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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

I’ve not done a thing in the garden for weeks. Those Gardener’s World types are still out there, but I’ve no idea what they’re doing. Meanwhile, my cauliflowers have gone black, surely not a good sign and the cabbages have stalled. The only things growing are the onions, garlic and broad beans.

Tags: blog

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.

I’ve been pulling caterpillars and slugs from my cabbages since I got them. I’m getting there but this one still looks like a doily...

My plants survived a holiday. Mind you, it was rainy here. I put the peppers outside in a big tray of water. All but one (which has been a bit eaten) lasted well. I picked the last of this year's peas and broad beans. I used the peas and froze two bags of green beans. I think that I could have got more peas, but I suspect that Gill and Esther have been eating them. The green beans look about done, but I picked a whole load before we went on holiday and froze them. The old variety potatoes are not cropping that well, but they're ok.

The cabbages and cauliflower are being somewhat eaten by whitefly, but I've been spraying and watering them (and picking off caterpillars). I'm wondering what to plant as we slide into autumn.

Tags: blog, legumes

Gill bought me some plants when she went to the garden center to buy some fish for her new tank. I miss growing cabbages this year, so I was happy to see two sorts Savoy Mila F1 and Red Stonehead F1. She also got me some cauliflower - Nautilus F1 improved.

CABBAGE ROUND -‘STONEHEAD’ F1 Plant April / August. Good quality, uniform with very solid heads. Use for successional plantings. Can be used as baby vegetables. Harvest June to November.

CABBAGE SAVOY -‘MILA’ F1
Plant April / July. Early maturing. Dark green, good standing ability and resistance to bursting. Suitable for successional plantings. Harvest November to February.

White Cauliflower 'Nautilus' F1 improved
A high quality variety with extra white deep curds. Also a vigorous hybrid even in cooler climates and useful for extended autumn crops. Sow Feb for cutting July to November. Remember the trick with cauliflowers is a really rich heavily manured vegetable plot as they will not do well on poor soil.

Tags: root vegetables