New year, new start

 

Happy new year to all of you!

I cannot believe how quickly 2021 went so I'm going to make the most of my time this year and really work on getting even more from the garden. My focus will be fruit, creating a forage area, homemade plant feed and companion planting. 

For now, my work in the polytunnel has been to start sowing tomatoes. Isn't it too early to sow tomatoes I hear you ask? Well, no because I'm using the aid of heated propagators and lighting to kick start germination. When I worked for a commercial grower, young fruit and vegetable plants would be delivered about now from Europe and they would be about a foot in height already. OK, so I'm not a commercial grower myself but I can cheat seeds into germinating earlier to give me a head start. 

I will also sow aubergines, chillies and some herbs, but I've run out of heated propagators so I'll be using windowsill trays and bring those indoors.

Speeding up seed germination

My seeds stored in a tin, ready to be sown.

There are various ways to spur germination on: 

Soaking

Some seeds, like beans, peas and squashes could benefit from being soaked first. Use hot water from your tap (never use boiling water as not all seeds can tolerate boiling water) and place that in a bowl with your seeds. Leave them for 12-24 hours. That will speed up germination compared to simply sowing seeds directly into the soil.

Chilling

Sometimes a seed needs to feel the seasonal change itself to push on germination. Chilling, or pre chilling as it's better known as, is a way of informing your seeds that they need to prep for germination. You can do this method in a variety of ways, depending on space and equipment. If you have a cold frames you can leave seeds in there. The natural cold will spur in growth. A more common method is to put your seeds in the fridge. Some people may just add the seed packet on a self in their fridge, but you might find that taking the seeds out of the packet and placing them on a damp paper towel which is rolled gives you quicker germination.  Finally, you can also place your seeds in ice cubes and then sow them. As the ice melts it will water your seeds and the change in temperature will wake the seed up. I've only ever tried putting my seeds in the fridge for this method and found that it has worked.

Scarification

This is a method I've never used as I imagine I might be too clumsy (or maybe I'm just not used to trying new methods). This is when you need to work on the outer shell of the seed as some seeds will have tough coats that need some form of abrasion to get the seedling growing. In nature this can be done through temperature changes, natural fires, an animal nibbling the outer shell or the seeds passing through an animal's digestive system. At home though, you can achieve similar results by using sand paper or a sharp knife for weakening the tough outer seed casing. 

More cleaning!

It's really important to make sure that you don't pass on any of last year's pests and diseases to this year's plants. Not completely avoidable but you can make a difference with cleaning. It's not the best bit about gardening for me but necessary. I've been washing seed trays before using them today.

Not my favourite chore!

The wormery

I've been checking my wormery a bit more frequently as the colder weather sets in. The wormery is placed in a sheltered position but I want to make sure that the worms don't freeze anyway. Worm tea is still being collected and I'm storing this in old plastic water bottles. I can't wait to start using it! When I took the layers apart today I was pleased to see rat tailed maggots there too. These are larva of the Drone Fly and they are a pollinator so I'm leaving these guys where I found them. The worms are in good condition too and there's plenty of them so I'm very happy. The wormery is topped up with food for now. Should the weather get colder still I will look at protecting the wormery more.

I now have around 30 litres of worm tea and there's more every week.

The lights are now on in my polytunnel to extend the daylight hours, there's also some warmth but I'll be sowing more seeds and bringing them indoors as I really don't want to get high electricity bills. Thankfully, the heat and lights don't use up much but it is something that's on my mind. My husband is thinking of buying a couple of solar panels for power to the shed and polytunnel (he does a bit of woodwork). I'll keep you posted on that idea.

Disco time again! These lights will only extend the day by a couple more hours. 

And finally...

I've been really exited by the fact that I saw a green finch in the garden a couple of days ago. When I first moved to this property there were lots of green finches and I would grow teasel and sunflowers for them but their numbers started to fall until we stopped seeing them altogether. I still carried on growing finch friendly food but sadly saw none in the last few years. Gold finches are common though. It's only been the one and I haven't seen it back since but there is a niger feeder out there for the finches so fingers crossed!

