Grow Your Own Magazine

dug bed 3 of 10 on new lottie (digging gets boring really quickly!).

nearly gave myself a hernia un-seating, moving and re-seating some boards (previous owner just had two massive beds with boards edging a central path - i'm changing that to 10 smaller beds so some of the planks had to move).

spent a nice half hour weeding 1/4 of extremely overgrown strawberry patch, and taking out some of the overcrowded ones that had self-rooted (have potted them up, hopefully theyll survive to go elsewhere). i'm thinking i'll remove all the plants, dig over and manure/compost the bed, enlarge it a little at the same time, and replant through weed fabric.

have to figure out some rabbit/pigeon detterent for the plot. neighbour told me they do have issues with them sometimes. realised when leaving this evening that every.single.plot had stacks of homemade anti-rabbit cages! sometimes?!

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Wind had abated a bit at the allotment which gave me a chance to strip a few more panes of glass from my old greenhouse to be used in my new greenhouse.
It's very slow going as the greenhouse is wooden and the panes are puttied and siliconed in.
Picked a handful of leeks for a leek pudding tomorrow! Itching to get my early potatoes in the ground. I already have some in buckets in greenhouse tho which are just breaking the surface!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

yay finaly finished preparing my raised bed, repotted my clematis she needed it, potted up some runners and sweetcorn i didnt think they would grow so fast, there just in peat pots in the kitchen, the gardeners delight are up but not my beefsteaks big boy tommies yet, experimentling with lavender cuttings and jasmine cuttings, still recovering from virus so didnt get what i would of liked done today, aw well always tommorrow greenhouse day tommorrow so who cares if it ****'*

Today, the first load of broad bean plants went into the prepared bed, the pots will now be used to sow about 30 more seeds as a later crop.

A bed of pot sown mangetout also went in, along with module sown spring onions, flat leaf parsley and a load of sweet peas.

Finally I collected a freecycle greenhouse for a retired couple on our site who's current one is about to fall down. Hopefully I have another one in the wings for some good plot friends.

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Kindest regards, David.

http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/
updated - Sunday 19th at 2100hrs

Yesterday I spend 6 hours waiting with Himself in A&E while his nose bled profusely. He is on anti-clotting medication. They took him up to the Ear, Nose & Throat ward where he was examined, questioned, looked at etc. then sent home with stuff to put up it, but advice not to disturb the clot - well, you can't do both. So he still looks like he picked a fight with a bigger bloke! If it starts again in the next 3 - 4 days we have to take him straight back to the ward. Ho hum. Will garden in back veg plot not lottie so I'm in yelling distance if it starts again. Lottie next week.

Today, potted on many of my cutting flowers, some red cabbage and sowed Red Epicure (red seeded) broadies.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

I put my boreds out in the sunshine again to harden off; sowed some basil and lettuce on windowsill; planted out some strawberry runners; planted out the indoor narcissus/hyacinth/amaryllis/primulas as they are well finished. Dug over another patch of couch grassy/nettley ground. Grrr.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

planted out ;

12 broad bean raised in toilet rolls
8 squashes under cloches - 4 butternut 4 veg spagetti

sowed ;

james scarlet intermediate carrots

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---) CARL (----
ILFRACOMBE
NORTH DEVON

a seed planted today makes a meal tomorrow!

www.freewebs.com/carlseawolf

now in blog form ! UPDATED 01 / 04 / 08

As promised, yesterday planted out all 100 of J Parker’s summer bulbs into one 11” diameter terracotta pot (Ranunculus & Anemone need presoaking for a day before planting).

Finally sorted out the Mangetout from the mushroom box where they were sown in late January. Apart from the mistake of sowing far too many (23!) in a smallish box, they really do thrive in cooler weather despite the early sowing (even survived several nights outside when it was cold with zero slug attack). Next year I will sow half and try transplanting them to their final boxy type pot as early as is applicable but with a better support/frame system (have seen those expanding willow? trellis going for next to nothing at Wilko towards end of Autumn).

Will these Mangetouts make it? Gave them deeper pot but plants spacing still the same with overcrowding as I didn’t want to disturb the roots any more than I've already done by splitting them in the middle into two rows. Put some canes in the middle before wrapping them with netting and tied a string round the somewhat trailing plants to hold them up a bit to encourage climbing up the net. Even if this system works, won’t be my first choice as it’s still a bit fiddly. So far growmore for mangetout and bonemeal for spuds in soil mixture if it makes any sense .

