4/5/09

I bought the strawberry plants today, my daughter choosing 'Pegasus' and 'Sophie'.
I also decided not wait for the runner beans to try and germinate (or not) from my old seed, and bought a packet and sowed approx. 32 'Celebration' seeds which apparantly is very nice with pretty pink flowers.

I was able to return to the plot last night and put in the main crop potatoes, and put the tarpaulin over the end of the plot where some weeds keep coming through from the raised path. I also managed another 10% or so of the covered bit , dug it over and manure spread on top.
Noticed also that my small goosebury plant has some fruit for the first time!!

2/5/09

So the name of the second chilli is 'Fresno'. And the 2 cucumbers are 'Pepinex' and 'Delta star F1' which is a mini cucumber producing up to 6 fruits a week (if i'm lucky!).

I was able to goto the plot tonight and managed to dig my last potato trench and line it with manure. I'm a bit late putting my main crop in but better late than never. Also discovered and removed a stone the size of a watermelon!

I also planted some celery i bought the other day, 6 plants 'celebrity'.
I then spread some manure over an area i dug over the other day where i intend to plant the summer crops such as sweetcorn and the squashes.

In the greenhouse i planted the cucumbers in a grow bag, the lettuce in another bag are doing well and the spinach is producing leaves now. The two chilli's are in larger pots and look good, and all the outdoor tomatoes and cucumbers look healthy. I potted on all the sunflowers my daughter sowed, and the second tray of climbing beans are just coming through. The 5 courgette plants have also germinated, and i planted 2 test runner beans, the seed were ones i collected 2 years ago so i'm not sure how viable they are. If they dont come good i'll need to buy some more seed. I also started putting up the bean canes over the bean trench at the plot.

25/4/09

Trying out the Blogger Buddy widget from the vista sidebar on my desktop. Apparently i post without even opening Firefox to the blog. Well if your reading this that is!!

So i had to buy chilli plants in the end as the one that did germinate is still doing nothing and i need to get plants into growbags asap. I bought 1 jalapeno and 1 i've forgotton and will fill in later.
As i showed in the last post the indoor cucumber is also doing poorly so bought 2 varities also and put them into a grow bag immediatly.

At the plot i started by putting up the bean poles over the filled in trench, and completed the new 'cat prevention' fencing. Another of the plot holders was complaing about the local cats coming into the plots and fouling, which is present on my site also, and the fence on my edge is an obvious entry point so the allotment secretary put chicken wire across the fence, and plugged a gap.
I also put some mini cloches on the peas that have started to show.

The spinach and radishes doing well, but since i took this the radishes have mostly withered and died for some reason, whilst the spinach seems fine.
Some of the tomatoes and cucumbers, the outdoor cucumbers are doing well, but the small one in the left hand corner is the indoor variety and seems to be doing rather poorly. I'm hoping to grow a couple of the outdoor ones up a trellis at the plot to avoid the slugs.I have also repotted 2 of the Golden Sweet into their large final pots.
Little gem lettuce in the greenhouse. I have also sowed at the plot some Webbs wonderful and another tray of it with a few red/green lettuce also.
The dwarf french beans which have about 80% germination, and i have now sowed a second tray tonight.
The Brights Lights swiss chard which i put into the plot on sunday alongside the lettuce.
At the allotment i also removed completely one of the covers and continued with the digging, adding into it some of the manure. I am hoping to put the sweetcorn and squashes into this area.

My daughters sunflowers, since repotted, and some new ones she sowed.
More sunflowers, and the Bright Lights chard that will be going into the plot soon.
In the trough is the radishes on either side and through the centre is some spinach which we'll use as cut and come again leaves.

This evening i quickly got in a couple more sowings, which following on from yesterday means the order from the bean trench down the plot is a row each of beetroot and carrots i mentioned in the last post, next is a row of carrots 'berlikumer 2' from lidl. Lastly a row of perpetual spinach 'leaf beet' which we grew last year and was a great alternative to the usual spnach we grow that bolted straight away and we never got any cuttings from.

I also put in the broad beans in a space at the end of the bean trench. The plants in the tray had great roots already so hopefully they'll take well.

In the green house i forgot to mention also sowed pots of basil and one container of coriander.

Quick summary of the past week.

Put in the second earlies 'international kidney' and after my IL's help by raking over a large area ready for sowing i got in a row of beetroot 'Bolthardy' and carrots 'Early Nantes 5'. I also put in the first of the pea's 'Kelvedon Wonder' alongside the onions and shallots. I also loaded a bag with compost and soil and placed a few spare potatoes (IK) in it.

In the shed/greenhouse i sowed with help of my son a tray of Dwarf French beans, and also a tray of Leeks 'Musslebrough'. I've never had much luck directly sowing leeks and the only time i had a good crop i tray sowed and then transplanted. More tomatoes were potted on, and a few more 'tabasco' chillies were sown as only one has so far germinated. The cucumbers are going along nicely esp. the outdoor ones.
In a trough in the greenhouse i sowed some spinach with a few quick crops alongside, being radishes 'icicle' and 'Hilds roter Neckarruhm' which according to DT Browns catalogue ''These long, red, mildly spicy roots are eaten as a snack accompaniment to a glass of beer in Germany, served sliced with a little salt'. Sounds interesting!!

My daughter has sown alot more sunflowers, 'irish eyes' and 'giant' and despite "help" from my son, he managed to drop the tray of 'teddy bear' sunflowers he sowed right at the end.

Bright lights chard germinating.
My daughters sunflowers.
The broad beans are still germinating a month after sowing.
I sowed some lettuce 'little gem' which have started to germinate, if this is all that come though i'll have to transplant some to even them out.

well the good weather of last week has not lasted with gales and rain today, just in time for my week off. Great!

I did manage to get down to the plot on Sunday, did a good amount of digging, mostly the stuff thats been under cover which you would hope is killed off with the lack of sun but little weeds still persist. Nice afternoon in the sun listening to BBC 5live with Liverpool crushing Villa 5-0.

I was given some raspberry canes by someone who was dividing theirs up, and planted 3 each of earlies and late fruiting.
Tomorrow i will be doing some more potting up, buying more compost because the bag i bought last week seems very poor quality, plus i need more small pots.