The snowdrops are coming through now and my photinia is starting to grow new red foliage. I don't have a favourite season as it's always really special to be able to see the changes in the garden and all around me. 

There's be some lovely flowers underneath my shrubs and trees in the garden. 

The Photinia will produce new growth that'll be red in colour.

Keep warm for now. Until next time. 

Jobs for December

 

If you think you've got a chance to escape from any further jobs in the garden then you're wrong!

There's still some things that need to get done before the January cold sets in and there's always ongoing jobs. Here's my list of the things that you need to do:

• If you haven't already, clean your greenhouse. Then make sure that if you are using any heating, that it's working properly. 
• Take hardwood cuttings. Perfect timing if you really haven't got anything else to do in the garden as you'll find you have plenty of time to propagate now. Take advantage of getting free plants!
• Keep on cleaning bird feeders. Greenfinches in the UK have seen a huge drop in population over the last 15 years. Part of that is caused by a disease called finch trichomonosis, which can spread where birds frequent feeding stations. Make sure you thoroughly clean your feeders about once a fortnight. The same goes for water/bird baths.
• Look after garden ponds. If you keep fish or have amphibians in your pond, try to prevent the surface from freezing over. Do this using a ball or placing a pan of hot water in one spot. Breaking the ice can shock anything living in your pond. 

I've been continuing with my no dig patch. It's not been easy as I'm running out of organic matter at home so I may have to resort to buying some very soon. 

Indoors:

There's jobs indoors with houseplants too. Popular Christmas flowering plants need care, but if you have other houseplants reduce watering them now. 

Poinsettias: These don't like the cold so make sure when you buy one it has been kept in shelter. They don't even like the cold if you are just making a trip from the shop to the car! Although many treat them as annuals and throw them away in the spring, you can keep them. Try to grow yours on and see if you can get those lovely colourful bracts to appear by giving your poinsettia a stint in darkness.

Christmas Cactus: Cacti don't need much care over winter, so be careful not to overwater. If yours hasn't got flower buds, it may be because it's been kept somewhere a little bit too warm.

Cyclamen: These need care when watering. Water from the bottom rather than on the leaves as this can cause fungal infections.

Kalanchoe: These lovely cheerful plants enjoy sunny spots. They also don't like to be overwatered.

The wonderful colours of Poinsettias. I'll keep these for next year and hopefully get some more colour varieties then too.

I've also been working on creating some colourful pots and pot holders for my home as the days get dark too early. My houseplants needed an attractive pot boost!

A couple of small attempts at getting arty. Am favouring the green and gold theme at the moment!

And finally...

I had previously sown some broad beans and I'm happy to say that they are growing on quite well. The onion and shallot sets I've also planted have done well so far too. I'll be planning to sow seeds next. In preparation for that I'll be dusting off the heated propagators and window sill trays for tomatoes, chillis and aubergines to get a head start.

Most of my broad bean seeds have germinated. Looking forward to harvesting these as they are a variety that's new to me.

Keep busy but keep warm if you're going to work outdoors.

Have a lovely Christmas x

Autumn harvests

 Autumn has crept up rather more quickly than I hoped it would and even though I've harvested lots of fruit and veg, there's still plenty to gather and plenty more jobs to do! There's tender plants to cover or move indoors, as well as all the jobs I've listed below.

Harvests:

There's fruit to be picked now. There's no more blackberries but I do have Chilean guava and sloes. Unfortunately, there isn't any fruit on my damson tree, so I can't make any tasty damson tarts. The Chilean guava is a hit with the family though - I like a handful with some plain yogurt in the morning. There's only three plants on my patio but they have produced a lot of fruit so I'm hoping I'll be able to propagate these three so I can double my yield next year. 

Chilean Guava - irresistible to everyone in my family!

Sloes can be picked now. We have some in the garden, and have picked enough to make about 1.5ltrs of sloe gin. This is always a Christmas treat for the family!

