Cabbages

I hadn't really intended to grow cabbages, as no-one in the family is that keen on them. However, I've started  buying Kitchen Garden magazine and it invariably comes with free seeds. Well, it would have been rude not to plant them  - wouldn't it?! So, the first seeds I planted this year were cabbages - DT Brown Golden Acre (primo II). I got a bit carried away, and although I didn't plant the whole packet, I have more seedlings than we are ever going to eat! The ones in the ground are growing away nicely, despite the birds best efforts, so the potted ones are going spare. I cannot bring myself to throw them away (it's hard enough thinning my crops) - so what to do with them? I gave a few to my friend Sara (Sew Appetising) at the weekend, but that still leaves quite a few. So, I decided to give some away...

Sara pointed me at a website to make paper pots (higgledygarden.com) so I sat down with an old newspaper and wine bottle and this is the result. I wasn't sure how well they'd stay together, but once I'd put a bit of soil in they were pretty sturdy. Definitely worth doing again.

A bit of re-potting later and I was ready to put out my stall!






I initially put 8 out, and so far 6 have gone :-)

Sweetcorn

Just planted out Amy's sweetcorn (Sally and friends), along with it's companion planting - her broad bean (sadly, only "Biggy" made it), the single runner bean that grew in a toilet roll tube, and a trio of French beans (nicknamed "The triplets"!) that we bought from the outdoor education table at school. I've also put in a few more runner beans at the base of the sweetcorn, in keeping with the "Three sisters" planting method.

Tomatoes

Finally, the sun has returned and looks like it's here for the week! And, it's British Tomato Week, so when better to put in some tomatoes? This year I'm growing Alicante (a medium sized cordon type), Gardener's Delight (another cordon, cherry sized) and Sweet Million (again, a cordon and cherry sized).

Tomatoes are pretty much the only veg I've grown previously with any success. In the past they have been in a grow bag against the house, on the patio. But I've always struggled to keep them sufficiently watered. So, where to put them this year? After much debate, I've decided to stick with the grow bag, but have invested in a pack of 3 tomato grow-pots.

These are supposed to help by encouraging 2 types of root - the deeper, water-seeking roots go down into the bag, while the shallower feeding roots develop in the pot. I've sited the bag against the south facing fence so they should (British summer willing!) get plenty of sun.

Finally, a bit of companion planting - a pot marigold (Calendula). I've also planted some basil seeds today (free with Innocent Smoothies), which will be planted out in front of the tomatoes when they're big enough.

 In the meantime I've put out the pot of basil that has been sitting on the windowsill since I bought it (the best before date is 02 Nov 2011!!).

Busy weekend of (over-due!) sunshine

Wow! What a lovely week-end we've had! It's been such a long time since the sun shone for more than a few minutes...

I decided to take the fleece covers off the raised beds yesterday, hoping that the veg wouldn't get eaten. I was initially a bit dismayed to see a load of birds arrive. On closer inspection, they were house sparrows and goldfinches and seemed to be eating between the greenery, so I left them to it. When I went out later, I couldn't see any obvious damage, so I think they may have been eating the ants. House sparrows are supposed to be in decline (have a read here), but they seem to be thriving around here, and we even have a nest in the eaves!

Jobs I've done this weekend include:

• thinned out the red onions
• earthed up the potatoes again
• weeded
• potted on the sweetcorn and courgettes
• planted out the brussel sprouts
• lawn mowing
• clearing a very overgrown flower bed

Well I did say it was a busy weekend!

Potatoes

Despite the distinct lack of sunshine recently, the potatoes are growing really well - they must like the rain!


This is what my Kestrel potatoes were looking like last weekend (5th May), before I did some "earthing up"...

And after the earthing up (on the 6th May)...

They have been growing well all week and are now even further above the soil than last week! 

And the ones growing in bags are doing pretty well too. In the bags, I've put a bottle with the bottom cut off so that I can water to the base more easily, although with all the rain we've had recently I haven't used the watering can in weeks!

5th May

6th May

11th May

Water butt

Way back in March, we had scorching temperature and wall-to-wall sunshine. With all the talk of a drought and impending hosepipe bans, I thought I'd better invest in a water butt. The downpipes from the house roof are both in the narrow pathway down the side of the house, so unless we invest in a slimline version, that's not going to be very practical. Instead, we figured that we could collect the water from the roof of the shed (this used to just get channelled to the ground and wasted).

Amy volunteered to get up on the roof of the shed and filled a bucket with dead leaves and moss.

I duly ordered the water butt and waited for it to arrive. And waited. And waited.

