Picking Up At The Plot

 I have been indulging my newfound interest in flowering plants and particularly wildflowers recently. Despite appearances I have been keeping up with the production of edibles too.  To bring the record up to date, here is a statement of the current state of play.

I went for alliums in a bigger way this year growing autumn and spring planted garlic as well as shallots and onions from seed. These were sown indoors in February .  The garlic has emerged and shallot and onion have been planted out on site yesterday and today. 

Broad beans sown in cells and planted out a month ago are now sitting pretty at the plot. 

Peas on the other hand have refused to be cajoled into germinating early. As a last resort I have started them sprouting in a jam jar in the kitchen and only "sown" them in cells after germination and exporting them to the greenhouse and then the plot.

Still on legumes I have sown 5 varieties of Dwarf French Bean into deep cells in the hope that the improved night temperatures will help them get started.

The greenhouse has been stuffed full each night with the paraffin heater lit on any night when the threat of frost is flagged up by the weatherman.  The main beneficiaries are flowers: Cosmos, Marigold, Lobelia, but also tomato, cucumber and pepper 

Tomatoes and Cucumber

Pepper Hungarian Hot Wax

I have attempted direct sowing at the allotment but tend to hedge my bets by using up remnant seed supplies (open packets from last year or out of date ones).  This way I don't get upset when they fail - although failure is also more likely as a result!  Parsnip, carrot, Swish chard have been experimented with in this way - and have all been resown recently..

Good Friday is a traditional potato planting day.  Easter Saturday and Sunday saw me getting all but the maincrop Rooster in. 

Potatoes in waiting

The patch allocated to potatoes in my rotational plan still had "spring" cabbages at one end and leeks at the other.  Now that's what I call bad planning! The leeks are going into the cookpot.

The ground for runner beans, celery and celeriac has been thoroughly prepped with plenty of buried organic matter.  The celery and celeriac have been growing on at home

Celery and Celeriac  - Can you tell which is which?

 but the runner beans have yet to be sown.  The courgettes squashes and sweetcorn haven't been sown either yet, but I have recently prepared a bed for them too.  My method is to bag all my weeds and trimmings in old black lined compost bags and leave them for a year or two to rot down in the hope that after another year buried underground any weed seeds will not be viable.  This keeps all the nutrients recycled on the site - all except the edible part of any crops.  

Weed suppression is something I take very seriously.  The best method is to have a crop growing but failing that deployment of weed suppressant fabric in the early part of the growing season saves hours of repetitive weeding.  As the sowing season progresses so the aesthetically unpleasing fabric gets rolled back. 

Brassicas tend to be at their best late in the growing year. None more so than purple sprouting broccoli which is currently in full production mode. 

 One again my lack of planning means the row of PSB plants is right in the middle of this year's carrot patch (under the fine mesh).  The PSB needs nets to keep the pigeons off while the carrots need fine netting to keep the carrot root fly off. so it is a bit of a logistic nightmare to cater for them both simultaneously.  As the early carrot sowing show no sign of germination yet perhaps there is no imminent prospect of running out of space just yet - the main crop carrots can wait until the PSB harvesting season is over.

This years brassicas and leeks are coming on at home in readiness for planting out. It iis going to be busy for the next month or two!

Early season brassicas

Leeks

 

Germination Station

 

My coal cellar germination station is in full operation now.  The top shelf has LED lights whereas the lower legacy shelf is the traditional fluorescent strip light. Both shelves have got heated trays which raise the temperature to about 20C

These lobelia seedlings are stealing a march.

Once germination has been achieved the hardier seedlings (broad beans and alliums) go out into the greenhouse...

...and then outside for good days.

The broad beans to left of the picture went out to the allotment yesterday, under fleece protection to start with.  The set up has evolved over the years and seems to be working well this year.

Here Come the Cucurbits

 

Another rainy day dissuades me from visiting the allotment.  Instead I am tending to the plants at home waiting for their invasion of the allotment.  OK these courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers don't look quite so alien when they are in the greenhouse under natural light.

There are plenty seedlings awaiting improved weather.  You might spot the tomatoes which are having a temporary excursion out of the greenhouse, and there are runner beans and peas too.  I have plenty of spare alliums and a whole host of lobelia just needing to be found a final spot.

Also there are some later brassica seedlings.  More than enough to fill the garden, allotment and school garden!

It is a relief to get to the direct sowing.  Soon I will have to reconfigure the greenhouse for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Let's Get On With The Show

 

Looking at my recent posts you wouldn't think I was interested in gardening.  To dispel that, here is the current state of play.  As you can see these are outdoors during the daytime at least. Others have progressed from indoors to the protection of the greenhouse, newly vacated by hardier plants

Some other greenhouse crops are still in the dark on lower shelves of the greenhouse.  Once they sprout they will be turfed outside too.

I had not reckoned on the protracted period of cold nights when I started sowing, but so far there have been no frost victims

And in case you are wondering I decided to have a go at growing onions and shallots from seed as well as the usual leeks.  Early brassicas and some flowers (e,g, lobelia, marigolds and rudbeckia) also feature. After a long stint in the home nursery thank goodness I can soon move them on to the open garden, school and allotment. 