Sloes on the branches. The frost has touched them, which is the better time to pick them for gin.

500g picked for 1.5ltrs of gin. Yummy!

Pumpkins have been harvested too and I've made some soup out of one. They are such a versatile vegetable - I love them in a sweet or savoury pie or just roasted too. They store very well, which is an advantage as I don't ever have the time to do something with all of them in one go. I can just pop them somewhere cool and dry. 

OK, so I lost one pumpkin as my daughter wanted to carve one for Halloween, but I still have about five to serve up in various dishes.

No dig:

I'm planning to improve the soil for the veg patch next year and have been reading up on the no dig theory. To me it makes sense and I'm hoping that it will help produce a bigger yield in everything I grow. It should introduce more nutrients in the soil and make it a better texture, thus making weeds easier to pull out. I've been storing a lot of cardboard and been composting as much as possible although I find myself limited on manure at the moment. I'll be preparing the soil over the next few weeks and hopefully it'll be of a good condition by March/April time next year.

Worm, worms, worms:

The one thing that has been a great success this year is the free wormery I got locally (from someone who didn't want theirs). It's produced a lot of worm tea and currently I have twelve litres of the stuff in storage. I do check it regularly and make sure I empty it of the liquid content at least once a week. There were some modifications that it needed though - I have to add a net curtain to try and stop the worms from falling in to the bottom shelf as they would drown. The tap also needed a little filter as it got clogged quite often. Now it's a dream and I would be without it! It's become another job for me as next year I want to build more wormeries out of things I have at home.

Sowing for next year:

Well, despite all the work I've created for myself already, I've also sown some broad beans, onion and shallot sets, plus get some garlic in. This time I've purchased the following varieties:

Broad Beans Superaguadulce

Onions Electric and Radar

Shallots Jermor

Garlic Topadrome

I'll be producing a video very soon on sowing the broad beans, onions and shallots, so watch out for this! 

Wildlife: 

This time of year we all tend to tidy up out gardens. While this is something I do, I still make sure that I leave some quiet corners for wildlife. There needs to be places were insects and mammals can hibernate so there's a few hiding places right at the back of my garden, away from where I'm working to avoid disturbing anything. It's a good time to put out feed for the birds. I have quite a few species visit my garden and they have a mix of berries as well as the suet and seeds on offer from feeders. I also regularly clean and top up water for the birds and any visiting mammals (we do get mice, foxes and badgers). Mrs R, the local robin, likes to visit me for a handful of meal worms but she also accompanies me when I'm working on my no dig patch and it's always lovely seeing her.

Possibly the worst video I've ever taken of any bird. This is Mrs R helping herself to a mealworm. Blink and you'll miss her!

Keep prepping your gardens! Till next time. 

Harvesting already

It's been a funny year for weather so far - very dry early on and now quite wet, it's hardly a surprise that a lot of things haven't done very well so far or are just growing too slow. There are, despite this, lots of successes too. My flower garden is growing very well (although somewhat munched by slugs and snails) and I've managed to start harvesting. There's been lots of chores to do in the garden, which have kept me busy and I'm happy that things are moving on.

Edible wall

This year I decided to use some old pallets that I got from local builders to make a wall where my pergola once stood. Severe weather took down my neighbour's fence and did a bit of damage to our garden, the cherry tree getting the worst of it, so I wanted to upgrade that side to include an edible wall as I have a grape vine and the not so very well cherry tree. 

It was an easy construction - a bit of paint and some liner and with my husband's help to create feet so that it would stand, I planted nasturtiums, strawberries and cucamelons to create a colourful, trailing mix. 

Coming along quite nicely. I originally chose a blue paint, which I hated so immediately swapped to this cool, green, which I think fits better.

Filling out: The nasturtiums have filled out the best, with the strawberries ripening up. The cucamelons have just started to grow on a bit more but it'll be a few weeks before we see any fruit on those.

