29th - 30th June

Most of this last week has been a case of pottering round the garden, watering, feeding and keeping an eye on things, and also enjoying the fruits of my labours – the sights and the smells. The section of the border that has the sweet peas as a back drop is simply gorgeous. With colourful roses, trailing petunias, spots of fuchsia colour and the red, white and pale blue of the sweet peas combine to give a lovely section of summer colour. I sit in the shady part near the house and see that colour and sniff the scent from the privet. My two boys are there as well, of course, and they just ignore these sophisticated appreciations in favour of water and dirt and the rejuvenated sand pit that I have spent all week renovating the wood for and washing the sand in a series of buckets.

Today, my parents came over for lunch and tea and we made use of the recreational facilities that the back garden has to offer, including the entertaining floor show from 2 boys. After enjoying the colour, at dusk I cut some more sweet peas to enjoy in the house.

The highlight of the day was that my question was broadcast on Gardener’s Question Time. My Mum was so pleased.

30^th June

The allotment received my attentions again after work. I was concerned seeing we have had no rain but plenty of heat since I was last there last Wednesday. The courgettes and squashes though are doing well. I have now lost 2 pumpkins but I have one replacement coming along at home. One of my sunflower plants has been dug up by rabbits who have left a typical rabbit type hole where the sunflower once was. Worse than that, my 3 carrots have all been eaten, as well as all my rocket (whether it was 2 or 3 – probably 3 as it was eaten!) I think I will give the carrots one more go. If I use the early variety I should be able to get a return before autumn. I will use a raised bed – a drawer or 2 from a chipboard chest of drawers we are throwing out. The carrots back home are doing brilliantly though. Whilst at the allotment I harvested 6 thin stalks of rhubarb - another £2.99 saving.

 

The courgettes are looking good. There are a number of developing fruits that are about 2 inches long and well proportioned in girth. When they kick in, that’s when I really start to enjoy the fruits of my labours – and start saving money!

 

I harvested a supermarket portions’ worth of oriental salad leaves from our box in the back garden. I have discovered that as long as I avoid one particular type of leaf, I quite like them! Another £1.49 saved!

Next post: 1st July

23rd - 26th June

Yesterday was a quiet afternoon of watering and just being out and enjoying the garden, and my sons. I sowed a punnet of curly kale. It’s a little late but I should still get a crop. They will go in gaps in the brassica sections. The sprouting broccoli seedlings are doing well.

23^rd June

The sweet peas are doing so well. Not all the plants have flourished, but those that have are certainly making their presence felt. The best ones are the Charlie’s Angels in the second fence panel section. They have a definite but subtle blue colour, and because there are a good number of them, they make quite an impact. The Red Arrows on the third panel have provided about 2 plants so not such an impact, likewise the first panel of Sweet Chariot – a red, white and blue mix. Some plants are still trying to get up and get flowering. The ones on the canes are also still trying to do their stuff. A few look dead, some are weak and feeble but others look as though they will amount to something, they just seem to be late developers.

24^th June

I went to the allotment to water my plants and to be honest, came away rather disheartened. The onion leaves seem even lower than last time. There is a mass of weeds in most places, the caterpillars and/or the pigeons are doing well out of my brassicas, and I really don’t feel I have the capability to buy and erect a good defence netting. The carrots (all 7 of them) are lost beneath weeds, and to cap it all, I don’t really like the taste of the oriental spicy salad leaves.

I planted 2 sunflowers and a third cucumber. I have read that you must pinch out the male flowers of cucumbers or else the fruit that develops will be bitter. What I must do is find out the difference between male and female flowers. That’s where the internet is such a help.

25^th June

Back to the allotment. I spent time on section 2 removing all the weeds in order to find my carrots. After a good 90 minutes of hot toil the bed was clear of weeds (at least above the surface) and I had discovered 3 carrots. Fantastic. Out of about 8 rows, there are 3 carrots. Were they eaten? Did they germinate at all? Were they sown too early perhaps? I wouldn’t mind so much if they were growing but struggling. It would be easier on my morale if I had a fair showing of carrots that were stunted and twisted due to the hard clay soil, but to not even sprout up is a bit of a kick in the teeth. I also discovered that I had 2 or maybe 3 rocket plants – the third being too small to distinguish it from a weed at present.

