The weeds are non-stop and I am way behind on pulling them out. I hope to get some time over there on Friday evening and sometime on Sunday to do some therapeutic hand-weeding. And to harvest some broad beans before they get too big.
I had the day off on Tuesday but only managed an hour of speed-transplanting. My lovely husband made 4 120x40cm mesh tunnels and I finally took them over and planted some brussel sprouts, calabrese, purple sprouting and cabbages under them. I also planted out some chard. Getting very pushed for space though as digging isn't an option currently. I didn't manage to plant out the celeriac but it is looking good.
The peas are growing now having been nibbled by something or other. The Spring cabbages may be harvestable sometime soon. The parsnips are growing nicely but I need to thin some of the stations out and fill in a few gaps. The calendula has sped up and is bigger that the plants in our back garden. I also need to thin out the beetroot and see if the carrots and beetroot have germinated at all.
The weeding needs stepping up in a major way. The strawberry patch is being overtaken so is the priority.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Giving peas a chance (sorry)
I had half a day off work yesterday of which I spent 2.5 hours on the plot. Bliss. It was forecast to be wet and unsettled in the afternoon but it was lovely. After 2.25 hours there, there was a brief shower, but not enough to put me off.
In that time, I erected 3 small wigwams at the top right of the plot and planted peas against one and mange tout against the other. In the case of the peas, there are 1 or 2 plants per cane but there are exactly 3 plants per cane. The third wigwam will be for the French beans.
I also hand-weeded the garlic patch. This was long overdue and I just hope that the garlic hasn't been knocked back to much. I did give them a water and feed before leaving for a boost.
Not sure if there are signs of parsnip seedlings yet but there are a couple of stations showing 3-4 seedlings so I'll need to keep an eye out. I sprinkled some more slug pellets over that patch to protect them in case they are coming through. Not sure there are many so I might attempt another sowing soon.
Next to the potential parsnip patch, I planted out some calendula seedlings in a row. Again, I sprinkled some pellets down (the rest of the seedlings have just gone out into our back garden).
Broad beans are coming soon but I really need to sow some salad crops and basil.
At home, there are lots of seedlings to transplant. Chillies, tomatoes, various brassicas, sweetcorn and French beans (need to sow a few more of those last two though), celeriac. Dearest husband has made me some wood-and-hope frames which I need to cover with mesh for some of these and I hope I can convince him to make some more. I need two small ones for the blackcurrant and gooseberry plants that are fruiting.
In that time, I erected 3 small wigwams at the top right of the plot and planted peas against one and mange tout against the other. In the case of the peas, there are 1 or 2 plants per cane but there are exactly 3 plants per cane. The third wigwam will be for the French beans.
I also hand-weeded the garlic patch. This was long overdue and I just hope that the garlic hasn't been knocked back to much. I did give them a water and feed before leaving for a boost.
Not sure if there are signs of parsnip seedlings yet but there are a couple of stations showing 3-4 seedlings so I'll need to keep an eye out. I sprinkled some more slug pellets over that patch to protect them in case they are coming through. Not sure there are many so I might attempt another sowing soon.
Next to the potential parsnip patch, I planted out some calendula seedlings in a row. Again, I sprinkled some pellets down (the rest of the seedlings have just gone out into our back garden).
Broad beans are coming soon but I really need to sow some salad crops and basil.
At home, there are lots of seedlings to transplant. Chillies, tomatoes, various brassicas, sweetcorn and French beans (need to sow a few more of those last two though), celeriac. Dearest husband has made me some wood-and-hope frames which I need to cover with mesh for some of these and I hope I can convince him to make some more. I need two small ones for the blackcurrant and gooseberry plants that are fruiting.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Taking it easy - yeah right
I was looking forward to a spell at the plot and I got 2.5 hours over there before I needed a break. I dug over the patch right at the top on the left, next to the compost bin in the corner and nestled next to the broad beans which are continuing to flower nicely. The mares tail is starting to come through and there were some nice fat roots in there.
For next weekend, I've uncovered the next patch to dig over having removed some carpet. It looks nice and clear, apart from some bleached mares tail roots on the surface, though it is compacted.
I noticed some strawberry plants in what was the brassica bed last year, lost in among some keen weeds. I was just going to hand-fork around them but decided to replant them in the bed I dug over 10 mins before. Some of them look like there are about to start flowering so I gave them a feed and water.
The garlic looks good though there are some yellowing leaves. I finally gave them a feed and water before snipping off a small number of slim broccoli shoots and going home for lunch.
Later this afternoon, I sowed the following:
For next weekend, I've uncovered the next patch to dig over having removed some carpet. It looks nice and clear, apart from some bleached mares tail roots on the surface, though it is compacted.
