We went out on the allotment yesterday with the promise that my girls would finally be able to get some seeds sown. Sowing and harvesting are definitely the highlights of kitchen gardening and certainly the bits the girls look forward to most but they are gradually learning that there is other necessary work in between. I have been explaining to them the need for preparation. I'm quite grown up about this now because really inside I'm just the same as them and I just want to get on and plant stuff too. But wisdom comes with age (not that I'm that old!) and I know that proper preparation will save work (mainly weeding) later and will produce better returns. So having made a raised bed for them last weekend, we started this weekend by carefully measuring and marking out the bed into smaller planting areas.
I say "carefully measuring" but in the end it mostly came down to eye and whether it looked right. I measured the whole bed first - 140cm wide and 485cm long. I'd neglected to bring a piece of paper with me so I scribbled down these measurement on the side of a plant label. Then I needed to divide the width into 3 and the length into 15. By now I was wishing I'd brought a calculator with me because I haven't done long division since I was at school and even then it had baffled me somewhat. So I confidently marked out the width into 3 roughly 46cm sections using a staple gun (cheap off ebay) and string. Less confidently I marked the length out into 5 sections of roughly 90cm, with the central box being bigger than the others. Then two of these I marked out into 30cm sections. So now I had a 90cm box for my youngest daughter to plant her potatoes in, nine 30cm squares for her vegetable garden, another 90cm box for my eldest daughter to plant her potatoes in, nine 30cm squares for her vegetable garden, and the remaining space for a shared crop of sweetcorn.
That done we got on with the really important stuff - putting in bits and pieces to make it look pretty! A wind sock my eldest had made a school, a rain gauge we had bought last year from Tesco for the bargain price of 25p, the stones we had painted last year to look like bugs, the flower sticks I had bought from Lidl's a few weeks ago, the wire frames in the shape of a frog and a dragonfly I'd bought from Wilkinson's last year. Ahh... that's better.
Finally time for planting. I made them each a wigwam of canes and they pushed in 12 pea seeds each. Then we positioned some one planters on their plots and filled them with a mix of potting compost and sand. We'd grown carrots in these last year and it had been very successful with beautiful long, straight roots. So we sowed some more carrots in these. Next it was beetroot and lettuce for my youngest and rocket and radish for my eldest. Job down for now.
Back home I potted on the herb plug plants and tomato plants I'd bought from Wilkinson's a few weeks ago. And then it was time to wash hands before tea.
Monday, 30 March 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
A good way to spend Mother's Day
It was Mother's Day yesterday and my girls presented me with the Mother's Day gifts and cards they had both made during gardening club on Tuesday - which was lovely but no surprise! Then it was time to enjoy the spring sunshine and go out to the allotment. The broad beans I had put in pots were now big enough to handle so I started by getting these planted out on the plot. My eldest busied herself with washing her bike with a watering can and a leaf so she was too busy to help with the watering when I asked. Not to worry as my youngest was keen to help. Fortunately, her watering can is very small so as she trekked back and forth to the water trough I had plenty of time to plant some more beans for her to water.
I had three trays of broad beans - 24 modules per tray. Some had yet to emerge but when I checked, the beans had germinated so I planted them anyway. A few others had succumbed to the heat during the week because I had forgotten to open the door of the coldframe until after midday. Coldframe was something of a misnomer by this point and the tips of the plants had turned black in the tropical heat! I figured this would kill the plants completely but in fact by yesterday they were showing signs of healthy green regrowth.
With the broad beans out, I turned my attention to the pea bed. By this point my eldest had finished washing her bike so I asked if she fancied helping me rack over the bed. She was keen so we set to. She then volunteered to help with the watering so I pulled out a series of shallow trenches with the hoe and she helped me water the base of each trench. Her favourite job is sowing seeds so I sat and directed whilst she carefully scattered seeds into the 8 trenches - two mangetout, one sugarsnap pea, one petit pois, and 4 different types of pea, including a heritage purple podded one. She carefully stuck in lollystick labels as she went. Next I showed her how to carefully pull the soil back over the pea seeds to fill in the trenches. Finally, I asked if she wanted to help push some pea stick in and she replied with enthusiasm as she loves "planting trees". And that was it - job done. It's the first time she's ever managed to keep her attention and enthusiasm focused until a complete job was done. And I really enjoyed it too. People have many ideas of how best to treat mum on Mother's Day but this was the best way I could have spent my day as far as I was concerned!
