Snack Size

When I look through seed catalogues, I notice more and more seeds being sold which are suitable for growing in containers. Having grown edibles in containers myself before taking on my allotment, I know you don't need a huge garden to grow at least some of your own food. I decided I would have a go at growing some courgettes - Firenze in a container this year. This is one of those varieties which is billed as ideal for growing in containers. I've grown Hestia runner beans in containers previously. This is also a variety which is especially suitable for growing in containers, but I wasn't very impressed with the amount of beans I got from the plants. I was much more successful planting normal runner bean seeds and giving them some canes to grow up. I'm afraid that I'm of the same opinion with these Firenze courgettes. I have previously grown normal courgettes in a container with great success, whereas the ones I have just harvested from my plant are extremely small. I've grown lots of things in containers before I got my allotment, all regular varieties, and was thrilled that most things did extremely well, even things such as sweetcorn which I thought would need a much larger growing space. My advice would be to give anything a go, I've found that most things work, just so long as you give them a little extra attention, especially making sure that the container doesn't dry out.

It's a lovely day today so I shall take a trip to the allotment. I need to harvest anything which is ready as we go on holiday on Saturday for two weeks. Let's hope the gorgeous weather we've got today continues.

Ollie's Sunflower

The sunflowers I've grown this year are very special indeed. Let me tell you all about them. Earlier on this year I mentioned that I was going to have a go at growing mange tout for the first time. I received an offer of some seeds from Bilbo Waggins from The View From Bag End. The seeds were Stephens and Robinson, both of which are actually peas but can be used as a mange tout, and both have performed very well. Enclosed in the parcel were some Ollie's Sunflower seeds which I've felt very privileged to be able to grow. Ollie was Bilbo's Bearded Collie, a once in a lifetime dog, and he sadly passed away in August 2009. On that very same day, a bird sown sunflower bloomed for the first time in Bilbo's garden. She collected seeds from the plant and whenever she sends seeds to anyone, she also includes some of these sunflower seeds in the parcel too. What a wonderful way to keep Ollie's memory alive. If you'd like to read about Ollie, you can visit Bilbo's blog via the link, and you will find the label for Ollie down the right hand side.

I got my leeks planted out yesterday, there's fifty four of them in total, so they should see us through the winter months. We also planted out another sowing of dwarf French beans and climbing beans. The first sowing are just starting to come in to flower now so this second batch should extend the season. I'm hoping to be able to freeze plenty. I also lifted my shallots and they're now drying.

All the brassicas which I sowed a few weeks ago have been devoured by slugs. I'm having lots of trouble with the little blighters this year. I was hoping to have plenty to plant out for winter, so I'll have another go at sowing them this week, though I might be a little late now, only time will tell.

Sunday Harvest

It's great to be bringing plenty home from the allotment again. It gets to that time of year when more than one or two things make their way in to the trug and on to the dinner plate. Last weekend I picked the first of the cavolo nero, beetroot, and calabrese of the year, and there were also more mange tout and peas which were ready. For our meal on Monday evening we had Beef Bourguignon with home grown potatoes, carrots, calabrese, mange tout and cavolo nero, you can't get much better than that. It was all very tasty and there were four empty plates at the end of the meal.

I'm still not sure if the sweetcorn is going to make it. After languishing in their pots for far too long, they were planted out late at the allotment. They're very yellow at the moment so we'll have to see if they stop sulking and put on some growth.

The shallots look to be ready to pull. Their tops have started to die back, so it's time for them to be lifted. They seem to have done very well, each set having produced lots of shallots, though a couple did try to flower. I'll remember to use those first as apparently, they don't store as well if they've bolted.

Didn't Make The Cut

I've always had great success growing my cut and come again lettuces in containers. I find they grow well and are clean when leaves are taken, and up until now have been free from any slug damage. I wonder what's different this year. Have those pesky slugs just realised that they're able to climb in to my containers and devour my delicious lettuce at will, or are other factors involved? It's not only this lettuce which has been decimated but the whole lot. I suppose I'd better resow.

The first sowing of peas are still producing well, and I've even managed to get a batch stocked up in the freezer for use later. The second sowing is coming along well too. I'm impressed with the taste of this years variety, Hurst Green Shaft, and I shall definitely grow them again.

