Overun with plants…

Happy Birthday me!

Mum and Dad bought me this for my birthday last month and since assembling it I’ve been busy setting about filling it. It now contains: shallots (Golden Gourmet), red onions (Red Baron) and white onions (Sturton), broad beans (Masterpiece Green Longpod), sweet peas (Old Fashioned Mix), Brussels (Bosworth), parsley (Italian Giant), sage, leeks (Jaune de Poitou and Bleu de Solaise).

I know what you’re thinking, some of those could have gone straight in the ground. Ah, that would assume I’d prepared the ground by now… So the broad beans are in root trainers (aka toilet rolls) and the onions and shallots in module trays to allow them to root and start growing – which should also help stop the birds from pulling them out too.

For good measure the planting continues inside as well. Mrs D just loves the kitchen being overtaken with plants at this time of year! The sweet peas have largely germinated as have the chillies from last week, so I’ve put in more chillies (Hungarian Hot Wax), okra (I hate okra so another one for Mrs D) and tomatoes (Red Cluster Pear and Aurora). Having filled the propagator and windowsill (beauty of living in a stone house is the vast deep windowsills – the kitchen one ideally facing south-ish) planting has reached an impasse.

Down on plot no 1 some serious digging took place on Sunday and three of the four veg begs are now (largely) ready for planting. The final bed only needs a little work as two thirds of this has been covered by leaves over winter and the soil should be in good condition. The azada/mattock also had its first serious workout, making short work of weedy areas next to the hedge.

Plot no 1 having been licked into shape (!), an assault on plot no 2 awaits. Lighter nights be here soon so should be a piece of cake…

I declare this season open!

First seeds planted this year. I’m probably a bit behing on previous years, not helped by not being able to find the propagator – must tidy up the cellar…!

After finding and cleaning it up, finally got round to planting this years chillies. I use the seed from last years chillies (Ring of Fire) – which begs the question why are chilli seed so expensive? I get more seeds from one chilli than I ever get from a packet of seed??? I also planted up some Padron (Spanish tapas type chillies) and Joe’s Long, which I’m sure will be similar to the Ring of Fire. I’ve just sent off an order for some Hungarian Hot Wax as well – Mrs D doesn’t request many specific varieties of plants, but this is one of them.

After last years disaster of no sweet peas (another request of Mrs D), I’ve made an earlier than normal start with them – which is probably still later than I should have put them in. So far I have Blue Velvet and Perfume Delight in, with Old Fashioned Mix on order too. I’ve not sure you can ever have a glut of sweet peas ;>)

Down on the plot, the garlic is finally showing signs of growing and the dafodills are just poking through the soil too. Unfortunately the bed with the dafs and tulips in is over-run with weeds so I’ve been having to dig it over, which probably isn’t going to help them grow.

Must take camera to plot…

First seed order

Strangely taking a while to get going with stuff this year, but finally got a seed order in to Plants of Distinction:

Dwarf Bean – Jacobs Cattle Gold
Climbing Bean – Barlotto Lingua de
Brussel Sprout – Bosworth F1
Carrot – Siroco F1
Baby Salad LeavesMized
Pepper – Spanish Tapas Padron
Pepper – Joe’s Long Cayenne
Sicilian Rocket Salad Mixed

Positively restrained I think! But then I’ve still got a £20 voucher for Garden Organic, I’ve already ordered the potatoes, got my onions (Red Baron and Sturton) from the Hagg Lane Shop – for the princely sum of £2! – and picked up a couple of bags of shallots (Golden Gormet) from Wilkinson’s the other day. I had to go to Wilkos when I realised most of my plant pots were in the greenhouse and are now a mass of melted plastic :>(

What a difference a tree makes
Taking inspiration from neighbours down on plot no 1 I started to cut down the tree. The only thing is Jon’s does that kind of thing for a living and used a chainsaw. I used a bowsaw.

Surprisingly this is still quite effective, but knackering. I’d like to say I used great skill in getting them to fall just where I wanted but I think it was more down to gravity. I had planned to take the camera down with me for my day at the plot today, but then I hadn’t counted on the snow…

Is 32kg of seed potatoes too many?

