Reads Retreat

2012-01-03T15:42:00.001Z

That's right folks, we're back.

We are no longer allotment holders - but thats another story!

This year we will be concentrating on the home plot, and what better way to fuel our enthusiasm than getting my darling Jen a coop for Christmas.

We look forward to your company again this year as we get going, and hope you can spare a few mins here and there to share our journey.

Back soon,

TTFN

Check this out

2011-05-11T11:19:00.001+01:00

Jen has created a new blog, detailing her Crafting Creations that she sells on ebay.

Click here for more information.

Planting time and plot update.

2010-04-28T16:27:00.019+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. What glorious weather we are having - but don't jump for joy too soon - cold weather is set to return - it's a Bank Holiday Weekend!. But, that's what we expect, and we can deal with it - resilient lot us Brits!

And how's this for an inspirational pic - right outside the back door we have a raised bed full with Peas(v. Kelvedon Wonder). These have been in situ for about a week now and are showing signs of growth - the little "tendrils" seeking out something to hold on to!Since this picture was taken the pesky cats invaded the earth and did their worst! Gonna have to get a spud gun or something?

You'd be forgiven for thinking we're growing a garden fork and a pile of twigs! Rest assured we have 10 tubers of Second Earlies in there(v.Nadine) which we hope will give us a great crop on our doorstep. The same variety at the plot are doing ok too, but it seems extra nice to just nip outside and dig some up !

We've also planted an old dustbin up with 3 small tubers, and these appear to be flourishing. Since this pic was taken, the spuds have been earthed up, and already need doing again. Let's hope this is a good sign.

More good news : We risked it a bit with 3 early Courgette plants, outside on the patio. The initial leaves turned a silvery grey and died back, but more by luck than judgment, new growth abounds. This variety is the ever popular All Green Bush, which grow 6" tasty fruits. A few days since this picture and they are growing on well. The more eagle eyed may or may not notice the recycled recycling bin! There's a pack of seeds to anyone who can tell me which council unwittingly donated it !

The salad bar is open ! Well, almost! We have planted up a couple of small rows of lettuce, 2 rows of Beetroot (v.Boltardy), another row of lettuce(v.Lollo Rosso), a row of Spring Onions (v. White Lisbon), and a row of Purple Sprouting Broccoli. We've also got some onion sets to go in - a job for tomorrow! (If the rain ever stops!).

Thats about all for now - we've not been completely idle, but still loads to do.

Take care all and enjoy your gardening.

TTFN

Happy St Georges Day

2010-04-23T06:13:00.004+01:00

To all readers - especially the English ones - hope you have a fantastic day.

RIP Dan Holkham (3rd Battalion - The Rifles).

TTFN.

A New Addition!

2010-04-11T09:03:00.003+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Isn't the weather lovely! (Well , it is here anyway!). We recently purchased a new (secondhand) mower to keep the turf in check. This £7 model is a Qualcast Super Panther, complete and fully working. One of the rarer good buys on ebay!!
As i set about completing the first cut, Ruby followed with her barrow "getting the bits that daddy missed". Bless her !
Of course, the first cut of the grass went straight into the compost bin as usual. Seed germination is still going on at quite a pace. Today I'll be potting on the toms, so am gonna be busy. I hope you get some of the lovely sunshine wherever you are, and that you too have a great day.

TTFN

Rhubarb!

2010-04-05T12:15:00.008+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, seems like only minutes since we last updated !!! Mum left in the week with half a dozen spud tubers to grow at home, together with a dozen Courgette (v.Black Beauty) seeds. You dont need to grow a lot - every little helps! And now, just a few more pictures to keep you going. This Rhubarb crown is now in it's 3rd year, and going by the size of it, its looking pretty healthy too. Hopefully we'll get even more from it this year mmmmmmm can almost taste it now!

Whereas this little beauty is just into its second year. We;ll probably take a small crop here too, but this plant will mainly be left alone to build up strength for next year. Dont forget we have a crown up at the allotment too, cant see us running out!

And no! It's not just a dustbin! This is our new spud planter, and is home to 3 more second earlies tubers (v.Nadine) which will supplement those being grown in the raised bed. I've not had much luck preciously growing spuds in tubs, but we'll see how we get on, and keep you posted.

Not much else happening on the plot, but if the weather improves a touch I've got a load of Onion sets(v.Turbo) still to go in.

Thats about it for today, but please do pop back soon for more updates.

Hopefully the weather will change for the better, and we can all get on with growing!

Take care all,

TTFN.

Belated Update from 24th March! (sorry!)

2010-04-05T11:17:00.011+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, for a somewhat delayed update. We have had a frantic week, but we managed to spend some time on the 24th to ready the garden for Mum's visit. Sadly the weather didn't join us too, but it's amazing just how much you can accomplish in just a few hours. Up until today, the patio table was storage space for everything and anything, and even now still needs further sorting! Just need some decent weather in which to potter about in !

One key job accomplished today was the planting of some second earlies spuds. We chose to plant Nadine in the raised beds based on he fact that we have 30 tubers of First Earlies already planted up at the plot, and fearing the fact that we might not get a lot more in - due mainly to my health - we wanted to get some of these on the go too. Other plans for the raised beds are to use another bed just for onions, as well as the 2 smaller beds for salad type stuff. Its sure gonna be busy, and this year is kind of low maintenance all round.

Elsewhere; in the mainly weed filled borders, we are starting to see more colour. The snowdrops are slowly giving way as pockets of Daffs and Tulips make their appearance. It's a lovely time, just wish i could do more. I could easily spend a week just tackling the weeds ! That's about it for now, but pop back in an hour or so for this weeks update!!! Take care all and enjoy your gardens.

TTFN

Beware : Mother Nature

2010-03-22T06:34:00.000Z

Welcome back everyone!

Just to let you all know we had an overnight low of 2c , which brought with it a very light ground frost.

We don't want too many of these !

Off to work now,

TTFN

First planting of the year!

2010-03-14T07:59:00.007Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Yesterday the weather forecast promised much but failed to deliver, the sky remained overcast and there was still a chill in the air. And as you all know, I'm still not feeling 100%. But, that doesn't stop the enthusiasm from welling up inside - there so much springing into life in the garden, and I so wanted to do "something" !. A quick trawl through my seed box, and i came across an open packet of Pea seed (v. Kelvedon Wonder) from last year, with about 30 seeds left inside. The bed pictured was home last year to our dwarf yellow french beans, which we were going to plant in the same place again this year, and maybe we still can if i can get the timing right, but we have gambled by planting these pea's now to try for an early crop - hopefully around May time? The bed has been covered in fleece; mainly to stop the cats from shitting in the bed, but also to help keep some heat in there to aid germination. Fingers crossed as always!

Our Asparagus bed has had a generous extra top layer added, mainly consisting of spent compost from last years grow bags / tomato pots, and the bed covered with a mesh frame. We're keeping everything croosed here ! As the plants settled in to their second winter, 8 out of the original 10 crowns we planted were still going well. Now it's just a case of wait and see if we get a crop this year. We should do, with crowns now being over 2 years old. I know its still early days in terms of an asparagus bed, as this should crop for 20 years or so if well looked after!
We'll keep you posted!¬ If you have any tips to help us along, please leave your comments.

The other beds in the garden are nearly all weeded now, and we're covering them as we go with weed prevention membrane. I'm a big fan of this material, it lets the moisture through, but stops light getting in and hence stops weed growth. Also, keeps the bloomin' cats at bay!

That's all for now. Hope you are all enjoying your gardens & plots - there's so much to do.

Finally, a Very Happy Mother's day to all concerned xxx

Take care all,

TTFN.

Up with the lark !

2010-03-13T05:59:00.000Z

Nature's alarm clock went off at 0545hrs today:

The birds are singing in the tree's!

What a great start to the day.

TTFN

First signs of spring

2010-03-08T09:38:00.005Z

Welcome Back to Reads Retreat, for a long overdue update! Regular readers of our Allotment Blog will be aware of the reasons (weather & health) that have curtailed any gardening activities. The latter is still an issue, but that doesn't stop the enthusiasm ! These daffs (pic) are in their second year now, and these lovely blooms were the first to show just last week. We have a bed in front of the house with about fifty bulbs in it. They're a lovely sight when all in bloom!

Elsewhere around the garden, we have a lot of small clumps of snowdrops in flower. Aren't they gorgeous!
Planning for the raised beds is well underway, not least the Asparagus bed . The crowns will be 2 years old this year and we are eagerly awaiting a crop to grace the dining table. We will also grow a load of cut and come again salad varieties, beetroot, onions, spring onions etc that we can harvest right when we need them.

We've also been given a half dozen trailing winter pansies, which have already been given new homes in baskets and tubs. It's nice to see a bit of greenery, and the prospect of colour too in a few weeks will bring the garden to life again.

Thats all for now, but hope you'll pop back soon for more updates.

Take care all and enjoy your gardening.

TTFN.

Crikey it's cold!

2010-01-07T12:46:00.004Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where like most people we are just about coping with the big freeze! We've had some pretty heavy snowfall, and are only venturing outside when we have to! Already I'm thinking I should have opened the water butt, as the whole lot is frozen solid now, and the ice has backed up the filler pipe and into the gutter. I tried to turn the tap this morning but that too is frozen. Let's hope the tank doesn't split!

I guess it's gonna be a while before we start planting! There's not really much that can be done at all, so we'll sit back and let the weather do what it wants.
By all accounts, we are quite lucky, as so far we've had no power cuts. I'm back to work in the morning, and already dreading the drive to work.
Take care all, wrap up warm and enjoy as best you can.

TTFN

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T14:00:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, and a Happy New Year to you all.

Cold weather is forecast here for at least the next seven days, so it might be a while before we post a gardening update, but we look forward to sharing our gardening exploits with you all for another year.

Drop by soon, and hopefully read some gardening news.

Take care all,

TTFN.

Merry Christmas everyone

2009-12-25T07:33:00.002Z

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

From all of us at

Reads Retreat.

First Snow

2009-12-19T11:43:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where we are just getting to grips with the first snowfall of the winter. Yesterday morning my drive home from work was treacherous to say the least. During the night ( i was working!) there was about 4" of snow in about 3 hours. The roads were somewhat slippery, and my journey home took about 40 mins instead of the usual ten mins! I think it was 2nd gear all the way! This snap was taken through the conservatory window at about 7.00am. It looked lovely! Off to sleep i went!

The view from the same window (different angle obviously) was somewhat brighter this morning. Clear blue sky had followed a light overnight snow fall, and the snow on the conservatory roof was attempting to melt. Every now and again there's a "crunch" as a chunk of snow falls from the roof! I couldn't resist a snap of these icycles. Nothing to report from the garden, except to remind you all to put food and water out for the birds! Wild birds are a great addition to the garden, and especially during this weather, their presence should be encouraged.

I hope you are not too badly affected by the snow - try and enjoy it !

Take care all,

TTFN.

Birthday Spuds!

2009-11-29T11:13:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where Spud (that's me!) is celebrating - it's my Birthday. We also bring more news of the Christmas spuds, that are growing at a rate of knots. The shoots are now almost at the top of the bucket, and as soon as this update is finished, I'll be earthing the shoots up again. We're really quite hopeful that we'll be able to eat some freshly dug spuds with our Christmas dinner, and with 4 weeks (ish) to go, it's looking promising. No other news from the plots today. Maybe if the weather actually brightens up a bit - the rain is lashing down right now - then we'll get out into the garden or up to the plot! Right now I'm just gonna sit back and chill out - enjoy my birthday. There's a joint of beef in the oven, cake freshly made this morning, and the outlaws on their way over. Life's good right now.

Take care all,

TTFN

Spuds update

2009-11-27T09:32:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, for a quick update on the new potato's! Yup, you read that right - new spuds! We planted 4 small seeds in a bucket just a couple of weeks ago (14th) and already they are growing really well. This picture taken 2 days ago shows just how well they are doing! No extra care has been taken, they are just being watered on a regular basis. After this shot was taken, the shoots were "earthed up" to just below the leaves with fresh multi purpose compost. Already, 2 days later, they have grown another inch! Not sure if we'll be able to harvest these on Christmas morning or not, but wouldn't it be lovely ! Not much to report from the plot I'm afraid, just that we're continually scouring the seed catalogue's for new varieties to try !

We hope the recent bad weather has not dampened your gardening enthusiasm, and hope you will pop back soon for another update from Reads Retreat.

Take care all,

TTFN

Spuds are sprouting!

2009-11-18T08:42:00.004Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where we bring you the good news that our spuds are sprouting already ! I know it's hard to see from the picture, but 3 of the 4 tubers are sprouting. The largest is at the 1 o'clock position in the pic!
It certainly is a reassuring sight, i was beginning to think we had left it too late for these to grow. But, wouldn't it be nice to dig them Christmas morning, and eat them the same day !
Not much else to report from RR. The wind and rain continues virtually unabated, and not much is getting done with the raised beds. If there's an opportunity today, I will cut back the asparagus fronds, and cover the bed with a layer of home made compost.

Hope you will pop back soon for more updates .

Till then, enjoy your gardening,

TTFN

Grandad's Plant Labels

2009-11-15T12:18:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.
The weather is improving somewhat, we now have all the ground floor windows open, and the sun is shining through. It feels quite warm to boot!

I was just "pottering" in the conservatory, and stumbled across a jam jar full of plant labels, that I inherited and stored away for posterity.

I thought it would be lovely to "re-create" some of the fine flower displays that Grandad always had in his gardens, and so to the labels - a great place to start:

Tulip v.Lily
Hardy Annuals
Clarkia
Chrysanthemum v. Allouise / Garden Bloom
Chrysanthemum v. Tone Gambol
Arcadia Gold
Hollyhock v. King Alfred
French Marigold v. Ballet Girl
Geranium v.Trull's Hatch ? (half a doz. of these labels)
Silverdale
Orange Beauty
Swan River Daisy
Salvia's Pink
Sedum Acre
Morning Glory v. Madeleine Queen
Pansy - Imperial Antique shades
Aquilegia v. McKana's Giant Mixed

If you can help in identifying any of these plants / names, it would be appreciated. Info on stockists etc also much appreciated. I'm off to surf the net now too see what i can find!

That's it for now.

Take care and enjoy your gardens.

TTFN

A change in the weather

2009-11-15T08:15:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.
Its a cold and wet wintery morning, still having the torrential downpours, but the good news is that the fencing around the garden managed to survive the elements last night, If you could see some of the fence panels you'd be as surprised as us!

I made a start yesterday sorting out the seed packets ! Loads more to do here, but getting there slowly. I'll be having a clear out too - some of the seed is past its recommended sow by date - and these will be replaced. I don't like to throw seed away, so if you want any, let me know! All i ask is you make a donation to cover postage - you can do that via Paypal!

Watch this space, I'll post the list as soon as possible!

That's all for now, take care all & enjoy your gardens!

TTFN

A spud gamble!

