Spring In To Action

Now that spring is officially here, I felt I was getting a bit left behind with everything I had to do. Fortunately, we had some glorious weather at the weekend which enabled me to get some jobs done. We spent part of Saturday at the allotment, sorting out the compost bins, planting up the new strawberry bed with the Sonata strawberries I bought at the back end of last year, and making a start on digging and preparing the beds. As you can see, some things are now waiting to go out. The red onions and shallots have put on plenty of growth in the greenhouse, and the broad beans don't want to be hanging around much longer either.

On Sunday, I decided it was time to get some sowing done. First off, I got the tomatoes planted. I mentioned the varieties in my last post, but didn't bother with the Harbinger and Red Cherry. I'm hoping to grow a couple of plants of each of the other nine varieties. I made my first sowing of peas - Hurst Green Shaft and mangetout - Reuzensuiker, and I will sow these again in a month or so to stagger the harvest. The brassicas also got sown, cabbage - Advantage, Swiss chard - Bright Lights, kale - Cavolo de Nero, kale - Dwarf Green Curled, broccoli - Autumn Spear, broccoli - (Sprouting) Summer Purple and kohl rabi - Purple Delicacy. I also sowed some lettuce - Salad Bowl. I think I'm just about caught up now with the sowing, though I still need to sow the radishes and spring onions.

The first potatoes which were planted in containers are now showing some leaf above the compost. I'm staggering the planting so that they're not all ready to harvest together, two or three weeks between each batch should just about do nicely and then I'll be kept in potatoes well in to autumn and perhaps in to winter. It's all in the planning.

Let's Talk About Tomatoes

If I could only grow one thing, it would have to be tomatoes. Not only do home grown tomatoes taste so much better than those bought from the supermarket, but I enjoy the process of growing them too.

I usually squeeze six plants in to my small 6X4 greenhouse, but this year I'm branching out, trying some different varieties to those I've grown previously, as well as some favourites, and I'm going to grow some outdoors in the garden as well as in the greenhouse. I'm hoping for a much bigger harvest than usual so that I can make some sauces.

The old favourites I'm going to grow are Tangella, I grew these from my own saved seed last year and I'm doing the same again this year, Tigerella, Ferline and Gardener's Delight. I picked up some new to me varieties in the Wyevale 50p sale last year. Wyevale has now changed it's name to The Garden Centre Group, and their sale can really save you a lot of money, one of the packets should have been £4.99 and it only contains six seeds. I wouldn't have bought them at that price, but I don't mind for 50p. I was looking for ones which do well outdoors. The ones I came up with are Pannovy, Gold Nugget, Black Cherry, Harbinger and Incas. I've also got Red Cherry which were a freebie and Eleanor which was sent to me by Kath from Veg Heaven. Kath has bred this variety herself and I'm eager to try it as my daughter's name is Eleanor. Thank you Kath.

It's now just a matter of getting the seed sown, which I'm hoping to do this week. I've usually started the seeds off on a windowsill in a heated propagator, but last year I sowed them inside the mini plastic greenhouse which is inside the normal greenhouse to give them a little extra protection. They grew much stronger so I'm going to do that again this year. I can't wait to pick the first sun warmed tomato from a plant and pop it straight in my mouth.

Impulse Buy

I think all gardeners are guilty of impulse buys. Even when the flower beds are well stocked, there's always something which catches the eye on a trip to a garden centre or nursery. We visited our local nursery to buy the apple tree which I blogged about in my last post, but I had to pass the perennials in order to pay for the tree. This gorgeous Hellebore Niger called out to me as I passed, and with a price tag of just £2.99 it was a certainty that it was coming home with us. I've seen much smaller specimens at double the price, so I was happy with this. The flower border in my back garden needs a total overhaul this year, many plants have grown too big for their boots, so they'll have to be moved in to the patch we've got at the front of the house, and new smaller plants will be purchased to replace them. I'm going to follow Geoff Hamilton's advice and buy something new every month so that I can be assured of some colour in the border all the year round.

