Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

Today I Will Mostly Be Sowing:

• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Broad Beans – ‘the sutton’,
• Peas – ‘ambassador’,
• Pak Choi – ‘riko white’.

Today I Will Mostly Be Harvesting:

• New Potato’s – ‘lady christl’ and ‘charlotte’,
• Cabbage – ’spring hero’ and ‘advantage’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘borlotto’,
• Dwarf Beans – ‘ferrari’,
• Lettuce – ‘balmoral’ leaves,

Vegetables in Progress

• Tomato’s – ‘Green Zebra’,



• Cucumber’s – ‘Marketmore’,



• Broccoli ‘tenderstem’,

Plot Progress – Week 23

Plot 1
Carrots, red spring onion and beetroot are growing stronger from sowings made on 1st June 2008. Runner beans are slowly wrapping themselves around the canes. Parsnip foliage is going wild. Sowed Pak Choi into the gaps.

Plot 2
Tenderstem Broccoli nearly ready to pick, cabbage resolution savoy and golden acre are growing well after transplanting, still a few sacrificial cabbages of ‘advantage’ variety to attract the cabbage white butterflies to lay their eggs on (and not on my newly transplanted ones – seems to be working so far).

Plot 3
Broad Beans and Mange tout removed after harvesting. New sowings of peas, broad beans and dwarf beans under cloche (mainly due to cats digging bare soil). 2 x butternut squash plants doing well after transplant. Brussels sprout plants wedged in between dwarf beans but are growing steady.

Tomato and Cucumbers (outdoors)
Tomato’s have been tied to the canes and pots placed into upside down propagator lids. This has helped as this fence is a sun trap and dries the plants out daily, I pour water into the lids so the plant takes the water from its roots when necessary and doesn’t dry out. All tomato plants are flowering and some are fruiting. Cucumbers are rambling over the decking and are producing flowers and fruit.

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• Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

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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• Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Sunflowers on the Deck

Week 6 – 22.03.08 The Wind, Rain and Snow of Spring

Last week we endured the gale force winds and heavy rains, of which my mini greenhouse door snapped under the force of the wind and is currently being propped up. The heavy rain however did seem to help my peas, broad beans and cabbages put on a spurt of growth. I did manage to transplant a few of the tomato and calabrese seedlings that survived the onslaught of the weather and my clumsy handling.

I also couldn’t wait and sowed the rest of my tomato seeds last week and bought some more cucumber seeds (variety: marketmore) and sowed them as well.
Somehow in the wind I managed to tip up my tray of pepper seedlings, however I have saved most of them and sowed some more just in case the current ones don’t survive!

This weekend the wintery weather has continued with heavy snow showers here in Essex, it did settle briefly on my broad beans and then turned to slush.

Update on Raised Beds on Week 6

2 weeks – Outdoor Seedlings 0, Indoor Seedlings 48

Sowing seeds in the month of February is all new to me and I’m learning the hard way at the moment.

Outdoor Seeds
On 9th February I thought I would get a head start on the season hoping to having tomatos and carrots earlier in the year by sowing a few rows in my raised beds. However the frost and fog descended and now 2 weeks on I have no change in my raised beds and I don’t blame my seeds for not popping their heads above the surface in last weeks night temperatures.

Indoor Seeds
On the upside my seedlings have shot up and almost everything has germinated apart from the Sweet Pepper (romano). Mid week they were brought into the house due to the frosty temperatures and this has definately helped them germinate. See pictures below for updates. Today I have returned them to the mini-greenhouse otherwise they will get too ‘leggy’ (stems will grow too long and fall over), they need cool temperatures and high light levels outside to continue their growth.

Spring has sprung and my Seed Sowing has just begun!

Spring has sprung in our garden and this year I’m determined to get some early crops started. I have read on the internet this is sometimes a risky strategy to start sowing this early in February due to there possibly being more frosts before March. However the sun is shining and I feel I have enough seed in my packets to start some off to see how they go. Its all about trial and error after all.

Week 25 29.09.07 Veggy Plot Report

This week I will mostly be harvesting my magic runner bean seeds, I’m hoping they are going to work their magic and produce a wonderful beanstalk like they did this year! Pictured are varieties Red Rum and White Lady seeds.

I left some runner beans on the plant for weeks (longer than usual) so the beans inside the runner pods can form, you can actually see and feel the seeds for size after a while. Wait until the seeds are large then they will be mature. I then picked the beans and peeled back the outershell to harvest the bean seeds ready for sowing next year. I also need to dry them so I will put them in a brown bag in the airing cupboard and according to Garden Organic – See link here, the seeds last up to 3 years.

Pest Problems
Leatherjackets, cranefly, daddylong legs have been all over my plot these last two weeks and they are all congreagating under my environmesh netting and in my runner bean mountain. They are a bit of an annoyance as I have to herd them out but they don’t seem to be doing any damage to my veggies so thats ok.

Heres my plot update pictures for week 25:
I thinned my Pak choi and Turnip last week (Plot 1 – 2 rows at the bottom of the picture) and the rain this week has helped them grow stronger.

Also updated are my slideshows of individual vegetables and their stages of growth, check out my Pak Choi, chicory, mini leeks and autmn carrots progress and more here.

And heres the pepper colour change update:

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This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
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• Week 25 Veggy Plot Report