I didn't get chance to visit the plot today but I did get round to a brief bit of pottering. I tried propagating an apple mint plant. Both the mint plants I bought this year have been acting strangely - one minute they are big, green, bushy and healthy looking and the next they are bare and brown. It might be that they are getting drier than they look at times. When I dug up the apple mint, it had plenty of strong rhizomes to cut up for propagation so I took 5 bits to pot up. The Moroccan mint didn't seem to have any long rhizomes so I've left that one for now.
Warning: this next bit has nothing to do with gardening but is just something I wanted to record to make up for this weekend's lack of gardening...
After this pottering, at about 1800ish, I was sitting on the sofa when I felt a weird thud through the house. My future mother-in-law (Jean) who sat down on the sofa about 1 second after the thud, didn't feel it and thought I was mad when I cried out "what the hell was that?" I was a bit freaked out because it sounded like someone had jumped off something upstairs and landed with quite a thump but there was no-one upstairs. It sounded much heavier than a cat - very creepy. Jean and I both heard the plastic surround on the TV set crack slightly though at the same time. Now I find out that a minor earthquake has been recorded in Herefordshire at 1806, affecting parts of Worcestershire too. Well, that certainly explains the weird thud. If Jean had sat down just 1 second earlier, I'd just have thought she was heavier than she looked and not thought anything of it. I was away last time there was a noticeable earthquake in this area which apparently shoke the everything in our flat. There's a lot going on under that there soil.
May I take this opportunity, though, to say that Jean doesn't look at all heavy ;-) (she does occasionally read this blog).
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
I spent a few hours on the plot this afternoon (day off work). I intended to dig up the courgettes like I keep meaning to but I was struck by how poorly the soil was looking around the leeks. The piccie below shows how poorly drained it was.
The soil on the left has a green tinge to it, probably because I haven't hoed around the leeks since they have been in. I weeded around them and fluffed up the soil and I hope they perk up and put on some good growth in the next 2-3 months.
After working around the leeks, I did a spot of weeding in Bed 1 (around the raspberries, cauliflowers and perpeptual spinach). I also pruned the gooseberries a little and replanted the rhubarb. I am not sure that the rhubarb crown looks very healthy but I'll just have to wait and see.
Before signing off, here's a piccie of the flowers at the top of the Jerusalem artichokes.
Maybe I'll get round to the courgettes later this weekend...
The soil on the left has a green tinge to it, probably because I haven't hoed around the leeks since they have been in. I weeded around them and fluffed up the soil and I hope they perk up and put on some good growth in the next 2-3 months.
After working around the leeks, I did a spot of weeding in Bed 1 (around the raspberries, cauliflowers and perpeptual spinach). I also pruned the gooseberries a little and replanted the rhubarb. I am not sure that the rhubarb crown looks very healthy but I'll just have to wait and see.
Before signing off, here's a piccie of the flowers at the top of the Jerusalem artichokes.
Maybe I'll get round to the courgettes later this weekend...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
This weekend, I only had chance to pop over for a couple of hours late in the afternoon today. Weatherwise, it has been fantastic - blue skies with light cloud. It was quite warm today. The soil looks quite dry in places so I should water it all when I next go round if it doesn't rain in the week. I only watered the leeks today after scattering some fertiliser around them.
I also did a bit of digging today. I had been growing some potatoes and other things in a bed of my next door neighbour's plot. After removing the potatoes a few weeks ago, I had neglected it and it had got covered in weeds. I felt a bit guilty and my neighbour will hopefully be back any day now so it was something I had to get on with before tending to my own plot.
Talking of my plot, there is a lot to do. The courgettes look well past it now so I need to remove these at the weekend. I could probably clear that whole bed as the sweetcorn and squashes seem to be past it too. I also need to dig up the remaining potatoes.
In the meantime, I'll be poring over the seed catalogues.
I also did a bit of digging today. I had been growing some potatoes and other things in a bed of my next door neighbour's plot. After removing the potatoes a few weeks ago, I had neglected it and it had got covered in weeds. I felt a bit guilty and my neighbour will hopefully be back any day now so it was something I had to get on with before tending to my own plot.
