Archive for May, 2008

Bank Holiday Monday Progress

May 26, 2008 at 8:38 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, tomatoes

We didn’t have rain today (yet), but we have had gale force winds so not worth going anywhere – and it’s meant emergency extra support for the broad beans, but almost all seem to have survived ok. also I added some support for the tomatoes outside the greenhouse – the one affected by wind yesterday seems to be surviving.

I did manage to get out into the garden this morning and apart from helping the broad beans cope, was able to get the other two pepper plants into a growbag in the greenhouse. I spent a bit of time planting peas (‘kelvedon wonder’ and a mangetout variety) into pots to get them going a bit quicker (while listening to the test match cricket of course). The climbing French Bean that looked sick yesterday still looks bad but isn’t actually dead yet.

Outside short rows of carrotts, rocket and turnips have been added in the SE corner of plot C so we’ll see whether they germinate any better than those in section B. Also, my neighbour ’swapped’ some leek and celery seedlings for a couple of runner bean plants (thanks Barbara) – and I’ve never grown them before so I planted them out in plot B and I’ll watch how they go – should be interesting anyway.

Another sighting of that squirrel again – so we’ll see if it is tempted by peanuts….. Speaking of which I had to reload the peanut holder on my bird-table today as well as all the seed feeders – the ’sparrow gang’ really goes through the seed fairly quickly but the panuts had hardly been touched (there is another feeder that seemds to be more favoured now) so they had become pretty old and sour hence the refilling.

While I’m on about wildlife, the usual toad population has reappeared in the grenhouse (one had been hibernating in the bag with the polystyren bits), and the rain the other day brought all the frogs out all over the garden – though I’m convinced not as many as previous years.

As promised yesterday here are some progress pictures:

French and Broad beans
Lettuce (front), French Beans and Broad Beans

Broad Beans in flower
Broad Beans in full flower

Growbags in greenhouse
Toamtoes and Peppers in the Greenhouse

Tomatoes outside greenhouse
Tomatoes outside Greenhouse

 

 

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A Bank Holiday Weekend – and Guess What…..

May 25, 2008 at 4:01 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes

Yes, as is traditional in the UK – a bank holiday weekend (tomorrow, Monday is a public holiday)  and we have rain – and wind. Put paid to our tentative plans to go camping anyway, so just a family day out at Rutland Water yesterday cycling (see http://www.rutnet.co.uk/pp/gold/viewgold.asp?id=3491) while it was still dry (but windy, which didn’t make the cycling very easy).

However, I did manage to do a little bit in the garden this morning before the rain really set in, and one or two jobs the other day. A couple of sweet peppers are now in a growbag in the greenhouse and another is ready for a couple more. Outside I have planted out the rest of the lettuce growing in a tray, scattered between all three sections. I had to hastily tie up the third (triple) row of  broad beans to save them from wind damage – and I added a higher level of string to the other rows. Also, I managed to sow a double row of mangetout peas (yes I know it is a bit late but better late than…) – as a backup I’ll try and plant some in pots in the greenhouse as soon as I get chance as past history indicates that the germination rate outside will be low – but hopefully I’ll be suprised this year.

One of the climbing french beans is looking very sick but I can’t see why - something at root level I suspect, otherwise the other and the runners look fine. The sweetcorn and courgettes are aslo growing well. The wind has got to one of the tomatoes outside the greenhouse – it may survive but there are more seedling in the greenhouse than I can use so I will be able to replace it if necessary.

The salad crops sown in section B are still very disappointing, with only a few seedlings through, hopefully I should be able to sow some more in the next couple of days. The lettuce and radish in the greenhouse are coming along fine though, and should be harvestable soon.

Still – on the bright side I am prevented from mowing the lawn or cutting more hedge….

Pictures will be added later (it’s a bit dull and wet right now!)

Update – See post above for progress photos

 

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Not So Summery Still

May 21, 2008 at 11:24 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes

Just a small update – the weather has continued with colder nights and cloudy days plus intermittent sunshine. Quite chilly in the mornings. Other work around the house has kept me from doing a lot in the garden as well.

The crops planted seem to be growing ok – one of the runner beans is over a metre up the support already. The only worrying things are the seeds I planted – the ‘mixed salad’ is showing a poor germination rate, and also the carrotts. I think I need to plant some more elsewhere now.  Also the olive tomatoes planted in growbags outside have looked distinctly unwell but seem to be picking up now.

