Bug life in the garden

To make a change from working in the garden, I chose to sit and relax in the late afternoon. Whilst sitting in the dappled shade as the sun started to disappear behind the trees I decided to feed the birds. Making sure not to leave out the ground feeders, I put out a dish with some suet pellets and live mealworms, covering it with an old hanging basket frame. Within 30 minutes a robin came to feast on the mealworms. My favourite feral pigeon, Speckled Jim, turned up with a few friends but I did see another side to him today. As I crushed a fat ball (the feral pigeons' fave food) Jim wouldn't allow any of the others to come close to the tasty treats and was quite vocal about it too!

Aside from the birds, there are many living creatures in the garden. At night time there's a hedgehog and foxes, while the pond which had plenty of frogs now has tadpoles. However, there's much more going on and it's the smaller creatures that I thought would be worth mentioning this time.

The insect world is an old and varied one, and insects still play a vital role in the Earth's careful balance of life. Here's some that you may or may not recognise:

Ladybird

An easy one to spot in your garden when it's in adult form. A brightly coloured beetle, the ladybird's favourite food is the aphid, making this creature a gardener's friend. In larva stage the ladybird looks very different. It's black with some bright coloration. Like it's adult parents, the larva also eats soft bodied insects such as aphids.

Adult ladybird

Ladybird larva

Flea beetle

There's quite a few species of flea beetle in the UK and some will feed on brassicas (cabbages, turnips etc), with the adults feeding on the leaves and larva feeding on the roots. I have had flea beetle damage on my brassicas on the allotment a few years ago. The damage was easily spotted as was the flea beetle as I could see several of them. They are very small, measuring only a couple of millimetres, but they have a distinctive flea like behaviour of jumping that gives them away.

You can just about see here the larger hind legs that enable the flea beetle to jump to safety if disturbed.

My turnips with flea beetle damage. I can honestly say that I didn't get to harvest any turnips that year.

Shield bug

Like the flea beetle, there's several species in the UK and one I come across most often is the Common Green. I must admit that the shield bug isn't a true beetle and good news for gardeners - the Common Green is not harmful to plants, despite feeding on plant sap. It does, however, have a trick up its sleeve. You may have heard an alternate name for this creature - stink bug! That's because if it's disturbed the shield bug omits a pungent smell from special glands so beware when you are near them.

Despite me handling this little chap, I didn't receive a dose of the smelly secretion but I have come across it on raspberries, which was an unpleasant surprise as the smell can taint crops!

Butterflies

Butterflies sadly seem to be having a hard time at the moment. Some are considered pests, such as the Cabbage White, while others rely on native species of plants for food, which some gardeners regard as weeds, so it isn't easy being a butterfly. The good news for butterflies in my garden is that I love them and will always keep a patch with wild flowers for caterpillars and when I grow brassicas I always leave one or two sacrificial plants for caterpillars too. I would also suggest adding in native plants such as nettles, ivy and hawthorn to provide food for several species.

Here's looking at you! I was lucky to get  a nice close up of this Cabbage White. Note the compound eyes.

The very striking Red Admiral butterfly, one of my personal faves, on my buddleia last year. It lays its eggs on nettles, as does the Peacock and Tortoiseshell.

Hoverflies

For an unknown reason ever since my childhood I have always loved hoverflies. They are a great sight to see for me and some species can be regarded as a gardener's friend owing to the fact that their larvae eat aphids. This time of the year you can see hoverflies hovering in areas of your garden - this their way of letting others know that this is their territory. They can be mistaken for wasps or bees because their bodies resemble them. There are some differences though to help you recognise them: bees have hairy bodies and antennae, whereas hoverflies don't have as much hair (some don't at all) and lack the antennae. There's also a difference between male and female hoverflies and it's all about the eyes. Females have smaller eyes than the males and if you are lucky enough to get a closer look you can see that the male's eyes are not only bigger but meet at the top of the head. The female's eyes are separated.  

This is a female hoverfly that was resting on one of my okra plants that I just repotted.

