Another Great Find!

I had a half hour to kill last night whilst waiting to pick Caleb up from Cubs, so I thought to myself, I’ll just pop over to that trusty dumping area I’ve found where I’ve picked up a few scraps of wood from, just to see if anything useful is there. Well would you believe it, what a wonderful find there was! An open slat crate (see picture of a similar one below), it measures approx 2.5 ft wide and about 5 ft long and stands about 1.5 ft high. I thought to myself that would look really nice with some pots of flowers in and would sit alongside my shed at the lottie.

The next task in hand was to somehow get it in the car and back home. I put it down behind the car, to measure if it would fit on the back seat, it seemed a ok, so I pushed it in only to find that about a foot stuck out and I couldn’t close the door. Dang I thought, I’m going to have to put the back seat down and put it in the boot (good job I have a hatchback), so here I am, getting everything out of the boot, the chicken pellets, the dog food, and the plastic crate I’d picked up a few days earlier. Out they all came, I lifted up the wooden crate put it in the boot, well dang, it didn’t fit, it stuck out about 6 inches. Sod it I thought, I’m getting this home one way or another, so I threw everything back in the car, well into the new crate in the car to be precise, lowered the boot as far as it would go and drove off down the road to collect Caleb. It was dark and not so windy so I thought that if I drove fairly slowly it should stay closed over, which thankfully it did. The only problem is I’m going to have to do it all again, well the driving with the boot half open part of it when I take it over to the plot.

Progress on the seeds, onions are coming through, broad beans are getting nice and big, will have to pot on over the weekend or I might chance putting them in the ground if the weather remains dry and cover with a fleece or something, whether this may or may not be a good idea thoughts welcomed. I’ve sown some peas in toilet rolls and think I’ll do a few lettuces tonight.

Sadly it's the last of My Dream Farm tonight, I must say that I have enjoyed these and will wait with baited breathe for the next series.

Why does it Rain or Snow at Weekends?

Every gardener’s conundrum, well those that have boring Monday - Friday, 9 - 5 jobs anyway. Why does it have to be lovely or at least reasonably dry during the week and then hey presto the heavens open up and we get snow, sleet, rain, frost everything that brings the gardening plans to a thundering (no pun intended) halt!

So from my list of things to do, I started off the 2nd earlies to chit (Anya and Yukon Gold). I couldn’t buy a lead for the propagator so I cobbled together some electrical parts and made one (just call me sparkie), got myself all excited about the propagator and the thought of starting off some tomatoes, chillies and melon, plugged it in, and it didn’t heat up. Not sure what it is now, it had a little fan on the side which I thought would heat it up, but it just blows cold air out and doesn’t get warm. Maybe it’s just a posh cold frame. So from that you may well gather I didn’t start off any seedlings that need that extra warmth. Sowed some leeks, again, don’t know what I’m doing wrong with these, they just keep wilting, so I’ll keep persevering. Got some loo rolls so I’m going to sow a few peas tonight. Maybe the lettuce and put them in my fancy cold frame, lol.

Saturday was fairly nice weather here in Middlesbrough, so I took advantage and started on the back yard, least said about Sunday the better (this was when I was supposed to go over to the allotment, needless to say I didn’t make it). So in the yard I’ve put down the 7ft x 4ft raised bed and filled it with compost. Cleared away all the old cages (Gromit’s hutch and a couple wire cages that we had when we had our chinchillas. Cleared away the old bits of wood (which are not really suitable for anything) and made space for another small 4ft x 4ft raised bed, Ooh got a ‘find of the month’ from down one of the back alleys near to me whilst taking Samson out for a walk, some old decking which will come in very nicely for this new raised bed. Remembered about a little pop-up grow house I had in the shed so I’ve placed this over the soil where the carrots are going to go rather than the net curtains.

I bought some 6ft garden canes for the bottle house bundle of 5 for 99p, so I got 4 bundles this time round and some 7ft garden canes for the French beans, bundle of 5 for £1.49, so I got 2 packs total bargains from Wilkinson’s. I didn’t get to Mrs ‘C’s for the bottles so I’ll try to get there one night this week.

Finally I made a start on washing out the old pots and seed trays. All in all, a quite productive weekend I didn’t manage everything I wanted to do but did make a good start.

