Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Two weeks later
Just wanted to update this as a record of how things are growing. The weather has been warm (12°C plus) but grey and some rain showers. There is one spear of broccoli so far - looks rather lonely there and I am keeping an eye on it so I will pick it before it flowers. Hope that more come then.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
All over!
Slight exaggeration there :-)
We have had quite a lot of spinach and beetroot leaves over the last couple of weeks. I am really happy with both of those. The spinach had begun to flower so I picked the last lot of leaves two days ago, and today I pulled up the plants and sowed more seeds.
I also cut the beetroot leaves off and brought them in for a last crop. Then I pulled those out too and sowed more "mixed salad". Last time only the beetroot came up (although there are now tiny seedlings of what might be celery leaves)so it will be interesting to see what happens now it is a bit warmer.
I also put in a pre-sown disc of coriander; there should be time for that to come up.
Everything else is doing pretty well. I've been keeping it all covered over but I think I'll start leaving the covers off during the day unless we get bad weather. One of the broccoli plants has a tiny head forming so perhaps not long until there is something to pick there.
We have had quite a lot of spinach and beetroot leaves over the last couple of weeks. I am really happy with both of those. The spinach had begun to flower so I picked the last lot of leaves two days ago, and today I pulled up the plants and sowed more seeds.
I also cut the beetroot leaves off and brought them in for a last crop. Then I pulled those out too and sowed more "mixed salad". Last time only the beetroot came up (although there are now tiny seedlings of what might be celery leaves)so it will be interesting to see what happens now it is a bit warmer.
I also put in a pre-sown disc of coriander; there should be time for that to come up.
Everything else is doing pretty well. I've been keeping it all covered over but I think I'll start leaving the covers off during the day unless we get bad weather. One of the broccoli plants has a tiny head forming so perhaps not long until there is something to pick there.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
First salad of the summer!
Yum yum!
Spinach, beetroot leaves, chives, melissa and thyme (going to put some of the herbs in an omelette).
Friday, May 28, 2010
Snip, snip!
I try to remember to water the square gardens every day since it has been dry here. I give each garden a whole watering can of tepid water.
Today I thinned the carrots by snipping off at ground level the extra seedlings.
I also put a strip of wood down the side of the potato squares so I can add a bit more compost and give them the full depth of the box.
My mother in law sent a root of rhubarb this week. I shoved it in the veg garden and am watering it frequently to see if it will perk up a bit. If not, I expect it will be fine next year.
Today I thinned the carrots by snipping off at ground level the extra seedlings.
I also put a strip of wood down the side of the potato squares so I can add a bit more compost and give them the full depth of the box.
My mother in law sent a root of rhubarb this week. I shoved it in the veg garden and am watering it frequently to see if it will perk up a bit. If not, I expect it will be fine next year.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Whit weekend
Way back on March 25th I sowed a bunch of seeds. I ran out of seed compost so used Flúðamold for the last lot. The seeds germinated OK but did not grow very well and I decided to resow the seeds on May 2nd. Here is a photo of the two sets of seeds....
The second lot look SO much healthier! I decided to repot the weak ones and see if they will perk up. As I now have plenty of seedlings I put two coriander, two parsley, and one tomato plant out in the shallow box - in the expectation that they will probably die since they have not been hardened off at all! The rest I repotted after pulling away the peat pots. They all seem to have quite good root systems so maybe now compost will do the trick.
I repotted the new tomato seedlings too, and some of the basil, the rest will wait until they are a bit bigger. The pepper plants are very slow!
Since I needed plant pots for all this repotting I dropped into Blómaval today and bought a pack of three herb plants: chives, melissa and thyme. I put those in the square with the mint. I also bought a tomato plant which is already fruiting (mine look a long way from that!)and repotted that, put it in the little sunroom and moved all the other plants into the large one - that way if the tomato plant has the dreaded little flies I can kill them off in there and not let them out to the rest of the plants.
Here are the two square foot boxes. Really happy with the shallow one now. The onions are growing like mad, the broccoli looks very happy, and the spring onions are all up I think. The strawberry plants are flowering even though the plants are very small, and the salad square shows signs of life even if it is only one type - beetroot leaves I think. The spinach is looking good with a couple of leaves.
The deep box is coming on too. The beans look a little sorry for themselves but the carrots are almost all germinated, the parsnips are coming up gradually, and the potatoes are starting to break surface. I think I will cut a piece of wood to put to the left of the potato row, then I can fill with compost to the top of the box and get the full depth this year.
Must say that the weather has been very kind. Today is 14°C and even though there is not much sun it has been quite warm. I don't think I have ever seen so much blossom on the berry bushes so unless something goes wrong we should have quite a good crop.
The second lot look SO much healthier! I decided to repot the weak ones and see if they will perk up. As I now have plenty of seedlings I put two coriander, two parsley, and one tomato plant out in the shallow box - in the expectation that they will probably die since they have not been hardened off at all! The rest I repotted after pulling away the peat pots. They all seem to have quite good root systems so maybe now compost will do the trick.
I repotted the new tomato seedlings too, and some of the basil, the rest will wait until they are a bit bigger. The pepper plants are very slow!
Since I needed plant pots for all this repotting I dropped into Blómaval today and bought a pack of three herb plants: chives, melissa and thyme. I put those in the square with the mint. I also bought a tomato plant which is already fruiting (mine look a long way from that!)and repotted that, put it in the little sunroom and moved all the other plants into the large one - that way if the tomato plant has the dreaded little flies I can kill them off in there and not let them out to the rest of the plants.
Here are the two square foot boxes. Really happy with the shallow one now. The onions are growing like mad, the broccoli looks very happy, and the spring onions are all up I think. The strawberry plants are flowering even though the plants are very small, and the salad square shows signs of life even if it is only one type - beetroot leaves I think. The spinach is looking good with a couple of leaves.
The deep box is coming on too. The beans look a little sorry for themselves but the carrots are almost all germinated, the parsnips are coming up gradually, and the potatoes are starting to break surface. I think I will cut a piece of wood to put to the left of the potato row, then I can fill with compost to the top of the box and get the full depth this year.
Must say that the weather has been very kind. Today is 14°C and even though there is not much sun it has been quite warm. I don't think I have ever seen so much blossom on the berry bushes so unless something goes wrong we should have quite a good crop.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Yes! Yes! Yes!
The carrots are coming up :-) Today there are a few seedlings of both sorts. Sucha relief! I will take a photo once there are a few more of them to see.
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