Oops, seeds sown, variety and care now problem – Help?

The sun streamed through the window straight onto my face, it was a lovely way to wake up. It is cold and showery, the odd ray of sunshine and then some heavy rain, even a touch of hail I think, I can’t really tell as I was in the greenhouse at the time, but it sounded like hail on the glass.

The plants need a boost, I found the seaweed solution, filled up my sprayer and managed to foliar feed everything in the veg garden and flower  borders before it started raining again, leaving me in the warm greenhouse to spray in there. It’s amazing stuff and really helps the plants to grow strong and resist attack from pests.

OK, I’ve got an organisation problem…

I very carefully labelled all my plants in the greenhouse with the type and variety, also listed on my blog, but… I now don’t know which aubergine is which, what I mean is, which was the small little egg sized fruit and which is the large variety. Of the tomatoes, which will need to be in the greenhouse, which outside and do I pinch out or not. Just as well I realised now.

Ideas on how to solve this..

• Do I scan in the packets front and back and attach them to each of the blog entries?
• Shall I research on the web and hope that I can find the information already exists and I can just link to them?
• Do I simply find the packet when I need to and then type up the basics
• Perhaps I need some ideas from other expert gardeners?

Today is going to be a day of more than one blog entry, I need help and guidance, does anyone have any tips?

May Day

I grabbed the hoe today and chopped the weeds between the rows. The radishes are amazing, probably the best I’ve ever grown. It was brilliant using the cloche, it’s brought them on much earlier than normal. The peas are now 8 inches high and have started climbing up the pea sticks I put in last week.  I’ve planted out some Webbs lettuce plants, I had put in some carrot seeds, but there aren’t that many showing, so have decided to put the lettuce amongst them, if the carrots still want to grow they can. Years ago we had some cloches, they don’t have any plastic left, just the wire, they are placed over the lettuces, ready to lay the fleece over tomorrow.

The forecast for the rest of the week is wet and cold, with ground frosts overnight and day temperatures being only very cold, so I need to make sure that all my plants are snuggled up to stop them getting damaged.

The farmshop near Bashley has a brilliant collection of plants at very reasonable prices, I bought a pack of calabrese and another of cauliflower, 2 tomatoes for hanging baskets and a pepper plant. Mine have germinated, but they aren’t advanced as far, so will be producing later in the season.

Pricked out some Little Gem lettuces, also potted up the tomatoes and pepper from today. The Ipomoea also needed pricking out, loads more needs doing, but I need more space first.

Seeds sown today (again in the greenhouse) were celeriac, romanesco cauliflower, purple calabrese, leeks, hispi cabbage and some sweet peas designed for hanging baskets.

So much still to plant. Hubby has brought me back some garden lime and some pelleted chicken manure. I now need to look up about cabbages, I know they need a high lime content to encourage them to grow properly, so definitely need to do some serious research.

Picked the first rhubarb from the garden for Mum and Dad. Still need to sort out the rest of the flower garden, I’m inspired by Geoff Hamilton’s Ornamental Kitchen Garden and Alys Fowler’s Edible Garden, the idea of producing a pretty garden that also produces food is my idea of heaven, I’m going to start to plant the veg amongst the flowers, but need to ensure I label everything properly so that others know what everything is, I know the herbs and veg, but Mum and Dad may not be so sure, so I need to keep it simple to identify everything.

Roast chicken is in the oven with the roast potatoes and parsnips, serving with lashings of spring cabbage and gravy.

If the weather is grotty tomorrow, I will be in the greenhouse or filling the kitchen with the smell of baking. Now what shall I bake this time……………………

Spring is sprung, loads of sun

It was a lovely sunny day, temperatures reached 17 C on the forecast and as we are surrounded by trees it must have pushed that higher.

Time to take off the 2 large cloches covering the radishes, turnips, peas, spinach, onions and carrots. Hopefully the forecast is correct and no ground frosts forecast over the next couple of days so that they can properly hard off, I’ve been leaving the cloches open at night, so they are half-way there.  Not too many weeds, but hand weeded amongst the rows, put in the pea sticks (the plants are already 6 inches high) and then watered. Also managed to squeeze in a few pak choi plants next to the onions as there was a larger path than needed due to the cloches.

