Bugchick's Blog

2003-09-23T11:59:00.000Z

My garden is a total *mess* at the moment. Huge weeds, overgrown tomato plants that have fallen over and debris from the children cluttering up everywhere. And am I motivated to do anything about it at all? Nope.
On a good note the tomatoes are ripening, so if I get to them before the snails and slugs do I'm getting a nice daily haul. I have to grow more plum tomatoes next year, they're so delicious! I keep thinking that the tomaotes aren't ripe, then I feel them and realise they are. I guess I'm just used to the over-red commercial tomatoes, mine are much lighter in colour when ripe. They certainly taste much better than the shop-bought ones :o)
There are still a few cucumbers growing on the plants, even though the plants themselves look like they're pretty much finished. I'll let the fruits get as big as they can and then uproot them and chuck them in the compost bin. In fact I really have to get out and do some weeding this week too *sigh* Whilst we were away at camp last week someone came and weeded the spot down the side of our house where I'm growing the redcurrant bushes and sunflowers *L* I've no idea who did it, but I guess they'd had enough of the weeds ;o) Suits me fine, maybe next time we go away someone could come and weed the back garden too!

2003-08-17T17:40:00.000Z

This is todays cucumber haul *gulp* Even though I picked loads 3 days ago! What was that you said Trog, gazpacho? I've never had it, it might take some persuading to get the kids to eat what seems to be a cold soup? Is it nice?
I shall certainly be taking some cucumbers to the Home Ed meeting tomorrow though to put towards our usual buffet lunch. Oh, and yes!! The crystal lemon cucumbers do go yellow, as you can see.

Luckily the African Land Snails seem to be partial to them too!
Here's one of the baby snails enjoying some

And the adult snails too.

I'm continuing to get a lot of cherry tomatoes from the hanging baskets, and now that I've taken a lot of limbs off the Zuckertraube plants they're starting to turn colour at last too.

That was an easy enough job, thinning the limbs of the Zuckertraube. I have to admit though I just don't know where to start with this lot, but I'll certainly be spacing them all further apart next year! They're even encroaching on my poor crystal lemon cucumbers.

After having a rummage around in them though I found some that were ripening, even though they were getting barely any sunlight due to their bushiness. Maybe I won't need to get any limbs off, but I'll need to keep a close eye on them or they'll ripen and fall before I see them. Then I'll get even more self-seeded tomato plants next year, and I prefer to know what variety they are to be honest.

2003-08-07T15:33:00.000Z

I really used to hate Summer, it was my least favourite season as I don't tolerate heat very well and sneezed the whole time too. Since I became interested in gardening though I find I don't mind it as much, and my hayfever symptoms have become less and less! Although I still hate the heat and the brightness in Summer I do love to see the garden coming to life. Eating fruit and veg in season just feels right somehow, and there's also the benefit that when I grow them myself I know what's gone in to them. No yucky chemicals in this garden! I really must try and gear our diet towards eating in season as much as possible in future, and cut down on the airmiles that the fruit and veg rack up all too easily too.
OK, what's happening in the garden? Cucumbers, that's what! I picked three today, and there are loads more not far off being ready. Hmmm, I could do with some recipes that involve cucumbers I think! Anyone know any?

I also have rather a lot of the Lemon Crystal cucumbers fruiting at the moment. They're ball cucumbers, and I'm having problems knowing whether they're ripe or not as I've not grown them before. Are they supposed to be yellow when they're ripe, as the name implies? If so they're not ready yet, I will have to go and Google on them and see what I can come up with.

The Tomato Tumblers in hanging baskets continue to produce lots of really sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes, whilst the other varieties have fruit but it's not ripening yet. I'm wondering if it's because the other plants are so bushy, the fruits are well hidden and probably aren't getting much sun on them. The Tumblers aren't bushy at all, mostly because I kept nipping out the limbs - the others got so bushy so fast I just didn't know where to start after doing it a couple of times!

Ohhh...and I have a courgette growing past a couple of inches at last, it'll be ready to pick in a couple of days :o) Moving the plants out of the greenhouse has worked!

2003-08-05T00:14:00.000Z

Aren't these petunias a gorgeous shade? I didn't plant them, they self-seeded themselves from last year. I did have petunias in this pot last year but I'm sure they weren't this shade at all.

2003-08-02T17:11:00.000Z

I really have to try and update this more often, but I haven't been doing very much in the garden recently.
I've been having a big problem with my courgettes, they've been getting to a couple of inches long and then shrivelling up and dropping off :o( I asked around on some of the Home Education mailing lists (where you can usually find the answer to just about anything!) and it's been suggested that it's because they haven't been pollinated. This makes sense as the pots containing the courgettes were in the wendy-house greenhouse, and I've been forgetting to unzip the door; I doubt that any bees/wasps/whatever have been able to get in there to do the job. I had two choices - fiddle around trying to pollinate them myself with a q-tip, or take them outside to be pollinated by insects. Not knowing whether the courgettes were consenting to me fiddling with their fertilisation ;o) I decided to take them outside and let nature take it's course.
They've been outside for around a week now, and seem to be doing OK.

Of course everyone else is in the throws of a courgette glut right now, whilst mine are still virginal and fruitless *sigh* On Thursday I went round to a friends house in the morning and came away with a marrow (she'd left her courgettes way too long and they'd got enormous!), and then another friend turned up on the doorstep virtually begging me to take some courgettes off her hands as her allotment was overgrown with them. Not one to turn down free, home-grown organic veggies I was happy to oblige! You know who you are courgette woman, and now everyone else will as well ;o)

At long last the tomatoes have started to ripen! Only the Tomato Tumblers in the hanging baskets so far...

but the Budai Torpe plants are smothered in green tomatoes so I hope the sunshine this weekend will ripen them up.