I noticed some strawberry plants in what was the brassica bed last year, lost in among some keen weeds. I was just going to hand-fork around them but decided to replant them in the bed I dug over 10 mins before. Some of them look like there are about to start flowering so I gave them a feed and water.
The garlic looks good though there are some yellowing leaves. I finally gave them a feed and water before snipping off a small number of slim broccoli shoots and going home for lunch.
Later this afternoon, I sowed the following:
- French beans (Cupidon)
- Mange tout (Golden Sweet)
- Pea (Meteor)
- Sweetcorn (Sativa Early)
- Calabrese (Waltham)
- Cabbage (Greyhound)
- Squash (Vegetable Spagetti)
- Squash (Patty Green Tint)
- Courgette (Black Beauty)
The Calabrese was a resowing as the previous lot got very leggy on the windowsill (lack of light I think). On Wednesday, I also resowed some Brussels sprouts and red cabbage. The former had got leggy while the latter had failed to appear due to damping off. I also translated the chilli seedlings into 10cm pots.
It feels like I am relatively early with my sowing but I need to look back at previous years.
Fingers crossed I'll get some time next week to continue the digging. I should also look at pinching the tops of the broad beans before the blackfly get any ideas.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Another gorgeous day
After a chilly week, Saturday was a lovely warm but breezy day. I had a couple of hours in the afternoon to myself so I potted on the tomato seedlings (5 of Moneymaker and 14 of Harbinger) and watered the sweet peas. At the plot, I spent an hour or so hoeing around the garlic patch and the neighbouring soil around the gooseberry and blackberry bushes.
Four of the purple sprouting plants had a slim, central sprout and I asked one of my neighbours if I should harvest them. We thought that perhaps I should. Later, I read up on it and it seems that picking the central sprout will stimulate the side shoots to grow. I'm such a broccoli-growing novice.
At home, I sowed some Brussels sprouts and some calabese.
I nipped over for just 10 mins this afternoon so I cut the sprouts and had the very modest pickings with my dinner. I think I cut one of them too far so that one may not sprout any more. We'll see. No sign of any sprouts on the white sprouting plants.
I took a couple of piccies on my phone.
The broad beans are short but looking good. There are flowers on a couple of the plants already.
This photo shows most of the right hand side of the plot. The garlic is in the foreground with (starting from the bottom) 1 row of Lautrec Wight, 2 rows of Early Purple Wight, 2 rows of Solent Wight and 1 row of Elephant Garlic. Beyond those is the rhubarb clumps, gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes. Beyond that are the brassicas under the mesh. Messy but productive for this time of year.
My next tasks are to feed and water the garlic and to dug over some patches on the left hand side.
Back at home, 5 tiny celeriac seedings have made an appearance on the windowsill.
Four of the purple sprouting plants had a slim, central sprout and I asked one of my neighbours if I should harvest them. We thought that perhaps I should. Later, I read up on it and it seems that picking the central sprout will stimulate the side shoots to grow. I'm such a broccoli-growing novice.
At home, I sowed some Brussels sprouts and some calabese.
I nipped over for just 10 mins this afternoon so I cut the sprouts and had the very modest pickings with my dinner. I think I cut one of them too far so that one may not sprout any more. We'll see. No sign of any sprouts on the white sprouting plants.
I took a couple of piccies on my phone.
The broad beans are short but looking good. There are flowers on a couple of the plants already.
This photo shows most of the right hand side of the plot. The garlic is in the foreground with (starting from the bottom) 1 row of Lautrec Wight, 2 rows of Early Purple Wight, 2 rows of Solent Wight and 1 row of Elephant Garlic. Beyond those is the rhubarb clumps, gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes. Beyond that are the brassicas under the mesh. Messy but productive for this time of year.
My next tasks are to feed and water the garlic and to dug over some patches on the left hand side.
Back at home, 5 tiny celeriac seedings have made an appearance on the windowsill.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sowing update
Just a quick note to remind myself (in future years) that on Wednesday I sowed the following:
- Leek (Bleu de Solaise)
- Celeriac (Prinz)
- Cabbage (Marner Early Red)
- Pak Choi (White Petiole)
- Swiss Chard (Fantasy F1 Hybrid and Lucullus)
- Mizuna
- Spring Onion (White Lisbon)
The Celeriac and Pak Choi are indoors while the others are outside on the patio.
On one of the windowsills upstairs, the tomatoes have germinated ok and the 3 types of chillies are coming through well (no sign yet of the Iranian ones unfortunately). I may transplant some of the tomato seedlings today as some look big enough with tiny true leaves.
