Ate some of our leeks (in a Nigel Slater recipe). They’re thin but very tasty. They’ve taken a long time to get anywhere - I planted these back in March. I need to dig one of the big compost heaps into the empty vegetable plot but it’s been too rainy or too cold (and I’m too lazy).

Gardens get scruffy over winter and I thought that I’d brave the cold and get some exercise. I trimmed the spinach and chard; they both had quite a few old and semi eaten leaves. Hopefully they’ll take the hint and produce some new leaves to eat. I’ve put slug pellets down as the little blighters get everywhere. The winter cabbages are coming on but the cauliflowers look pretty weedy.

Talking of tidying up, I need to go through my seed packets and decide what to plant and what to swap.

Not much chance of gardening at the moment...

I've caught up a bit in the garden; it's all looking pretty neat. My aim is to have some crops through winter. I planted some chard a while back, that's growing well and should crop through winter. Meanwhile, there's the last of the root vegetables (carrots, beetroot and parsnips). I've planted another row of carrots (autumn king) and cauliflowers (all year round). Unfortunately, the cabbages that I planted all got eaten by catapillers (butterflies can get through fruit netting, apparently). I bought some from the garden center and I'm keeping them in the greenhouse for a while.

Meanwhile, I've taken a load of cutings from curry plants, lavander and box. Let's hope that they take.

Tags: root vegetables

I’m having a bit of a failure with the stuff that I planted a couple of weeks ago. The salad and spinach didn’t even sprout (as opposed to sprouting and being immediately eaten) and the cabbages were eaten by pesky butterflies that can get through the netting. On the plus side, I’m working my way though new potates, tomatoes, courgettes, , onions and peppers (you should taste my salsa). Oh, and the weather got nice again.

I really didn’t do much with these garlic, so only myself to blame. I shoved them into the salad bed last year and pretty much left them to get on with it. However, they didn’t grow very big and, before I knew it, they’d mostly gone to seed. I’ll go back to elephant garlic next year.

I grew these because I saw them in Jon and Trish’s garden. They’re lovely (enorma elite or butler), but even though they’re “stringless”, avoid leaving them too long as they do, eventually, get stringy. Lovely in lots of salads.

One of the lovely things about growing your own vegetables is eating them. Today some of our vegetables spent less than a minute or two in the kitchen before being made into this salad (and we’re talking about food yards here). All of my salad recipes are here.

I’m trying to make sure that we have vegetables this winter and so I’ve been planting up swiss chard (Fordhook Giant), lettuce (winter crop) and spinach (giant winter). I’ve also planted a row of mixed salads, including rocket.

We’ve just eaten the last of the broad beans, I’ll definitely sow some more late this autumn for next year.

This year July is wet but sunny and hot when not raining.

Tags: salad, legumes

I sowed some of these after seeing some on the allotments last year. Lovely isn’t it?

Ate my first home grown tomato of the year (Gardener’s Delight). Turned out that Gill had had a couple of other ones earlier in the week.

We’ve started on the potatoes and beetroot. We’ve been eating the broad beans and onions for a couple of weeks now. I’ve taken to planting up the gaps as I pull stuff out. So, yesterday, I sewed more carrot and beetroot and a row of chard. I’m hoping that the chard will keep me going through the winter.

The weather continues to be warm and sunny with the occasional heavy showers keeping the water butts pretty full.

When I said last month that everything is growing, I wasn’t kidding. It’s been pretty dry, so we’ve been watering like mad. Luckily, there’s also been some pretty heavy rainfalls, so the water butts are holding up. Anyhow, this is the garden now!

We’re also eating our first crops. I pulled a couple of potato plants (Swift) and got this haul, which is not too bad.

We’ve been picking and eating broad beans for a couple of weeks now:

No pictures but I’ve got my first tomato fruits, so looking forward to eating my own soon. First out were Alicante (greenhouse and garden), followed by Moneymaker.

Everything is growing nicely (and the beds are all neat and tidy). I’ve potted on all of my chilies and sweet red peppers. I managed to give away three tomato plants to Jane and Mike, but I’ll still have a problem finding places to put them. At last carrots have started coming up in the bed to the side of the garage. I thought that I was jinxed. Speaking of jinxed; waiting until May to try and propagate green beans is a good idea, I’m having a lot more success.

Gill and I had a lovely time at the Barton open gardens afternoon (which is advertised under the National Gardens Scheme).

Gill and I went to the Hatfield Show yesterday and Ashwell at home (where I picked up a marjoram plant for 50p) today. Not much time for gardening; I’ve mostly been watering things. It’s been really dry lately and the water butts are running dry. Everything is growing nicely and I’m seeing carrot and parsnip seedlings. I have now potted on all my tomatoes. I got brave and pruned the vine ones. I tend to let them get out of control and this year I’m trying to keep more of them neater and smaller.