Here's our first tomato picking of the season. Yum!

It's fairly obvious that I've been mean with space whilst planting the tomato plants out, they weren't far enough apart. These ones have become so lush I'm worried that I'm not going to be able to find the tomatoes in amongst the leaves! They're also taking over my poor Crystal Lemon cucumber plants space too. It's too late to move any of them, but I'll know for next year.

Whilst Karen (courgette woman) was round I decided to investigate the compost bin, as I had somehow managed to get a potato plant growing out of the bottom hatch! We opened the cover and found that the bottom compost is really lovely, but the shredded something or other that Karen gave me a while back isn't breaking down very quickly. I got my short fork out and gave it a bit of a turning over in there, but with these purpose-made plastic compost bins it's not very easy to actually get at it. Ah well, hopefully it will have helped a bit. I'll just have to get more compost activator in there...which just happens to mean dangling my six year old daughter over the top of it for her to wee in there ;o) I had asked for volunteers to pee in a potty for me but none of them would, but as soon as I mentioned actually weeing directly in to the compost bin Trinity was there like a shot. Adventurous, our Trin!!

Bearing in mind all the wee that goes in to the compost bin the girls (9, 6 and 3) are reluctant to eat the three potatoes I dug out of the bottom. I explained that there's poo and all sorts in the compost that we usually put on the plants, but they remain unconvinced!

2003-07-19T18:52:00.000Z

We planted this row of sunflowers in memory of Dick Reineke, a local Home Educating father who lost his battle against a brain tumour in April this year. Aren't they beautiful :o)

2003-07-19T17:19:00.000Z

Just testing this out...I hope I've got a comments bit now!

2003-07-19T10:48:00.000Z

And yet more huge radishes!

I've also been having some problems with the courgettes - they'd start to form and then rot. I've now trained them up stakes and seem to be having less problems with this, although I'm still to get one big enough to eat yet. Very soon though, provided they don't rot again.

2003-07-19T10:43:00.000Z

One of my tomatoes has started to turn colour, yeay!

And I have a corn cob coming up too!

2003-07-18T21:36:00.000Z

Mmmm...I love picking vegetables fresh from the garden :o) These carrots and radishes went straight in to a salad.

2003-07-14T22:54:00.000Z

Ok, so those of you that have been reading this up until now have no idea what anything I'm describing looks like, so as I've managed to get the photo insertion working I thought I'd post some pics of the garden and things I've talked about. Yes it's a bit boring, but at least you'll have a mental image next time I prattle on about things ;o)

This picture is taken looking up from the bottom of the garden to the new patio and the house.

This is looking out of one of the rear bedroom windows at the garden, part of the patio is in shade.

Looking across from the patio to the vegetable beds and plastic greenhouse.

Looking the other way, from the vegetable beds to the end of the patio! (Bored yet?!)

T'other end of the patio.

Looking across the veggie beds to the utility area, where the water butt, composter and barbecue are sited.

The veggie beds.

The newish bed that needs to 'bulk out' a bit, it's looking very bare at the moment!

The half-weeded bed! How can weeds and grass take over so fast?!

It looked less bare with weeds mind you...

The Zuckertraubbe tomato plant that snapped in half and we sellotaped it back together. It's flourishing!

I managed to get a photo of both of the baby frogs that live in the greenhouse today. Awww :o)

The front garden...what there is of it! It's very narrow so we took the grass off, put down purple scree, and covered it in pots.
It might help though if I got out there and put something *in* the pots this year

This photo hasn't really come out all that well, but this is the 66 foot lavender hedge down the side of the house that Trin and I planted not long back. It's really quite pretty, but the colour of the lavender doesn't show up. At the end of the hedge you can see where I've planted redcurrant bushes. And look at that poor grass, so dry :o(

2003-07-13T23:37:00.000Z

God and Goddess, it worked!!!!! Amazing, I thought it wouldn't. OK, now I just have to take some more photos, and I can bore you all with pictures as well as words. Bwahahahahah!!!!

2003-07-13T23:34:00.000Z

I'm just trying to get this photo insertion thingy working...

If I have, there could well be a photo of the largest of the baby frogs that live in my greenhouse above here now! *Fingers crossed* If there isn't, I'm going to go and cry to Merry *L*

