Fruit Day

So over the weekend we had a couple of lunar cycle fruit days...time to get my outdoor peas and broad beans, polytunnel cukes and melons, greenhouse tomatoes and peppers sown. I love this time of year

Been A While

2015 has brought light into my life...I have been working hard on creating my dream of a potager garden at home. My aim is to create a growing space that will keep us in fresh fruit and veg, without the need for paying allotment rental per annum. I will continue payment for this year, while I steadily move everything the five miles from plot to home.

Today I made my first raised bed - it's good soil, plenty of drainage and ready for my spuds. I'm growing Red Duke of York and International Kidney. In this potager I will be reusing my brick ends to create a nicely worn in looking brick path alongside my new raised bed.

Autumn Sowing Peas and Broad Beans

As Autumn stretches towards Winter, I picked my moment to think about what I want to be eating in early Spring...so today, as a Fruit day I sowed Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia and The Sutton. Both have gone direct sown into the polytunel. I have also tried some early pea sowing in there with Douce Provence and Oskar.
Garlic and onions soon as root day happens to fall on Monday - my birthday.

What A Difference A May Makes

The sun is shining and has been for a few days now. Temperatures are warming up at night and tomatoes and peppers have been moved out to the confines of the greenhouse, albeit with one eye on the weather forecasts. I feel happy to whip out my vulnerable crop seed packets now. This weekend brings an extra day - bank holiday - which means whilst Mr VVG gets on with finishing raised bed number two, I can get on with sowing seeds and potting up plants such as tomatoes and peppers into final position pots.
The last week has seen me move other plants and seedlings around. Beetroot, lettuce, peas, broad beans, brassicas, celery are all out and on the allotment now. This is the Gertrude Franck bed, almost fully planted.

Spring Has Now Sprung...Boing!

Happy St George's Day to one and all. We have some catching up to do as I have been busy. Last weekend we finally saw a warm and sunshine filled two days, so I took the opportunity to move my herbs out of their overwintering home - the polytunnel - top dressed each pot with horticultural grit and placed them on newly graveled steps. I potted up some newly purchased herbs too, which had laid around. Planted other floral pots, such as iris into the garden, so I have none waiting - wahoo!

All of my early brassica plants, cabbage Greyhound and Precocce de Louviers have made it onto the allotment, having been hardened off first, they are now in my triangular beds. I have some White Sprouting Broccoli and Sutherland Kale hardenng off as we speak and they will be going up very soon too. My potato beds, which were mucked, ready and waiting are lonely no more. Potatoes are in - FINALLY! The beds are beginning to fill with "green" and I am happier for it. The Babington Leeks are bulking up and growing strong. I gave Keith two for planting, as I saw him at the plot for the first time this year. He have us parsnips in return, which reminded me to sow mine using the Binley method of planting holes, filled with compost, sow seed and plastic over the top - this I have done. My Egyptian Walking Onions have not been killed off by Mr VVG and are growing lush green stems, although Zazen had prepared me some more in a pot, these too are planted. The Tree Onions from Edulis have gone into the ground and I am hopeful that my perennial allium selection will give us an assortment of differing tastes for future meals. Peas on earth have gone from their guttering shelters to the long narrow bed and alongside I have direct sown also. We shall see which grow the more strongly over the coming months. I have yet to plant my allotment broad beans. All are sitting at home waiting for the others to catch up. Germination for my fruiting plants this year has been sketchy to say the least. I have had pretty much 100% just all at differing rates. Odd!

On my Gertrude Franck experimental bed, the mustard rows are through. This means that the soil should be warm enough for further plantings. I must finish my companion planting plan!

Mr VVG has spent his hours on the plot weeding and mulching the raspberries, putting in fencing posts and wires for the loganberry, which is now trained and no longer untidy. Reweedproofing and woodchipping of the paths. All are complete and at last I feel we are getting somewhere. Today I will be putting in my potato onions as it is a "Root" day and they are ready to leave the confines of the greenhouse, lest I get fried onions. I will take the opportunity to photograph my recent additions and post on here later.

April Brings Easter-ly Weather

No spring has sprung here. It is still freezing in fact and the potatoes are still chitting on the dining table. Seedlings are slow to emerge and it's just too darned cold to do much at all. We went up to the allotment yesterday and turned over the potato beds, so they are mucked and ready to go. Ditto the squash bed. Everywhere is weeded, fed and ready but nobody thought to tell the sun. Sigh!
Some brown pictures for you.

Mad March!

Spring is here and with it...snow! As we gardeners started to toy with the idea of our seed packets, plunging temperatures have seen those same said packets get stuffed back into drawers, tins and cupboards. I wouldn't mind, but for the first time ever, we are ready with the allotment. Soil has been weeded, Rockdust added, feed added and muck shifted. I have seedlings shivering in the greenhouse; seed potatoes covering the dining table; additional heat loving seedlings on windowsills. Will we ever see a season that isn't topsy turvy again?
The few warm and dry days that we have had, have seen the garden borders turned over, roses pruned and all surface area mulched. So that again is ready and I have gaps to be filled in the garden, but my seedlings just can't comply when there is no warmth.
Roll on April!