Today I will mostly be growing

I’m still having some organisation issues with the lack of space in my mini greenhouse. I know its my own fault I have 13 cucumber seedlings potted on and I’m the only one who eats cucumber in my household however I can’t bear to give up any seedlings. Also I have let a few flower seedling trays creep into the greenhouse this year as our garden borders are in desperate need of brightening up. (they have had a distinct lack of attention due to my vegetable plot). So I have a bit of a juggling act on my hands!

This weekend I have planted out the 3 calabrese plants into plot 3.

Potted on 1st batch of february Tomato ‘unknown’ seedlings into larger pots.

Potted on Broccoli (tenderstem) seedlings

Somehow I think I have planted too many Broccoli and Calabrese seeds (this might be adding to my storage issues!):

The weather this week has been more favorable to gardeners with a mix of sunshine and showers. This is the perfect weather for seedlings to put on a spurt of growth and tender plants can be planted out without fear of frosts.

My lovely dwarf beans will be planted out soon on Plot 3. I’m growing varieties Ferrari (same as last year) and a new one - Borlotto. I can’t wait to see the mottled red and white pods on this variety. Then my runner beans won’t be far behind.

Below are some comparison photos of my plots so you can see the progress in just 2 weeks. The first picture is 2 weeks ago on 19.04.08 and 2nd is a current picture of my plots on 03.05.08:-

Plot 1 - Roots and Salads

• Sowed 2nd row of Carrots (James Scarlet)
• Whilst weeding I found the culprits of my nibbled radishes, 2 baby slugs erh!

Click here to view the progress of Plot 1 since 09.02.08.

Plot 2 - Brassicas

• Planted out 3 Calabrese (ironman) plants into top left of plot.
• Sowed 2nd rows of Cabbage (Winter Tundra)
• Pulled up 1 cabbage (advantage) to make way for Calabrese

Click here to view the progress of Plot 2 since 09.02.08.

Plot 3 - Beans and Peas

• Broad Beans and Peas have put on a spurt of growth and are flowering,
• Mange Tout seedlings have appeared.

Click here to view the progress of Plot 3 since 09.02.08.

Blog Page Updates

1. Click here to view my new slideshows on the Plot Gallery Page including cucumbers, cabbage and mange tout.
2. Click here to view My Master Plan of seed sowings which has been updated as of 03.05.08.

These Broad Bean (the sutton) flowers are so stunningly different with black eye’s on white petals. If you have never grown them before, like myself, there is nothing quite like these unique flowers. They certainly brighten up my all green plot.

Whilst the excitement is flowing, I couldn’t help but show a picture of my first pea pods of 2008 which are just forming on my over-wintering peas (douce provence).

After 24 long weeks of growth over the winter season (sown back in November 2007) I can’t wait for the pea to form, there’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh garden peas and they usually don’t make it to the house as I eat them off the pod like sweets.

After the heavy downpours of rain this week, I should have guessed that the slugs would be out in force.

I can officially declare that the slug hunting season is now open and they are heading to a vegetable plot near you (please not my lettuces again this year) so this is the time to get out your slug and snail reinforcements a bit quicker than I did.

Whilst I was watering my cabbages plot, removing yellowing leaves and any leaves that were touching the ground I had the misfortune to touch a slimy creature, yes thats right the dreaded slug! This was a small baby slug which has got into my plot before I managed to slug proof it with copper tape. Perhaps it was just reminding me to be a bit quicker off the mark for next year!

Needless to say it met its bitter end under foot. Well I have to be ruthless if I’m going to get any lettuce this year.

Click here for some organic solutions to Slugs.

Just Added:
My official Slug Counter will be totting up how many slugs I encounter in my plots this year, see the right hand side bar just under the calendar for total count so far.

Last week we cleared out the back of our garden and took the rubbish to the local household refuse site. However I decided to save our old rusty BBQ with pine under-shelf from a fate worse than the crusher and re-use it as a plant stand. My challenge was to hide the rust and add some colourful plants on a very small budget, so heres how I did it.

What you will need is:

1. An old rusty BBQ,
2. Some terra-cotta or plastic plant pots,
3. Lots of stones from the garden (ours has more than its fair share!),
4. Compost,
5. Cheap Plants from the market or local garden centre i.e. violas, ivy, dianthus, herbs.

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Yesterday I made sowings of Calabrese, broccoli tenderstem, runner and french beans and summer cabbages in pots and root-trainers for the mini greenhouse. As per my other post I already potted on my cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes and now my mini greenhouse is very full with not much space to spare.

I had a bit of a sort out and cleared out the bottom row which was being used as storage for pots and trays. Whilst I had all the trays out on the table I thought it would be a good idea to do a stock-take to record what trays of vegetables and flowers I have so far, so I might be able to keep track of them all. So here goes:

Here’s what’s in my mini greenhouse on 19.04.08:

Vegetables
All vegetables (apart from peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers) will be transplanted into the raised beds when they have grown on a bit, space has been made in the plots and when the signs of frost have passed.
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