2003-07-11T22:40:00.000Z

Ooooh, I haven't updated this for nearly a month! *smacks myself on the wrist*
The lawn recovered! Well, mostly anyhow, and I think the slightly brown patches will be OK given time. I mowed it for the first time this week, but stupidly did it whilst it was still a bit damp - which led to a rather uneven height as some of the blades of grass had been bent over when I did it. Ah well, I'll get it done again this weekend, now that it's much shorter it will be easier to mow anyhow :o) All in all I'm very pleased with it.
I'd decided to take some photos of the garden for on here after Merry gave details of how to insert them...but then panicked because the bed that we dug out not long ago was soooo full of weeds and grass! More weeds than plants to be honest, and I didn't want it looking like that for the photos! I last weeded it just before HESFES at the beginning of May. I know that sounds awful but don't forget that I couldn't get to it from then because firstly I had the patio bloke out there and secondly I wasn't supposed to be walking on the grass. It's one thing to creep across it to retrieve a ball for the kids, quite another to kneel on it's withering edge and weed for hours. At least, that's what I told myself ;o)
Anyhow, it's now back to being weed-free, I can actually see my plants now - and I realise how bare it is *L* I need more plants! Mind you, the Aquilegia will be all over the place by next year, and the Euphorbia will spread. The Buddleia is already three times the size it was when I planted it a few months back.
OK, so how is the veg going? I've transplanted those poor cucumbers in to growbags this week, they've been in tiny pots for ages, tangled up in the greenhouse. Instead of using the growbags laying flat I've sliced them in half and I'm using them like two large plastic pots with two plants in each. This way there's more depth for the roots, the plants should grow much stronger. I've also trained the plants up bamboo canes so that I can see the fruit easier. They're all in the plastic coldframe with the top pulled back, just because it was empty and I needed somewhere to put them. The ball-shaped cucumbers are in the larger of my two beds, trained up a cane wigwam.
The courgettes are still in the greenhouse, and with the cucumbers out of the way they have more room to spread out. I also have a couple of baby frogs taken up residence in there, possibly ones from the tank of tadpoles we have in the garden right now! The first time I saw one I'd moved a plant pot and it leapt right at me - I nearly dropped the pot on it in fright! Now I'm expecting them though, and I like having them in there. Hopefully they'll keep the slugs down!
The tomatoes are doing very well, I've kept the sideshoots trimmed off and now have quite a bit of green fruit on the plants. This includes our sellotaped Zuckertrabbe, who is none the worse for being snapped in half and repaired it would seem. Trinity can't get enough of this plant, she loves to talk about how we repaired it :o)
The radishes...mmmmm, the radishes are wonderful! I thoroughly recommend organic White Icicle, I get mine from www.seedfest.co.uk They grow really fast, are long and very tasty.
The carrots are coming up quite well, although don't seem to be anywhere near ready yet. And the Spring Onions...what on earth has happened with my Spring Onions this year? The first lot failed totally, and this next lot aren't exactly interested in thriving *sigh* The French beans failed too - they came up and then just seemed to wither. I gave up and pulled them up this week, but I might try and plant some more for a later crop. I have no idea why they withered like that.
Peas, Pagyn *loves* the peas. So much so we haven't had a chance to have any in a meal, as she's eaten the whole crop raw, straight from the pod! There wasn't a whole lot of them mind you, so it's probably the best use for them :o)
The raspberry canes haven't produced much, but then I wouldn't expect them to in their first year. Next year I have high hopes for them! I've been very surprised with the redcurrants, we've had a Pound of fruit off the four bushes so far, I didn't expect anything much with it being their first year. The bushes really aren't that big at all. The redcurrants are scrummy, we're really looking forwards to next years crop because I'd like to try making redcurrant wine.
I feel a bit like I haven't had a chance to plant much this year because of the problems with getting in the garden during May, which seems such a crucial month. I'm happy with most of what's coming up, but wish I'd planted more. I still have most of the large bed totally bare. Maybe I need to start thinking forwards to Winter/Spring crops, getting some cabbages etc up and running for this. At least then I'll feel like I'm achieving a bit more out there :o)

2003-06-17T10:25:00.000Z

Well I managed to get out in the garden this weekend, and it was really nice to be able to do so without having to be careful of a half-finished patio!
The newly-laid grass turf is NOT looking good, despite me using a sprinkler on it :o( Most of it has shrunk, leaving gaps, and it's going brown. It's been so hot over the last week or so I guess, and it hasn't had a chance to establish itself. I'll have to find a website on how to resurrect it *sigh*
I sorted the 55 tomato plants out, planting the ones I didn't want in to individual pots and putting the ones I did in to the raised bed. I kept 35 in total. Yes I know, that's a lot of tomato plants, but we do eat a fair few anyhow and I guess I'll have to learn to can the excess or something! The other 20 were handed out to friends at our Home Education meeting yesterday.
Whilst sorting them out I realised how bushy I'd let them get, so a massive pruning session ensued. Whilst merrily nipping off limbs from the Tumblers in the hanging basket and dropping them down on to the raised bed I realised what I was doing...dropping freshly removed tomato limbs on to other tomato plants that hadn't received the treatment at that point. Bizarrely I wondered if it I now had a horrible reputation with the tomatoes in my garden...move over Rob Zombie, here comes 'Garden of a Thousand Tomato Limbs' ;oD
Whilst repotting the tomato plants we had a bit of a Home Ed moment when a particularly strong and gorgeous plant snapped nearly in half near the base :o( Trin and I were upset because it was our strongest Zuckertrabbe plant, so we decided to do some repairing and see if it worked. Trin ran inside for sellotape as I held the stalk in place, and emergency repairs were undertaken. We left it in it's pot as we thought disturbing it after such a trauma might not be a good idea. This was on Sunday, it's now Tuesday and the plant looks just as healthy as before. We're hoping it will work, meanwhile it's an interesting experiment.
Now I *must* get to the cucumbers over the next couple of days, they're all tangled up in the greenhouse. Oh, and we picked our first few peas this weekend, but as it was only three pods they only made it straight in to the children's mouths

2003-06-10T11:38:00.000Z

I just have to scream out HURRAH!!!!!! My patio is finished, the lawn is laid, and the bloke doing it all has gone! Yeay!! I have my garden back :o) We can't walk on the lawn for 4 weeks, and have to keep it watered, but at least we have our space back now :o) I'm such a territorial so-and-so ;o)
As an update, I did manage to get out in the garden and do a bit this weekend. I planted out the 2.5 foot peas, with a netting support (although they don't seem keen to climb it!) I also had a look at the tomato plants...I've got 55! Argh!! *L* I don't need 55 tomato plants, so am giving some away to friends who luckily want them. I planted some of the Olirose and Budai Torpe tomato plants in the two veggie beds, I need to get out and plant some of the other varieties as well. Then I'll know how many I have left over to distribute - I can't believe so many came up!
The courgette plants in the greenhouse are doing well, they're covered in flowers. The cucumbers really need untangling and training upwards, so that's a job for this week. And the radishes...mmmmm, yummy! I've decided that I really like the White Icicle variety, as they have quite a strong taste and grow very long. I've had no luck with my Spring Onions, so have planted another row in hope that it was just too cold last time. The lettuce is doing well, although not all the plants have come up. Time to reseed in the spaces I think. I also need to try again with the French Beans, as they've died of completely now :o(
All in all I'm pleased with what's going on out there, and just glad to get my garden back :o)