My wife's parents were at home when I returned, so they went back with a small posy of Charlie’s Angels sweet peas.

26^th June

My privet hedge has a glorious scent to it now. I have left the ends to grow a bit to allow the flowers to remain in order for me to benefit from the scent, it really is quite pleasant, and strong, considering the small nature of the petals. The hanging baskets continue to amaze me. We have great comments from all who see them. The purple and mauve petunias at the back can easily be seen from the house and are quite a statement. The fuchsias too are coming along. The one in the third basket is beginning to flower again, but this time a good 20-30 buds are forming with a couple out now. The second one has opened up one bud whilst we are still waiting on the first which has been promising for some time. In the front garden, the basket is a beacon to guide me home. The vibrant red petunias form a wonderful hot bowl of colour that really stands out from across the street.

Talking about the front garden, there are loads of weeds there but also I can confirm some pumpkin plants with such great saucer leaves and long, thick stems, remarkable considering that they are growing in a small area of good soil surrounded by such poor soil. I had poor germination from the seeds I planted but the ones I threw out have survived the heat and whatever else in the compost bin that would deter more polite and genteel plants, and have begun to flourish. Mind you, I have no complaints.

 

Next post: 29th June

22nd June

Some pictures from the Gardener's Question Time Garden Party 2007

The main stage with chairman Eric Robson, then the late John Cushnie, Pippa Greenwood and Bob Flowerdew

This is the famous potting shed. Most programmes are recorded at venues around the country but every so often they have one from this shed where they answer questions from letters. It really is a shed.

It was raining quite hard at times!

Next post: 23rd June

Gardener's Question Time - 21st June

The Gardener’s Question Time garden party was good, although it still didn’t feel like the summer party it was billed as being (last year was a torrential downpour, but most invigorating). They had 2 question and answer sessions, the second one of which I was picked to ask a question. It really is a case of chance as the chairman (Eric Robson) picks at random. The show that is broadcast is an edited version as obviously on the day they cannot guarantee that all will be done in the time allotted for the programme. And it really is the case that the panel have no idea what the questions will be until the microphone is on us members of the public and away we go. My question was about spacing between vegetables. I said that I followed the instructions on the packet but that I have also read in books that you can plant much denser in raised beds – but how much more denser? The answer was that the spacings are only a guide and you can plant as close together as you can get away with. Raised beds have richer soil put into them so you will get away with more plants in them. You can also grow closer for smaller vegetables if that is what you want. An example was given that you could grow 5 small onions or one very large onion but the total weight of crop won’t be much different.

The main stage with chairman Eric Robson (L), then (L-R) panellists Pippa Greenwoodd, Bunny Guinness and Bob Flowerdew



An info slot with (R-L) producer Roger Taylor, Eric Robson and Pippa Greenwood

Tomorrow - pictures from last year's GQT garden party

20th June

I finally got round to planting out the French tarragon, replacing the Russian one. In fact the Russian one is now in the pot the French one came in. I want to be able to compare the taste of the leaves so I am keeping both going. I have given up trying to grow butternut squash as the second batch of seeds did not germinate. What is interesting is that there are 3 plants growing in the front garden from the home made compost I put in for the fuchsias that bare an uncanny resemblance to a squash of some sort, so may I have butternut squash after all?

 

Down at the allotment, I cannot believe the onion situation. It must be a rabbit that has got in as the tops are neatly nibbled off. How can the bulb take nutrients from the leaves if they are passing through the digestive system of a rabbit? There are 2 gaps in the fencing where someone with a strimmer has caught the netting. The holes are large enough to allow rabbits to get through. The courgettes are establishing, but the crown prince squashes and the pumpkins do not look incredibly green, and 2 of the pumpkins have bit the dust, or been bitten off by slugs. The cucumbers are standing upright but look a little pale. I have found some rocket plants. I sowed them about 7 weeks ago and they are still small, much smaller than nearby weeds. I harvested a supermarket bags’ worth each of the oriental and Italian salad leaves. That is 2 more lots of £1.49 I have saved. I have therefore already got my money back on those seed packets.

