The Sunday just gone we were given a small water bottle full of worm liquid AKA worm wee or if you want the technical name, leachate. This supposedly good liquid fertilizer (which needs to be diluted probably one to ten parts water depending on how strong it is) is basically the run off from a wormery and different from worm tea that you hear about which is a brew made using worm castings. We will keep you updated on how we get on with it.
We did a google search for wormeries which took us to this great article about alternative composting methods from the great Bob Flowerdew on his website. There is a little bit on worms but there’s far more on other novel methods. Have a look herefor the article. Through this we found a great page of links of Bob’s gardening articles called Best of Bob. Have a butcher’s here for some informative reading!
We’ve been away for a few days to sunny Sudbury where the only stress was making sure a couple of cats, the garden birds and the guest ducks were fed and cat treats administered. It was nice to get away for a break after the last couple of years of the on and off madness of lockdown.
When we returned, the garden at home had certainly grown even after 5 days. The spuds we put in early (in February under cover here) were looking well happy and flowering like anything and so was the courgette seedling we put in a big pot (above). One tip, don’t even consider consuming the fruits that may appear on the potato plant after flowering as you’ll certainly keel over. This is how one website put it “…if you are feeling adventurous, you could try tasting a ripe berry, but don’t swallow it unless your health insurance is paid up.” We always knock them off if we see them growing just to be on the safe side.
Now it’s back to that age old “When do we pull the spuds up?” conundrum. It’s all confusing, as far as we can remember these were Golden Wonder maincrop potatoes which you supposed harvest in August/September, but we put them in earlier than they should have been so that’ll make a difference won’t it? If you want to find out more, there’s a good article about the various potato types explained on the Gardener’s World website here.
We usually wait until the flowers and foliage have well died down before we go in with a fork (remembering what Joe Maiden used to say about going in a few times so nothing is left in the ground. “Volunteer” potatoes can muck up an OCD laid out vegetable bed the year after if not) but there’s nothing stopping the impatient digging around in the compost earlier seeing if there’s anything small to harvest. If you’ve got raised beds filled with general purpose compost it shouldn’t take much effort get in there with a trowel and be like a careful archaeologist. If there’s nothing of a decent size just cover them back up and let them get on with it. We’ve read online some people enjoy spuds when they’re marble sized, each to their own we say.
Another thing we actually got around to doing was “side shooting” our tomato plants. This is simply taking out the side shoots that appear between the leaf joint (making sure they’re not the fruit bearing trusses that grow from the stem not on the junction between leaf and stem). The whole idea of doing this, is the plant will put all of its energy into making the fruit rather than into making leaves. If you have a butchers at this video below though the great Bob Flowerdew suggests growing Tomatoes on a couple of main stems. We love the bit that starts at 2.25 “I thought you were a good gardener?”
But the big question here isn’t if he’s a good gardener or not, it’s is he a reggae lover or a Kraftwerk fan or both, we need to know! If anybody knows please tell us.
And the heat in there is impressive too! Look at the build up of brandling wormsat the bottom. We’ve just seen on the web you can buy them, 100 for £11! All we did is put a wet piece of cardboard down the bottom of the garden. Two days later, worms! Thanks to the great Bob Flowerdew for that! #theuniverseinthecompostbin
It’s a Thursday night and it was still 20 odd degrees outside a couple of hours ago when we gave the raised beds a watering, not the best time to do it we know but the plants are parched and have you seen the weather forecast for tomorrow? They’re going to need all the water they can get. On the way back and forth to fill up the watering can we passed this sad cabbage (above) and for weeks we’ve been thinking it’s on its last legs but it seems to keep going.
As we keep saying, it’s been a mad old year with the COVID19 lockdown but it’s forced us to grow more stuff in the garden and even given us time to give the plants a bit of TLC as we couldn’t go out anywhere. The raised beds have turned into a jungle and there’s a good bit of garden anarchy going on elsewhere, dahlia’s partnered with cabbages and a courgette/zucchinni plonked next to the silver birch we found in a carrier bag in the street three years ago (here)and more self-seeded nasturtiums than anyone could ever wish for.
The other day we picked a few green potatoes where the sun had got at them thus making them non-edible. We thought we’d throw them on the compost heap then thought of all the times we’ve pulled up sprouting potato skins from the beds and remembered a tip from Bob Flowerdew where he sticks weeds, potato skins and anything that may sprout again into a bucket of water. Then when the stuff is beyond redemption he sticks the mush into the compost bin. We’re giving it a try too, that bucket alongside the comfrey liquid on the go is making it a place of strange smells at the bottom of the garden! #lockdowngardening #dontsmellthosebuckets
It’s been lovely weatherwise this week and now it’s a Saturday, why has it decided to rain? To tell you the truth the ground is a bit dry so we could do with a bit of rain but as long as it clears up later we won’t hold it against mother nature too much.