Today is Mother's Day in the UK, so Happy Mother's Day to all you mums reading my blog. I've been thoroughly spoilt, and one of my presents is a blackcurrant bush. I'm trying to get a bit more fruit on the allotment so this is a wonderful present. I don't have anywhere prepared to plant it yet, so it's now biding it's time in a container until I can prepare a patch especially for it.

I haven't managed to get to the allotment this weekend, but hubby has dug over a bit more ground, as well as filling the old bath there with some fresh compost in order to grow carrots again this year. The carrots which were sown in the bath last year were great so I'm hoping we have the same success again this year.

Decision Made

I've been contemplating getting a small apple tree for sometime now. I don't have room to plant a tree in the ground, but after seeing how well my cherry tree has done in a half barrel container, I decided that I'd give an apple tree in a container a go too. I didn't want to get more than one apple tree so I had to look for a self-fertile variety, and luckily, my local nursery had quite a few different ones in stock, many of them suitable to be grown in a container. We decided on Gloster in the end, a lovely red skinned variety with crisp flesh. My parents had given us some money for our twentieth wedding anniversary in 2010, and we've been waiting to find the perfect present to spend it on and this is it.

It's been a lovely weekend weather wise, so I set to getting my leek and sweet pea seeds sown. I'm growing Musselburgh leeks. I've sown them earlier than I usually do, so I hope they do better for me this year. I've never done very well with leeks before, they always seem to grow very spindly. The sweet peas I've sown are from a collection by Suttons. There are five different varieties in the pack, which I bought for 50p in the Wyevale sale. This was marked down from £4.75 so I got a bargain there. The varieties are White Ensign, Noel Sutton, Air Warden, Mrs R.Bolton and Beaujolais. I'm hoping to have some in the garden as well as at the allotment.

Hubby was busy in the garden yesterday. He emptied the compost bin which was full of lovely compost. It will now be spread on the beds at the allotment. He'd been digging over some beds on Saturday, and the new strawberry bed is just about finished so I'll be able to get the plants set out soon. He also washed down the greenhouse for me and put the mini plastic greenhouse inside so that it gives any seedlings a little extra protection. It means I can start seed sowing in earnest now.

I Couldn't Resist

I know I said that I was only going to grow one variety of potato this year, but when I saw packets of seed potatoes in a shop window display at only £1.00 per packet I couldn't resist. So, as well as the Arran Pilot potatoes which I've already got chitting, I now have some Nicola. There were six tubers in the pack, which is ideal if you want to give a variety a try without having it as your main crop. Nicola is a salad variety so should be good for boiling. They'll get planted up in to containers just like the Arran Pilot.

Hubby dug up all the remaining parsnips and leeks from the allotment at the weekend, par boiled them and they're all now in the freezer waiting to be used up. I was very surprised at the amount of parsnips we had left in the ground, it's quite hard to judge just how many are there after the leaves have died down over winter. This year is the best we've ever done with parsnips, they were sown direct last year and I think this has made all the difference, we'll be sowing direct again this year but the soil needs to warm up a little first. The leeks never really put on much growth, but they're still tasty, and those now in the freezer will cook well in casseroles.

The next seed I sow will be leeks. I've never really had a good crop of leeks and I think one of the reasons is because I plant them out too late. This year I'm hoping to get them in the ground a little earlier so I can see if this makes any difference. It can't hurt.

Sets In

I've finally got round to getting my red onion sets and shallot sets potted up in to modules. It's still too wet to get them in to the ground so potting them up this way gives them a chance to get started and put out some roots before they're eventually planted out at the allotment. I did the same thing last year with the shallots and I got a great harvest, in fact, I'm still eating them. This is the first year that I'm growing red onions, I've gone for Red Baron which seems to be a common variety.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm going to start some potatoes off early to try and get an early harvest. I had intended getting some planted up alot earlier than this, but it's another job which I haven't yet got round to doing. I've got a container at the ready and shall get round to planting a couple of tubers in it this week, and it will then reside in the greenhouse to give it some protection. The weather is very mild at the moment, but if it turns cold again I shall make sure that I've got some fleece at the ready.

