Pond Ups and Downs

It's nice to see that not all my pond plants were a victim of the cold winter. This is Caltha Palustris - Marsh Marigold and it's bright yellow flowers bloom over a long period. It's not only plants which succumbed to the snow and ice. Whilst giving the pond a bit of a clean out last week, we came across a dead frog. He probably tried to spend the winter at the bottom of the pond, with fatal consequences. Our pond is very shallow and will freeze right to the bottom. I feel very guilty and will now cover the pond in autumn after ensuring any frogs have vacated it beforehand.

My first early potatoes - Arran Pilot got planted in their containers earlier in the week. They're in the garden at the moment but I'll move them in to the greenhouse if a frost is forcast. My maincrop potatoes - Maris Piper are still chitting whilst I get their patch prepared at the allotment.

In my post on 28th March I mentioned that my everbearing strawberries - Flamenco hadn't done so well. I had emailed Thompson and Morgan and they were sending replacements but not until October. Well, a couple of days ago a parcel arrived with another dozen strawberry plants inside. Hubby has potted them up in to a container for the moment but I hope to get them planted outside soon. They probably won't do as well as the originals this year as they were potted up in to plant pots in autumn and have already got flowers on them even though they're still not planted out.

At the end of my last post I compiled a list of things I needed to do. I hoped to have had more crossed off after this weekend, but the sad fact remains that the only thing yet crossed off is planting potatoes, and even then it's only the first earlies which I've got round to planting. Yesterday, the cricket season started at our club so I've lost both hubby and son for at least one day each at the weekend. Add to that a sunny day today with a farmer's market and craft fair at the local park, and that adds up to neglect for the allotment. Let's hope I can spare some time in the week otherwise the allotment is going to feel very neglected indeed.

Operation Clean Up

The weather was gorgeous at the weekend, perfect for pottering about at the allotment, but instead hubby and I spent all Saturday and Sunday doing jobs in the garden. There was still last years dead growth on the plants in the border so that was all removed, the small pond got a tidy up and plants in there which hadn't survived winter were removed. Hubby mowed the grass as well as cleaning all the cracks in between the paving. The rabbits were moved from their winter spot on the patio up to their summer spot on the grass, I won't call it a lawn, you should see the state of it. The rabbits have runs which attach to their hutches so they can come out or go back in as they please so they like being on the grass so they have something to graze on. The greenhouse got tidied out and my small mini plastic greenhouse is now situated in there and holds lots of seedlings. I fasten the small greenhouse up at night and it gives the plants a little extra protection than they would get from just being in my cold greenhouse. It means that I can move seedlings outside a little earlier than I would otherwise do so.

I sowed lots more seeds at the weekend too, cucumber - Prima Top, cucumber - Bella, courgette - Soleil, courgette - Firenze, courgette - All Green Bush, marrow - Tiger Cross, Squash - (Butternut) Hawk, pumpkin - Mars. I also sowed some heritage pea seeds which have very kindly been sent to me by other bloggers, Kent Blue, Stephens, and Robinson.

Things I need to concentrate on now are getting my potatoes planted, getting a bed dug for my new strawberries and getting those planted, planting out some pea seedlings which are now ready to grow away, planting out the shallots which I've started off in pots in the greenhouse, planting my onion sets and direct sowing some carrot, parsnip and beetroot seeds. It seems a lot now I've typed it all out, but I'm sure it will all get done just as long as this weather holds for a little longer.

Tanya's Lucky Day

My Blog Anniversary Give Away ended yesterday, and in true gardening blog style all the names were put in to a plant pot, a name was drawn at random by my son, and Tanya from Allotments 4 You was the lucky winner. Please let me have your address, Tanya, so I can get your prize sent off to you.

I'd like to thank everyone, not only for entering, but also for all the lovely comments I received on my second blog anniversary. My blog was started as a means to record my adventure on my allotment, and it's really heartwarming to know that people enjoy reading my ramblings. I wish I could give you all a prize.

Jennifer Tetlow from Stone Sculpture Journal asked if I am growing any Cosmos this year as Cosmos is the two year anniversary flower symbol. I didn't know there were flowers to mark certain anniversaries, this is something I will look in to more. The answer is yes, I am growing some Cosmos this year. I'm hoping to get some growing on the allotment which I'll be able to cut and bring home for the house.

Denise from Mrs Nesbitt's Space asked for hints and tips on what to grow from seed in the greenhouse. Why not head over to her blog and give her some advice. I would say grow what you like to eat, Denise. If the plants are to stay in the greenhouse once they've grown then tomatoes, peppers, chilis and aubergines are a good bet.