Not sure I'll sow anything today but I may get an hour or two for some gentle weeding and clearing this morning.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
First session of the year
I had my first proper session of the year on the plot on Saturday. 3 hours in all. Bliss on such a gorgeous Spring day. I badly needed to get back in touch with it after such a long, enforced (it felt like that) break.
The priority was to freshen up the white and purple sprouting plants in the top right corner. They still had tunnel nets covering them and I was hoping they had started into growth. They had indeed (slightly) along with the neighbouring Spring cabbages. I weeded, fed and watered them all and recovered them with the enviromesh that had been covering the Brussels sprouts to hopefully allow more light in. I may change that for wider gauge netting soon. Surprisingly, it was the purple sprouting showing more promised, with 4 or 5 plants sprouting tiny purple heads in the middle, despite my expectations (set by the labels) that the white sprouting would come first.
I took one of the 2 compost bins I had been using for pernicious weeds at the bottom end of the plot and placed it (emptied) at the top left corner to restart the compost heap. Into this, I tipped the Brussels sprout plants, tired chard plants, and foliage from the leeks and parsnips (which I dug up, taking home quite a haul later - a whole carrier bag full for making curried allotment soup). I'll now need to take the old weeds to the tip as I can't seem to "do" bonfires.
Near the main gate to the site, just one plot away, there are plans for a concrete standing so that plotters can bring on trailers if needed. Two reliable sources informed me that the crowns of rhubarb there were for the taking (or destined for the compost heap) so I forked up 3 small crowns with healthy looking buds and put them on my plot where the chard had been. I figured that my craving for rhubarb crumble (currently satisfied by expensive trips to the lovely greengrocer in town) needs more than the single young crown I had.
I finished off by weeding, feeding and watering the broad bean patch. Hopefully they'll soon get away.
I was a tad worried that I just don't have room for anything else to go in but now the parsnips and leeks are out there is some space immediately freed up. There are also 2-3 patches of plot that have been covered over Winter so are ready to by dug over (slowly and carefully). There should then be room for tomatoes, summer brassicas, courgettes, sweetcorn, leeks, parsnips, beans, Brussels and other things. Maybe even flowers (I've a free packet of poppy seeds to use to attract bees). I've decided to forego spuds and onions this year as they are easily bought but will do those next year.
Next weekend, I hope to have time to weed and feed the garlic patch as it is all up now and the soil seems capped so needs opening up (or perhaps the capping is a good thing?). I also plan to sow lots of seeds at home including chard, celeriac and brassicas.
Talking of home, I stubbornly dug up a 0.8m-wide strip of lawn in our small back garden to give me some sunny-ish space for planting (much of the lawn is in shade) and forked in some well-rotted manure. While little one was napping on Wednesday, I planted some yellow tulips, daffs and mixed sweet peas purloined from the local farm shop and a "hedge veg" stall (a term I picked up in Guerney where they are very popular) on the side of the road in the next village along from us. Since then, I've nipped in a bay tree (which was over a foot high and very bushy and a snip at £3.75 from a nursery) and some bronze fennel. The colour scheme I am aiming for in our back garden is bright yellow, orange and green (our wedding colours) while there will be a focus on pinks, purples, whites and blues in the front garden. Little one has since announced that pink, purple and white are her favourite colours.
The priority was to freshen up the white and purple sprouting plants in the top right corner. They still had tunnel nets covering them and I was hoping they had started into growth. They had indeed (slightly) along with the neighbouring Spring cabbages. I weeded, fed and watered them all and recovered them with the enviromesh that had been covering the Brussels sprouts to hopefully allow more light in. I may change that for wider gauge netting soon. Surprisingly, it was the purple sprouting showing more promised, with 4 or 5 plants sprouting tiny purple heads in the middle, despite my expectations (set by the labels) that the white sprouting would come first.
I took one of the 2 compost bins I had been using for pernicious weeds at the bottom end of the plot and placed it (emptied) at the top left corner to restart the compost heap. Into this, I tipped the Brussels sprout plants, tired chard plants, and foliage from the leeks and parsnips (which I dug up, taking home quite a haul later - a whole carrier bag full for making curried allotment soup). I'll now need to take the old weeds to the tip as I can't seem to "do" bonfires.
Near the main gate to the site, just one plot away, there are plans for a concrete standing so that plotters can bring on trailers if needed. Two reliable sources informed me that the crowns of rhubarb there were for the taking (or destined for the compost heap) so I forked up 3 small crowns with healthy looking buds and put them on my plot where the chard had been. I figured that my craving for rhubarb crumble (currently satisfied by expensive trips to the lovely greengrocer in town) needs more than the single young crown I had.