I came home and fed the sweet peppers and chillies and the sweet peas, and tried out the nettle feed on the fuchsias and roses. The big news of the week in the garden is that the sweet peas have started to flower. The middle fence panel of the Charlie’s Angels has bloomed with the pale blue petals, and a great scent. I have never grown them before so this is all new to me. I tidied up some of the pots and made a bit more space in the conservatory, but rain stopped play.

 

Tomorrow is the Gardener’s Question Time Summer garden Party at Sparsholt College near Winchester.

Next post: 21st June

19th June

Despite the gap in entering events, I have been pottering around. Last Thursday I bought a pot of French tarragon after hearing a chef on the radio say that it was far superior to Russian, and why they are both called tarragon is beyond him. Last Friday I potted up some seedlings and started feeding the sweet peppers (Feed on Friday is the commercial motto, replacing my scheme for last year which was to feed after listening to Gardeners’ Question Time on a Wednesday). On Saturday, as my wife was constructing a flat-packed wardrobe, I was allowed to be unhindered in the garden, whilst under the constraint of having a 1 year old to look after. I strimmed the edges of the lawn with a strimmer that is temporarily residing in my shed, then the whole lawn got a close haircut – more bulk for the compost bin! The roses were coming out in force at this point and a few of the bedding petunias were flowering. All four hanging baskets are looking good, with the ones containing trailing petunias being absolutely stunning. I have been to the allotment Tuesday and Wednesday to do some watering and weeding, but from Monday I have been under the weather and so have not done too much. Today I trimmed some of the privet hedge with secateurs – a slow job, yes, and not a brilliantly neat and flat finish! The bin of nettle tea is a most disgustingly smelly vat now but it is ready to use as long as it is watered down to the colour of weak tea.

Next post: 20th June

10 - 11th June

Another scorching day so it was a little more watering at the allotment. I also finished hoeing the onion bed and I also did a quick hoe down the middle of the next section where the sprouts are. It was not a perfect job but it will keep them down for a while. It was disappointing to see that although some onions were growing well, a lot of them seemed very small. Onions will grow leaves until the point in the year when the hours of daylight equal the hours of darkness after which they take nutrients from the leaves and put them down into the bulbs, which bulk them up. I would imagine that the bulbs grow a bit before that, but judging by my onions this has not happened. I also need to get some netting for the brassicas as caterpillars are having their wicked way with the leaves.

 

The allotment with garish scaffold netting to attempt to keep the rabbits away

 

In the evening back home I potted out the tomatoes and the chillies. I plucked out a few basil seedlings that looked sickly and pricked out 5 seedlings for people at work. I watered and put down some coffee granules and slug pellets. The place where I obtain my coffee is closing down on Friday, great!

 

11^th June

As it was my niece’s birthday and we enjoyed ourselves at her garden party, my gardening today was a quick burst at lunchtime when I tied in my turbo tomatoes and some of the sweet peppers to stakes. I also tied in the sweet peas that needed holding up along the netting.

Next post: 19th June

9th June

To the allotment again, with hopes that my newly planted squashes have not succumbed to the intense heat which is still continuing today, my car thermometer reading 31˚C. The books tell me that pumpkins need a lot of watering whilst they are getting themselves established, whereas courgettes shouldn’t be given too much water until they are established as it will promote too much leaf growth at the expense of setting fruit. I am also informed that onions should not be watered unless in very prolonged hot, dry weather. Well, this afternoon it was a case of watering all three copiously. The squashes looked a little wilted but nothing I was too concerned with. The watering took ages as along with the above plants, I needed to water the salads, sweet peas (still only 2), leek seeds and the sprouts, calabrese and cauliflowers. One of the pumpkins has perished; there was a sad little dried and withered stump just lying on the soil. Was it natural causes? The weather? Or was it Dad strimming the long grass paths between the sections? Now that the long grass has been cut down, you notice the weeds more, so I set to work pulling up the weeds in the onion section. That was quite tough going as the soil was hard and dry. Onions really don’t appreciate competing with weeds and I have neglected this section, although it did sprout up while we were away and then we had the illnesses, and the wet. What’s an allotmenteer to do?