Harvest

I was kept busy by harvesting rhubarb, garlic and broad beans today. My rhubarb normally does very well, but it didn't seem to like this year and I've not managed to pick much there. The broad beans were a different story - I've only just started picking them today. There's already 400g in the freezer and there's still plenty more to be picked over the next 2-3 weeks. This year the garlic has done well too. We seem to have enough for about 9 months of the year, so I should really take note and grow more as we love using garlic in our home cooking!

Garlic drying out in the sun before I tie them up and store them.

The broad beans take a long time removing from their pods but well worth it when you eat them!

Just some of the broad beans and rhubarb I harvested today.

Moving on

Now that my broad beans are coming to an end and the garlic bed is clear, I will need to find something to fill those gaps. A couple of months ago I sowed French beans and out of about 30 seeds, I only got one plant! The reason behind the poor germination is unknown but I can guess that maybe it could be because the packets I used (I tried 2 varieties) were getting old. So, I purchased 2 more varieties: Ferrari and Polka, which are dwarf French beans. Fingers crossed these will germinate this time as my family love French beans.

I've also been looking at making the garden more self sufficient in itself, examining the science behind soil, invertebrates and plant nutrition and I'll share my ideas and work in my next blog. Until then, keep enjoying you outdoor space!

Happy New Year!

 Hello and happy new year to everyone! It's still cold and dark, and set to get colder but I've made a start with sowing seeds in my polytunnel already.

Some plants benefit from being started early however, it's worth noting that you need to make sure that you're growing the right things for this time of year or that you are helping your seedlings by adding heating and lighting, or growing on your windowsill at home. If you don't you could end up with weak, leggy seedlings that won't survive for long.

The plants I've chosen to grow early this year are tomatoes, chillies, peppers and aubergines. To help them I'm using my heated propagators with the new addition of lighting this year. I've never used lighting before so this will be interesting to observe whether it'll make a difference or not. 

Not a disco but my new grow lights!

Far too many seeds! I've limited it to three of each variety to make sure I have space for everything.

Reusing old plastic - I never throw out my old plastic trays or inserts unless they're totally useless.

The very small tomato seed.

Admittedly, last year I got carried away with sowing seeds and got far too many plants so this time I'm sowing three of each variety. Last year I found myself running out of room for everything and overcrowding can lead to diseases and pests spreading easily.

Before I got started with sowing, I made sure that everything was clean. Everything was removed from the polytunnel and then I added two garlic candles. I really wasn't sure whether or not this actually helped. The poly did smell of garlic for a month or so but I also then disinfected the place, including the shelves to rid the place of any plant diseases. Last year our garden resident hedgehog actually gave birth and kept her two hoglets in my poly so I made sure that no one was hibernating in there before any form of disinfecting took place, to prevent any harm to any wildlife. 

I also washed the trays and inserts that I use - I rarely throw these away unless they are completely worn out and damaged. Where I can I use toilet rolls and other recycled equipment. 

Once everything was ready it was just a case of adding compost and a light watering. With the lighting I'm going to extend the daylight by just a couple of hours a day and see if that makes a difference.

Elsewhere in the garden I've been keeping tender plants indoors and have a geranium (pelargonium not wild geranium) that has been flowering non stop for me. It's now residing in my conservatory where walking past its bright red flowers puts a smile on my face every time!

Bright and cheerful geranium.

At Christmas I was lucky enough to get a bird box camera as a present, so I've build that in to my top bird box, where blue tits normally nest each year. Birds can start prospecting for nest sites now and the camera has already caught a blue tit peeking in a few times. My daughter is very excited by the idea of being able to watch any young birds being raised and I think that this is a great way of getting children involved in learning about nature. In order to help make things a little easier for our feathered friends, I've also made use of some old wire and have made a couple of holders for nesting material. I'll put out these out in February. Closer to the time I'll show you how I made these and what I've used to fill them.

But for now, plan your plots and start preparing. I'm hoping that this will be a better year than 2020!

The nights are getting longer

 As the nights are getting longer and we are now in lockdown 2, I've been continuing in the garden with a few jobs during mild, dry autumn days.