2003-06-01T21:49:00.000Z

Today was my birthday, and what did I do this morning? Donned my raincoat and braved the heavy rain outside to plant some radishes! Yesterday I thought I'd take advantage of the fact that the patio bloke wasn't there and yet the garden was almost easy to navigate at the moment and do some planting. I checked my gardening by the moon book only to find out that it was one of those rare days when you mustn't do any gardening at all, as the new moon was eclipsed. I was desperate to plant some more radishes though, and as the root planting phase stopped out at 11AM this morning I had to just get out there and do it regardless of the weather, or wait over a week before it came round again. Now the neighbours *know* I'm strange ;o)
I took a look in the greenhouse and gave everything a good water at the same time. My 2 foot peas have *got* to be moved this week, patio finished or not. I have flowers on the courgettes, but I also have signs of mould on the leaves of one variety but not the other :o( I'll have to keep an eye on that, meanwhile I'll water them with the rose off the can so that I can avoid getting the leaves wet.
I managed a little bit of tidying up and weeding of the lavender hedge bed last Thursday, as it's outside the garden walls and therefore I wasn't in the way of the bloke laying the patio. I also strimmed the edge of the grass out there, and was going to mow the centre bit until I realised I didn't know how to turn the mower on!! I can't believe that I can be such a failure at something so daft I tried and tried, but apparently it has a safety feature that was stopping me from getting it to turn on *rolls eyes* Ah well, Scott did it on Saturday instead :o)
All this was prompted by a campaign by a woman on our estate...she's getting shirty about communal areas being overgrown. She sent a letter out to all residents saying that she was trying to find out why these areas weren't being tended, as there should be a contractor that does it. She knocked on our door last week because the cheeky cow thought our bit of garden was part of the communal areas that was being neglected!!! *LOL* It had been mown 3 weeks before, just before we went to HESFES (www.hesfes.co.uk) but the rain has been so heavy it just grew really fast. I put her straight needless to say, I don't want any vigilante neighbours out there attacking my lavender, redcurrant bushes and sunflowers!
Talking of lavender, it's more than double the size it was when I planted it already. There's barely a gap between each plant now, it's going to be lovely when it's fully-grown :o)
The area around the redcurrants desperately needs weeding, but it's a huge job even though I only did it 4 weeks ago - this rain has a lot to answer for with the weeds and grass, but it's great how everything else is coming on fast because of it. Ah well, maybe I'll get to it this week :o)

2003-05-27T13:05:00.000Z

Still frustrated at being unable to get out in the garden, especially as the weeds have gone mad out there! I did manage to get out for a quick look yesterday though, and am pleased with some things but not others. The taller variety of peas are doing really well - climbing up the wigwam and starting to flower! The French bean plants seem to have been munched on, probably by slugs. They're looking very spindly and the worse for wear. I may have to grow some more to replace these, and protect them from the slugs somehow whilst they grow. I have fruit on some of the raspberry canes, although the canes aren't exactly getting very big. Maybe they'll be better next year? I also have flowers on the Tomato Tumblers that are in hanging baskets, and the other tomato plants are getting bushier and taller. They really need to be planted out I'll do this as soon as I can get out there. My shorter peas desperately need planting out too, they're tangling in the greenhouse. Oh, and buds on the courgettes too! All in all things are going pretty well :o)
The new patio has a long retaining wall, as the garden is sloped. This has been built to include 18 inches or so of planting space in the top, so I'll need to find some alpines for this. I might put some of the strawberry plants in it too, that would probably look nice.
Can't wait, hurry up and finish!!! The weather really hasn't helped, it's been so wet :o(

2003-05-21T22:20:00.000Z

Ooooh, I'm getting frustrated here! My garden currently looks like a building site, as we're having a large patio laid and the lawn re-turfed. I'm sure it will be lovely when it's done, but meanwhile I can't get anywhere near my plants...and it's nearly the end of May :o( We were away last week at HESFES www.hesfes.co.uk and the landscapers were supposed to start the week before we left. However, it's been so wet that it just didn't happen, and they only really started in earnest this week. I HATE having work done on the house or garden, it brings out the territorial aspect in me.
On a brighter note I recently found out that someone I know through our Home Education group is coppicing a wood, and therefore can get me some lovely pea sticks :o) My two foot peas are tangled up in the greenhouse with no support right now, it's going to be difficult getting them separated again but they need planting out as soon as possible really. When this patio is done...*sigh* Really, I sound so spoilt :o( I'm glad it's being done, don't get me wrong...but the upheaval and the way it prevents me from getting on with the stuff I need to do is very frustrating. Oh well, I think we're about halfway through now :o)

2003-05-05T23:09:00.000Z

Thank goodness for the lovely weather this weekend, we've managed to get quite a bit done.
Unfortunately the wind blew the pea pyramid down again, so this time we re-sited it and then used tent pegs to anchor it down in to the soil a bit. Fingers crossed that will work better! The peas seem to have survived again, they seem pretty much indestructible.
Anyhow, what have we done this weekend?
Put up netting along the corner of the fence and planted out the sweet peas under it. That will look lovely when they've climbed up it and bloomed :o)
Planted a row of 10 sunflowers in memory of a talented, intelligent and just plain nice man that we knew. He died recently and we didn't go to the funeral, so did this instead. They should be stunning when they grow and bloom, they're alternate red and yellow.
Staked up our crab apple tree, which has grown really tall but is far too weedy and thin and therefore is just keeling over. Come autumn we'll need to drastically prune it back, but this will stop it uprooting in high winds for now I hope.
Hung the three Tomato Tumbler filled hanging baskets out. Yummy, I love cherry tomatoes, can't wait for them to be ready :o)
Transplanted the courgettes, cucumbers and sprouting broccoli from the shallow seed trays in to plant pots, and put them in the greenhouse to harden off a bit.
Planted up the 3 flowering hanging baskets and hung them up. Pretty :o)
Planted up a few flowers in pots, to brighten the front of the house up.
Oh, and our carrots have just started to poke through, and our potatoes are now at the top of the dustbin - we can't earth them up anymore. Things are really getting quite lush :o)

