Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

I wrote back on the 23rd August how I planned to sow  White Ishikura Spring Onions  and  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  carrots to grow undercover in the greenhouse through autumn and into winter in the hope of having some crops for the long dark months of winter and perhaps even few carrots for the Christmas Dinner fresh from the garden. I also sowed a line of Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 seeds in the veg patch outside to compare with those in the Greenhouse.  Firstly the outside sown Carrots failed, no great surprise as they are not a 'winter hardy' variety and were sown very late. As for the crops in the Greenhouse I didn't manage to have home grown carrots with Christmas Dinner sadly but will be having some this evening, I am very happy to report 😃 Both the  White Ishikura Spring Onions  and  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  are now ready for harvesting; okay a little later than hoped but it's fresh veg off the plot in March that isn't Winter Lettuce or Spring Greens. Th

It had to happen sooner or later I suppose, I have failed a Covid test and find myself somewhat under the weather and stuck at home for a few days. If that in itself isn't annoying enough it was lovely down my neck of the woods on Monday and looks to be set fair for the rest of the week; perfect weather for getting on with all those jobs in the garden, if only I could!  Luckily, I am not suffering anywhere near as much as others I have known and though I am not about to get out on the plot and dig over the veg beds, climbing the stairs wore me out yesterday, there are a few little jobs I can, and will, be getting on with. As room in the conservatory is at a premium I have moved the Runner Bean seedlings down to the greenhouse where they are sheltered, will get plenty of sun during the day, and acclimatise to the colder evenings and harden off somewhat at the same time. The  Leek seedlings have been moved to the woodstore, somewhat more open to the elements but still under cover fro

Following storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin the beginning of March has seen the weather calm down somewhat and at times it has felt distinctly spring like, finally.  A few of the early flowering Daffodils in my garden have taken a bit of a beating, so mush so, and unusually for me, I have had a few in a vase in the house as they had been snapped by the winds whipping round the garden.  The conservatory fills by the day and currently houses Buffalosteak Tomato, Gigantomo Tomato, Runner Beans, Courgette and Leek seedlings along with the Begonia corm that I recently took out of its winter storage (in some old compost in a big pot in the shed) and have placed in said pot but on some new compost. It is covered in the tiniest of little buds and promises a real display again this summer all being well.  I took the opportunity on a quieter Sunday afternoon this weekend to sow some Black Cherry Tomato seeds (a packet received as a Christmas present and that is all it says on the pack) and Limo

Signs that spring is on the way are all around the garden. Crocus are just coming into bloom, Daffodils are popping up all over, the pots filled with bulbs are just days away from the first flowers, it was a lovely place to be this weekend. I also made some time just to sit and enjoy the garden, from the relative warmth of the conservatory, and half-an-hour or so was lost just watching the Sparrows, Starlings and Wood Pigeons squabbling on the bird feeders.  I also spent some time in one of my happy places this weekend, the potting shed, busying myself sowing Leek and Runner Bean seeds into fibre pots. The two seed trays of Beans, eight 8cm pots on each, are currently in the dining room by the French Doors to get as much warmth and light as possible with the two trays of Leeks, fifteen 6cm pots on each, on the table in the conservatory tucked up warm under propagator lids. Spring really is just around the corner.  Cheers 🍺

There is an old saying regard Fools Spring and though still a bit early to consider it to be spring this weekend was a very good example. A nice day Saturday it was still bitterly cold at times, I was doing a little Pike fishing and can assure you it was woolly hat and thermal vest weather. Rain can overnight and Sunday was blustery and dull. The plan was for a bit of work in the garden but it was windy enough that with the wind chill I decided to retreat into the Potting Shed and Garage.  Two new lily bulbs were added to the white border, one in each corner, these being Tower Lily Pretty Woman , and all being well they will grow to six-feet plus with up to thirty blooms on each stem the blooms reaching up to 8 inches in size.  The first few seeds have been sown and are indoors on windowsills to keep them snug and warm until they germinate. Two varieties of Tomato were selected, the Gigantamo and the  Buffalo Steak being the ones chosen as I want to get them off and growing as early

We probably all have some plastic that we use in our gardens and gardening but with a little thought, and often simply returning to the good old practices used for hundreds of years before plastic was invented, we can greatly reduce the amount we use and hopefully one day eliminate all together. If you do have plastic, I have several plastic seed trays for example, please take good care of it so it can be used year after year. My seed trays are cleaned after every use and stored in a cupboard in the potting shed out of direct sunlight when not in use so as not to become brittle as some will if left in sunlight for too long. I have a plastic watering can that is equally cared for to insure it can be used for many years yet; a galvanised watering can is high on the wish list. Below is a list of a few things we can all do to cut down on plastic use in our gardens.   Biodegradable Fibre pots. I have been using fibre pots for a few years now and the benefits are multiple . I sow many of my

The  six  C hrysanthemum Silver Princess  bare roots have arrived and will be planted over the weekend into what is becoming, slowly but surely, the White Border.  I often have a fair few seeds sown by this time of year and it feels a little strange having clear window sills and space in the Conservatory, there is usually a number of pots dotted about indoors by late January. I have been a little surprised by the lack of fibre pots (I will not use peat pots anymore) available in the major DIY and Garden Centres. I had a delivery just this morning from B&Q of a couple of new terracotta pots and saucers plus four bags of Soil Improver Manure but they had not a single fibre pot option available online. The local Horticultural Guild Trading Huts don't open until later in February so I have ordered some off a company called Nutleys Kitchen Garden found online. It's a small online operation that  was founded in 2008 by grow-your-own enthusiast Jo Nutley apparently . They have so