It forecast rain today (well it is a bank holiday) so I dashed around putting things into the ground. This included cauliflowers, which I squeezed in amongst their siblings and cabbages, kale and pink fir apple potatoes. I planted out the main 7 tomato plants, but I have no idea where I’m going to put the rest of them (or the courgette come to that). I planted out the runner beans (Enorma Elite) onto their wigwams.

Lovely afternoon chatting and plants were swapped. I now have some kale, new herbs, pink fir potatoes and pyramid chili peppers. I also have plants that didn’t swap; many tomatoes and cauliflowers. I guess that I’ll have to find room for them.

I’ve spent today tidying up ready for the plant swap afternoon tomorrow. Where I’ve sown seeds and they haven’t germinated, I’ve been sowing new seeds. That’s for spinach, beetroot, carrot and parsnip. The parsnip is coming up in the big bed; they’re just a bit gappy. There’s no sign of carrots or parnsips in the bed at the side of the garage. I probably sewed them too early.

A tip that I read is to line the trench or hole with potting compost as that’s a nicer medium for the seeds to sprout in and it makes them easy to find and water.

Tags: blog

Everything is growing away except the seeds that I’d sown in the plot to the side of the garage. Not a sign of any parsnips or carrots. I planted out the carrots that I grew from seeds in the greenhouse (Paris Market). They don’t like being disturbed but they will grow eventually, we’ll see. I also planted up another row in the bed next to the greenhouse, along with another row of beetroot (good old Detroit). The other beetroot is doing fine and I’m looking forward to some.

Some of the runner beans, the Enorma Elite, are mostly up and growing but I’m still waiting for Prince, the dwarf green beans. The woman in the shop tells me that she doesn’t sow beans until May as they really like to be warm.

The tomatoes are all doing well and I’ve potted a few up into larger pots. I plan to keep these in the greenhouse in a bid to get tomatoes earlier in the year. I planted a couple of the Garden Pearl into a hanging basket. They’ve already got blossoms. I’m having a plant swap next week, so I’m trying not to pot on the rest as I plan to swap them. They’re getting a bit pot bound.

The cherry tree in the front garden is in full, pink, blossom and this weekend has had really lovely weather. I managed to finish the chicken coop and, with a little help, erect it in the orchard. It (which I’ve christened ‘Buckinghen Palace’) looks nice and the chickens seem to like it.

Plant wise, I planted some courgette. I hadn’t intended to and I don’t know where I’ll put them, but they were free with a gardening magazine, so we’ll see. I also potted up some of the tomatoes, the ones that I intend to grow in the greenhouse. No sign of any green beans yet.

Tags: chickens

I sowed more lettuce (Blonde Maraicheri) and the American land cress (which Gill loves) in the herb and salad bed. I made a row of carrots (Nantes 2) and planted some dwarf green beans (Sonesta) directly into the ground. A little early, but let’s see how they go.

The salad and herb plot looks nice with its little box hedge, but I wish that I’d made a separate herb bed. Still I can always modify it sometime.

I’m playing catch up this weekend as I have 5 days of not working. In the greenhouse, I’ve potted out all of the chili peppers and most of sweet peppers and planted some runner beans (Enorma Elite) and dwarf green beans (The Prince). Meanwhile outside the potatoes are starting to show and, best surprise of all, the asparagus has started sprouting. Happy days!

The row of spinach that I planted on the 2nd March was a bit thin (about 4 plants poked their way out of the ground), so I’ve sown some more to bridge the gaps. I sowed a row of carrots (Paris Market) in the plot to the side of the garage. The books disagreed on when to sow, so no idea what results I’ll get. Finally, I put the last of the potatoes (Anya) into the same plot as the carrots and sowed the last few in plant pots in the greenhouse so that I get an early crop. The others that I sowed like that have started to sprout and I’m filling up the pot with earth.

Meanwhile, the cold frame is turning into a real investment (and a good present). I had my first salad leaves and a tiny radish today from there and the cabbages waiting to go into the ground are doing really well. It’s forecasting frosts this week, so I’ll wait.

We ate some of the cabbage (which is bolting) and the spinach with Sunday lunch.

I took a day off in lieu of my last Saturday last weekend and I spent a good part of it in the garden. Outside, I planted potatoes (Swift and Anya), beetroot (including transplants), leek, radish (French Breakfast), lettuce (Tin Tin) and parsnip. I also planted out the carrots that I grown in half toilet rolls into the ground inside the cold frame.