2009-11-14T10:36:00.004Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, where only yesterday I was planting some first earlies spuds! Way back in the spring, our darling daughter Ruby planted 1 seed potato in a patio container - this being a concrete boot ornament - which was never going to amount to a great harvest, but we didn't want to knock her enthusiasm. Sure enough, the plant put on great growth. When the time of harvest was reached, Ruby was delighted with this haul of new potato's. 4 of the spuds were about an inch in diameter, and the other 3 were about pea size! Not wanting to seem ungrateful, i told her we would keep them to use later! They sat in the conservatory all summer, and when they recently started to chit I fell upon the idea of planting them up - maybe they will grow some new spuds in time for Christmas? What the hell, we've got nothing to lose:
I started off with a 3" layer of multi purpose compost in a B&Q bucket, then placed the larger of the 4 tubers onto the surface, before covering with a further layer of mp compost. These have now been well watered. We plan to keep / grow them in the unheated greenhouse, hoping the extra warmth vs. being outside will help with the growth. Maybe we'll feed them with tomorite when they start to grow ? And who knows, we may get treated to a few new spuds for Christmas day. This is; after all, the fun of gardening. The best way to find out if something works is to try it!
We'll keep you posted.

That's all for now folks, but pop back soon for more updates from RR.

TTFN.

Rain rain rain !

2009-11-13T12:09:00.004Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat where so far - last 24hrs - we've had over an inch of rain! It's coming down in "stair rods" as my friend PC used to say. There's been no let up at all, and I'm glad at times like this that I fixed the conservatory roof!
Not that there's much I can do anyway, recovering as i am from viral pleurisy. To top that, I now have "Man Flu" too, as do all the family.
There are a couple of things that i need to get on with, like sorting out the seed storage boxes and placing orders for next year. There's also some new potatoes to plant up - yup , you read that right, and I'll do that later and explain myself.

I hope wherever you are that you are coping with this deluge, and we look forward to welcoming you back to RR in the near future.

Take care all,

TTFN.

91 Years of Rememberance 08.11.2008

2009-11-08T05:56:00.002Z

Armistice Day is upon us again. Save a prayer for those who died, those who remember, and those that will never forget.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

TTFN.

Toms and Leaf Mould !

2009-11-05T11:56:00.004Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, after what seems like a very long time! Our absence has been partly due to the inclement weather, as well as a couple of other factors. Mum #2 has been a tad ill of late, and we have been visiting her on a regular basis. Thankfully she is going home today, and we'll be off to see her soon. I have also been a tad ill, and am just getting over a bout of Viral Pleurisy.
On the garden front, the raised beds are very nearly finished in terms of this years growing. There's still a few Beetroot growing, but that really is about it. The fronds on our Asparagus crowns are starting to yellow, and these will soon be cut back for the winter. Over the next couple of months we'll be adding some manure as a mulch dressing, and we'll probably use the spent compost from our tomato tubs on this bed too. The raised beds have really struggled with the dry summer, and the soil was really baked and starting to open up large cracks. The level of the soil has also sunk somewhat, and again this will be replenished over the winter.
Our previous post regailed the news of our last tomato harvest - hehehe - how wrong we were! The picture above is of our last harvest. There's a good mixture therein, including Yellow Pear, Gardeners Delight, and Moneymaker. Clearly the majority are not ripened, and will be used in green tomato chutney (anyone got a good recipe?), to add to our store cupboard!
The only other item to report today is that we have started collecting leaves to use as leaf mould. There's a lot of praise for this soil conditioner, and although it will take a good year to rot down into something useful, it is free. On that basis we'll give it a go. There's plenty of falling leaves in our driveway, and we'll collect these and see how we get on! We'll store them in a garden refuse sack in the corner of the plot, and keep our fingers crossed for next year!

That's all for now folks, but pop back soon for more updates from Reads Retreat.

TTFN.

Last of the toms!

2009-10-17T15:02:00.004+01:00

First of all:
Mum - Many Happy Returns for 16th
love from us all
xxxx

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Sorry we've been absent for a while, but we've been a little busy. Not much has been happening in the garden, but we did venture out earlier to pick what is probably the last of the toms. The basket pictured left contains what is probably soon to be chutney! Some of these toms were given to me by a fellow allotment holder who had "no use" for the greener ones - that surprised me a tad ! Not much gets wasted here at Reads Retreat, and this mixed bag of ripe / green toms is no exception. Check out Reads Recipes in the next few days, and you might find another mouthwatering chutney recipe!
As usual at this time of year, we are hanging up bean pods to dry, and this pic shows some "drying" in progress. We never seem to save enough pods, but at least the seeds that we get this year can be mixed in with whatever we buy for next year, which does of course save us some money in the long run. Also, we can be very selective as to which plant we save seed from, and hopefully the following year we'll get bigger and better crops. This is especially important on the runner bean front, as my Grandad Read collected runner bean seeds for many years, and I'm carrying on the tradition, writing this blog in his memory. Wonder if he's reading this now ?

That's about all for now.

We hope you'll pop back soon for more updates from Reads Retreat.

Till then,

TTFN.

Hunter Hunted !

2009-10-11T10:09:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.
Just a quick post to let you know we harvested the last Butternut Squash (.v. Hunter) yesterday, and it weighed in at a hefty 1.666Kg - what a whopper!
It's now been moved to a sunny storage place where we hope it will continue to ripen. Also, the skin should toughen up a bit, enabling us to store it a while longer. Thats all for now, cant bring any news from the plot today as my car's MOT expired yesterday and as such cant be driven. MOT is Tuesday - fingers crossed,

TTFN

Tidying up for Autumn

2009-09-27T09:38:00.003+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat! Oops ! - I started this post about 2 weeks ago, and forgot to finish & publish it! God, where does the time go? At the time of these pictures, we were having a good run of green toms, so many in fact that i decided to cut these from the dwindling plants, to bring them inside to hopefully ripen up on the windowsill. I'm pleased to tell you that this is going well!

Notwithstanding the plethora of green toms, we are also madly harvesting the rest of the ripe toms. The daily haul includes Moneymaker, Gardeners Delight, and Yellow Pear. We seem to be getting a good late crop, even as I belatedly type this post up (well into October) we are still harvesting them on a daily basis. Yum!

The plants themselves are now a tad bedraggled, and very soon we will pick the remainder of the crop before tidying up and throwing away the remains of the plants. We really have had a bumper crop, and have to lay the blame of late pickings on the weather.

We've had some similair late successes with our Chilli plants. This one of unknown origin (a present from Huw & Jane) has done remarkably well, producing an abundance of 3/4" long hot specimens. They've mostly all ripened on the plant, though some will inevitably be taken inside to finish their ripening.

As for this beauty - we've had loads of these fiery hot "Firetongue". This plant was purchased from Victoriana Nurseries, quite late in the season, and with a bit of TLC has put on tremendous growth. Jen used this variety in our home made tomato sauce!

These Jalapeno "Hercules" are somewhat dissapointing in that they have failed to redden up. We've been using them as they are and have no complaints!

We've been tidying up the raised beds, and this one has a fresh mulch of spent grow bag compost on top. It's uncanny just how much the level in the raised beds has fallen over the last couple of years, and this top dressing should go some way to rebuilding that level. We've had some excellent crops from this bed, including some great tasting Lollo Rosso - cut and come again lettuce. There's still half a dozen or so carrots left to pull, before the bed is finally covered for the winter.

Our Rhubarb crown has done bloomin great this year, providing substantial harvests up to the end of August. We'll let the leaves die back a tad more, before applying our winter dressing of manure / compost. We do this every year and it seems to do well from it. We have a second crown in the borders now (v. Victoria) which should mean an even bigger crop next year.

We still have this Butternut Squash (v.Hunter)in the raised bed. Won't be long now till harvest time, as the weather is deteriorating and the temperature starting to drop. Must get this one in before the first frost.

Our Asparagus bed is doing pretty well. 8 out of the original 10 plants have survived, and we're hopeful that we'll get to harvest some next April. If not, then we'll have the satisfaction of eating fresh Asparagus from the allotment - the plot we've just taken on has an established asparagus bed already!

This runner bean plant (v.Scarlet Emperor) has inadvertently turned into our sacrificial seed generator. To be honest we kind of forgot about the seeds that Ruby planted, and as we had such a great crop recently from the plot, we never needed to harvest these. There's a good bunch of nice sized dry pods, which will yield a good amount of seeds for next year!

And finally a pic of our ever eager helper. Ruby had a fantastic time "helping" us clear up the garden. Cant wait for next year when she'll be a bit more able to understand what we're doing.

That's all for now folks, but check back soon for more updates.

Enjoy your gardens - we love autumn!

TTFN

What's growing at Reads Retreat

2009-09-06T15:52:00.009+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, the home of veg growing in raised beds. Aside from the mornings work at the allotment, there's still a riot of activity on the home plot! This Butternut Squash(v.Hunter) is the pick of the crop at the moment - being quite huge in size and still growing. It's a first for the home plot, and one to be repeated at the allotment next year. There's a good few others growing here, but this is by far the largest. Needs a bit more sun yet to ripen it up. Fingers crossed eh !

The Dwarf Yellow podded French beans are still producing well. We manage to eat them a couple of times a week, and although they're getting fewer in number now, we hope to be cropping them for a good few weeks hence. This is another for the allotment next year. Must remember to save some seeds!

Our late sowed Courgette is still producing! We managed to cut another 6 incher today, but will be using it tomorrow. There's still plenty growing too, despite the white mottled leaves and the plants poor appearance. Might as well get what we can from it!

The even later planted Zucchini are growing well too, though the plants themselves are way smaller. I reckon if we get enough sunshine in the next 6-8 weeks, then we may be able to get a crop from these too. Nothing to lose by waiting a little while.

The toms are reddening up nicely. We're picking these almost daily now and loving the taste. The Yellow Pear ones are fruiting well, but I'm not as keen as Jen on their taste. Elsewhere around the plot we have a half dozen or so Moneymaker plants, which are currently full of trusses, but none of them are ripe yet!

That's about it for today's update - hope you've had a good read!

Dont forget to visit our new blog - Reads Recipe's - which Jen is updating on a regular basis.

Hope you are still enjoying your gardens as much as we are.

Take care all

TTFN

Check out our new blog:

2009-09-05T06:08:00.002+01:00

Launched only a couple of days ago:

www.readsrecipes.blogspot.com

aims to showcase all the wonderful recipes we use.

Bookmark us and pop back soon, as we slowly get to grips with yet another blog!

TTFN

First September Harvest

2009-09-01T12:35:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Every day it seems that winter draws a stage closer, soon we'll be "decking the halls ...etc" and looking forward to spring. What a cheery thought! At least we can still harvest home grown veg from the garden & the plot. These 3 courgettes are just at the right size, and eager to be eaten - guess we'll have to keep them happy!

One thing that brings us so much joy, is the excitement Ruby has when she gets to pose for the camera with something freshly harvested, these 2 cobs of sweetcorn proving the point. She really wanted to get peeling, so I was lucky to get a quick photo first!

Don't you just love the look on her face,"these are mine " kind of look. Whenever we plant any seeds in the garden, Ruby always helps, as she did when we planted this corn. Variety is Swift Early - and we'll be growing these again next year - but in larger numbers!

The final harvest from the raised beds today was this handful of Dwarf Yellow Podded French Beans. This crop has been a rip roaring success this year, and they taste out of this world. Definitely one to grow a lot more of next season.

That's all from Reads Retreat today, hope you've enjoyed the update.

Hope all your gardens and plots are going well too.

Take care all,

TTFN.

End of the month update

2009-08-31T09:26:00.012+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our blog diary of growing your own veg in Raised Beds. Sorry for the lack of updates lately, regular readers will know that a lot of our efforts go into the Allotment, which is going well, whilst less effort is seen on the home plot. That said thought, we are still making rich pickings from the raised beds. Pictured here is our runaway success: These are dwarf yellow podded french beans which we had never grown before, but will definitely grow again next year. The plants stand about 18" tall, and bear large trusses of beans that start pale green and mature into bright yellow. They make a fantastic addition to the dinner plate, and add a splash of summer colour. Prior to planting I erected some 4' canes for support. I'm laughing now!!

Despite the messy appearance of our tomato plants, the yield is looking good as the toms are now starting to ripen at quite a pace. We have 3 varieties growing: Moneymaker, Gardeners Delight, and a Yellow Plum variety - the name of which escapes me! We have had minor issues with Blossom End Rot, but those affected were picked "green" and discarded. The rest it seems are doing ok. We have more plants dotted around the raised beds, some hidden behind other crops and some wherever there was some vacant land!
Our late planted Courgette plant is putting on good growth too. At first it seemed intent on just growing leaves, but now it is finally bearing fruit! We have lost a couple to slugs etc but that is to be expected. Now though it's looking good. There's at least 3 there ready to be picked, ranging from 4 - 6" long. Next year we are planning on growing many more of these up at the allotment, as they are a lovely tasting veg, and they can easily be frozen too. Maybe we can save a few for Christmas dinner ?

Talking of a "vacant" space in the beds, this Tomato (v. Gardeners Delight) was placed in a sunny spotand left to it's own devices! We grew far too many tomato plants for the space available - or should i say far more germinated than we had expected! I even gave half a dozen or so plants to my neighbour as we had no room left. Mind you, I always think that some of the fun from growing your own is giving some away!

Talking of late sown plantings, these 2 courgette plants were only transplanted to their growing position a few weeks ago. They were "found" in the conservatory, and we thought it best to get them in. Even if the planting is too late to provide some fruits, then at the very least we'll get this show of late summer colour! And if pushed, we could just eat the flowers!!

Another late sowing (a trend here perhaps ?) was this Sweetcorn (v.Swift Early). We had never grown this before and we were eager to try. We have been astonished by the growth rate, and have already harvested our first cob! Shared 4 ways at the dinner table, it was delish.
It seems a bit hit and miss when it comes to harvesting - are the brown silks really the best indication of ready ?

A lesson well learnt now, is that you cant plant 4 x Butternut Squash plant (v.Hunter) in a bed that is 3' x 3' ! Well, you can, but the leaf growth soon romps away from the bed. We have had to cut stems back at various times throughout the summer, but the result has been worthwhile:

This specimen is at leat 8" long, and about 4" girth. All we need now is a bit more sun to ripen it off! And there's me only yesterday praying for rain! There's a few more small fruits too. This is something we will grow more of next year too. Its only recently that we started to eat them, and they do taste superb. We got the seeds from from the BBC Dig In promotion, details of which can be found here. Go and have a look, and bag some free seeds!

Final pic for today, is this Passion Flower which is growing wild in the border. It seems that the bounty of fruits are ripening off, so maybe we can harvest these too. I've not tasted them before, so am keen to give them a go.

Thats all for today folks, hope you've enjoyed our update!

A quick hello too to Aunt Ann, who is visiting the UK again at the moment - hope you have a lovely stay.

Pop back soon all, for more updates from Reads Retreat.

Enjoy your gardens,

TTFN.

10,000 Visitors!

2009-08-12T16:53:00.001+01:00

Well almost, can't believe that my site is so appealing, but thank you all for visiting over the years.

How long to get to 20,000 visitors!

TTFN.

The Glorious Twelth

2009-08-12T16:36:00.002+01:00

In loving memory of

Nana Read

on the one hundredth anniversary of her Birthday

Loving memories - in our hearts forever.

xxxxx

Harvested this week

2009-08-07T13:59:00.007+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, the place for Home Grown veg in Raised Beds. These 2 Beetroot (v.Boltardy) were pulled on Monday, and put straight onto the pot for cooking. Food miles ? What are they! These 2 roots were about cricket ball sized, and once cooked, served up for tea. What a lovely taste. We harvested a yellow rooted variety at the same time, but unfortunately the slugs and snails had found it first. It seems they like the yellow ones in preference, and that may put us off growing them again. We've had a couple of good ones, but the Boltardy remain our favourite.

