What's fruiting?

The strawberries have come on leaps and bounds in the last week or so... all of a sudden the plants have shot up; this was a couple of weeks ago...

... and this is today

Strawberries everywhere!! I also spotted a tiny cucumber or two making an appearance; these ones are passandra

I've got a good feeling about this season.

Busy busy busy...

Well, it's been go go go for the past couple of weekends in the garden... I finally feel like I have regained some type of order; the raised beds around the back have been weeded and are now planted up or sown with a variety of produce

 

 

Around the front, the first sowings of carrots and beetroot are coming along nicely (in spite of next door's cat thinking the raised beds are there for his benefit!!)...

... and the courgettes I planted out over the bank holiday have done well without the recommended week of hardening off. Treat 'em mean I say, makes them tougher!

In the background, the greenhouse has been cleaned out and hopefully all slugs & snails have been eradicated from their little hiding places... just need to keep on top of it now so that they don't get a chance to take over again.

Where on earth have I been?

It's been ages... not posted since January; so far this year it's been a slow process but hopefully things are looking up with the weather and it shouldn't take too long to catch up.

So, what's doing well?

I have a fine selection (if a bit slug & snail munched!) of courgette, pumpkin & squash in the greenhouse; some of the larger ones should be ready for planting out soon.

Cucumbers and a couple of watermelon plants are also coming along nicely.

 

 

Tomotoes are coming into their own after a very slow start.

There is a very fine tray of various lettuce needing to be planted out...

... a few peppers and a couple of cape gooseberries coming up behind everything else.

The potatoes (for Easter) clearly didn't arrive in time, but they are looking quite healthy; I doubt they will be ready yet, but I might have a bit of a rummage in the sacks to see what's there.

And finally, there are loads of flowers on the strawberries so hopefully that means there will be lots of fruit.

 

 

There is still a lot to be done though; haven't sown any peas or beans yet, only have a few brassicas, sweetcorn germination was very poor so need to resow, not sown any leeks, parsnips or turnips either as it's been too cold... I am going to be very busy for the next few weeks!

Let's get this sow(ing) on the road!

It's been quite a nice weekend, apart from the torrential wind and rain overnight on Saturday (when I wouldn't have been doing much gardening anyway!)

So, got started with a bit of sowing; 3 each of moneymaker, gardener's delight, red cherry, green zebra and cream sausage, along with some mustard and cress which surprisingly I have never grown before.

I also purchased seed potatoes; maris bard & bonnie and set them out on the kitchen windowsill to chit until ready to plant in the spring.

Strawberry plants were delivered. A couple of weeks ago, the fruit bed was cleared out as I am relocating soft fruit elsewhere in the garden, so I ordered some new plants at the same time; 6 of the variety vibrant are in in the potting shed with the roots covered in moist compost until I plant them out.

Let's hope the last of the snow has fallen and I can continue as I have started.

First Job Done!

What a difference a day makes... yesterday was dark, miserable, near torrential rain, yet today was absolutely delightful; it might have been a little bit chilly which is to be expected for January, but it was dry and the sun was shining.

So, finally got the first job done this morning, planting my early, early potatoes... I usually do this around March or April time, but this way the plan is to have them ready to eat around March or April time; not sure if I'll achieve that but I'm giving it a go!

The 15 swift tubers that were chitting on the kitchen windowsill are now out there on their own to flourish... well, with a little bit of undercover support. This was the first sack before I covered them over

and this is all three sacks on location in the greenhouse (which is quite warm when it's sunny) for the next couple of months

The other thing I have done which is a bit different to normal, is fill the bags up with compost rather than wait for shoots to appear and do the topping up thing; I've always wanted to try it this way to see if it makes any difference. Roll on spring!

Happy New Year

I am so excited about the coming season; spent an hour wandering around the local garden centre this morning; ordered new seeds online (more about that later); and the sun is shining today, which I am taking as a sign that this year we will have more favourable weather than last year.

I have already started some things off; in the autumn I planted some onion sets and they seem to be doing pretty well

 

I also started off some peas and have so far managed to keep them pretty happy in the potting shed

 

Again I am trying with broad beans, which are now planted out and fleeced to keep out the cold, and hopefully the dreaded blackfly which seem to be present all year round

 

 

 

I was seduced by a mailing from one of the online garden centres which advertised “Potatoes for Easter”, so currently have 15 swift tubers chitting on the kitchen windowsill; they need to be planted in January so I will probably do that at the weekend and keep the sacks in the greenhouse for now.

I’m planning on trying a host of new produce this year:

Whilst I love french beans I’m not really a fan of runners, so this year they will be one of my “if I grow it I might like it” experiments; I will be trying hunter and jiminez.

I can’t seem to watch a cooking show, either professional chefs or amateurs without celeriac popping up somewhere, so I’ll be trying monarch this year.

I’m going big on winter veg, so as well as re-introducing leeks which I really missed last year and regret not growing any, I will be attempting two new varieties of squash; festival and sweet dumpling.

I’ll also be introducing a couple of heritage tomatoes, green zebra and cream sausage, just the names of them make me chuckle.

The most challenging new addition will be mushrooms, chestnut button portobello and white button; although, according to the write-up they are the easiest things to grow, so we’ll see.

So much to look forward to, I really can’t wait to get going.