Busy, Busy, Busy.

April is a busy month for sowing and so the veggie-patch is starting to come to life. Over the Easter holidays I have spent some time weeding, tidying up and sowing, around completing some diy.
Here is a picture of the daffodils and pansies that have been in flower in my garden

Garlic

The garlic that I started back in February has put on a lot of growth and all look healthy. The green shoots are about a foot high and have been under planted with lettuce as a catch crop.

Carrots

These are the carrots that I grew in a trough, they aren't ready yet but this is the first time I have had success with carrots. Buoyed on by this, I have sown a row in a tall raised bed and they have germinated. So hopefully we will have some home grown carrots this year. I am going to sow another row in a few weeks time.

Heritage Peas

These have been a joy to grow so far and are doing better than the meteor peas that were an early sowing. All the peas have been planted out and are scattered around the garden. They are looking great and I'm looking forward to seeing how the different varieties perform. At the moment they are looking very promising.

Chili Plants

I've had a count up of the chili plants in the greenhouse and ended up with 36 plants in total!

I have grown the following:

Purple Jals

Apache

Chili Pyramid

Cveta

Scotch Bonnet

Chinease Five Colour

Garda Hocus Pocus

Orangina

Brazilian Bonnet

Numex Twilight

Fresno

Lemon Drop

Prairie Fire

Patio Sizzle

Black Pearl

Tepin

Friars Hat

Red Missle

A few failed to germinate and some of these will be going to new homes. I have also sown pimento pepper which has shown up over the last week. The sweet peppers all germinated and I have Pepper mini bell, big banana, asda pointy peppers, summer salad and patio red.

A few weeks ago I have sown lettuce - All the year round, chartwell, radichio, mixed leaves and little gem. The mixed leaves have been transplanted into containers and the rest pricked out into modules. I had far too many so have given some to a friend, the rest have been planted amongst the garlic and into the raised beds, if they don't grow I have some more to plant out later. I will wait a month before I do another sowing and this time be a bit more careful with the seeds. Radish has germinated and has been planted into the raised beds. These seeds were from Poland and given to me and so far they have sprung up within a week and been planted straight out.

Early Tomatoes.

So far so good, all the plants are in the greenhouse and I have only used a bit of heat for about a week. They are growing well and are green and healthy, they have about five sets of leaves each and I may have some flowers soon but I want to get them into their final pots before this happens. Again I had too many plants so some have gone to new homes. I tend to sow a few of each variety and instead of oinking out the weakest seedling, I grow them on and give them away. All the seedling/plants are healthy but just can't bear to throw them away.

I have the following varieties in the greenhouse:

Yellow Butterfly

Super Cherry Sweet

Essex Wonder

Money Maker

Brown Berry

Sungold

Green Zebra

Balconi Yellow

Balconi Red

IIdl

Black Russian

Super Snow White

Brandy Wine

Kellogs Breakfast

Paul Robeson

Stupice

Morgage Lifter

Garden Pearl

Gardeners Delight

Tigerella.

Some of these will be grown outside, in hanging baskets, and some in the greenhouse

Over the last couple of weeks, I have sown:

Peas - Hurst Green Shaft, and Kelvedon Wonder, Sugar Snap Delikett.

Flowers - Dahlia - Black Beauty, Corn Flower - Dwarf variety, Calendula - Candy Man, French Marigolds - Bolero and Orange Flame. All have germinated and are ready for pricking out.

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.

Spring and Garden Chores.

We have been busy over the last few weeks, completing gardening jobs. One of the new projects has now been completed. I wanted to build some more raised beds, but had to redesign the garden to fit them in. So its "Goodbye" to the two compost darleks as the space they took up has now been reallocated to two raised beds.We managed to build three in total. These beds will be used to grow a variety of veggies this year.

As I don't want to stop composting, I have ordered a wormery.

The website that I ordered from have 15% off, so got a big one as I want to produce as much compost as I can from kitchen scraps. The model pictured is not cheap but you can pick up wormery's for about £30 to £50 pounds depending on what your requirements are.

I will continue to compost but will do it via a different method. Our local authority collects garden waste that you put into green bags for collection. During the gardening year they come every fortnight, so I will use this method to compost garden waste as they have huge compost heaps to break garden waste down. The compost that they make is sold back to householders at £1 per bag.

This is a picture of our newly planted apple trees. I had been waiting to get these in as the weather had been bad.

