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28th March 2021 - Weekend Planting Out & Sowing

What a beautiful sunny day yesterday was!  I took full advantage and planted out the peas for shoots in a block with 22cm between each plant, watered them and covered with fleece. I then planted the peas for pods in a separate bed in one long row with 10cm between each plant.  Again I watered these and covered with fleece to help them get going before I need to remove the fleece to add in growing supports.  The first photo shows the watered peas for pods in a single row, sharing a bed with the garlic.  You can also see the fleece ready to pop over them.  The second photo shows an update on how the beds look now with the black plastic replaced by fleece.

Today I enjoyed being outside undercover while it gently rained, sowing dill, calendula, night scented stock and cornflowers, which are all now safely in the propagator to germinate.  Calendula will hopefully be a great companion plant, especially to the tomatoes.  Night scented stock will be planted near where we sit as they are supposed to smell beautiful and cornflowers will attract pollinators, I've also wanted to grow these for a long time and never quite got round to it.

26th March 2021 - First Sowings & Plantings Outside

It's been another busy few weeks here with some really fun days in the garden.  The weeding began from the end of February: not a big job at all, Josie and I have just started spotting the odd weed seedlings in the uncovered bed and been plucking them out - a pleasant little activity as we're pottering around the garden.  Every day or so I've been checking the seedlings in the greenhouse and they're developing well.

                5th March                                                                                         21st March

 I've propagated successional sowings of some seeds already growing and first sowings of Italian mix salad leaves, dill (which I should of sown mid-February) and tomatoes.  Excitingly I've also sown my first seeds outside: carrots, parsnip, radish, lettuce and onion sets. The first young plants were planted outside last weekend too: multi-sown radish, lettuce and spinach.  Now sowing and planting outside was filled with anticipation as the beds had been covered since Autumn and I was curious as to what they would look like.  I was very pleasantly surprised: the three beds had barely anything growing in them at all.  The only things growing in the bed in the picture on the left were a couple of stray onions that must have escaped harvest last year.  There were a few interesting minibeasts that quickly scurried away too: millipede, centipede, spider, woodlouse.  Thankfully no slugs!  It took very little time to pull out the bits and rake lightly over the surface to level it, then the beds were ready for sowing and planting.

Once the beds were sown and planted up, I watered then covered them with fleece to keep the warmth in and protect the tiny plants from pests.

Another little job, after the fantastic Monty Don told us on BBC Gardeners World last Friday, I've pruned our buddleia - the butterfly plant 🦋  As advised, I've pruned them pretty hard, back to just three or four growing points on each branch, which should lead to lovely bushy green plants, developing plenty of pretty purple flowers for the butterflies.  Our buddleia are still small but growing well from cuttings we took last summer.  We're hoping to soon plant one into the garden, in front of the compost bins to help improve the view and attract wildlife.

Talking about attracting wildlife, the children bought me a lovely new outdoor pot for Mother's Day which I've 'bee bombed.' I'll write more on bee bombs on a special wildlife page as soon as I can but for now you can see the bee bombed pot in the top left corner of a couple of the raised bed pictures above.  A few tiny seedlings are already growing and I'll repost a pic of it once it's hopefully looking more impressive.

There's been a bit of slug damage to the radish in the greenhouse so Josie and I have been out slug hunting by torchlight, which was a bit of slightly gruesome fun.  I think it's done the trick as there doesn't seem to of been any more damage.  We'll repeat our night-time slug raids every so often.

We all love strawberries and have a few in the garden already but recently learnt about summer long producing varieties so bought a couple of young plants from our local nursery and have planted them in a container.  We're looking forwards to a much longer home grown strawberry eating season from now on.

My last exciting bit of news is, a whole 5 weeks after sowing, one aubergine has germinated!