Winter squash and beans germinate from day 3-4 onwards in HP in 2” cell insert (as good as Tiramisu tray but with added convenience) but really need to take them out soon as they sprout, shoots too high too quickly esp. beans. Overall cell insert is best option with same germination times of 5 days for Rose de Berne tomato. The danger of sky shooting beans is that even if you pot them early, the roots will reach the bottom of pot in 1-2 days. Early sowing might be least relevant for runner beans than any other beans that germinate, sprout, sky shoot into a relatively big plants in under 1 week. Again could give it a mangetout final pot treatment from early stage.

Recently planted out Oriental/Chinese leaves are sulking in bed (limp looking) a bit, I may have buried them too deep (were too lanky) but survival of the fittest means Pak Choy is the most resilient survivor of them all, think either Choy Sum or Komatsuna is the weakest link. It's birds going veggie, not slugs for these leaves protection atm.

The planted out Broccoli (or Calabrese to be precise) are sulking and wilting too, not sure whether it's too hot or the shock of being transplanted but I believe it's the latter as clearly outlined in the growing guide I got from the Net. At least I know now, excellent germination over cauli & cabbage but pity about the transplanting. Notes say PSB transplant okay though unlike her brother (got to be a male). Will probably sow Broccoli again but direct sow or peat pot/loo roll etc, allowed upto May on seed packet.

Today also planted two batches of 24 onion sets (Red Karmen) in polysterine cell tray, waited this long for direct sowing but haven't got the new bed sorted. I'm sure some Grapes pointed out that onions from pre-planted sets doesn't store well so will have to test the theory myself.

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Food for Free

Went to the semi-lottie, planted the final lot of spuds, came home, dug more of garden plot. Potted up 3 Hungarian hot wax chillies (Ta Alice!) and pricked out leeks into marge tubs to give them more space and a deeper root run. Potted on 3 Green Zebra toms. Felt smug! Had cuppa.

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Earth laughs in flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson

www.vegheaven.blogspot.com

Updated November 30th - Mr Stinky's Excellent Adventure (and a Christmas Cake)

I bought my yellow onion sets at lunchtime, and hope to plant those next week (am planning on taking a hookey day midweek!!).

Otherwise, I will be sowing some more seeds over the weekend - peas, french beans, and possibly sweetcorn. And I am thinking of a deep pot of carrots for at home too. And a pot of spring onions which will later go into the plot as I am far behind with those at the minute.

Yesterday I received 140 plug bedding plants. Transplanted them all onto slightly larger modules and they are all lined up in my new greenhouse.

My first attempt at doing anything like this so fingers crossed.

At the allotment, had a good tidy up and lined up all my free slabs ready for laying down as a base for our old shed from home garden. Need hubbies help and he will only do it when he is ready so it may be after rugby season has finished. Hmmmm

Put a wigwam up for peas. Not done this before either and need to get some pea seeds planted and germinated.

Have tomato plants, courgettes, sweetcorn and cucumber growing nicely in greenhouse along with my sweet peas I planted last autumn.

Started pepper seeds off in airing cupboard last week but they haven't worked .will have to try again.

Prepared beds for courgette & squash.
This meant: dig out soil, fill with garden compost, cover with soil again to make a nice mound. Next season I will dig the pits and just add kitchen & garden waste over the winter before covering it over in spring.

Moved the now empty compost bin to beside the other full one. Turned the newer compost heap into the space vacated by the old compost. Phew! Old compost: right mix of stuff from wood chips at the bottom to kitchen trimmings at the top with lots of busy worms in layers. Newer compost: last year's rotting windfallen apples in a sludgy mess at the bottom with chicken-pooey wood shavings above. One (1) worm. Smelly mess. Now it is mixed up a bit more I hope it rots down properly.

Dug over the first part of the bean & pea bed. Removed just a handful of bindweed roots in contrast to last year and the year before where forking over was a long, tedious process because every forkful had to be picked over. It was worth it!

Sowed Aubergine, courgette ("One Ball"), thyme and rudbeckia. There is now NO room in the greenhouse.

Noticed that the cheapo Pieris I bought from Morrisons on Wednesday has rust. Picked off the affected leaves and repotted it.

Cut the grass on the lottie. Did a bit of weeding - speedwell is really pretty but I'd rather have lettuces!

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You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

I am soooooo tired, been sowing seeds today at the lottie, also the SKIP came today at the site for rubbish etc......I cannot believe some of the things people throw away, one chap threw his wheelbarrow in, so I took the blumin good tyre off it! There was fencing, which I retrieved and some metal sheeting for my fences....... I didnt want to leave lol incase other goodies were binned!!!

It was good being back in the greenhouse though, lovely and warm and when I got home, squealed with excitement, I cannot believe I did, cos my french beans have started to pop their heads through the soil lol........

Put the covers back on the bananas.........they say we are going have snow this weekend!!!!

Went back to Aldi and got more growbags, some window sill greenhouses. They have reduced ornamental trees to £2.99 each!

