I have made a start!

Over the last week I have made a start with my first sowings of the growing season. Its a bit early but I am experimenting and participating in an early tomato sowing.

So still following the moon planting, I have sown the following varieties on the 13.01.09 after 9am:

F1 Sweet Million
lldi
Balconi Red
Balconi Yellow

Garden Pearl

Tomatillo

Chili Pyramid Pepper
Mini Bell Pepper

I have only sown a few seed of each, in case the trial is unsuccessful so plenty of seed left to try later on. I have put them into a propagator and they have all germinated, so now they are on a warm south facing window sill and I will turn each day to stop them getting leggy.

On Friday 16th of January.

I have sown my Banana Shallots. Just a pinch of seed in a pot of multi purpose compost placed in a bag and placed on the kitchen window sill.

I have also done an early sowing of Carrots in a trough. The variety is Paris Market 4. Once they have germinated they will go under some garden fleece and will be placed in the greenhouse.

Potted up some Ginger which is being kept in doors until things start to warm up.

Today I also brought some fruit tree's. I want to grow them as cordons up the fence. So after getting carried away I have ended up with Golden Delicious, and Cox's Orange Pippin. Both are in the same pollination group and I have been checking the gardening manuals on how to train them.

I also got a plum tree (v.Opal), this one is going into a huge pot and will be trained as a pyramid and a red currant bush (v.Jonkheer van tets). All have been stored in the greenhouse as the weather has been particularly windy this week.

On Sunday 18th of January.

Today I have sown some flower seeds. I have done a pot of Lavender (v.Munstead Strain).

I have also sown Chinese Lanterns. Could not believe that they can take six months to germinate.

I want to have some Autumn colour in the garden and Chinese Lanterns can be used in flower arranging, so may save some and give it a go.

Rhubarb.

Today I have planted some Rhubarb in a pot. The variety I have chosen is called "Red Champagne". It's hardy and frost-resistant. Both plants had started to grow in the bag that they came in, so I have two stalks already!

Harvest time for this particular variety is May to August. Must remember to twist the stalks from the base when its ready and that the leaves to Rhubarb are toxic and should not be eaten.

I need to check on whether the leaves can go on the compost heap.

My Rhubarb will not be ready until it has had a full season to establish its self and even then I will only take a few stalks to enable the plant to build up.

I planted the rhubarb on a leaf day so here's hoping!

It's Freezing.

This was the sight that we woke up to on Monday morning. The weather has been freezing this week, with temperatures not getting above freezing during the day and down to -5 at night.

The snow has started to thaw and today's temperature was more reasonable at 4 degrees.

Not much happening out in the garden this week but have been out feeding the birds.

Yesterday I planted some garlic (v.Fokyhama). This is the second batch that I have planted as I have some already in, that I planted out back in November as an experiment.

The November sown Garlic was using a bulb that I brought in the supermarket. So I will compare it to the "Fokyhama" which has been started in polystyrene trays and will be placed in the greenhouse until things warm up a bit and they have started to grow.

I have been following a thread on the grapevine which is about planting by the cycle of the moon, I have ordered a book called "Gardening & Planting by the Moon" by Nick Kollerstrom. This method reportedly increases the crop yield and reliability. This remains to be seen, but I thought I'd give it a go. I planted the Garlic on a root day as the method suggests. The book arrived today so I best get reading!

Start of something new.

This is the start of my new blog which should be read with caution as I am relatively new to growing vegetables as I am to blogging! I don't have an allotment but I grow what I can in a limited space in the back garden using raised beds, containers and the greenhouse. I am still hopeful that the kids will out grow the trampoline in the next year so I can put in a few more raised beds!

I have been interested in gardening for some years and I have had a greenhouse from the time I left home. I used to watch my mum grow her flowers in her greenhouse so I think I caught the bug from her.

I have been quite good at growing flowers but veg are something else. Its great to produce your own vegetables from the plot (or in my case raised bed) to the plate. They taste better than any variety that you get from the supermarket.

The reason that I started growing veg was due to my daughter, she attended a gardening club at school. The only problem was that the children had to walk to the allotments that are quite away from the school (for an eight year old). So I gave her a patch in the garden to grow a few things.

From this little patch in the back garden we had a bumper crop for the size of the space we used so she now helps occasionally and I have taken over looking for as much space as I can in the back garden.

Since the start of the project I have installed three raised beds, and we will have another built and ready for the start of the growing season.

The above picture is how we started to grow veg in a raised bed.