 I very nervously transferred this to the greenhouse where minimum temperatures have recently been 4C, and it's growing well 🤞

1st March 2021 - Seedlings Galore

Gosh it feels a long time since I last posted. It also feels like a lot has happened, where to start... Well Oscar decided to sow some of his own seeds and they've all successfully germinated 🥰 He's now transferred them from his windowsill to his own mini greenhouse.  Look out for his very own page for his personal updates.  I'm continuing to follow Charles Dowding's sowing timeline from his diary and calendar which I'm loving; every few days there's something else to sow and subsequently I'm excitedly coming downstairs each morning to see if something new has germinated - it often has!  I have now sown: lettuce, spinach, broccoli, coriander, parsley, sweet peppers, aubergine, sweet pea, radish, peas for shoots and peas for pods.  I've had success with everything except aubergine so far; if these haven't germinated by the 4th I'll sow more to try again.  For successional harvesting I've sown a second batch of spinach, peas for shoots and radish, having a go at Charles' multi-sowing technique for radish this time.  I'm devouring Charles' YouTube videos and learning so much as I go.  As you can imagine, all this sowing has filled the greenhouse shelf with seedlings so I've spilled over to the ground with the older seedlings which I hoped would be the hardiest.  So far this is working well.

The broccoli and first radish seedlings were looking a bit leggy so I've pricked them out and transferred the broccoli to deeper pots and radish to the greenhouse bed, burying the stems.  I think I've solved the problem of leggy seedlings by transferring each container of seedlings from windowsill to greenhouse on the same day the first seedling grows through the surface.  I figure most other seeds are likely to have also germinated, and just be remaining below the soil, ready to emerge in the greenhouse.

 

 I'm a bit worried about the radish seedlings as the seaweed just under the surface compost in the greenhouse bed is still looking totally undecomposed so I don't know how well they'll manage to grow in it. I figured if it's a problem, at least I'll find out before I plant more valuable crops like tomatoes, cucumber, sweet peppers and aubergine in it, so it's worthwhile trying.  If the radish succeed, we should be harvesting them by May, leaving plenty of space for the bigger plants that will follow them.  So far the radish have been in the bed one night and if anything, they looked stronger already this morning.  For the radish spacing I found Charles had looked after me again with a page in the No Dig Organic Home & Garden book showing spacing, plant family and other related tips for most annual vegetables.

Two seedlings had popped up in a couple of the spinach and coriander modules so I also pricked these out and transplanted them to their own spaces before their root systems developed too much.  Hopefully this will give each seedling the best chance of thriving.  To do my pricking out I decided to whittle my own little dibber from a roughly pencil diameter twig.  It was a bit of fun to do and worked a treat.

I needed to sow a big trayful of peas for pods as we really love these.  There was a problem though - the seed tray is too wide for either propagator we have. I've therefore decided to improvise a little and simply cover it with a clear plastic sheet from the top of a box of wonky vegetables we bought from Morrisons.  It doesn't give as good a seal as the propagator lids but hopefully it will be good enough so prove a good reuse of otherwise single use plastic.

Gaz and Oscar got busy pruning the trees and rose bush at the back of the garden (in preparation for a treehouse) then chipped the cuttings.

You'll notice Suki proudly photobombed this pic.  The precious chippings are now very usefully spread around various areas in the garden (e.g. paths and flower beds) where they'll help to keep the weeds down and gradually decompose to feed the soil.

We've also treated ourselves to a maximum and minimum thermometer for the greenhouse 🥰

21st February 2021 - Strong Seedlings & More Germinating

Just a quick little update to say the broccoli and spinach seedlings survived their first night in the greenhouse - phew!  The broccoli is still looking a bit leggy but probably greener and the spinach is looking strong 👍

Three sweet peas have also germinated 🎉 It seems three is the magic number!  I'm planning to remove their lid tomorrow morning, then transfer to the greenhouse around mid-day.

20th February 2021 - More Sowing & The First Seedlings Are In The Greenhouse

The broccoli seedlings were already beginning to look a bit leggy so I was keen to get them in full light.  It was a pretty mild day so I decided to risk it and transfer them to the greenhouse.  To help them acclimatise in maximum initial warmth I popped them over mid-day.  Hopefully they'll still be okay tomorrow.