Just cooked a roast chicken dinner and revving myself up to do the weekend shop!!! Just chilling on ere for a while.

I hope to get kids up to lottie next week.........

Oh I sowed some cauli seeds that are going to be full of colour this year!

Today I started cleaning the greenhouse frame that I took the glass out of yesterday, uncovered what will be my veg patch, and raked several tonnes (possible slight exaggeration) of stones, twigs and assorted other stuff off the top of it - I's looking quite good underneath.

I also built the mini-greenhouse from Lidl, spotted tiny new leaves on some of my tomato seedlings, and finally had one of the tulips that I planted in a pot last year break the surface.

Most productive day this year! Yay!
Got up early and raided my friends compost pile (dont worry they said I could) to fill up my raised bed. Also put in 6 wheel barrows of horse manure and some brought compost. I brought some veg plants too, as I don't have a greenhouse - leeks, Curly Kale, Sprouts and brocolli. I also got some sweetcorn, which I really hope turns out well. I didn't put these in today, as its still a bit cold.
My ground has finally become dry enough to work with so I decided today was the day to plant the potatoes - spuds I've chosen are Maris Piper and King Edward. I brought some new ones today aswell, I can't remember exacly what they are called, Pentland Something but they are sposed to be big for baking (my favourite way to do spuds!!) It was well hard work, but I am soooo pleased with myself!!
Can't wait for tommorow

Finally got my earlies planted! I've planted one row of fifteen spuds Duke of York, one row of fifteen Winston and one row of fifteen Charlotte.
Progressed with the old greenhouse de-glasing smashing a couple of panes for my troubles.
Alternated between sunshine and hail showers. Had to stop part way to listen to the Toon playing Reading of course, where they won again 3-0!
Tidied up my bed of japanese onions and transplanted some I had planted in a pot to fill in gaps in the rows.

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Hi, I'm new to this online Forum. I've been reading Grow Your Own for about 2 years. I've been growing my own for about 7 years but there is always sooooo much to learn!

Perhaps I was keen but I had first earlies in late February and second earlies went in last weekend. The first earlies are already popping up!

I have already planted out the first of my artichokes, peas, broad beans, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots and parsnips.

Today, I earthed up my first and second earlies to protect them from the cold snap we're expecting on Monday.

I laid out fleecing to protect the tiny plants and I ordered wood planks which I use as 'paths' between the beds.

Using the rainwater barrels, I watered the seedlings in the shed, too.

All in all it was a quiet day.

I'm just hoping that the forecasted snow doesn't appear. Either way, I'm all prepared.

Gardening more by intuition than by the book.

Has anyone planted the chilli seeds from the magazine this month?

couldn't get over the plot today,installing a boiler,as am a heating engineer. now the clocks have gone forward finish work weekdays will go straight over the plot, happy days.

Essex Boys

Yesterday, met up with lottie-mate. After a discussion about veg preferences of the 7 people who eat what is grown on the plot, the JAs are coming out. I'm the only person who likes them. And we need space for parsnips (which I like more than JAs anyway). I might plant a couple in an unused corner - maybe next to the water butt - as decoration because they're quite pretty when they flower. I could plant one amongst the sunflowers and see if anyone notices

Also discussed whether to put in a row of fruit canes or not. This season we'll have a couple more fruit canes and fill the rest of the row with flowers to be grown by lottie-mate's young 'uns. They're so keen!

Lots of things are germinating in the plastic planthouse (which is now absolutely stuffed with seed trays and pots!) and the min temp in there was 1C last night.

__________________
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
Max Ehrmann, Desiderata

blog: http://allyheebiejeebie.blogspot.com/ and my (basic!) page: http://www.allythegardener.co.uk/

What with the snow (In Southampton of all places!!! ), I wont be doing much today!

Sowed some seeds yesterday with my mum, from memory we did,

Early purple sprouting broccolli

Broccolli

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Brussle Sprouts

60 Parsnips in toilet tubes (got more to do, just got to nuke the toilet roll tubes first!)

Carrots in tubs as we haven't got the bed ready yet They will probably be ready before the bed is!

Kidney beans

2 types of Tomatoes, sub arctic plenty and money maker

Cucumber

Egg plant (what with my pregnancy brain, I'm not even going to try and spell it!!)

Probably a load more that I've forgoten, we were out there for 2 days solid!!


Repotted the strawberries and potted on our first lot of cucumber plants....


Still got to start off the sweet pepper, peas, other tomatoes, leeks, chillies and herbs....... but might have to wait until after baby is here!!! He was due 2 days ago!!! Seems quite happy where he is! Need to get me potatoes out though so he needs to hurry up

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"Nothing contrary to one's genius"


http://chrissieslottie.blogspot.com/