There are certain times of the year when propagation can be a little tricky. One is the height of summer when certain crops – lettuce is a notable example – do not like to germinate because of high temperatures, and when it is so easy for young seedlings to become scorched or otherwise keel over… Continue reading Propagation – light vs heat
Category: Garden diary
Sowing onions
It is often said that the traditional time for planting garlic is on the shortest day of the year – 21 December – with harvest at midsummer – 21 June; I am pretty sure this is one tradition my dad related to me. I have heard some folk say that Boxing Day is the traditional… Continue reading Sowing onions
The blog is back | renovating the kitchen garden
After several years of dormancy, the blog is back up and running. I have reluctantly dragged myself into the twentieth century – no further, please – and embraced video. As an introvert geek, video is far out of my comfort zone. Indeed, my comfort zone has packed up and left for another galaxy. I now… Continue reading The blog is back | renovating the kitchen garden
Asparagus beetle
Our young asparagus plants have been attacked for the first time by asparagus beetle, Crioceris asparagi. It is small, not much more than ¼ inch long, but readily identified from its distinctive markings: black head, reddish brown body, black wings with six white markings. Both the adult beetle and the larval stage will feed on… Continue reading Asparagus beetle
Lean on me
This weekend was spent largely on weeding out the vegetable beds, but there was a bit of time for planting out of peas and broad beans. We planted out some 35 pot grown broad beans. Our previous 15 plants will be bearing a crop soon – they are covered with flowers and some small pods.
Transplanting leeks
Leeks are normally grown in a seed bed or seed trays and transplanted to their final growing positions, traditionally trimmed and dropped into six inch deep holes. We sowed two seed trays with leeks, one of old favourite Musselburgh and one of Bleu de Solaise. Rather than transplant direct, I have for some years transplanted… Continue reading Transplanting leeks
Sowing and planting this week
I have been a bit lazy in updating the blog with the latest sowing and planting. Over the last few weeks, sowing has been a bit neglected too, but there has been a lot to plant out. We did manage to sow another three lengths of gutter with peas, the reliable Hurst Greenshaft and the… Continue reading Sowing and planting this week
Frosted potatoes
I am feeling a bit foolish this week. I knew that the first potatoes we planted outdoors a few weeks ago had broken through the soil and I also knew that we were expecting some frost. What I failed to do was connect these two facts in my mind, so left the potatoes unprotected.
Sowing and planting this week
This week saw a mixture of sowing and planting out. First, we prepared our second outdoor potato bed and planted a favourite late main crop Pink Fir Apple, along with more of second early Wilja and a few left over early Sharpe’s Express. The Wilja and Pink Fir Apple will go into the store once… Continue reading Sowing and planting this week
Potting up the chilli house
Chillies are one of my favourite things to grow and some years we have had an entire glasshouse filled with 44 chilli plants of various sorts. This year I have been a bit more restrained with only 20 plants. These were raised in heated propagators, which we turned off a couple of weeks ago, but… Continue reading Potting up the chilli house