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.

Pumpkin Growing Tips 01.08.08

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.

Early morning dew - lovely! 27.07.08

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