As for the garden we’re loving that we’re getting the first tomatoes ripening (above), the plant isn’t at its best looking as a few of its leaves have been taken off so the sun can reach them but as the great Bob Flowerdew says below at around the 4 minute mark “I don’t eat the plants.” A video worth watching.
Things are hotting up in the raised beds too even though plants are battling it out with each other (that reminds us we’d do a bit of a thin out of the veg there tomorrow as we’re sure there’s some carrots we can pull up.) We weren’t sure if the below was a chilli pepperat first but it now looks like it’s a pepper pepper (so to speak). We’ll be keeping up with the watering and the weekly feed of comfrey liquid as those beds tend to dry out well quickly.
And it’s only taken a day or so for the first courgette/zucchinni to show after its first flower. We chucked a bit of organic matter from the bottom of the compost heap around the plant and a good feed won’t go amiss either. Never mind the lockdown, keep on gardening! #gardeninginlockdown #londonlockdowngardening
And here’s a nice and chilled tune if you’re stuck indoors this morning from Adriakcalled Sandalo (original mix), it’s a tune to cheer you up if it’s dull outside. Eight and a half minutes of nice ambience with a lovely bassline. #lockdownambience
Bob Flowerdew’s Organic Gardening Bible (Successful growing the natural way) Kyle Books £8.99
Picked up in Shoe Lane library on the hottest day of the year last Thursday whilst making full use of their air conditioning this book is what it says it is, a “gardening bible”. It’s an ideal reference for across the board organic gardening (vegetables, fruit, flowers and livestock) with tons of top tips. There’s a great section on harvesting and storing harvests and some interesting alternative pest and disease control methods.
In a typical Bob Flowerdew style there’s some corkers in here when it comes to unconventional gardening, take this one for a start: “Human liquid waste is not a health hazard in temperate climates and it is wasteful to flush away such a rich source of fertility. Saved in a bucket, it can get whiffy…the whiffiness is much reduced if you add some sugar”. We’re ones for pouring the odd bit of urine from a bottle on the compost heap from time to time but not when the neighbours are watching. Bob Flowerdew we salute you, we urge all gardeners to buy or borrow this book!
The other day we spied what we think are possibly fruits of the beefsteak variety on the Thompson & Morgan trial seeds tomato and (a possible further clue it may be a beefsteak) looking at the sheet accompanying the seeds it does mention that the “plants need side-shootingand support”. We love a beefsteak tomato here, please be one.
Talking of tomatoes, we always side-shoot the plants but the other week we watched Bob Flowerdew on youtube where he was advocating not to pinch out all your tomato side-shoots as growing on two/three cordons ain’t a bad thing. Have at the link look below as he’s very funny, educational and we do love his barnet!
Also we’re now getting flowers (and the start of fruit) on the spaghetti squash. We got what we thought was another spaghetti squash at the bottom of the garden (lower of the two pics) but now comparing leaves we wonder if it’s something else like a courgette (zuchinni) that we may have sown earlier? Only time will tell!
Also another spinach experiment is on the go (we’ve had the seeds sown between the earthed up spuds and inside a circle of broad beans which both sadly didn’t work), we sowed a row at the bed at the bottom of the garden that gets limited sunlight, let’s see how they do. The sticks are to keep the cats off (going back to Bob Flowerdew, on another youtube in that series above he says he welcomes cats into his garden and encouraged them to do there “doing’s” in a dedicated toilet space complete with straw and catnip! We do like his unconventional style!) Updates on the trial seeds to follow.
A photo of the great front garden up the road from us clandestinely taken on the way home from work. It’s not your normal boring front garden as it’s laden with all sorts of fruit and veg if you look hard enough. There’s even some Bob Flowerdew endorsed upside-down wire refrigerator trays to stop the birds and some beer traps for the slugs. Big up non-conformist front gardening!
Bob Flowerdew (pictured in his King Tubby type vest) said a great thing on a recent Gardeners Question Time. The quote was along the lines of “Hoe when there are no weeds and there won’t be any weeds”. Bonkers, sound like what they’d say in Taiji but what he is saying is very true. Big up Bob (and his King Tubby’s vest)!
Popped into our local Co-Op on Friday evening and saw a gardening magazine with free seeds on the front so I had to get it, anything free me! The July 2013 issue of Kitchen Garden costs £3.99 but it’s got two packs of seeds on the front (Beetroot-Bolthardy and Beet, Leaf – Bright Lights) and there’s some good articles in it (Bob Flowerdew has a spread in it, tips on how to grow Basil, perfect Peas and growing Oca, the New Zealand yam) so, it’s a bargain!
We did a google search for wormeries which took us to this great article about alternative composting methods from the great Bob Flowerdew on his website. There is a little bit on worms but there’s far more on other novel methods. Have a look here for the article. Through this we found a great page of links of Bob’s gardening articles called Best of Bob. Have a butcher’s here for some informative reading!
The other day we spied what we think are possibly fruits of the
Weeds up to me knees 