Splendid isn’t it? - my new petrol lawnmower. If I could only find one of the two petrol cans that I own, I could have filled it up and mowed the front garden as well as the back. It is much easier than faffing about with cable. Made mowing the lawn almost pleasurable.

Lots of seedlings

I got back from the far east yesterday, so today I had a gentle relaxing day catching up in the garden. I potted out more tomato plants (I have 25 plants for 4 varieties). I potted out all of the cauliflowers (23) and most of the cabbages ready for going into the ground over the next two or three weeks. To that end, I put some of the cabbages (11)and cauliflowers into the cold frame along with the beetroot (which are looking a bit stringy). In a moment of optimism, I sowed some beetroot ‘chioggia’ (which I got free with a magazine) and a row of parsnips (‘Gladiator F1’).

I filled up the propagator again with sweet pepper, sunflowers (the first 4 are looking sturdy) and some more lettuce.

Failures:
First lot of lettuce - no sign at all.
leeks - 3 out of 16 came up. I think that they were too damp. I’m going to wait and sow them directly into the garden.

It has been very mild with little rain. This meant that digging chicken waste into the new potato plot was hot work. That bed is now ready and I thought about planting some potatoes in it, but decided against it because they’re predicting frosts next week. Instead I planted 3 ‘Swift’ potatoes into a bucket in the greenhouse so that I can have some early potatoes. I also tidied up the small bed and covered it with netting to keep the cats out. Last year’s spinach is growing nicely and looked better for a bit of a tidy up.

I did plant some spinach (‘American Giant’) in the bed outside. The propagator got more pepper (‘Sweet Romano’), lettuce (‘Blonde Maraicheri’) and dwarf french bean (‘The Prince’). I moved out the carrots (‘Paris Market’) because nothing seemed to be happening with them and I want to get as much of a throughput as I can through the propagator.

I also bought another gooseberry plant to go with the other one behind the greenhouse. I picked a red one (‘Hinnomaki Red’) which had a lot of shoots showing.

Tags: root vegetables, salad, fruit

More planting. I’m trying to grow a great variety this year (so, four types of tomato, for example). I also got cracking and dug the new bed. And, yes, it is on a slope (from left to right). I’ve ended up terracing the vegetable plot bit by bit. I put a lot of the turf to the right of the new bed, that used to be a semicircular bed. I’m planning to put potatoes in it (they’re chitting nicely in the greenhouse). I’m pretty confident my back’s going to ache tomorrow.

The tip for the propagator that I read was that once 75% of the seeds are up, take them out. Last year I managed to nearly destroy several plants on sunny days. They also go pretty leggy if left in. The seedlings (as you can see) are fine in the greenhouse, it’s got a heater that prevents it going below about 5C. This weekend the outside temperature has been about 7C, pretty warm.

Yesterday and today, I planted tomatoes (‘Moneymaker’), more Primo cabbages (the first lot have come up and I’ve taken them out of the propagator). I moved last week’s cauliflowers into the propagator and the seeds were sprouting within a day - shows the power of the propagator. I’ve sown some more ‘ring of fire’ chilies and some sunflower seeds (I’m determined to grow some this year, they’re lovely even if they’re not edible). I planted up some more carrots (‘Paris Market’). The first lot (‘Nantes 2’) are in the toilet rolls on the right of the picture - hopefully they’ll not mind growing there until they’re planted out. So far, no sign of the leeks, but I’ve put these into the propagator, so maybe something soon. The beetroot ‘Detroit 2’ are all up, so I’ve taken them out of the propagator (strangely, not much sign of the ‘Boltardy’.

All of the seedlings that are now out of the propagator are doing well - I just have to keep them watered, but not too damp and wait for the right weather to plant them out.

I sowed some lettuce (‘Blonde Maraicheri’) into the cold frame. The mixed lettuce that I sowed earlier is coming up (but no sign of anything else, still, it is an experiment).

Tags: root vegetables, salad

I decided to use the space behind the greenhouse to grow some fruit plants so I bought a gooseberry plant (‘Invicta’) from the local garden center. I also pruned the one that came with the house (which didn’t fruit last year).

gooseberry ‘Invicta’
Invicta is a very popular green gooseberry. The large green berries are excellent for culinary use but are also sweet enough to eat fresh when fully ripe. The bushes are vigorous, heavy cropping and have good mildew resistance.

Tags: fruit

The snow has almost gone now and the weather is warming up. This year I want to grow as much from seed as I can so I want to treat the propagator as a bit of a conveyer belt, getting stuff out of it and new seed in as fast as I can. Somewhere I read that when 75% of your seeds have germinated, take the containers out.

