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 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 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.

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 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

This is all coming along nicely. The spring onions were an impulse buy - none of mine have seeded. The twigs are to keep the cats off.

Tags: herbs, salad

Tags: salad

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.

Tags: blog, root vegetables, salad, legumes

Tags: salad

I planted up some lettuce (pinares) in the greenhouse.

Lettuce Pinares

Exclusive. Improved Parris Island Cos selection. Uniform crops averaging heights of 30cm. Very adaptable and has some resistance to tip burn. Lovely sweet flavour and crisp texture.

Tags: salad