First weekend of the year that’s snow and ice free to get down to the plots and I’m completely full of a cold. Why couldn’t this happen during the week so I could miss the ongoing farce of moving offices…?

So what to do in these circumstances? Turn to the catalogues of course, well web sites! First up for the year – and two weeks later than previous years – potatoes. I had great success with Sarpo Axona last year and the laughed in the face of blight, but to be honest they just don’t taste very good. After much discussion with the wife as to our requirements we settled on Romeo for the main crop – supposedly an improvement on Rooster. Charlottes were a big hit with everyone in the family, and it’s easy to see why they’re so popular, so they made the list too. Pink Fir Apple are probably the tastiest potatoes I grow, and whilst probably not as popular with everyone else in the family, I do the ordering ;>)

Some browsing later the final order ended up as:

7.5kg – Majestic
7.5kg – Desiree
2kg – Pink Fir Apple
5kg – Charlotte
2.5kg – Romeo
7.5kg – King Edwards

Have I suddenly acquired a lot more land/gone more than a little over the top with me ordering? Well kind of, I order for my Dad and Grandad as well who have a lot more space than me and will be taking the vast majority of these.

All very traditional/popular I guess, but I guess there’s a good reason why these are amongst the most popular potatoes. This year I’ve ordered from JBA Seed Potatoes, mainly because they offered a good range and had decent postal charge for 32kg of potatoes.

I’ll just go for a nice walk in the snow

Despite it snowing heavily again this morning, it seems like it’s beginning to melt a bit too (if you see what I mean!), so after dropping the kids off at school thought I’d go for a wander and take some pictures. [Bit gutted for the kids really as I can’t remember having seen so much snow for many, many years and they still haven’t had a day off!].

So I trudged up the hill, observed 13 men from the council ‘clearing’ the paths at the local shops – only two of them were actually doing anything at the time, but I think it may have been a tea break – chatted with the owner of the local fruit and veg shop (apparently it was just our local area on top of the hill where it was still snowing) and headed towards plot no 2. It’s fairly picturesque out there at the best of times, unfortunately the cloud was a bit low though…

A nice fire to keep warm by?
Eventually made it to check out plot no 2 – it’s been a loooong time since I was there (early December?). The ‘gate’ was missing, not unusual, but the greenhouse didn’t look right either. From the entrance it wasn’t quite possible to tell what was wrong with it but as I got closer it was obvious someone had a nice bonfire with it – it once had polycarbonate panels. Sadly they have all melted away, the frame is broken and as far as I can tell they nicked my home made ‘earth boxes’ as well – which was the most upsetting thing of all. The greenhouse came with the plot so I didn’t pay for that but the ‘earth boxes’ I paid for and made myself. OK they only cost about a fiver to make and what use they’d be to anyone other than a gardener I don’t know – the boxes had holes in the side for excess water to drain out. No doubt someone will be back to nick the aluminum from the frame at some point so maybe I should take it down and flog it for scrap myself before they get the chance?

Strangely the shed, which I always think is an arsonists dream – it’s made of wood, climbers all over it, etc. – remained completely untouched, lock hadn’t even been tampered with. If it wasn’t for the apple trees on the plot I’d be tempted to give it up to be honest. Hopefully it will seem a bit better when it’s not so ‘fresh’. I did report it and no doubt the police will ring back about it, but it’ll just be another statistic where nothing ever happens. Pictures (of cloud and sad looking remains of a greenhouse) when I’ve cheered up :>(

So Michelle if you see another greenhouse advertised… ;>)

Happy New Year!

And to start the new year, here’s your bill for your plots from the council: £30.60 for each plot. Not too bad, apart from just under half of that is for water. I think I’ve used the taps once in two and a half years. Well unless you count the incident where the tap broke and gallons and gallons of water poured out overnight…

Moving on… We could get 50% discount on plot no 1 as that is registered under Mrs D’s name, but it’s not like she get’s down there more than once or twice a year so I feel guilty about claiming the discount.

A Visit from Santa
Once again the man in the red suit was most generous and I’ve just placed an order with Ken Muir for 3 blueberry plants with the vouchers I was given: Herbert, Nui and Ozkarblue. The plant is to get some large pots and put them down on plot no 1 in the ‘play area’ – well it’s not like they’re going to use the space now!

