Friday January 25th 2008

Not everything goes to plan and in the above picture you will see at the far side of the seed tray a row of greyhound cabbage that were left in the propagator a day or two to long. These will never manage to make strong plants are they have really stretched themselves, there only destination is the compost bin.

Tray of onions sown in modules earlier this month. Will wait untill weather warms up before putting out in allotment.

Carrots sown earlier this month ( early nantes) have germinated well and this is a picture of them just before I transplanted them into the allotment. The soil was covered with a good mulch of newspaper several weeks ago to help warm up the soil, and they have now been covered with a cloche. Will start another batch of the same carrot tomorrow.

Since the last post I have transfered the peas from the propagator to the lottie. I covered them with double fleece and put micromesh around the two exposed sides of the raised bed. Just going to keep my fingers crossed. Not all the world if they sucumb to the weather as its was only 4doz seeds. Have put another batch (Fetltham First) in the propagator. Also put a few summer cabbage (greyhound) in and they are up and I have taken them out and put them in the cold frame. Have also planted summer PSB, Summer cabbage (Hispi) and Broccoli (Ironman) but no sign of any of them yet, still only been in a couple of days. The onion seed are also out of the propagator but I have kept them in the greenhouse. The carrots sown in individual pots are doing well with some very green shoots showing and as yet are not showing signs of being leggy. I have built a cloche to put them under and the soil is covered with a good mulch of newspaper. All I need now is some dry weather to plant them out. The way the weather has been just lately that could be a few weeks yet. Shallots in pots are doing well and all of the Garden center ones have sprouted. (14)
Sent for the free seeds from GYO, Growit and Kitchen Garden. Still awaiting delivery of rhubarb.goji berries (3) and seed potatoes from Thompon and Morgan. Seed potatoes from Garden Center are chitting nicely. (charlotte, pink fir and sarpo mira.) Bought a fruitsalad mix of seed from Wilco includes melon, watermelon, alpine strawberry and kiwi fruit. Can't see the kiwi doing much good but looking forward to trying the water melon and alpine strawberries.
Cant wait to get started on the summer crops i.e. toms, peppers etc but am managing to hold back at the moment.

14 January

This is the first year that I have started gardening so early. Usually Nothing gets done till I see other people planting stuff and then I think my god I'd better get a move on. I also think another reason for an early start is the propagator that I have been promising to build for the last couple of years. So far I have sown a tray of peas with a good germination rate, only two failed. Usually its the other way round and I only get two germinating. I have also sown some carrots in pots and I have 100% germination which once again is a first. I also sowed a try of onions in modules, although they didn't go in the propagator till a week or more after they were sown. So far I have a 75% germination on the onions. I have always used onion sets in the past but thought I would try a few seeds this year to see if I got any better and bigger onions.
I have today sown some summer brassicas to try and get a few early greens. Ive sown Broccoli Ironman, Cabbage Hispi and a summer edition of Purple Sprouting Broccoli. Never seen summer PSB before but it is a veg I love so thought I would give it a try.

The above photo is a view looking straight down the length of the allotment

This is one of my small raised beds with enviro mesh around and has garlic in at the moment

Another raised bed with garlic in.

View of the bottom half of the lottie.

Raised bed with broad beans in.

Globe artichokes which are over wintering quiet well so far.

One of my new raised strawberry beds with 10 plants in. Once the plants have started regrowth I will put down a layer of weed suppressant membrane and cover with a pea net to keep the birds of but allow the bees in.

Looking towards the top end of the lottie

Raspberry bed in foreground. Compost heap on right and some nice leeks in the middle.

Another raised bed with overwintering broad beans.

Some of the Other allotments, there are only 15 full plots but 6 have been split making a total of 21 plot holders. No water but rent is only £8 for full plot.

12th January 08 2nd edition

This is a picture of my home made greenhouse which has been up for about 5 years. The half on the right is just a covered area for when I want to give plants some protection without actually being in the greenhouse. I usually put the blueberries in there once they have set the berries, that way I get all the berries and the birds get none. However this year I am going to have to have a rethink as the blueberry plants have got to big. I also grow my hanging basket tomatoes under the sheltered piece as well.



Not much of a composition for picture but these are some of my shallots which have started shooting nicely. They were from a garden center and at £1.99 for 14 shallots were a bit expensive. I have a second batch which I bought from a veg shop and they were 60p for 12 shallots. Will be interesting to see which ones give the best results.






This is a picture of some amarillys, on my living room windowsill, that I got cheap from tesco the other day. Reduced from £5 down to £1.50 and that included the ceramic red pots.

12th January 08

Seems I have just managed to transfer from computer to blog. Just got to remember for other pictures. This is my home made propergator. made with soil warming cable, thermostat and some tanalised wood. Warming cable is in 4 inches of sand. !st tray is the onions (buntons exhibition) 2nd tray is peas feltham first then there is 2.5 trays of transplanted lettuce.

11th January 08

Welcome to anyone tuning in to my blog. I am very much a novice at this game and although I have taken a few photos, I have not learnt how to get them from my computer to this blog. So you will have to be patient.
I have started my gardening a lot earlier this year, (don't usually start till March) and so far have sown onions, peas, summer cabbage and carrots. Also had some lettuce to plant on. They are all in the proporgator and most are doing OK. Peas are just poking through the soil and look to have a high germination rate. Onions arn't doing so well and so far I only have a 50% germination rate. Carrots and cabbage arn't showing yet.
Not much happening on the allotment yet, but peas will go out under cloches as soon as big enough.