It was time to sow the next seeds too.  Mixed Radish and Deuce Provence Peas for Shoots.  I'm planning on sowing a few radish every week or two so we can enjoy them in our salads throughout their season.  Now for a propagation space issue...  I could fit one container (old mushroom tub) in the propagator in place of the spinach and broccoli but not the other.  I couldn't find any clear plastic bags so have improvised with four wooden kebab sticks and cling film.  I really don't like using cling film with it being single use and not recyclable - planning fail.  I'll see if I can manage to reuse it.

With the weather being mild, if a bit blowy, it was nice to stay out a while and potter.  I finally cut back the raspberry canes: after a phone call for advice from Dad, it was pretty easy to spot the canes that had fruited last year (with their lighter coloured wood and remains from where the fruit was picked), use secateurs to cut them off at ground level, then chop them up for the compost - I always carry a bucket around the garden with me to collect waste for the compost as I go, often a bucket for rubbish too.  I tied in the new growth that already has little buds on and pulled out the odd weed so the raspberry bed's looking a lot tidier and healthier.

I was still keen to stay out a touch longer so even emptied out pots of died off plants and put them away.  All the waste went to the compost.  Finally a little wander round the garden revealed the garlic looking fully recovered from the frosty weather and some pretty snow drops and crocus' peeping through the grass.  Lovely to see.

19th February 2021 - The First Seedlings Are Up

It was amazing - I came down in the morning to discover two broccoli well and truly through and one spinach just peeping.  By the afternoon there were three of each!

You can probably see some patches of white fungus growing too.  These appeared the day after sowing and had me concerned. I phoned the local nursery that make the compost and the owner explained it's from small pieces of bark but won't do any harm to the seedlings.  So far this seems true. 🤞

I also finally managed to organise the gardening trappings in the garage.  We should now find things easily and have some good storage space for the anticipated harvests!

15th February 2021 - The Sowing Begins

We did it! My little helper Josie and I sowed the first seeds of the year on time! We've sown Speckled Trout Lettuce in a mushroom pot in the greenhouse, then: Green Sprouting Broccoli, Matador Spinach, Slobolt Coriander, Plain French Parsley, Quadrato d'Asti Rosso Sweet Peppers, Rosa Bianca Aubergine and Bee Friendly Sweet Peas in propagators on warm windowsills inside.

With the very cold weather we've been having I was a little hesitant to sow just yet, especially after Charles Dowding published a video on his Facebook page suggesting it may be a good idea to wait a little this year because of the possible cold Spring.  Gaz found an online long range weather forecaster, www.metcheck.com, entered our post code and it predicted milder weather in our area for the next month so I decided to give it a go.  We have plenty of spare seeds to try again if these don't make it.

You might notice in the photos I used lolly pop sticks to label the seeds - with two lolly loving children in the house, this plastic free resource is plentiful. Written on them in biro (so it hopefully doesn't wash away with watering) is the seed type and date sown.  In my gardening diary I've also recorded the variety of each seed type so if something's particularly yummy I can buy the same variety again next year.

Autumn & Winter 2020 / 21

For the first time I managed to plant Garlic (Albigensian Wight) before spring! I was a bit late and didn't put it in until mid-November.  It seems to be doing quite well, although these very cold frosts are challenging it.  I also got too excited to wait and sowed Deuce Provence (a winter sowing variety) Peas in late December.  I really should have got them in earlier, or waited until late February, but enthusiasm got the better of me.  I read somewhere about using 2litre plastic drinks bottles as mini cloches (which friends and family then kindly saved for me).  So far the peas haven't done anything.  I can always try again later this month.  Josie and me especially love picking pods from the pea plants, popping and eating them straight away.  They're so sweet and juicy, far yummier than any sweets we've ever tasted 🥰

Last autumn we all had an impromptu afternoon in the garden when I very excitedly discovered both our compost bins were full of beautiful black gold ready to mulch our raised beds 🥳 With a whole family team effort we managed to top up all 5 of our raised beds, and Oscar's growing area - fantastic 😍

We then covered the three beds that had nothing growing in them with black plastic (that we reuse every year).  This should have prevented weeds from growing. Any that are will be really weak and take barely any hoeing or pulling out.  It'll also be warming the soil a bit for the first seedlings, and preventing the local cats from using the beds as a toilet!  The possible downside is they could also be providing a nice cosy winter home for slugs...  I'll probably prefer getting rid of slugs to the cat's gifts though!

