A Full Week in the Garden 29.04.07

Good morning and welcome to my update, I hope you find it useful and interesting:

This week I wanted to illustrate how much you can get done by spending just 15 minutes a day during the week (if that) and a bit more time at the weekend in the garden. Sadly - most of us have to work - me included - so a little done often is the way to go.

Sunday:
Planted out new fruit bushes into the borders. Purchased from wilkinsons.
Potted on first of Pumpkin plants into its own container, to be kept in conservatory till early june.
Tied in runner bean growth.






Monday:
Planted new row of Leeks(v.Mussleburgh) into raised beds.
Radish rows growing very fast-will need thinning out soon.
Beetroot (v.Boltardy) seedlings now appearing. Looking at the picture, left to right crops are:
Garlic, Carrot, Garlic, Shallott, Shallott, Carrot, Chive, Radish, Betroot, Radish, Parsnip.
Biggest problem is only now starting - weeding! At some point I will have to remove the netting so I can get to the weeds !

Tuesday:
Rain started today - but not much of it.
Second sowing of runner beans started to show this morning. Planted as a successional batch in case plants in raised beds get hit by frost. Have just planted the seeds into toilet roll inners, that are packed with fresh compost / vermiculite mixture. If the mild weather continues unabated, I will need to site these elsewhere in the garden as no room in the raised beds.
Beetroot row now firmly extablished, and seedlings thinned to approx 1.5" apart. Further thinning may or may not be required. Will have to wait and see!

Wednesday:
Tied in the Broad beans to the canes. This enables all plant energy to be channelled into cropping, and not self support of the plants.
Continued with weeding between rows.
Carrots and Chive seedling just starting to appear, the former will need to be thinned out at a later date.
Radishes thinned to approx 1" apart, in both rows.
Runner beans are growing fast, and have been tied in to their support canes on regular occasions.


Thursday:
Woke up to remnants of overnight rain. Much needed foot of water in the water butts, but I still want more !
More weeding being done now between the rows, keeping them down.
More broad bean growth tied in to canes. Flowers have formed well, and the absence of ants on the plants is good news too. No sign of blackfly yet, but keeping my eyes open! I planted some climbing french beans early - same time as broad beans as a bit of an experiment - and these are starting to climb above the broad beans. Planting dates are in the diary page - see earlier post.

Friday:
Getting very low again on rainwater to water the plants, but still not resorted to the tap. We really need some prolonged rain to replenish the stocks, as being on a water meter I am loathed to resort to the hosepipe! Have attached pic of my toms - Money Maker, which are now about 6" Tall. I've had to use canes to support them as leaf growth is so fast the stems can't support the plants.
Had a rest day from gardening, opting instead to assemble our new travel system for the bab, due in 8 weeks. I'm sooooo excited!

Saturday:
Up bright and early as new raised beds boards are due for delivery 7.00am ! And they arrived on time !!
Blackcurrant bush planted last week is showing new leaf growth and looking healthy, whilst Gooseberry bush seems to be struggling. Both watered and fed with liquid fertilizer.
Again, had to tie in runner bean growth, some of the plants have grown about 8" in the last week.
TIP : To keep the kids interest up, I mark the canes each sunday morning with a marker pen. This lets you show the growth rate very easily - the look on faces is a picture!
Rhubarb root continues to grow at a pace, and seems now to be well established, plenty of new growth.
Spuds have grown so much, I have to push the leaves aside now to find the holes in the black plastic through which to water ! Maincrop will be planted out in the morning.
This growth rate is truly astounding, the only way I can get a handle on it is taking a picture daily. Even with my weekly posting pictures you can clearly see progress.
I put this down to the soil preperation prior to planting.




Sunday:
After posting this update, I need to get out and plant my maincrop spuds, before we nip over to the in laws for dinner!

I hope you've enjoyed your visit to my blog, and that you will come back soon,
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Luckily we managed to avoid any problems associated with the earthquake in Folkestone / Dover, but I hope that all those that have been affected get back to normal as soon as possible.

See you next week.

TTFN