Kay from Kay's Cakes asked if I ever go back and re read old blog posts. The answer to that is yes, when I started my blog it was to keep a record of what I did and when I did it so that I could do the same thing with things which did well, or change the way I did things which didn't do so well, so I often look back at dates and names.

Thanks again, everyone, for continuing to read my blog. I hope I can continue to keep going for another two years, and beyond.

Oops

This mangled mess of roots and shoots is what's left of my leeks after a ball my daughter threw landed on them. I have some more pots of leeks as well as these, and luckily it's early enough in the season to get some more sown. The peas in the background also took a direct hit but I managed to get them sorted and back in to their modules.

I'm pleased to report that the round stumpy carrots I sowed a few weeks ago in a container in the greenhouse have germinated, so even if I don't manage to get any to grow at the allotment again, I won't miss out on that gorgeous home grown carrot taste.

It looks like we're in for a mini heatwave this weekend with the forcasters predicting warm temperatures and sun. We've got a cooling breeze here today so it would be nice if that drops.

Don't forget to leave a comment on my last post to be in with a chance of winning my Blog Anniversary Give Away. Comments will be accepted until midday on Sunday, after which time a winner will be drawn.

Blog Anniversary Give Away

It's two years ago today since I started my blog, and to celebrate I thought I would run a giveaway. The prize is a Kitchen Garden Planner which contains lots of information about growing edible crops, whether you're growing on an allotment, in your garden or, if space is limited, in containers. There's also plenty of space for writing your own notes and a little pouch for keeping news cuttings or seed packets all together.

I got the key for my allotment on 21st March 2009 and started this blog shortly afterwards to keep a record of my progress. I've really enjoyed writing the blog and also reading lots of other people's blogs with shared interests. Many thanks to all of you who have stumbled up on my blog and return to read more of my posts. Thank you too for leaving such lovely encouraging comments, I'm still so excited when I see that I've got a comment, even after two years, I don't think that feeling will ever leave.

To be in with a chance of winning the Kitchen Garden Planner, just leave a comment on this post and I will draw a name at random. I will leave the competition open until midday on Sunday 10th April to give everyone a fair chance of entering, and will announce the winner shortly after.

Last weekend I sowed my tomato seeds. I've held off as long as possible to try and avoid the seedlings growing leggy, but couldn't resist any longer. I'm growing three varieties this year, Gardener's Delight, Tangella and San Marzano. The Gardener's Delight have yet to germinate but the other two are up already. I'm particularly pleased to see the Tangella seeds spring in to growth as these were my first attempt at seed saving so I was a little worried that I may have done something wrong and I'd be left without. I needn't have worried as I've had 100% germination. Let's hope they grow and produce well now.

I sowed some spring onions - White Lisbon last weekend too. I've sown them in a container and they've been placed in the greenhouse for now. I always grow my spring onions in containers and they've always grown well this way.

There's rain forcast for the weekend, but the schools break up today so I'm hoping for some good weather during the next fortnight so I can get my son to give me a hand at the allotment. He's always a huge help to me.

Time To Plant Out

Last year was the first year that I've grown shallots. Even though they were planted out late they gave me a good crop, so this year I want to make sure that I do everything right and maybe I'll get an even better crop. I've gone for Sante which are supposed to have a good flavour. Shallots are traditionally planted on the shortest day of the year, 21st of December, and harvested on the longest day of the year, 21st of June, but as the ground was frozen solid at that time, and for quite a while after, I started my shallots in pots in the greenhouse. They have put out some good strong roots and are starting to shoot so I will plant them out at the allotment within the next week.

The everbearing strawberries - Flamenco which I had delivered from Thompson and Morgan earlier in the year are not doing so well. I ordered twelve plants, and potted them up as soon as they arrived in to plantpots which have been kept in the greenhouse ever since. Out of the dozen plants, only seven are showing signs of life. I've emailed Thompson and Morgan and had a speedy reply saying they will replace the dead plants in October. This isn't the first time that plants bought from Thompson and Morgan have died, however, they have always been quick to replace anything I'm not happy with. It's a shame I won't get the replacements until October though, I was looking forward to a bumper harvest this year.

I've been reading of bumblebee sightings on many blogs recently. I was feeling quite left out having not seen any yet this year, but on my way home from taking Archie for a walk I heard a buzzing noise and there was my first sighting of the year. I saw my second butterfly of the year last week, another Red Admiral, and I'm continuing to see many ladybirds. I'm sure this gorgeous weather we're experiencing has something to do with everything waking up from their winter slumber.