Talking of my plot, there is a lot to do. The courgettes look well past it now so I need to remove these at the weekend. I could probably clear that whole bed as the sweetcorn and squashes seem to be past it too. I also need to dig up the remaining potatoes.
In the meantime, I'll be poring over the seed catalogues.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Early retrospective of 2008
Just thought it was worth recording this year's lessons learnt, if a bit early.
I still have lots to learn and to do better. However, I did manage to grow a few things this year than I didn't manage last year including parsnips and artichokes (globe and Jerusalem). Blight was the major downer of the year taking all my tomatoes (even the ones at home on the patio). Though it didn't really hurt the potatoes, it got me worried.
Some things I should have done:
- sowed more broad beans;
- sowed more parsnips;
- planted Brussel sprouts a lot earlier;
- used wigwams not rows for the peas.
Specific issues
Potatoes
This year, I used a bulb planter to put the seed potatoes in. This meant that the job was relatively quick and easy which was important given that I was getting them in so late (mid May I think). The disadvantage was that many of the potatoes were on the green side. Not a big deal unless you eat one or two with the skin on without realising. It is a really horrible, sickening bitter taste. Next year, I really have to get them in the ground earlier, to get them to good maturity by the time blight comes around. I should also dig trenches for them. And grow slightly less of them.
Onions and garlic
I have planted out onion sets and garlic cloves in the Autumn twice now. The results, particularly in the case of the onions, have been a little disappointing. Onions have be small and few. In heavy clay soil, which gets quite hard over Winter, it probably restricts growth until later in Spring. It is nice to have something in the ground over Winter but I will try waiting until Spring before planting onions out.
The garlic has tasted fantastic but the bulbs have generally been a little on the small side. I may try preparing the ground more thoroughly and continue to put these in in late Autumn.
Sweetcorn
One weekend, I heard from others that "The Badger" was on the rampage. I thought to myself (God knows why), "next weekend, I put some chicken wire up around that sweetcorn to protect it". Of course, between that moment and the next weekend, The Badger paid a visit. Next year, I should plant the sweetcorn in a tighter area and should put protection up as early as possible.
Everyone blames The Badger. I find it funny to think of a single badger terrorising the whole site. I am sure there must be a whole gang of them.
Pests
The netting tunnel cloches I bought seemed to help hugely in keeping brassicas safe from cabbage white and rabbit(touch wood). I have been pinning these down with tent pegs too which I think help to make it harder for anything to burrow under them. And the bright blue organic slug pellets you can buy also seem to be effective so I should continue with them.
I still have lots to learn and to do better. However, I did manage to grow a few things this year than I didn't manage last year including parsnips and artichokes (globe and Jerusalem). Blight was the major downer of the year taking all my tomatoes (even the ones at home on the patio). Though it didn't really hurt the potatoes, it got me worried.
Some things I should have done:
- sowed more broad beans;
- sowed more parsnips;
- planted Brussel sprouts a lot earlier;
- used wigwams not rows for the peas.
Specific issues
Potatoes
This year, I used a bulb planter to put the seed potatoes in. This meant that the job was relatively quick and easy which was important given that I was getting them in so late (mid May I think). The disadvantage was that many of the potatoes were on the green side. Not a big deal unless you eat one or two with the skin on without realising. It is a really horrible, sickening bitter taste. Next year, I really have to get them in the ground earlier, to get them to good maturity by the time blight comes around. I should also dig trenches for them. And grow slightly less of them.
Onions and garlic
I have planted out onion sets and garlic cloves in the Autumn twice now. The results, particularly in the case of the onions, have been a little disappointing. Onions have be small and few. In heavy clay soil, which gets quite hard over Winter, it probably restricts growth until later in Spring. It is nice to have something in the ground over Winter but I will try waiting until Spring before planting onions out.
The garlic has tasted fantastic but the bulbs have generally been a little on the small side. I may try preparing the ground more thoroughly and continue to put these in in late Autumn.