I finished off by weeding, feeding and watering the broad bean patch. Hopefully they'll soon get away.
I was a tad worried that I just don't have room for anything else to go in but now the parsnips and leeks are out there is some space immediately freed up. There are also 2-3 patches of plot that have been covered over Winter so are ready to by dug over (slowly and carefully). There should then be room for tomatoes, summer brassicas, courgettes, sweetcorn, leeks, parsnips, beans, Brussels and other things. Maybe even flowers (I've a free packet of poppy seeds to use to attract bees). I've decided to forego spuds and onions this year as they are easily bought but will do those next year.
Next weekend, I hope to have time to weed and feed the garlic patch as it is all up now and the soil seems capped so needs opening up (or perhaps the capping is a good thing?). I also plan to sow lots of seeds at home including chard, celeriac and brassicas.
Talking of home, I stubbornly dug up a 0.8m-wide strip of lawn in our small back garden to give me some sunny-ish space for planting (much of the lawn is in shade) and forked in some well-rotted manure. While little one was napping on Wednesday, I planted some yellow tulips, daffs and mixed sweet peas purloined from the local farm shop and a "hedge veg" stall (a term I picked up in Guerney where they are very popular) on the side of the road in the next village along from us. Since then, I've nipped in a bay tree (which was over a foot high and very bushy and a snip at £3.75 from a nursery) and some bronze fennel. The colour scheme I am aiming for in our back garden is bright yellow, orange and green (our wedding colours) while there will be a focus on pinks, purples, whites and blues in the front garden. Little one has since announced that pink, purple and white are her favourite colours.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Starting the new gardening year
I've come to regard March 1st as the start of the new gardening year when I can start sowing seeds. I've tried sowing seeds before March in previous years but they didn't come to much. The sight of gorgeous drifts of daffs around the village and down in Cornwall (where the little one and I ventured in the week) gets me thinking about sowing seeds.
The weather has been a bit grey and drizzly today but I did get the main job of the week done - turning the contents of one of my compost bins over to the other. A couple of weeks ago, I managed to empty one of them onto the two beds in the front garden. The compost was lovely with just a few egg shells showing. The hellebores and snowdrops look happy for it. The other compost bin was mostly full of the turf I'd removed from the front garden to make the second bed (with added veg waste from the kitchen).
Just before the harder rain set in just now, I managed to sow some tomato and chilli seeds. I think this may be the earliest I've sown tomatoes for a while (will need to look back) so fingers crossed I'll get a crop before the blight.
I've sown Moneymaker and Harbinger tomatoes and Serrano (free from a Wahaca restaurant but not stored terribly well subsequently in various handbags - oops), Iranian (from seed saved a few years ago), Westlandse (ditto) and Lemon Drop. I wasn't successful with Lemon Drop at all last year so I'm giving them one last chance. The tomatoes are on an upstairs windowsill while the chillies are covered with a carrier bag and sitting in the airing cupboard for some extra warmth.
My plan over March, aside from tidying the gardens up after winter and sowing more seeds, is to lift up some turf in the back garden to give me some space to put pots out on the sunnier side of it. I may also plant some flowers too in yellows and oranges. This is why I had to get the compost bins turned - I'll be filling one up with turf again.
The weather has been a bit grey and drizzly today but I did get the main job of the week done - turning the contents of one of my compost bins over to the other. A couple of weeks ago, I managed to empty one of them onto the two beds in the front garden. The compost was lovely with just a few egg shells showing. The hellebores and snowdrops look happy for it. The other compost bin was mostly full of the turf I'd removed from the front garden to make the second bed (with added veg waste from the kitchen).
Just before the harder rain set in just now, I managed to sow some tomato and chilli seeds. I think this may be the earliest I've sown tomatoes for a while (will need to look back) so fingers crossed I'll get a crop before the blight.
I've sown Moneymaker and Harbinger tomatoes and Serrano (free from a Wahaca restaurant but not stored terribly well subsequently in various handbags - oops), Iranian (from seed saved a few years ago), Westlandse (ditto) and Lemon Drop. I wasn't successful with Lemon Drop at all last year so I'm giving them one last chance. The tomatoes are on an upstairs windowsill while the chillies are covered with a carrier bag and sitting in the airing cupboard for some extra warmth.
My plan over March, aside from tidying the gardens up after winter and sowing more seeds, is to lift up some turf in the back garden to give me some space to put pots out on the sunnier side of it. I may also plant some flowers too in yellows and oranges. This is why I had to get the compost bins turned - I'll be filling one up with turf again.
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