Here's a closer look at the female (I was so lucky she kept still long enough). Note that the eyes don't meet at the top of the head.

This one is a male by the look of it. Photographed at Kew last year.

This time of year you'll hear the unmistakable buzz of the bumblebee as they start to make more appearances. There's over 20 species of bumblebee in the UK, including those are not native (like the tree bumblebee that nested in one of our bird boxes a few years ago). They play an important part in pollinating our plants, so take care of them in your garden. They are even used in glasshouse crop production, where bumblebee nest boxes are brought from specialist companies to help with crops that need insect pollinators. 

The Garden Bumblebee on quince earlier this year.

I think this is the Common Carder Bee here in my garden. 

The Tree Bumblebee in one of our next boxes. Steve and I would enjoy an early evening glass of wine in the garden with the gentle hum of them buzzing.

Weevils

Where do I begin with weevils? There are so many species of them and they are often seen as the "bad guy" in gardens, mainly due to the Vine Weevil in the UK. Leaf damage is easily seen as you'll find notches on the edges of leaves but it's what goes on underground that causes damage which gardeners hate the weevil for. The vine weevil grub will live in soil, including in pots where it will feed on plant roots in autumn and winter, causing severe wilting or even death in plants. I have never used chemical treatment on vine weevils, instead opting to empty pots in spring and removing the grubs. Having said that I haven't had much of a problem with vine weevil. The weevil is a member of the beetle family and different species eat different plants and sadly most of them are considered as pests.

I found this weevil near my polytunnel last year. I don't know what species it is.

Vine Weevil grub found in one of my pots this year.

This Vine Weevil is going through metamorphosis.

I've only just mentioned a small amount of insects here. There's so many more and if I can find more and photograph them I'll write about them. I hope you enjoyed reading about these creatures. Now I'll have to get busy with gardening again! Until next time!

April so far

Well, the weather has been warm this month so far and it can only mean one thing for me - carry on gardening! I've been very busy with sowing both veg seeds and flower seeds in a bid to get as much in the garden as possible. The shelves in the polytunnel are heaving under the weight of so many trays and pots, but I've also been transplanting veg to my prepared beds outdoors now.

During lockdown my husband has also been very busy getting creative for wildlife. He's hidden away in the shed working on various projects, including a hedgehog house, bird table and a cover for the pond pump to place more plants on. I'm hoping he'll carry on producing more wonderful items.

The pond now has a much better look to it thanks to Steve.

So, back to the planting. I've finally put my potatoes in. This year I'm only growing a maincrop variety: Rooster. These were reasonably priced, from Wilkos. I can't remember the price but it was around the £2 mark. There were 20 in a pack, so I dug two trenches and placed 10 in each. I've left mounds of earth beside each trench so that I can continue to earth up the potatoes to get a good crop.

 I used an egg box or two to chit my potatoes in. These now had some good shoots and were ready to go in.

 To keep it as neat as possible, I used string to mark out straight trenches.

 Spacing out the potatoes to give each plant room to produce a good yield. I left a space of just over a foot between each potato.

The peas that the children had sown in to toilet rolls had germinated and some were growing quite a bit. In some cases the roots were already in view underneath so I took them outdoors and planted them in a prepared bed. Out of the seven varieties that were sown, all but one did very well. Unfortunately, the variety Kleine Rheinlanderin didn't germinate at all, so I won't be eating any of these in the summer.

With the help of my husband, the peas were placed in rows and covered with protective fleece. The fleece is there for two reasons: firstly the plants are still very young and I wanted them protected from any harsh frost and secondly young pea plants can be a tasty treat to pigeons, which there are a lot of in my garden! This crop probably won't make the kitchen once the peas are ready for picking as the family enjoy eating them straight off the plant. There's nothing quite like the taste of fresh peas and I can't wait!

You can't see the peas here but I assure you that they are very much there!