2003-04-29T22:52:00.000Z

Rain, rain, go away!!
In between showers today I popped out in to the garden to re-site the wicker pyramid that the peas were growing up. The high winds yesterday blew it right out of the ground! Most of the peas look none the worse for wear, in fact the ones on the side it fell on were still entwined up it *L* One had been uprooted from the other side but I've just poked it back in the earth and I'm hoping for the best :o)
Whilst out there I took a look at how everything else is doing. There are radishes ready to crop, but I'll leave them in a few days more so that there will be enough for all of us - there's a few more nearly ready. There's also signs of life where I planted the second lot of radishes, that was quick! The lettuce is continuing to come through, and the potatoes have gone mad with all this rain - they'll soon be at the top of my dustbins and I won't be able to earth them up any more. The French beans are twining up the legs of the staging in the greenhouse, I really have to take a chance and plant them out now. If it ever stops raining long enough for me to do so! The tomatoes in the greenhouse are looking great, plus I seem to have a couple that have self-seeded themselves in one of the beds! They're just under where I had the Tomato Tumblers in hanging baskets last year, so I guess a few tomatoes just fell and rotted.

2003-04-26T16:15:00.000Z

I was going to take a chance and plant out the sweet peas today, as they're way too big for their tray and so tall they're getting tangled up with each other. And then it rained. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

2003-04-23T23:36:00.000Z

A root-planting day, so I sowed some carrots (Danver Half-Longs). The soil is so unsuitable for carrots really, full of small stones and lumps of goodness knows what from the compost ;o) Oh well, with them being short carrots maybe they'll be OK :o) I intend to plant onion sets next to the carrots but I still haven't got around to buying them yet, so have just left some room for them.
I took a look at the radishes that I've already planted too, and as some of them look not far from being mature enough to pull I thought I'd better plant another lot. This time I planted two rows of White Icicle, which are a longish, white variety as far as I remember (around 5 inches when mature). Maybe I'll have the same trouble with them as I'm expecting with the carrots though, because of all the stones etc. Ah well, we'll see :o)
Update on what's happening in the garden...
Some of my lettuce are through, these are the ones I planted in the raised bed and covered with home-made mini cloches made from plastic water bottles. The lettuces outside have done better than the ones in pots inside the greenhouse, although they're all the same type.
Potatoes need to be earthed up most days now as they're growing so fast.
The tomatoes have all recovered well from their repotting, despite them looking floppy for a couple of days. They're in the greenhouse and cold-frame for now.
I planted the taller peas (Pilot) out in to the new flower bed over the weekend, around a wicker wigwam. I'm reliably informed (thanks Steph!) that they're hardy enough to go out now. They've coped with the move well, and some have already started to climb. I've left the shorter variety (Ambassador) in their pots in the greenhouse for now, moving them isn't so pressing as they're not trying to climb up the staging!
The French beans are going wild in the greenhouse, they really could do with going out in to the bed but they're not frost-hardy so it's too early. I think I'll have to stake the pots as they're tangling up amongst themselves at the moment.
There are redcurrant fruit on my bushes! OK so they're green still, but hey, I was still impressed when I saw them ;o) I'm presuming a frost now will totally ruin the fruit though :o/

2003-04-17T21:33:00.000Z

Yesterday I decided I could leave it no longer, the tomato plants had to be taken out of the seed trays and potted on in to larger containers. They were getting so large that they were falling over, the poor things needed more root room. I put the Tomato Tumblers straight in to hanging baskets, there seemed little point in moving them to pots only to move them in to the baskets at a later date. I now have quite a lot of tomato plants in pots and hanging baskets in the greenhouse and cold frame, far more than we'll need...even though we eat lots of tomatos, and they're all cherry-sized! Ah well, I'm sure I'll find homes for the plants when they get a bit bigger :o)
We got a couple of quotes for a large patio area last week, and we've chosen a design and are going ahead with it! Hopefully the majority of the work will be done whilst we're at HESFES, as I hate mess and unheaval :o/ It'll be worth it though :o) I want somewhere where we can sit out, and the children can play on during the winter. At the moment our grass gets too wet and boggy for them to play out if it's wet.

