Make hay while the sun shines

OK, now I’m hacked off – I just spent the last 20 minutes typing out todays blog entry and a little slip of the keyboard and it’s all gone. I’m now using Word, and I’ll copy the text into blogger, at least Word has an “undo” function!

I set off for the plot at 10 am this morning with the intention of planting out my peas (Stephens – Heritage), broad beans (both Aquadulce and Martock – Heritage) and my raspberries (yet to be discovered). I returned home at 6pm having planted my peas.



Needless to say that’s not all I did! I’m not that rubbish! However, during the eight hours I was down the plot I left the peas in the sun whilst tackling some of the other jobs (which I’ll cover later), and the result is they look a bit sorry for themselves. I placed them in bottle cloches to give them a bit of protection, not only form the birds, but also the low night time temperatures we’re forecast for the next few days. Speaking of forecasts, it seems that we’ll be having a few days of grey skies, which should also help perk my peas up a bit! I’m a bit worried about them truth be told, with them being Heritage varieties I only received 5 seeds – luckily all of them germinated, let’s hope they last.

The broad beans seem to have suffered the same fate as me – sunburned. I was wearing my hat, and factor 25, but it seems to have not been enough. Maybe I should have also tried factor 25 on the beans.




As I was getting myself ready this morning – ferrying backward and forward to the car laden with trays, tools and sustenance, I noticed a couple of paving slabs that we had left over when we had the patio redone a couple of years ago. I kept them thinking I’d do something with them eventually – well, here’s what I did, albeit two years later.



All I need now is a welcome mat and a doorbell and I’m set!

One thing I noticed today was that the apple tree is looking a bit better after I gave it a haircut toward the end of last year. A couple of weeks ago I was wondering if I’d done the right thing or not as it seemed that nothing was happening – no buds, no new growth. Well, as you can see, things look a bit different now. I’m hoping that blossom means fruit?




Lat year, LadyWayne and I visited the Eden Project, and whilst there I picked up a couple of meadow flower seed packs, and it was one of those spur of the moment things – I didn’t really know what I was going to do with them to be perfectly honest. In my quest for home grown I have neglected to grow anything floral. So a while back I created a little flower bed at the front of the plot with the specific purpose of having flowers, just to brighten the place up a bit. I raked it over this morning and planted the seeds which include poppies. I laid some of the apple tree cuttings over the bed and draped some chicken wire over the top in the hope that it discourages the birds from nicking them all!



I had a couple of minutes spare so decided to make a pond. I walked round to the neighbouring aquatic superstore – Chiltern Aquatics, and asked the dude behind the counter if they sold off cuts of pond liner. He said they did, and sold me a 18x20ft piece of butyl liner for £20 which seemed reasonable to me. Back to the plot I trotted, with my new pond liner under my arm and about an hour (and a trip to the local garden centre to buy sand and a couple of pond plants) later I give you – Pond, Wayne’s Pond.




I used some of the old tiles that Dad gave me last year to neaten things up a bit, and placed a few in the pond so that there is a place for anything in the pond to get out – frogs being the obvious choice, children the lesser.

Now, I’m sitting here, my hands hurt, my back aches, I’ve got a sun burned neck, hands and forehead despite my best efforts, my feet are sore and I keep getting cramp in the backs of my thighs. This allotmenteering is good for you they say!

Oh, one last thing before I forget - which I'm prone to do as LadyWayne will vouch, I had some old bits of bamboo can lying about, so I chopped them up, bundled them together and hung them from one of the fence posts as a little home for some aphid eating ladybirds or lacewings.



I’m having a day off tomorrow.

Ready, steady........

The weather's a funny old thing isn't it? The British are famous for talking about it, but then, when we have so much of it, it's gardly surprising is it.

So, here's me talking about it like everyone else, and the reason I am is that all week I'd been watching the weather reports in the hope that they'd change their minds along the way, and forecast us a lovely weekend.

Well, they didn't, but we had a good one anyway!

Woke up on Saturday morning, looked out the window and the sun was shining brightly. Watched the early morning forecast and it foretold of another washout day, so I stayed in bed a little longer. The next forecast had changed more favourably, so I jumped out of bed, loaded the car up and headed down to the plot.

Several weeks of neglect (result of the apalling weather recently) are not dificult to spot. The plot is looking a little barren.

The garlic is coming on nicely, a few of the onions are showing through finally and I have a couple of rhubarbs poking through - two out of five ain't bad surely?

I'd brought a tray of garlic that had been growing in tubs with me, not sure if they'll split as they've not been exposed to frost as yet, but we'll see. I planted them in one of the new raised beds, along with the remaining onions (about 30 in total, equal amounts of red, white and standard).

The brussels sprouts have just about done their stuff so I pulled them up - not without a fight! Stripped the remaining foliage from them and cast them aside to rot of their own accord.