A winter project has been getting the greenhouse ready for the fast approaching growing season.  We only added our greenhouse last April (our wedding anniversary present to ourselves) so this is the first full growing season we'll have it.  I'm really looking forwards to making the most of it this year.

First I cleared the gutters and washed down the inside then outside of all the panes.  I used eco-friendly washing up liquid in warm water and a non-abrasive sponge, then rinsed, sprayed with a 2/3 vinegar to water solution and rinsed again, especially all the metal frame to make sure no vinegar residue was left to rust it.  Before I did this, apart from a fair bit of algae growing at the bottom, the panes really didn't look that dirty but Gaz and I both keep commenting on how clear and shiny the greenhouse now looks, and who knows how much all that algae would have taken over this growing season after the foothold it had gained last season so the clean down was well worthwhile.

Next I decided to try growing straight in the soil this year, rather than from growbags as we used last year so engaged Gaz in making a wooden frame to create a border between the bed and standing area.  I then set about removing most of the stones from the bed and digging out the standing area by 6 inches.  The dug out soil went on the bed and I filled the standing area with wood chippings Gaz had chipped from garden cuttings.  The 6 inch depth of chippings should prevent virtually all weeds growing and gradually break down to provide food for the soil.  We'll top up the chippings as and when required.  I now needed to finish filling the bed.  First, to help prevent weed growth, I covered the area in a layer of cardboard.  For the next layer I had no home-produced compost left so decided to give seaweed a try.  This is supposed to provide all sorts of minerals and we're lucky enough to live close to the coast so it's a free, easily collectible organic resource on our doorstep. Oscar kindly volunteered to help me and between us we gathered 4 big bags from the beach.  A bit of googling had told me I could spread the seaweed straight on the soil which I eagerly did.  My all knowledgeable dad however quickly informed me the salt would kill the plants so I moved it onto the lawn for a few days to be rinsed by the rain.  As luck would have it this coincided with us having about a week of pretty constant, steady rain so the job has hopefully been done pretty well.  I spread the seaweed back over the cardboard and topped up the bed with compost produced by a local nursery.  Gaz then gallantly made me some shelves which I've placed ready for potted seedlings and that's the greenhouse ready to grow.

Other little activities have involved raking up leaves and clearing dead growth from borders and containers.  All this, along with raw fruit and vegetable kitchen waste, has gone into the big compost bin which I'm amazed is already now pretty much full again!  We'll start to fill the second compost bin, and by the time we've done this, the contents of the first bin will of broken down enough for us to transfer the second bin matter into it so we have room to fill it again.  Nature's cycles continue 💖

A very important task I've enjoyed, sat in front of a warm fire, is planning and ordering all the seeds and onion sets I think we'll need for the coming year.  For the first time I've used a seed catalogue instead of local nursery, and ordered ahead for most of the season rather than as and when I've realised we need something.  Although I like to support local, the pandemic has made that trickier this year.  The seed catalogue has also provided more choice in the varieties I've selected from, and given me the opportunity to buy a high proportion of organic seeds.  Hopefully the bulk buying has saved us a bit of money and the planning ahead will help me sow things on time this year too!  Pretty much every seed packet has more seeds than we have space for so I'm sharing lots with Dad, and we'll gain a few from him too.  I even imagine there'll still be enough to share some with Oscar's school and swap with friends.

Jobs still to do include cutting down the raspberry canes (which I should've done months ago 🙈), pruning the trees - which ought to give us new pea sticks for the pea plants to grow up, and organising all the gardening paraphernalia stored in the garage, with luck creating some space for storing our anticipated harvest.