Update

4th June 2018

I seem to be having very mixed success this year. The tomato plants I bought have grown well and now have flowers on. However, the onions I planted around them a few weeks ago have not done much at all (although the Autumn planted ones are looking pretty good). I bought a small pot of basil over the weekend, so have popped that in a gap.

Tomatoes, onions and basil

Carrots and garlic chives

The carrots I sowed straight into the ground now have 3 healthy looking shoots (out of a whole row of seeds!). The second sowing I started in cardboard toilet roll tubes have germinated well, so I've planted them out next to the garlic chives (hoping that'll keep the carrot fly away). I know that carrots don't normally like being transplanted, so I've left them in the tubes. I wonder if this will encourage straighter roots too?

Mangetout

I have put in some netting for the mangetout to grow up and it seems to be doing pretty well.

Purple sprouting and mangetout

The purple sprouting broccoli that I bought on a whim is growing really well, however alot of the French beans got eaten over night last week. I have resorted to slug pellets and netting as they could have been attacked by slugs, birds and/or mice.

Poor French bean seedlings

Courgettes and Nasturtiums

The 2 courgette plants and nasturtiums are doing really well, with several courgettes already at finger size.

Sweetcorn, butternut squash and lettuce

The sweetcorn is growing well, but only 1 of the butternut squash seedlings survived. I bought another butternut squash plant because even that 1 was looking pretty delicate, but so far it's hanging in there. The cos (?) lettuces are growing quite nicely, and I've added some more. These were another impulse buy at the garden I visited recently under the NGS scheme. I think they're Romaine.

French Beans and Butternut Squash

21st May 2018

I've planted out my French beans and butternut squash seedlings in the last couple of days. The beans have done pretty well, but the squash not so well. 5 out of 6 seeds germinated, but they've all gone downhill and now I only have 3 left. I'm not sure where I went wrong, but hopefully I'll still get a few fruits.


 

My kale and mangetout seeds have germinated, so I'll need to thin the kale and put in some support for the mangetout in the next few days.

I bought a few little gem lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli seedlings from the local gardening club sale in the village last weekend, so I've planted them out now too. I'm not sure about spacings for the broccoli, so I've put some in big pots (that will fit under my fruit cage for protection later on.

When visiting a National Trust garden last summer, I spotted a sign suggesting nasturtiums as companion sacrificial plants for cabbages etc. The idea is that caterpillars will eat those instead of your precious veggies. I've grown a few from seed and put them in the bed next to the kale/purple sprouting, so time will tell. I think I'll still net the leaves as well just in case.

Peas and beans

While I was waiting for my peas to germinate I spotted a pack of 6 plant cells on offer in The Range, with each cell containing several good looking plants. Needless to say I bought them! So yesterday I planted them out, next to my little sprouting peas. I added some sticks pruned from the Forsythia and threaded some twine around for support.

My peas just sprouting, with the bought plants to the right

I also put out the dwarf French beans. I had too many plants for the square bed, so I've put the rest in the gaps in the onion bed.

Dwarf French beans

Peas

Having dug over and added compost to the small, square bed a few weeks ago, I covered it in fleece until I was ready to plant into it. This has had 2 benefits - warmer soil and more importantly, no cat poo! So today, I have sown mangetout peas "Delikta" directly into one corner of the bed. I plan to sow some more in a couple of weeks time, and fill the rest of the bed with French beans that are doing nicely in my patio growhouse for the moment. I have replaced the fleece for protection until I plant out the beans.

More sowing

Today I have planted some courgettes (All Green Bush). They did really well last year after a complete wash-out in 2012, so I'm trying again this year. I wasn't sure where I'd plant them out, but have now decided that under the sweetcorn should work. I tried the "Three Sisters" approach a couple of years ago, but it wasn't very successful - the pumpkin plant grew massive, but the fruit rotted before it ripened and the beans pulled the sweetcorn over. Hopefully I'll have better luck this year.

I have also sown some salad leaves, directly into the raised bed - spinach "Toscane", Rocket, lettuce "Little Gem" and a "spicy oriental mix"  from Suttons seeds.

Meanwhile, some of the chillies have germinated along with one of the pea shoots. The French beans and sweetcorn are doing well in the greenhouse, so I've started opening it up a bit more to harden them off.

The beetroot has germinated well, but not much sign of the parsnips or carrots yet. Time will tell.

Potting on

The French beans I sowed last week popped their heads up over the last couple of days - from bumps in the soil surface, to leaves within hours it seemed. So, time to pot them on, and these are the results:

I've put them into my greenhouse for the time being, then hopefully out into the garden in a couple of weeks time. Having emptied the two of the little trays in my windowsill propagator, I've refilled one of them with chillies. We were a bit over-run with chillies last year, and they were very hot, so I've sown fewer this year of a different variety - Hungarian Hot Wax.