I had three trays of broad beans - 24 modules per tray. Some had yet to emerge but when I checked, the beans had germinated so I planted them anyway. A few others had succumbed to the heat during the week because I had forgotten to open the door of the coldframe until after midday. Coldframe was something of a misnomer by this point and the tips of the plants had turned black in the tropical heat! I figured this would kill the plants completely but in fact by yesterday they were showing signs of healthy green regrowth.
With the broad beans out, I turned my attention to the pea bed. By this point my eldest had finished washing her bike so I asked if she fancied helping me rack over the bed. She was keen so we set to. She then volunteered to help with the watering so I pulled out a series of shallow trenches with the hoe and she helped me water the base of each trench. Her favourite job is sowing seeds so I sat and directed whilst she carefully scattered seeds into the 8 trenches - two mangetout, one sugarsnap pea, one petit pois, and 4 different types of pea, including a heritage purple podded one. She carefully stuck in lollystick labels as she went. Next I showed her how to carefully pull the soil back over the pea seeds to fill in the trenches. Finally, I asked if she wanted to help push some pea stick in and she replied with enthusiasm as she loves "planting trees". And that was it - job done. It's the first time she's ever managed to keep her attention and enthusiasm focused until a complete job was done. And I really enjoyed it too. People have many ideas of how best to treat mum on Mother's Day but this was the best way I could have spent my day as far as I was concerned!
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Taming the soft fruit
I have spent a couple of days trying to get to grips with pruning my fruit canes and trees. Pruning has always been something of a dark art as far as I'm concerned. It's not that I haven't tried to get to grips with the matter. Whenever I think about pruning it always seems to be the wrong time. I refer to a book to remind myself of the details but discover that it's really the wrong time of year to be tackling it, but by the time it comes round to the correct time of year I have forgotten what it is I'm supposed to be doing. But eventually you have to take things in hand no matter what time of year it is.
So having missed the ideal late autumn and winter windows for pruning the soft fruit, I decided that I needed to tidy my blackberries, tayberries and raspberries anyway. According to the books, summer raspberries flower and fruit on growth in its second year. This means that ideally canes that have fruited should be cut back to ground level in the autumn and any new growth should be tied into supports to overwinter. Autumn fruiting raspberries, in contrast, flower and fruit within the same season so the canes should be cut completely back to ground level in late winter.
This is fairly straight forward on the face of it and would be fantastically useful if 1) I could retain that information in my head and have it spring to the front of my brain at the correct time of year, and 2) I could tell which were summer and which were autumn fruiting raspberries.
I know what you're thinking... Hazel, you numpty, summer fruiting raspberries have fruit in the summer and autumn fruiting raspberries have fruit in the autumn, it's obvious. Well, it's not. I have tried for two years now to get to grips with this. If my raspberries have fruit on them in June and July I hang a label around them clearly stating "summer". Sorted, the rest must be autumn. But when I try the same exercise in autumn, I find fruiting canes with a "summer" label hanging from them. Perpetual would be a better word - they just don't stop fruiting. And I know for a fact that all the yellow fruiting raspberries are all "All Gold", an autumn fruiting variety, but they happily bear fruit June to November. I don't know why... maybe it's down to being pruned at the wrong time of year!
