To overwinter or not to overwinter?

Posted on October 3, 2021 by onedeckpete

We had some strange old weather today, all was looking bright until about 3pm when it pelted it down and then at about 4pm the sun came out again and we got the Garlic and Shallots in the raised bed. We’ve tried to make it pest proof after all of the shenanigans this weekend too. The metal protection was the shelving from one of those mini greenhouses we had years ago.

The beds have had the added benefit of the soil improver a few weeks ago and we’ll add some compost to the top of them as well sometime this week. Fingers crossed the Shallots do well next year. We didn’t have a bad year with the Garlic but we’ve love to know the secret to getting more out of them. Anyone out there know any good tips for getting decent Garlic in raised beds? Any ideas appreciated!

And news just in is that This is a music show 135 is up on the cloud. Cheers Dazman for posting this up! This week’s show includes Ernest Freeman, a tribute to Richard H Kirk, a steel band cover of The Beatles and some great Reggae as always. So if you love decent music and also love the medium of shortwave radio listen to the below.

And talking of radio shows, tune to The Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room on IDA Radio (Tallinn) tomorrow morning at 8am UK time for 3 hours of the best tunes across lots of genres. Link to the live link here tommorow morning and you want to choose the Tallinn station. Here’s last week’s show by the way. Radio is still the way forward!

Spring has sprung!

Posted on February 25, 2021 by onedeckpete

It looks like spring has spung, even though it’s a bit dark and drizzly today but yesterday’s weather was great and combined with having a day off work a couple of gardening jobs were undertaken.

We popped out first thing and got some seeds (spring onions and cut and come again lettuce) and some seed onions and garlic from Shannon’s. It may be a tad early in the season but we put a couple of rows of the onions and garlic in one of the raised beds and now hoping for the best.

People argue that they’re both so cheap in the shops so why grow them? It’s always handy to have some garlic in the garden so you don’t have to pop out to the supermarket if you ever need a bulb and fresh onions are near enough translucent when you pick them.

Also we actually applied some teak oil to a wooden sun lounger. Whilst buyng the oil we asked “How often should you be applying the oil?” “As a rule every six months” we were told. It’s been more than ten years, so that’s why the bench was soaking the stuff up! We know now. Pots of herbs were tidied up and dead wood cut off and then they had a good dosing of comfrey liquid. That should start them off on the right foot as they say.

We had a great time being out there and we look forward to more sessions out the back!

Play misty for me

Posted on May 25, 2020 by onedeckpete

We didn’t do too much in the garden today (apart from the odd bit of watering in the morning) what with it being so warm. Sometimes it’s good just to stop and enjoy it all. The Love-in-a-mist at the bottom of the garden which self seeded in the champagne box that mysteriously appeared on our doorstep (here) in 2015 (Cheers Maz!) is now starting to flower.

And so are the spuds! How many weeks have we been in lockdown again?

And the garlic cloves we put in last autumn from Shannon’s to overwinter were harvested today. It seems a bit early but the leaves were starting to go yellow and the plants were falling down on their side so we dug them out. They’re now drying out for a couple of days outside the back door. The big question now is what shall we sow in the space where the garlic was?

Another page in your (gardening) diary

Posted on September 28, 2019 by onedeckpete

This afternoon we put in another couple of rows of onions and garlic which we got from Shannon’s the other week so they can happily overwinter (or they’ll only sit in our seed tin until next spring). In the bed (above) where once stood a greenhouse many moons ago and where now the Thompson & Morgan trial sunflower and tomatoes are still hanging on, we put in one row each of Autumn Champion (white) and Electric Red onions.

And near to the house we put in an extra row of Marco garlic that’ll get a good bit of the sun because of the position of the bed. To the left of the picture can just be seen the newly bit of lawn we sowed around the August Bank Holiday. A few weeks previously we took up all of the 1970’s crazy paving that was doing nothing but attracting weeds in between its cracks. With all this late gardening action we can’t wait to see the results next year. Roll on next spring!

Do we know (where we put) our onions?

Posted on September 21, 2019 by onedeckpete

We’re great at forgetting when and where we sow/plant things and after telling someone that the other day, they suggested we keep a gardening diary or “you could even start a blog, you’ll enjoy that”. Oh dear, we didn’t have the heart to tell them we’ve been doing one for a few years!

Well, we’re making a fresh start and from today logging everything plantwise we buy and also where we put it/them. This morning seen us buying some garlic, red and white onion sets to be put in for over the winter from our favourite garden centre Shannon’s. If all goes well we’ll clear some space this weekend and whack them in. You will be informed (complete with the actual date, time and location co-ordinates)!