I seem to be behind everyone else with their spring bulbs. I've now got a few snowdrops and crocuses blooming, and the daffodils are pushing through the soil, so I don't feel quite so left out now when anyone mentions all the flowers they have in their garden.

Signs Of Life

The strawberry plants which I overwintered in the greenhouse are springing back to life, reminding me that I need to get a bed dug over at the allotment ready to accommodate them. These are Sonata, a mid season variety, and I also have some Flamenco which are everbearers. I cleared my old strawberry patch at the end of last year as the plants are only productive for between three and four years. I do so hope that I get a good haul this year as my daughter and I absolutely love them.

I've been wondering whether or not I should get an apple tree. I don't have room in the ground for one so it would have to reside in a large pot, but seeing how well my container grown cherry tree did last year, I've come to the decision that I'm going to buy one. I've had a look at the local nursery and they do apple trees on dwarf rootstock, which is what I need if I'm going to keep it in a container. A variety which took my eye is Gloster which produces red apples and is self-fertile, so I think this is the one I'm going to settle on.

The blackcurrant bush which I bought last year is still in the container I transferred it to after I'd brought it home. Getting it planted at the allotment is another of those jobs which I didn't get round to doing, so that's another job I've got to do as soon as possible. The jobs are stacking up already and we're not yet out of February, I think it's going to be a busy year.

The Cutting Patch

I've tried for the last couple of years to grow a cutting patch at the allotment, flowers which I can cut and bring home for the house. I love seeing flowers in the garden but hate to cut them for indoors so this seemed to be the perfect solution. It hasn't quite worked out though, as once the growing season gets going, I tend to devote most of my time to my veggies. Space is also a concern as starting vegetables from seed can take up quite a bit of room on the windowsills, starting flowers off too just adds to the problem of where to put them. This year I'm going to try direct sowing the flower seeds. Sarah Raven's Kitchen and Garden catalogue can be really inspirational. I just love the Amethyst and Sapphire Cut Flower Mix bouquet on the right hand side, and the information states that the seeds can be scattered in a sunny corner of the garden, sowing this way would certainly alleviate some of the problems I have when growing cut flowers. I shall go through my stash of flower seeds and see which ones can be sown this way.

One must have flower, which is perfect for cutting for the house because of it's wonderful scent, is the sweet pea. I didn't get round to sowing any last year and I really missed them. I've still got my red onions and shallots to pot up so I shall make sure that I sow some sweet peas at the same time. I'm hoping to get round to doing that this weekend, but it's my son's birthday on Sunday so I may run out of time. It'll get done soon though.

I only have one flower border in my garden, and that's not very big. I planted it up three years ago with native flowers, but some of them have now outgrown their space. This year I want to revamp this area. Bilbo Waggins from The View From Bag End left a comment on one of my earlier posts which really got me thinking. She told me that the late, great, Geoff Hamilton had suggested going to a nursery once a month and buying something for the garden which is in flower, then you'll have flowers in your garden every month of the year. I think that's a great tip and one which I'm going to take on board, I keep saying that I need more colour in the garden in winter, so doing this will really help.

Yes Peas

The variety of pea I've chosen to grow this year is Hurst Green Shaft. I grew this variety last year and was very pleased with them, they grew well and tasted delicious. Last year was the first year that I've sown direct, and I was pleased with how well they germinated and grew so I shall do the same again this year, though I may make an early sowing in pots to be transplanted. I'd like to grow more peas this year than I usually do. I did manage to freeze some last year but they didn't last long so I'm hoping to get a bigger harvest this year. With this in mind, I sent off for the Yes Peas! recipe booklet. It contains twenty one different pea recipes, and some of those are vegetarian so there's something for everyone, providing you like peas. I quite fancy Peas and Goat's Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms and Spicy Beef and Pea Patties, but there's plenty more in the booklet to get the taste buds tingling. If you'd like a copy of the Yes Peas! recipe booklet for yourself, it can be ordered from the Yes Peas! website. There's also other recipes on the website as well as lots of information.

