Tomato’s, Cucumbers, Peppers and Sunflowers on the Deck

I potted on my Tomato’s (golden sunrise or green zebra) and Cucumbers (marketmore) last week and wanted to place them on the decking to get the most amount of sun possible. However under the decking in the dark only coming out at night or in heavy rainfall lurk the slimy ones. Those creatures who shall remain nameless are becoming almost celebrity status with all the press coverage recently (Daily Mail article 18.06.08).

I did a bit of recycling with my old 3 tier mini greenhouse. I broke apart the unit so that the 3 shelves and racks were separate. I laid down some old fleece onto the decking to stop the blighters from coming up in between the decking. Then I placed the racking down onto the fleece and the tomatos and cucumbers onto the racking.

Of course I’m thinking theres no way a slug can climb that racking (all that slime and no grip on thin metal squares), so prey tell me how the bloomin hell do they manage to get in the pots? mind you I think it has fooled some of the less energetic ones as I’ve only found a few evil knievel slugs so far.

And lets check on the sweet peppers:

And finally the household Sunflower competition.

My dad gave us some sunflower seeds he received free in his local newspaper a year ago. I’ve only just got round to sowing them so I made a bit of a competition out of it between me and my other half. We sowed 2 seeds each and they will be going into the flower border soon so here are the results so far:

Tracey’s on the left and Colin’s on the right. At the moment and rightly so being the gardener of the house, I definitely have a slight lead by a few centimeters.
(I’m ignoring the cries of its a fix from the workshop!)

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Tag, you’re It

If your not of-ay with the blogging term ‘tagged’ its like of a game of IT or tag in the blogosphere and I’ve been tagged by a fellow gardening blogger.

This is the first time I have been tagged and its fun seeing what other people have put for their random facts about themselves,

So thanks to Greenforks for tagging me and heres the rules:-

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Heres for the interesting bit – 6 random facts about myself:-

• I love heavy metal music,
• I would like to own a small-holding with enough room to have a very big polytunnel and lots of vegetable plots in Scotland,
• I would like to setup my own business,
• I have a degree in Environmental Science but have a job in Accounts,
• I live with my other half – Colin and 2 entertaining cats – Dave and Ted,
• I’m not a fan of hot food and I don’t like chili.

Heres the next bloggers I’m going to tag, I read their blogs regularly through Google Reader and I recommend their sites for a good read:-

Gardenopolis,

Multiveg’s Plot Ramblings,

In the Toads Garden,

Soilman’s Allotment Blog,

My Darlington Allotment,

Vegmonkey and the Mrs

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Beautiful Slugs

After recently writing and reading a few other people’s blog entries (Vegmonkey and the Mrs, Greenforks and Fresh as a Daisy) about our ruthless british slug and its attack on our vegetable gardens, it was nice to come across a different type of slug.

Beautiful slugs are two words not normally put together especially when talking about british land slugs.

In an article I was reading in National Geographic magazine, the slugs cousins who dwell in the world’s seas and oceans are beautiful creatures with vivid colours. However they are much more deadly with their toxic slime trails and and stinger cells.

Why don’t garden slugs look like this?

Pictures from Wikipedia Source.

Please click here for the very interesting National Geographic magazine article on Nudibranches (Sea Slugs). Article written by Jennifer S.Holland and fantastic Photography by David Doubilet.

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Broad Beans – Yum Yum

I had a few broad beans just about ready for harvest a few days ago and I just couldn’t help but try them. I twisted the pods off the plant and brought them in for tea.

This is the first time I have ever tried broad beans (I know the general advice is don’t grow something which you know you may not like) but what the heck, growing veg is partly about trying things you’ve never done before and the other part is improving on things you have done before.

So I harvested some broad beans pods and pea pods, shelled them both and boiled in 2 cm of water for 5 minutes until soft. I then added the beans and peas to pasta for a light evening meal. It was delicious, broad beans are definitely for me! good job really as there’s quite a few more pods on the way!

Heres my harvest:
1st Picture – Broad Beans (Sutton) on left and Peas (Douce Provence) on right,
2nd Picture – closeup on broad beans.