Plans for the Weekend

I’ve got plans galore that I want to get done over the weekend, how many will come to fruition only the man in the sky knows, him and his little weather pixie anyway, but nonetheless this is what is on the agenda:
· Get the 2nd earlies chitted (this should be easy, not weather reliant).
· Sow some leeks, tomato (in heated propagator), melon, peas, lettuce, chillies (again not weather reliant)
· Cover small bed (4ft x 4ft) in back yard with fleece (well old net curtains) so soil starts to warm up for carrots/parsnips to be sown in a couple of weeks.
· Get electric lead for propagator (must do this before item 2)
· Tidy up back yard so that raised beds and greenhouse (small plastic ones) can be put into place ready for hardening off and more planting.
· Buy some garden canes and collect plastic bottles from Mrs ‘C’ (she is saving 2 litre bottles for me for my bottle house).
· Get down to the allotment, see what can be dug, and dig, dig, dig. If not possible to dig, i.e. ground frozen and waterlogged, and then it will be build, build build.
· Wash out pots and seed trays.
· Oh yeah, last but not least eat and sleep (again not weather reliant, lol)

A couple of dates for your diaries, if you don’t already know about them. Gardener’s world is back on 5th March BBC2 at 8pm and also Alys Fowler will be presenting The Edible Garden, this is due to start on Tuesday 16th March BBC2 at 8pm.

Light(ish) Nights

Isn’t it wonderful now the nights are starting to get a bit lighter, there will soon be a whole hour after work that I’ll be able to get bits n pieces done at the allotment. I’m lucky that it’s only 5 minutes drive from my work, so it’s easy to pop over to do a few bits before it gets dark. Over winter this has not been feasible, but with the nights getting lighter for longer I’ll be able to get over and do bits. Another added bonus is British Summertime Begins in just 4 weeks, just think of that extra hour!

I’m planning to get over to the lottie over the weekend, didn’t manage last weekend, what with one thing and another, but I would like to get across for a couple of hours at least on Sunday. The only stumbling block is yes you’ve guessed it, its forecast snow showers here in Middlesbrough. Hopefully though this prediction won’t come true and it will be glorious weather, yes I know cloud cuckoo land.

I ordered some Gardman (Pack of 2) Reusable Potato Planters / Tubs online to plant some of the earlies in, as the potato area isn’t sorted yet. You can see from the photo below, the area just at the bottom of the picture covered in weeds, this is where the potato beds are going to go.

Once I’d ordered the planters they only took a couple of days to arrive, very fast turnaround. I’m very pleased with them, they seem more robust than some of the designs available, and they have little pouches on the sides which will be useful to fumble about and see how things are progressing.

On the seed front, the chitting spuds are chitting quite nicely, the Rocket in particular are doing very well. The Cabbage (Greyhound) is doing well, Cauliflower (AYR) are starting to come through, so are the Khol Rabi. No sign of the Onions, Celeriac, Peppers or Cucumber yet but nearly all Broad Beans are through. I’ll going to have look through my seeds at the weekend and sow some more things. I may try some tomatoes, I’ve been given a heated propagator so I’m going to keep them snug in there and see how they go.

At Last I have Broad Beans

I’ve been pacing up and down for the last couple of days like an expectant mother waiting for signs of life from my broad beans, and at last beginning to emerge from those little pots of compost are the signs of new life. I’m filled with glee.

Nothing new to report from the plot, it was snowing again yesterday, today has been rather chilly but the good news is that there has been no snow and the day has an awe of spring about it. Things could change within the hour though, considering what the weather has been like over the last few weeks. It is forecasted (in Middlesbrough) for the weekend weather to be cold with further light wintry showers. I hope it holds off for a few hours on Sunday so I can give it another try to get something done on the Lottie, even if I build a few beds in anticipation of winter digging, it’s a step in the right direction.

Advice needed: when my seed potatoes arrived, the maincrop arrived at the same time, now it says in most magazines/books you don’t need to chit maincrop potatoes so I’ve left them in the box until needed for planting in April. I checked on them the other day as I went to get out my 2nd earlies to start chitting them, and the maincrop spuds had started to grow big white shoots, not little ones, big ones. How do I stop these growing, and will it hinder the spuds when they are planted out, giving me a inferior crop. Any advice would be appreciated.

No Further Forward at the Plot

Well I’m no further forward in getting the plot prepared for the spring, I now have the added headache of having to make two lots of (rotational) raised beds seen as though I went mad and ordered loads of potatoes and there isn’t going to be room for them in the proposed ‘root’ section. I sat down and looked at my plan of the allotment and looked where I could squeeze in another section. I’d taken Friday and today off as holiday in the hope of being able to get started on these along with some winter digging but the weather is not helping at all, it has rained, and even snowed today so things are getting further and further behind.