One plant that has probably felt a little forsaken in my garden is the humble strawberry. A small plant with delicious, very popular iconic fruit, which unfortunately didn't produce much (if any) strawberries for me last year. I'm guessing that it may have been the weather as I wasn't the only one. My local pick your own was often closed last year during season with a sign on the gates simply saying "closed due to lack of fruit", which was a huge disappointment for my children who both love picking fruit. I do hope that they didn't suffer too badly financially and that we'll see them open for a long season this year.

I cleaned up my own strawberry plants, removing any dead leaves and left the runners intact. These I then attached to pots with homemade metal pegs. They will remain attached to their parent plants until they successfully root into the pots, at which point I'll then cut them free from the parent plants and pot them on elsewhere. Just to give it a try I've also sown some strawberry seeds. Two varieties, one being an alpine strawberry. Alpine strawberries produce smaller fruit, which is still very tasty and are supposed to aid digestion. So far none have germinated, but it's early days so I'll  let you know how I got on.

For the runners, I just filled small pots (0.5ltr) with compost.

I used an old wire coat hanger (as I hate using them as hangers) to make my pegs.

Making the pegs wasn't easy and I must admit that Steve helped me with this bit!

The strawberry runner is now fastened down in the pot and should start to produce roots. Once the roots are there, the stem from the parent plant will be cut.

Other seedlings in the green house and polytunnel are various brassicas, tomatoes, beetroots, onions and lots of different flowers, including lavatera and nasturtium seedlings. I will write about these later on but finally I wanted to introduce you to Speckled Jim, a feral pigeon who has taken to visiting my garden since the centre of town no longer has people eating out due to the coronavirus. He's come out to where there is food and visits every morning and evening at 8.30am and 5.30pm on the dot. During the early evenings I sit with Jim to get him used to me. I think it's very important to get close to nature and although Jim is just a feral pigeon, it's so calming to sit with him and feed him. He's not the only one: we also have a resident hedgehog that my daughter feeds in long dry spells and yes, the hedgehog house that Steve built is for that little fellow. There is also frog spawn in the pond and it was delightful listening to the adult frogs sing, which I managed to get on film.

Now a regular visitor, Jim is always welcome.

There's still plenty of work to get done, so I'll be back very soon. 

Even more sowing...

As March starts creeping away from us, I'm out in the garden even more, sowing as many seeds as I possibly can. Sadly, we're troubled with Covid 19 and the schools are currently closed to help prevent the spread of the virus, so I've enrolled the help of my two children, giving them lessons in plant biology at the same time!

So, today we've started with peas. My kids will pick these and eat them fresh so we're sowing plenty of these to get growing. There's seven varieties that I have and these are:

Avola
Onward
Rondo
Meteor
Hurst Green Shaft
Kleine Rheinlanderin
Kelvedon Wonder

This will be a good test to see which varieties will grow well and which will produce the most peas. It'll be good to compare the claims on the packet to the actual plants.

I always grow peas in toilet rolls, which I collect all year round (much to the annoyance of my husband), as I was told many years ago that peas don't like to have their roots disturbed. Having been told this I have always grown peas in cardboard as I can simply put them out in the soil complete with their pots.
Another way of growing under glass to start your peas off, as a fellow gardener uses, is to sow the seeds in guttering. My friend does this so she can simply push the peas out into prepared trenches, thus not really disturbing the roots too much.
The final way (and probably the easiest), is to sow the seeds directly into the soil where you want to grow them. To do this, you will need to protect your seedlings from birds (especially pigeons). I've done this too and for basic protection I have used netting, until the plants were around 20cm tall. Peas have grown successfully for me this way, but it took more effort with weeding!
Peas will need support once you've got them in place as they are climbers. They're not fussy, so you can use a variety of materials for this. I have used hazel and other wood, bamboo canes and string. As long as whatever you choose to use has the strength to support your peas and is a good height (50cm-80cm is usually what I aim for). Last year I used two stakes and some chicken wire, which was good enough.

From compost filled toilet rolls to tasty peas. 