As I was on my second to last watering trip and yearning to be watered myself, I passed a man who came up with one of those brilliant English understatements: ‘a bit warm isn’t it’.

6th - 8th June

Back to the allotment to plant out the 3 crown prince squashes and the 4 pumpkins. This was a lot quicker as there was no more manure to put in. The watering still took a while though. I harvested another bag’s worth of Italian salad leaves.

Back at home, the bin full of rotting nettles in water stinks; it is disgusting. In the garden, the roses are coming on fine. The white one is in bloom with a few buds still coming, and the initial burst of red rose quietens to a dark pink. In this weather, we are watering well, especially the hanging baskets. The front one is showing 3 red petunias, and the 3 back ones are also looking good. The first one has some deep purple petunias which have a rich, velvety look and texture about them. The third basket has a mass of light purple petunias and the fuchsia is about to burst open some flowers. At the moment, the outer petals which are white, are just teasing apart to reveal a mauve inner petal.

 

 

7^th June
Another hot day. We spent the morning at home before going out after lunch. It was a good opportunity to water in the earlier part of the day so that the soil would be dry in the evening and not damp which encourages slug activity. I potted up the turbo tomatoes into their final pots as their roots were reaching the base of their previous pots. We had to get another large pot for one of them, and we also got a smaller one for a regular tomato. I don’t want to plant any in the ground as we had tomato blight last summer. Only later do I discover that blight is a wind-born fungus, so the soil makes little difference although spores do fall on it. Three of the sweet peppers are showing fruit now. I am looking forward to seeing what becomes of them as this is the first year I am growing sweet peppers. I decided on them last year after having such a huge input into tomatoes and growing such good strong plants that all got affected by blight, and yet having huge success with growing chilli peppers for the first time. I came to the conclusion that peppers would be a safer bet, although I’m only growing 3 chillies as we still have the vast majority of last years’ in the fridge and freezer. One of the sweet pepper plants has been affected quite badly by either slugs or flea beetle or something similar as most of the leaves have been chewed away. All is not lost though and I have moved the pot to higher ground and put down more slug pellets.

That lovely white and mauve fuchsia has bloomed now and I am delighted with it. It has quaint little upper pointed white petals making a display over a tight little mauve skirt, it looks just wonderful.

 

8^th June
It was so hot today, that all I did in the garden was to put up a shelter and play under it with my assistant gardener who also had the day off. A very relaxing afternoon.

Next post: 9th June

1st - 5th June

It is supposedly summer now, but the weather begs to differ. This afternoon I planted out the rest of the petunias – 40 in all, including 2 into vacant spaces in the second hanging basket, and some more Nicotianas – 3 of which went into a hanging basket. I also planted out the 2 sunflowers that did germinate and had a good watering session followed later by a slug pellet session.

 

2^nd June
All I did in terms of gardening today was a very quick visit to the allotment on the way back from work to see if the salad leaves would be ready to pick. I think they are as they seem the right size; it’s just that they are not too dense as plants – a few seeds did not germinate or I sowed too sparingly in a petty attempt to save money – so they look small on the whole. One type of plant had bolted and was ready to set seed so I snapped off the tops and 2 of them came up in my hand. I took them home to test the leaves and was not impressed, there was nothing spicy or oriental about them although there was a similar taste to sorrel but not as bitter. I did the safe wine taste trick of tasting and spitting as the plant looked a bit like a weed.

 

I saw my doctor about my back. He too can feel a sort of lump, so I wasn’t imagining it. He says I have stressed and inflamed the vertical ligament that connects a part of one vertebra to another, and has prescribed some anti-inflammatory gel, so it should all work out well. He didn’t say not to dig or garden and I didn’t ask.

 

 

3^rd June
I was woken in the night by very heavy rain which continued in a lighter vain through the day. I did pop in to the allotment after work again to harvest the oriental spicy salad leaves. I got a good bowlful, but they were filthy by mud having been splashed up on them by the rain. I had to step onto the soil to cut the leaves and I squashed it down by a good 2 inches which shows how generally not walking on it keeps it fairly light and soft. The ground would have been impossible to work on. Even taking a few steps on the soil gave me messy shoes that needed wiping clean on the long wet grass of the verge. I got home, washed the leaves and later drizzled them with a mix of olive oil, white wine vinegar and crushed black pepper and we had them as a side salad with our evening meal. There is enough for tomorrow as well. This is a landmark of home grown produce for the year as this is our first consumption of it in 2008.