2003-04-12T23:27:00.000Z

I've 'discovered' a cheap source of plants...the local WI sale. It's held every Friday in the village hall here, and I've been buying some lovely stuff from the stallholders. Plus they're always happy to offer advice too, which you don't always get at the large garden centres. The price I pay for such a great plant source is having to buy cakes from the produce stall, because I can't seem to get the children past it without spending some money *L* The prices are pretty good too, one of my favourite plants, Aquilegias, are only a couple of quid for decent-sized plants.
So I bought some more Forget-me-nots, another Aquilegia, and a Euphorbia, all from the WI. I was just planting them all in the new bed today when I heard a blood-curdling scream from the garage, and Pagyn (2) came running through with blood pumping out of her palm :o( Apparently a neighbours cat had bitten her, and she must have pulled her hand away before the cat let go - the result being a deep, centimetre-long gash on the fleshy part of her palm, under her fingers. She was beside herself, she's not good even with minor scratches as she doesn't like to see blood. Anyhow, I cleaned the wound out with hydrogen peroxide (which hurt her like hell :o/ ), cleaned the blood up, covered the wound with tea tree cream and applied a dressing. Popped a Hypericum homeopathic pill in her mouth, and then whisked her off to the penny sweetie shop - that seemed to do the trick :o) Hopefully as it bled so much it won't get infected, and the hydrogen peroxide will help with that too. Poor mite, it was such a shock for her :o( The problem is that our two cats never, ever scratch or bite us...so she just didn't realise the danger.
Before all this palaver I'd planted some lettuce, it being a leaf day until mid-afternoon. I planted some 'Tom Thumb' (dwarf, and quick-growing), and some 'Lizzie' (fast-growing butterhead) in the smaller raised veggie bed. As I had such a high failure rate with lettuce last year we planted two seeds in each hole. If they both come up at least we can thin them, although this seems completely at odds with the square-foot gardening method I think it will work best for us with lettuces.
We've been saving our plastic bottles for a while now to make mini cloches (thanks for the idea Donna!), so Scott cut the ends off a few bottles for me whilst I was planting and I placed one over each seed after watering. Hopefully this will keep them frost-free, and speed up germination. Trinity and Pagyn also helped me to sow four 'Lizzie' lettuces (double-sown again) in to pots, as they're also suitable for greenhouse production. These are now in the wendy-house greenhouse, where they join the totally going mad French beans that will need staking very soon, and the two variety of peas that are also not far from needing that too. Which reminds me, I forgot to cover them with their fleece in all the panic, I hope there isn't a frost tonight...*gulp*

2003-04-07T22:05:00.000Z

I took a good look at my redcurrant bushes today, they're in flower! I guess this means we'll get some fruit from them this year, I didn't think we would do in the year we planted them. Bonus :o)
Also in production, unfortunately, were the dandelions that Scott tackled last weekend. He made quite a mess with one of those tools that you dig in and core out the root with, we now have lots of little pot-holes over the outside strip of lawn...and, of course, we now still have lots more dandelions come up! I've taken a vicious route and bought a weed-wand from a Seller on eBay...I suspect that when I let him lose with that we'll have a strip of grass covered in little pot-marks, dandelions and scorch marks ;o) Oh well, maybe I'll just let him ruin it whilst killing all the weeds off, then we'll get it returfed :o)
Scott tells me that tonight the temperature is going right down to something like -3 or 4, argh! I know the beans, peas and sunflowers are inside the greenhouse, but it's only one of those PVC Wendy-house types. I doubt it offers much protection from frost, so I went out after dinner to cover the plants all over with a thin, white fleece stuff that I bought last year from the garden centre but didn't use. I knew it would come in handy at some point ;o)

2003-04-07T21:54:00.000Z

Saturday, 05/04/03
It had to be done...we transplanted the French Beans, and the Ambassador and Pilot peas, in to pots today. The beans in particular had been taking over eldest daughters window-sill, they were over 6 inches tall! The Pilot Peas (the larger variety that should grow to 5') were around 4 inches, and the Ambassador Peas (should get to 2.5') around half the size. I was surprised by this, I imagined that both varieties would grow at about the same rate, but one would just stop growing when it reached about 2.5'...not that they would actually grow slower. The roots of the beans were all coiled around and hanging out the drainage hole in the bottom of the seed tray when we took them out, the peas were the same but not so bad. Hopefully now they'll have room to grow deeper roots to support them better.
We also replanted the maroon-coloured sunflowers, as they were definitely having trouble with not enough root-room. We moved the sunflowers, peas and beans out of the house and in to the greenhouse today too. Not only do we need the window space indoors for other stuff but it's been lovely and warm.
Our Sweet Peppers have eventually started to pop up through the soil in the seed tray. Now we have more room on the windowsills I've moved some of the trays that weren't doing so well in to sunnier positions. Most of these were in the rather gloomy Utility room, which really doesn't get much sun and is always colder than the rest of the house. It's a daft place to have them really, but they have to go wherever there's some room!

2003-04-07T21:39:00.000Z

Friday, 04/04/03
Today I planted 4 typed of cucumber (yes, we like home-grown cucumbers a lot!) and two lots of courgettes. As usual our veggie seeds are organic ones, which we mostly bought from Chase Organics http://www.organiccatalog.com/. Whilst browsing at eBay (this happens often ) recently though I found this Seller, selling organic and heirloom seeds http://members.ebay.co.uk/aboutme/anioleka/ I'm very impressed with the unusual varieties available, and will be ordering more from them in the future. One of the cucumbers we planted was from them, Russian Early Cluster. Apparently it's a heavy producer, and is excellent for pickling. Our other cucumbers were from Chase - Burpless Tasty Green F1 (a good slicing variety), Crystal Lemon (ball-type, yellow cucumber), and Tanja (slim and dark-green).
The Courgettes were Alborello Do Sarzana (productive for ages), and Black Forest F1 (dark green and can grow up a trellis).
I was also very naughty and planted broccoli (Red Arrow F1, a purple-sprouting type) and cauliflower (Neckarperle), naughty in that Friday was a day to plant fruits, not flowers! I'm presuming that broccoli and cauliflower will come under the heading of flowers, not leaves.
The girls had a whale of a time planting the courgettes and cucumbers, as the seeds were a nice size and easy to manipulate. We didn't lose any!

2003-04-01T23:24:00.000Z

Update on the seed trays - every tray has something through apart from one tray of petunias, and the sweet peppers. Not only are the French beans through, but they're nearly all over 3 inches already! The sunflowers are now so tall I've had to remove the clear lid off the seed tray, they're going to need replanting on the next appropriate day as I can't imagine there's enough room for their roots by now.
Tomorrow, ooops, I mean today as it's after midnight, is a leaf day. If the weather is appropriate I want to get some lettuce sown. I'm thinking of making my own little plastic tunnels for them to grow under, but I'm not sure yet what to use to make the hoops that will support the clear plastic. Some kind of wire, it needs to be flexible enough for me to be able to bend it in to shape easily, but strong enough to support the plastic. Hmmm, I might take a trip to the local builders merchants and see what I can find.