I also got my children to prepare one of the raised beds in the polytunnel to sow some salad crop. The raised bed was already weeded and there's no need to dig the soil there as it's already in great condition. My son topped the bed with fresh compost to give it some much needed nutrients, raking it on the surface. Next, my daughter used a small hoe to mark out four trenches. The two of them then added seeds. These were radishes, kale, leaf beet and Swiss chard. Both watered (without any arguments) before leaving me to finish off some more sowing.

This year I've opted for growing onions from seed, which is what I used to do when I first moved in with Steve and took to working the garden. I've gone for classic choices in red and white onions: Red Baron and Bedfordshire Champion. I'll be aiming to grow Japanese onions later in the year (sowing usually happens in July/August time), to grow onions in succession.

Onion seeds are small, black and therefore difficult to see once in the soil. I sowed mine in two small trays.

When preparing pots and trays, take care to look for hidden pests. I had a great number of snails and slugs tucked away in various places. None were killed - just carefully placed as far away as possible!

I also took the time to sow kohl rabi, broccoli, cape gooseberry and sweet peppers. All are being kept in the polytunnel until I take out my pots (with tender plants) from the green house and create some space there.

I'm really happy with my tomatoes - several varieties are germinating! I did put these seeds in heated propagators, which are still on. It is still early in the year and last night we did have a frost, so I'm taking my time with plants that prefer warmth. No aubergines or courgettes yet though so watch this space!

Hello babies! I'm really looking forward to these growing on.

A closer look at a tomato seedling.

The broad beans are flowering so I couldn't miss an opportunity to photograph these lovelies. Vegetable flowers can be just as beautiful as cut flowers to me. 

Finally, I'll be trying to work in the garden a little bit every day now, to really get things going. There's still an awful lot to do but while I'm at home, I do have the time to give the garden a bit more of my attention.

March sowing

This weekend I promised I'd start to sow Mediterranean veg so I sorted through my seed catalogue and selected three things: tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines. Despite the fact that it's warming up and forecasts suggest 16 degrees next week, I'm going to use my heated propagators for all three to help the seeds germinate.

That's a lot of seeds! 

Tomatoes:

The whole family love tomatoes. My children prefer simply picking them off the plants and eating them fresh and in salads. My husband and I enjoy them fresh too but we also use them a lot in cooking. In the past I've made passata, which I stored in jars over winter to add to sauces and dishes.

 I've got quite a few varieties sown so here's a list:

For passata - 

• Marmande
• Cour de bue
• Roma
• Red pear

For salads and cooking - 

• Moneymaker
• Harbinger
• Red cherry
• Gardener's delight
• San Marzano red plum
• Yellow perfection
• Ildi
• Gartenperle

For interesting colours and flavours - 

• Noir russe
• Black opal
• Noir de crimee

I've sown five of each variety and am hoping for good germination. Once these start growing on, I'll move them to various places in the garden but will try to keep most indoors - greenhouse and polytunnel (depending on room). 

Tomatoes always seem to taste better when freshly picked! 

Tomato seeds were lightly covered with some compost and then watered.

The heated propagators are covered to prevent heat loss and stop the compost getting dry too quickly.

Courgettes:

Rarely wasted in my garden, courgettes are quite versatile. I've sown one variety only - Black Beauty, but I'm hoping that three plants will provide plenty of food for the four of us and other family members. Courgettes are not something that I store over winter so it's truly a seasonal veg for me. I like to add it in soups whereas my mother has a very simple dish of sliced courgette cooked in passata to add to a main meal. 

Courgettes tend to dislike windy areas, which is why they've always preferred my garden to the allotment, which was too exposed. I'll be looking at where a good site will be for them as I plan the veg garden in the next few weeks. 

I've sown three seeds, into potting compost (peat free), and placed these in a heated propagator too. 

Aubergines:

Two varieties will feature this year, provided they will grow well. I've managed to grow good plants but not always good fruit. Viserba and Long Purple, two classic purple varieties, but there are more out there to choose from. Below is a photograph of some very striking looking aubergines trialled at a local grower's:

They may look very different but these are all varieties of aubergine.

