Happy Birthday Big Sis !

50 Today!

Many Happy Returns.

Lots of love from all of us xxxxx

June already ? Hello again !

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 !

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!

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 !

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