One of the key things I wanted to do was to clean up the green house and polytunnel as best as I could. This year I wanted to try fumigation candles. The reason for this is that I don't want either place to become a home for pests that could do some significant damage. Having said that, I didn't want anything that could be a risk for all the plants I do currently keep under glass and in the poly (sulphur candles would be a no in this case). So, after a bit of research I came across garlic fumigation candles. These can be used with plants inside your greenhouse and while there have been mixed reviews online, I thought I've give them a go, so I purchased three - two for the poly and one for my greenhouse. Here's my thoughts on them so far:

Firstly, I called several local garden centres to see if they stocked them. It was a no from everyone (apart from the ones who didn't even answer the phone) so I had to buy them online. They were priced at £8.99 each - a bit pricey but not over expensive, but let's wait and see if they prove to work when it comes to getting rid of pests. They came by post very quickly so I put them to use this weekend, waiting for the late afternoon before lighting them. Caution: I opened the packaging they came in indoors, which left a strong garlic smell in the house for hours, so if you do try these, open the outer packaging in the garden!

To prep the areas I was going to use these candles in, I cleaned and made sure that I followed the manufacturer's instructions of watering my plants that were dry, being careful not to get water on the leaves. I then made sure windows etc were closed and place the candles on the floor on bricks as they would need a heat proof surface (I have a wooden slatted floor in my poly). Lighting them was easy and I've now left them to do their thing overnight. These candles can be used anytime of the year so if they are successful and I find that pests have made their way back in, I may use these again.

Could this candle be a great help in my green house and poly tunnel? It was very pungent and fingers crossed it'll do the job, whilst keeping my plants safe.

Sticking to the garlic theme, I've finally sown my garlic - a bit later than I wanted to but at least they're all in now. We're still using the garlic I grew this year, so it's been a success story. I'm hoping that there will be enough left until the new garlic is harvested next year. This time, I didn't use pots, I simply prepared a small patch of ground where I grow herbs and popped them in, spacing them out so each has room to grow. To prep the bed, I removed all the weeds and the red veined sorrel that's been spreading itself in the herb patch. Garlic doesn't compete very well against anything else that grows around it, so it's important to keep on top of weeding. I'll be keeping any eye on it over the months, hand weeding anything that grows near them. 

The garlic is starting to grow. You can get up to 15-20 cloves on each bulb, which is what I'd like to get following this year's success with garlic.

Over the month of November I'll be sowing certain flower varieties for next year and in December I'll be making a start with tomato and other vegetable seeds, all under glass and I'll be testing my new LED lighting to see if that will benefit me starting seeds off earlier than normal. 

Following the recent second lockdown, Jim has started visiting the garden again, so I'm pleased to see him back. I wonder if the rest of his flock will follow. The hedgehog box had a big refill of straw to see if we would have a garden hibernator - I won't be checking the box as I don't want to disturb anything that may want to use it over winter. Finally, I'll be cleaning one last birdbox for preparation in the new year. I'm hoping that we'll continue having blue tits but I'd also like to see other bird species use the nest boxes we've provided. 

Bright orange pyracantha berries - I've spotted pigeons eating these. They add such a beautiful colour to the garden this time of year. The flowers you can see are from a weigela - a plant that doesn't normally flower this time of year.  

One last job in the garden that you would definitely need to to: remember to protect any tender outdoor plants from frosts. We've had two mild frosts so far, so I've placed anything tender under glass, but you can also use protective fleece to wrap any potted plants that are too heavy to move or have nowhere else to go.

Till next time, enjoy the colours of autumn!

What to do now

 Now that the clocks have gone back the days will get shorter - something I don't like but only because it shortens my time in the garden. So, what have I been up to lately? Now is a good time to start tidying the polytunnel and greenhouse (not my favourite type of gardening), cutting back some perennials and planting bulbs. 

One of the frogs in the garden - not looking too impressed with the new water butts.