My blueberry harvest is going to be very poor this year. I think I can see about twenty berries on the two bushes and they're just about ripe now. At the end of the season I shall repot them and replenish the ericaceous compost in the containers. This, and a mulch of coffee grounds, will hopefully give the plants a much needed boost and enable them to put on a better show next year. I was looking forward to some blueberry muffins.

Peas

There's some lovely fat pods on the pea plants now, so we picked a batch at the weekend ready for tonight's meal. There's  more pods just starting to swell, and a second sowing which is a little way behind, so plenty more to come yet. I've also eaten my fair share popped straight from the pod and in to my mouth, the best way to eat them in my opinion. I never grow many peas as there's really only me who eats them. The rest of the family will have a token few on their plates, but they're usually still there at the end of the meal. As I only grow a small amount, I'm able to net them. This prevents the pea moth from laying her eggs in the flowers which results in maggots inside the pods, urghhh.

The sweetcorn has finally been planted out. It's taken all this time to dig a bed ready for them, I really must be more organised next year, though I say that every year. I don't know if it's too late for them now, but at least they've got a chance of growing, they wouldn't have had any chance left in their pots.

I've just pulled up more of the stumpy carrots to have with our meal tonight. I'm really pleased with them, one container will give all four of us four or five servings each. They're ideal to use whilst waiting for the ones at the allotment to be ready, so well worth growing.

Delicious Strawberries

I love this time of year when the strawberries are producing well. We've got another great harvest this year, in fact, I'm going to have my first go at making jam. I never got round to planting out all the plants we took from runners last year, nor the everbearers which we bought at the back end of last year and potted up. They're all producing, though they're still stuck in their pots. I'll make sure they get planted out at the end of summer or beginning of autumn so that they can get established before winter sets in. I'll also pull out all the old plants from the strawberry bed at the allotment, they won't do much in the way of fruiting next year.

I didn't get any jobs done at the allotment at the weekend, though I did go down there to harvest some strawberries and mange tout. We spent some time sowing seeds for winter crops, spring greens, purple sprouting broccoli, kale and chard, as well as sowing some more stumpy round carrots in a container and some more spring onions. I'm hoping there'll be enough time left for them to grow.

I emptied out another of my potato containers yesterday. There aren't as many potatoes in the containers as I've had in the past from other varieties, though the potatoes are bigger on the whole. I will definitely grow this variety, Arran Pilot, again though, they're absolutely delicious, nicer than any I've grown before. They stay firm when boiled and have a wonderful tasting pure white flesh. I've been eating them with butter and mint. Heaven.

Tasty Lunches

At last, my spring onions are ready. I've been enjoying them in sandwiches with cheese all week, though they can also be used in cooking as well as being eaten raw. I grow spring onions in a container rather than at the allotment, they seem to do better this way. These are White Lisbon, a variety which I usually grow as they've always grown well for me. There's plenty more where these came from, though I've fallen down on my successional sowing again. I'll get some more sown this weekend for a late summer harvest.

The cherries are ripening well now, I picked a bowl full today and there's still plenty more on the tree. I know it's not loads by some standards, but the tree is only small so I'm more than happy with this year's crop.

I've just noticed the first tomatoes on the plants. I'm growing Tangella, San Marzano and Gardener's Delight, and the first ones are on the Tangella. They weren't there last time I looked, there's always something new to discover when gardening.

Cherry cherry

This is the third year that I've had my Stella cherry tree. In it's first year I got the grand sum of one cherry from it, though it was utterly delicious. Last year three cherries ripened but the birds got to them before I did so I missed out. This year the tree has started producing much better and this was my first haul from it at the weekend. The cherries don't quite fill a teacup, but there were twenty ripe cherries with lots more still to ripen on the tree. I'm really pleased that I've netted the tree otherwise there'd be no cherries to pick, I saw a magpie trying to poke his beak through the netting this morning to get to the ripe fruits.