Somewhat more than 28 days later (of which it rained on every one, making April 2012 the wettest on record!) the water butt was delivered, complete with downpipe converter kit. Guess what? Our downpipe was too small - argh! Yesterday we spent a couple of hours removing the old coal bunker and today we bought new downpipe, and installed the butt! Typically, within minutes of finishing, the sun came out!

Things are growing!

The seeds I planted just 5 days ago have all germinated! The extra warmth on the kitchen windowsill has obviously done the trick. They are now growing so fast, you can almost see it! 

Sweetcorn seedlings

Courgette seedlings

And the crops outside have done pretty well this week too...

Spinach, salad and onions

Potatoes

Strawberries

Salad crops

Garlic and peas

Sally Sweetcorn

The other jobs I did in Monday's sunshine (that didn't last long did it?!) were planting another 8 seed potatoes (Sante - main crop) and potting on the more tender crops.

I pricked out the chilli, pepper and aubergines that finally germinated inside (see here and here). The courgettes never did show themselves, so I've ditched them and started again - a new packet of seed, covered in vermiculite, in a propagator on the kitchen windowsill. The other disaster we had was Amy's first sowing of sweetcorn. I think both of these were too cold outside, and by the time I'd realised and brought them inside, the seeds were no longer viable. We did manage to get 1 to germinate - nicknamed "Sally"!

Sally sweetcorn

At last - the sun has returned!

Phew! - after all the rain we've had over the last few weeks, I was beginning to wonder if the sun would ever return, but today's been glorious. I've put the salad plants that were in the greenhouse out into the raised bed. I'm not sure I'll bother planting them inside next year  as those I planted outside 2 weeks later seem much bigger and healthier already.

Before...

...after

Outdoor grown salad

Being sociable

One of the most pleasant surprises about having transformed our front garden has been the social aspect. I've lost count of the number of conversations I've had with passing neighbours. All are interested in what I'm up to, and many have expressed an interest in buying any excess produce later in the year! Today I got chatting to the couple who deliver our parish magazine each month; when they offered me a thorn-less blackberry plant I couldn't say no!


When the garden was mostly lawn and shrubs, I'd be out there for a while and would wave to anyone passing, but this has brought it to a whole new level. Lots of people talk about the social aspect of allotment growing, but I say try front garden growing!

Fruit

My raspberry and strawberry plants arrived yesterday! I ordered them from Dobies of Devon a couple of weeks ago and they arrived safely as bare rooted plants - Joan J raspberries (an Autumn fruiting variety) and Royal Sovereign strawberries. The planting instructions are very comprehensive (a complete booklet!) and suggest waiting until the ground is not waterlogged. Given the weather over the last week and the forecast for the week to come, I decided to bite the bullet and plant them anyway - fingers crossed.

6 raspberry canes and 7 strawberry plants

5 strawberry plants went in Amy's raised bed

Pests!

Arrgh! I lifted the fleece on my carrots, parsnips and beetroot to discover hundreds of ants have set up home. I remember hearing that ants like warm, humid conditions so putting the fleece on must have seemed like heaven to them. Do they actually do any harm? I'm not sure, but don't want to risk my precious seedlings. Maybe the birds will eat them?...


Having left the bed uncovered, I retreated to a safe distance to watch the flocks of birds appear, only to see the sparrows descend on the next bed over and start eating the cabbages!


The solution? I don't want to use chemicals, especially as I'm not sure the ants will actually do any harm, so for now the cabbages are going to be covered up and the root veg will stay uncovered. Watch this space...

DIY cloches

I read a magazine article recently (Green Times Issue 1, free with Kitchen Garden May issue) suggesting that you use plastic pipes to support covers over your raised beds. Well I've gone one step further in the thrift stakes. Now is the ideal time to prune forsythia, so I've used a couple of the longer stems to keep the fleece off my rapidly growing salads. Finally, a free bit in this project :-)

More warmth required

I have moved my mini greenhouse! The seed trays I brought inside a few days ago (see here) are already looking more promising, so I suspect my greenhouse was just not warm enough for them. The greenhouse used to be in the most sheltered corner of the patio, but this meant that it didn't get any sun until mid afternoon. I've moved it onto the West facing wall, where it is a little less sheltered, but should get sun  from early afternoon (not this week judging by the weather forecast!).

First harvest!

 My salad leaves are coming on really well. I sowed a wide row outside on the 26th March and have kept the bed covered with horticultural fleece quite a lot of the time. They are doing almost as well as the ones I planted in my mini greenhouse 3 weeks earlier. I decided to pick a few (!) to have with our lunch today - mostly decorative, but they tasted great!













You can also see how well the spinach, onions and peas are coming on: