Here are some photos are of my garden vegetable plot, taken over the Easter Bank holiday weekend.

The potatoes have been earthed up (about 6 inches) and they’re still bursting out. each day it amazes us just how much they grow.

After what seemed a very wobbly start, the carrots I sowed are coming through.

As for the onions, I think I may have planted a few too many sets (200) and the loevely weekend sun, has given them a growth spurt.

The Gooseberries’ have settled in well and have started to flower

This is beetroot. I’m growing the usual red/purple colour beets and a white beet (for the kids)

Both fruit trees, apple and pear, are flowering

And finally, here’s a bed of baby cabbage and cauliflowers.

I’ve been have great fun growing my seedlings, and have loads of tiny vegetables growing on the kitchen windowsill. Here’s a few pictures of the beetroot, Chillies, Peppers, cauliflower, and cabbage.

The 1st early potatoes have burst out of the soil and a reaching for the sun, so they have been earthed up to protect the haulms from frost.

I’ve also built a frame and installed netting over the raised bed for the brassica’s, and the sweetcorn and pumpkin bed. The soil is not quite warm enough to plant yet, another few weeks to go.

I have a part of my garden that’s very near to a garage and a couple of small trees, so I’ve been looking for any vegetable or fruit crops that would be suitable in that area. For most of the year, there is a direct sunlight in the morning for growing early crops.

Growing early vegetables such as spring cabbage, winter lettuce and broad beans is one solution I have found. Sown in early autumn so they are well established by early spring.

I’m also going to try growing some shade tolerant vegetable like beetroot, ‘Bolthardy’, Calabrese, Kale, Kohl Rabi, Lettuce (little gem). Also radish, spinach, and maybe some herbs, as chives, mint and parsley are all shade tolerant. Raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberry and rhubarb are plants of the woodland edge and will thrive in this environment.

I’ve tried to improve the soil by working in plenty of well rotted organic matter (horse poo) The seeds have been started in modules, as this will get them off to an early start with an established root system.

Following much indecision, we’ve finally planted the fruit bushes and trees. We opted for a Red Falstaff apple tree and a Comice pear tree. These are self pollinating, which is handy as we really don’t have enough space for four trees.

Two gooseberry bushes (careless) have gone in, along with a healthy rhubarb plant. We should get some fruit from the gooseberry plants this year, however, the Rhubarb is going to be left to mature until next year.

As you can see, I’ve been busy sowing seeds. The weather has been good and the ground is warming up. I’ve had some success already, I sowed my tomatoes, spring onions, chillies, and peppers a few weeks ago in windowsill propagators and they’re growing well.

The tomato plants have been transplanted into larger 3 inch pots and they are now living in the mini greenhouse. I’ve sowed some parsnips (in toilet roll tubes) cos lettuce, beetroot, cabbage, cauliflower, and purple carrots. These are also in the mini greenhouse, as I’m hoping to get an early crop.

This year we are planed a big vegetable garden. Even though I don’t quite trust the weather yet, I’ve already planted some potatoes, carrots, and onions. I also have seedlings galore growing in the baby greenhouse that will soon require a new home. The answer, a cold frame over one of the raised beds. I plan to use the covered bed to both harden off the baby veg, and get a jump on tomatoes which are always a challenge in rainy, grey weather.

This is the cold frame I’ve built to house the sweet peppers and chillies. It sits nicely in front of the shed and is south facing so should be nice and warm. It can be disassembled and stowed away in the summer, a consideration with my limited storage.

I created a few smaller raised beds on the west side of the garden. These are for Tomato plants, Money-maker and hundreds and thousands. I’m also going to be planting Chillies and Peppers under a cold frame against the side of the shed.

My potatoes, carrots, and onions have been sown, and they’ve been covered in fine netting to keep the cats off. I’m planning to protect the carrots from carrot fly, either with netting or a high barrio around the bed to keep them out. Aparently, carrot fly cannot fly above 24 inches.

