Friday Photo: Chives

So it's easier to see the gardens progress I've decided to post a photo every Friday and today is the first day.  I can't promise they will be anything spectacular but a fun way of keeping things updated.

Squeekwave!

I know that this weekend has been stupidly hot for the majority of the the UK, I clocked the thermometer at 29c on Sunday but that is not part of the great veggie adventure.  I have laryngitis so I can only really squeek, not good to work in a bar.  In between the heat and generally feeling ill I have managed to do a lot of work in the garden,  Al claims to have but it looks very much the same so I can't comment on his work...yet ;)

Bamboo bean poles

First the bean and pea poles have gone up and the seeds in.  It was an inventive moment putting them together after realising that I had forgotten to buy anything to keep the bamboo poles together.   So the poles have been placed in a circle and then held and tied with jewellery wire to make the tipees.  The peas were a gift last year and the broad beans were the only ones I could see in wilkos.   The other beans are a far more exciting heritage variety from the real seed catalogue.  Cherokee trail of tears pole beans possibly the longest named vegetable we ware growing this year. However I digress, I am excited to be growing heritage varieties because of the importance to being able to grow something with a real connection to history and knowing we can save our own seeds is exciting in itself.  We have a few other heritage varieties from the same catalogue on the go as well.

I know it's late to plant seeds but the frosts have been so late and I've been procrastinating about when to plant everything and thought this weekend would be a good start.  Al has planted a small row of courgette from seeds and planted the Brussels sprouts.  There are lettuces (I don't know the varieties due to buying mixed seeds) parsnips, carrots, beetroot and a few herbs left to be planted.  The melons are an on going challenge as I'm still slightly scared of them not doing anything.  We have decided to leave butternut squash and pumpkin for next year after the late frosts killed them off. There are a few bare patches left, which will be filled with sweet williams and scatter seeds along with the normal marigolds, to try and keep carrotfly away.

Cold-store little gems and spinach.

I also planted a grobox In what looks like a odd shaped pizza box is supposedly a full organic veggie garden, I'm a bit sceptical that it will grow into anything. If you have grow one before please let me know what to do with it!! Al and I saw them at Christmas and decided they were a bit on the pricey side so forgot about them however after mooching about in a local market I saw one for sale at a grand total of £1.50 so we're giving it ago. Wish us luck!!!

Overdue Update

Sorry for the delay things in April/ early May got very hectic and the garden suffered a little, very little progress was made so there was little to blog about.   I will update everything with photos tomorrow hopefully!!

Around the start of April I started with the first batch of seedlings which later suffered at the hand of the late frosts, nearly everything either died or ended up as a bug snack.  Now we're in the position of starting everything again as the weather warms up.  Hopefully it's not too late but we have bought fully grown courgette and cucumber plants as a precaution.  The tomatoes were far more fortunate and have really come into their own recently.  I placed some little gem lettuces and spinach into the cold store which are doing really well and should be ready for harvesting soon.  Also maris peer and king Edward potatoes were planted, the maris peers are are main potatoes for the year the King Edwards are a Ranger challenge which I will up date you all on later!  Both are doing oka nd seem to have survived the cold snap.

Later on the strawberries were moved out of a container into the fruit patch of the garden joining the gooseberry and blackcurrant bush.  My Grandpa gave me some fruit netting which I will be protecting with with soon, I  remember him growing tonnes of strawberries when I was around 6-8 and it's really lovely knowing that I have his nets to use now.  The hope is that by putting them directly into the ground we will be able to grow the runners as well.  Last year there simply wasn't the room to grow the runners so we lost some plants.  The spare container will be used for bedding plants near to our only door.

I'm sure there is a heap of things I've forgotten over the past few weeks which  will be rolled into the following posts.  Same with photos!

First dig of spring

After uming and arring about re-starting the gardening I came home from work and started to dig.  (Al and I did start but quickly gave up because it was too cold/wet/hard work, but today it was too glorious not to).   One of the benefits of having a back garden as you mini-allotment is that I can work on it any time I wish to.

The garden itself has spent several years being ignored or used as a alternative for the local dump, this has meant that any work Al and I have done has taken almost twice as long; a bag is needed for the weeds, another for the excess soil and another for the rubble.    Given the time of year it feels as if we're up against the clock to sort the patch out before it gets too warm.   Last year was a bit of a rush but we did managed a small plot with successful  early potatoes, beetroot, courgette and parsnip we also unsuccessfully grew carrots and peas.   This year we're being adventurous and have decided to really go to town and grow as much as we can fit in!  Yes, we're the type of gardeners who throw the seeds in a hope that something happens because of this I count myself as a highly methodical gardener.

So to start the gardening off I've spent my time digging space for our home made cold frame, which will hopefully be used for growing melons, although I have to confess I have no idea how big or small melon vines grow so it might not be used to grow melons in.  By digging the space I also managed to create two huge bags of spare soil that needs to be dumped.   As an ironic birthday present, in January, I bought Al a gooseberry bush,  I say ironic because I hate gooseberries and his birthday is in August.  It has been living on our door stop ever since  and today it finally ended up in the garden.  

A (very) brief history

We moved in in 2008 and in the following spring started to grow our own vegetables.  It was so enjoyable that we've decided to do it all over again and keep a blog to see how it all goes.  This year, growing a lot more than we did the year before and following the plant and hope method.  Such is so is that I have no idea of the varieties that are grown.