Herbs are so important, I really miss having the full selection available, so have collected a few different ones over our trips to the garden centres, now I need to prepare a herb bed. Started by getting the edging tool out (Dad is obsessed with crisp cut edges to gardens so he can mow easily, I can’t let anything grow over the edges or they get mowed off), then I started to clear out some more of the bed closest to the back door where Mum can get access to. It’s going to take more than one session, there are brambles and nettles (show’s it’s healthy soil) still to clear out. We’ve worked out where to move our rambling rose to, also going to put flowers and veg amongst the herbs and country garden, it’s amazing how watching Geoff Hamilton’s Ornamental Kitchen Garden always inspires me.

The greenhouse is beginning to show lots of life, I just wish I had more space with maximum light to bring everything on.  Think my cold frame needs moving too, it’s in full sun at the moment and I think it needs to go in a shaded area with good light to bring on strong plants.

Another day in the garden tomorrow. Now, where do I plant the shallots, veg garden or flower bed, think the flower bed may win!!

Greenhouse antics

Wow did it get hot today, needed my sunhat to stop my head burning. No need for highlights here, sun is bleaching my hair on it’s own and my natural highlights look fab.

Started to plant the half-hardy and tender seeds today, even got back out the propagators to put them in, to keep the temperature constant during the nights (it’s still very chilly at night with the possibility of frosts). Might need to put some milk containers in the greenhouse filled with water to hold the heat from the day.

Seeds sown today:-

Lemon Grass
Dill
Swiss Chard in modules
Basil “Dark Opal”
Okra
Aubergine “Orlando” & “Properosa”

Tomatoes:-
Moneymaker
Alicante
Plum “San Marzano Lungo”
Beef “Costoluto Genovese”
Tigerella
Gardener’s Delight
Plum “Incas”
Tamina
Garden Pearl – for hanging baskets and patio planters
Organic Red Cherry

Peppers:-
Marco Rosso
Worldbeater
Californian Wonder

Chillies:-
Hot Pepper Fuego
Chilli Pepper Anaheim
Apache
Joe’s Long
Cayenne
Black Pearl

Non edible
Chinese Purple Bell Vine
Glory Vine

I also spotted some rubble bags in Tesco’s, £1.20 for 6 bags. I’m going to try out growing potatoes in them, have 5 different types to go in, so going to have a go with my first earlies tomorry (International Kidney variety), think I should be able to put 3 potatoes in each bag.

A very busy day, but the greenhouse is now packed, still more to go in, but I’ve made brilliant progress after the last 3 days.

The greenhouse beckoned

Yippee, I left work in daylight and got home before the bewitching hour of 5pm. So after getting into jeans and scruff order, I was in the greenhouse by 4.30 and started sowing seeds. One of the best things about the greenhouse is being able to grow lots of salad leaves which can’t be beaten for freshness and are great for mum to pick as she wants. They are a fortune in the supermarket and aren’t as fresh, just a few leaves here and there and we have a really varied salad.

So planted some large pots of mixed salad leaves, mizuna, land cress, rocket, parsley, sweet basil, pea shoots and also to get ready to go in the garden 2 trays of broad beans plus some Webbs wonderful lettuces.

Turned the hose on and got soaked, the multi-sprayer was left outside over winter and has been damaged by ice, it’s splitting all over it and water was spraying everywhere, yuk, now drying off in the warm.

Add new sprayer to list and also some different varieties of beetroot, saw them on Raymond Blanc’s cookery programme and they looked brilliant. I only have the traditional variety Boltardy at the moment, so need to find some different ones when I next go shopping.

Time to put a garden shopping list in my app on my phone and make sure I don’t forget.

The seed potatoes also arrived, so need to get some organic potato fertilizer now, then they can go in old compost sacks in the garden.

A nice cup of tea is needed now!