Anyway, I have been round them all this last couple of days and it seems to me that at this time of year it all becomes quite obvious what needs pruning. There are some raspberry canes with lovely new growth all the way from root to tip, interspersed with completely dead canes that are brittle and grey/brown. I'm figuring that these are the autumn fruiting ones and that the dead canes are the ones I should have cut back to the ground in later winter and the lush ones are this year's new growth. Easy peasy, I just cut away all the dead canes and they soon look a lot smarter. Then there are the ones that have new growth from root to 2 thirds the way up the stem, plus dead canes in between. I reckon these are the summer raspberries and the dead canes are the ones I should have cut back to ground level in autumn and the other ones are the ones that grew but didn't fruit last year and now need tying to the supports. Sorted... except I haven't got round to giving them any support yet - a job for Steve this spring, me thinks!
So with the raspberries under control, I turn my attention to my tayberries. Every year I train these up over an archway, a thornless one on the right and a thorny one on the left. And every year I have to untie the dead wood from last year and tie in the new growth from this year. Still, it is so much better than allowing them to ramble along the ground, especially in the summer when I have been known to nip round to the allotment in sandals to harvest soft fruit, only to get a thorny tayberry whip tangled around my toes!
The blackberries follow the same rules and definitely should not be allowed to trail along the ground because wherever they come into contact with the ground they will put down roots and spring up new plants, which can become a definite nuisance.
If you were ever in any doubt, you can now be sure that I'm no expert when it comes to pruning but there are some things I'm sure about. Firstly, it is important. If you don't prune you'll still get fruit but eventually the yield will decrease and the whole thing will become a mess. Secondly, you are in charge, not the plants. Soft fruit can be as problematic as any weed if you let them so be ruthless - if a raspberry plant has sprung up somewhere where it is not welcome, chop it down, you already have enough fruit from the other canes. And finally, it's difficult to completely cock it up. If you make a mess of it once it may reduce the yield of fruit for a season but it will recover.
Whilst I was there, I checked to see how it is best to prune trained apple trees. It recommended pruning in the summer to keep the shape of the tree and I briefly wondered whether to ignore this advice as I'm getting chop happy. But on reading further it explained that pruning in winter and spring actually encouraged growth. Definitely not what I'm after so I shall put the secateurs away for a few months now and try to remember to get them out again at the correct time.
So having missed the ideal late autumn and winter windows for pruning the soft fruit, I decided that I needed to tidy my blackberries, tayberries and raspberries anyway. According to the books, summer raspberries flower and fruit on growth in its second year. This means that ideally canes that have fruited should be cut back to ground level in the autumn and any new growth should be tied into supports to overwinter. Autumn fruiting raspberries, in contrast, flower and fruit within the same season so the canes should be cut completely back to ground level in late winter.
This is fairly straight forward on the face of it and would be fantastically useful if 1) I could retain that information in my head and have it spring to the front of my brain at the correct time of year, and 2) I could tell which were summer and which were autumn fruiting raspberries.
I know what you're thinking... Hazel, you numpty, summer fruiting raspberries have fruit in the summer and autumn fruiting raspberries have fruit in the autumn, it's obvious. Well, it's not. I have tried for two years now to get to grips with this. If my raspberries have fruit on them in June and July I hang a label around them clearly stating "summer". Sorted, the rest must be autumn. But when I try the same exercise in autumn, I find fruiting canes with a "summer" label hanging from them. Perpetual would be a better word - they just don't stop fruiting. And I know for a fact that all the yellow fruiting raspberries are all "All Gold", an autumn fruiting variety, but they happily bear fruit June to November. I don't know why... maybe it's down to being pruned at the wrong time of year!
Anyway, I have been round them all this last couple of days and it seems to me that at this time of year it all becomes quite obvious what needs pruning. There are some raspberry canes with lovely new growth all the way from root to tip, interspersed with completely dead canes that are brittle and grey/brown. I'm figuring that these are the autumn fruiting ones and that the dead canes are the ones I should have cut back to the ground in later winter and the lush ones are this year's new growth. Easy peasy, I just cut away all the dead canes and they soon look a lot smarter. Then there are the ones that have new growth from root to 2 thirds the way up the stem, plus dead canes in between. I reckon these are the summer raspberries and the dead canes are the ones I should have cut back to ground level in autumn and the other ones are the ones that grew but didn't fruit last year and now need tying to the supports. Sorted... except I haven't got round to giving them any support yet - a job for Steve this spring, me thinks!