Midweek, we pulled some Spring Onions, and Ruby was only to happy to pose for the camera with them. These onions taste superb, and put the shop brought varieties to shame. They have a lovely peppery sweet taste, and this is definitely something we plan to grow more of.
We have also had regular pickings of our cut and come again lettuce(v.Lollo Rosso), which never seems to hang around long enough to be photographed! We have enjoyed a really crop for some time now, surprising really as we only 2 x 3foot rows of it!

The runner beans that Ruby helped to plant are growing really well too. This variety is not truly known, as the beans have been grown year on year from Grandad Read's stock of seeds. Bless him, I think of him every time I look at the plants. Hopefully this year we can store away a few more seeds for future years growing. They always perform really well, and seem to attract the Bee's in large numbers.

This late planted Courgette plant is finally bearing fruit - 5 at the last count in various stages of growth. We continue to feed and water it, and at last we are getting closer to our reward. We are growing a lot more varieties up at the plot, and these too are putting on great growth.

Its a lovely time of the year at the moment, as most of our time can be spent enjoying the garden space and harvesting crops as we go.

That's all for todays update, but we look forward to welcoming you back to Reads Retreat in the very near future.

Take care all, and enjoy your gardens.

TTFN.

Update from the home plot::

2009-08-02T15:28:00.012+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our home plot guide to Growing your own veg in Raised Beds. There's been quite a lot going on recently both at the plot and at home too, with veg growing on really well, in spite of the very changeable weather of late. This pic shows one of our Tomato plants, now overflowing with green trusses of toms, just waiting for the sun to ripen them off. Looks like we should get another decent crop this year. We are also growing some Yellow toms for the first time, and cant wait to try them.

Our late sowing of Dwarf Yellow podded French Beans are starting to shine, with an abundance of pale yellow / white flowers, bearing the promise of beans to come. This planting - a half a dozen plants - was more of a space using exercise than anything else, and it looks like we'll be well rewarded for our efforts.

Our "small" plot of Butternut Squash(v.Hunter) plants are growing well too. Flowers are starting to form on the ever growing plants, and where the flowers form, we are removing some foliage to let the sun in. We've not grown these before, but the seeds were free and we had a bit of space. As the plants will grow up to 20' long, they will easily outgrow their allotted space, so we are now trailing the stems over the paths. One for the allotment next year we think!

One one remaining Courgette "Zucchini" is now starting to put on good growth. Again, this was a late planting. Despite the best efforts of the local slug population, we are now starting to see some fruits forming. We have a lot more plants growing at the allotment, so we should end up with a few for the table!

Our first effort at growing Sweetcorn seems to be on track. We have about half a dozen plants in this block, and we are carefully nurturing them as they grow. Cant wait to taste some freshly buttered cob's !

Our Rhubarb has done exceptionally well this year, provide large quantities of fruit. Apart from the usual "Crumble's" we've also got a large stock of jams including "Rhubarb & Ginger", and a mixed fruit jam consisting of Plums, Rhubarb & Gooseberry. Yum . Let us know if you want any of the recipe's !

And finally, what garden could be complete without a hanging basket or two ? These were created by Jen, and with regular watering are flowering profusely. They need a lot of dead heading, but then they do attract a lot of bee's.

That's all for now. We hope your gardens & plots are doing ok too.

Take care all and pop back soon for more updates.

TTFN.

A Gardening Update !

2009-07-13T17:51:00.021+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our diary blog for our Fruit & Veg grown in Raised Beds. It's been a while since we posted an update - we've been rather busy with the allotment project! But just to reassure you all that we are still growing at home, here goes!
As is the norm at this time of year, we are spending a fair bit of time nurturing our tomato (v.Moneymaker) plants to their cropping stage. This involves regular watering and weekly feed of suitable"miracle" growth liquid! We have half a dozen in pots on the patio - in full sun, and a half dozen more dotted around the plot in the raised beds. Some of the plants have begun to set their trusses, a sure sign of the delights that await. Every year I intend to grow a different variety - this year being no exception - but we continue to find that this variety - Moneymaker - are great croppers. Why change ?

Nestled into this corner of our patio we have yet more goodies! As well as another tomato plant, we have a tub of Strawberries, which having already cropped is now sending runners out all over the shop. Where possible these are being layered into more tubs to grow new plants. These will be separated from the main plant in about 4 weeks time and will give us a new bunch of plants for a larger crop next year. That and somewhere to plant them all too! We have also acquired some "Hospital" strawberry plants that had been badly neglected. These are sitting in water now, and sending up new shoots. Lets hope they recover!

In the patio border where there used to be a large rambling rose, we now have some edible goodies, including a lovely Tayberry bush (a wedding present from Huw & Jane) and also our one surviving Courgette plant. We've really struggled with the latter this year, as we dont want to use slug pellets in case little Ruby picks them up! This is our last plant of any note at Reads Retreat, and we have only one other which was planted up at the allotment only yesterday. We're green with envy as we see others are well into their courgette harvesting . Maybe we'll get a late crop. Fingers crossed eh !

Despite the fact that the contents of the hanging baskets are not edible, they are certainly beautiful. Wifey has done a great job here, not only in brightening up the garden, but in attracting an abundance of wildlife and especially Bee's to the plot.

The Gooseberry bush in the background here, is the £1 jobbie we got from Wilkinson's last year. The greatest surprise was that it was a Red fruit variety - we were expecting green! We didn't get a massive harvest, but plenty of enough for some seriously nice Mixed Fruit jam.
In the foreground we have another surprise in the form of a healthy looking potato plant. I think this is whats called a "Volunteer" plant, i.e. one that has grown from a previously left behind potato. Not complaining mind you, and soon ready to be pulled up. I'll let you know later if we get much from it!

Our old faithful Rhubarb(v.Timperly Early) continues it's great growth. Having recently been cut right back to provide fruit for our mixed fruit jam, it has grown right back, strong enough to maybe harvest some more. If we get enough, we hope to try making some Rhubarb & Ginger jam, mmmm that sounds luvvly.

And finally, we get to a raised bed!!! As you can see we've erected frames over the beds, mainly due to the large number of cats in the area that favour the good soil in our beds rather than their own backyards to crap in. Grrr it really winds me up. Many a day in this neck of the woods you can see cat poo flying through the air! Why should we clean it up, we don't have a cat! Anyway (rant over), in this bed we have Spring Onions, Lollo Rosso Lettuce (cut and come again variety) as well as some Broccoli Raab. The latter was a freebie on a magazine cover, which promised a crop in 60 days. Well, it grew so fast we forgot to harvest it and it bolted!!! Trimmed it all back and again it's growing on strongly.

The next available bed has become home to our squash project. As well as trying to grow these at the plot, we have 4 plants at home too, which are putting on great growth. Again, they might be planted a tad late, but wouldn't it be great to get at least 1 squash from these. If anyone has any growing tips and tricks, we'd love to hear from you!

Talking of new projects (it must be the year for them), we are having a go at growing some sweetcorn. Having read that they need to grow in a block layout, we used this 3'x3' bed. We planted about 12 seeds, and were a tad dejected when only 4 plants appeared. Nonetheless, they do look healthyand will hopefully provide us with a couple of corns. Is it too late to plant any more ? I guess it is but am happy to listen if you have any advice on this crop, how else will we learn ?

This bed is pretty much full of Beetroot! We've grown a few different varieties this year - with mixed success! Boltardy remains the strong favourite, but we have also tried some Golden types too, if nothing else but to add a bit of colour to the salad bowl. The big thing we've noticed this year with the raised beds is just how much the soil level has sunk - the worms must be working hard! We'll have to replenish the stocks before next growing season! At the back of the bed we also have some seed grown Onions(v.Bedfordshire Champion). I want to grow a larger crop of these next year at the plot, as opposed to the "sets" which never seem to really perform. Note to self : Planning!

Having run out of room (again!) in the raised beds, we have these 3 sturdy Aubergine plants in a nice sheltered spot in the garden. I do like growbags, they offer that extra space just when you need it! And as a bonus, the spent soil can be added to the plot later in the year.

Part of the reason for running out of room this year is that we've given one large bed up to grow our own Asparagus(v.Jersey Knight). These 1 year old crowns are all doing well, 9 out of 10 that were planted are flourishing. Sadly, so too are the weeds, and vie for constant attention. We're getting there though, and maybe next year we'll be able to harvest a small crop ?

So, as you can see, we've not been idle here at Reads Retreat. Always lots going on! We'll try and post more regular updates as the season progresses!

We hope you are all enjoying your plots and veg growing, and we look forward to welcoming you back soon to Reads Retreat.

Take care all,

TTFN.

Visitor's bearing gifts!

2009-07-06T15:01:00.010+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, the home of organically grown fresh veg in Raised Beds. This weekend we had a visit from Huw & Jane, as they toured round Kent en route to France. Huw asked if his camper van would fit on the drive, and it sort of did - ish! We had a great couple of boozy nights, and even managed a quick visit to the lottie to show off our latest gardening project. I was a tad surprised that they arrived bearing gifts of the horticultural variety, less surprised though by the quantity of alcohol consumed during their stay!

This lovely healthy Chilli plant was one of the gifts. Already bearing one Green Chilli, it also has a lot of flower buds on it just waiting to burst into fruit. Huw has been growing these quite successfully for a number of years, and passed on a bit of his knowledge, especially regarding how to "pollinate" the indoor grown varieties by gently squeezing the flowers with thumb and forefinger to simulate the work of insects. We'll be trying this on our various chilli plants and will let you know if it actually works!

This one was a complete surprise, a Vietnamese Coriander plant! It has tremendously fragrant foliage, and the plant itself looks really healthy. Huw & Jane told me to treat it like a Fuchsia (in terms of propagating cuttings) and hopefully we can get some success with doing this. It would be great to create a few more plants from this one, and make it go a bit further.

On Friday afternoon, this was to all intents and purposes, just a 6" pot full of soil. Huw assured me there were lots of coriander seeds in there, and lo and behold, 3 days later it is bursting into life! Cant wait to have fresh coriander in the next curry mmmmm that will be good.

There was also a couple of bags of "spent hops" to use on the allotment. This can be dug in and used as a soil conditioner later in the year, and its something we'll be needing a bit more of. Maybe I will get in touch with the Shepherd Neame brewery in nearby Faversham?

And finally, the bin men had to work a bit harder today when they collected the recycling! Crikey, what a lot of bottles!

Thats about it for now, but if the rain holds off for an hour or so, I'll nip out to the garden with my camera, and bring you an update on the gardening front.

Thats it for now, thanks once again to Huw & Jane for their pressies, it was lovely to see you both.

Take care all,

TTFN.

Mum's spuds

2009-07-04T09:47:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. As if proof were needed, you don't need a lot of space to grow your own veg. Mum planted half a dozen seed pots in an old wooden box in her back garden, and nurtured and loved the growing plants. Topping up the compost as she went, all was looking great. Then terror set in around the middle of June as the foliage developed little brown spots. I feared it may have been blight, and advised mum to remove all the "brown-spotted" leaves and bin them. After a couple of weeks, mum decided to empty the box. Joy of joys prevailed, with a tidy harvest of 3 1/2 pounds of lovely New Potato's! Well done mum, hope you enjoy them.

TTFN.

Yummy - Home made Jam !

2009-07-01T09:08:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our lil blog of home grown goodness! Despite the lack of recent posts, we have still been busy on the home plot. Having recently taken our first harvest of Red Gooseberries, wifey decided to make some mixed fruit jam, using fruit mostly from the garden. Also added was some lovely Rhubarb and a couple of Apples, the latter were not home grown but we hope to have some next year from the lottie. Can't wait to get tucked in. Now then......toast !

More updates to follow soon.

Take care all and enjoy your gardens,

TTFN.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ruby

2009-06-25T09:16:00.002+01:00

Happy Birthday darling

Lots of love

Hugs and kisses

from Mummy & Daddy

xxxxxxxx

Happy Birthday Big Sis !

2009-06-12T09:17:00.000+01:00

50 Today!

Many Happy Returns.

Lots of love from all of us xxxxx

June already ? Hello again !

2009-06-11T21:19:00.023+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds, buckets, pots etc, indeed - anything we can. You'd be forgiven for thinking that after the last brief update, we'd turned our attention to growing flowers, but you would be wrong! It's true though; that wifey has created some stunning baskets of flowers, and there's colour wherever you look. However, in between all the flower activity as well as the Allotment project, we've not been idle on producing the edible's either! In fact, there's so much going on that we don't know what to do next! Let's go on a short journey round the plot:

We grew far too many tomato (v. Moneymaker) seeds, and far too many germinated! Having given some away to Arthur next door, we have opted to grow them on in 2 ways. The first option is to grow indoors in our conservatory, in pots of varied shape and size, and using some good general purpose compost from Morrisons (we got a good deal thanks to Neil) , whilst the second batches are being grown on outside in the old B&Q orange buckets. As it stands at the moment, the indoor plants are growing better and are now 2 - 4 foot tall. In the middle of the pic is one of 2 Cucumber (v. Marketmore) plants that we are also going to grow indoors only. Wouldn't it be great if they grow well.
Here's the second cucumber plant, which we hope to train across this old pole, directly below the plexiglass roof. This plant already has 3 yellow flowers, which we think is a good sign. As i said, we've not grown these before, so 1 solitary cucumber would be noted as a success!

These 4 pots are home to some Sweet Banana Pepper plants, that have been grown from seed. At the time i took the picture all 4 looked healthy, but today one of them has seemingly been "taken ill" - the dreaded damping off terror seems to have taken it's toll.
Still, 3 to go ! Fingers crossed eh !

Next up we have 4 Aubergine (v. Black Beauty) plants that are going well. They were recently potted on from 3" pots and seem to be surviving the journey! Last year we had limited success with this veg, i.e. they grew - a little, but the fruits never ripened. Hopefully the constant heat of the conservatory will pay dividends ?

Perched up on the end, we have a motley collection of Tomato (v. Yellow Pear) in various stages of growth. There's one good strong plant outside in an Orange bucket, and these runts of the litter are being kept indoors until they show some promise. Yellow toms are very appealing, and we're hopeful of at least one plant doing ok!

Here we have our attempt at Cherry toms (v.Gardeners Delight). These seeds were sent free of charge as part of the BBC Dig In campaign. Take a look at their website HERE. We were also sent free seeds packets of Squash (v. Hunter) , Betroot (v. Boltardy), Lettuce and Carrots. Its a great initiative by the bbc, and we never like to miss out on freebies !! Lets hope these grow on well as a second crop, the plants are way behind the progress of the moneymaker, but there's still time!

And so to the raised beds outside:

Just next to the patio, we have a completely unexpected potato plant! I though I dug them all up last year, but obviously not! I have no idea what variety this is, but i'm thinking it might be Rocket! Guess we'll have to wait and see. Either way, we'll nurture it and see what bounty it delivers. Dont you just love surprises ?

Gooseberries ! What garden would be complete without a couple of gooseberry bushes ? We have 2 now, this and another in the flower border. This one pictured is producing an abundance of berries, but sadly the foliage is being devoured at a rate of knots, and there's caterpillars all over them. Hopefully the fruits will ripen and get harvested before the pesky birds find them.

And finally we get to a raised bed ! That is after all, what we're all about! Without going into too much detail at this time ( 10.00pm now) I can tell you that this bed is home to the following goodies:
Spring onions
Lettuce v.Lollo Rosso
Carrots v. Purple Haze & Early Nantes
Broccoli v.Raab

The broccoli is a late variety that is said to reach harvesting maturity in 60 days ! Lets hope that's true.

