Yesterday I was floored by a horrible bug that knocked me for six and rendered me useless, yet when I woke up this morning I felt right as rain (well, near enough.) I popped out and got a couple of plants from Shannons and spent a bit of time forking over the front and back gardens before it got too hot. Big up Summer!
The latest purchase from shannons (above) and (below) a couple of squash plants going mad!
I popped into Shannon’s yesterday and grabbed a big roll of horticultural fleece for around £6, which will come in well handy over the next few weeks. Some of my tomato plants were started off well early (there’s even a couple with flowers on them!) so after a couple of weeks in the mini-plastic greenhouse I’ve recently put them outside. On the nights I now cover them over with fleece. If you want to do it cheaper you can always use old net curtains or as Joe said, some sheets of newspaper draped over the plants.
I was listening to a recent Gardening with Tim & Joe on BBC Leed’s and Mr Maiden was saying even though some shops have tomato plants for sale, it still doesn’t mean that it’s safe to stick them outside as there still could be a frost for a good few weeks yet. And also chatting at Shannon’s yesterday I was told it’s not just frost you need protection from but also damage from cold winds and rain.
I also treated myself to a couple of Courgette plants as the seeds I sown haven’t amounted to much. You really don’t need more than a couple of courgette plants as you’ll be overwhelmed with the bloody things come autumn!
Talk about spring springing! Here’s how the Eremurus aka foxtail lilly or desert candle is getting on since the post in late March (here). This pic was taken just this afternoon, some progress or what?
I think this tune by the great Prince Buster might sum this plant up!
Thanks very much to the good folks at Shannon’s for getting back to us about the unknown bulb in the last post and for sending us a picture. It turns out it’s Eremurus aka foxtail lilly or desert candle. Matthew Wilson mentioned in a piece in The Telegraph from 2003 (here) that “The plant grows away quickly, forming a rosette of blueish-green leaves up to 4ft high, from which the flower spike begins to rise during late April. By late May the spike will have risen as high as 9ft high, more typically 7ft or so, topped with densely packed buds that gradually relax into flower.” It’s definitely one mad plant and one that’s well worth £7.99!
Thanks again to all at Shannon’s and I will be sending pictures when it’s in bloom, great stuff!
Last November I bought a mad looking corm/bulb type thing at Shannon’s for around £7. I loved the look of it at the time and also knowing it would grow into a 6ft high monster made me think, “I’ve got to have one of those!” But for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was called. Any ideas?
Well I’d forgotten all about the bulb until last week when I noticed this poking through the earth in one of the beds.
Then in the space of a week, it’s grown into this. It reminds me of those things that came out of the spacecraft in the old version of The War Of The Worlds. Madness!
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!
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)
It’s definitely that time again! I popped into Shannon’s today as I had a day off work and procured a small pack of first early seed potatoes, Pentland Javelin. Just like the last couple of years I’ve stuck my seed spuds in an egg box with the blunt end of the tuber upwards (the end that has the “eyes”) to give them a head start come the spring (aka “chitting”).
The process of “chitting” encourages the seeds to sprout before planting them outside. We’re not talking the long pale shoots that you see when potatoes have sprouted after being stored in the dark, but ones that are short and sturdy.
The important thing with “chitting” spuds is to make sure the container is in a cool position with natural light and where’s there’s no risk of frost. I’ve stuck mine next to the propagator on the floor in the back room by the patio doors.
A couple of years ago we were emailed a great tip from Shirley Calgary who said “Actually you do not need the whole potato – I have cut the potatoes in 2 or 3 pieces as long as you have a sprouted or sprouting eye you are all set.” Great stuff!
More on chitting here.
As for the propagator (post here), the seeds I put in last week have started to come through. How good is that? I know it’s early and I’ll be left with leggy tomato and pepper plants on the kitchen windowsill in the spring but why change a habit of a lifetime?
I popped into Shannon’s yesterday and treated myself to some onion sets and garlic to overwinter in the garden and I bought one of these bulbs. I can’t remember what the flower actually is but I know it will grow into a 6 foot monster. Not bad for £7 odd. I will update you when it sprouts! Mad is not the word and very halloween.
Looks like I’ll be making more pasta sauce this weekend! Below is just the start of the tomatoes and hopefully there’s a few more to come. A big thanks to all at Dig This Nursery for giving us a good few tomato plants earlier this year.
The plums on the right are off the dwarf tree we bought a few years ago from Shannon’s. Some years it does well and some not, but who cares. Plum crumble the weekend, I reckon.
Weeds up to me knees 