Tag Archives: Shannons

How much more can you fit into a raised bed?

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A few years ago just before lockdown we were given some ace pallet box collars which were ideal to be used as raised beds. The one above is packed to the brim now so God knows what it’ll be like later this season. The top contains some giant garlic, below that from left to right: parsley, the early tomato plant under one of the two cloches and in the third column an end part of some shop-bought celery which is regrowing. Below that some marjoram bought from Shannon’s years ago and a solitary egyptian onion. That’s one variety pack of a raised bed isn’t it?

Above is a simpler arrangement of some giant garlic with a seed potato stuck in the middle. We may get away with it what with hopefully harvesting timings but who knows. The seed spuds we put in a couple of large pots are doing well (below), fingers crossed we’re into the frost-free zone now.

Also we’re starting to use some of the nettle tea we made a few weeks and and starting to get some comfrey veaves going for a herbal compost brew. It all helps and it’s all free.

Pictures of Lily?

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We could be totally wrong here but the other day we found this shoot coming up (above) and would like to think it was the beginnings of a long dissapeared Foxtail Lilly. We had one of the plants in the area a few years ago but after a late frost it was never seen again.

It may be more likely a dahlia that we forgot to take out in the autumn but then again we hope it’s not, as those Foxtail Lilies (aka Eremurus) are something else! The pic below is the crown of said plant next to a 50p to show how mad the plant is even before it grows, thanks to Shannon’s for sending us this pic years ago.

Well whatever it is, it and all of the potato shoots that have come up early have now jam jars and cloches over them as we’re due another couple of frosty mornings so we’ll be told. We will keep you posted!

The death of a cob

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We’ve just come back from a visit from Shannon’s today and this is the first thing that greeted us when we came back. We’re now thinking of starting up in nature photography and jacking in this gardening lark what with our brushes with nature this weekend.

We are even really considering a scarecrow (as suggested by Stevyn of Iron Feather Journal fanzine) as there was a cat sleeping possibly 3 metres away which didn’t deter the pesky squirrel consuming one of the many corn cobs that had formed on our plants we purchased from Shannon’ early this year. There’s two cobs left and they’ve been taken off. The really hot pepper plant beside it hasn’t been touched, we wonder why?

And on a good note here’s what we bought in Shannon’s earlier this morning, some Garlic bulbs and Shallots to overwinter, even though we didn’t have much luck with them last year. We will do as we always do, try again! Gardening eh why do we do it?

Coir baby that’s really free!

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The above looks more like a construction project especially with the wood saw and the B&Q 99p bucket but we were trying out the coco grow+. It’s that coir stuff that when you add water it becomes potting/seed compost. Not bad if you’ve had sciatica and your carrying skills ain’t as good as they were last year. We didn’t want to use all of it so took the hint from Shannon’s who told us to use a saw to cut it. A good tip if you don’t want to use it all at once. We’ll keep you updated on how it goes and if the plants like the medium.

We also couldn’t get to the garden fork today to turn over the compost heap for the first time this year so grabbed a spade that had it’s uses to cut in half some old cabbage stalks and gone off sweet potatoes. It’s hard trying to turn the compost in those dalek bins but as long as you don’t mind the odd scraping of the knuckles it sort of works. Well sort of.

And here’s a tune you may hear on a forthcoming mix, it’s from Khotin and the track’s called Heavy Ball.

Three’s (not) a crowd

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We spent another couple of hours yesterday “tipping around with a hoe” as they used to say at the council and sorting out what’s what, now the new fence is in. As we cleared the side bed the day before we now can see what can go where.

At the bed at the bottom of the garden (pic above top) are a couple of cardoons that are now on their third year now after getting them originally from Shannon’s knowing nothing too much about the plant. I mean we don’t now that much about them now apart from the plants soar up to seven feet high and their thistle-like flowers attract bees and all sorts of pollinators in droves.

There’s also a globe artichoke next to the cardoonswhich we obtained after doing a swap with a mate at a local community garden for some egyptian walking onion bulbs (another “out there” plant). We’ll keep you posted on how they get on this year but do have a look at getting a cardoon or two if you fancy a bonkers looking plant!

Spring has sprung!

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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!

Is there anybody out there?

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The bed at the bottom of the garden is always a bit of a problem as it only gets sunlight in the late afternoon. At the present moment the nasturtiums have taken over and so has the borage behind them. We haven’t had a hard frost yet so it’s looking a little wild to say the least!

