Garden Progress Mid May 2021

Garden Update 14th May

A decent amount of salad ready in bed 1.

Radishes just about ready in bed 2. Lots of other salad roots growing slowly.

Just look at those beauties!!

Nice healthy pea plants in side bed 1.

The last broad bean planted out in side bed 2.

And a runner bean doing nicely in side bed 3.

Potatoes are taking shape in bed 3.

And more in bed 4 which has become a disorganised mish mash. Oh well.

Brassicas under a temporary mesh in bed 5. Something's still eating them so maybe a few caterpillars have arrived before the net.

Bed 6 has some tiny but growing onions and leeks.  I've no idea which is which so hopefully time will tell.

More root veg in bed 7, under polythene for a week or so until the fine mesh arrives.

Squashes in bed 8 under a DIY polytunnel to keep them cosy until summer.

#garden #growyourown

Garden Progress Late April 2021

 

Photos Taken 23rd April 2021

Bed 1 is starting to come to life, not much to harvest as yet but it's getting there.

Frost protection has been removed from bed 2.  

A few rows of spring onions have been added at the back, under cover for now while they get established.

There's very little to see in bed 3.

But close inspection does reveal some tiny potatoes just poking through.

This interesting looking fungus is flourishing where I was expecting a potato.

No signs of the main crop in bed 4 though.  

Protection from the brassicas has been removed.

The peas are looking nice and healthy.  No pop bottles for them going forward.

The beans are looking happy too.

Protection removed from the main brassica bed 5.

So that it can be moved to bed 6 which has been planted with alums.

Garden Progress Mid April 2021

 

Photos Dated April 16th

Lots of work done in the garden!!

Beds 1 through to 5 are all now full.

Bed 1 hasn't changed much.  This cold snap has finally given way to warmer temperatures overnight so I'm not bothering with the polythene any more.  I've left it in place just in case it's needed again over the coming weeks.

Bed 2 has lots more plantings.

The first row of radishes has had their pop bottles removed.  With another two rows planted under pop bottles until they get settled in.

Behind those I've got a couple of rows of carrots also under pop bottles.

And last bit not least three rows of beetroots.

I've run out of pop bottles so these are sheltering under an old clear plastic box.

I'll be removing these covers next week when the seedlings have had a chance to settle in and acclimatise to the cooler temperatures outside of the greenhouse.

I've been opening my greenhouse roof daily to lower the temperature and harden off the plants a little.

Bed 3 is starting to show some merge signs of life.  I'm assuming these little eruptions are the beginnings of my potato harvest - I'm so excited to eat home grown spuds soon!!

Bed 4 has become a bit of a mish mash.  The first half is main crop potatoes and there's some purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages in the back.  This has left an awkward little space in between them.  I had an awkward amount of lettuce and cress needing a home so they've filled this space nicely.  Not according to plan at all but hey.

They are hanging out under a couple of old propagator lids for a week or so before I expose them to the elements.

Side bed 1 is still growing peas.  Last year something eat my legumes next to the fence so I'm pleased to see this year's plants are flourishing so far.  

I had to remove the pop bottle from one of them in order to use it in bed 2.

Side bed 2 still has it's bean plants growing happily.  Pop bottles just removed from these too.

Bed 5 has been planted up with a variety of brassicas.  More purple sprouting broccoli because Little Miss likes it.  Some winter broccoli, more cabbages, some sprouts and a first for me, swiss chard.  It's not something I've eaten much less grown before so we'll see how that goes. 

With no more pop bottles or plastic boxes and lids I've created a makeshift polytunnel.  I've used a length of old wire fencing and bent it into shape around the bed then covered it with polythene and secured the edges with stones and lengths of wood. 

It seems to be keeping the worst of the weather off the baby plants.

Bed 6 has been treated to a layer of commercial compost and is awaiting a planting of onions and leeks.  I would have liked to have planted them out sooner but a lack of protection has forced me to keep them in the greenhouse for another week until this round of plantings are acclimatised and can survive without protection.  I'll be moving the makeshift polytunnel to this bed in a week's time when I will also be removing the pop bottles and propagator lids from the other seedlings.  

