds next weekend.

I then sowed some seeds in the greenhouse:

The Scorpio Broad Bean was given to me a couple of years ago.  I recall they grew well last year.  There were 33 seeds of those.  22 of the Aguadulce.  I sowed them all expecting some to fail and I can easily give some away.  The Scorpio should crop later than the Aguadulce so hopefully this will extend the season.  I’d like to plant out a few at home too to try them.

The Lemon Drop were home-saved seeds.  The De Cayenne has not seemed to work for me in the past couple of years, I don’t think, so this is the last try.  The King of the North Pepper worked very well last year so I’ll replace that packet next year.

I also potted up 6 Jerusalem artichokes in the greenhouse.  I need to buy more compost…