And finally, we have some Sweetcorn (v.Swift Early) which are starting to grow. Unlike their name ( we call them Swift Late) they are only a couple of inches tall at the moment, but big tree's from little acorns!!!!

Here we have 1 of 2 Blueberry bushes that are new to us this year. We tried in earnest to get them going in Raised beds, but after a period of no growth, have transferred them to the trusty buckets. At least now this one is bearing some fruit. Who knows, there may even be enough here for 1 serving ! Hold the orders !

Our second Main raised bed, is slowly filling up.
The main residents in this bed (apart from the weeds and the slugs ) are :

Beetroot: v. Boltardy & v. Golden Globe

Onions (from seed) v. Bedfordshire Champion.

That really is about it. The Asparagus bed is still going well, 9 out of 10 crowns producing some lovely ferns - a sign hopefully that all is well. Elsewhere around the patio we are using various tubs & containers, which are home to amongst other things: Strawberries, Cut & Come again lettuce, Toms, Runner Beans, and hopefully soon some Courgette's !

So as you can see, we've not been idle!

I hope you've enjoyed this update, and we look forward to welcoming you back to Reads Retreat, very soon.

Take care all & enjoy your gardens,

TTFN

Flower Power !

2009-05-14T10:51:00.011+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Sorry for lack of updates of late, but shift work is taking it's toll on my leisure time, to such an extent that we're struggling to find time to keep the home plot and the allotment going. As the title suggests, we recently got a whole load of baskets / plants underway, to brighten up the garden. This has the added benefit of attracting insects into the garden, and hopefully some Bee's too.
This beautiful bloom is a Senetti, given to us on Mothers day. This wonderfully coloured bloom is as pretty as a picture, but sadly is not doing too well in a basket which we thought it might like.

As you can see in this picture, we have gone for a mix of hanging baskets on brackets attached to the fenceposts, as well as some half baskets which have been hung on the fence panels themselves. There's a right old mixture of plants including the favourite Trailing Lobellia. In total we have five baskets and five half baskets - a lot of watering required. They've all been planted up using the compost we got from Morrison's. We'll keep you posted on their progress throughout the summer. Hopefully we will get a glorious display of colours. We even have a hanging basket on the shed, as well as 3 more in the front of the house.

Sammie is ok!

2009-05-12T13:55:00.003+01:00

In case you've heard on the National News today that there was an accident at Minster College in Sheerness, we're pleased to be able to tell you that Sammie is not injured.

Our thoughts go out to all the children and their parents affected by what happened, and wish all a speedy recovery.

You might see Sammie on ITN News !

We've been busy !

2009-04-23T12:18:00.010+01:00

Welcome back for a long overdue update to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. Sorry it's been so long since the last update, but we have been very busy at the Allotment. There's still lots happening on the home front, not least getting young Ruby interested in growing veg: What could be simpler than dropping a couple of runner bean seeds in an empty jar onto a layer of damp kitchen roll, and watching the daily astonishment of the growth rate. Only this morning Ruby remarked"They're massive" . These can be planted out soon, and not long after Ruby can pick the pods from the plants. Cant wait to see her face when she tastes the first bean!

Ruby is a big fan of the garden, and every available moment is spent out there. As soon as she wakes up, she's asking "Can I go outside?" Jen reckons she'll wear out her wellies soon!
Here she is pointing out a Ladybird, with a massive smile on her face. This despite the fact that only 4 days ago she fell off the bed and fractured her collar bone. What a darling.
The weather has been consistently warm for a good few days now, and we have transferred our hardened off Dwarf Green Beans plants into the bed behind Ruby. Lets hope the fine weather continues long enough for them to take hold.
We're growing our own Tomatoes (v. Moneymaker) again this year, as you just cant beat the taste. Seems we might have planted more seeds than we actually need, but to me that's no problem. We can simply give away any that we don't need to friends and neighbours etc. We also have a slightly lower number of Yellow toms growing in a different tray, and I'm looking forward to wifey concocting lots more tasty chutney's for the store cupboard.

Talking of Chutney, we're gonna need a few other ingredients too, and among this tray of seedlings we have Chili's, Sweet Banana Peppers, Courgettes, Dill, Sage, Basil, to name but a few. Wifey has been really busy. Elsewhere we have Yellow Courgettes, Cucumber etc etc The list goes on. We tried an early batch of Sweetcorn (v.Swift Early) but due to the changeable weather they did not survive. Repeat sowings will soon be underway, to make up for any shortcomings.

I've started a tray of Onions too (v. Bedforshire Champion), but am not sure yet where they will be planted ! We have approx 150 onion sets up at the allotment, so maybe these can go in the Raised Beds at home ? We'll see.
There's loads more yet to update you on, so please pop back in the next few days to get our latest updates, or simply register for email updates. Either way, we look forward to welcoming you back very soon.

Till then, take care and enjoy your gardens.

TTFN

Happy St. Georges Day

2009-04-23T07:58:00.000+01:00

Wherever you are, it's great to be English.

Have a great day.

TTFN

Germination

2009-03-24T10:11:00.001Z

Just a quick update to let you all know that all is well.
We have plenty of germinated seeds, including Dwarf French Beans and Sweetcorn. Watch this space for more updates!

TTFN

It's seed sowing time - Yippee !

2009-03-17T14:12:00.020Z

Welcome back once again to Reads Retreat, our blogging diary of all things edible and colourful on our home plot. Over the last couple of months we've been busying ourselves getting ready for the growing season, and as if by magic, it's arrived. This week we finally got round to sorting the seed storage out! As we now have an allotment, as well as our home plot we have split the seeds accordingly into 2 separate containers. Wifey has hers and hubby has his !

Wifey got the home plot veg started this week, planting up the following seeds:

Sweet Pepper (v. Sweet Banana)
Broad Leaved Sage (v. Salvia officinallis)
Courgette (v. Zuchini Yellow)
Beetroot (v. Golden Detroit)
Beetroot (v. Boltardy)
Beetroot (v. Chioggia)
Courgette (v. All Green Bush)
Carrot (v. Purple Haze Hybrid)
Carrot (v. Flyaway F1)
Dwarf French Bean (v. ? Yellow)
Aubergine Organic (v. Black Beauty)
Basil (v. Sweet Genovese)
Basil (v. Dark Opal)
Sweetcorn (v. Swift Early)
Chilli Pepper (v. Anaheim)

Some of these e.g. the Beetroot, were planted directly in the soil in the raised beds, while some of the smaller seeded varieties are in modules / small pots in our conservatory. The one's planted in the Raised beds are now protected from unwelcome visitors with this mesh covered frame that I made from an old garden gate. The Chicken wire is cheap enough from Wilkinson's and was fairly easy to knock up. This should keep the pesky cats of the soil. I get really annoyed to keep finding cat poo from the neighbours pets, and take great delight in returning it to the rightful owners, under the cover of darkness! Dog owners are more responsible, but why should the cat lovers get away with it?

The Asparagus bed that was planted recently is also showing good signs. Only this morning we spotted some miniature spears (about half a centimetre tall) here and there on the bed. I've got high hopes for this bed, but appreciate that we won't be able to harvest any produce until at least next summer. It's a long term investment, but it should be worth waiting for. My only concerns are the location of the compost bin and the water butt, which have to be moved to let more direct sunshine onto the bed. I'll have to put my thinking cap on !

Also, we have planted our fruit bushes in the patio border bed. These were a wedding gift (via Garden centre vouchers) from Huw and Jane. The Tayberry on the left is already putting on good growth, and I've added a couple canes to support the growth. I will probably attach some wires to the fence panel to provide further support, assuming it grows of course! The second one is a Gooseberry, which is fairly thriving. There's already an abundance of foliage, and loads of buds, and I hope this bush will bear loads of fruit.

The Rhubarb (v. Timperley Early) that is now in it's second full year is growing at a tremendous rate. Over the last few months all I have done is top dress the crown with fresh compost every now and again, and it seems to have done the trick. I resisted the urge to "force" the growth, and it already looks like we will be rewarded for not doing so.
Looking forward to all those pies and crumbles already! Dont forget my list of cookery sites, plenty of inspiring ideas to be found there!

The Raspberry canes are also doing well. The 3 newer ones (v. Polka) are just starting to show some buds. I wasn't sure whether to cut these to ground level or not, so may have to research these a little more. The other unknown variety is going great guns and is full of buds and new leaf growth.
I can almost taste the jam!

As you can see, we have been busy! There's still loads to do, both here and at the allotment, but we ARE making progress!

Join us again soon for more updates.

Till then, enjoy your gardens. Please leave your comments!!

TTFN

Where to begin ?

2009-03-17T13:30:00.017Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own in Raised Beds. What a glorious day it is too, quite fitting in celebration of St Patrick's Day. Let's hope wherever you are, you're having a great day, maybe even quaffing a couple of glasses of the liffy water ?
There's been quite a lot happening here in the last couple of weeks. Mum got the ball rolling a couple of weeks ago, when she came to stay for a couple of days. Mum can't resist a weedy patch of earth, and quickly set about clearing the weeds from one of the borders in the back garden. Thanks mum!
Going against the grain somewhat, we have been busy planting some summer flowering bulbs. Seem's a shame not too really, especially considering how much time and effort mum has put in during her short visit. Hopefully we can now reward her next visits with some lovely colour ?We bought most of the bulbs relatively cheaply at a local market, as well as some from Aldi's & Wilkinsons.
These two are Anemone (Blue & White mixed), and Gladioli (v. Traderhorn & White Prosperity).

These 2 packs contained Sparaxis (Mixed), and Dahlia (v. Orange Nugget). The latter is one of wifey's favourites, and we couldn't resist buying. It's only 1 bulb, but should grow in size over the years. When it came to planting all these bulbs, we opted for the random look! We simply emptied all the bulbs into one big container, mixed them around and planted 1 by 1. It will be interesting to see how they all turn out!

The last 2 packs contained Triteleia (v. Queen Fabiola) and Lily (v. Asiatic Yellow). The former were purchased last summer at Aldi's in their clearance stock, and were hidden away ready to plant out this year. The Lily is also a favourite of Wifey's, and will hopefully provide a riot of colour. We also purchased a bag of 30 Freesia bulbs from Wilko's for just £2.00, and mixed these in the plantings too. Considering the small outlay (approx £8.00), we should be in for quite a show of colour!

Hopefully you will pop back soon and check on our progress! Hopefully all these flowers will help to attract the wildlife - specifically the Bee's, that are in such decline in our gardens.

Take care all, and enjoy your gardens / plots.

TTFN.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus

2009-03-01T14:15:00.003Z

or Happy St Davids day, as we all say !

Not much to report on here at Reads Retreat, but check back soon for more news from the plots.

TTFN.

Timperley Early showing thru'

2009-02-25T09:58:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our blog guide to growing your own Fruit & Veg. As you can see in the picture, our 3 year old Rhubarb is going great guns. Last year - at about this time - we "forced" the growth on this plant, and got some great results. Not sure if we'll do the same again this year, as I don't want to put too much strain on it. Might be better in the long run to let it grow at its own pace, and enjoy the harvest even more when it's ready. For now have added a mulch of fresh compost to help it on it's way.
Thats it for now, pop back soon for more updates from the garden plot.

TTFN.

The Merry Raspberry Polka !

2009-02-24T21:35:00.007Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Sorry for the somewhat long absence from posting, there's been quite a few changes around here of late, not least a new shift pattern at work to get used to!
As the title suggests (nicked and adapted slightly from a similar song by the Andrews Sisters), it's Raspberry planting time here at the home plot. Three of the four canes pictured planted are from the Homebase "Grow Your Own" promotion they are currently running, whilst the other is a nondescript variety purchased from Wilko's last summer. The former though, are the variety Polka, which are an Autumn fruiting type - producing their bounty on this years growth. It's a first growing effort for me, so I'm keen as always to do the necessary to get a good crop. I'll be keeping a close eye on there! I planted them close to a fence, as the fence should make a good backdrop to an impromptu "cage" as and when it's required. The idea I have in mind is that I can attach an old net curtain to the top of the fence, and simply drape it over the canes when i need to! Let's see how that idea works!

The other little job completed today was the planting of these two little Blueberry bushes. They've been kept in a frost free location for a couple of weeks, and finally have been tucked up in their new home. I made larger than required planting holes in soil, before part filling with ericaceous compost. The roots were then backfilled with the same before I covered the bed with a mulch cover. I don't want these tender two competing or struggling for moisture. I read recently in Grow your Own veg magazine that blueberries should only be watered with collected rainwater, as tap water contains Lime, which the bushes hate. High hopes for these two too.

That's about it for this little update, but I hope you will be back soon for more of our updates.

Take care all,

TTFN

Blueberries - a bit of Research!

2009-02-09T18:27:00.007Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. Fruit too, it seems!
Sitting at the pc tonight, I thought I'd start gathering some info on growing this delicious crop, and thought - why not share what i find !
We bought 2 bushes from Homebase in the last week, having been advised that we need 2 for good pollination. The best reference site I've stumbled across so far is the BBC Gardening Basics page, which gives a whole host of information on growing this fruit, as well as recipe ideas and a history of its cultivation. There's also some great information on the Telegraph website.
Quite often when you try growing something for the first time, you simply overlook the vast amount of information that's so readily available. Hopefully; if you're following our plans here at Reads Retreat, then you'll be able to access the same info. Simply clicking on the coloured text will redirect you to all this wonderful info. Luckily we have a dedicated Raised Bed available for planting our bushes, and the soil therein will be thoroughly mixed with Ericaceous compost, as these plants favour this type of soil. We opted for 2 x 15Litre bags from Wilkinson's, priced at £1.49 each, which seems like a good price to pay. The bushes themselves are currently residing in our unheated but frost free "Greenhouse", in the 3" pots they are supplied in. These will be transferred to 6" pots in the next couple of days and kept inside until all danger of frost has passed. In the meantime, the 30Litre of "new" compost can be added to the raised bed, to give it time to settle. Our darling Ruby is a big fan of Blueberries (or Blueys as she calls them) so it would be nice to get a decent crop here, maybe even this summer, and hopefully for many more summers to come.

Check back soon for more updates, it's going to get busy, very busy!

TTFN

Spring is in the air!

2009-02-08T12:28:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own Veg in Raised Beds. I'm not usually one to talk about flowers, but this picture shows that spring is on it's way. These daffs were planted late November last year, and have grown on unaffected by the weather. In fact, they are growing really well. In the background are a couple of Freesias that we bought from Victoriana Nurseries, and there's also some Cyclamen in there too.
There's a buzz of excitement around at the moment, as we contemplate this years plantings on the plot. (Note to myself: Sort out the seeds box!). We are going to be growing some soft fruits at Reads Retreat this year, concentrating our veg growing on our allotment, and hope that you will continue to follow our progress via both the blogs.

After a recent trip to Homebase - armed with Gift Vouchers that we got as a wedding present from Huw & Jane - we came home with a haul of fruit bushes, including: Gooseberry, Tayberry, Blueberry, and Raspberry. I've since read that's it's best to grow Blueberry bushes in pairs, so we'll go back and get another to keep our first one company, and I'll also get some Ericaceous compost as apparently the Blueberries thrive in it.

A quick note of thanks too, for all your kind comments and wishes regarding our recent marriage. We had a truly fantastic and memorable day.

Hope you will find the time to pop back and see us soon.

