Compost Watch 2009

5 Weeks have passed since my last post however I have been busy. I have been composting.

I have succeeded in achieving one of my new years resolutions in buying a cheap compost bin so I have setup a separate page on my blog dedicated to my quest for the finest and richest of all the mucks!

If you cannot contain your excitement, please head on over to the ‘Compost Bin‘ to find out how to setup your own compost bin, what to add and more about my project.

For the past two years on my vegetable plot, I have never quite got around to sorting out a compost bin. This is why I urge you to setup your own compost bin as think how much compost I could have made in 2 years! Go for it this year, setup your own compost bin and you could be saving money and recycling your kitchen and garden waste which is good for the environment and your wallet!

Kitchen and Garden waste = Free compost, that sounds like a great credit crunch idea to me.

Where do we start?

1. Introduction to my Compost Bin
2. How to build your own wooden compost bin.
3. Buying your own compost bin.
4. What can I put into my Compost Bin?
5. My Compost Watch Project – updated every week with photos and contents.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Compost Watch 2009

Veggy Plot pictures and pages updated 17.01.09

Finally a break in the weather on a bitterly cold but fine sunny day means I have managed to take some new photos (with my new camera, a xmas present) of my vegetable plots for 2009 to see how they have survived through the winter.

So here goes (click on the pictures to enlarge them):-

Plot 1 Broad Beans and Peas

Plot 2 – Carrots and Onions

Plot 3 – Cabbages

Everything seems to be growing strongly thanks to my homemade fleece cloches – click here if you would like to know how to make your own small fleece cloche.

All my vegetables have survived the winter frosts unlike my poor frost bitten mallow (lavatera) shrub in the plant border.

New Blog Pages for 2009

I have had a bit of a spring clean with my blog and added some new information to the pages. I have setup 3 individual pages for each plot this year to record my sowing and harvest dates with slideshows:

• Plot 1 – Beans and Peas,
• Plot 2 – Roots and Onions,
• Plot 3 – Brassicas.

My About Me page now has details about my vegetable plot and a picture of all three plots.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Veggy Plot Pictures and Pages Updated 17.01.09

Sowing Now – Broad beans, peas, carrots, onion sets, spring cabbage plants and chinese cabbage

Today I have been mostly sowing and planting:

Plot 1
Last year this plot had roots and salads in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that legumes are going to be grown here instead.

1. Broad Bean ‘Super Aquadulce’ (2 rows and 3 rows spare to sow in Nov) Sow Oct – Feb, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
2. Pea ‘Meteor’ (2 rows) Sow Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Garden Organic.
3. Parsnip ‘Countess F1′ (1 row) ready for harvest now to Nov from a sowing in February.

Tip for covering peas and beans:
I cover my peas and broad beans over-winter to protect them from the frost with enviromesh and horticultural fleece if snow is forecasted. I remove all covers in spring when flowers are forming so they can be pollinated by flying insects.

Plot 2
Last year this plot had brassicas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that roots and onions are going to be grown here instead.

1. Carrot ‘Nantes Frubund’ (1 row and 3 spare to sow in succession) – Sow Feb to October, Harvest April to November. Bought from Gardens4less.
2. Onion Set ‘Red Cross’ (3 rows) – Plant Oct to Nov, Harvest June to July. Bought from Marshalls Seed.
3. Spring Onion ‘Hardy White Lisbon’ (2 rows) – Sow June to Oct, Harvest July – Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Onion Set Planting Tip:
I planted my Onion sets out in a mound with just the tips showing, spaced about a hand width apart in the row. This was recommended by an allotmenteer at Joe’s Allotment on Gardener’s World. He said this was better for drainage and sun exposure. Pea sticks or canes have been placed over the bed to protect from birds and cats.

Click here to see Friday 10th Oct Episode of Gardeners World on BBC iPlayer.

Plot 3
Last year this plot had beans and peas in it, this year I have rotated my crops so that brassicas are going to be grown here instead.

1. Cabbage ‘Greyhound’ plants – Plant Oct, Harvest April to May. Bought from Ebay.
2. Chinese Cabbage ‘Tatsoi’ ( 2 small rows) – Sow July to October, Harvest Sept to Dec. Bought from Garden Organic.

Tip on planting out cabbages:
Dig a small hole with a trowel, water the hole well, firm in plants with fingers and then firm in with heel of your foot. Cabbages require firm ground to grow in to support their stems and leaves.

And finally I harvested the last of the french beans and some parsnips for tea.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing Now – Broad Beans, Peas, Carrots, Onion Sets and Spring Cabbages

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.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Sowing, Harvesting & Big Plot Update 18.07.08

Week 20 – 29.06.08 Plot Update Report

Its been a busy few weeks with revising for my RHS Horticulture exam which I took on the 26th June and after getting lost driving around Chelmsford for an hour I finally made it to Writtle College to sit my exam and it was ok, fingers crossed for the results out in Aug/Sept.

As for the vegetable plot everything’s producing very well.

First up is my very first Dwarf Borlotto Bean:

Butternut Squash’s (Hawk F1) which I thought was never going to emerge from the soil in their pots, two eventually did and have now been planted out in to Plot 3 and are growing on well.

My Runner beans have finally made it through the soil on my second sowing away from the slugs in Plot 1:

My Tenderstem Broccoli is flowering – all very pretty but not good for eating it will be very stringy now so onto the compost heap.

Finally in my opinion the most understated vegetable I have grown this year is the humble Mange Tout. They have produced more pods than my peas and just keep on producing them. Also they do not cook up slimy like the supermarket ones either, they are crunchy or tender (depending on how you like them) and a lovely accompaniment to broad beans.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Week 20 Plot Update Report 29.06.08

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.

————————————————————————————————-

This post has now moved to my new site iGrowVeg.com.
Please view the new post on the link below:

• Perseverance is the Key