Tag Archives: Tomatoes

Making mates in the garden

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We had a good load of things to do today but managed to get around an hour in the garden tidying up a bed near the house, pulling some old tomato plants out of the raised beds at the side and trimming a jasmine.

It was a bit cold but good to be out there doing something. Things we can tidy up now will be less things we have to do come the spring. We even made a mate in a Robin who was sitting very close to us for about half an hour (main pic).

We still have a Quick Fire chilli plant outside but sadly can’t find anywhere for it to be put inside over the winter so improvised with the terrarium we found in the street about ten years ago which is now on its last legs (above) but worth trying. And (below) a very odd shaped unripe tomato found on a plant that was being ripped out one of the raised beds that looks like a jelly baby to us! Anyone else been in the garden this weekend? one deck pete (at) gee mail dot com.

Gardening connects us all (Woolwich edition)

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Thanks a million to an old friend Peter B for getting in touch and for sending some pictures of his allotment in Woolwich. Top picture, as he writes “The sunflowers are holding up well – apart from the ones in the back garden which are beheaded by squirrels.”

We understand 100% Peter as they are popular with the wildlife here in our garden. A long while ago a parakeet was robbing the seeds even though we were standing underneath it (see post here) then half an hour later two squirrels were chancing their arms too (see post here). Even a living scarecrow can’t stop them!

We found these pictures above interesting, as Peter mentioned “The cardoon shots are from the allotment – the stems are wrapped in cardboard for a month apparently to help blanch them. It’s supposed to make them taste better – the ones I tried earlier this year are bitter tasting even after extended cooking.” He added “They are an Italian favourite, a parmigiana made with cardoons as opposed to aubergines is to die for or so I’m told by a colleague at work.” We have a cardoon growing here at Weeds HQ but just for decoration purposes as we have never even tasted them before.

As he goes on to say “The cardoons are an experiment – I planted these a bit late this year and I didn’t space them far enough apart so they’re smaller than they might be – they grow to about 2 metres if spaced a metre apart.”

And finally “Tomatoes – I just like the look of them right at the end….”. Excellent stuff Peter, great for getting in touch again and ta for the photographs. Do send us an update next year!

We had joy, we had fun, we had a season in the sun

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Last weekend we returned from a week away visiting some great East Sussex locations such as Camber Sands, Eastbourne and Brighton. Weather weren’t too bad (a bit of rain in the morning but usually sunny in the afternoon) but it has seemed to have changed when we got back home. Everything in the garden is now winding down, the tomatoes have their last fruit on them, the cosmos are still going (more on those later) and the giant sunflower (from seed bought off ebay) is doing great, following the sun as usual (more on that here).

We brought in the houseplants that were having a holiday outside, a chilli in a pot which will hopefully survive the winter and be back outside in the garden as they are technically perennials and even a couple of the pelargoniums taken from cuttings from the ones at the local train station. Why not? It’s nice to have a bit of the outside indoors.

Our north London correspondent Debby H has suggested we should get a page together of how people’s cosmos did this year and have a bit of a gallery going on and we think it’s a great idea. If the slugs got at your seedlings earlier on, don’t worry we will repeat it next year but any pictures of your cosmos to one deck pete (at) gee mail dot com please.

Also a massive shout and thanks to Jon Harris from the excellent multi-genre music  show called Coughing Pigeon on Brum Radio here. On the 1st August show they played Madtone Safety Council V BiggaBush‘s Lock your bike at 01.15. The show continues in the usual unusual way with all sorts of great stuff from the dubby to this wonderful tune from Christie Laume called Rouge Rouge, wonderful stuff indeed.

 

As it says on the website “You should approach every Coughing Pigeon show with a degree of both certainty and curiosity about what you will hear. Household names feature alongside the relatively unknown in a quest to create a unique listening experience” and they are right!

North London news extra

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And we mentioned, here’s a part two from Debby H. She wrote “Here’s a photo of our tomato plants in our little Lidl greenhouse (above), plus one of a couple of them that we planted in a “Grow Zone” that we bought last year, also from Lidl (below).”

“Regarding indoor plants, I have attached a picture of my cactus which blooms every year with dozens of little red flowers, and also one of a flower that has appeared on a succulent that we have had for several years but of has never flowered before.”

Brilliant stuff as ever Debby! Thanks again.

Please no frost now…

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It look’s like everything’s on its way now what with the good weather we’re having. We’ve got some different coloured love in a mist up at the top of the garden alongside some tomatoes and whatever else that came out of the packets of seeds we regularly randomly sowed.