TTFN

Oh no, more snow!

2009-02-02T11:26:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our home plot guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. (Picture taken this morning, trying out a Sepia filter on my digital camera).
As you can see, the snow has once again returned, but thankfully at this time of year, it won't pose any problem as the plot is mostly dormant. There's a few straggly Leeks left to pull, and some tiny Beetroot waiting to get picked and pickled. All that's really left then is the late winter clear up. The bed at the back is the newly planted Asparagus bed, planted using the Lasagne bed technique to get the ground into shape as the plants grow. As i can't get out to the plot or the allotment, I may take some time out to sort the box of seeds out? That'll pass an hour or so!

Pop back soon for more updates from Reads Retreat.

TTFN

I'm so Happy !

2009-01-28T06:55:00.001Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.

Regular readers will know that I married the girl of my dreams on the 24th Jan, and here's a pic for you all taken outside the church.

Thanks to everyone who sent their good wishes. We had a fantastic day.

More gardening updates to follow soon.

TTFN

In Loving memory

2009-01-18T22:13:00.003Z

".... the kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the bird for myrth, one is nearer to god in a garden, than anywhere else on earth"

God bless you Grandad Read, wish you were here.

xxxx

Lasagne Beds - April Fools ?

2009-01-15T07:53:00.028Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in raised beds.Earlier in the week I took delivery of a new order from Victoriana Nurseries, who are based at Challock in Kent. In the past I have ordered only dribs and drabs from this renowned supplier, And I have been eagerly watching the postman for a few days now!

This latest order included a Red Currant Bush (v.Rondom) Bare Rooted, a Rhubarb Plant (v.Victoria), 10 off Asparagus Plug Plants (v. Jersey Knight), a packet of Climbing Pea Seeds (v. Victorian Colossal Climbing), and a packet of Sweetcorn seeds (v.Swift Early).The package that arrived was somewhat larger than I had been expecting, and I was not sure how well the plants would have survived the postal service. Imagine then my delight when I opened the packaging and found all was well. This order had obviously been packed by someone who cares about what they do for a living. The Rhubarb plant looked fresh and full of vigor, as did the redcurrant bush, the latter having it's bare roots neatly enclosed in a polythene sack. The asparagus plugs were also well wrapped, undamaged, and still in their original "plug" shape, in spite of the fact that the root balls were quite moist. The accompanying packs of seed, like the rest of the produce, came complete with detailed information on propagation and growing, not the sort of thing you come to expect of plants by post. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement.Having ordered this lot a few days earlier, I had been kept away from the veg beds and the lottie, by the continued cold spell, and was keen to be doing some sort of "Gardening". With that in mind, I had been browsing the Feb 09 issue of the "Grow your own veg" magazine, which i got as a gift subscription from wtb. It was in there that I chanced upon an article entitled "Lasagne Beds". After checking the front cover to make sure it was not the April 1st Edition, I eagerly read on.

This bed system is utilised mainly where you want to create a Raised Bed, without digging and weeding the soil to start with. Often the hardest part in creating raised beds is the soil preparation required before you start; which is often hard work, especially on hard compacted ground that has never been worked. All you need to do once you have constructed your borders (I use scaffold planks) is cover the base with a good thick layer of newspaper, use a watering can to fully soak the paper, then cover with a layer of general purpose / home made compost to about 2" depth. This layering is then repeated until your bed is filled to the level you want. When you have finished, you will have a good layer sufficient for seed sowing / plug planting, and the "Lasagne" layers will rot down whilst at the same time preventing the base layer of weeds from growing, by excluding light from them. At the same time, worms will thrive in this new environment of moist soil and get to work breaking all the humus down. Newspaper also contains the trace element Carbon, which is useful in sustaining healthy plant growth.

The Raised Bed at Reads Retreat that I am going to turn into my Asparagus bed will use this method to top dress the existing bed content. Last season I grew my Climbing French Beans in this space, so the soil that is already there contains a large amount of organic kitchen waste, as well as the Nitrogen bearing roots which I left in the ground this winter to rot down. The reason I'm trying this layering method is that I hope it will help keep the weeds down which in turn should mean that I can leave the bed alone for a greater amount of time. At least the weeding wont be such a chore, and the newly planted asparagus plug plants shouldn't get disturbed too much.

Watch this space to see how I get on. Pictures to follow!

TTFN.

It's snowing !

2009-01-05T04:54:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing veg in Raised Beds.
There won't be much gardening done today,this photo taken 10 mins ago! There's about half an inch cover so far, and it's forecast to continue the rest of the day.

Lovely.

TTFN

Chelsea 1 - Southend United 1

2009-01-04T21:35:00.001Z

Giant killers back in action, holding Chelsea FC to a draw at Stamford Bridge.

Looking forward to the home replay on 14th Jan.

Come on you Shrimpers !!!

TTFN

Happy Birthday wtb

2009-01-02T10:09:00.001Z

Just a quick note to wish my darling Jen a Very Happy Birthday

Lots of love

Always

Gary xxxxx

Jack's back ! 30.12.08

2008-12-30T08:02:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.
Old Jack Frost has once again graced the plot with a covering of crisp white coldness, that just makes you want to nip outside and walk across the grass. However, it's still nice and snug inside, so I'll stick to my cup of coffee and central heating.
Hope all my readers have enjoyed a good christmas, and like me I'm guessing you're looking forward to next season's plantings and growing etc. Most of my efforts of late have centered around the Allotment , as there is a monumental amount of work to do there to get the site readied, not least a good few weeks of digging! Thanks then to SS / WTB for buying me a new Spade this Christmas. Other gardening presents were the RHS Encylopeadia of Gardening, and a Note book style garden planner - both from B & E. I'm looking forward to using the latter here at RR, to supplement this blog, and will keep you posted.

That's all for now. Wishing you all the best for the year ahead.

TTFN.

Merry Christmas Everyone 25.12.08

2008-12-25T10:00:00.001Z

Hope you all have a great day !

TTFN

x

Brrrr Winter on it's way! 07.12.08

2008-12-07T21:27:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

Not a lot has happened out on the plot in the last week. There's still a fair bit growing: Leeks, Beetroot, Chard, Carrots to name a few, but the garden at this time of year is very low maintenance.

One job that needs daily attention though, is to break the ice every morning in the bird bath. Also keep an eye on bird feeders - keep them topped up or your feathered friends will steer well clear of your garden. More info can be found on the RSPB website.

One thing that really does bug me though; as the growing comes to a close and beds are cleared, is the amount of Cat poo all over the place! Many is the day I've taken great delight in launching it over the garden fences! I think that's ok, as the neighbours have cats and we don't!

I've made a couple of visits to the allotment this week, read the updates at Reads Allotment Retreat.

I've a couple of jobs to do on the plot this week, and hope you will find time to come back next weekend for the next update.

Till then

TTFN

Rich Pickings 30.11.08

2008-11-30T22:22:00.007Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

The last day of a chilly and damp November is not normally the time you expect to be pulling carrots to grace the sunday lunch, but what a blessing these little beauties were. As fellow growers will know, they taste amazing. Although not a great size, they were a real treat. I think they're stunted in size for a couple of reasons; mainly their late sowing , and the fact that I neglected to thin them out! There's still a few more to come yet - who knows, that might even make it to the yule dinner plate. Whatever happens, the taste is a constant reminder of why we grow our own. Next year we will be growing some different varieties, namely to get some different colours on the plate, I must say I'm looking forward to white carrots!

Also today, managed to dig up a few Betroot for SS to bung in her sarnies. This little gems - each about the size of a golf ball, should be enough for at least 2 sarnies !
Again, these will be grown on the lottie next year, and it would be grand to emulate fellow plotholders who have this year harvested some truly huge roots. The key to this developing gardening / allotmenteering, is that we now have much more space to grow that much more.

As for the "Rich Pickings" title, I am still amazed at the amount of Chili's we've been able to harvest this year. This may be the final harvest, but they went straight into the freezer ready to be used at a later date. We're getting a bit more daring in terms of how many seeds get left in the pot for cooking, and find the heat from them is a much more rounded flavour than those you can buy in the shops. Looking forward to growing many more of these next year.

Managed to get a few jobs finished today, which included the final clearing of the beds that were home to the runner and french beans. The larger of the 2 beds was filled with green kitchen waste last year, and covered with general purpose compost prior to planting the climbing french beans this spring. The size of the crop from these beds lends weight to the use of home made compost, and we will continue on this vein in the future.

Not a lot else to tell you about from the plot, but hope you will join us again soon.

Till then,

TTFN

Planning Ahead ! 24.11.08

2008-11-24T20:50:00.002Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

Whilst there's not much happening on our garden plot at the mo, I always find great interest in the many reference books that i have acquired over the years. It doesn't matter how many new books i buy, i still go back to the older tomes !
One thing that constantly annoys me in the newer books though, is their conversion to metric. Why do they do it ? I sit there and read "23cm apart in rows" whilst mentally converting it to inches! Do you do that ? Do you really have an idea of what 23cm actually relates to ! Has the whole world gone mad!
Sorry - rant over. If however you are a publisher reading this then please please please take note.

Elsewhere at home the seed collection is growing at quite a pace. Next year we will grow the sturdier / hardier veg at the allotment, so we can make space for the more attention seeking veg plants at home. We had, for example , limited successes with Sweet Pepper, Aubergine, Turnip etc. and want to take these crops to the next level.

There's still a great deal of tidying to do on the raised beds, getting them ready to lie fallow over the winter months. A little and often is the best way forward.

I'll be back soon with further updates from Reads Retreat, and hope that you will join us again soon.

Till then,

TTFN

Heavy Snow - Not ! 23.11.08

2008-11-23T21:25:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, the home of growing your own veg in Raised Beds. We awoke this morning to a light dusting of snow, not the arctic condition blizzards that were forecast! It lasted a couple of hours and was then washed away with torrential downpours, and then the sun came out! Dont you just love the British weather!
I didn't make it to the allotment today, but guess it was the same there too. Judging by the news reports throughout the day, we escaped the worse of it. Not much has happened here or at the plot this week, but i have started yet another blog. If you've been invited to our upcoming wedding, check it out for details of local accommodation. That's about it for now, except to wish D&K a Happy Anniversary - 7 Short Years ! Cheers!!!!

TTFN

NTR Nothing to report ! 16.11.08

2008-11-16T22:06:00.001Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. As the title states, there's no news from here today. However, check out :

www.readsallotmentretreat.blogspot.com

to see where I've been hiding.

See you all soon,

TTFN.

Sweet Pepper Progress 15.11.08

2008-11-15T21:58:00.008Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat for our latest plot update.
As I have been promising for some time now, here's a snapshot of our first attempt at growing sweet peppers. This plant is bearing 3 fine fruits (look closely) , one has already turned red and the other 2 are just starting to turn. Cant wait now to slice one up and chuck it in a cheese sarnie! The plant has been brought indoors now, to protect it from the fast dropping temperatures, and it seems to be enjoying it's new home. Now that we have the allotment, there will be more room available next year to grow a good few more of the delish fruits!
Also today, I managed to string up the remaining climbing French Beans for drying out. I did not realise just how many were left on the plant. This snap is only about half of what i picked today, so i'm guessing we won't be short of seed for next year. These were a top cropper this year, outperforming the runners by a golden mile, and will def find them a place at the allotment. Secret squirrel wants to know if the dried beans can be used in stews ? I cant see why not, but maybe if you know you could let us know for sure. Ta.

I also managed a quick "catch up visit" to Plot 81 today, ahead of tomorrows planned time planting some cabbages etc. Click the link for more news from there.

Hope to see you soon back at Reads Retreat, till then,

TTFN.

Bowl of Beans (Version 2 ) 14.11.08

2008-11-14T23:07:00.001Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat , Our guide to growing veg in Raised Beds.

I only managed to find half an hour spare today, but in that time i did manage to harvest the remainder of the Climbing French Beans (v. Blue Lake) which are now ready for stringing up to dry. Hope to get this done in the morning! Piccy to follow!

Sorry about the picture quality here ! This is my crop ( hahaha) of Raspberries, grown on the cane i brought from Wilkinson's earlier in the year. I would have taken a better photo, but my enthusiasm got the better of me and i ate them!
Hey ho, I'll be transplanting these to the lottie soon, and hope for better results next year! For the officianados amongst you, the variety on the pack read: Rasberry!!!!! Thats nearly as good as the other fruit cane i got from there: Blackcurrent !

Thats about it for now. Hoping to spend some time on Plot 81 over the next couple of days, and will share some more pics with you all. Till then,

TTFN

String of Beans 13.11.08

2008-11-13T18:13:00.003Z

Welcome back to Reads Retreat - our guide to Growing your own veg in Raised Beds.
With so many jobs to get done on the plot, it's often a case of "Where shall i start " . Yesterday I managed to clear the runner bean wigwam away. Before this however, i harvested these bean pods for seeds to use next year. In the past I have usually dried them out by laying on some old newspaper (the pods, not me! ) , but read recently this idea of stringing them up. This method should ensure good air circulation around the pods, and help to prevent any mould from forming. Also, as the pods dry out ( and you can shake the beans in the pods ) they can simply be removed from the pods and placed in an airtight container, ready for use next spring. I thought this was a great idea, and thought I'd share the idea with you all too. I will do the same over the next couple of days as I complete the same task on the climbing french beans. All we now need is a modicum of dry weather, and of course some time!

I'll be in touch again soon!

TTFN.

90 Years of Rememberance 11.11.2008

2008-11-11T10:15:00.005Z

Armistice Day is upon us again. Save a prayer for those who died, those who remember, and those that will never forget.

TTFN.

Time to start tidying up! 10.11.08

2008-11-10T22:32:00.004Z

Welcome back once again to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.
The home plot beds are in a bit of a mixed state right now, with some veg slowly but surely going to seed, whilst others are still yearning the warmth of the sun to reach their full potential.
I must admit that it has been a bit hectic here for the last few weeks, and the veg growing side of life has taken a bit of a back seat! We had a couple of weeks of being rather ill - sadly missing mum's 21st birthday bash, but luckily managed to spend a few days with her last week. Now we find ourselves in monsoon season ( how long will it last ? ) and are eagerly awaiting a break in the weather. First job on the list will be to take down the runner and french bean wigwams. We have had some great crops of beans this year, and managed also to give plenty away to friends and work colleagues. To me, this is all part of the fun of growing your own. The runner beans now left on the plants will be picked and put inside to dry out, providing seed for next years sowing, whilst the climbing french beans will just be removed to the compost pile. I save the former as the seeds originate from my late Grandad's garden - whom this blog is dedicated to, whilst the latter are so cheap to buy it makes less sense to save. Mind you, when it comes down to it, I'll probably end up saving some anyway!!!
With the canes removed, the plants will be cut down at ground level, leaving the nitrogen rich roots in the ground to rot down over the winter. These can then be dug in next spring, providing valuable nutrients for the next crop in the rotation.

Pop back tomorrow to see what else is going on !

TTFN

Basket of Fire ! 09.11.08

2008-11-09T20:39:00.009Z

Finally....... Welcome back to Reads Retreat - "Our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds", for what i hope will now be regular updates! You don't know how much we've missed having the internet connected at home. Lucky for me I have these blogs, otherwise would have lost all my garden pics from the last couple of years.
We have installed a brand new copy of windows, and an awful lot of data has been lost forever, but thankfully a lot of it is also safe and sound on flash drives!
I've been wanting to show some pics from the plot, and thought I'd start you all off on this basket of fire. It's my first year of growing Chili's, but this basket of Cayenne peppers have grown and still are growing beyond what I expected. This pic was taken yesterday afternoon, just after I harvested half a dozen fruits to send to D&K. As you can see, there's still a good few more to harvest, and they taste delish.