2003-04-01T23:15:00.000Z

Sunday 30th March

As today is a flower day I planted out some snakes-head fritillarias...I know, I know, they should have been in ages ago, but I only just bought them off eBay! I also transplanted an aquiligia from a pot that it's been in for two years now in to the new garden bed. I'd bought a small aquiligia from the local WI market on Friday, so I planted that up in the empty pot.
This all took less time than I thought it would, so I decided to clean the African Land Snails tanks out as well - we have one for the adults and one for the babies. After washing the tanks *and* giving the snails a bit of a wash we put new soil in and brought them back indoors. And how did the adults repay us? By laying more bloody eggs. ARGH! *L* They seem to mate non-stop! Anyone want African Land Snail babies...??!

2003-03-26T21:32:00.000Z

I thought I'd check all our seed trays today, and was surprised to find that the sunflowers that we planted last Thursday (20th) are not only through, but an inch tall! I'm sure they weren't there yesterday, I glanced as I went past them. Also through are about a third of the radishes that we direct sowed in to the ground on the 18th, and one of the Morning Glory from the 20th. I'm sure these all poked out of the soil today, but then it was lovely and warm :o) I also took a look at the redcurrants we planted recently, and was happy to see that they're covered in new leaves.
It's ridiculous how happy seeing all these signs of growth have made me. The children were really excited too, but then they're young...I have no excuse

2003-03-26T21:21:00.000Z

25th March, 2003
We had a great day today, planting lots of seeds. As it's a fruit day we concentrated on tomatoes, peas, beans and sweet peppers. The children loved being able to eat raw peas from the pods last year, so I want to make sure I have plenty for them this year - we sowed 'Pilot', they reach 5', and some Ambassador that only reaches 2.5'...I thought that if we have some shorter ones the kids would just be able to help themselves, leaving the taller ones for me to use at dinner time or raw in salads. Somehow I only seem to have ordered one type of bean this year, 'Hilda'. It's a climbing French Bean. I'll have to get some Runner Beans too! The peppers were 'Long Red Marconi', which sounds faintly ridiculous somehow *L* And tomatoes...oh how we went overboard with them We sowed: Olirose, Golden Sunrise, Budai Torpe, Zuckertraube, Tumbler, and Sub Artic Plenty! Yes, we like tomatoes!
The planting of the peas and beans went pretty well, with Trinity (6) and Pagyn (2) helping me. Nice sized seeds, easy to pick up and manoeuvre in to the holes I'd made for them...but tomatoes *cringe* Titchy little seeds! They were very, very careful with them, but we still lost a few even though they didn't have to go in to holes *L* Hopefully this year I'll keep seeds from the fruit myself, then I won't have to worry about whether we lose a few of them :o)
Anyhow, all seed trays are now on the sunniest windowsills we have, with their plastic lids over them. I wonder how long they'll take?

2003-03-21T00:24:00.000Z

Yesterday (I really must start posting before midnight!) was a flower day, so we got out there and sowed some. The news of war has depressed me, I find though that working in the garden grounds me, making things far easier to cope with for a while.
Our seeds were mostly freebies from the cover of Amateur Gardening magazine, plus a few I've picked up from here and there and put to one side ready. We used trays with individual sections for each plant, and sowed crimson Sunflowers, Antirrhinum, Amaranthus, Rudbeckia, and two different typed of Petunias. We were going to sow Morning Glory too, but then noticed that the seeds had to be soaked overnight in tepid water beforehand. I'll do that before I go to bed tonight, as tomorrow is a flower day too and we can sow them then. We'll also sow the Sweet Peas that I couldn't find anywhere yesterday, they turned up under the telephone?!
Anyway, the trays of seeds are now all in our utility room, and we'll be watching them for the first signs of anything stirring :o)

2003-03-19T22:17:00.000Z

Ooops, forgot to mention that I also planted our potatoes yesterday. Two dusbins, one with first earlies and the other with second earlies. I have a few left, so I might pick up some more bins to put them in.

2003-03-19T01:15:00.000Z

Today...whoops, that's yesterday now as it's after midnight! OK, yesterday I planted another raspberry cane, because the space I left for raspberries wasn't quite full. I deliberately planted this last one on a non-fruit planting day, to see whether or not the others do better. As yesterday was a root day I planted radishes and spring onions too. I made a mistake when planting the radishes, and somehow didn't end up with as many in my 2 foot squared space as it says I should have done in the Square Foot Gardening book. It's really difficult to divide the square up and plant accordingly, so I've decided to make a frame for this. If I bind canes together in the size I want, and then string across them to form squares of the right size it will be much easier to get the spacing right. It sounds like I'm making work for myself, but I'll be able to use the grid again and again, so it will work out quicker in the long-run I think. This can be a project for tomorrow...umm, today I mean!
I took a look at the redcurrant bushes that I planted on Sunday today, and there are already new shoots coming up out of the ground! The raspberry canes are also sprouting leaves that weren't there on Sunday. Maybe there's something to this Moon-phase gardening...or maybe they would have sprouted anyway.

