Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

It is that time of year when space in the Conservatory and on any sunny windowsill in the house is slowly but surely being taken up by things. I have the Potatoes currently chitting in the Conservatory sitting happily in old egg boxes for now until ready to plant, probably the second or third week of March. I often used the Cheltenham Festival as a guide for planting my spuds, horse racing being another love of mine, and the Monday of that week usually sees me planting spuds before the horse racing begins on the Tuesday.  This year I have chosen to try one of those 'kits' a number of the online sites offer. In the box delivered recently I have Charlotte , a tasty salad potato, Pentland Javelin, an early variety that will hopefully produce loads of small, tasty spuds, best simply boiled and Desiree which I am told is decent for chips and roasties. The kit comes complete with three thirty litre pots, which certainly look pretty solid,  and a bag of  Organic Potato Fertiliser. I

It says on the catch line of this blog that it is  chronicling my successes and failures as an amateur gardener on my plot in Essex on the veg patch and in the flower bed, well the first major failure has happened and the Limoncito and Black Cherry seedlings have all wilted and died. I think, despite being inside under cover, the lack of light and warmth over the last few days has done for them. With hindsight, a wonderful thing, I probably should have kept them on the windowsill of my back bedroom until stronger rather than moving them to the unheated Conservatory; I may also have made the classic error of overwatering.  It is annoying but most years something goes wrong, you can't get it right all the time and that is all part and parcel of gardening.  On the plus side, the Gigantomo and Beef Steak Tomato plants are growing by the day in the Greenhouse and strong and healthy - sometimes it is just bad timing, these seeds were of course sown earlier than the  Limoncito  and  Bl

Firstly, as we were rain free in my neck of the woods at the weekend, the  Lillum Casa Blanca  bulbs are in. I have placed one in front of the two bulbs that were already in-situ forming a nice little triangle of lilies with two new bulbs planted either side around a foot apart which will hopefully produce a lovely backdrop to the border come summer.  As mentioned in the original post a few days age I have been thinking of other plants to add and have ordered six C hrysanthemum Silver Princess bare roots which are  clump-forming herbaceous perennials that have single daisy like flowers that should bloom from early summer through autumn. I have also ordered a packet of  Chrysanthemum Polar Star seeds, completely new to me, they are an annual with  tricolour daisy flowers described as a  white bloom with an intriguing inner yellow halo surrounding a central darker cushion. The picture I have seen they look great and will sort the White Border perfectly.  As it was a nice sunny if chilly

I have decided to create a 'white border' in the garden, basically by making over one of the existing flower beds. It is a classic case of having a bit of time on my hands on a cold and wet January afternoon sitting in the conservatory and coming up with a great idea - all I have to do now is make it happen!  I already have two Lillum Casa Blanca lilies at the back of the border in front of an eight foot fence. I like these a lot so I have purchased five more bulbs from J Parkers which will be added to the back of the border. Lilies aren't everyone's cup of tea but I like them, Lillum Casa Blanca especially for their huge white blooms, and they certainly liven up a boring old garden fence when in full bloom. I have also purchased a new Myrtle (I mentioned in an early post I had consigned the old one to the compost heap) and all being well this specimen will be happier in the border than the old one was in a pot and I have learnt my lessons in regard pruning and care for