Speedy Seeds

Believe it or not, these seeds were sown on Sunday and less than forty eight hours later there's signs of life. I did quite a bit of sowing on Sunday, Swiss chard-Bright Lights, kale-Cavolo de Nero, broccoli-Summer Purple, calabrese-Sakura, Brussels sprout-Evesham Special, cabbage-Tundra, curly kale-Dwarf Green Curled, and swede-Ruby. I also sowed some flower seeds, most of these will be used at the allotment for my cutting patch. Calendula-Candyman Yellow, aster-Lazy Daisy Mix, gazania-Sunshine Mixed, cosmos-Picotee, cornflower-Frosty Mix, zinnia-Early Wonder, zinnia-Scabious Flowered Mixed, rudbeckia-Rustic Dwarf Mixed, and rudbeckia-Toto Gold. The photo is zinnia-Early Wonder, it's certainly living up to it's name so far. Some carrot-Paris Market 5 - Atlas were also sown in to a container and popped in to the greenhouse. I'm hoping to have some stumpy carrots just in case I can't get any carrots to germinate at the allotment again. I'm listing all the varieties on my blog this year as this will be the first time ever that I haven't made written notes. I find it quite time consuming to write everything down as I do it, so I'm using my blog for this purpose instead.

I had a trip to my local nursery on Sunday and bought some compost in readiness for all the sowing which is to be done. I'm also hoping to get my early potatoes in to containers over the next week or two so I also need compost for that. I usually use a mix of multi purpost compost and my own garden compost for potatoes, and even those which go in the ground at the allotment get some garden compost put in with them at planting time. I still need to buy my onions so I shall have another trip to the nursery soon.

I think spring has finally sprung. The weather over the last few days has been glorious and it looks set to continue here for the next couple of days. All this sunshine has woken up the ladybirds, I've seen them in abundance and on Friday I saw my first butterfly of the year, a Red Admiral.

Chitting Nicely

It won't be long now until I plant my first early potatoes. I've decided that this year all the earlies will go in containers which will free up more space at the allotment for maincrop potatoes. The other advantage of using containers rather than the ground is that I don't have to wait for the ground to warm up, though I will have to make sure that they are kept free of any frost we have. As you can see, there are some great sprouts on the tubers already. Apparently, if you rub off all but two or three of the sprouts you will get larger potatoes, but I always leave all the sprouts on as I don't mind smaller potatoes.

I sowed my leeks - Musselburgh and peas - Hurst Green Shaft on Saturday. I've always sown my peas in toilet roll inners in the past but this time I've sown them in modules. I didn't have as much success last year with things which were sown in the toilet roll inners so I'm not using them at all this year. Once the ground has warmed up I want to sow some peas direct, something which I haven't done before.

The Goldfinches are back. I haven't seen any for ages but I saw a pair on Monday. I just wish I saw them more regularly than I do at the moment, they're such lovely little birds. We've also got some Coal Tits visiting the feeders, another colourful little bird.

Blackcurrant

We called in to Lidl at the weekend, a shop I rarely go to, but I know they sell fruit bushes at very reasonable prices so we thought we'd have a look. At the moment, the only fruit we have at the allotment are strawberries, though as we only have half a plot I don't want to give too much space over to fruit. There were various currants and a gooseberry to choose from and we came away with a blackcurrant bush for the princely sum of £1.49, bargain. I've also got my two rhubarb crowns, which are at present in containers, to plant at the allotment, and also my two blueberry bushes which will stay in containers in the garden, so that will do us for now.

After a sunny start to the week, the weather yesterday and today has been dreadful. We had rain and wind yesterday, and though it's quite sunny today, the wind is really bad. Half of my greenhouse is missing so I'll have to go and hunt that down. I think I'll wait for the wind to drop though first otherwise I'll be repeating the exercise within the hour.

Signs Of Life

At last, my peppers have started germinating. I don't have much patience when waiting for seeds to pop their heads above the compost, these have taken just short of two weeks to show any sign of life. I've now turned off the bottom heat to avoid the seedlings growing leggy, and I'll pot them on when they've put on some growth.

We finally saw some sunshine on Sunday so hubby was straight down to the allotment to put a bit of time in doing some digging. It won't be long now until the clocks go forward and the days are longer. I've always enjoyed spending time at the allotment on an evening, it always seems so peaceful at that time of day.

Just a reminder that Gardener's World is back on our screens on Friday with Monty Don coming back as the main presenter. The programme will come from Monty's own garden in Herefordshire. I'm looking forward to it.

