Spring is on the way.

Over the last few weeks I have not had as much time out in the garden as I would have liked due to some overdue DIY that had to be done and will continue for the next few weeks. I hope to squeeze as much gardening in as I can with the nights becoming lighter. I have prepared all the beds and the new raised beds have been built and are ready but I still have to paint them. Out in the garden the daffodils are coming into flower, every day the garden is starting to come back to life with new buds forming on the shrubs and clematis. Its great to see new life in the garden and the promise of the growing season ahead. The grass has started to grow, so I will give it a light trim as the weather forecast for this next week looks quite good.

Worms!!!

The wormery arrived a few weeks ago now and has been set up. They have been tucked up in their coir bedding with added compost and seem quite at home. I have started to add small amounts of food scraps and they seem to be be responding. Looking forward to them producing some "Black Gold" for the garden.

This is a piccy of what their bed looks like. I have added plenty of shredded paper as the bedding should not be too wet or too dry but a good mix. As they start to get more productive I will be able to add more food scraps which they will break down at a quicker rate. The instructions suggest that if you have 1kg of worms they can eat up to 3 kg of food per day.

Basil

I have taken some cuttings from a Basil plant that I brought over a year ago from the the local supermarket. It had started to get a bit woody so thought that I would rejuvenate it. Last year I produced lots of plants by taking cuttings from this original plant.

All I do is take a good stem of basil usually one that has a few sets of leafs, pinch out the growing tip and place it in a glass of water. Within a few days the cuttings have sprouted new roots. Once the roots have got established, I then plant them up. By pinching out the growing tip this will encourage the plant to bush out. I have also sown some lemon basil and another variety called opal which is a dark purple colour. I will companion plant the basil with my tomatoes.

Mystery Bulbs.

Last year my neighbour gave me some bulbs she had given from a friend. She couldn't remember the name of them at the time, so I planted them in containers in the greenhouse and forgot about them. They started to grow and have now shown themselves. I am the new owner of three lots of different coloured hyacinths. They are pretty and have a lovely scent, so this was a nice surprise. I have a container of white, pink and blue and the greenhouse smells lovely!

Update on Early Tomatoes.

All of my early tomatoes plants are growing well and have been sitting on the window sills. I have topped them up to the top of their cups now so the next time I pot them up will be into bigger pots. I am really quite pleased with them. Will have to see how they come on. What with tomatoes, chili's and sweet peppers I am starting to run out of window sill space! A very kind work colleague also promised some seeds from some heritage varieties he has been growing, however this didn't pan out, he dropped off six plants whilst I was at work last week so now I am really struggling for space but looking forward to trying these varieties. Mr G has kindly provided me with Mortgage Lifter, Stupice, Super Snow White, Brandy Wine, Kellogg's Breakfast, and Paul Robeson.

Poor Man's Fertiliser.

Swindon, like most other places has been under a blanket of snow since the beginning of the week. By Thursday we had about 7 to 10 inches of the white stuff.
Roads and School's have remained closed due to treacherous conditions. We have not had any post for three days, recycling and refuse collections have been cancelled until our next collection date. It has snowed, then the temperature has dropped which has led to sheet ice, then it has snowed again.

The Council's gritting teams have done a marvelous job in such dreadful conditions. Although there is a national shortage of salt, all of the A Roads have been gritted. The kids have had a great time building snowmen and playing in the snow, even the dog has finally got used to it after holding his bladder for ages!

Yesterday, I spent about an hour and half clearing the paths and front drive of snow and sheet ice. It was quite satisfying to be able to see the path again but today I am paying the price. When I got up this morning, I have found muscles that I didn't know I had.

The snow is now starting to thaw, although the temperature overnight was -5. Today the sun is out and we have rain expected. The weather forecast for Monday looks dreadful with blizzard conditions, snow, rain and freezing temperatures. Although I don't usually mind the snow, you can get fed up with it!

Potatoes.
I have decided to grow potatoes again this year in big containers. This year I am going to try some new varieties which I haven't tried before. I have seed potatoes chitting and have gone for the following varieties Pentland Javelin (Traditional Early Favourite), Charlotte (Second Early), and Pink Fir Apple (Main crop).


The seed potatoes have been placed in egg boxes and are stored in a cool, frost free place in good light.

Chili Peppers.

For some time now I had been thinking about expanding my collection of chili seeds. I love the varieties which are made up of different colours, they are so pretty. A fellow grape has started a special thread for chili growers on the grapevine so thought I would sign up and learn from their experiences of growing chili plants. I have also managed to swap some seeds for some new varieties of chili seed (Thanks to Small Blue Planet). I have also ordered some seed, but plan on saving seed this year for future sowing and to pass on to others.

Last Week I have sown a few seeds of the following:
Cveta
Purple Jal
Chinese Five Colour
Arizona Toothpick
Fish
Peppa Orangina F1
Ajicito
Tepin
Garda Hocus Pocus
Scotch Bonnet Red
Fresno
Black Pearl

I have ordered a few more varieties which I want to try and I am waiting for these to arrive.
So far I have x2 Cveta, x2 Purple Jal, x2 Chinese Five Colour that have germinated. I also plan on taking lots of chili plants into work for colleagues who will swap them for something else.


Update On Garlic, and earlier sowings.


The garlic that I planted some weeks ago into modules has started to put on growth.
My banana shallots have been moved to the greenhouse and are covered over with a single layer of fleece. The trough of carrots have also been moved to the greenhouse, they have germinated and its one of the best rates of germination I have seen for carrot. I usually do direct sowing with carrots and haven't been to successful so may do the container growing method again.



Early Tomatoes.
This is a picture of my early tomatoes. I have planted them into white drinking cups as they bounce the light back on to the plants.

I am really pleased with them. If they get a bit leggy then I can still add more compost up to the first set of leaves and they won't require potting on for a while.


I am surprised that they have made it this far considering how early they were sown and the weather conditions outside. My main sowings of tomatoes are usually done at the end of February, beginning of March so this is a bonus.


The Chinese Lanterns have germinated and are currently living in propagator. The Lavender, I managed to kill off. So I did another sowing which has germinated and has been moved to the window sill. I think it died as I left in the propagator for too long and may be it was too warm.


I have also sown the following:
Lettuce
Peas (v.Meteor)


Sweet Pea -Heirloom Mixed

This variety is a mixture of the smaller flowering Heirloom grandiflora types, it dates back to the 16th century. It has a wide range of highly scented colours. I have grown this variety before, last year the flowers just kept on coming and continued for a three months. The perfume that they give off is beautiful and intense. We had non stop sweet peas in the house throughout last summer. I saved last years seed and will do another sowing in a few weeks time.

Now to plan next weeks sowings by the phases of the moon.

Spring Onions are definitely on the list.