What a difference the sun makes

Posted on September 26, 2018 by onedeckpete

Don’t think buying in tomato plants is in any way cheating. Earlier this year we sowed a few tomato seeds that failed miserably so we bought a couple of varieties from Shannon’s. The cherry ones (above) have done exceptionally well and they’re still going strong as we didn’t pinch out the tops. Big thanks to Shannon’s, we’ll be doing the same next year.

Monday afternoon was so nice we went out in the garden and tidied up one of the scrappy beds and then planted some garlic cloves to overwinter. It’s worth making the most of the weather at the moment as in a months or so’s time it may be dreadful. Here’s the before and after:

And finally a big shout to Steyvn Iron Feather Journal for letting us know about the latest Music’s not for everyone on NTS which features a ten inch vinyl special including One Deck & Popular’s Son of Stitt (Cafe del Bob’s mix) from many moons ago. Big thanks Mr Weatherall! #onedeckandpopular #sonofstitt

Hold tight all garlic crew…

Posted on June 18, 2016 by onedeckpete

Garlica Last autumn I bought a small number of Garlic cloves from Shannon’s and stuck them in the ground over winter and last night I pulled a good few of them out to harvest. I’ll be leaving them against the kitchen wall to dry out a bit. Not a bad harvest for something you don’t have to bother too much with once they’ve been planted. There’s still even a couple of rows left in the ground too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73zCR9ROs5Y

The train to Fishguard is coming…

Posted on June 26, 2015 by onedeckpete

Mike P Cherries A big shout to Mike and Aradhana of the great Ffynnonofi Farm near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire where we’ve stayed a couple of times in the past. It’s a top place, the sea’s on your doorstep and there’s plenty of countryside to take in as well as some great fruit and veg growing on the farm!

Mike’s sent us some snaps of his garden at the present moment and the plants are looking good! The sweet cherries (above) look brilliant and the plums (below) look like they’re coming on fine too. Mike P_Plums The morello cherries (below) are starting to turn red.And look at the overwintered garlic below, they went in around november last year and are now well on their way!

One of the caretakers of Ffynnonofi Farm is Dai, (the son of the late John Seymour, author of “The new complete book of self-sufficiency” we reviewed on the blog here). His tip is that garlic should ideally go in on the shortest day (usually around the 21st December), and picked on the longest day (around the 21st June). Great advice!Cheers to Mike for sending in the pics and also thanks for passing on this fine classic from Peter Tosh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEuE3vOz_Yg

They’re under starters orders

Posted on April 20, 2015 by onedeckpete

I’ve got a collection of leggy tomato plants waiting to go in the garden until after the risk of frost has gone, like I have every year. After starting them off on the kitchen windowsill a couple of months ago, I put them in the plastic mini-greenhouse outside with the front open during the day to harden them off. This weekend I stuck one of them under the terrarium outside and also sowed a mixture of seeds beside it. There’s onions and garlic on their way in the bed behind and in the raised bed furthest away have seed potatoes under a good deal of earthed up soil. Seed bed of the week The bed at the bottom of the garden which I was going to keep veg-free this year has now a row of leek seedlings which I sowed indoors on xmas eve last year and a couple of courgette seeds which went in over the weekend under jam jars for extra protection. The rest is a mixture of flowers, a purple sprouting broccoli gone to flower, rocket and strawberries. It won’t be long now until “they’re off” and we can’t wait! back bed of the week

You raise me up (just like a runner bean cane)

Posted on March 10, 2015 by onedeckpete

A big thanks to the weather for the weekend just gone and it looks like spring has finally sprung! Things are certainly on their way, I’ve got some healthy looking leek seedlings, black poppies and garlic in the glass terrarium I found in the street a couple of years ago (above) and the bulbs are starting to come up in the found empty champagne case too (below).Early Sunday morning I popped into Shannon’s (ta to Paul, Araba and Alexi for the lift) and got myself three bags of multi-purpose compost to put into the new raised bed (below) made out of a couple of free scaffolding boards procured from Paul a couple of weeks earlier. So thanks to a cheap argos drill, some spare wood and a quarter of a tin of fence protector left over from last year, it’s now a home for beetroot, carrots and climbing french beans. And look at the runner bean cane wigwam, that’s been put in a bit early! Raised bed and bean canes And here’s a tune dedicated to all who put in a few hours over the weekend with their mowers, garden forks, spades, trowels and (new pair of) loppers while enjoying the good weather in their gardens and allotments! Roll on the spring!

Damian Marley – Hard Work (Dedicated to all Westminster City Council gardeners)

Weeds up to me knees

Madtone, gardening and life

Tag Archives: Garlic