I am training them as cordons. I have planted at a 45 degree angle, tied trees to canes. I have also set up the wire framework, three wires approx 18 inches apart which have been pulled tight to help keep the trees in place.

The varieties we have chosen are Cox's Orange Pippin and Golden Delicious. Both are in the same pollination group, so hopefully we may get some apples at a later stage.

Another job that I have managed to get done this weekend in the glorious sunshine, was to lift my strawberry plants. I have had these plants for a few years and have been propagating the runners as new plants. I have put them in a two tier flower stand. I hope this will stop the the slugs.

I have planted out the garlic that was put in modules earlier in the year, I now have lots of green shoots and the shop brought clove has also made an appearance.

I have continued to sow seeds in the greenhouse. I have sown cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, sorrel and thyme. The carrots sown into a trough are doing well, peas are up and the lavender and Chinese lanterns have all been picked put.

I am continuing to pot on tomatoes and chili's. I have sown far too many for our requirements so I will be sharing them out with family and friends.

Spring is definitely on the way, we have daffodils coming into flower along with crocus and snowdrops. Looking around the garden, plants are starting to come into bud, with a few green leaves coming along. Our Chaenomeles (ornamental quince) has lots of leaves forming.

This week I am going to sow some flower seeds for use around the veggie patch. I want to do some companion planting to protect crops and also encourage wildlife into the garden. Speaking of wildlife today we saw the first bee of the season. I think it was probably a queen as it was about the size of a fifty pence piece and was buzzing all over the place. I have also sown some teasel seeds (thank you seasprout). I love the structure of these plants in the winter and want to grow them to help feed the birds. They look particularly decorative in the winter when covered in frost. I have also been lucky enough to receive some lemon balm seeds and cuttings (thank you seasprout and Mrs C) which I am going to grow to produce some pot pourri. The plant has a beautiful lemon scent and can also be used in tea. I am going to try the tea so will report back at a later date.

So far, I have a good feeling about this year's growing season. Let's hope I am right!

Heritage Seeds.

Recently I have joined the Heritage Seed Library, this organisation aims to conserve and make available vegetable varieties that are not widely available. Some of the varieties that gardeners have grown in years gone by, have become extinct as they are no longer listed on the National List. This is a great shame as some of these varieties are heirloom or heritage varieties which are open pollinated and preserve diversity.

F1 hybrids are becoming the norm in lots of our seed catalogues, these seeds have been bred to withstand pests and diseases and produce uniform vegetables that appeal to many gardeners. One of the disadvantages to F1 Hybrids is the price of the seeds they produce.

The work that the HSL do is really important and I am happy to support this. They do not sell seed so you have to join. It costs £20 a year and they send you 6 varieties of seeds of your choosing plus one lucky dip from the catalogue which contains 200 varieties.

For many years I have saved flower seed but never before have I considered saving the seed of vegetables. So this year I will be saving seed of all my peas and beans. There are a number of reasons to do this, firstly I can used the seed for next year, secondly I am helping in conserving our heritage varieties and last but not least it will enable me to share the collected seed with others for them to try in their own gardens or plots.

I have also been able to secure some varieties that I am going to grow out and review. Many Thanks to Dave - American Gardener. My ultimate aim with these varieties is to grow them out and then dish them out! I have made a start on these varieties today, all have been sown into root trainers and are sitting in the utility room. Won't risk putting them in the greenhouse as the mice actually dig up my pea and bean seeds. I have photographed the different seeds, some are smooth, some are wrinkled, they are different colours and sizes. Some are really pretty, speckled, and variegated. Just by looking and playing with the seed you can see the range of diversity in the palm of your hand. I am also looking forward to tasting these varieties.

These are the varieties I am growing:
Pea
Daffodil
Glory of Devon
The Marquis
Duke of Albany
Early Bird
Blue Prussian
Early Blue
Big Ben
Royal Salute
Blue Bird
Prince Albert
British Lion
Purple Podded (Thanks to SarzWix)
Gladstone (Thanks to SarzWix)
Clarkes Beltony Blue - HSL
Ne Plus Ultra - HSL

I am also growing a few beans: Coco Nano, Limelight, Black Prince, Kew Blue and Early Warwick.
Most of the varieties listed, I have only five seeds of each, so they will be guarded like treasure.

Can't wait to see how they turn out.

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.

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!