Plants on Lockdown

Peppers, tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers and squash.

The greenhouse plants are growing on ...

More tomatoes, peppers, squash

...and I would dearly like to move them on...

Flowers seedlings, basil and celeriac (top right)

..but this weekend we are threatened with the possibility of a frost....

Flower seedlings and veg too

...so I am having to improvise with the overspill...

Mostly Hardy perennials 

... and bring some indoors for the night.

Flowers Lobelia, Cerastium, Lobelia, Tagetes

Once the seedlings move on I will have room to set out the tomatoes peppers and cucumbers in the vacated space.

At least I held off sowing the sweetcorn until now!

Read All About It

Today I am extolling the virtues of good old fashioned newspaper. It makes for great seedling pots -with the use of this press.   I have tried plastic cells, coir pellets, toilet rolls and have ordered non woven seedling bags.  This last has failed to arrive, what with the lockdown disruption, which is what prompted me to deploy the now rather old fashioned newspaper press. It requires a bit of experimentation to get optimal results. To start I was using far too much paper. But once you have one good pot you can soon have one hundred.

This size is ideal for starting off anything you can get as a plug plant but I tend to use them for pricking out seedlings that are destined for the vegetable patch or tubs, particularly now that I have taken up the challenge of stocking up the school flower beds and playground tubs. 

 

Welcome to the House of Fun

A peek inside my greenhouse on a sunny afternoon. 

 Flowers on one side

Tomatoes and chillies on the other

Chilli

Tomato

All the alliums and other hardy veg has been moved to the path outdoors.  And here is an unheated propagator with spring salads that  gets the lid popped back on at night.

Everything is labelled

Up above I am delighted with the progress of my basil seedlings!

Living in Scotland I might be a bit rash growing frost sensitive plants so early in the year.  The other side of the coin is that the short growing season means you have to make an early start to stand a chance of a harvest.  It looks like this year I have got away with it.  Tonight the temperature is set to drop to one or two degrees and I will be dragging everything I can fit into the greenhouse, shed and coal cellar for the last time.  (The greenhouse gets the benefit of a paraffin heater if  there is a threat of frost.) After that the minimum night temperature is set to be no lower than 4 degrees C until the end of the month.  I will, of course be checking the forecasters  don't change their prediction, but it looks like everything will left in the same place day and night hereafter. Just as well as there are more seedlings indoors under lights waiting to be pricked out.

Cucumbers at the back

Less worry - more fun.

Lessons from 2019 - So Far

I know it is a bit early to review the year but I guess all the rain has given me time to reflect.

.  1.  No two years are the same  - Admittedly this is a proviso that undermines all the rest.  Draw from your experience but realise that the current experience is just one of many possibilities.  (how Zen!) Rainfall in particular is hard to predict.

22.  The wider variety you plant the more chance that something will succeed.  “It’s been a good year for ______.  “  - Blueberries this year.

3.      If something works, try it again next year. Your ratio of success should grow year on year. – Elephant garlic, cavolo nero, fennel, sweetcorn. These novelties  have all become bankers for me.

Elephant Garlic - Now a banker

4.    Try something new every year. You will never run out of possibilities and some will enrich your repertoire.  This year I have been growing chicory as an experiment (yet to be evaluated). The Zebrunne shallots from seed have been another novelty.  One that didn’t work well.  New varieties of familiar crops can also add novelty and excitement.  This is the area seed catalogues, TV programmes, magazines and word of mouth excel at.

The hopefuls!

 5.       Timing is everything. Once missed a window of opportunity becomes a bolted door. Here poor germination or predation by birds or slugs can upset the well balanced applecart.  After initial sowings parsnips, leeks , carrots have all missed the sowing boat in years gone by.  Multiple sowing by way of insurance is a good idea. There is also an optimal time for planting out seedlings as anyone with left over brassica seedlings will appreciate.  The leftover plants are a sorry bunch before they are finally consigned to the compost heap. Timing is also important for weeding:  The earlier the better.

Current crop of carrots -  sown at the right time.

6.  Don't stop sowing once summer arrives.  That first flush of salads will pass and where will you be then. Autumn and Winter can be the most rewarding times to be growing your own!

7.      Don’t go on holiday in July!

Cabin Fever - The Musical

 It's raining so I thought I might update a state of play review that I did about a month ago In-cold-storage.  The greenhouse is bulging with plants waiting to be liberated. The forecast for the next three nights is 3 degrees C so it would be foolhardy to plant out.

Stage Left

Stage Right

Balcony

Outside the greenhouse there are plenty seedlings that would just love to be inside.  I cover these with propagator lids each night at dusk and remove them each morning.

Terracing

There's no lids to spare and some of the overwintered plants just have to tough it out.

Stands

Despite the cold temperatures the recent rain has seen a surge in the slug and snail population.  They quickly home in on these runner beans (and some dahlias suffered too). Reluctantly I have applied a sprinkling of (Organic Approved) slug pellets under each tray.