A very beautiful aubergine flower. 

I'll be focusing on potatoes and mushrooms next time. The garden will still have plenty of room for more fruit and veg, which I will have a think about over the week. I'll also be planning what goes where once my seedlings have started to make an appearance. 

Until next time!

  

Fresh start, fresh plot

Well, it's certainly been an interesting winter - mild with barely any frost my way. Aside from the weather, I've made a big decision that will change my garden - I'm giving up my allotment plot. I'll still keep on writing though because now I'll be growing more in my own back garden.

Now that the kids would rather go out than play in the garden (they're old enough to go out the local park and shops etc), I have more garden to play with myself! I've decided to reclaim what was the grow your own patch and add more edibles in pots, leaving plenty of room for flowering plants and shrubs for wildlife. Sadly, due to the recent storms I lost one of my eucalyptus trees but I'm keeping the wood as it's hard and I have a few ideas.

So, to get to the serious gardening stuff: I started early with some seeds to see how well they would do. The plants selected were broad beans, garlic, spring onions and chillies. In short the spring onions didn't do too great so I'm sowing more again soon. Here's the rest:

Broad beans

I used a few varieties, including the Sutton and Aquadulce Claudia, which have done quite well. Back in November about 50 seeds were sown and now after some not germinating and a bout of fungal disease, there's about 30 plants, which is more than enough for a small family. Beans are a firm favourite with my children so there'll be more to come in the shape of runners and French come April time.

Why sow so early? Broad beans are hardy plants and seeds can germinate at low temperatures so you don't need to use heated propagators or bring seed trays into the warmth. In my case I left them in the polytunnel and they did well apart from fungus getting to some of them. To prevent all my plants from dying I simply threw away the infected ones (burning helps kill fungus), being careful not to add them to my compost heap (well, you don't want to spread disease, do you).

The surviving seedlings were transplanted to larger pots (0.5ltr size) to grow on in January and now in early March I've put them outside in prepared beds. Careful not to dig too much as I don't want to disturb the wildlife in the soil, I added home produced compost to the beds as feed for the beans. Once this has been done there's little needing to be done. Broad beans don't need much more care really, which is great for those of us who like the idea of growing our own but don't want to spend too much time or don't have much knowledge of horticulture. Sit back and enjoy picking them when the time comes!

Healthy looking roots of the broad bean.

 One that didn't make it.

The forest of beans in my polytunnel was starting to take over and the plants were getting to close to each other. Now they're spaced out in the fresh air.

 Garlic

I don't know a lot of people that grow garlic and to be honest I've not always done very well in growing it, but this year I changed my method. I took to growing it in pots. Two pots were prepared and nine are growing quite well. Like other members of the allium family, garlic doesn't like invading weeds so growing in pots is easier to control, provided you give them sufficient space. Garlic for growing can be purchased in the early winter months and the coldness can wake them up, which means another job out of the way before March, but remember to keep the weeds out! Finally, on garlic, here's a strange tip: my mother would put two or three cloves of garlic in water and let that sit for a couple of weeks. She would then dilute that garlic water in a watering can and use it to hydrate her roses. I don't know if it was just a coincidence but the roses watered with this would have a stronger scent than those that didn't! Maybe I'll give this a try this year and let you know.

Garlic growing wonderfully in pots! Not a weed in sight so these guys should be comfortable.

Chillies

Not usually the type of veg you'd think of starting as early as November but I took two varieties to the test: Apache and Jalapeno. Apache is a variety that can be sown in November, Jalapeno didn't do too well - out of 6 seeds sown only two germinated, whereas 5 Apache are growing nicely. Typically, most seeds need daylight and warmer soil to kick start germination. Extra light wasn't given to my seeds but they were left on a window sill inside the house, above a radiator. Repotting has only just been done (using 0.5ltr pots again) to give their roots more room and more nutrition. I've also given them support with 30cm sticks. Not daring to leave them in the greenhouse just yet, they are back in the house on the same window sill for now. I'll move them outside once the weather warms up and repot them once more into larger pots.

