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.

Sweetcorn and pea shoots

The sweetcorn I sowed the other day (see here) has germinated well - only 1 out of 17 seeds hasn't developed. They've grown so quickly they've reached the lid of the windowsill propagator, so time to move them on. As I did last year (see here), I have added toilet roll tubes to enlarge some of the pots.

I tried to buy pea shoots the other day (Amy and I have been watching Masterchef!) but couldn't find any. So instead, I decided to grown my own (Variety: Twinkle). I've sown them and put them on the windowsill, so they should be ready in about 3 weeks.

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.

Sweetcorn

Having spent a bit of time researching which variety to plant this year, I opted for Swift. I've sown them in my window-sill propagator, one seed per cell. Last year I tried sprouting some in the airing cupboard and sowed the rest in newspaper pots. Both worked equally well, but pre-sprouting them was a bit of a hassle and had no real advantage as they all germinated anyway. This year I've placed them on top of the compost and covered them in vermiculite. Fingers crossed...

Sowing

Had a free hour today, so took the opportunity to empty out and tidy my little greenhouses - and "re-home" the snails I found in there. I can never bring myself to destroy them, but throwing them in the border makes me feel as if I'm giving them a fair chance at least. So, once I'd sorted the contents (somewhat muddled after a couple of falls during the Winter storms) I set about sowing some seeds - Dwarf French beans. I'd intended to plant sweetcorn as well, but it turns out I'd run out of seeds. Now there's an excuse for a trip to the nursery if ever I there was one!

Getting the year started

So, finally the weather has improved and I can get out in the garden again. A combination of almost continuous rain and work has prevented me getting on with things this year. However, a few weeks ago we attacked the very overgrown holly bush and ramblings rose that was attempting to overtake the path. Having cleared the space, I added compost and dug over the beds ready for potatoes and other root veg. It was noticeable that all the Winter rain had compacted the soil.

The potatoes (first early - Maris Bard) went in a couple of weekends ago and are just beginning to show their shoots. Today, I have planted short rows of carrots (Purple Haze F1, Paris Market 5 Atlas and Early Nantes), parsnips (Lisbonnais on a tape) and beetroot (Boltardy). I didn't have much success with carrots last year, and didn't plant any parsnips or beetroot, so fingers crossed these will germinate.

The other job I did today was add compost and dig over the square bed. I've covered this in fleece for the time being, partly to warm up the soil, but mostly to deter the local cat population.

Mystery plant

I've just found this mystery plant in one of my raised beds. I thought it was going to be a runner or French bean that had self-seeded from last year, but when I dug it up it looks more like a parsnip root. I've potted it up and will keep an eye on it to see what it turns into!

PS It's looking more and more like a bean of some sort

PPS Turned out to be a runner bean and produced loads of beans

Salad leaves

I've grown a couple of types of salad leaves this year - Suttons "Speedy Veg Spicy Oriental Mix" and Mr Fothergill's "Mixed Lettuce Leaves". Rather than sowing them straight into the raised beds this year, I started them off in a modular seed tray. Having planted them out about 3 weeks ago I found the birds were helping themselves (we seem to have a whole flock of sparrows nesting around our house!). Having covered them with netting, supported by forsythia canes (see here) they are now doing well and taste lovely!

Seedlings

Just planted out

Growing well (with protection!)

Fingers crossed no more frosts

19th May. According to local weather records, we should be past the last frost by now so I've been leaving the front open on my growhouse for a week or so. Over the weekend, I planted out my sweetcorn, courgettes and runner beans.

10th June. Well, it's now 3 weeks later and we didn't have any frosts! Of the 18 sweetcorn plants, 2 got a bit eaten (slugs maybe, sparrows more likely) and 1 has completely disappeared. However, I'm pleased to say the others are all doing well. The courgettes are all doing well and have lots of flowers forming. The runner beans are more variable - 1 seems to be a non-starter, while another 2 are romping ahead.

Sweetcorn, just planted out

Sweetcorn, 3 weeks later

Courgettes, just planted out

Courgettes, 3 weeks later

Runner beans, just planted out

Runner beans, 3 weeks later

Apples

My dwarf apple tree has 3 different varieties grafted onto the root stock. The Discovery are ready first, followed by James Grieve and finally Fiesta, giving a lovely long picking season. This year it was really obvious that the blossom was developing at different rates. I wonder if that's anything to do with the cold/late Spring? It certainly felt like nature was waiting to pounce and then everything burst into life at once.  These photos were all taken within minutes of each other... 

Discovery - blossoms over

James Grieve - blossoms fading

Fiesta - blossoms still opening

Weekend work

I haven't done a great deal in the garden this weekend as I did my sponsored swim yesterday. Despite some aching muscles though, I managed to dig up the remains of last year's rainbow chard and kale. We had a pretty good crop of chard, but the kale never really came to anything. I think the problem with the kale was that it didn't get a very good start, being attacked by caterpillars. I left the chard all through the Winter, and the sparrows have been helping themselves - hopefully they took a few bugs too!

I also tidied up the strawberries. The instructions said to remove runners in the first year, but I obviously didn't do a very good job. As a result, I now have about 12 more plants to pot up. Free plants any-one?!

Rhubarb

I bought a bare rooted rhubarb crown way back in the autumn, and I was worried it hadn't made it through the awful Winter we had. Much to my relief, this week it decided to show itself. Don't think we'll harvest any this year, but next year should be fine.

More progress

Last weekend, Amy and I planted the rest of the seed potatoes, this time in potato bags. On Monday, I potted on the chilli seedlings - they started off looking a bit sad and I was worried I'd killed them. However, they soon picked up and are now sprouting their 1st true leaves.

I've also taken the fleece off the raised bed that was protecting the shallots and pea shoots. They are both doing nicely now, so I took the opportunity to put in the support for the peas. This year I'm trying netting stretched between bamboo canes.

Pea shoot

Shallot shoots

Basil

I made the most of the weather when I got home from work this afternoon and potted up my basil. The "Red Rubin" seeds came free with Kitchen Garden magazine and their advice is to sow thinly and grow them on as a clump rather than individually - apparently this prevents stem rot. So, rather than splitting up each cell, I potted them on as a clump. Fingers crossed!

Basil "Red Rubin" seedlings before potting on

Basil "Genovese" seedlings before potting on

The "after" shot!

Potting on

My sweetcorn and courgettes were looking a bit overgrown in their seed trays, so I spent some time potting them on today. Good job too - their roots (especially the sweetcorn) were really long already. To give the sweetcorn some extra depth, I put them in toilet roll tubes on top of the pot (unfortunately I was 1 short!)