The mange tout which I picked at the weekend were delicious. I've never grown them before, in fact it's not something I buy either, but we came across them whilst eating out and hubby asked me to grow them. I couldn't say no, he's only started eating veg since I've had my allotment so I'm only too pleased to take requests from him. Everyone seemed to enjoy them so it's definitely something I'll be growing again. I'm looking forward to the Kent Blue starting to produce as they're supposed to be very tasty.

Hubby finished weeding the onion bed for me, so with one less job to do this week I should have time to get the leeks planted out. I always start my leeks off in plantpots, lots of seedlings to one pot, then separate them when it's time to plant them out. It's always worked fine this way for me. I intend to have more things to harvest over winter this year, so I also need to think about what needs sowing.

Dinner's Sorted

We don't very often have a Sunday dinner. I don't like spending Sunday in the kitchen when everyone's home, so we have roasts midweek instead. Tomorrow we're having roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, so whilst we were at the allotment today I picked the first of the mange tout to go with it. The purple ones are Stephens and the green are Robinson, and the seeds were kindly sent to me by another blogger. Strictly speaking, I believe they're actually peas, but they can be eaten as mange tout. I'm looking forward to trying them. When we got home from the allotment I pulled up the first of the carrots which have grown in a container. These are Paris Market 5, a stumpy round carrot which are ideal for growing in containers as they don't have long roots. I decided to go the whole hog and emptied out the first of the potato containers. These are Arran Pilot and I'm quite pleased with the amount I've got from one container, especially as they've only been growing for just over ten weeks. I'm sure our Monday roast will be delicious with these accompaniments.

The weather has been gorgeous today so we spent some time at the allotment. I've finally got the dwarf French beans planted out, along with the courgettes, squash, pumpkin and marrow, though I didn't quite finish weeding the onion bed. It was far too hot for weeding so that will have to wait until this coming week.

Going to the allotment was a real family event today. Not only did my son and daughter come with us, but we took Archie with us for the first time. He was really good and sat on his rug whilst we got on with everything. Pop over to my Through The Keyhole blog to see what my son found whilst picking strawberries.

Weedy Plot

I managed to get to the plot on Monday afternoon as planned, but just look at the weeds which greeted me. I found time to weed some of the onion bed whilst I was there, but I'm hoping to get the rest of it done this weekend. I haven't seen a weather forcast yet so I hope it's going to be fine. My shallots look to be splitting nicely though, there should be a decent harvest.

I got my climbing beans and runner beans planted out against their wigwams, but the dwarf beans are still in the garden awaiting their turn. That's another job I really have to do this weekend. The courgettes are also still in their pots, even though they've started flowering, so they'll be going out too.

I've got quite a few cherries on the tree which are looking nearly ripe. I threw some netting over to stop the birds from feasting on them and it's certainly paid off, so I'm looking forward to tasting the first of them this weekend, perhaps it'll be a little treat after my plot visit.

Slug On My McKana

I've found loads of these horrible little slugs on lots of my plants this last week. The rain has brought them out of hiding and now I'm finding them all over the place. This one is on my Aquilegia McKana Hybrid. I grew this from seed and forgot all about it until I found it languishing in a pot, so I popped it in to the border and it's now flowering. It's always exciting when a plant grown from a mixed packet of seeds comes in to flower. Until that time you've no idea what colour it's going to be. I'm quite happy with this one, though I do still prefer the purple Auilegia Vulgaris which has been in my border a couple of years. I hasten to add that the slug was removed and disposed of.

I didn't manage to get to the allotment at all this weekend due to other commitments, so I'm hoping to get up there this afternoon. It's high time my beans were planted out. The wigwams are already in place so it's only a matter of planting them around the base. I've also got my dwarf beans still in pots so I'll get them planted out too.

My tomatoes are growing well since they were potted on in to their final pots. They really need tying in to their canes again but hubby has gone off to work with the twine in his car, so that job will have to wait until later.

Blog Award

It's always nice to receive awards for my blog, so I'd like to thank Bluebell from At Home In The Country for bestowing the Kreativ Blogger Award up on me.

I'm supposed to reveal ten things about me which you don't already know, but I've done so many of these in the past that I feel you all know me so well already. Therefore, I'm going to break the rules and not reveal anything today, however, if you really want to read ten random facts about me, a trawl through my past posts will reveal all.