Meanwhile I have put a couple more tomatoes into a growbag in the greenhouse (‘gardeners delight’) so that makes five now. The sweet peppers are just about ready to go into growwbags now – one is ready in the greenhouse to take them.

The main work has been on the front garden today – cutting the hedges and planting ‘busy lizzies’ and geraniums in amongst the bulbs that are gradually dying away. More hedges to do at the back though and the lawn is almost ready for a cut again…..

A ‘family’ of starlings – the parents and fledglings have been eating a large ‘fat ball’ laced with insects and demolished it completely during the last week and have also been spending a lot of time on the bird table.

Starling on Fat Ball
Starling enjoying ‘fat ball’

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More Tomatoes are in

May 15, 2008 at 11:18 pm · Filed under Greenhouse, Progress

The weather is no longer so summer-like. Temperatures have dropped to below 20, and south of here it has been raining but not in this area yet. I’ve been busy on other house maintenance jobs the last couple of days so not much progress in the garden. I did manage to plant a couple of tomato plants (gardeners delight) in a growbag outside the greenhouse this evening and also prepare another growbag inside the greenhouse ready for a couple more.

Everything in the garden seems to be growing fine now  and with the change in weather today I didn’t need to water everything this evening. Of course this also means the hedges are growing as is the lawn.

On the wildlife front, I spotted a grey squirrel again yesterday – so that will have to be evicted – we haven’t seen one for about three months since the last one was relocated, which is good, but this isn’t a good time to have one back as they are quite capable of raiding bird nests and of course now is a peak time for nesting. A baby house sparrow managed to get itself trapped in our outside ‘utility room’ all last night and gave my wife a real shock as she was loading the washing machine this morning! It flew off seemingly ok. Toads have appeared in the greenhouse again – they seem to know when the growbags are available and like to sit in the holes where the plants go – sometimes one in each hole – and get quite upset when they get ‘watered’.

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Sweetcorn & Courgettes in da Plot

May 12, 2008 at 11:50 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress

Yes, we still have ’summer’ here so no excuse for not getting on with the garden. I managed to find enough time from a packed weekend (swimming, theatre, swimming…. just don’t ask) to plant the courgettes yesterday and get started with planting the sweetcorn. Today, I planted the rest of the sweetcorn – so there are five rows now forming a block (see photo below) – note the bird scaring CDs…

 

Sweetcorn & Courgettes

Courgettes & Sweetcorn

I also found time in the greenhouse to transfer the tomato and sweet pepper seedlings into their own pots to grow on. I made a start on preparing for the plants inside the greenhouse and one growbag is in place and watered ready for plants (tomatoes probably). One of the ‘gardeners delight’ tomatoes was now big enough to be plated into the growbag by the greenhouse so that has its full complement now. I’ve also prepared another grow bag for use outside the greenhouse.

Some of the seedlings from the recently planted rows of salad plants in section C are now appearing and hopefully immune from bird attack.

The beans are all doing ok – some of the runners are already climbing the mesh.

The hedge at the front is getting close to really needing a cut….

 

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Been Planting More Beans

May 10, 2008 at 12:05 am · Filed under Beans, Progress ·Tagged

Another day of action – well at least part of the day anyway. Not sunny today, overcast but still warm (24 degC max) - more comfortable to work in though.

So,  the climbing French beans and the ‘ordinary’ French beans are now planted (see picture below) so I just need them to grow now – and of course now I would like some rain….

 

Beans and mre beans
Runner beans and climbing french bans at the back, broad beans in the middle and french beans in fron.
Some lettuce seedling bottom left corner.

Five of the ’sweet olive’ tomatoes are now in growbags as well – three under the kitchen window and two in a growbag next to te greenhouse.

Olvie Tomatoes - newly planted

‘Sweet Olive’ tomatoes freshly planted

I also managed to plant a few of the lettuce seedlings just by the greenhouse near the beans. I’ve also tried putting a few into a large pot to bring them on in the greenhouse. Speaking of large pots – the plants I though were rocket in the greenhouse I now think are radishes….

I’ve put the sweetcorn plants outside the greenhouse ready for planting a they are getting to be quite big. On top of all that, I’ve put the larger courgettes outside the greenhouse and dug pits ready for them filled with mixed compost and soil (as per the ‘Vegetable Expert’ book) on section C.