Dotted around the garden and the raised beds, there's a good few Chard plants. I grew 2 varieties this year: Zilver and Rainbow. Both are performing well, and at this time of year are providing some welcome colour. It's a strange ish taste at first, but we now find it a lovely addition to many dishes.
In the foreground are some lettuce ( v. unknown ) that I bought on my recent visit to the Victoriana nursery in Challock, Kent. They seem to be beating the slugs and putting on great growth. Cant wait to eat them !

Elsewhere on the plot:

My late sowing of Beetroot (v.Boltardy) are still putting on good growth, and are still swelling up. Not quite big enough to harvest just yet, but in the absence of any severe frost / cold snaps, they are still growing on well.
It was a bit of an experimental sowing, simply to use up some spare ground. Ok, it was Matron's idea / advice - so thanks for that. I must admit though, that the sight of empty soil ( after lifting the onions ) was a good time to try something like this.

There's still a fair bit to update you all on, but I'm a tad tired now - I've been up since 0430 this morning, so I'm gonna sign off for now. Don't worry though, there will be plenty more updates this week!

By the way, Secret Squirrel and I are tying the knot: 24th January 2009 at 2.00pm! Cant wait.

Take care all - see you soon.

TTFN

Internet - At last ! 07.11.08

2008-11-07T16:23:00.002Z

Greeting's from Reads Retreat, Our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

Finally we have home internet again, and cant wait to get going again with the blog.

The absence from the blog has been arduous, with our only access available at the local library.

Watch this space as we get you all up to date on whats happening on and around the plot.

Take care all, we'll see you soon.

TTFN

Ghostrider - at long last! 22.10.08

2008-10-22T14:12:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

We still have no home internet, and this update comes to you from the local library access!

Regular readers will know that secret squirrel bought me some mail order plug plants way back in the spring. One of these was a Pumpkin (v. Ghostrider) which was duly planted up with the other plugs. It was given a favourable position in one of the raised beds, one that contained plenty of well rotted household waste, and a good proportion of compost. It should have done remarkably well. Initial growth was beyond expectations, as it easily sent out its stems all over the bed. Throughout the summer there has been a profusion of yellow flowerheads to greet me on the plot, but sadly that was it. Having resigned my self to failure with this vegetable, I had stopped looking. It's a shame then that this week we have discovered the making of a pumpkin. It's only small at the moment ( slightly larger than a golf ball ) and still green. I'm tempted now to wait a while before uprooting the plant. For the life of me I'm not expecting much here, but it would be nice to get a small reward for all the care and attention that has been lavished. Fellow bloggers have put me to shame here with pics of their glorious bounties! Must try harder next year !

Elsewhere on the plot, the growth is slowing up as weeds take over, light availabilty declines, and the nights get darker earlier. A brisk walk around the plot this morning revealed :

The runner beans have finally finished their growth for cropping. The pods left will now be saved for seed collection ( when the pods have dried out ), before the plants are cut at soil level and cleared away for the winter.
The Climbing French beans have mostly finished now, maybe a final harvest awaits for the table ? Any further bean pods will be left on the plant to dry out, and the seeds contained will be stored for use in winter soups and casseroles.
The Turnips (v. Golden Ball) had the greens removed a couple of days ago, and are already sprouting fresh leaves. They will be left in the ground a while longer, or until we get a prolonged cold snap.
The late sowed Kohl Rabi, well - not doing too much. I may get a few "golf ball" sized crops but that will probably be it ?
The late sowed Beetroot (v. Boltardy) are still doing well, and if we're lucky will provide a dozen or so more fruits for the table .
The chili's ( v. Cayenne ) in the hanging basket continue to thrive. Just wish I could upload a pic to show you. There must be about 30 or so in this one basket, and I must add - they taste delish.
Our dying courgette plant has all but given up the ghost, albeit having just produced a rather late yellow flower - might get one more here?
What we do have an abundance of though ( thanks to my over planting ) is loads and loads of swiss chard all around the plot. This tasty spinach like plant, should be gracing our plates right through the winter. Yum!

Thats about it for now. Please bookmark us and come back soon. We hope to be online in the very near future.

TTFN

Still no computer!

2008-10-10T10:41:00.001+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.

Apologies to Matron and all, still no pictures I'm afraid!

If anyone has a spare 120Gb Hard drive they don't need anymore - please let me know !

Will be back soon !

TTFN

Chilli's Galore 06.10.08

2008-10-06T10:31:00.002+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

We still have no Internet access at home, so am continuing to use the facilities at the library! With that in mind, all updates will be in text format for a few weeks, but we hope to get things sorted soon.

I took a stroll around the plot yesterday - amid the howling wind and rain! Normally at this time of year you don't expect to see a lot of colour from the crops, but I was delighted to see plenty of bright red Chilli's in the hanging basket. I can thoroughly recommend that you grow some of these in this manner. I've lost count of how many we've harvested from this single plant, and there is still loads more to come. The variety we chose are Cayenne. They were very easy to propogate, grow very quickly and very spicy without being too hot - if you know what i mean!

Elsewhere the crops are starting to finish. The runner beans have not really produced much this year, but plenty of pods will once again be saved for next years plantings. The Climbing French Beans (v. Blue Lake) have exceeded expectations, and surprisingly are still cropping!

Thats about it for now. Watch this space for more update. Till then,

TTFN

What no internet ! 2.10.08

2008-10-02T11:09:00.002+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat.

Please bear with us as we currently do not have Home Internet access.

Many thanks to Kent County Council for providing access in the interim.

More updates to follow very soon - hopefully!

TTFN

Cor ! 21.09.08

2008-09-20T13:08:00.013+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat. Our guide and diary blog, aimed at all those who want to grow veg in Raised Beds.

There's been a lot happening here at Reads Retreat of late, including a recent visit from mum, who stopped for a few days, before leaving laden with goodies - including a Bay Tree Plant, and some lovely fresh Garlic from the plot. We've recently been giving produce away - lucky that we did really as it prompted a conversation that led to the discovery of a chest freezer going begging in Mick & Carols garage. That's just what we need right now, not withstanding our bumper haul of apples from Arthur's garden next door. We must have collected a good 20lb's or so - both fallers and from the tree, and secret squirrel is now contemplating jams and chutneys like they're going out of fashion. Of course, Arthur will get his fair share of fresh baked pies too, as our way of saying thanks. There's still more fruit on the tree, but mostly out of reach and thoroughly pecked by the birds. Oh well, we'll leave them to it. A nice tasty snack for them!

Is it just me that's having a real nightmare uploading pictures to the blog ?? Its taken me half an hour to load this! (Rant over). Our tom's in the raised beds have nearly all been harvested. We've not had a brilliant crop, but we now have plenty of red and (mostly) green toms to go into our chutney recipe's. We decided to harvest what we could see this morning, and clear away / compost what's left of the plants. This is due to the recent drop in temperature and the ever diminishing hours of daylight. I think the lesson learned this year is not to plant the toms too close to the fence, where there may be more trapped cold air.

My little plot of Turnip (v.Golden Ball) are growing at quite a rate. Sweeping the tops aside reveals the globes beneath, and I eagerly await the first harvest to see how good they taste. I'm a great fan of winter stews, and hope these will mature enough to join the list of regular inclusions. It's the first time we've grown these on our home plot, and fully expect to grow them on our allotment in the coming year. I'd also like to try growing Swede, and will be opting for a variety called "Ruby" ! Sorry - can't resist! I'll let you know how this lot progress.

Our hanging basket of heat is going from strength to strength. In more ways than one! The Chili's (v.Cayenne) have started to turn red, and there's plenty more still growing. This lot has to be this year's success story, as we continue to harvest these fiery fruits. A couple of these have already spiced up our chili con carne's, and we're looking forward to many more being used - maybe in our chutneys etc. I think growing beetroot in the same basket may have been a tad optimistic, but there's still plenty of time for these to grow too. Just need to remember to water them!

There's still a load to update you on, but I'm having loads of issues uploading pics so i will call it quits for now. Let's hope that "Blogger" get it sorted soon!

Join me again soon from Reads Retreat.

TTFN.

Shine on you crazy diamond.... 16.09.08

2008-09-16T13:23:00.002+01:00

Richard Wright - one of Pink Floyd's founding members, passed away yesterday.

Rest in Peace.

You will be missed.

Competition time ! 14.09.08

2008-09-14T21:16:00.003+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. If you are a returning site visitor, you will remember this pic of the remaining seed grown "Bedfordshire Champion" onion on my plot. Just for a bit of fun, I though I would have a "Guess the weight" competition. Its open to anyone - fellow bloggers or not ! As for the prize ? I recently bought some Dill Herb seeds in error ( I have an unopened pack already ) so will gladly post these to the winner ! We are talking pounds and ounces here folks! A clue to its size ? Well the board around the raised bed is 1 1/2" thick ! I will pick the onion next sunday, and pop it straight on the scales. The person who guesses the closest wins the herbs. My decision; by the way, is final! Good luck.

Non stop harvests - yummy ! 10.09.08

2008-09-10T21:21:00.014+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. It's been a while since the last update, and there's so much to tell you about. Our main news - regular readers will know - is that on 17th August we took over a 10 Rod Allotment, and joined the local Sheppey Horticultural Society. This has taken a large chunk of our time, but progress is slowly being made. Check out the link (see right) to our new blog, and follow our progress as we start from scratch. It's a really exciting time - lots of planning and lots of hard work to follow! 10 Rods - to you and me that's 300 sq/yd's. That's a lot of digging. Continuing with our home plot theme, we are going to use raised beds to raise our crops. The current good news is that all our crops at home are coming to fruition. This pic shows the towering growth of the 2 French Bean (v.Blue Lake ) wigwams. We are harvesting now on a daily basis, being creative with their culinary uses, as well as giving them away to friends and work colleagues. The crop has been great so far, and there's still bucket loads to come! These will be making an appearance on our new venture next year.
On a slight downer, the Runner Bean crop's this year have not been so successful. This may be due to late planting, after my first plantings were ruined by frost, but it may also be due to the absence of Bee's in the garden until about mid August. There's been plenty of flowers - both Red and White, and even now there's also plenty of tiny beans forming, and I hope we will still get some good beans to harvest. Next year I will grow these on the allotment, but will not use a wigwam for them again. Unlike the French Beans that are easy to spot / harvest on wigwams, it's been really hard so far to find the runners. Mind you, access is restricted on my garden plot, despite the raised beds layout and all the pathways I've put in this year. Someone said "you learn by doing" - they were right!

You have to look hard, but amongst the dense green foliage of these tomato plants (v. Money Maker & Gardeners Delight) there are some nice red toms getting ready for picking. Indeed, on an almost daily basis we get about half a dozen. All good news as I'm not a great fan of Green Tom Chutney ! The pot of picked toms therefore, is now filling up. Hopefully we'll get enough to make some Jamie Oliver esque ketchup, as well as all the other delights that secret squirrel is planning to make !

Amidst all the harvesting, there's still lots of new growth around! To the far left, there are 2 rows of Beetroot (v. Boltardy) which were planted out early August. These are a staple dietary addition for SS's Peanut Butter sandwiches, and these 2 little rows should provide enough for a good few sarnies. Between the rows of Leeks, there are 2 more small rows of Kohl Rabi. Still a bit of an experiment as they were planted so late, but they are growing on well. Hopefully they will mature before the really cold weather sets in. The Leeks themselves are doing ok too, although a good few did start to bolt. Those affected had their flower stems removed, and have seemingly recovered. The trailing leaves that were touching the ground have been cut away, to avoid slugs getting onto them. I plan to leave these in the ground till well into the winter months, though we couldn't resist harvesting one for last sundays lunch. It tasted good, but the core was very tough - maybe due to the bolting ?
Our hanging basket of Chili Peppers (v.Cayenne) are growing unbelievably well, and today we harvested our first Red one, savouring it's taste in a bowl of chili con carne at tea time. Not as hot as we thought it might be, so next time we'll leave the seeds in the pot too!
The sunflower on the right was Ruby's first gardening exploit - didn't she do well. The seed was planted in a plastic cup on one of her visits to playgroup, and grew into this fine specimen. Chip off the old block !

Here at Reads Retreat, we're collectively proud of these 2 little Aubergine's. Its gonna be a wee while before they are big enough to use, but having lost so many flowers from the plant, we were overjoyed when not only did these 2 flowers stay put, but they also turned into the fine specimens you see here. Having been reliably informed by the FIL that they would not grow in our climate, it was nice to prove him wrong!
Not sure we'll get many more, but with all the extra space we'll have next year, we will definitely try and grow some more of the delicious veg next year. Now, where did we put all those seed catalogues !!

My crowning glory for todays update is my small plot of Turnips (v.Golden Ball). These plants really are growing well, and now stand between 6" and 8" tall. Approx 30 seeds have survived the snail and slug attack and continue to put on some good growth. The edge of the bed was planted up with Chard (v.Zilver) and this too is growing well, although it has been somewhat shadowed by the Turnip's growth. I read in a book recently that you can harvest the turnip tops whilst leaving the root in the ground, where it will send up new shoots. Can anyoe give me any advice on this ? There's also 1 last bucket of spuds to be harvested - maybe this weekend ?

Thats about it for now. I'm trying to build up a blog record of the allotment, so please take a look when you get a chance. Hope you are all still enjoying the fruits of your labours. Enjoy your gardens while the weather lasts.
Take care all and see you again soon.

TTFN.

Its a bit chilly ! 23.08.08

2008-08-23T08:09:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

Just popped out to look over the plot - and there's a definite chill in the air. The good news though was the sound of the Bee's in the garden. They are everywhere, all over the French Beans(v.Blue Lake) as well as on the Nasturtiums. It seems they arrived late and are now on overtime!

At long last we have a couple of Aubergines forming. All previous flower buds have died back and dropped from the stems. Perseverance with regular watering / feeding seems to be having the desired effect!
Slightly off topic ( I know! ) but wanted to share this pic of one of the many "Bonsai's" in the garden. This Acer is now on its second growth of the year. I let it dry out at the middle of June, die back, then re commence watering and feeding. This gives a second show of the leaves, and I'm told that it helps keep the tree healthy. We have several other trees in pots, including Ash, Walnut, Elm, and are all growing well this year.

I'm having trouble uploading further pictures today, so will have a go again later .

Pop back soon for more updates from the plot.

TTFN

Bricking it ...... 18.08.08

2008-08-18T20:57:00.006+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide blog to Growing your own Veg in Raised beds.Continuing on from yesterdays theme, here's a before and after photo of our latest brick path. These bricks were left over after yesterdays creation and needed using up - we kept tripping over the pile of bricks! Again, I must stress that these are not yet cemented in place, merely laid out in a nice "pattern" ready for cementing at a later date. I cant promise that "Plot 81" will be this ornate, but you never know. We're still excited about getting on with the plot, and secret squirrel is already waxing lyrical about crop rotation, planting plans and the like. There's no stopping her !

Elsewhere on the plot, the Beetroot(v.Boltardy) are starting to show, and the Turnips(v.Golden Ball) seem to have survived their thinning out. I'll give the latter a couple more weeks to grow on before finally thinning them out.