The onions which I started from seed aren't doing so well. They're very straggly because I left them on the windowsill after germination, whereas I should have really moved them to the unheated conservatory or porch. It's just too warm for them where they are, and this is encouraging weak growth. I think I shall start over and sow some more this weekend while it's still early enough.

We had more snow fall last night, though not as much as last weekend. The problem now is that the original snow hadn't melted, so we're walking on fresh snow on top of compacted, frozen snow which makes it extremely slippy. I took Archie for a walk this morning and nearly went flying, I don't know how I managed to stay upright. It's very cold today but there's no more snow forecast, so that's good.

Hedging My Bets

I've already got two blueberry bushes but I've hardly had anything off them for the last couple of years. I'm going to repot them in to some fresh ericaceous compost to see if that will rejuvenate them, as well as giving them a mulch of coffee grounds. Whilst I was shopping this morning, I decided to pop in to Wilkinson's to have a look at their gardening section, as you do, and I happened to come across this blueberry plant for the princely sum of £3.18. Many plants which are bought like this look like sticks at first, but this already has some new growth so I won't shock it by putting it outside straight away. After being potted up, it can live in my greenhouse until the weather improves. I'm hoping that now I've got three plants, each will be pollinated better and I'll get more fruit.

My shallots, which I bought from my local nursery last week, are also waiting to be potted up. I've gone for Sante again, they did really well for me last year. I also bought a few red onion sets. I've gone for a variety which I've heard many people mention they grow, Red Baron. I love red onion in a salad, but I've never grown them before.

I wasn't long in Wilkinson's, but when I went in the weather was cold but fine. By the time I came out again, there was already a fine layer of snow on the ground. Since then, the snow has continued to fall and we've got quite a covering now. It wasn't predicted to start snowing until early evening so it came sooner than expected, and there's no indication that it's going to stop anytime soon.

More Veg Seeds

There were only a couple of things left to get off this year's seed list, squash and cabbage. I don't often use mail order for seeds, simply because I begrudge paying the postage, but I've heard lots of good reviews about More Veg so I decided I'd give them a go. Postage wasn't bad actually, only 95p if the order is less than £7.50, or free if your order is above this amount. They also do packets containing a smaller number of seeds, so you're not paying for seeds which you won't use. I was impressed by the speed of the delivery. My order was placed last Monday afternoon and the seeds were with me on Wednesday, you can't ask for quicker than that. The order came with a handwritten compliment slip thanking me for my order, I thought that was a nice personal touch and I shall definitely use this company again. The squash I decided on was Uchiki Kuri as I've had recommendations for this and Blue Kuri as I quite faniced a blue skinned variety. The cabbage I've gone for is Advantage F1 as it seems a good all round cabbage and very versatile, it can be sown more or less throughout the year. The seed packets came with good instructions and even hints and tips on how the vegetable can be cooked and eaten.

The Big Garden Birdwatch which is run by the RSPB has taken place this weekend, but as well as being out and about, I've had other commitments which prevented me from taking part this year. I don't think the birds will have minded though, it's been a bit quiet on the bird front in my garden this past week, perhaps they knew what was happening this weekend and were already in hiding. Let's hope they come back this week now it's all over.

The weather was supposed to be getting colder this weekend, and I thought the forecasters had got it wrong as yesterday was a gorgeous warm, sunny day, but it's turned really cold today, I do hope that snow isn't on it's way.

