Tender Crops

I did manage to germinate 3 okra plants and one black beauty aubergine.

The aubergine is growing pretty well... maybe this will be the year that I actually get past the flower stage and get some fruit. Third time lucky perhaps.

The okra on the other hand don't seem to be doing much... they look healthy enough, but they are not getting any bigger. I think they were a bit bit water logged, so I dried them out but that doesn't appear to have made much difference. I guess I will just leave them to it and as long as they stay alive, will continue to water them and see if they do anything.

Bank Holiday Weekend Part Two

I was hoping there would be more than two parts to my Bank Holiday Weekend gardening activities, but the bad weather has continued; yesterday it rained more or less constantly, and when it did let up there was a very cold wind blowing round the garden. Today has been better; there is still a chill in the air but the sun has come out every now and again. Nevertheless, over the course of the weekend I have been able to do a few more bits and pieces.

The jack o' lanterns have been planted out into reusable growbags.

I'll probably put squash in between them, once they are ready to go out.

I've planted out my beetroot (boltardy) plugs into a wicker planter and sowed some more undercover, and have continued sowing like there's no tomorrow; broccoli (psb & raab), cauliflower (all year round), pak choi (red choi), fennel (di firenze), chicory (radicchio palla rosso precoce), turnip (purple top milan) are all in small pots in the potting shed.

Outdoors sowings consist of a row of swede (best of all) in a raised bed with some previously planted out brassicas, and four types of radish (cherry belle, prinz rotin, french breakfast and hilds blauer herbst und winter) in a bulb crate.

The final batch of potatoes (rooster) have also been planted into potato sacks. 

In the greenhouse I potted on the okra plants.

And finally, I purchased some sweet pepper (bellboy) and chilli pepper (apache) plants from the garden centre. I still haven't given up on the idea of germinating my own from seed even though my last (and was going to be final) attempt in the heated propagator only produced one chilli shake, and time is running out if they are going to have a long enough season to fruit and ripen. Might just give it one more go?!

What a turnaround!

I've been going on and on... and on about my poor tomato germination rate, with good reason I think. Well, it's safe to say that those that have made it are making good progress; today I potted on 3 costoluto fiorentino, 2 gardener's delight, 1 roma, 1 sub arctic plenty, 1 urbikany and 1 red cherry.

There are also 3 garden pearl, not quite ready to be potted on but coming on nicely, and the more recently germinated have been transferred from the teeny tiny pots they sprouted in to the next size up. 

Even the okra, that I am very wary of seem to be developing.

Just need to work out what to do about my lack of peppers...

Delayed posting...

... hmmm, this does not bode well for when the season is really in full swing, I'm already getting behind with blogging what I have been up to - must do better!

Anyway, what I should have posted about a week ago is that I continued my indoor sowing with:

• Okra (Clemsons Spineless) x 5
• Cucumber (Miniature White) x 5
• Gherkin (Cornichon de Paris) x 5
• Courgette (All Green Bush) x 2
• Tomato (Sub Arctic Plenty) x 5
• Mint
• Thyme

and a selection of brassicas:

• Cabbage (Kalibos) x 2
• Cabbage (Offenham 2 - Flower of Spring) x 2
• Cabbage (Golden Acre / Primo) x 2
• Broccoli (Early Purple Sprouting) x 2
• Kale (Dwarf Green Curled) x 2

Outdoors I sowed a row each of:

• Spinach Beet
• Turnip (Purple Top Milan)
• Beetroot (Boltardy)

I have never tried to grow gherkins before but am hoping they are just the same as regular cucumbers and therefore don't pose too much of a challenge. I have tried okra in the past, but just ended up with greenery and no flowers!

There is so much to do this month, but I do enjoy it when it gets busy... and it is totally worth it once it comes to harvesting time.