I should have photographed the greenhouses too.  My main greenhouse is filled with germinated seedlings.  

I've got the onions and leeks ready to plant out.  Then a few herbs which could do with planting out soon.  I've just obtained some new (to me) planters which will do very nicely for my annual herbs.  They'll be arriving in a couple of weeks so the herbs will have to live in the greenhouse until then.  I've also got a few sunflower seedings which likewise would benefit from planting out but will have to wait for their planters to arrive.  

Then I've got a lovely big collection of tomato seedlings and plants.  They'll be moving into the planters too so I can keep them on my sunny patio, the warmest part of my garden.  But for now they're hanging out in the greenhouse for as long as I can fit them in there.  I'm thinking I may rig up some sort of makeshift polytunnel / protection thingy for my tomato plants as I only got one solitary tomato last year and I'm hoping for a much bigger harvest this year.  I'll probably plant them out when I really can't squeeze them into my greenhouse anymore and I'll keep them under pop bottles for as long as they will fit.

I've acquired a second greenhouse this year so my old one is currently availible for un-germinated seeds.  I did keep them in the house earlier in the year but there's far too many now for that.  Ideally I'd like to keep them in heated propagators which I have just recently been given.  They belonged to my grandfather so I'm not sure of they will actually work but I haven't yet organised a space with accessible power for them.  So for now my seeds are in the old greenhouse which is kept closed to keep as much heat in as possible.  I'm hoping that this will be sufficient for them to germinate.  It's quite hot during the days (12 - 18 degrees centigrade) so it's much warmer than in the house but the nights are 1 - 3 degrees centigrade and even -1 forecast for tonight  Presumably it's warmer in the house overnight but I just don't have time to move them every night and morning, plus I don't really want to cover my dining table in dirty seed trays.  Maybe I will live to regret this decision but that's the whole point of keeping a record isn't it.

Garden Progress April 2021

 

Photos Taken 12th April 2021

Bed 1 contains an assortment of salad.  I've run out of room so I'm almost hoping some of them die off lol.  Better planning required next year!

Close up of bed 1 shows not much growth.  

I'm using coffee grinds sprinkled around the plants to deter slugs.

Just a few radishes in bed 2 so far.  I'll be adding more root veggies for salads in a few weeks.

Bed 3 is half first early potatoes and the other half second early.  Still no sign of life on the soil surface.  Planted about 4 weeks ago.

Bed 4 is half main crop potatoes and the back half brassicas, so far just purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages.

They haven't been coping too well with the polythene cover so I've popped a large propagator lid over them to give them a little more breathing room.

Side Bed 1 has a few healthy looking pea plants.

And a beer slug trap.

Side Bed 2 has a few broad beans that seem to be resisting the frost nicely.

Overview shows the final four beds (5 - 8) which are still empty awaiting the last frost which should be any day now . . . Until then I'm covering the beds with this polythene sheeting over night.  Whilst it's definitely keeping the freezing temperatures at bay it does seem to be crushing the plants and making them a bit too damp and dingy.  I'm thinking this isn't a great solution for above ground plants.  Next year I'll try to construct some polytunnels for the salad bed or maybe try to delay planting out until later in the year but that will involve investing in more seeds trays.  Perhaps sow less early salad seeds so that pop bottles can be used to protect plants from frosts without crushing them.

Sowing Tomato Seeds

 

Six different varieties of tomatoes sown this week.  I've popped them into larger pots to save time re-potting later.  This year I've put them next to a radiator until the seeds germinate and covered them with old pop bottles with the bottoms cut off.  I'm getting my hopes up for an actual tomato harvest this year!!

Another barrel load of compost added to the beds and hubster cleared a little more of the overgrown ivy from the back of the patch.  Hopefully this will let a little more light in.