Blogs

Ta da!!

My pond is finished and looking good. I'm really pleased. Within a couple of days of it being filled with water, there were pond skaters skimming over the surface. A very nice lady contacted me to see if I wanted some lillies (which of course I did) and they came with their own newts! How lovely. On to more sobering news. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that a hole had been dug in my purple sprouting broccoli patch, and that there was poo in it! Last weekend I noticed another hole with more poo. My allotment neighbour, who's a bit of an officianado about badgers, told me that my broccoli patch was now being used as a badger 'latrine'!!!!!! So, despite wire fencing around the entire allotment, and netting secured (I thought) around the broccoli patch, they still got in and obviously liked it so much they made themselves at home. Oh well. On to more pleasant things. I'm still cropping purple sprouting and spinach. Many herbs are coming through and I've got lettuces, cabbages, beans, pumkins, sweetcorn, all doing well. My physalis is now in the greenhouse but not liking the cold nights much. I've also planted half of my lentils in a cloche (not happy) and the other half in the greenhouse (happier) along with some sprouted fenugreek that got too leggy! My broad beans that have been in for a month are doing fine, and I've got another batch hardening off. I happened to go to a garden centre at the weekend, and was amazed at the range of veg plants they have available. Many of them, such as tomatoes and cucumbers, were grown on to a considerable size. I wondered how many people got lulled into a false sense of security and have planted them out, only to loose them because of the cold nights and occasional frosts? I err on the side of caution, and leave tender things until the beginning of June. I hate loosing anything. Next up, sowing amaranth and quinoa seeds. I really enjoyed learning how to thresh them last year - think my neighbours thought I was mad though!

Well here we are, another week of on off rain, with intermittant sun - sort of. I've been hardening off my broad beans - they can tolerate the fairly low temperatures but they're suffering with the rain battering them so I'm keeping them in when we're due a deluge (I know I know, I'm being overprotective probably!). Broad Beans

Aubergines, melons and peppers are all potted up, leeks and spring onions have sprung, and my lentils, well you'd be proud. They're about 2" (5cm) tall now, and in the greenhouse. I've been trying to find out some more information about growing them, and Garden Organic were able to answer quite a lot of my questions. Lentils like hot and dry weather with poor soil I was told, and promptly fell on the floor laughing!!! All that work adding compost and enriching the soil etc, our summers! Oh well, we'll see how they get on. I've got a large closh they can go in.
Pond Filling Up
Pond's coming along. It's filled now, and I'm looking for some (affordable and preferrably recycled) edging. After that I can buy some pond plants and wait for the animals to arrive. In my pond at my old house I had newts, toads, frogs, and loads of other insects - pond skaters were one. I used to get disappointed when I lifted a rock, and there were the frogs keeping house with the slugs! I didn't train them very well! A friend gave me a terracota chimney top - the thing that keeps out the rain - and I'm going to place it by the pond for the frogs (and slugs probably!). Time for tea I think.

Inbetween the bouts of enchanting snow, dreary rain, and debilitating cold, the beautiful sun has appeared this winter - if only briefly.
Those all important jobs have been slotted in where possible - digging, weeding, mulching, storing bamboo poles and cloches, nets adjusted etc.
But the most exciting thing by far is that I've started to dig my pond - 3 years thinking about it and I'm off! I'm going for a fairly shallow one with a deeper section in the middle. I've got some liner off the freecycle website, and because there was so much of it I've been able to give some to my new neighbour on the site - re-cycle, re-use etc etc. Next step is to line it with sand. I'm so excited!
I'm still cropping parsnips, pak choi, jerusalem artichokes (anyone want any?), celery, and perpetual spinach. My chard has taken a bit of a battering, so have my overwintering onions and garlic, but I'm sure they'll recover. I've got spinach and lettuce in the greenhouse, and the purple sprouting is just starting to show.
My windowledges at home are full of sowings of peppers, cabbages, aubergines, basil, melon, oriental salad, kale, pakchoi, and early sprouts. It wont be long before you have to push your way through my door! I'm going to have a go at growing lentils in my greenhouse, and I've saved a physalis plant from last year so I'll see how that goes in the greenhouse too. This is the start of the best time of the year for me. It never fails to excite and inspire me, and the feeling of expectation is huge!

If you're looking forward to a great crop this year, then now is the time to get out into the garden.

Whether you have a few pots for tomatoes and herbs, a small bed for your salads or your growing for the entire family, time waits for no man or woman.

Prepare that seed bed, sow the seeds and protect that young crop as it comes through.

Or better still let us help...