Tag Archives: Garlic

Eats, shoots and leaves

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I heard two great gardening tips this week. The first was from Penny Golightly (of the great Golightly Gardens website) who mentioned the free tomato seed offer from Heinz. It’s only a limited thing but have a look at their Facebook page here and see if you’re lucky!

Also on last week’s Gardening with Tim & Joe show on BBC Radio Leeds, Joe Maiden mentioned rather than buying a pack of seeds especially for pea shoots from the major seed sellers (around £2.50), go to the supermarket and buy a packet of dried peas which are the same thing and a whole lot cheaper!Bulbs in the greenI had a day off Thursday and managed to do a little bit of gardening before the rain came and it was so nice to be back out there. I cleared the bed next to the pond (Pic above – fish courtesy of Lewisham pet shop, bought a few years ago and they’ve multiplied a bit since then. God knows how they survive in a rusty old water tank!)

The reason I was out there was I bought a load of bluebells a fortnight ago which were bought “in the green” (as I missed the proper bulb planting time in the autumn) so when the postlady delivered them on Thursday morning they were live (with roots and shoots and all) so they had to go in. Let’s hope the birds or the squirrels don’t pull them up!

onions under glassThings are on the move, the onion sets, garlic and parsley under the top half of the old kitchen door are starting to show signs of life and the tomato and pepper seeds I stuck in a few weeks ago indoors are on their way. It won’t be long now, roll on the warm weather!

Tray of seedlings

Proud to be twirly

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It’s always happens come this time of year, I start to get a bit twitchy and “sow just a few seeds” and come March/April I’ve loads of leggy looking tomato plants sitting on my kitchen windowsill waiting to go out after the risk of frost has gone. Will I ever learn?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cVATbu6Gp4

It certainly don’t look like I will, as just after the new year I went to Shannons and bought some seed compost, a set of seed trays and a plastic propagator. I even had a look at one of those heated propagators with a view to buying one but at £30, had second thoughts. It’s funny I got rid of one on ebay a few years ago as I thought I’d never need it again. Great eh?

I was also told a top tip though at Shannon’s, “never mind buying a heated propagator, just stick one of the normal ones next to a radiator.” Not too close though as it will dry out the compost and the seeds will possibly cook!propogatorMy seeds aren’t by a radiator but just tucked out of the draughts by the patio doors in the back room (image above with an patented added extra to keep the lid firmly on, 2 clothes pegs!) I sowed some tomatoes (moneymaker), peppers (sweet mini-mix), coriander and lettuce leaf basil which will give you leaves as big as your hand (if the picture on ebay is to be believed!) As they used to say at the post office, I think I have “a touch of the twirlies*”

compost bin 2015

Also over the christmas holidays while off work, I managed to tidy up some of the back garden that got a bit neglected last year. A couple of beds have now been weeded, forked over and now ready for the growing season, giving myself a bit of a head start come spring. I spread some of the great compost that is now starting to come out of the compost bins (albeit with eggshells still in it, I’m now breaking them down more before sticking them in the bin).

garden stardate jan 2015

Also there was a bag of seed onions (Troy) under the stairs that I should have sown in the autumn to be overwintered. Even though I thought I kept them cool and in the dark there’s a few green shoots developing so a few of those went in alongside some cloves of french elephant garlic.

They’ll more then likely rot but “what the eck” they’ve gone in under the old glass frame I found in the street years ago which now doubles as a cold frame once two broken peices of paving slabs go on the ends of it and there’s a few onions under the sawn off glass part of the old kitchen door we had replaced (image above).

I mean can you ever be “too early”? We’ll soon see come the spring, if they’ve either rotted or started sprouting! As I write this, the rain is lashing it down like nobodies business. “Twirly?” I do think so!

*Full explanation of the term “twirlies” here.