So with the raspberries under control, I turn my attention to my tayberries. Every year I train these up over an archway, a thornless one on the right and a thorny one on the left. And every year I have to untie the dead wood from last year and tie in the new growth from this year. Still, it is so much better than allowing them to ramble along the ground, especially in the summer when I have been known to nip round to the allotment in sandals to harvest soft fruit, only to get a thorny tayberry whip tangled around my toes!
The blackberries follow the same rules and definitely should not be allowed to trail along the ground because wherever they come into contact with the ground they will put down roots and spring up new plants, which can become a definite nuisance.
If you were ever in any doubt, you can now be sure that I'm no expert when it comes to pruning but there are some things I'm sure about. Firstly, it is important. If you don't prune you'll still get fruit but eventually the yield will decrease and the whole thing will become a mess. Secondly, you are in charge, not the plants. Soft fruit can be as problematic as any weed if you let them so be ruthless - if a raspberry plant has sprung up somewhere where it is not welcome, chop it down, you already have enough fruit from the other canes. And finally, it's difficult to completely cock it up. If you make a mess of it once it may reduce the yield of fruit for a season but it will recover.
Whilst I was there, I checked to see how it is best to prune trained apple trees. It recommended pruning in the summer to keep the shape of the tree and I briefly wondered whether to ignore this advice as I'm getting chop happy. But on reading further it explained that pruning in winter and spring actually encouraged growth. Definitely not what I'm after so I shall put the secateurs away for a few months now and try to remember to get them out again at the correct time.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Starting the container veg patch
Having bought four 30L bags of multi-purpose peat-free compost from Lidl's earlier in the week (1.99 each), I wheel barrowed them round to the allotment yesterday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day and I made the most of being self-employed and shuffled my tasks around to free up the afternoon for gardening.
There is a patch of my allotment that we covered up with carpet several years ago when it became clear we couldn't get everything under cultivation at the same time. Bit by bit we reclaim the ground under the carpet but in the meantime I stick growbags and containers on top of the carpet and at least get some use out of the space. Yesterday I emptied 3 bags of compost into 3 potato growing bags. I had won the bags last year from Edwin Tuckers - they have a monthly photographic competition for photos of vegetables and I entered my picture of broad beans and a sprig of savory. The first use I made of them was to try to grow second cropping potatoes, planting them in August for a harvest at Christmas. Well, that didn't work particularly well. Blight was rife in August and they quickly succumbed so all I got out were a few marble sized things sometime in December. Ho hum, try again next year I suppose, if the summer is better. Then Steve accidentally melted a hole in the side of one of them on Firework's night! These things happen.
Anyway, I digress... 30L only half fills the potato bags but that doesn't matter because I can top them up with more compost as the potatoes grow, to earth them up. The last 30L I emptied into two plastic trough planters and in each of these I plant 6 shallots. I grew onions in these troughs last year and they were the best I got.
So now I have used up my stocks of compost and will have to buy some more at the weekend to refill the other containers and for sowing some seeds. In the meantime I think I'd better make use of the sunshine and get some more tidying up and preparation done.
There is a patch of my allotment that we covered up with carpet several years ago when it became clear we couldn't get everything under cultivation at the same time. Bit by bit we reclaim the ground under the carpet but in the meantime I stick growbags and containers on top of the carpet and at least get some use out of the space. Yesterday I emptied 3 bags of compost into 3 potato growing bags. I had won the bags last year from Edwin Tuckers - they have a monthly photographic competition for photos of vegetables and I entered my picture of broad beans and a sprig of savory. The first use I made of them was to try to grow second cropping potatoes, planting them in August for a harvest at Christmas. Well, that didn't work particularly well. Blight was rife in August and they quickly succumbed so all I got out were a few marble sized things sometime in December. Ho hum, try again next year I suppose, if the summer is better. Then Steve accidentally melted a hole in the side of one of them on Firework's night! These things happen.