I haven't done much in the vegetable garden. Most things are now either sown for winter or harvested. In the coming weeks I'll be planting garlic bulbs and adding some raspberries to the vegetable patch. So, I've been preparing the garden for spring colour and saving rain water. There are now two new water butts in addition to the five I already have. This time I purchased two slim water butts, with a capacity of 100 ltrs each, to go on my patio. That way I can water the containers on the patio without having to use tap water all the time, or walk down to the bottom of the garden to the other butts to fill my watering cans. 

Staying on the patio, I tended to my ornamental pots, removing dying annuals and cutting back perennials. Where there was space, I added some ornamental bulbs, including a mix of different daffodils and some fritillaries including Fritillaria meleagris and Fritillaria uva vulpis as I love the colours of their flowers. I also used the time to collect some seeds. There were a few nigellas in one pot and the seed heads were full, so I took advantage of collecting those to grow even more next year. As a child I was fascinated by nigella, or Love in a Mist, in my mother's garden. I find it a pretty addition to any garden with its delicate foliage and its equally beautiful seed heads. They attract insects too, so this little flower is a winner in my opinion. 

Fritillary bulbs

 The Fritillary bulbs layered on top of Daffodils. The depth depends on the size of the bulb, typically you plant them at a depth of three times the bulb's length.

Propagation continues with checking on my rose cuttings that I took about four weeks ago. These I placed in a pot, using Rootgrow to aid the production of roots and get these cutting firmly established. The rose in particular is a yellow variety called Absolutely Fabulous and I wanted to propagate this one because its a very fragrant rose. Members of my family always stop to smell the flowers so I thought it would be nice to add a few more in the garden and give a couple to my mother. Anyway, the cuttings look like they are rooting and are now producing new leaves so I think I've done ok there. I've never really been very good at reproducing plants from cuttings in the past, having only been successful with Weigila and one other rose. I'm also going to try propagating cuttings of the Chilean guava that I have. Currently I have three plants in pots and I'd like to double that number as the children really love eating the little berries. Fingers crossed I can manage that one too!

One of my rose cuttings

As for the veg patch, I'll be picking the last cabbage next week and making some sorrel soup. The Christmas crop of potatoes are growing quite nicely, along with the beetroots and onions that I put in back in early September. The polytunnel now only has physallis, or Inca berry, but these have been slow in producing fruit so I don't see much promise from them. The raised beds are all empty apart from one section, which contains a few parsnips for Christmas. Over the next few weeks I'll be cleaning the polytunnel to try and prevent any pests from overwintering in there and I'll be adding electricity again to fire up the heated propagators and my new lighting to start some seeds off in November and December.

The Onions are growing on very nicely so far.

The last marrow that I picked - roasted for Sunday lunch.

Finally, I've been making sure that wildlife doesn't miss out. The birds now have even more feeders and I've seen a few new visitors - including a greater spotted woodpecker and a ring necked parakeet. The birds that visit the most at the moment are the smaller species such as blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, house sparrows, starlings and a robin. Once (and only once for now), I saw a different bird, which I think could have been a wood warbler as it was the right colour but sadly I couldn't get my camera in time to take a photo! The smaller birds will start prospecting for nesting places in January so I've been cleaning and fixing the old nest boxes to get those ready in time. Any that are up now are useful sleeping places for adult birds, keeping out of any adverse weather. Feeders and water stations are cleaned weekly as always to prevent any diseases from spreading, in particular canker in birds, which is very painful and birds will die from this. 

The woodpecker tucking into sunflower hearts.

I managed to capture this image outside near my front garden of a sparrowhawk.

The ring necked parakeet that I haven't seen since but I'm sure is around.

I'm also excited to tell you that I am now writing about gardening for a local free magazine, Harpendia! It'll feature gardening advice, suggestions and jobs in the garden. On top of this I'll be starting up my own small business to sell bulbs, plants and gardening sundries. There'll be lots of planning and hard work involved but it won't take my time away from the garden. 

Till next time x