Buds Fit To Burst

Everywhere I look, I'm noticing buds waiting to burst open. It's just a matter of time before the trees will be fully clothed in their leaves again. I'm beginning to wonder though if the mild winter we've had so far will have any affect on the garden when spring arrives, especially if we get some hard frosts before then. It seems that plants have been tricked in to thinking that spring is here already, and they're getting ready for the season ahead, but some hard frosts could then put paid to their spring season altogether. The photo is of buds on my cherry tree, but my blueberries have buds on too, and it's only a couple of years ago that a frost wiped out that year's crop. I'm hoping that the same thing doesn't happen again.

I finally got round to sowing my onion seed - Bedfordshire Champion on Sunday. My windowsills are now in use and won't be cleared of seed trays until the sowing frenzy has subsided at the end of spring. I've sown the seed in trays with a propagator lid, but no heat. I've also sown some broad beans - Bunyards Exhibition. This is the first year that I've grown broad beans. I remember hating them when I was a child but I thought it was time that they were given a second chance, afterall, I hated runner beans and French beans too, yet they're one of my favourite vegetables now.

I'm not only noticing buds waiting to burst open at the moment. This morning was glorious, sunny, still and quite warm, so I took Archie on a long dog walk and was amazed at the number of bulbs which are pushing their way through the soil, everything from snowdrops to daffodils. I think there's going to be a riot of colour soon.

Winter Blooms

Each year, I say I'm going to plant more things in the garden which will give me some winter colour, and each year I never get round to it. It's been quite an exceptional year this year, in that many summer flowers have lasted right in to winter, and many spring flowers are already blooming, so there's been quite alot of colour around this winter. I can't remember when this primrose last stopped flowering, it's certainly flowered without a pause for the last year, though it's looking a little bedraggled at the moment.

We've got blustery winds mixed in with rain again today. I can't remember a time when the weather's been so windy for such a prolonged length of time, it scares me to death and I got little sleep again last night. I'm wishing that the weather forecasters had been right and we'd had snow instead.

I'm hoping to get the first sowing of the year done today. As I'm growing onions from seed rather than sets this year, it's time that they were sown to give them a fair chance of growing to a decent size. That will be the extent of my gardening for today, I'm not braving the winds for anything else.

Slow Growing

You may remember that I sowed some carrot seed in containers to overwinter in the greenhouse. This is the stage they're at at the moment, very small. To be honest, I forgot all about them, they've been residing outside until I suddently remembered to move them in to the greenhouse when the frost struck at the weekend. I'm hoping that when the warmer weather comes in spring, they'll begin to grow again and I'll end up with an early carrot crop.

I'm going to have a go at growing some early potatoes too. My seed potatoes are set out and chitting at the moment, but in the next couple of weeks I'm going to start a couple of tubers off in a container wrapped in fleece in the greenhouse to see if I can get an extra early harvest of potatoes. It's worth a try.

After a very mild start to winter, we had four frosts on the go from Saturday onwards. It's warmed up again today, no frost in sight, and rain is forecast for the rest of the week. One of the weather reports yesterday suggested snow in my part of the world at the weekend, though I think they've revised that prediction now, I hope so anyway.

On A Cold And Frosty Morning

Yesterday morning, we had our first proper frost of the year, followed by the second today. We've only had a couple of very light frosts previously, which haven't really touched the ground. Hubby has been to the allotment today to fetch some veg and he managed to dig up some parnips. The top couple of inches of earth were frozen but other than that, the ground wasn't too hard. I think that winter might finally be on it's way.

I'm really pleased with my cabbages this year, though Hubby brought the last home with him from the allotment today. I'm unsure of the variety as the seed was sown in a hurry after my original seedlings were eaten by slugs, and I never got round to labelling them. I shall certainly grow more next year so that they last longer in to winter.

Hubby also brought home some purple sprouting broccoli from the allotment. It's not supposed to be ready until about February, but I started harvesting it in November. Perhaps it will slow down a little now that the frosts are here.