Saturday 23 April 2011

Week 4

Ok it has been a blistering easter weekend in Shrewsbury today so have got a lot done in the garden.

The tomatoes that I planted in pots inthe windowsill at home are growing nicely so I have split those up into individual pots.  The same has been done wht the broccoli.  Only 2 out of the 6 butternutsquash seeds have grown so far but those two are looking very healthy. I have now moved the butternutsquash, tomatoes and small broccoli plants in to the cold frame outside in the garden.

I planted runner beans in trays indoors a week or so go.  It must be the weather because they have shot up and are already around 9 inches tall.  I shall move these out to the cold frame in the next couple of days, but in preparation I have started the ground ready to plant them out in a week or so:

I have been informed that runner beans prefer very fertile, moist soil.  A good way to achieve this is to dig a trench 2 foot wide and around 8 inches deep.  Fill this trench with a few inches deep of compost, manure or part rotted compost then fill back in with soil.  So that is what I have done and I have also errected some of the canes in readiness (I only had 8 canes to hand but will need another 8 so a trip to Charlies is in order tomorrow!).

I have also sown some more seeds in the right hand patch:  mixed lettuce, carrot, more onion & rocket.  From the rear to the front I now have the following seeds sown:

1:  Onion
2: Carrot Autumn
3: Onion
4: Parsnip
5: Onion
6: Parsnip
7: Leek
8: Brocoli
9: Beetroot
10: Spare for more beetroot at later date
11: Cauliflower
12: Lettuce
13: Lettuce
14: Spinach
15: Mixed lettuce
16: Carrot
17: Onion
18: Carrot
19: Carrot
20: Rocket


I have mixed the carrot and onion rows because apparently onions and leeks help keep carrot fly away.  Does this work? We shall have to wait and see!

I have all seeds and seedlings covered with fleece to propect from a frost - I do not want to take any chances at this stage!

All in all a good weekend so far at the garden - dad and myself even managed to paint grans fences both sides - not a job I would like to do again too soon!

Thursday 21 April 2011

It has been a few days since I have been down at the garden, however I have been repliably informed that things are looking well.  The runner beans, broccoli, butternut squash and tomato that I planted in trays on my window sill are all doing well so I will be moving those down to the garden tomorrow into a cold frame.

I will get some photos tomorrow and will try to post them on line.  Until then, have a great weekend - it looks like a scorcher!

Sunday 10 April 2011

more seedlings

The broccoli and tomato seeds are already sprouting little seedlings on the windows!  The potatoes are also chitting quite nicely.  The weather has been fantastic today so I have popped down the gardenfor an hour to dig the trenches for the potatoes.  This was very hard work so it was a good job gran was around with a cup of tea at the end!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

planting more seeds at home

I have today planted tomato, brocoli and chive seeds at home.  I have planted 3 tomato seeds per pot and have planted 6 pots.  The brocoli seeds I have simply planted in a large tray to be transplanted to pots when the plants are large enough to handle.  The chive seeds I have planted in a large teracotta pot.

The tomato and brocoli pots will be left on a window sill until they are big enough to move outside.  The pot of chive seeds I have left outside but I have covered the pot with cling film (as per advice on the seed packet) to keep the frost off.

I am going to be popping down to the allotment tomorrow to see how things are progressing... I cant wait!

Sunday 3 April 2011

seeds growing!

Some of the seedlings are breaking the surface so I now need to lift the fleece up a little otherwise the fleece will crush the seedlings.  I do not want to remove the fleece incase we have more frost.










To raise the fleece off the ground I have installed some canes accross the gound raised from the ground by 3 inches on some stakes.

I have also numbered up each row of seedlings for ease of identification and have given them a good water.

Tomorrow I am going to plant out the early potatoes!