The sun sessions

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That yellow thing in the sky came out again today so had ten minutes poking about the garden. It was a bit nippy but I still sowed some lettuce in the cold frame (It’s early I know but it was “leaf” day after 7am in the  biodynamic calendar so what have you got to lose, a few seeds?) and knocked off some weeds with the hoe. The big question is, will it soon be spring or have we still got the rest of the real winter to come? Who knows with this global warming lark.

if it don't fit don't force it

The forced rhubarb is starting to get on it’s way. All you do is stick a bucket (or a bucket filled with straw) over the top to keep it dark and warm, to fool the plant it’s spring and there you go  (I used the bucket the christmas tree was in.) In a few weeks it’ll be crumble and custard time I reckon.

And the overwintered garlic is looking good in their OCD uniform rows (below.) There’s overwintered onions in as well and I can’t help pulling up the immature ones and using as spring onions as they weren’t expensive at all to buy as seed onions so I got a big old bag’s worth.

clove er

Late last year I had a couple of cabbage looking plants that I had forgotten what they were, until some mates of mine said “it could be purple sprouting broccoli as that takes ages to mature” and they were right. Shouldn’t be too long before it’s ready to pick, but it’s taken a while though. I must remember to pick them before they fully flower or that’s it!

Purple rain, purple rain

And finally…

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yki8Gq0l4w

I finally got out yesterday and tidied up the family veg plot at the bottom of the garden, runner bean canes were cleaned up and stored away and the bottoms of the runner bean plants were left in the ground as they’ll add extra nitrogen to the soil. It was the first time for a while that I’d got out for a couple of hours in the garden with the fork. I was in bed until midday today, must have been the body going into a state of shock after that bit of hard work!

On a hex tipThe wormery has been covered with sacking over a layer of fleece for the winter (if it gets bad I will move it into the garage as those brandling worms hate the cold!) I also used the old fish tank I found in the street a few months ago as a cloche to overwinter some Peas and Garlic. It could have done with having a few holes drilled into it for ventilation but I still hadn’t got around to it. Also sowed the same combo under the old trusty window frame found last year in a cold frame stylee. God know what will happen what with all the cold weather that we’re supposed to be having next week!

A winter world of veg*

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The garden is approaching the end of the growing season so now’s the time to put those hardy veg in to “overwinter” over the cold months and utilise your space to the max. The plants will make a start now, go dormant over the winter period then perk up in the spring, giving yourself a head start on the veg front next year. Vegetables like spring cabbage, kale, spinach, broad beans, peas, even lettuce (look out for a hardy variety like “artic king” at the garden centre) can be put in now for overwintering.

Last week I sowed some broad beans, onions and garlic. You can grow onions from seed but the most convenient way is to grow from “sets”, mini onions (think pickled onions in their skins!) that’ll save you time and effort. I got a bag of about 50/60 for £3, that’s well enough for yourself with loads left over to pass onto a gardening mate or two.

I prepared the area as per, taking out weeds, stones etc and made two rows about 10″ apart. I then sowed each set 5″ apart and buried them with about a quarter of an inch of soil above the top of the set to stop the birds and squirrels from having them. Don’t use force pushing them in or you will damage the sets. All you have to do then is watch for weeds and damage due to wildlife trying to rob them off you (you could even put a net over them on their early days if you’re keen!) and wait. Do remember to stick in some sort of plant label as you might forget. I do it all the time, that’s why I have a squash plant growing up some canes like a cucumber at the moment!

I’ve also started off some garlic. These are from a bulb not unlike the ones you use in cooking. Just carefully break it up and put the cloves in the ground instead of the pot. You don’t want to use any old one from the supermarket as you don’t know what variety it is and if it’s suited to you local climate so get especially for the plot from your garden centre. With planting just carefully put them in (flat end down) with about a quarter of an inch covering over the top so the birds can’t see them and space them about six inches apart. If you’re doing them in rows keep those about 10″ apart. There you go, how easy was that?

* An Englebert Humperdinck song no less!