I then set about preparing one of the beds to take my first early potatoes - Arran Pilots. I planted a row of them, about 10-12 as I remember, gave the rest to my neighbours as they looked after me last year.

Obviously with a day of good weather I wasn't alone on the plot, and I was speaking to one of the neighbours immediately next to me Lawrence, and he said that I had a weasel on my plot! Apparently there had been a few of them (plot holders, not weasels) watching this little thing poke it's head up from behind a stack of roof tiles I've had sitting whilst I figure out what to do with them. The weasel apparently didn't seem overly bothered with his audience. One of the other plot holders (John) further up the allotment appeared a little while later and told me I had a stoat on my plot! John's the kind of guy that will have gone away and looked it up, so I'm inclined to believe I have a stoat.

Anyway, do you think I saw him yesterday? Not a chance! I'll keep my eye out though.

I pottered about for about 3 hours in all, ended up with a sunburnt neck (which the wife chastised me for upon returning home), aching limbs, sore hands (one of which I managed to cut on something whilst weeding between the onions). Whoever said this wasn't fun? I'd either become acustomed to the aches and pains last year, or just got used to them, I haven't decided yet.

Back home things are a little less strenuous. I've planted numerous seeds and things in my new greenhouse. So far we have:

Beetroot - boltardy. These are all about an inch high now.
Pea - Stephens. Growing nicely, transferred into small pots now as they'd outgrown their modules.
Broad beans - Martock and Aquadulce. Both growing well in their trays, probably about 2 inches high.
Parsnips - can't remember which types but I've listed them previously. They all doing pretty well having been started off in loo rolls in the heated propagator.
Celeriac - plenty of little seedlings showing their faces now, will take some thinning out I think!
Asparagus peas - these have yet to show their true leaves yet, but seem to be doing ok.
I planted some Tiger Tom tomatoes and they're yet to appear, but I'm sure they will. Also planted some of what I thought were called "Pomodoro" - only to look them up and find out Pomodoro is actually Italian for Tomato! Should do well when we go to Tuscany later in the year then!
There are a few Melon seedlings growing too, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, and asparagus seedlings (which look a bit feeble if I'm honest).

Someone of the Grapevine had an idea to grow sunflowers from the birdseed that we buy and have a kind of mini "competition" so I sowed a few and they're coming on nicely - show winners? We'll see.

I also bought some raspberry canes from ebay recently, some Autumn Bliss and some other earlier fruiting ones. Three of each and I've simply pot them in pots for the time being until I plant them properly on the plot - I think I know where they'll go.

Whilst out and about today we popped into Dobbies Garden World near Bletchley and I picked up some flower bulbs for the border that I have promised to create for ages - but again, because of the weather haven't. Can't remember what they are at the moment, but no doubt over the coming months I'll introduce them to you. I also have some Aquelegia seeds in a tray in the propagator, which I'm hoping to use in the border.

Ooh, just remembered, some of the above mentioned bulbs are Gladiola - Ice Cream.

I'm sure there's more, but I have the memory of a goldfish, so I'll quit whilst I'm ahead.

One more thing - I chuffin hate mice!

It would appear that I have a resident mouse/mices on my shed who has an appetite for summer flowering bulbs! I'd left a load of some bulbs I received free with an online order for plants in pots on the shelves, then went in the shed one evening last week and noticed a load of holes in the compost where the bulbs should have been. The cats round here - of which there are plenty, are clearly rubbish hunters.

Until next time...

I dunno, you go away for a few days...

Had our yearly trip to Centre Parcs at the weekend, and during our stay there was more and more talk about horrific winds and storms etc etc. To be honest, I didn't take much notice - the weather at Centre Parcs was fantastic (Sherwood Forest).

Until Monday that is! On our journey back, there was high winds, torrential rain, it was 'orrible! When we got home I discovered that my newly erected mini greenhouse had been blown over, spilling its contents (garlic and onions in pots, and a few tom seedlings). I then set about screwing the greenhouse base onto the decking to hopefully stop the same happening again.

Then armed with some newly bought seed trays (I needed more!), and a few bags of seed compost, I started planting some seeds to get me going - and cheer me up a little if truth be known.

Here's what I planted:

Broad beans - both Aquadulce and the Martock HSL ones. I know they could go straight in the ground, but given the peas have been devoured by mices, I didn't want the same fate for my broadies.

Some parsnips in loo roll centres. Hopefully I have more success than last year (which shouldn't be hard), but time will tell I guess...

Also planted some celeriac - even the seeds smell gorgeous!

Peas - Stephens. These should be ok, well I hope so as I've only got 10 seeds.

Planted a few Kohl Rabi too - never tried these to eat, and I've got plenty of the seed so I'm hoping we like them!

