little gems

OK. I realise iv been a bit lapsed in posting pictures of my plot here lately, but there’s only so many pictures of dirt a person can take. This was taken just before Easter, that sunny day when stupidly i planted my spuds, only to wake up to snow the next day.

Potato bed. Told you - This is exciting stuff..

Onions and Shallots are coming along nicely..

At the the back are my Autumn Raspberries. Iv popped in some Marigolds next to my Peas where the netting is and iv ear-marked this bed for my  Eggplants/Aubergines and Peppers also..

Its not that clear in the photo but the beds are slightly raised and the paths are proving to be a bit of a nightmare. I’m p***ed off with having to keep re-doing them so I’m going to edge them soon with some floorboards that i came across outside a house that was being renovated. OK. What hubs came across, credit where credits due. I knew he would come in useful one day…

More pictures to follow …

I decided to empty my compost bin today.

Yep.. one of those pain in the ar** plastic darliks, easy to fill, not so easy to empty. The base is supposed to lift off but this one wouldn’t budge, so three of us had to resort to brute force. After a lot of huffing puffing and swearing we managed to lever the fork underneath and then tip it over onto its side so i could fork it out from the bottom… When i placed the bin there i had lifted the grass and put the plastic base down so the last thing i was expecting to see was long white roots, my heart sank. I couldn’t believe it and called over my lottie neighbour in the hope i was wrong. Nope… It was bindweed.  After months of digging over the front of the plot i had not come across any but this strip near the path, around 2ft wide by 6ft long was the last bit to dig over as i needed to move the darlik.  Sods law, that’s where i put it..

So now i have to sieve through my lovely compost to get the roots out.. Grrrrr I’m surprised it hasn’t taken over the plot. Er i didn’t say that, i don’t want to tempt fate … “sigh”

Sown my seeds that are fussy when it comes to transplanting into coir pots that i bought from here

last year i tried the usual suspects [paper pots, loo rolls] i wasn’t that keen on both. The paper pots didn’t hold up very well and the loo rolls i found the mold growing on them a bit off putting, so this year i decided to buy coir ..

They will break down and add to the soil, so its money not wasted. I prefer these pots to faffing about folding paper [origami expert im not] Plus if they are a little large you have to tape them, or staple them. Hmm. I not keen on having bits of tape /metal in my soil!. Loo rolls get chucked into my compost where they break down quicker than they would in the ground. I found last year when i sowed my peas/beans in loo rolls, that if they were kept hanging around for too long they would start to suffer..

It was a lottie neighbour of mine that converted me, she gave me a couple of squash plants last year in little coir pots that looked a lot healthier than my sorry looking Blue Hubbard Squash that i had in paper pots. They keeled over and died…

The weather has been absolutely dire, it hasn’t stopped raining and i still need to rake the soil. All this seed sowing and iv still not got the ground prepared.. This weekend is out as im away, fingers crossed next week will bring fine weather..

Whats in my little pots..

• Mini Pumpkin - Hooligan
• Mini Pumpkin - Jack be little
• Sweetcorn - Minipop
• Courgette - Verdi di milano
• Squash - Butter Boy
• Runner bean - Scarlet Emperor
• Squash -Green Buttons.

My Urbikany and Roma toms…..

i have staked them as they were flopping over and im trying not to re pot, if it can be avoided. Might put them in the ground soon under cover, as my windowsill just wont take larger pots…

Peas are starting to shoot.. The snow we had over Easter didn’t mange to kill them after all, also my desiree are showing signs of life too.

My shallots [golden gourmet] have finally made an appearence , i was starting to think they would never show..

Will be sowing my Courgettes this week [ verdi di milano] and my pumpkins [Jack be little-Hooligans] into 3in peat pots. Last year i planted one courgette which went crazy and i was sick of the sight of them. This year I’m going with two. Hmm, might live to regret that! Also ill be sowing Patty Pans [green buttons] and butternut squash[butter boy] Still no sign of my leeks [oarsman] that i sowed 3 weeks back, this is my first year growing these - How long do they take ? Its beginning to feel like watching paint dry…

The Robunda strawberries that looked half dead when i planted them in February have now got lots of new growth - still no flowers yet. Also my gooseberries and blackcurrant have settled in well with lots of buds but are not that big [tall] so i don’t think ill get much from them this year, if anything. The blackcurrant [ben sarek] has been in over a year now and supposedly fruits in the second year. I know they can be slow but this ones practically at a stand still, i will be surprised if it fruits this year. I think it needs a boost but how ? With what? Need to look that up or possibly it doesn’t like its home and will need to be moved ?

The clearing at the back of the plot is starting to P me off. So, another change of plan - I think this is plan C. Four beds maybe six, and absolutely no digging [ apart from the perennials] The plan now is to put down a weed suppressant cover and build beds with gavel boards or scaffolding boards. There could be a plan D or E, F, G, before the years over…

Forgot i had this as a draft…

FIVE FAVOURITE GARDENING BOOKS

Thought i would do a Favourite Five post on my favourites….

When i first got my Allotment, i couldn’t browse a bookshop without buying anything that had Grow your own or Allotment jump out at me. Amazon should of given me shares for the amount of support i gave them.. Lol

Over time, many of these books have ended up on eBay or after a quick flip through were sent back to Amazon, I have now whittled down my favourite ones, books that id gladly give shelf room ..

I found many of the books i read to be contradictory, not very informative, and well[extremely basic and concise] Yes, even for a beginner, but most of all repetitive.. An example would be to sow broad beans in the autumn or spring with x spacing and x rows ; Ok, but they forgot to mention the mice that gobbled up my first sowing. Also the black fly! Four books later i read about protecting crops… Many of the books could have been the same were it not for the cover, in many of the books there was little information.. [sorry carol Klein but you left me with many unanswered questions] so that went back to Amazon..

Complete vegetable gardener - not only tells you when to sow, how too, but also gives guides on how much to grow per person. A fantastic amount of info in this book, i had no idea what bolting was until i picked up this book..

Organic Salads - Theres a bit more to salads than the icebergs you get in the supermarkets, this book covers everything…

Oriental Vegetables - good listing of the more unusual veg with recipes, now you know how to cook that pak choi

Grow your own - This and the first book would probably be all you need for growing your own, in fact i would go as far as saying if you only want one book then this is it… Pity i read through a load of c**p before i came across this…

Bed systems- If like me you want to grow on a bed system and not traditional rows then this is worth a read. Think theres not much to be said about beds [think again]

TV /Radio Gardeners Books: Iv got my favourites . Thats for another post…