Peas....
Plamted them as well yesterday - about 50 of them up and around the garden but damn me if I don't have oodles left! Will have to find a way of growing them elsewhere too. DId wonder about in pots on top of the pergola with nets hung accross that they could grow through. Would give us shade and a HUGE square area of extra planting!!!
Monday 30 March 2009
Sunday 29 March 2009
I could have used that hour!
I was supposed to working on our wedding all day today. We had to go 'up city' to sort out a wedding list and then when we got home i felt it would be sacraligous not to spend a few seconds in the garden, i was supposed to be doing our invitations but thought i'd just spend an hour outside.
SO I donned my wellies and started by planting up the rooster and charlotte potatoes in the tubs and also in the ground - i hope that we get a reasonable crop, our soil is still improving and potatoes are such a hungry crop. Then I planted the shallots, and the chantenoy carrots to go around them, following this i sowed some spring onions in the next bed and sowed more chantenoy around those. Then I sowed some atlas carrots in teh onion bed as there are one or two of the onions just peeking through the soil in the tubs.
Not content with this i decided to sow some companion plants, Borage, Limnathus and Cornflower in the veg patch and then decided to try getting the honesty and thistles started in the greenhouse. The temperature was 22 degrees when we got home today, quite a lot higher than it was outside! The seeds indoors are ok although I am concerned the tomatoes are getting leggy even though they are in great light. The sweetcorn have put in an appearance(funny looking things) and the sweet peas have a mixed germination rate.
Then I discovered it was quarter to seven and very much past the time when i should have been sticking things together and writing addresses - gulp. Still - at least we won't starve!!!
SO I donned my wellies and started by planting up the rooster and charlotte potatoes in the tubs and also in the ground - i hope that we get a reasonable crop, our soil is still improving and potatoes are such a hungry crop. Then I planted the shallots, and the chantenoy carrots to go around them, following this i sowed some spring onions in the next bed and sowed more chantenoy around those. Then I sowed some atlas carrots in teh onion bed as there are one or two of the onions just peeking through the soil in the tubs.
Not content with this i decided to sow some companion plants, Borage, Limnathus and Cornflower in the veg patch and then decided to try getting the honesty and thistles started in the greenhouse. The temperature was 22 degrees when we got home today, quite a lot higher than it was outside! The seeds indoors are ok although I am concerned the tomatoes are getting leggy even though they are in great light. The sweetcorn have put in an appearance(funny looking things) and the sweet peas have a mixed germination rate.
Then I discovered it was quarter to seven and very much past the time when i should have been sticking things together and writing addresses - gulp. Still - at least we won't starve!!!
Tuesday 24 March 2009
And the winners are
The Marigolds! Which have sprouted in the greenhouse, i think i have about half of the seeds showing so far, I'm pleased that they have started to come up because there was a harsh frost two nights ago and obviously the greenhouse offers just enough protection. No signs of the leeks yet, or any of the sweetpeas, sweetcorn, tomatos or peppers.
Fingers crossed. Oh - no signs of the broads beans either, I think I might have to start some off in pots. This is the veg patch waiting for its veggies to go in - this weekend I promise.....
Fingers crossed. Oh - no signs of the broads beans either, I think I might have to start some off in pots. This is the veg patch waiting for its veggies to go in - this weekend I promise.....
Friday 20 March 2009
Fish Friday
We were allowed home fifteen minutes early today because of the great weather so I got home in time to check the temperature in the greenhouse. It was about 4 degrees C warmer than outside which when I block up the gaps will hopefully keep the frosts out. I decided to remove the fleece on the garden because i want the top dressing to work itself in, it helped to just get things tidied up and made the imminent planting seem so much nearer. This weekend is very busy with wedding arrangements and Mothers Day so I don't think I will get out there to do much.
After I got the veg patch tidied up a bit I sowed the leeks which i have put in the greenhouse to get started, I only sowed about a quarter of the seeds and it will be interesting to see how they get on, I'll plant the next lot in about 4 weeks and the next lot 4 weeks after that to get a really good crop. I bought Edison leeks which can be used as baby leeks and as maincrop which means I need lots! I also got eth marigolds sown and put them in greenhouse too.