Have you got Sky TV, well if you have you might be interested in the Big Dig TV programme about allotments.  It`s on UKTV Gardens at various times staggered through the week so you can watch when it suits you.

It’s really a gentle observational series that contains lots of tips – grow your carrots in bins to beat the dreaded carrot fly, and lots of characters shot on location at two allotment sites, one in the Rhondda Valley near Cardiff, and the other in Highgate London.

I’m a real fan of the Big Dig, and as I’ve decided to grow vegetables this year, I find the program invaluable. The allotment owners are a great bunch (sometimes odd) and share their knowledge willingly. It’s nice to see ordinary people gardening. You don’t usually get to see how things are done in the ordinary environment and it’s so refreshing. Whilst it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I’m quite enjoying it.

You’ll need a sheet of newspaper and an aerosol can with a concave bottom

Tear the newspaper sheet in half down the middle.

Fold in half top to bottom and again, depending on your newspaper you should find its about half the length of the can.

Place the can on the paper so that approx 1/3 of the paper over hangs the bottom

Roll the paper tightly around the can

Crush the overhanging paper into the bottom of the can, I then crush it down onto a hard surface.

Finally, remove your paper pot.

You could staple the flap if required, and by playing around with the size of the paper you use you can alter the depth of the pot, change the size of the can and you change the diameter of your pot, easy!

Yippee, I’ve been planting my first seeds in the vegetable garden today. It’s been a long time coming, and well worth the wait. I’ve had a little problem with Dillon and Daisy (my cats), as they been using the raised beds as a big litter tray. However, I’ve planted my onion sets in one of the beds, and covered it in netting to keep them off. So fingers crossed that problem should be solved.

The ubiquitous Tomato seeds have been potted into windowsill propagators, along with some Chillies, Peppers, and spring onions.

I have had some success already, I found this nicely sprouting red onion in the bottom of the fridge, and the potatoes have been chitted well and are nearly ready to be planted.

Over the weekend I purchased some vegetable seeds, my 1st earlies, 2nd earlies and main crop potatoes, and two different onion sets. So today I have been chitting (just who makes these words up?) my potatoes, and getting them ready to plant next month (I hope). I’m going to plant the vegetable seeds when it gets a little warmer, and they’ll be going in the little greenhouse on the prairie.

However, I’m a little embarrassed, I’ve had one small incident in the garden, I fell inside the waterbutt. I was trying to tighten the tap from the inside and lost my footing and fell in. Hmmm, wont do that again.

I thought I’d better test the soil balance, as all the gardening books say I should. So I took a sample of soil and mixed it in a jar with some water. This was to show the ratio of sand, silt, and organic matter I have in the garden. As you can see from the picture, I have equal amounts of sand and silt. The arrow points to the piece of organic matter. Good job I’ve got some compost!

The waterbutt has entered the garden, and it came with a very small price tag too. I’d been looking all over the place to find a reasonably priced butt, most came in around £40/£50. So it came as pleasant surprise to find this beast in the garden centre for just £25

Unfortunately, The garden is not big enough for a decent size green house, so I’ve opted for this little beauty. It’s ideal for my needs, and in my best “Sale of the Century” pose, I think I’m modelling it very well.

I called into the local recycling centre today to try out their “Greentop” soil improver. It has been made from the green waste collected by the local council. It’s an extremely rich, dark material that is free flowing, easy to spread, and incorporates readily with the soil.

Composted at temperatures in excess of 55C to eliminate any harmful bacteria, fungus and toxins, fortifies the soil by providing humus and releasing a wide range of essential plant nutrients for many months. Just what the garden needs.

Stumble It!

Today, one of the coldest days of the year, and in my infinite wisdom, I decided to have 3 tons of cold, wet, and semi-frozen soil delivered. Now I know it doesn’t look too much, but when you’ve only got a little spade, it’s huge.

It took me a little over 3 hours to move it into the raised beds, and what a difference it’s made. The beds just need topping off with compost/soil improver, and they’re be ready for planting.

I’ve just got to decide what to plant now

Stumble It!