I'm sure there were some more but I just can't remember, and it's too cold, wet and windy to go outside and check.

In my electric propagator in the shed I also have a few chillis - Jalepeno and Mixed, and Asparagus. The asparagus is nearly touching the top of the porpagator, so I think I'll have to move them into the greenhouse before they get too cosy, unless I'm already too late of course.

Planning to get some more planting done this weekend too, and I'll hopefully take some photos as I haven't done any for a few weeks.

Seeds, seeds, and more seeds.

As the weather starts to pick up I guess it's time to start thinking about what to plant and when.

Over the previous few months I have amassed a fair number of seeds, and they have all been quite happily sat in my biscuit tin waiting their turn for planting out.

I though it might be a good time to list what I have - if to serve no better purpose other than to remind me next year what to do and what not to do.

Here's what I have still in packets (in no particular order):

Runner beans (saved from last years plant)
Broad Bean - Aquadulce Claudia
Kohl Rabi - Blusta
Celery - Lathom Self Blanching Galaxy
Spicy Mixed Salas Leaves (freebie on GYO magazine)
Brussels Sprout - Falstaff
Calabrese - Marathon F1
Cauliflower - Atyr
Cabbage - Derby Day
Onion - Ailsa Craig
Beetroot - Boltardy
Broc Pse - Red Arrow (no, me neither, but that's what it says on the packet
Climbing Bean - Blauhide
Leek - Musselburgh
Carrot - Early Nantes
Parsnip - Gladiator
Parsnip - Cobham Improved Marrow
Thyme
Sage
Rosemary
Oregano
Carrot - F1 Maestro
Melon - Emir F1
Pumpkin - Aspen F1
Garlic Chives
Broccoli - White Eye
Broccoli - Late Purple Sprouting
Sweetcorn - Conqueror F1 Hybrid
Winter Squash - Barbara Butternut F1 Hybrid
Squash - Avalon F1 Hybrid
Celeriac - Monarch
Corn Salad - Cavallo
Organis Spinach - Palco F1 Hybrid
Tomato - Gardener's Delight (another GYO freebie)
Brussels Sprout - Bedford
Asparagus Pea
Pomodoro (given to me as a present - they're the Franchi ones so it's all in Italian)

I also have some seeds from the Heritage Seed Library (who do great work keeping varieties going that would otherwise disappear). They are:

Pea - Stephens (chosen as that's the name of my father-in-law, Stephen that is, not Pea!)
Tomato - Tiger Tom (chosen as Tom was my late Grandfathers name)
Pepper - Traffetti
Achocha (also known as slipper gourd apparently)
Leek - Early Market
Broad Bean - Martock
Dwarf French Bean - Negritos (these where my "lucky dip" seeds)
Lettuce - Stoke (these are the seeds I was given on joining the HSL)

The only problem with the HSL (Heritage Seed Library) seeds is that there are no instructions regarding planting them. I'll just have to do a bit of research.

Now all I have to do is sort out what to plant and when...

I've got three varieties of potatoes chitting, some Aran Pilot 1st earlies, some Kestrel 2nds, and Sante main crop. As per last year I'll probably plant them out around St Patrick's day.

Beds, birds and getting dirty

Sounds like a standard night out for Russel Brand, but alas no, just another day down at the HayWayne - or plot 35 as it's known locally.

Following on from my previous post, I thought I'd just try and explain a little better how the raised beds were made...

1. To make the corners, simply make a cut on opposing lips of the "channel" (I think I'm going to resort to usin tin snips as a hacksaw makes a hell of a racket, and it's bladdy hard work!)



2. Fold one edge "inwards" and the other "outwards" - repeat on both sides of the cut. After doing several of these the heels of your hands will start to hurt, mine did!



3. The next bit is probably the easiest bit. Simply bend the whole thing until it forms a 90 degree angle, like so...



5. To form the long straight edges, just simply bend one lip in, and the other out, as per step 2.



6. Lay them on the floor, position them until they form the size/shape of bed you want, then simply tap them into the ground until they are sturdy enough to stand unsupported. Et, viola!



Having now discovered a better material to make my raised beds (and so they don't look like graves!), I had some left over paving edges, so decided to use them and make a flower bed on a bit of "spare" land. At the front of the plot - outside the fence, where the defunct water tap is, and my boot scraper.



My intention is to plant it with meadow plant/flower seeds that I picked up last year at the Eden Project. Hopefully to brighten it up a bit and provide somewhere for pollenating insects to visit.



Whilst on the subject of insects, I mentioned a while ago that I had been nominated Member of the Month on The Grapevine. Well, as part of my prize, I was given a bug box - something I had been planning on buying myself anyway. I've fixed it to one of my fence posts where it will hopefully provide somewhere for aphid-eating ladybirds and perhaps lacewings to nest. It's also supposed to provide a place for "solitary" bees - who will help with pollenation. No idea if it's in the right place, time will tell I guess.