New beginnings - I was skeptical at first sowing in November!

0.5ltr pots with peat free compost.

Now transplanted into those pots to grow on. I'll be moving them to bigger pots again in a month or so, depending on their growth.

Some gentle support by means of loosely tied string to aid the plants.

And finally...

...I'm also adding horseradish to my herb patch. I purchased a packet of two thongs by Taylors, which cost £2.99. I don't think that's a bad price, especially as when looked after, the horseradish should carry on growing for years as it is a perennial plant, so I shouldn't have to buy any more. Carefully digging the ground and freeing it of weeds, I planted the thongs with 5cm of soil above their tips. I'm hoping to see some growth in about three-four weeks.

This caught my eye at a local garden centre and as my husband loves horseradish, why not?

You can see here that the thongs do show some life. Alternatively, if you know someone who grows this they can always dig some up for you to plant in your garden instead of buying any but beware of pests and diseases in this case.

It's seemed relatively easy work so far this year but I know that there's hard work around the corner. Next week I'm hoping to sow some Mediterranean fruit and veg (think aubergines, tomatoes) and work on my plants and shrubs. Don't let the weather put you off - we sometimes allow ourselves to be trapped indoors over winter but now the days are getting longer and warmer so get on out there!

Till next time x

Progression in the polytunnel

Well, it's getting closer to May and the weather has been warming up. It's certainly not really been a rainy April. I remember this time a few years ago being so wet and my polytunnel shelves groaning under the weight of countless seedlings waiting to go out!

At the moment,, I've carried on planting inside the polytunnel in the raised beds. Right now I have tomatoes, radishes, lettuce, garlic and parsnips all doing well.

Tomatoes:
My tomato plants are growing nicely, with about 50% now in the raised beds. I'll put about 30% more in this coming weekend and then the remainder (I'll not have room for all of them in the raised beds) will go in the greenhouse and mini greenhouse. Height wise, they are about 30cm tall but I've only tied the ones planted in the beds temporarily to sticks. I'll be attaching them to string (and I'll show you why I like this method when I do it) later.

Lettuce:
I've two varieties growing: Lollo rossa and Little Gem, both of which could really be picked now. I've not had a need for salad leaves at the dinner table just yet but it's good to know that there's something I can pick.

Pak Choi:
This is something that I also enjoy growing. It's easy to look after and I love it in a stir fry. I'll be sowing more seeds at the weekend to produce this in succession to carry on enjoying this leaf.

 Lollo rossa looking very good here.

 Pak choi growing on, some will still be in pots and I'll be sowing more seeds very soon.

 The tomatoes in their final growing place after being moved from their pots. I will keep some in bigger pots as well as growing in raised beds.

I've also gone ahead and removed some plants from the polytunnel, transferring them to the garden. I must admit that I haven't really hardened off any plants as the weather has been warm but if anything happens due to a cold snap then that's my own fault!

Why harden off?



Hardening off plants prepares them better for the outdoors if they have been grown indoors/under glass. It's not just the potential of damage from cold but also from wind and sun exposure (yes, plants can also get burnt in the sun just as we would do if left out all day). Gradual introduction to the great outdoors is often overlooked when it comes to growing (and I'm no exception).

Broad beans:
So, some of my varieties are being grown outside the old chicken shed (as I no longer have poultry). The soil should contain lots of nutrients from having poultry live there before and nothing else has grown there since. I don't really think that the soil should be damaging in any way to crops and plants (fresh manure can be too "hot" for plants, burning their roots etc but this area doesn't contain any fresh manure anymore). I've put out two varieties and am saving the other two for the allotment. Aquadulce Claudia and The Sutton are out in the garden and so far looking quite healthy.

 The roots of my broad beans getting quite busy in their pots!

 Healthy looking bean plants with no aphids or signs of chocolate spot.

