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
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March 23, 2008
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. (more…)
February 24, 2008
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. (more…)
February 10, 2008
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:
September 29, 2007
After nearly six months (sowed them on 31.03.07) my sweet baby peppers are finally turning red and I’m glad as I was thinking I might have some faulty ones!
Growing peppers certainly shows that perseverance prevails as at one point the plants leaves were yellowing so I added some fresh compost to the top of the pot and then they undertook an aphid attack so I picked the aphids off. I decided to persevere as the 5 pots weren’t taking up too much space so I left them in the mini greenhouse to see what would happen, hoping they would pull through and give me some peppers and they have.
I’m sure anyone who has ever grown peppers gets impatient waiting for them to turn red, but when they do turn red, its certainly a relief that it is another successful crop and that I did something right!
I’m especially looking forward to tasting my baby red peppers in the coming week.
The picture below shows the colour change from green to red of some of my other peppers.
September 23, 2007
Week 21 02.09.07 - This week I will mostly be growing…
- Sweet Baby Peppers Sown 31.03.07 have been very slow growing this year but as you can see from the photo growth is finally speeding up.
- Mini Leeks (8 weeks growth),
- Autumn King 2 Carrots (8 weeks growth)
- Chicory (8 weeks growth)
- Turnip ‘Atlantic’ (1 weeks growth)
- Pak Choi ‘Riko F1′ (1 weeks growth)
- Lambs Lettuce ‘Jade’ (1 weeks growth)
- Radish ‘French Breakfast’ intercropped with the chicory (1 weeks growth),
- Runner Beans ‘Red Rum and White Lady’ (still harvesting daily - Week 17 growth),
- Tomato ‘Roma, Tornado and yellow bell’ (still harvesting every few days)
- Xmas Potatoes ‘ Maris Peer’ (1 weeks growth in tubs).
Please click here to see a slideshow of the progress of my seedlings mentioned in the list above.
The pictures below show my 3 back garden vegetable plots on 02.09.07 Week 21.
September 2, 2007
