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!

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!

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!

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!

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!