It's seed sowing time - Yippee !

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

Its a bit chilly ! 23.08.08

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

A Dog with 2 Tails - Thats me! 30.07.08

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.