Tomatoes
I’ve taken most of the tomatoes out of the propagator. Both types, Alicante and Gardener’s Delight have sprouted. I sowed a batch of the ‘Garden Pearl’ (which I got from a magazine) into pots (three to a pot) and put those into the propagator. You can grow these in pots or in hanging baskets.

Carrots
I’ve taken the ‘Nante’s 2’ from the propagator as pretty much all of them have come up. I planted these in toilet rolls and, when the weather is warm enough, I plan to put them into the ground as is. I need to sow some more, but the propagator is now full.

Leeks and Beetroot
These have gone into the propagator.

Radish
I’ve sown ‘French Breakfast’ in the cold frame (where mixed salad leaves are starting to sprout. No sign of the carrots in the cold frame yet, but there has been a lot of snow and freezing temperatures.

Cabbage and Cauliflower
Despite last year’s doing really badly (the cauliflowers came late and rotted, caterpillars decimated the cabbage, only Savoy cabbages are left) I bought some more seeds and sowed them today. Cabbages were ‘Primo’ which are apparently ideal for small gardens and the cauliflowers are ‘All Year Round’ (Britain’s most popular). I want summer ones, these grow quickly and you can eat them in June / July. These will be grown under netting!


Tomato ‘Garden Pearl’
An outdoor tomato with big crops of very tasty sweet cherry tomatoes with pink-red fruit. It s (determinate) bush habit makes it ideal for pots tubs window boxes or borders.

Radish ‘French Breakfast’
Elongated, rosy scarlet with a white tip. The crunchy flesh has a pleasant flavour.

Tags: root vegetables, salad

Snow covered cold frame

I sowed beetroot; last year’s ‘Boltardy’ (good until 2010, it says on the packet) and ‘Detroit 2’. I also planted leeks ‘Almera’ in a seed tray with a lid. As all my basil has died over winter, I planted some seeds in a single 3” pot.

Leek ‘Almera’
A firm long slim type, ideal for slicing and also for mini leeks. The leaves are very dark green and upright. For autumn and early winter harvest.

Tags: root vegetables, herbs

After leaving them in the dark for a month, the potatoes I ordered have started sprouting. I’ve moved them into the greenhouse to start chitting. I think that I’ll grow them in the new bed that I’m planning - that will help break up the soil.

Swift
(1994) Very early (hence the name). White with large tubers if left to grow. Short foliage so a good variety for growing in planters or under plastic. Good disease resistance.

Anya
(2000) High yields of long, finger shaped tubers with firm waxy texture and a pleasant slightly nutty flavour. High resistance to scab and moderate resistance to blight and slugs.

Tags: root vegetables

How’s this for optimism? Deep in the snow, these carrots are starting to sprout in my propagator.

[The next day the tomatoes (Alicante) had started to sprout]

Gill and I were at the garden center last week and I bought three fruit bushes on impulse. Two raspberry (Malling Jewel) and one blackberry. Given that every one that I bought last year died, this is an act of optimism.

Even more of an act of optimism is that I planted them this afternoon, just before it snowed. Doh!

Tags: fruit

I heard about sowing carrots and lettuce early under a cold frame from the Alternative Kitchen Garden blog (akg). Apparently, you can eat them by the end of March. Worth a try, so I’ve sited my new cold frame on the south wall of the garage (where I’ve grown tomatoes for the last two years). The carrots came with the Grow Your Own magazine.

I’ve also sown carrots, chili pepper and tomatoes in the propagator. Good old Gardener’s Delight which was really good last year. The other type were ‘Alicante’. The peppers are ‘Ring of Fire’ (wonder what that means?).

Carrot ‘Paris Market’
One of the best all rounders, as the sphericall ‘baby’ carrots are unlikely to grow more than an inch in length.

Tomatoes Alicante
Cordon (Indeterminate). Ideal variety for beginners. A superior variety possessing all the things we look for in a tomato. Alicante produces a heavy crop of greenback free fruit early in the season and the flavour is excellent.

Chili Pepper Ring of Fire (Heat Level 6)
Cayenne type chilli this is ideal for drying and grinding into powder. 4 inch long thin chillies, red when ripe after 80 days. Very abundant 2 foot plants form a perfect shape. (Capsicum annuum)

The carrots were Nantes 2. I’ve grown these for a couple of years and they grow really well and cook well too.

Tags: salad, root vegetables, blog

I’ve had them a little while, but I’m starting to think seriously about planting them. I’ve tidied up the greenhouse, trimming dead bits of over-wintering plants (pelegoniums and herbs mostly). I’ll plant tomatoes and peppers in the heated propagator next weekend.

You’ll notice a non-vegetable lurking. I’ve bought some sunflower seeds, I’ve wanted to grow these for a while now.

Tags: blog