After that I turned my attention to the sweetcorn and three varieties of sweet peas, I am growing all of them in individual fibre pots as they hate their roots being disturbed. I'm not convinced some of the fibre pots aren't too small but if nessecary then I'll put them in bigger fibre pots ir in eth ground and cloche them. We are halfway through March now and so eth APril sowing season is nearly upon us.
Then I went and cooked poached eggs with smoked haddock, fabulous food for a hungry gardener. Currenty watching BB2 Vertical Gardens programme, very pleased that I have decided to try growing climbing courgettes, hanging basket tomatos and will grow beans over teh trellis again to give depth to the gardem. Our new climbing rose has started to come into leaf and the wonderful Acer is budding with promise, but the daffodils are just teasing me now!!!
After I got the veg patch tidied up a bit I sowed the leeks which i have put in the greenhouse to get started, I only sowed about a quarter of the seeds and it will be interesting to see how they get on, I'll plant the next lot in about 4 weeks and the next lot 4 weeks after that to get a really good crop. I bought Edison leeks which can be used as baby leeks and as maincrop which means I need lots! I also got eth marigolds sown and put them in greenhouse too.
After that I turned my attention to the sweetcorn and three varieties of sweet peas, I am growing all of them in individual fibre pots as they hate their roots being disturbed. I'm not convinced some of the fibre pots aren't too small but if nessecary then I'll put them in bigger fibre pots ir in eth ground and cloche them. We are halfway through March now and so eth APril sowing season is nearly upon us.
Then I went and cooked poached eggs with smoked haddock, fabulous food for a hungry gardener. Currenty watching BB2 Vertical Gardens programme, very pleased that I have decided to try growing climbing courgettes, hanging basket tomatos and will grow beans over teh trellis again to give depth to the gardem. Our new climbing rose has started to come into leaf and the wonderful Acer is budding with promise, but the daffodils are just teasing me now!!!
Thursday 19 March 2009
Wheeze....
Was the sound of me appearing around the gate this evening, I rode home silly fast to get back before the light went and get started on seed planting. No time to get the sweet peas and sweetcorn done but I did get 8 tomatos sown of each variety (Harlequin and 100's and 1000's), I also got the Golden Bell peppers planted as well before I lost the light.
Wednesday 18 March 2009
Bzzzzz BUZZZZZ Buzzzz
Cycling to work today was really glorious, still a bit nippy on the extremities but the birds were singing and buds are appearing. There are lots of daffodils around and everything smells so much more alive. It makes me realise that a whole year has passed and winter is over. I am sure that it is cycling which has brought me so much closer to the seasons passing, when the clocks go back next Sunday I am sure that will be the moment at which my body clock feels normal again.
Saw a bumblebee today wallowing through the air, I moved out the way sharpish but hadn't realised how early they woke up. I cycled home so quickly from work and managed to get the tomatoes sown but the soil isn't very warm, hope it sorts itself out as i need happy strong tomatoes. Have bought a thermometer to go in the greenhouse but realised tonight i have to get the drill out and so thats a job for the weekend. I need to be certain that the g'house is frost proof before i put eth sweet peas out there.
Saw a bumblebee today wallowing through the air, I moved out the way sharpish but hadn't realised how early they woke up. I cycled home so quickly from work and managed to get the tomatoes sown but the soil isn't very warm, hope it sorts itself out as i need happy strong tomatoes. Have bought a thermometer to go in the greenhouse but realised tonight i have to get the drill out and so thats a job for the weekend. I need to be certain that the g'house is frost proof before i put eth sweet peas out there.
Tuesday 17 March 2009
Great News
Was leaving this morning early and realised that a bee was getting very excited around our Japenese Cherry in the front garden which is just starting to bloom. Made me smile that all is right with eth world - or at least our small patch of it.