Another rule I'm going to break is how many blogs I pass the award on to. I gather that I should give the award to ten blogs, but being the rebel that I am, I'm going to nominate only one.

So, without further ado, I'd like to pass the award on to Louisa at The Really Good Life. Her blog has the tag line Where growing, frugality & good living come together. Do take a look at her blog as I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

My thanks go again to Bluebell for this award, I'm truly grateful.

Ready To Flower

We spent Sunday morning moving everything out of the greenhouse so that I could get my tomatoes potted in their final pots and moved in to their final positions. As you can see, the plants are just starting to flower so it really was time that this job was done. I've got two plants each of three varieties - Tangella, San Marzano and Gardener's Delight, and I can just manage to fit these in my small 6 foot by 4 foot greenhouse. Six plants provide enough tomatoes for us as there's only me who eats them. My son will occasionally pop a sun warmed cherry tomato in his mouth, but that's about it. They don't know what they're missing.

I had intended to spend Sunday afternoon at the allotment, but the weather had other ideas. It started raining at lunch time and didn't stop all day. It was quite heavy at times so it will have given everything a much needed watering, including the weeds, I bet it's a jungle when I do get down there now.

As well as the tomatoes coming in to flower, there's a couple of flowers on my pepper plants and the first of the courgettes is just about to bloom too. Roll on the harvests.

A Stella Haul Of Cherries?

This is the third year that I've had my cherry tree. It's a Stella, which is a dessert cherry and self fertile. Two years ago it produced one cherry, which was delicious. I was hoping for better things last year but it still only produced three cherries, which the birds got before I had the chance. Things are looking up this year. The tree is covered in green cherries, and as you can see, they're just starting to ripen. I shall drape some netting over the tree soon to prevent the birds from taking them.

I shall be turfing out all the plants which are still residing in the greenhouse this weekend. My tomato plants are starting to flower so it's time that they were set in to their final positions. I think tomatoes are still my favourite thing to grow. I love watching every stage of their growth, from sowing the seed to popping the first sun warmed fruit in to my mouth. My greenhouse is only small, four foot by six foot, so there's little else I can fit in it over the summer months other than my tomato plants, though I'll find some room for my peppers.

It looks like a couple of my courgette plants are going to come in to flower soon as they've got plenty of buds on them. I'm growing a variety, Firenze, which is ideal for containers as it produces high yields of small courgettes throughout summer. I have kept this variety in the garden, but have another two varieties for the allotment. I can see me being overrun with courgettes this year but I don't mind as I love them.

A Thug

I didn't get round to sowing any sweet peas this year. I always intend to start some off in autumn but I don't think I've ever managed it yet. Spring comes and I think to myself, oh well, there's still time, but this year I didn't even manage that. I love having sweet peas in the house as they smell gorgeous, and it's the one plant in the garden which I don't mind cutting because the more you pick, the more flowers are produced. I'm not totally without sweet peas though as a couple of years ago, hubby's uncle gifted me a cutting from his perennial sweet pea plant. I planted it in my border thinking it would look lovely climbing up an obelisk. I totally underestimated the strength and vigour of this plant. I've never yet had a nice display from it. It scrambles madly up the obelisk pulling it over in it's haste, and I find new bits of plant popping up all over the border. The flowers are very pretty, as you can see, but I really have to rethink it's position for next year as it's spoiling my whole border.

I intended to spend quite a bit of time at the allotment over the last week, but with it being half term, and nice weather to boot, my plans were thwarted. Instead, we had some lovely days out, and by the time we got home each day it was too late to do anything else. You can read about our days out, including a trip to Roundhay Park where the Leeds City Council Chelsea gardens are on display, on my Through The Keyhole blog. We managed to spend some time at the allotment yesterday and today and I've finally got my maincrop potatoes - Maris Piper in the ground as well as most of my brassicas.

The onion bed was covered in weeds when I got to the allotment yesterday, so my first job was to set to and get it sorted out. I started by pulling up all the more established weeds, and then ran a hoe over the smaller weeds. It looked a bit messy afterwards, but when I got there today the bed had settled again and it looked very neat and tidy. No doubt they'll all be back again by next week.