Anyway, I digress... 30L only half fills the potato bags but that doesn't matter because I can top them up with more compost as the potatoes grow, to earth them up. The last 30L I emptied into two plastic trough planters and in each of these I plant 6 shallots. I grew onions in these troughs last year and they were the best I got.
So now I have used up my stocks of compost and will have to buy some more at the weekend to refill the other containers and for sowing some seeds. In the meantime I think I'd better make use of the sunshine and get some more tidying up and preparation done.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Tasty Hot Cross Buns
I bought some reduced price wholemeal hot cross buns from Tescos yesterday because they took my fancy. But to my disappointment, toasted and buttered they were a little bland. Today I livened one up with a good dollop of homemade plum and cinnamon jam. A perfect complement to the spices in the bun but providing a bit of extra flavour and moisture. A lovely way to use up some of the stocks.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Mother's Day Gardening Club
What a lovely hour I spent this afternoon with my gardening club. With Mother's Day at the end of the week, I had organised for the children to plant up a couple of pansies then decorate the flower pot with some foam shapes and finish it with a decorated label complete with message to mum. This was followed by making a Mother's Day card with a daffodil design on it.
The tasks were completely manageable for this bunch of 4 to 7 year olds and they clearly enjoyed themselves. The end results were pleasing too and I'm sure their mums will be very happy with their gifts and cards. There was a good opportunity for some teaching too - how to pot on plug plants, not to pick wild flowers, how many petals a daffodil has and so on. But what I loved most was that for pretty much the whole hour the children were thinking about their mums and how much they love them!
Make Mother's Day Flowers
You will need:
Pansy or viola plug plants
Multi-purpose potting compost
A clean flowerpot (e.g. 20cm diameter)
Self-adhesive foam shapes (from Baker Ross)
Wooden flower stick (from Baker Ross)
Felt tip pens
1) Fill a flowerpot three quarters full with compost.
2) Carefully plant 2 plug plants in the flowerpot.
3) Brush off any loose compost from the sides of the flowerpot and wash hands. Next decorate the flowerpot with the foam shapes.
4) Decorate the wooden flower stick using the felt tip pens. Include a nice Mother’s Day message such as "Best Mum" or "I Love Mum".
5) Finally, push the wooden stick into the compost next to the pansies.
Make A Daffodil Mother's Day Card
You will need:
A cardboard egg box
Yellow poster paint
A piece of yellow paper
A piece of stiff coloured card
Scissors
Glue
Felt tip pen
1) Cut out a piece of the egg box to make the trumpet of the daffodil and paint it yellow inside and out. Leave to dry completely.
2) Cut out 6 petal shapes from the yellow paper about 5 cm and 1.5 cm wide.
3) Fold the stiff card to make a greeting card and stick or write "Happy Mother’s Day" on it.
4) Glue the yellow paper petal onto the card to form a flower shape.
5) Glue or use a sticky pad to stick the yellow trumpet onto the middle of the flower shape.
6) Use a felt tip to draw on a stem and leaf.
The tasks were completely manageable for this bunch of 4 to 7 year olds and they clearly enjoyed themselves. The end results were pleasing too and I'm sure their mums will be very happy with their gifts and cards. There was a good opportunity for some teaching too - how to pot on plug plants, not to pick wild flowers, how many petals a daffodil has and so on. But what I loved most was that for pretty much the whole hour the children were thinking about their mums and how much they love them!
Make Mother's Day Flowers
You will need:
Pansy or viola plug plants
Multi-purpose potting compost
A clean flowerpot (e.g. 20cm diameter)
Self-adhesive foam shapes (from Baker Ross)
Wooden flower stick (from Baker Ross)
Felt tip pens
1) Fill a flowerpot three quarters full with compost.
2) Carefully plant 2 plug plants in the flowerpot.
3) Brush off any loose compost from the sides of the flowerpot and wash hands. Next decorate the flowerpot with the foam shapes.
4) Decorate the wooden flower stick using the felt tip pens. Include a nice Mother’s Day message such as "Best Mum" or "I Love Mum".
5) Finally, push the wooden stick into the compost next to the pansies.
