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

Looking good on the plot 17.08.08

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.

GOLD for Bedfordshire Champions ! 12.08.08

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.

Early morning - wet ! Lovely !! 29.07.08

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.