beetroot
garden looking good
31/08/09 12:33
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.
eating my garden
21/06/09 07:29
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.
The weather continues to be warm and sunny with the occasional heavy showers keeping the water butts pretty full.
infilling
02/05/09 13:54
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.
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.
carrots, carrots, carrots
27/04/09 13:44
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.
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.
catching up in the garden
22/03/09 17:55
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.
a day in the garden
15/03/09 16:44
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.
sowing after snowing
15/02/09 16:12
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.
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.
more seeds sown
08/02/09 13:42
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.
beetroot
18/10/08 16:36
Probably a bit late for these, but they were on sale in the garden center so in they go. This also gave me a chance to play with my latest toy - a tablet and pen.
Beetroot Woden F1 Hybrid
Woden F1 hybrid was bred by Thompson and Morgan and introduced in their 2004 catalogue. It is a globe beetroot with bright red flesh that can be harvested as baby or mature beets. Mature beets do not go fibrous and store well. Young leaves can be eaten as spinach.
thermo-king
14/09/08 09:05
We need more compost room (we run out of space when we mow the grass) and I need to replace the two wooden heaps that we inherited with the house (which are rotting). I emptied out one of the wooden ones into one of the raised beds. It’s enormous and I’m going to buy another one.
Once we’ve eaten the last of the beetroot and parsnips, I intend to leave this one empty over winter. The soil was pretty low, so it needed the compost.
I let the chickens (under gardeners) out and Amber came to help.
planting again
31/08/08 15:50
It’s a bit late in the year for
carrots, but I planted some anyway and we’ll see. I’ll let one of
the beds empty out so that I can use up the compost on it (it’s a
bit low), but I’d like the other two to be productive into autumn
and even winter.
Sunday sufficient
03/08/08 16:26
We were discussing how easy it would be to be self-sufficent and what being self-sufficient actually means. We're self sufficient in eggs. Given more land, time and ability I could imaging being self sufficient in vegetables. Today, I decided that we're "Sunday sufficient" - we have enough vegetables such that every vegetable in the Sunday meal comes from our garden. Here's a picture of beetroot. The crop is big now and I've been cooking and pickling it.
too much happening
20/05/08 08:10
It's all happening in the garden. Clockwise from top left:
tomato
potatoes
green beans, peas, turnip
asparagus
turnip
strawberries
peppers
beetroot, shallots, parsnips, broad beans, carrot, onions
In the middle is garlic, onion, spinach and swede
sowing more seeds (successional planting)
21/04/08 08:06
I have spent weeks meaning to create a
planting diary showing me when to plant successional plants. This
weekend I failed (again) and decided to sow some new seeds of stuff
that I want anyway but ran out of time. So, tonight as Gill made
supper, I went out and pottered in the greenhouse. The result was a
row each of green beans (Sonesta), rocket (Suffolk Herbs salad
rocket), beetroot (Detroit 2), parsnip and broad bean.
Having lost a lot of green beans, I first put the soil in, damped it off, planted the seeds and then sprinkled a thin layer of soil over the top. The tray is under a lid in the greenhouse, but not in the propagator. I'll see how it goes.
Having lost a lot of green beans, I first put the soil in, damped it off, planted the seeds and then sprinkled a thin layer of soil over the top. The tray is under a lid in the greenhouse, but not in the propagator. I'll see how it goes.
beetroot planted out
13/04/08 18:53
Now that the frosts are over (fingers crossed), the beetroot that I've been hardening off for a week or two have gone outside.
snow
06/04/08 11:24
The weather report said that there might be snow and here it is. I'm glad that I didn't plant out my beetroot and lettuce. Hope the peas are all right and that the little carrot seedlings are surviving under the cloche that I put back yesterday.
beetroot
21/03/08 20:22
The beetroot in the greenhouse is doing fine. Unfortunately, the outside ones have yet to show.
still waiting for spring
09/03/08 06:12
It's been surprisingly dry, I've had
to remove the cloches and water under them this weekend (as I did
last weekend). Still no sign of any outdoor seeds sprouting
(carrot, peas, beetroot). The greenhouse sown seeds are making a
showing, but I'm disappointed in the green beans. Some just
expired. One of the green beans that I sowed last week has sprouted
- I wish the others would be more enthusiastic. I'm not too
worried, I checked last year's blog and I finished the raised beds
at the end of April and planted out bought seedlings at that time.
If all else fails, I can still buy seedlings.
I've used about 2/3 of the soil that I had delivered on Thursday, I think that I over estimated how much I'd need. I've been filling up the raised beds (I didn't quite buy enough soil last year and my compost heaps are not producing enough (yet)). Maybe I'll get some of the paths done this weekend; I bought some weed membrane yesterday.
I've used about 2/3 of the soil that I had delivered on Thursday, I think that I over estimated how much I'd need. I've been filling up the raised beds (I didn't quite buy enough soil last year and my compost heaps are not producing enough (yet)). Maybe I'll get some of the paths done this weekend; I bought some weed membrane yesterday.
beetroot
24/02/08 16:47
"Grow Your Own Veg" suggests that
these germinate better if you soak them overnight, so that's what
I've done. I grew these last year and pickled some.