 

5^th June
After the downpours we had over the weekend and in the early part of the week, the weather has changed to the opposite. It has been so hot and so dry that the ground at the allotment has cracked. I went there after work to plant out the courgettes into section 4. There was still a small pile of horse manure going spare so I used that up by putting it into the ground in holes, watering in well, filling back some earth, watering, then planting out the courgettes, with a plastic bottle attached – upside down, pointing to the roots, with the bottom cut off to make a funnel for watering later on. My wife brought our 4 year old out to meet me and together we planted his 2 cucumber plants in a similar way. It was hot work and I was glad that she brought my floppy sun hat with her. The hardest part at times is the short but much repeated walk to and from the water trough. I did take the pumpkins and crown prince squashes but I did not have the time to plant them. I ended up just planting the 2 cucumbers and 4 yellow and 5 green courgettes. There is one more yellow courgette at home still in its infant stage, and I may sow another as I have space for one more.

 

As we pick our produce I am keeping a score of how much it would cost to buy it in the supermarkets to have a comparison of what we are saving now with what we paid out at the start of the season. My wife went shopping yesterday and told me that there were bags of mixed salad leaves on sale for £1.49 each. Our bag of oriental was easily if not more than a bag full, so that is good money saved. The batch of rhubarb I picked was the equivalent of 4 thick stems on sale for £2.99. The rhubarb comes under last years costs though.

Next: 6th June

30th - 31st May

The pile of manure at the front of my allotment plot belongs to the family who work the plot behind me. At least some has been taken but I can’t see where the rest of it will fit in as they are growing crops already. I can’t believe their plot. They only took it over a few months ago and rather than wait and tend the ground, they just starting sowing, and yet they don’t seem to have any failures, everything is growing alright – how do they do it?

I set to work weeding section 4. I was on my knees on the verge as it pains my back to bend over, and yet this way I was comfortable. The soil was thick and clingy and a number of times I had to scrape clean the fork with the trowel and vice versa. The grass along the edge was trimmed a bit as well but that was really hard going but at least it looks an oasis of tidiness in the midst of the overgrown plot. I would have completed section 3 as well, and forked in the manure that has been sitting on top for a few months. However, due to my own lapse, I was delayed an extra half an hour at work, and whilst I was weeding I was accosted by another plot holder who wanted to view what I was growing and then took me over to his plot with the warning ‘remember I had a stroke last year so I was unable to tend it for 6 months before Christmas’. His plot was rather neat and well kept – unlike the plot in front of his that was a total shambles. There were piles of dead roots, bags and containers, hip – high weeds, seedlings in pots that were dying for lack of transplantation and a general baseline mess beneath all that. The plot owner is the man who judges the ‘best plot’ award each year. You cannot make up this sort of thing.

In the evening I was preparing for finally getting the petunias and Nicotianas out into the borders. My replacement turbo tomatoes have been delivered. They were sent to my in-laws despite me making sure the seed company knew to send them to me this time. Anyway, the good thing was, they are here, and they are all healthy. I potted them up and gave them a good watering. There were 3 plum varieties for the lady at work, and 3 normal sized ones, one for my Dad and 2 for me, plus, one I saved from the last batch, the only one that looked if it might possibly survive so I tried my luck, and now is looking quite healthy.

 

 

 

 

31^st May
A morning in the garden with my boys and the 2 year old from next door ‘helping’ me by watering anything that didn’t move. I planted out a small group of 5 Nicotianas at the near corner of the border, and will put in other little clumps along the edge. A whole load of petunias went in, watered by my little helpers. I tied some of the sweet peppers to stakes to help their posture. I re-sowed some sunflowers as only 2 out of 10 had germinated, as well as a pumpkin and some butternut squash.

 

My container of carrots has a few faint signs of seedlings, and my salad leaf box is looking very promising.