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
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.
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.