On top of all thatI managed to treat more of the greenhouse (particularly the side where I might put another growbag).

It was interesting to watch the house sparrows today picking up the dried grass I’d left on the lawn yesterday when I’d been trying out my new shears (on the bits I couldn’t reach with the mower) – plus the blackbird having a bath..

 

Blackbird having a bath

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Runners are in and ready to Grow

May 8, 2008 at 11:48 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress

Another fine and sunny day (up to 26 degC) - with lots to do – and I got some of them done! I also had quite a productive day yesterday, which was fine and sunny as well. I got the canes and mesh support for the runner and climbing French beans in place and also the anti-bird CD scarers and mesh surround for section C which had  been suffering from pigeon damage to the salad rows. The runner beans in the greenhouse were clearly big enough for plntig out so I put them outside the greenhosue ready. I also managed to mow the lawn – amazing!.


CD bird scarers and netting (to stop pigeons walking in….)

Today, first of all I planted the runner beans (Scarlet Emperor) I put outside the greenhouse yesterday – 6 altogether, and I have a couple of small ones left over just in case. I’ve put the French beans (standard and climbing) outside the greenhouse ready for planting as well.

I had been given a couple of strwaberry plants by my neighbour a while ago and I finally managed to plant them alongside the hedge to the side of section A – there were lots of ‘alpine’ style strawberries there before but they had lost out to weeds gradually, so I cleared it all out a week or so ago ready.

I also planted some more salad crops in section B – where I notice a potato plant had appeared. Somehow if potatoes are gronw in part of the garden you never manage to find all of them -  had found half a dozen when I dug the plot over but clearly I had still managed to miss one. Anyway, there are now short rows of rocket, carotts, mixed salad leaves and spinach beet planted in that section. The original rows still have the odd seedling left so we’ll see if any of them grow into anything.

I put some ‘growmore’ fertiliser into he area that will take the French beans in the next couple of days as well. Also, I prepared two growbags ready for the tomatoes – one at the side of the greenhosue and one under the kichen window.

On top of all that I managed to do a bit more painting of preservative onto the greenhouse so about a quarter is now done.

One row of broad beans are now flowering (see proof below), but the weather now means all the rows need watering each evening and the prediction is that the dry spell will carry on into the weekend.

Flowering Borad Bean
On the wildlife front – the summery weather has brought the butterflies out – I’ve seen orange tip, snmall blue, cabbage wite and brown ones that didn’t hang around long enough for me to identify them. There are loads of ‘bee-flies’ hovering around the garden as well, plus I disturbed a few frogs while I’ve been gardening. The blackbirds are still busy – they come down to the bird-table and under fairly frequently so they may be feeding young. I can hear the sound of what I suspect are blue or great tit chicks somewhwer around the bottom of the garden as well.

Meanwhile – rather ominously the hedge at the front is getting close to requiring a trim -still I bought a new pair of shears the other day, which I tried out on bits of the lawn today, so cutting the hedge might be sligthly easier….

 

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Suddenly it’s Summer…..

May 6, 2008 at 11:53 pm · Filed under Beans, Greenhouse

Well possibly not summer, but the weather at the moment certainly feels like it – sunny all day and temperatures in the 20’s degC. All happening just when we have been away for a few days, so I was worried about the seedlings in the greenhouse – I’d watered them plenty before going away and put all the critical pots into trays with water. Fortunately, they survived ok. You can see below – the courgettes looking well advanced at the back, tomatoes to the right of them and some french beans at the far right. In the front are some of the sweetcorn and to the right of them the lettuce seedlings.

Greenhouse Seedlings

Greenhouse Seedlings

Today, I managed to plant all the remaining Broad Beans (variety Meteor – I’d left them outside the greenhouse to harden off) making the last double row into a triple row and filling in a couple of gaps (I think I have pigeon problems). I also put in canes along the row that had grown the most and string to support the beans (see below). The white bits on top of the canes are bits of polystyrene to hopefully prevent me poking my eye out on one of them (a well known gardening accident).

Broad Bean Rows

Broad Bean Rows

It looks as though pigeons have also been at the salad rows I planted so I’ll have to add my ‘CD Scarers’ as soon as I can.

The hedges will soon need cutting and the grass already does….

 

 

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