If you can remember we were going to “rest” the bed and fill it with the Thompson and Morgan Beneficial Flower seeds mix then COVID 19 came along. We were so fed up that one of the local shops had a 3 potato per person rule we put in a couple of rows of spuds plus some onions and broad beans there (see the  bed in July here). After they were harvested in mid-August we gave the bed a good tidy up (here) and boy has it grown since!

The state of play at the moment is a Globe Artichoke root (1) we did a swap with a mate at a local community garden (for some Egyptian walking onion bulbs) is now starting to grow and the brilliant cardoons (2 and 3) we bought at Shannon’s a few years ago have starting sprouting again. Talk about value for money! And in the middle of the crazy nasturtiums are a couple of rows of autumn sown broad beans (4). When will the growing ever end?

You’ve come a long way…

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It’s mad, the photo above shows the raised beds just before lockdown in March. My, how time’s flown eh? How many week’s have we been lockdown for? 14, 15, 16? The garden isn’t bothered how long though, it’s cracking on and with this present warm and wet weather here in London it’s getting on with what it does best. Look at those raised beds now (below), the spuds (Two bags of seed potatoes from Shannon’s. By the way the garden centre did a sterling job getting people supplied with stuff around the start of lockdown) are starting to take over and it’s becoming a bit of a jungle around there. There’s peppers, lettuce, carrots and a cabbage somewhere in amongst that lot! That’s our new incinerator too, ta for Marc B for dropping that off in a social distanced manner!

We’ve pulled out a few handfuls of spuds from around the potato plants making sure that the plant wasn’t disturbed too much and then we piled the earth/compost over the crown of the plant so any spuds near the surface wouldn’t have the chance to turn green. And here’s the spuds (below), we’re confused if they’re the first earlies, second earlies or premature maincrop ones. It doesn’t really matter, they tasted excellent and what did they taste of? Yes potatoes but real potatoes!

The lockdown may be getting us all down but if you’re fortunate enough to have a garden/windowsill/balcony and growing stuff, you know that it keeps you that little bit sane(r)! By the way here’s two tips we swear by here at Weeds, the first is to nip the sideshoots out of your tomato plants (not if they are the bush variety though) so all the goodness goes into the main stem and the flowers.

And a silly but effective one, if you know it’s going to rain get the hoe out a few hours beforehand and just scratch up the surface of somewhere in your garden that don’t look that grand. Below is a particulary not brilliant bit at the bottom of the garden which seems to get all sorts of weeds and bindweed a lot. We gave it a good “tip-around with a hoe” (as they used to say in the council) yesterday and it now looks great! We’re hoping it get’s a good covering of borage for the next couple of months to keep the bees happy. Happy lockdown gardening! #gardeninginlockdown #goingmadinlockdown

The answer my friend…

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The weather has taken a turn for the windy this morning. Those cardoons we bought out of curiosity from Shannon’s as seedlings are on their second year now and well over six foot at the moment are swaying all over the shop. The flower heads are now starting to form, they really are something else when they come out. As for that Giant Russian Mammoth Sunzilla Big Massive and Broad 12ft Super Size Sunflower we bought on ebay…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=40&v=M6k9RfXpJFM&feature=emb_title

And lay the seed tape on the ground

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We received a part of a seed order we forgotten about from Thompson & Morgan this morning. It was a favourite vegetable of ours beetroot and what was good about it was they’re of the seed tape variety. There’s no fiddling about with trying to sow the seeds thinly, spacing them out evenly or trying to keep them in a straight line, the tape does all that for you. We are getting used to this seed tape idea even though it’s been around for a while!

And the seed potatoes we planted straight outside rather than under the cold frames are starting to show through the black membrane that was used for putting under the decking. All we done is cut an X in it and plonked in the seed potato. The membrane will keep the weeds off and hopefully keep warmth in the ground. We covered the tips of the buds this evening with a bit of soil just in case a frost comes out of nowhere!

Talking of potatoes we’re in the process of tidying up the front garden that isn’t really doing that much. We may copy an idea of a neighbour of ours who the other year sowed some potatoes in his newly designed front garden as they are supposedly good for breaking up compacted soil we were once told at the council. It may be a while before Shannon’s is open again where we can pick up some shrubs so we might as well make use of the ground and grab some potatoes into the bargain!