Globe artichokes:

I quite like these both as flowering plants and as edibles. I think they look striking in a garden setting, reaching tall heights with unusual looking flowers. I like pickled artichokes but I'm the only one in the family that does! I've grown all mine from seeds I purchased last year. They are ready to go out as they are outgrowing their pots so I've planted them in a permanent area close to a fence by the old chicken shed. With growing this many I can keep some to flower in the garden and some to eat. Best of both!





 Globe artichokes raised from seed this year.

 Now in the ground, the globe artichokes will remain in this plot for a few years.

Blueberries:

Last year I also potted blueberries that I purchased as very young plants. They didn't produce any fruit last year but they are thriving this year. The reason behind growing them in pots is because they prefer a more acidic soil and I would like to be able to move them around in case they get attacked by pests or I simply want to have them in another location in the garden!

Also in this area, but in pots, are blueberries that I bought last year. They are already flowering.

All in all things are going well although I still feel that they are progressing too slowly this year, due to my work commitments. Hopefully I can find the time to do a lot more very soon!

Till next time x



The story so far

So, I've been trying to work as best as I can with the little time I've been given for now (work and other commitments).

It's now April and there's much to be done. I've made a start on my allotment, preparing the ground for the onions first as I'll need to transplant them soon. I've done this by manually digging instead of using my rotavator. The ground was quite good to work in that the soil wasn't too hard to dig. It was rich in life with plenty of worms, grubs, spiders and other marvellous creatures! It's always good to see and it is a good sign. Soil without any insect life shows that there's something wrong. Remember: not all insects are going to be out to get your plants. They can be pest predators, soils improvers and help to break down old plant fibres. As for the onions: well, my seeds have germinated but they are tiny in comparison to the sets I'm growing and although I'm experienced in growing both ways, having both methods grown in the same year has definitely made me think much more about it!

 

Seeds vs sets: The top photo is of my onion seedlings and below it the sets. Both put in at the same time. It seems like more patience will be required for the seedlings at this stage. 

As the weather continues to improve, I can't help but feel that I'm falling behind as I've given myself rather a lot to do. Not only do I have what is hundreds of seeds to sow, I have to prep the ground at my allotment and work on my front garden. It can seem very overwhelming and at a glance you may be thinking 'what's the point?' and 'is it really worth it?', while also thinking that maybe gardening is stressful and unforgiving. Having spent Mothers' Day sowing seeds and transferring plants into bigger pots and tidying up, the stress did go away. It has been upsetting as Mrs C, my last chicken had passed away recently. She's now at rest and probably with her old flock somewhere though. I will miss having chickens as I've kept poultry for 15 years, so watch this space as I may be tempted to get more after a break.

The dear, late Mrs C, my last hen. I photographed her here only just back in March.

 

The tomatoes are now growing very well. I did lose a few to damping off but I suppose that was due to lack of care as I perhaps had too much water in my heated propagators. The tomatoes on my windowsill planters did better and now I'm potting them on to encourage growth. There's two varieties that didn't come to much: Red Pear, which didn't germinate and White Wonder, where only one germinated and is quite slow to grow. Marmande is by far developing better than any of the other varieties.

 Transplanting tomatoes to larger pots is an easy task.

The one other plant I got on working with was the strawberry. I bought several online this year at a good price (about £15 for 25 plants). They arrive by post wrapped up in plastic to prevent drying up and I didn't hesitate getting stuck in to give them the best chance of survival. The variety I got was Late Florence. Last year I bought Cambridge Favourite, which produces some good sized fruit.

 Is it just garden rubbish or some potential tasty strawberries in this bag?

 There was some sign of life in this plant. 





Some of the strawberry plants looked almost dead when I removed the packaging but you needn't be so worried. Strawberries have a habit of looking their worst when they are dormant and I'm hoping that after some tender loving care they will provide me with good sweet fruit in the following months! I placed them in 9cm pots with an organic, peat free compost and am keeping them in the polytunnel for now. The Cambridge Favourite that overwintered in the poly has now been moved outdoors into a strawberry pot in a sheltered spot. I'll keep you posted on everything I've done so far.

Stress over, till next time!