Spring Days Out

I'm looking forward to some great spring days out at RHS Harlow Carr, I must remember to mark them in my diary so that I don't miss them. As a RHS member I'm entitled to free admission, as is one other family member, which makes it a cheap day out. On 26th and 27th March there is a Grow Your Own Weekend, 9th to 21st April is Eco Warriors - Half term family fun, which I thought my daughter might like as there are scavenger hunts, bush craft and the chance to learn survival skills. From 29th April to 2nd May is Harlow Carr Craft Exhibition, I might go on 1st May as there is also a Spring Plant Fair on then. If you're not a RHS member there is a FREE Open Day tomorrow, 4th March, where admission is free to everyone, the gardens are definitely worth seeing.

There's no sign of life in my peppers which I sowed eleven days ago. There's time yet, though I've usually had them germinating quicker than this on previous occasions. Perhaps I'll sow some more if they're not showing by the weekend.

We saw a kestrel in next door's garden earlier today. It was sat on their lawn as bold as brass eating whatever prey it had managed to kill. After it had left, there was a mass of feathers left behind, which indicates the prey was a bird of some kind. The circle of life can be very cruel sometimes.

Kent Blue

The generosity of bloggers will never cease to amaze me. Today I received some seeds for Kent Blue mangetout peas from Kath at Vegetable Heaven. Hubby had mentioned recently that he'd like me to have a go at some mangetout this year, and after the description of these on Kath's blog they sounded perfect. The flowers are a bicolour purple which fade to blue, and the pods are produced in abundance. I shall ensure that I save some seeds so that I can grow them again in future years. Many thanks, Kath.

I popped in to Wilkinsons today and noticed that they'd got quite a few dahlia tubers in. I took a fancy to one named Arabian Night, a burgundy colour, so that came home with me. I grew a few dahlias from seed last year and intend to do the same again this year, though I'd like a few more this time.

The sun is out at the moment but the rain through the night and earlier today has meant that getting anything done on the allotment is out of the question. Perhaps I'll do some more seed sowing instead.

It All Begins Here

I've been saying since January that I'm going to start off my pepper seeds, well I've finally got round to it today. They're now all tucked up in the heated propagator, but they'll be taken out of there as soon as they push their heads up otherwise the extra heat will encourage them to grow leggy. I've decided to go for two varieties this year. The first is a bell shaped pepper, California Wonder, which seems to be a popular choice of pepper in the UK. The second variety is Corno di Toro Rosso, which is known as Bulls Horns in Italy due to it's tapered shape. It will be interesting to compare the two.

There's been so much talk of spring arriving just lately that it came as quite a shock yesterday when I got up and looked out the window. Everywhere was white, covered in a layer of snow. It was lunch time before the snow stopped falling, but it had turned to slush by evening. This morning there was no snow to be seen. We should remember that it's still February and this sort of weather isn't unusual.

At the moment I've got a renewed enthusiasm for the allotment after reading several blogs telling just how fast they're progressing with their allotments. I had intended to get cracking with my own allotment this weekend, however, with the snow covering it yesterday and the residual mud today, there was no chance. Fingers crossed for better weather next weekend.

To Bee Or Not To Bee

The spring bulbs have been slow to bloom here, I've only just started to notice snowdrops, but now that I have it seems that everything is blooming at once. Along with the snowdrops there are crocus blooming, and the daffodils and tulips aren't far behind. Honey bees will seek out spring bulbs to forage for the nectar, we saw this one today just leaving a crocus.

I've been very good and have so far resisted planting any seeds. It's always tempting to start things off far too early, in which case they usually grow leggy. I will be starting off my pepper seeds this weekend though. I've held off long enough now and if they do grow leggy there's always time to start off some more.

The high winds from last week returned on Monday, though they weren't quite as bad as they had previously been. The rest of the week was fine and the sun put in an appearance. It's been a glorious day today. The sun has been shining and it's been quite warm. I should have really spent some time at the allotment, but we took advantage of the lovely day and had a day out instead. Rain is forcast for tomorrow so we had to make the most of some fine weather.

Rhubarb Shoots

I noticed today that my rhubarb is starting to shoot. This will be the third year that I've had this particular rhubarb crown and it's been in a container all it's life. Each year I've intended planting it at the allotment, but still haven't got round to it. I'll have to make more of an effort this year.

We had some terrible winds here on Friday, so much so that two of the ridge tiles on the extension roof have come loose, and half of my greenhouse blew away. I've arranged for a roofer to come and sort the tiles out on Wednesday, and the greenhouse is now back in one piece. It's glazed with polycarbonate, so there was no breakages, but I found the door and two side panels in our garden, and one of the roof panels in our next door neighbour's garden.

The everbearing strawberries which I potted up last month are looking very healthy and have started to put on some new growth. I just need some decent weather now to get a new bed prepared for them, though there's none forcast for the next few days, it's supposed to be very wet.