Sunday 15 March 2009
Day in the Garden
I am sitting in my very grubby clothes waiting for dinner to settle before I go and have probably the most well earned bath this year. The Greenhouse is (bar shelf painting) finished and it took not a few hours as I expected but over seven and a half. 'He' has been responsible for feeding me today and lunch was pasties and dinner was pizza! I am really pleased with the finished product but wish I had leant to cut in a straight line with a saw in both directions! Heres a picture of it, realised that i need to get some more seed trays (don't know where they've all gone) to go on the shelf.
This is from inside the shed - it will look really lovely when we have plants growing inside.
While I was building my greenhouse, 'He' weeded the lawn (we have a sycamore two doors down and the seeds have a phenomenal germination rate), we then weeded the flower beds - doubtless the cats will now have a field day - and then 'he' set out the beds in the veg patch. I was really hoping to get the tomatoes and sweetcorn started today but just ran out of time. We did top dress the soil in the veg patch and that needs a week or so to settles in so perhaps not such a bad thing. I've been through my ample seed collection and decided that as companion plants I'll do Honesty (Luneria), Limnanthus, Cornflower and a couple of globe thistles. Not to mention the sweet peas! I have three types, Grandiflora from Heligan which I'll grow in the front garden, and Elegant Ladies and a shorter variety which I'll grow in the back garden and in the veg patch. I have lots of flower seeds from Heligan which all require growing under glass before being replanted in the garden, hence another reason for the greenhouse.
I'm off to play with my rubber ducky.
This is from inside the shed - it will look really lovely when we have plants growing inside.
While I was building my greenhouse, 'He' weeded the lawn (we have a sycamore two doors down and the seeds have a phenomenal germination rate), we then weeded the flower beds - doubtless the cats will now have a field day - and then 'he' set out the beds in the veg patch. I was really hoping to get the tomatoes and sweetcorn started today but just ran out of time. We did top dress the soil in the veg patch and that needs a week or so to settles in so perhaps not such a bad thing. I've been through my ample seed collection and decided that as companion plants I'll do Honesty (Luneria), Limnanthus, Cornflower and a couple of globe thistles. Not to mention the sweet peas! I have three types, Grandiflora from Heligan which I'll grow in the front garden, and Elegant Ladies and a shorter variety which I'll grow in the back garden and in the veg patch. I have lots of flower seeds from Heligan which all require growing under glass before being replanted in the garden, hence another reason for the greenhouse.
I'm off to play with my rubber ducky.
Wednesday 11 March 2009
Painting in the dark.
Last weekend I was just too tired and very busy to bring the blog up to date, plus the weather changed so I couldn't take photographs of the work I did. I finally started work on the Greenhouse spending all of Saturday and half of Sunday (after an excellent lie in) buying, measuring and constructing the frame for the greenhouse. I built the roof frame, one side and the front out of pine, it stands about 65cm deep, 1.8m wide, 1.2m high at the front and 1.6m high at the back with a corrugated plastic roof which lies the wrong way and which may need
So - where did painting in the dark come from? As I mentioned the weather changed last weekend on the Sunday afternoon and the downpour meant the weather proofing paint wouldn't dry so I had to leave the frame in the dining room. I also painted it in there and we now have green on our carpet to go with the red when I painted the walls! I did put paper down but clearly not enough. We have visitors tomorrow evening and I knew I needed to get the frame outside but I could only do that if I built the other end of the frame and got the whole thing painted and outside.
I abandoned cycling today and left on very good time, got home, grabbed the tools and made the other end. I made the end frame and got one screw into the main structure and the damn drill ran out! Put the drill on charge and started to paint the unfinished wood, by this time i was losing the light but managed to get every bit of wood protected. Picked up the drill and then had to start trying to get the screws in to bolt the frame together and also to the shed in the dark! Then had to touch up the paintwork but couldn't see what was and what wasn't wet - hence ended up very mucky!
The final piece of the puzzle was to protect the roof frame by reattaching the corrugated plastic. To do this I had to detach the solar movement light and balance it on the shed roof and then wave at it whenever I wanted to screw a roof bolt into the frame. I didn't get all the bolts in because I ran out of drill battery AND patience!!! Now I have to buy more wood to make the shelves although I want to think about where they are going to go for best effects.