Speaking of bugs and wildlife - I'm sure I've mentioned Mildred my resident "starling". Well, as I had my camera with me I managed to actually get a photo of her (she was quite happy posing with me no more than 6ft away). As those of you in the know will undoubtedly notice, Mildred is in fact a female blackbird (or so one of my neighbours informed me). Every day's a school day!



In between breaks whilst making my beds I had a bit of a poke around some of the other beds to see how things were doing. My neighbour Lester gave me some over winter peas to plant a few weeks ago and I'd seen no sign of them, so had pretty much given up the ghost. However, I was pulling up a few weeds and noticed that there were two little plants at the end of one of the rows.



Along the rows I also noticed a series of "holes" that are suspiciously spaced at intervals which I'm pretty sure match where I had planted the seeds. Mices! Oh well, looks like I'll have to invest in some form of hawk nest too?!

Before I sign off, here's a quick overall look at the plot in it's current state from the gate end.



..and the opposite corner (you can just make out the garlic in the edged bed nearest to you)



I don't know about anyone else, but I do find the auto-save thing that blogger does a bit annoying. My typing isn't great at the best of times, but as you type blogger autosaves and when you're on an archaic PC like mine at the end of a rural version of wideband it makes the machine stutter, and results in typed words with missing letters - most annoying! It's just taken me 3-4 minutes to go back over this post and check forspelling mistakes - of which there were a few!

Until next time!

The first bit of real work for 2008

I'm either turning into some weird form of magpie, or developing some sort of Diarmuid Gavin personality complex, and started being drawn to, and making stuff out of shiny metal.

It all started a while back when I saw a skip full of scrap metal at work. We recycle a load of this stuff all the time, but it never struck me until recently that I could put some of it to good use.

Here's what I saw on that epiphanous moment:



Isn't it a beautiful thing!?

After a little thought, I decided that I'd turn this scrap metal into edges for raised beds, so here's what happened earlier today...

It started with me and a bootful of this scrap metal, I then flatted out one of the "lips" of the bits of metal and bent the other over to form a neat edge. I bent some at 90 degrees to form corners and help give the whole thing a bit of rigidity, and then simply bashed them into the ground, linking them onto each other as I went.



As you can see, the first ended up a bit squiffy, but I like to look at it as quirky character! Or manufacture/nature juxtaposition.



The second was a bit more successful:



Only another 16 to go!

On another note, my garlic is showing signs of life (finally)!!



The onions either side have yet to show any signs that they're still there, but those in the shed have started to poke through. I've about 10 of each red, white and standard onions just in case those in the ground fail completely.



After all that my knees were hurting and my wrists aching from bending the metal, so I'll attack this in chunks I think, I'll get there in the end - hopefully before the spring!

What with these and my planned pond, I should have plenty to keep me busy over the coming weeks...

Unexpected start to 2008

Nothing much to report as far as the plot goes, hoping to get down there this weekend (in between showers) and get some work done. What with Chistmas and New Year to recover from, haven't had much time to tend to plot 35!

Anyway, the real reason I'm sat here madly typing away listening to Nik Kershaw is that yesterday I had some really good news - well I think so anyway.

When I first started out on this adventure I was (and still am to a great extent), very green around the gills as far as what growing veg involved. So, armed only with the modern marvel that is the internerd I looked up sources of information and stumbled on a forum - The Grapevine. The forum is run by Grow Your Own magazine (another great source of information), and is populated by a brilliant bunch of people (at least I think they're real!?) who are knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and altogether a humourous bunch. They've kept me going and helped maintain my enthusiasm - if any of you are reading this, thanks!

Whilst I don't know much about gardening yet, I often pop in and post the odd thing or two, questions and alike, sometimes gardening related, mostly not and they have accepted me into the fold (I think I could be classed as some form of forum stalker in actual fact).

Quite unexepectedly and completely out of the blue I was yesterday awarded Member of the Month for January 2008 - the first of the year. I was shell-shocked! I thought this particular accolade only went to those that helped others on the forum, and those that brought something to the table as it were. It may seem like an odd thing to get excited about, but when you just go onto the forum to "chat" to others, share experiences, successes, failures, laughs etc, you don't expect recognition. I even get some goodies into the bargain, and a banner by my name - how cool is that!?

If any of the voting members are reading this, thank you!

Here was the moment it happened: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/general-chitchat/gyo-member-month-january-2008-a_11566.html

One valuable lesson I've learnt over the (almost) year I've been doing this, is that a sense of humour goes a long way, and hopefully having made a few people smile has been my contribution to all those fellow grapes who've helped me.

I'll post photos of my goodies when they arrive, I can hardly wait!