I’ve also got a voucher for the Organic Garden Catalogue, which should hopefully give me something to read over the coming weeks having just checked out the weather Forecast for the next couple of weeks :>o

Metcheck

Garlic Planted!

Despite it being far too wet, it was a case of take the opportunity available. So I planted about 15-20 cloves of Solent Wight and Jolimont. They’re a lot bigger than the usual Thermidrome I’ve grown for the past 3 years, so be interesting to see how they get on – assuming they don’t rot first.

I had another go at the old greenhouse walls. It appears as though the one at the back may have to stay there! It’s reluctant to come down. So the greenhouse re-assembly plans are still on hold.

I also had a bit of a play with my new Azada, which I’m sure will be great when it isn’t quite so wet. Certainly going to be good for those areas that still need to be sorted out and are covered in weeds.

I’ve lifted the netting higher on the brassicas (probably a good month later than I should have), so it’s fingers crossed the rabbits don’t get in underneath.

After the success of last years leaf mold/mulch in the large builders sacks I’ve been collecting some more from the valley below. We are lucky to have many trees in Sheffield, but I reckon it takes about 10 bin bags full of leaves to rot down to provide a multch for one of my beds. I’ve also learnt, the bags need far more holes in them than they had last year and the leaves from the lime trees in the valley are far quicker to rot down than beech leaves. So far I’ve filled one of the builders sacks. The other one is about half full of last years beech leaves which I’ll top up again. I also have a smaller wire leaf mold basket which could do with filling up too. Not too mention (the long neglected) plot no 2…

It’s also the time of year when my thoughts turn to getting a delivery of manure. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure when I’ll have the time between now and the end of the year to sort this out :>(

Still going!

Yes, I am still here but I seem to spend more time dismantling greenhouses than gardening these days. A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to acquire a free greenhouse, so long as I dismantled it and took it away. Despite having absolutely no experience in doing this, of course I said yes!

Obviously some help would be useful, so I managed to persuade a stranger I’d only spoken to on the internet into helping, who helpfully bought her OH along too. A couple of days later, and many aching limbs later, I’m now the proud owner of a dismantled greenhouse in two separate locations.

It’s quite big and transporting that much glass and that sized frame across Sheffield – a city with a some big hills and a lot of pot holes – was very interesting!

To get this up on the plot, I now have to demolish the old brick base. Easy? No, it’s actually in better shape than I’d realised and is reluctant to come apart. Also the ground level of the greenhouse is about 40cm lower than that outside the greenhouse. It’s currently back to the drawing board about what to do about the base.

So whilst I’m thinking about that it was time to repay the greenhouse dismantling favour to Michelle. I’m not at all jealous it’s bigger nor that it came apart far easier… ;>)

Where did the light go?
I do love the colours of autumn, but it does herald the shorter days. Which in turn means chances to visit the plot are few and far between. I have managed to collect several bags of leaves – my most successful crop perhaps? Being plentiful in supply you have to do nothing to them to make a tremendous mulch or better still leaf mold.

The garlic, onions, broad beans and peas remain unplanted.

Gone but not forgotten

Some b*stard decided they’d nick my wheelbarrow the other day to cart off the rest of the scrap they were stealing from other plots around me :>(

They may also have taken the fork too – or that could just be a bit too well hidden and I’ve forgotten where I put it – again.

It was duly reported, but I doubt I’ll be seeing it again. What’s most upsetting is that there are several others in full view on other plots and mine was well hidden and on top of the manure heap.

Long overdue update on everything else coming soon…

Where does the time go?

I’ll tell you where the time goes at this time of year, it’s picking everything and trying to keep on top of the weeds! This is some of what I’ve picked in the last few days:

Which features radish, lettuce, potatoes, peas, broad beans, onions (overwintered – red and white), shallots, mint, raspberries, loganberries, strawberries and blackcurrants. And I have to say I’m quite chuffed with that!

To keep on top of all the fruit this year I’ve been making jam. Around 35 jars so far this year! So far we have Rhubarb and Orange, Gooseberry, Strawberry, and Raspberries jam, and Marmalade – and the burnt strawberry jam of course… Although it has to be said it is still OK in jam roly poly.