My leeks are no Usain Bolt’s, let me tell you!

Rakim – It’s Been A Long Time [DJ Premier – Original Version]

It was sunny yesterday morning so I went out early in the back to tidy up the bottom bed, weeds were beginning to sprout there and bindweed was finding it’s way in too. I do like a bit of clearing and weeding as it also gives my headspace a chance of a clear-out too (man)!one clear bedFunnily enough I was going to “rest” that bed this year, but in February I obtained a great selection of stuff from the seed swap organised by Lewisham Gardens and Golightly Gardens (post here.) Then there was that bargain seed job-lot I won on ebay too (post here) and that’s apart from packets bought from the garden centre, so those seeds had to go somewhere!on a cheery tipIt started with some poppies, then it was beetroots, carrots and a couple of salad crops. Then I added a couple of different varieties of sunflower, parsnips, rocket, cornflowers and not forgetting there were some strawberry plants in already. It looked like a garden designer’s nightmare (below pic: the plot in the summer). So much for a “resting” bed with nothing in it!June_2015_2It’s like gardening itself though, once you start it’s difficult to stop. You go out for ten minute’s “tipping around with a hoe” and you return a few hours later after finding “another job I just had to do”.Tarrium and garlicOne thing though, a row of leeks that I started off from seed (above, in the seed tray in the “found in the street” terrarium taken around late February) are just about ready if I wanted to use them small. How long do they take to grow?Back bed leeks

Summer the first time

June_2015_2Where’s the time going to this year? It’s July next week and the garden is now starting to go a bit mad. The bed at the bottom of the garden (pic above) the one that I was going to “rest” this year funnily enough, has started to develop into a right old mixed patch.

Don’t ask me why it’s got like that as it certainly wasn’t planned and I blame it on all the great seeds I got from the seed swap at the start of this year and from the big ebay bargain pack the other month.

From the back of the bed going forward I’ve now got sunflowers which stretch around the side too, a row of poppies (poppies in rows? That’s a bit OCD I hear you cry!), leeks, carrots, beetroot, parsnips and at the front a mixture of poppies and cornflowers. Talk about a bit of gardening anarchy!June 2015_3 PoppiesPoppies seem to be a bit of a favourite of mine this year as I have a few dotted around the garden where I’d scattered seeds randomly. The ones shown above and and below I’m sure came from the seed swap and hopefully will keep self seeding!June 2015_4_pinkTalking of seed, here’s one of the pepper plants which were sown earlier this year on the kitchen windowsill which gave them a bit of a head start. It’s a first for me as I never usually have much luck with peppers. Roll on the sunshine!June_2015_1