So - where did painting in the dark come from? As I mentioned the weather changed last weekend on the Sunday afternoon and the downpour meant the weather proofing paint wouldn't dry so I had to leave the frame in the dining room. I also painted it in there and we now have green on our carpet to go with the red when I painted the walls! I did put paper down but clearly not enough. We have visitors tomorrow evening and I knew I needed to get the frame outside but I could only do that if I built the other end of the frame and got the whole thing painted and outside.
I abandoned cycling today and left on very good time, got home, grabbed the tools and made the other end. I made the end frame and got one screw into the main structure and the damn drill ran out! Put the drill on charge and started to paint the unfinished wood, by this time i was losing the light but managed to get every bit of wood protected. Picked up the drill and then had to start trying to get the screws in to bolt the frame together and also to the shed in the dark! Then had to touch up the paintwork but couldn't see what was and what wasn't wet - hence ended up very mucky!
The final piece of the puzzle was to protect the roof frame by reattaching the corrugated plastic. To do this I had to detach the solar movement light and balance it on the shed roof and then wave at it whenever I wanted to screw a roof bolt into the frame. I didn't get all the bolts in because I ran out of drill battery AND patience!!! Now I have to buy more wood to make the shelves although I want to think about where they are going to go for best effects.
Sunday 1 March 2009
March the First!
Happy to say goodbye to January and February, I always find them difficult months to get through and find March a very positive month for getting things done around the house and garden. I knew i needed to get the broad beans in as i was late enough anyway, and that a bean trench was the way to get a good yeald. So dug a deep trench and lined it with cardboard, backfilled with compost and soil then planted the broad beans and netted them. Dug the trench for the runner beans as well but they won't go in for a little while yet, hopefully the trench will help save water some the hot summer we might get this year. It was majical standing digging out in the garden, the air is invigorating, I was amazed to see that even after the digging we did last year and a season veg growing I had daffodils from the old lawn growing through the fleece!
Given that the weather is set to be cold for the next week i'm holding off on the planting of the sweet peas, I'm redoing my garden plan for planting because i'm going to grow the climbing courgettes up trelis in the main garden, and the Kelevedon peas will also be liberally sown. We love peas! After all the digging it was nice to sit down and set the potatos up for chitting, we are truly returning to the victorian farm as the boiler has broken and we have no hot water (or heating) so its a case of boiling loads of water for a much needed bath.
The greenhouse hasn't progressed a huge amount this weekend, partly due to the wedding plans taking up time and also my relucatnce to take the car out today to buy more wood. I wanted to have a home day to get things done, i even got round to sorting out my overcrowded wardrobe and doing my sewing homework. In five weeks of the dressmaking course this is the first time I have managed to do any sewing outside of the lesson!
The bulbs are beginning to appear now in the back, but I think I have a low success rate overall. There is just one tete-a-tete out the front where there would normally be lots and lots, I seem to have something eating most of te bulbs as they are coming up - Mice?
Given that the weather is set to be cold for the next week i'm holding off on the planting of the sweet peas, I'm redoing my garden plan for planting because i'm going to grow the climbing courgettes up trelis in the main garden, and the Kelevedon peas will also be liberally sown. We love peas! After all the digging it was nice to sit down and set the potatos up for chitting, we are truly returning to the victorian farm as the boiler has broken and we have no hot water (or heating) so its a case of boiling loads of water for a much needed bath.
The greenhouse hasn't progressed a huge amount this weekend, partly due to the wedding plans taking up time and also my relucatnce to take the car out today to buy more wood. I wanted to have a home day to get things done, i even got round to sorting out my overcrowded wardrobe and doing my sewing homework. In five weeks of the dressmaking course this is the first time I have managed to do any sewing outside of the lesson!
The bulbs are beginning to appear now in the back, but I think I have a low success rate overall. There is just one tete-a-tete out the front where there would normally be lots and lots, I seem to have something eating most of te bulbs as they are coming up - Mice?
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