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Perseverance is the Key

Perseverance = Determination to do something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

I was looking around my fruit and vegetable section of my back garden when the word perseverance popped into my head. Let me explain…

Redcurrant Bush

I bought the above redcurrant bush from Wilkinson’s end of season sale in March 2007 for £2.99. The first summer a few leaves appeared but no currants and it soon turned back into a few twigs again for the winter. I was disappointed to say the least. Looking back though I shouldn’t have expected much for the price. It did cross my mind to get rid of it however I decided to put it in a corner of the garden and forget about it.

When I bought it I repotted it but since 2007 it hasn’t had any more compost, only rainwater and has been mulched by moss. Somehow this year it has produced currants for the first time as well as lots of leaves. I am ecstatic. I shall be watching every moment waiting for them to turn red now, thats if the local bird life don’t get them first!

Broad Beans – The Sutton

My lovely broad beans were sown in November 2007 directly into the plot. I knew I was taking a bit of a gamble and had read a lot of message boards that said frost may kill them off over-winter. I always like to give things ago especially as the plot was looking a bit bare I wanted something to retain my attention through winter and spring.

I have loved growing broad beans for their tall stature (and The Sutton is a dwarf variety), sweet scented and unusual flowers, watching the bees pollinate them and then the growth of the beans with furry pods.

After 29 weeks (approx 7 months) of perseverance, here are my broad beans:

Lettuce – Balmoral

Lettuce has always been a struggle against the slugs for me. A year ago I would not be hand picking slugs off my plots (I was still a bit squeamish then) in the early morning before work, but now I am, just to get some god damn lettuce! It certainly works and gives the lettuce all day in the sunshine/shade to grow some more strength for the nights attack of slugs.
Here are my slow growing ball head lettuces (slowly growing out those slug holes):-

Parsnip – Countess F1

I had heard that the germination of parsnip seed was problematic. However when did that ever stop me from trying something? I’m quite proud that the first time I attempt to grow parsnips (straight into the plot), that they are growing great guns. I have two rows 7 weeks apart on growth. First row sown on 9th Feb, second row on 30th March 2008.

Spinach – Tiraz F1

Of course there’s always a few vegetables that have a mind of there own like Spinach. With every other vegetable a bit of warm weather perks them up no end but with spinach its bolts and runs for the hills! Typical its taken 8 and 13 weeks to grow to a few small leaves and then they start to flower and are useless.

My spinach has bolted, so I will persevere and pull them out and sow some more or buy a non-bolting variety or I might even sow some Perpetual Spinach (the larger leaves) which are cut and come again and keep going all summer without bolting.

Gardening and vegetable growing just wouldn’t be the same without perseverance.

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Week 16 Update – Overhaul, Transplant & Harvest

Plot 1 – Overhauled

Today I was mostly overhauling Plot 1 as I have a lot of empty space now the slugs have been in and eaten my carrots, spring onions and beetroot. However I will not be beaten, I will just have carrots to harvest later in the year.

I used a hand fork to break up the soil as the topsoil and compost had been compacted together. I forked around the lettuce, spinach and parsnip rows careful so not to disturb their already established roots. I then raked the soil to a fine tilth and sowed 1 row of red and white spring onions, 3 different varieties of carrots (amsterdam forcing, james scarlet and autumn king) and beetroot (boltardy).

I also thinned the parsnips, holey lettuce and spinach and set up 4 sunken cider traps for the slugs.

Plot 2 – Transplanted

I definitely have cabbage fever this year!

• Spring cabbages are hearting up nicely,
• Unfortunately the tundra and golden acre seedlings died as the leaves of the the other cabbages were overshadowing them. Still have pots of golden acre cabbage in mini greenhouse,
• Savoy cabbage ‘resolution’ plants were transplanted from plot 3 to gaps in plot 2.

Plot 3 – Harvest

This is the most productive plot packed full of beans and peas.

• Broad bean pods growing larger,
• Pea pods being harvested,
• Mange Tout out grown bamboo cane supports,
• Borlotto beans producing lovely lime coloured leaves and climbing well,
• Tender stem broccoli plants transplanted into plot temporarily until room in Plot 3.

Plot 4 – Slugs

• Runner bean lower leaves eaten by slugs but are still growing, they will not be beaten either!

Today I was mostly harvesting….

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