Sweetcorn
One weekend, I heard from others that "The Badger" was on the rampage. I thought to myself (God knows why), "next weekend, I put some chicken wire up around that sweetcorn to protect it". Of course, between that moment and the next weekend, The Badger paid a visit. Next year, I should plant the sweetcorn in a tighter area and should put protection up as early as possible.
Everyone blames The Badger. I find it funny to think of a single badger terrorising the whole site. I am sure there must be a whole gang of them.
Pests
The netting tunnel cloches I bought seemed to help hugely in keeping brassicas safe from cabbage white and rabbit(touch wood). I have been pinning these down with tent pegs too which I think help to make it harder for anything to burrow under them. And the bright blue organic slug pellets you can buy also seem to be effective so I should continue with them.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Awaiting the rain
I was hoping to spend a decent amount of time on the plot this week but when I mentioned this to a colleague at work, he broke the news to me that the weather forecast was not looking good. Rain forecast all weekend. This morning's news suggested that it would start to rain heavily here from 1300 onwards. Apart from a few spots earlier this morning, there is nothing but overcast skies and strong winds.
Given the weather predictions, I nipped over before 1200 to get one job done - dismantling the strawberry bed. See the before and after piccies below. I took the plants home to put in pots and the old leafs that I cut off were put aside for the compost heap.
On the topic of compost, I emptied one of the compost heaps onto the ground vacated by the strawberries. That patch is quite dry and hard now so I'll dig the compost in once the rain has done its thing.
Before leaving, I picked a few courgettes and pulled up a cabbage. Unfortunately, while inspecting the single butternut squash that seems to be growing, it came away in my hands. It was only about 3 inches long. It hadn't seemed to put on any growth for a while actually which is probably explained by the fact that it was only loosely connected to the plant. I picked a small cob of sweetcorn too but none of the plants look very healthy.
So, I took the strawberry plants home, out of the reach of the pesky strawberry thief. I have at least 23 plants (some are clustered and separation seemed impossible without harming them). I only planted those that clearly had new growth in the middle. I hope they like the peat-free compost. I had added some organic fertiliser to a couple of the pots last weekend. I'll add some to the other two pots another time. I threw 4 small ones plants (for the compost heap) - these didn't have new growth in the middle.
Bit of a catch up now. Early last week I cooked some achochas up (see piccie below).
They squeaked as I gathered them together in my hand. Inside, they were emptier than the ones I tried a few weeks ago. The seeds were easier to shake out and were very black. In the previous lot, I had to scoop flesh out with a spoon and then pick out the seeds. I have saved lots of seeds - plenty for seed swapping sometime. Achochas are ok but I don't think I'd bother buying their seeds again.
Given the weather predictions, I nipped over before 1200 to get one job done - dismantling the strawberry bed. See the before and after piccies below. I took the plants home to put in pots and the old leafs that I cut off were put aside for the compost heap.
On the topic of compost, I emptied one of the compost heaps onto the ground vacated by the strawberries. That patch is quite dry and hard now so I'll dig the compost in once the rain has done its thing.
Before leaving, I picked a few courgettes and pulled up a cabbage. Unfortunately, while inspecting the single butternut squash that seems to be growing, it came away in my hands. It was only about 3 inches long. It hadn't seemed to put on any growth for a while actually which is probably explained by the fact that it was only loosely connected to the plant. I picked a small cob of sweetcorn too but none of the plants look very healthy.
So, I took the strawberry plants home, out of the reach of the pesky strawberry thief. I have at least 23 plants (some are clustered and separation seemed impossible without harming them). I only planted those that clearly had new growth in the middle. I hope they like the peat-free compost. I had added some organic fertiliser to a couple of the pots last weekend. I'll add some to the other two pots another time. I threw 4 small ones plants (for the compost heap) - these didn't have new growth in the middle.
Bit of a catch up now. Early last week I cooked some achochas up (see piccie below).
They squeaked as I gathered them together in my hand. Inside, they were emptier than the ones I tried a few weeks ago. The seeds were easier to shake out and were very black. In the previous lot, I had to scoop flesh out with a spoon and then pick out the seeds. I have saved lots of seeds - plenty for seed swapping sometime. Achochas are ok but I don't think I'd bother buying their seeds again.
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