Saturday in the garden
Everything is growing so beautifully, but it hasn't rained. That means lots of watering.
Today I quickly visited the allotment after the kids' football to water everything and harvest my first bit of rhubarb for a cake.
Had the camera with us from football so took some pictures.
The apple tree in blossom:
The chives are blossoming:
The shallot bed, with carrots and marigolds:
The onion bed, look how much they grew since last time:
Berry blossom, I think this is a white currant:
A red salad bowl lettuce. These are sown in rows of alternating red and green. When they're fully grown they should look fab! Unless we eat them before then:
Have a look here for other photos, including some fantastic Dutch Irises on someone else's plot.
I'm disappointed in my spinach. It's come up all patchy so I'm going to transplant it to even the rows out a bit.
I sowed it a bit heavy handed in places, now I know for next time to drop pinches of the seed instead of just throwing it randomly down a drill! I far prefer planting in egg trays than planting in the open ground - I seem to get much better results that way.
At home my tomatoes are growing fantastically well. They have been outdoors on the balcony for the last week and even though our temperatures have dropped to 3 or 4C the last few nights they seem ok. The squash are also outside on the balcony and seem to be doing alright. I don't mind if their growth gets a bit retarded as they are a bit ahead of themselves. Next year I will know to sow my seeds closer to the middle of May.
I planted basil plants, grown from seed, out into the windowboxes and repotted the parsley and oregano that were in there. A bit of fresh soil should make all the difference.
In the propagator I have a few more types of tomatoes that have all germinated and need potting on, a couple of different kinds of basil, broccoli, chives and cauliflowers. I also planted two courgettes - Eight Ball and Astia. There are winter leeks on the windowsill waiting to be planted outside.
Rain is forecast for this week which will hopefully give the potatoes something to make them grow!
3 comments:
i am so jealous on your weedfree plot!!! It all looks so good! I have planted the spinach 10 cm apart, but not all of the seed has germinated. something in between you and me would be good, i guess :)
I gave up on spinach a couple of years ago. The first year it was great! After that, something always happened, usually a stretch of hot or dry weather. I also have a hard time getting to the garden often enough to water it in hot weather.
In addition, I kept having the annoying problem that often the seeds wouldn't germinate, but stay in the ground and turn into weeds a few months later.
I just decided my time was better spent on other plants, but maybe I'll try again sometime. If you have any tips, I'd be glad to hear them!
Also, if you grow heirloom varieties, spinach seed is very easy to save from your own plants. Just let a few plants bolt and dry out, then collect the seeds. There are male and female plants, and you'll need some of both.
From just a few plants you will have enough seeds for years to come, both for you and all of your neighbors.
Vertine: I have no idea why it's weed free! Just good luck I think as I haven't done that much weeding! I am going to leave the spinach and harvest from in between so that the spacing ends up correct in the end.
Patrick: I'll definitely keep the spinach seeds thing in mind. The variety I have planted now is a normal variety (not F1) so I should be able to keep the seeds form that. I didn't know spinach had male and female plants? The things one learns :)
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