I bought some lime for the Brassica patch; I’d managed to get two of the three beds in this area dug over in November, so I’ll get the third done and then add lime ready for when I plant out. I’d read in one of the magazines that this is an ideal time for the lime to be added so I’ll try and get that done fairly soon. I’d also managed to get the Legume section dug over and a load of compost and manure spread, so hopefully this will be ready to go when the beans are germinated.

I’ve sown a few more veggies. I tried again with some seed onions (Bedfordshire Champion) and this time I used brand new compost, I’ve bought B&Qs cutting and sowing compost, this was the best performer in the Which magazine trials with an 83% success rate and huge seedlings so I thought that I’d give it a go. I’ve sown some more leeks (Musselburgh), some cabbage (Greyhound), cucumber (Marketmore), celeriac (Monarch) and some aubergine (mixed).

Broad Beans and Gromit

Last night I potted up the first of my broad beans. I’ve gone for Jubilee Hysor as this variety is supposed to produce a tremendous yield of broad, well filled pods, each containing 6 to 8 beans of superb flavour. Also Aquadulce Claudia which is again a good cropper. I potted up 12 of each variety in its own cardboard pot (I used soup tubs you get from Fatso’s), they’re just the right size I think as Broad Beans need a deep pot.

Update on the seed trial, leeks are coming along nicely, I think I’ll put them in some bigger pots over the next few days, but the onions have all wilted and fallen over, now this happened to me last year when I sowed a few seeds so I gave up and didn’t try another batch, deciding to use sets instead. Does anyone know where I’m going wrong?

Finishing on a sad note, we lost one of our ferrets last night, little Gromit (pictured below at 8 weeks old), I found him at the bottom of his cage; he’d died during the night. He was four. We are going to bury him at the allotment in the wildlife area.

Working it all Out

Well it’s official, with all these potatoes I’m going to have to build (or should I say squeeze) another section/rotation area into the plot. I sat last night and worked out what will realistically fit into the ‘Root’ patch. Its official, potatoes, potatoes and you guessed it potatoes. I’ll even have to put my 1st earlies into those little patio planters I have as not all my potatoes will fit into the space for roots. So that’s my Root (Potato) section worked out. It’s a good job I like potatoes, and so does Samson, in fact he loves quite a few veggies so he can help devour the harvest.

I also worked out where I’m going to plant my beans and peas in the Legume section. I’m growing Broad beans, Peas (normal, mangetout and sugar snap) some French beans and Runner beans and I’ve ordered some Borlotto and Flangelot beans to leave to dry for winter casseroles etc.

Tonight I’m going to look at the Onion section, here I plan on growing my onions (you’d never have guessed that would you), Courgettes, Garlic, Leeks, Marrow, Spring Onion and Squash.

If I have time I’ll look at the Brassica Section, planned crops for there include Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Calabrese, Cauliflower, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Radish, Swede and Turnip.

I’ll then have to fit into the rotation plan those left over ‘Roots’ which I’d pencilled in as Beetroot, Carrots, Celeriac, Lettuce, Parsnips, Radicchio, Spinach, and Sweetcorn. Reading up on the 6 year/5 bed policies they will have to follow the ‘Onion’ section and come before the ‘Potato’ section. I know that some of these can be put into ‘any’ area but if I can keep them together I’ll know where I am for the coming years rather than pop them here or there. Isn’t it all confusing?

What to do with all these Potatoes

So with the snow once again arriving here in the North East at the weekend, well at least it did here in Middlesbrough, all plans of getting on with things came to a shuddering halt. It’s very frustrating, is it always like this, the constant battle over the winter months with the weather? I suppose I’ve not taken much notice or been interested about the weather in the past, if it rained it rained, if it snowed it snowed, if it was sunny, it was a bonus. But now I’m very interested.

Remember last week I got my order of seed potatoes, and the extra that had been delivered, well call me keen (more like stupid) when I visited ‘Potato Day’ at Nature World on the 31st , I only went and bought some more. 4 seed potatoes of each of the following Maincrop varieties: Nicola, Cara, Markies and Anya. So now I’ve gone and given myself a conundrum, what will I do with all these potatoes?

I had planned on a 5 year (4 beds) rotation policy, with roots and potatoes in the bed together, (now now). Given the amount of potatoes I’ve now got, I’m now thinking of a 6 year (5 beds) plan and having potatoes by themselves and all other roots together. With that in mind, I’m even keener that the weather starts to play nicely.

Interesting Fact: Did you know that in October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space? NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages, and eventually, feeding future space colonies. Maybe I should send NASA some of my seed potatoes to plant for me, lol

I’ve found a little website all about potatoes, go to www.lovepotatoes.co.uk its got some interesting bits on it.