I saw my 1st Meadow Blue Butterfly today. Apparently they've been in the garden all summer ( Brown's too) but I had not seen them until today. There's also loads and loads of Dragonflies flitting about - I'll try and get some pictures to post on the blog. Thats about it for now. Join us again a bit later in the week for a further update before I get back to work.

TTFN

Looking good on the plot 17.08.08

2008-08-17T21:34:00.019+01:00

Welcome back to our plot update here at Reads Retreat - our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. We're both still on cloud 9 on the back of acquiring our own allotment. There's a lot of work in preparation terms, as the site is currently overgrown, but we now have a great opportunity to expand on what we grow. As you can see in this picture, our garden plot is now in full swing, we're still planting as well as tackling the hard landscaping ( laying bricks etc. ) but we'll get to that later. The French Beans(v.Blue Lake) are racing up their canes, and have already provided a few good harvests, with the prospect of providing many more yet. The traditional "family" runner beans are now also starting to put on good growth. Alongside the reads runners we planted a few "new seed" , some different varieties with both Pink & White flowers. These were given to me by my FIL and it seemed a waste not to use them. As stated in an earlier post, there's also a lot of Bee's in the garden now, a great and encouraging sight.
The toms (v.Tomazing) right outside the patio door were looking a bit sad a couple of weeks ago, having been stripped of most foliage by an enthusiastic but somewhat inexperienced Ruby. The plant was left bare except for 2 trusses of green toms. With no way of getting these to redden up foreseeable, we used the method of hanging an over-ripe banana on the plant. This gives off a gas which helps to redden up the toms, and as you can see it's working a treat. The added advantage, is that the banana is attracting some great looking Butterflies, which I tried to capture in this photograph. However, the adage of never working with children / animals has come true as every time I took a pic, the butterfly closed it's wings. I took about 8 shots but this is the best of the lot!

Here we have the first of our Sweet Peppers(v.Moneymaker) that we raised from seed. Pictures don't lie, but this pot of 3 plants is only about 10" tall, and the biggest pepper is still very small - but in our eyes still a success. It's always nice to grow something new at Reads Retreat, and in our eyes, if the plant bears fruit then its a success. We've got about a dozen or so of these plants dotted around, and although a lot of the plants are bearing flowers / buds, this is the first to bear fruit. We'll keep on nurturing this and see how we get on. The Chili peppers we're growing (v. Cayenne) in the hanging baskets and various pots around the plot, are also doing very well. Cant wait to taste them in a few more dishes.

Our newly "dressed" Rhubarb crown (v.Timperly Early) is already sending up new shoots after only a week. This is a good sign of a healthy crown, and we've enjoyed many a harvest from this throughout the summer. I must say it's tempting to grab a few more sticks, but we'll have to wait till next spring. Now that we have acquired our own allotment, we plan to include a few new crowns in our planting plan, to give us more of this tasty dessert throughout the following years.

Regular visitors to Reads Retreat, will know that I keep my eyes and ears open for bricks, as they are always useful on the plot. This area that I've now bricked over, was previously covered in wood chippings laid on top of a weed control membrane. That was a satisfactory path area, but as the material continually rotted down, I found we had to keep adding chipped bark to keep the path at a decent height. Now we have bricks laid out over the top, it looks a bit better and matches the other access area. All I need to do now is get some mortar to bed these down onto, and to fill in the gaps. Still got loads of bricks left so expect to see more paths being laid!

The Turnips (v.Golden Ball) have had their first thinning, with the gap between each seedling now approx 2". They will be thinned to a 4" gap a bit later on in their growth, so we can select the stronger plants.
Some of the "far too many" seedlings thinned out today, have been replanted in the various gaps that are starting to spring up in the raised beds. Obviously, the seedlings don't like to be distirbed, but they have 2 chances, and we might as well let them choose for themselves!

Elsewhere on the plot, there's still loads going on. Our toms in the raised beds are very slowly starting to redden up, the recently sown Betroot (v.Boltardy) seeds have germinated and are poking their leaves up to the sky, my "Giant" onion is still growing well, and my Carrots (v Autumn King 3)and Chard (v. Bright Lights & Zilver) are coming on a treat. Oh, did I mention ? We now have an allotment too!!

It's all very exciting, so much to think about and plan! We're gonna be busy! Hope you are all still enjoying the fruits of your toil. Come back and see us again soon. Till then,

TTFN.

Busy Bee's 15.08.08

2008-08-15T21:55:00.005+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, our guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds.

A welcome sight in the garden this morning, a plethora of Bee's all over the Runner beans / French beans. They have been somewhat absent from the plot over the recent weeks, but are now here in abundance. Great news!

I had a comment from "Matron" (see previous post) enquiring about how our Rhubarb tasted that we pulled a few days ago. I have to say, it was gorgeous, and cant understand why people stop picking it so early in the year. This crown (v.Timperley Early) is only in its second year, and has provided plentiful crops this year which again is against what most people say. As previously posted, we will not harvest any more this year, rather letting the crown build up energy for next spring's forcing. I tried to leave a comment on your blog (Matron) but cannot get it to work ? You can always contact me directly via :

readsretreat@hotmail.co.uk

Thats about it for now, but will be back over the weekend with further updates from the plot.
Till then,

TTFN.

GOLD for Bedfordshire Champions ! 12.08.08

2008-08-12T17:09:00.019+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, the home of how to "Grow your own veg in Raised Beds".

Today saw the harvest start of the Bedfordshire Champion Onions. In my mind, they're all Gold medal winners, considering that I grew these all from seed, and they easily out grew the onion sets that were planted out in the raised beds about 2 weeks earlier. Next year I'll be planting more of these little ( er - not so little ! ) gems, and staggering the planting to get a longer lasting harvest.

As you can see, young Ruby was happy to help, as she willingly posed with her first onion. To be totally honest , I'm surprised that any of them grew at all, considering that Ruby's favourite pastime of late has been to pull the outer leaves off as soon as they were within reach.
I noticed that the seed grown onions all grew beneath the soil; as opposed to the sets that grew virtually on the surface of the soil, with the former producing much larger specimens.
Following good advice from Steve and other regular readers of my blog, I patiently waited for the stems to fall over before pulling the crop up. With the weather forecasting wet for the next few days, i decided to harvest most of them today to avoid the stems rotting.

As this image shows, there's still a few more Champions in the raised bed - still growing strongly. This specimen is well over cricket ball size already, so although it wont be a show winner, and the taste may deteriorate, it's gonna be a big one !
That is of course assuming the foliage stays intact for a bit longer.
I really want to encourage our daughter to help and get involved in the garden, but despair at the sight of new seedlings being pulled from the soil.
Oh well, onwards and upwards !

Some of the rest of todays harvest can be seen here, laid out in a warm and sunny, and most of all dry location, for the stems to dry out.We've had a really good crop overall, and I'm more than happy with our little stab at growing onions.
Next season there will be a whole bed reserved for this crop. It's not just about the excitement of growing onions, the key for me - that you just don't get with shop brought onions - is how well they retain their flavour after cooking. You've got to try this for yourself to understand what I'm saying !

If I may be so bold, I've taken a leaf out of a fellow bloggers book, (Thanks Matron) and decided to keep on sowing seeds. It's nice to have harvests, but it seems such a shame to have a bare patch of soil. Yesterday afternoon I prepared this bed (formerly home to the Stuttgarter Giant Onions) and planted 2 x 3' rows of Beetroot (v.Boltardy). With the current spell of warm/hot and damp weather upon us, there's no good reason why these seeds should not germinate. It also gave me the opportunity to tidy up the Leeks. I read recently that any foliage from the Leeks that touches the ground should be removed, preventing easy access for slugs and snails, and therefore promoting better growth. We'll have to wait and see!

On the same theme, I today prepared this bed, and planted 2 x 3' rows of Kohl Rabi. I prepared drills, and sowed the seed rather more generously than my earlier in the year efforts. This bed was previously home to my Red onions (v.Red Karmen) and the soil was in really good condition. A gentle rake over the seeds once sown, then gently pressed down and watered in well. I'm looking forward to another crop here - all being well.
I'm a strong believer in not always believing the information contained on the seed packets, rather I use it as a guide. The seed manufacturers must obviously provide some guidance on growing, but with the ever changing seasons, there surely is some latitude in the information provided ?

Again, about six weeks after the books tell us, we took our last harvest of the year from my Rhubarb crown (v.Timperly Early), and the secret squirrell created 2 delish Rhubarb & Ginger crumbles. Try it ? The taste is amazing! After harvesting, the crown was thoroughly drenched, then a thick mulch of potting compost , mixed with slow release fertilizer, was poured over the crown. This will now be left until next spring, letting the plant build up its reserves, before I again start forcing the plant for an early crop. Mmmmm I can hardly wait!

The Pot Marigold's planted here and there on the raised beds, are still flowering well. In fact, there's an abundance of flowers all over the garden, but we are not seeing many bee's. I hope it changes as we progress through the summer, but I'm not sure it will.
Elsewhere on the plot, all is going well. The Runner & Broad Beans are flowering well, and producing crops, albeit only small amounts at the moment. The Turnip seedlings are now about 1" tall and I'll soon have to start thinning them out, we've bucket loads of Carrot seedlings (v.Autumn King 3), and Chard seedlings beginning to take over. So you see, there's loads of work still to be done. What fun!

I hope you're still enjoying your gardens as much as I am. I've got a little project underway that I will bring you news of soon. The only hold up on it is funds, but I'm trying to scrounge bits and bobs, and am slowly getting there. Watch this space ! Till then,

TTFN.

Olympics - What are they ? 10.08.08

2008-08-10T09:20:00.019+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat - our diary blog about growing your / our own veg in Raised Beds.
No time to sit and watch the telly here at Reads Retreat, far too much to do in the garden and home! As reported a few days ago, these Turnip seeds that were planted straight into the raised beds last weekend, germinated with just 3 days! This picture taken this morning shows that they continue to grow at a fast rate. The planting lines are clearly visible thanks to my method of using a cane to mark out the sowing drill. This coupled with the warm weather and plentiful rainfall has given these plants a great start. Very soon i will have to start thinning them out. I hardly used any of the seeds, compared to the estimated contents on the pack - 1500 - and only £1.09. At a later date I'll explain how I store any surplus seed, which despite claims on the packs, last for ages.

At the same time as I planted the Turnip's, I also planted some Chard, which you can just see emerging around the edge of the bed. These took longer to germinate as I expected, as the seeds are much larger. You can speed up germination of large seeds by soaking before planting out.

My Courgette plants seem to be recovering well. The problem was I think created by me, over watering ? The plants seemed to be dying off, and the leaves didn't look too healthy. This was followed by heavy and prolonged rainfall which compounded the problem. Therefore, I just "neglected" the plants for a few days, and one of them has revived itself, and is bearing fruit again, and they're growing quickly too. Cant wait to harvest more from this plant. I read that I should expect about a dozen from each plant, and so far we've had about half a dozen, so looking forward to a few more yet ! We'll see. Might grow some yellow varieties next year ?

My Raspberry root that i purchased from Wilko's, is finally starting to add some growth. Like the Blackcurrant that I purchased at the same time, they were both planted in shallow soil in pots to get them established. Hopefully they will continue to form a good root base so that I can plant them into their growing positions late autumn / early winter. I must admit that despite the price of a couple of pounds each, I am dissapointed with how badly / slowly they have grown. I may attempt some cuttings if i'm feeling confident, as i dont want to keep on spending when funds are so tight elsewhere. It would be nice to get some from from the plants this year. Maybe we will, we'll have to wait and see!

It's a very similar story with the Gooseberry bush. Purchased from the same place, it's taken an absolute age to get this far! I have fed and watered it consistently, but still the growth is slow. I'm really keen to get this going; my grandfather - i remember - grew these in his garden at Clacton, and I would love to do the same here. I maybe will buy some better stock for planting out next year. After all, you get what you pay for , and not much more.

And now the good news ! Look at these 2 towers of lush green foliage. The lighter green ( as you may have guessed ) is the runner beans. These have been grown year on year from seeds saved by Grandad. I was down to 5 seeds this year, as they just didn't want to germinate. Now though they have recovered well. We've had a few small picking's, and are looking forward to many more! The darker green is the climbing French Beans (v.Blue Lake). Again, these seemed to take ages to get going, then suddenly they sprang into action. We've had several picking from this too, harvesting the bean pods at about 4" long. They taste delish, and will deff be grown again here at Reads Retreat. To the left of the pic is my clump of Toms (v. Moneymaker) which are also doing well.

Another great and unexpected success this year have been my Chili Peppers (v.Cayenne). We've got them growing everywhere we can find space to put them, even in this hanging basket alongside Beetroot (v.Boltardy). There's plenty of nearly ready to pick Chili's already, and still more are forming. We've had less success with our sweet peppers, but we are persevering to see if we can get a crop.

That's about it for todays update, there's still loads more to tell you about, including a new project indoors, but sitting here typing is making my back ache, so please excuse me for now.

Take care all, get out into your gardens as the weather permits, and enjoy yourselves!

TTFN.

Thunder & Lightning 07.08.08

2008-08-07T20:56:00.004+01:00

Welcome back to a soggy but otherwise ok Reads Retreat. our guide to growing your own veg in raised beds.
Slightly "off topic" boy did it rain last night. Being a fan of a good old storm, we lay in bed, curtains and windows open watching the lightning light up the night sky, with the heavy thunder roaring all around and raining, like it's going out of fashion. Brilliant.
When I ventured out to the plot this morning, the air smelt lovely. Furthermore, i was greeted by the delightful sight of all 5 rows of Turnips; planted just a few days ago, germinated and pushing their seedlings up to the light. A bit more of a wander found the small row of Radish have germinated too. Sadly no pictures today, I've been a tad busy. I have to admit to "borrowing" todays pic from auntie !

Pop back tomorrow for a more detailed update. See you soon,

TTFN.

Rained all night ! 04.03.08

2008-08-04T08:49:00.011+01:00

Welcome back to another quick update at Reads Retreat, where a quick break in the weather enabled an outstanding sowing job to be completed:
I had a vacant raised bed, just 3' x 3', and this was my choice planting. 2 Varieties that I've wanted to try for a couple of years now.
The Swiss Chard (v. Zilver) is a renowned cropper that with a bit of TLC should get through the autumn and well into the winter, whilst the Turnip (v. Golden Ball) should grow tennis ball sized roots, whilst at the same time providing some turnip tops for use as a nourishing "winter green". What's more, buying good seed from reputable sources can only help with this latest venture. I'm hoping the mild weather continues to aid the germination.
Initially, the Swiss chard was planted around the perimeter of the bed, approx 2" from the boards, and about 2" apart. If all these seeds germinate they can be thinned out later on, the thinnings then being either cooked as baby leaves, or replanted elsewhere on the plot. Next, I marked out 5 rows (about 6" apart ) by pressing a cane into the surface of the bed. This provides drills deep enough to accommodate the Turnip seed, without causing disruption to the soil immediately adjacent. The seed was then sown fairly generously ( 3 seeds/inch) along each drill, then covered with loose topsoil which was then firmed into place. This all followed by a gentle watering to settle the bed.

After watering in the seed, the boards were then marked each end of the drills. This way emerging seedlings can be distinguished from emerging weeds, and the latter easily removed. From what I've read, 1 sq yd should be sufficient for about 30 turnips to grow on, so the drills can be thinned out accordingly as time permits.