There’s a self seeded hollyhock that is really giving it some at the side bed where there’s a load of different stuff growing in a small space, tomatoes and potatoes and random wild flowers. The veg bed at the bottom of the garden is starting to grow now after the cats kept away what with the trick of random twigs and sticks. How’s your garden growing? Pictures to one deck pete (at) gee mail dot com.

More from north London

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A big thanks to Debby H who sent us some pictures of how things are getting on gardening wise in north London. First are the cosmos (above) which are looking healthy. Those inner toilet tubes seem to be working well as plant pots by the way.

And above are the tomato seedlings which are sown in an interesting way as we usually sow one to a pot, but this method seems great. The tomatoes as well as the cosmos are ready to be repotted, and Debby has given us a great idea for further sowings.

Above is the azalea in her garden is looking great. As she wrote “I just found that the azalea is a type of rhododendron.” We didn’t know that.

And Debby has just got back from a break in Suffolk. “By the coast near to Dunwich the whole area was covered in the most amazing yellow flowering gorse bushes” “It went on for miles. I have never seen it looking quite so spectacular.” Brilliant stuff Debby, cheers for the update and we look forward to more pictures this year.

A tomato contradiction without objection

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Of late we’ve been looking online at various gardening forums where there’s been many questions that go like “Can we put our tomatoes out in the back garden now?” and at times we are thinking the same, what with our lack of patience combined with the wonderful weather we’ve had recently (although it’s tipping it down here today).

You’ve got to remember it’s only April and you know anything can happen weatherwise here in the UK. We read on the Gardener’s World website here: “Tomatoes can suffer outdoors during spells of cold weather, with ideal temperatures from 18 – 24°C and no lower than 13°C” so we’re being careful and not putting most plants out until mid/end of May. They still will be left outside during warmer days and taken in at night (if we remember) to help with the “hardening off” process.

As we’ve a lot of seedlings in pots indoors we’ve put a small handful of tomatoes plants out to make a little bit of space (to put more pots in). We’re taking a big risk but it’s only a small number and they are under makeshift protection made from bubble wrap and kebab sticks, jam jars and seed tray lids up on bricks. It may not be the most glamorous of frost protection but who cares what they look like if they do the trick.

Bargains, bargains, bargains!

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We’re always up for a bargain here at Weeds and a few weeks ago we found this great looking geranium (above) on the plant stall in a local summer sale in a church hall in Hither Green. The stall was sandwiched between a retailer of hand-made baby clothes and a vendor of grape juice from that famous grape growing region called New Cross. The geranium cost us the whopping sum of a fiver but we were happy with that as it really has come on a treat. Strange flowers as well.

This weekend we were at a local park for their annual festival. Earlier in the morning someone mentioned in reply to the horrible weather forecast for the day that “they” could be wrong, “I mean remember Michael Fish got it wrong in 1987?”, sadly “they” weren’t. It turned out to be a right washout but the sun did come out an hour before the festival was meant to close but by then it was far too late, sadly.

There was a upside to the downbeat day though when we obtained some 4 small tomato plants for £2.50 from a stall ran by the local allotment society which we didn’t notice until right at the end. Pic above: you can see the plants are pretty small in relation to the big tomato plant at the rear and the chilli pepper next to it and it is July now but you never know what may happen especially with this strange weather we’ve been having.

The comfrey liquid will be applied, a few prayers said and we’ll see. Let’s raise a glass of grape juice (preferably New Cross Nouveau) for more bargains!

From our north London correspondent

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A big thanks to Debby H for sending us some pictures of how her garden is getting on now that we are on the cusp of spring. The bluebells (above) look great and the strawberrries (below) are now starting to flower.

We don’t use nets on our strawberries here as we only have a few plants dotted about but it is a great thing to keep the birds and other fruit eating pests off them. Apart from a little big of slug damage to a dahlia in her garden, things are looking are looking good. Great to hear that the peonies in the garden are doing well too. We’ve got one that was overshadowed by a shrub nearby so we gave the offending shrub a good haircut and because of having more light getting to it, the peony is doing much better now.

There’s some good stuff happening indoors as well which is very interesting. The cosmos seedlings we featured here a fortnight ago are coming on a treat!

If you remember, Debby just used the whole dead heads from last year’s plant that were just scattered and covered with compost and the seeds weren’t initially separated. They are looking great! Saving your own plant’s seeds are a great way of gardening on an economical tip.

Also Debby told us “The rudbeckia has germinated although it is still tiny” and “the 12 tomatoes are gradually growing very slowly”. Our tomatoes are the same and have even thought to start another batch off as they are so slow. Usually at this time of year we have a few very leggy tomato plants ready to go out but then again we didn’t start them just after Christmas as we usually are tempted to do.

Thanks for the pictures Debby and we look forward to seeing how things progres