Make A Daffodil Mother's Day Card
You will need:
A cardboard egg box
Yellow poster paint
A piece of yellow paper
A piece of stiff coloured card
Scissors
Glue
Felt tip pen
1) Cut out a piece of the egg box to make the trumpet of the daffodil and paint it yellow inside and out. Leave to dry completely.
2) Cut out 6 petal shapes from the yellow paper about 5 cm and 1.5 cm wide.
3) Fold the stiff card to make a greeting card and stick or write "Happy Mother’s Day" on it.
4) Glue the yellow paper petal onto the card to form a flower shape.
5) Glue or use a sticky pad to stick the yellow trumpet onto the middle of the flower shape.
6) Use a felt tip to draw on a stem and leaf.
Monday, 16 March 2009
Spring has finally sprung!
What lovely weather we're having at the moment. It definitely make me want to get out and grow things! The daffodils are out, I've seen the first blossom and the birds are dashing madly in and out of the nest boxes in my garden so it must be spring!
Going to the allotment turned into a family event this weekend with my husband and daughters joining me out on the plot both Saturday and Sunday. It certainly makes a difference when two people are digging! Even my eldest had a go at digging and racking yesterday and she seemed very satisfied with herself too.
Mostly my husband is tackling the raised beds. We've always had sort of raised beds on the allotment with carpet tiles between the beds for paths. About two years ago he bought 22 scaffolding planks off ebay with a view to making properly edged beds but they have been stacked up on the allotment ever since whilst DIY projects in the house took priority. This weekend he got out his tape measure and came up with a plan. The only downside is that the planks don't neatly fit the existing bed size so we have to shift the path about half a metre over - extra digging!
Anyway, whilst he got on with that I sowed a couple of rows of broad beans - my favourite Crimson Flowered (beautiful!) and Grand Violetta (purple beans when dried). The broad beans I'd sown in pots about 3 weeks ago have FINALLY germinated but won't be big enough to plant out until next weekend.
On Saturday I also dug up the last of the leeks (well, there are a few rogue self-sown ones left) and on Sunday morning I made more leek and potato pasties and blanched and froze a load too. That took over an hour! Then on the plot in the afternoon I dug over a couple more beds before returning home for a bath and roast dinner.
Inside, my tiny tomato seedlings from Wilkinsons have shot up in the last week, my peanuts have germinated and the tray of salad leaves continue to put on new leaves. I think I need to buy several sacks of potting compost this week and get a few things growing in containers next weekend. It's all go now until October!
Going to the allotment turned into a family event this weekend with my husband and daughters joining me out on the plot both Saturday and Sunday. It certainly makes a difference when two people are digging! Even my eldest had a go at digging and racking yesterday and she seemed very satisfied with herself too.
Mostly my husband is tackling the raised beds. We've always had sort of raised beds on the allotment with carpet tiles between the beds for paths. About two years ago he bought 22 scaffolding planks off ebay with a view to making properly edged beds but they have been stacked up on the allotment ever since whilst DIY projects in the house took priority. This weekend he got out his tape measure and came up with a plan. The only downside is that the planks don't neatly fit the existing bed size so we have to shift the path about half a metre over - extra digging!
Anyway, whilst he got on with that I sowed a couple of rows of broad beans - my favourite Crimson Flowered (beautiful!) and Grand Violetta (purple beans when dried). The broad beans I'd sown in pots about 3 weeks ago have FINALLY germinated but won't be big enough to plant out until next weekend.
On Saturday I also dug up the last of the leeks (well, there are a few rogue self-sown ones left) and on Sunday morning I made more leek and potato pasties and blanched and froze a load too. That took over an hour! Then on the plot in the afternoon I dug over a couple more beds before returning home for a bath and roast dinner.
Inside, my tiny tomato seedlings from Wilkinsons have shot up in the last week, my peanuts have germinated and the tray of salad leaves continue to put on new leaves. I think I need to buy several sacks of potting compost this week and get a few things growing in containers next weekend. It's all go now until October!
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