I planted out pak choi and rocket. To stop the birds eating them, I made a frame out of bamboo and netting. It took me ages and, in the middle of doing it, I nearly set fire to it in frustration. Not pretty, let's hope that it works.

I put more potatoes in. I'm really getting into dividing the plots into squares with salad plants acting as a dividing line.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The local garden center had some onions (Electric, red onions and Radar, white onions), so I bought 50 of each. I’ve planted half of them in one of the beds. I pulled up the last of the Victorian potatoes* and put the other half of the onions in that bed. I cleared the end of the salad bed and planted up the garlic (Cristo).

* I don’t think that I’ll be growing these again - low yield and not a lot of taste.

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

We ate the first of the Edzell Blues. They look very attractive, but if you boil them in their skins, all the colour goes (it turns the water an odd blue). Mashed they are somewhat floury. Taste wise, they're (I'm sad to report) nothing special. We also had a big portion of the green beans (Rocquencourt, I think). Actually, they're a lovely pale yellow. I steamed them for about 10 minutes and then added a bit of butter.

Tags: root vegetables, legumes

I pulled the potatoes (Scottish Rocket) from one of the tubs. Not many, but small and perfectly formed (and tasty). The onions are pretty nice too. The first turnips are ready, including one enormous one (how?).

With all the rain, the potatoes are going mad.

Tags: root vegetables

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

Tags: root vegetables, legumes

Lots of gardening jobs today:

Outside

Planted spinach seeds in the small bed.
Built cane supports for the peas (which are now starting to come through)
Planted first early potatoes ("Rocket")

greenhouse

Planted "slenderette" dwarf green beans
potted up Gardener's Delight tomatoes (next stop outside in the garden at the end of April)

propagator

Planted more Rocquencourt (here's hoping)
Added more basil, only one plant came up.
Planted chilli pepper ("Anaheim"), these came free with Gardener's World

Tags: salad, herbs, root vegetables, legumes

Tags: root vegetables

The potatoes are still chitting. It's been very cold of late, so progress is late

Tags: root vegetables

We bought some more potatoes ready for chitting. I want to grow more varieties this year. We bought Edzell Blue and Arran Victory, both heritage varieties, which is nice; if slightly challenging.

Arran Victory

Victory was bred in the Isle of Arran by Donald Mackelvie. Victory, the oldest of the "Arrans" still grown, was named in 1918 in celebration of the ending of the war. It is rare and is one of only two blue skinned varieties still available for general cultivation. It is high yielding given a long season. The tubers are round to short oval with blue skin, snowy white flesh and deep eyes. In Scotland they are still regarded with some awe as the premium late season variety.

Arran Victory has a very high dry matter which makes normal boiling difficult but they have exceptional flavour for mash, so do not be put off when they fall apart a bit. Arran Victory potatoes need to be simmered very gently and NOT boiled vigorously. They have a fine texture which makes for the most wonderful white mash which will crisp beautifully if used as a shepherd pie or roast. They do make particularly good roast potatoes, and they will also fry, bake, steam and microwave.

Edzell Blue

Edzell Blue was first recorded in 1915 but it is said to have been bred in the Victorian era. Edzell Blue has an attractive bluish/ purple  skin with deepish eyes, contrasting with the snowy white flesh. The skin colour turns to a creamy colour when cooked, and it is best cooked with skin on and boiled or steamed.

Tags: root vegetables

Now that I have my electric heater sorted out, I bought these potatoes (Rocket Scottish Basic - good for boiling and steaming) and put them in the light ready to chit. I also cleared out the ground where I'm going to put them - at the side of the garage. The soil is surprisingly good, maybe this used to be a bed once before.

Tags: root vegetables