Straw for Strawberries

Today we went and bought straw for the strawberries, pvc piping (like the kind used for electrical cabling) and netting.

I've erected one hooped cover for one garden bed (ironically, for the cauliflowers which still have an undetermined fate, but whom the ducks seem to think are extremely tasty), and covered it with netting. It looks really professional and quite tidy too. I'll take some photos and update tomorrow.

The pvc pipes cost 89c each and I'll be going back tomorrow or Wednesday and getting enough to do all the beds. I think it's the only sensible way to keep the ducks out of my plants!

The straw comes in 5 kg compressed vacuum sealed bags for about 5 euros a bag. You can buy uncompressed bales, but they're much bigger and I'd need to have the car commercially cleaned to get rid of all the dust!

I used one five kg bale to do both strawberry beds and give each squash and courgette plant a nice warm base. The gemsquash look like they grew about 5 inches since yesterday! The other bale is waiting to replenish the berries later in the season.

Vertine has some nice photos of all the 'protection' methods used on her allotment site to keep the birds out of the berries.

Today I'll be sowing some more dwarf beans here at home in 3 inch pots, transplanting some of my tomatoes to bigger pots. The ones that I showed you a week or so ago now have at least two flower trusses showing.

The difference in growth after they are transplanted to their final growing area is just incredible! The ones at the allotment are also looking pretty good.

Finally, my garlic looks as though it might be ready to harvest in about 2 weeks.

Spots on Tomatoes and Spots on Bugs

I haven't been to the garden this weekend yet, so no nice pictures to show you unless you're interested in 7 year olds playing football! No?

I did some research because my tomatoes, healthy up until yesterday, suddenly developed little spots on some of the leaves. I found a wonderful website entitled the 'Tomato Problem Solver'. Perfect!

The other website I found which I thought I should bring to your attention is the Harlequin Ladybird Survey website for the UK. We have Harlequins here in Holland and I don't like them much. Nothing at all like a Harlequin Romance, these bugs actually eat other native ladybirds!

I've seen some 7-spot ladybirds, but recently the Harlequins have been more prevalent. Larvae of both sorts of bugs is peculiar looking! Who would have thought a ladybird came out of such an evil-looking larva?

My tomato problem seems to be bacterial speck, or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, thanks to all the rain we've been having. I've removed the affected leaves and isolated the plants. Let's hope it doesn't spread.

Tomorrow I'll be in the garden making sure the slugs didn't eat absolutely everything that's growing.

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!

Spring on the Balcony

Four days of sunshine... blue skies... no time to blog.... pictures instead. All from the balcony garden.

A forest of hyacinths ...



Muscari, just opening ...



Daffodils... no idea what variety, but I love the ruffles....



The promise of tulips ...



I love growing bulbs. By the spring I've forgotten which varieties I planted so it's a bit like winning the lottery every time a new one opens.

Now I'm going back outside ...