2003-03-16T23:02:00.000Z

Wow, what a busy weekend that was!
Yesterday (Saturday) I spent a further 5 hours painting the second section of fencing - a boring job that has made my shoulder ache, but at least it's done now. Whilst I was doing the painting Scott dug the turf off for a new bed which runs underneath the fencing.
After a trip to the garden centre this morning we dug the bed over, the soil was quite compacted and tough to dig. After that we dug some compost in to it, to improve the soil quality. The whole process was back-breaking, but well worth doing!
Seeing the freshly dug earth I couldn't resist planting the raspberry canes, especially as it's a day to plant fruit according to the moon-phase gardening book. I tacked three lines of wire along the back of the fence for support too. Whilst there I decided to plant a Buddleia that my Mum gave me last summer...the poor thing has been sat in the pot she gave me it in since then (even though she told me to get it straight in the ground). Hopefully it will get really bushy and fill the corner of the bed up, and the children and I will have fun watching the butterflies visit it :o)
Spurred on by how well we were doing I decided that we should dig out the bushes that the builders planted in our outside open-plan piece of garden that runs down the side of the house. I'd bought 4 redcurrant bushes to put in this piece of ground, but didn't think we'd get them planted today. But it was a fruit day, so we had to get them in ;o) I really hate the fact that this piece of land is outside our garden wall, I could use it for vegetables if it were inside - hence planting redcurrants out there, at least we'll get something edible from the land. The girls love redcurrants! I have to admit to not participating fully in digging the bushes out, as my neighbour appeared at this point and I started to chat We gave the bushes to her, and her husband dug them straight back in to the soil outside their house! After digging this bed over and adding compost I planted the 4 redcurrants, I hope they do well. The bed is south-facing, a lovely sunny spot.
I'd saved one of the bushes that Scott dug up and took it in to the back garden, to put in the new bed. It was awful to get planted, the roots were huge so the hole to put it in had to be huge too *sigh* It's in now though, and provides a bit of height in the nearly-bare bed.
Now I keep looking out of the back window, thinking about what else I'm going to plant...

2003-03-14T21:32:00.000Z

An even better day than yesterday, until the garden was in shade late in the afternoon it was warm enough to wear a t-shirt! This gave me the five hours I needed to paint a section of fencing green *sigh* Yes, f i v e hours. My shoulder is aching! The fence isn't even that long, just very rough wood that drinks the paint/stain as soon as it touches it, and six foot tall. Ah well, the next section isn't quite as long :o)
Now that bit is painted though we can dig the turf off tomorrow, if the weather is good, to make a new bed. This will have raspberry canes in it, shrubs and flowers. Eventually ;o)

2003-03-13T17:35:00.000Z

What a beautiful day it's been today, glorious sunshine and just a bit of a breeze :o) It was nice enough for me to get outside and assemble my wendy-house greenhouse, which went together MUCH easier than I remember it doing last year! Last year 4 of us were trying to get the plastic cover on it, this year I did it alone...but it was windier last year from what I can remember. Anyhow, it's all pegged down and tied on to the frame now and I feel like I've got something worthwhile done, if you know what I mean :o)
I've been reading through my gardening by the moon book and see that tomorrow it changes to being a leaf day for 2 days. I'm presuming that means lettuce, cabbage etc. It also says that from Saturday you might notice your new seeds germinating, as it's a few days before the full moon. As I don't have any seeds planted yet I'll have to take their word for it! And worryingly, next Wednesday the moon comes it's closest to the earth, which causes lots of stress to plants! So give them plenty of TLC that day, they'll need it...maybe a nice top-dressing or something, to calm their shaking roots ;o)

2003-03-12T22:49:00.000Z

What a miserable day :o( Well OK, there were patches of sunshine, but by the time I'd thought that maybe it would be nice enough to go out and do something in the garden the sun disappeared behind a cloud again! I need to get out and put my greenhouse together. It's not a real greenhouse, just one of those wendy-house type ones with a plastic cover. I had one last year but it tore, this new one looks like it will be sturdier - I hope so anyway!
I did busy myself with checking the seeds I'd bought from Chase Organics though, seeing which ones needed to be planted in March. I shall probably start them off in trays in the Utility room, it's still pretty cold out there (even if I do get the greenhouse up). Oh, and I posted on the 'have your say' type notice board for my town too, complaining about the lack of local allotments. I sooooo want one, but there's no point having one that's not close by. OK, so it's not quite gardening, but it will have to do for today ;o) Maybe tomorrow will be fine :o) According to my planting by the moon book it's a day for planting flowers :o)

2003-03-09T21:35:00.000Z

Welcome to the blog of a woman daft enough to imagine that she can garden by the phases and cycles of the moon this year, despite knowing that she is impatient, always short of time, and has three children to Home Educate! Yes, it’s going to be hard, and I’m not sure I’ll always manage to get it right…but I’m going to have a go. I’ll also try and incorporate some Square Foot Gardening techniques, to make the most of the space available to me.

We moved here two years ago, and as the house was new I had a blank canvas with which to work – apart, that is, for the hideous, weed-strewn grass that the builders laid, apparently over lots of rubble and wood. Grrr! Last year we (I say we because Scott usually helps me with the heavy work) built a couple of raised beds for growing vegetables, using recycled plastic boards http://www.linkabord.co.uk/ We also removed the grass from the open-plan frontage of the house and replaced it with purple slate scree, over weed-inhibiting cloth. It was just too narrow to fuss about with a mower. We then covered the front in containers full of flowers.

This year has started off well. A couple of weekends ago Scott dug off a border along the side of the open-plan bit of the house, as I wanted to plant a lavender hedge. The lavender arrived from a local nursery on Friday, and my 6 year old daughter T and I planted 25 of them that afternoon (after digging the soil over first). We finished them off today, and I’m really pleased with the results. Scott also dug an existing bed at the end of the hedge much deeper for me, the plan is to remove the bushes that the builders put in there and have redcurrants instead. I hate the fact that this space is outside our wall and has been ‘wasted’ up until now. I’m going to make it work for us! The lavender can be dried whenever I cut it back, the redcurrants will be eaten, and I’ll also plant some apple trees out there. And no, I didn’t plant the lavender by the phases of the moon…*gulp*