The final job of the day was to erect a temporary barrier to the newly planted bed. This was simply achieved by 2 buckets of spuds, which so far seem to be doing the trick! As soon as the bed becomes established, then the buckets can be moved back to their home on the patio.
All in, the whole task took about half an hour, as the bed had been prepared earlier. Time to sit back now and let nature take it's course.

Hope you have found this update both interesting and useful, and I look forward to welcoming you back soon. Keep me posted on how you are getting on. Till then,

TTFN.

Roast Lamb & Veg from garden 03.08.08

2008-08-03T20:32:00.005+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat - the home of How to Grow Veg in Raised Beds.
Todays update is less about actually growing veg, and more about actually enjoying the fruits of labouring on the veg plot.
Our sumptuous dinner today was Roast Leg of Lamb, cooked with fresh Garlic & Rosemary from the plot. This was complimented by Rhubarb Chard, a mix of Runner Beans and French Beans, as well as some freshly dug second early spuds. I have to admit we had some roasties too, but it was sheer bliss to sit and eat what was mostly our home grown veg, the taste is out of this world.

Regular readers / subscribers will know that I planned to plant some more seed today. Unfortunately, the ground was so hard, i could not dig sufficiently ( partly due to my ongoing back problem ) to prepare the ground for new sowings. The good news though, is that its pouring down as I write this, so first job for the morning will be to get that planting done. The bed I will be using is only 3' x 3', but I'm planning on planting some Organic Zilver Chard around the edge, and if possible about 30 Turnip seeds in the middle. I'm hoping this will provide further cropping late into the autumn, and can maybe use the turnip tops too as some winter greens.

Time permitting, I might get round to planting a further batch of Kohl Rabi ? We'll see.

Thats all for now. See you soon.

TTFN.

Start 'em young ! 02.08.08

2008-08-02T21:24:00.008+01:00

Welcome once again to Reads Retreat, where we not only grow veg in raised beds, but we nurture new gardeners too! After a small outlay at Wilkinson's for a wheelbarrow and garden tool set, there is now absolutely no way I'm going to keep Ruby out of the garden! What a great way to start - for £7.00 you get the barrow, a rake, a spade, a roller, bucket, shapes for "making" things in the mud, and a watering can. Just a shame I cant get the same outfit in adult size for a similar amount.
Back on the veg front, I planted a small row of Radish seeds today (v. Scarlet Globe), and also spied that the 2 rows of Chard / Leaf Beet planted just a few days ago have started to germinate. No sign of the carrots yet, but don't expect them for a few more days yet. I've still a lot of planting planned, and hopefully tomorrows list will include Turnips and Kohl Rabi.

And if you are left wondering what to do with all this fine veg you are growing - fear not ! Today I have added a new list of Chef's websites. The list will grow as I root out more site addresses, and if you have any favorites you would like me to add, then drop me a line. Emails please to:

readsretreat@hotmail.co.uk

Thats about it for now, but we'll see you again soon.

TTFN.

Pumpkin Growing Tips 01.08.08

2008-08-01T08:14:00.010+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat - your one stop shop for topical and timely info on growing your own veg.
This year I've been trying my hand at growing some pumpkins, and have to say have been finding it difficult to track down useful growing tips. I have found a pretty good site and added it to my sites of interest.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we planted some tomatoes in the spaces around the runner and french beans. I've just popped out with the camera to show you what i mean. It looks really nice to see the contrasting Deep Red flowers on the Runner beans with the bright yellow of the tomato plants. I'm sure we're going to see much more colour shows like this as the growth continues.
The runner and french beans both seem to have responded well to the feeding with liquid tomato fertilizer, with buds / flowers forming all over the place. Looking forward to pick enough to grace the dining table.

Continued thanks go to Jen, this glorious show of colour greets me every time I step out onto the patio. Who would have believed it , a veg grower like me loving flowers too. Is that whats known as natural progression. Not sure really , but they do look great. The Nasturtiums are also looking good, but the night scented stock is yet to flower - maybe its too early.

My Tomato (v. Tomazing) is now full of well formed trusses of lovely little fruits.
Up until yesterday, there was a further truss of bright orange toms that were very nearly ripe. Then Ruby discovered them, and now they've been picked and put on the kitchen windowsill for further ripening!
The other toms around the plot are either in flower or full of green toms. I'll be thinning out the non productive leaf shoots over the next few days, to let the sun get to the toms to ripen them off. I've got 2 further varieties arond the plot: Moneymaker & Gardeners Delight. I'll bring you more pictures of these as they start to ripen off.

Thats all for now - enjoy your gardens and come back soon.

TTFN.

Another bucket of spuds. 31.07.08

2008-07-31T18:17:00.007+01:00

Back again to Reads Retreat ? Nice to see you - whether you are a regular reader or a newcomer ! Everyone is welcome.
This is the latest harvest from my bucket grown spuds - not a massive crop but certainly enough for 2 or 3 evening meals. In case you are not aware, remove and discard the green bits prior to cooking and eating the rest. ( The green bits are mildly poisonous ! ). Still pondering over where grow the spuds next year, but in terms of greater yield, i expect to return to growing at least one early variety in the raised beds, and use the buckets for something else, maybe for more toms, or something of that ilk. All reasonable ideas will be considered !
It's been a hot and humid day today & still is, although it's just started spitting with rain. We need another good downpour to replenish water butt stocks, as well as to water the crops. My soapy water attacks on the blackfly are finally paying dividends, with large runner and french bean pod clusters forming all over the place. One funny thing to note is that we planted some spare tomato plants in gaps around the runner beans, and now have little clusters of Red & Yellow flowers. You have to look twice!!

Thats all for now, please bookmark my site and come back soon, or enter your email address to receive updates direct to your inbox. Your continued visits have helped me to the dizzy heights of 7th in the Top 100 Gardening Sites - Thank you.

TTFN.

A Dog with 2 Tails - Thats me! 30.07.08

2008-07-30T21:08:00.005+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, my guide to growing your own veg in Raised Beds. As for todays title, that sums me up to a tee today. Yesterday evening we decided to lift some of the onions from the raised beds. The 1st harvested were this little lot. The variety"Red Karmen" were grown from sets that I purchased on that little shopping site - ebay ! 20 Planted and 20 decent sized and perfectly formed usable little lovelies for the kitchen. The smallest 1 - just bigger than a golf ball, with the majority at about the size of a tennis/cricket ball. A couple have been used already in the kitchen, and they taste superb, maintaining their own inherent flavour right onto the plate. You may think this is nothing special, and you would probably be right. The key thing here for me, is that I've never grown onions before, and now I'm hooked. Its not only the veg that are amazing, but also just how shallow they sit in the soil, yet grow so big. But hold on, there's more:
This lot were also lifted. The variety here is "Stuttgarter Giant", bought from the same ebay shop! Sadly, this little lot failed to live up to their name, producing only about 10 Tennis balls and about 10 golf balls. That said though, they do taste delicious, and are full of flavour. But the best is yet to come: I initially planted sets as I was not confident enough to grow from seed. So, after planting these, i bought some seed to have a go. Fellow bloggers seemed to be selecting the variety"Bedfordshire Champion" so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. And this is the best bit - the BC's are still in the ground, and seem to be outgrowing the onion sets. Again, seeking the advice from fellow allotmenteers, these are still in the raised beds - thanks Steve! It's very tempting to lift these too, but I will wait a couple more weeks.
Don't forget to check out Steve's blog - it's well worth a look. There's a link in my bloggers list.

Elsewhere on the plot, all is well. We had a few French Beans with our dinner tonight, which also included freshly dug new potato's as well as a red onion in the "Toad in the Hole ".

There an abundance of nearly ready crops in the garden, and I'll keep you updated as and when they get harvested. I even bought some Liquid Tom Feed from Wilko's today, and its been used on Toms, Aubergine, French & Runner beans, Pumpkin, Beetroot, Chili Peppers etc etc etc.

I think we're in for some more rain over the next couple of days, so I hope you've been enjoying the weather so far. Thats it for now, but I'll be back soon with more news. Till then,

TTFN.

Early morning - wet ! Lovely !! 29.07.08

2008-07-29T09:34:00.004+01:00

Welcome Back to Reads Retreat.

Well, what a refreshing change! When we turned in last night, the sky was full of lightening and the heavens opened. Not sure how long it all lasted, I was away with the fairies as soon as my head touched the pillow.

As i strolled around the garden / plot this morning, it was not the feeling of Dew underfoot, but the satisfying knowledge that it rained good and hard. The plants have all withstood the downpour, the water butts are full, and the air smells fresh.

But, its about 9.00am now, and its heating up fast. Lots more to do still - weeding / hoeing etc, so I might get cracking while I can !

Forgot to mention that Sunday afternoon, i sowed yet more seeds, this time straight into prepared seed beds. I planted a row of Carrots(v. Autumn King 2), as well as 2 rows of Chard ( the mixed colour stems variety ! ), and hopefully these will germinate and grow on for harvesting later in the year.

Thats all for now, take care and have fun in the sun,

TTFN.

Early morning dew - lovely! 27.07.08

2008-07-27T07:20:00.023+01:00

Welcome back to Reads Retreat, on a beautifully sunny summers morning. I couldn't resist walking barefoot on the dew covered lawn this morning. It must be nigh on 15C already, and it's only 7.00am! The feeling of the cool dew on my feet was lovely - to me it's one of those feelings you wish you could bottle up and sell - "fortune" awaits! Armed with my camera (as usual) i set out to bring you some shots from around the plot. The first to catch my eye was this gloriously yellow shaded Pumpkin flower. The pumpkin plant has gone wild - must be about 15' long already, with numerous tendrils reaching out for support, and a bounty of flower heads just waiting to burst open! It's my 1st real attempt at growing a pumpkin so any advice would be welcomed! I've already read a bit on the RHS website and discovered the reason the leaves were rotting - they don't like to get wet! Those affected are now removed, and I'm watering directly at the root. I'd really like to find out if these plants are self pollinating, or whether a bit of intervention is required. Someone must know - so please get in touch!

This shot shows more flower heads, this time on our Aubergine plant. If you look closely you will see that some of the previous flower heads have dropped from the plant, remainders of which are visible on the lower leaves. My only idea was that the plant was drying out, and is now not only getting daily drenching, but a weekly feed too. We've only recently starting using this veg in the kitchen, and we are excited by the prospect of the taste from a homegrown version, with a zero carbon footprint! It's just too easy to go to the supermarket and buy one. You never really stop and think about which continent it might have come from, and bearing that in mind - just how fresh it actually is.

Our Tom plant (v.Tomazing) that was bought for me is the first tom plant in the garden to be colouring up. This plant was originally a tiny "plug" plant from T&M, purchased with 4 other veg plugs (including the Aubergine) for less than £4.00. It has put on very good growth outside on the patio, and there are plenty of little green toms. We expect them not to last too long though, they are right outside the patio door, at the right height for little fingers to reach out and grab them! Hey ho, Ruby seems very happy in the garden, so we will let her be. She often carries the watering can around (empty of course) and pretends to water everything in sight / reach ! Bless her. The other toms growing well on the plot are the Gardeners Delight variety, which are here, there, and everywhere we could find some space!

Our climbing French Beans (v. Blue Lake) have put on great growth during the recent hot spell. Already there is a bounty of pods all over the plants, but at a mere 2-3" long are still a way off harvesting. Traditionally, I've only grown longpod runner beans before, but again the french beans are a new addition in the kitchen and they taste gorgeous, so this year we are growing both. You may remember that I'm growing these on wigwams this year, as opposed to the traditional line of canes, and from what we can see so far, it looks like access for harvesting will be a lot easier.

Sadly, right next to the French Beans, are my wigwam of Runner Beans. I say sadly because the latter are covered in Blackfly. The good news is that the plants seem to be surviving, plenty of deep red flowers abound and the first 1" long beans are showing. I've tried spraying with soapy water to get rid of the pesky things, but so far am losing the battle. I'm just hoping that not too many transfer onto the french beans. I'm wondering if there's a variety of Runners that are more resistant to Blackfly, and will look into this. Good news: Spotted some ladybirds today!

Inspired by an article I read in BBC Gardeners World mag earlier in the year, i decided to use a hanging basket to grow something other than flowers. This little 12" basket is home to 2 Chilli (v. Cayenne) plants, and 3 or 4 Beetroot (v.Boltardy) plants. The Chilli plants are faring better at the moment ( early days yet! ) and have a few small hot ones growing nicely, about 1 - 2" long already. The fence is south east facing so gets a fair amount of direct sunlight. Beetroot doing well too, but with limited growing space they may turn out a bit small?

This is our latest bucket of spuds, 2 tubers planted just a couple of weeks ago, and already growing nicely. I planted another bucket with 1 tuber last weekend, and now have just 1 tuber left. That last one will go into a larger container and hopefully give us a slightly larger crop than we have been getting. I'm still in 2 minds as to what we do next year, but I'm erring on the side of using the raised beds again next year, but only growing first earlies, which would free the bed up for successional crops. I think these ones are Kestrel but I've long since lost the packaging!

Final pic for this morning, looking back over the raised beds. Space is now appearing ready for some further planting. The next bed to be cleared is in the foreground - the onions! Already have harvested the "Stuttgarter Giant" whites, and there's about25 "Red Karmen" and 20 ish "Bedfordshire Champion" still to harvest. There's also 2 rows of 6 leeks interspersed so will have to be careful not to disrupt them, as well as the Kohl Rabi. All in all, its been a pleasant growing year so far, but it does seem that everything is a bit later this year ? Maybe that's just me not being organized enough.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it! Long may this glorious weather continue so we can enjoy more premium gardening / garden usage.
Take care all.

TTFN

All down to secret squirrell! 24.07.08

2008-07-24T21:23:00.005+01:00

Welcome back for another (non veggie) update here at Reads Retreat. You may remember that I cleared the overgrown patch of land in the foreground with the intention of getting my better half planting some flowers. Well, back on the 23rd April, sowing got under way. Using the "Broadcast" method i.e. rip top off packet and scatter seed here and there, we got rid of a few packs of seed. Actual varieties used escape me, but included Night Scented Stock, Poppies (?) and Nasturtiums. Along the way other bits have been added ( Pot Marigolds, Toms, Bay Tree etc) and here is the result:
Already there's a plethora of colour with the delicate Daisy like poppies with their delicate Blue, White and Yellow flowers. The Night scented stock are reaching for the skies and are full of buds. The Nasturtiums are just starting to flower, all in all its a great success. Ruby loves it too, picking the odd flower head for mummy. The Bay Tree; having started at 8" tall, is surviving but you have to look hard to find it. Well done hun. Luv you.

See you all again soon.

TTFN.

Kohl Rabi Success 23.07.08

2008-07-23T22:20:00.004+01:00

Welcome once again to Reads Retreat.
Just when I thought I had run out of good things to tell you, I remembered this "First" growing success! Earlier in the year when I planted my onion sets, i chanced my arm with a row of these strange veggies between the onions. As I was not sure what the emerging seedlings looked like, i probably erroneously discarded a few early on. Luckily this one has survived and is being lovingly nurtured. Its a tad bigger than a tennis ball right now, and i've read it should put on considerably more growth. My only concern now is the somewhat abundance of the dreaded cabbage white butterflies. Im keeping my eyes peeled and fingers crossed ! So far there are no caterpillars - not that I can see anyway.
Check back tomorrow for further updates on the progress here on our plot.
Till then, take care and enjoy this glorious weather.

TTFN.