Pixies with Pinking Shears

Beans in waiting

Last week I was bemoaning the fact that we had had so little rain. Thankfully we have had a decent amount since I wrote that and the allotment is now much easier to dig. Unfortunately it has turned colder again so planting out is slowed down  creating a backlog in the greenhouse. With the long winter and cold spring everything has become bunched up and I am trying to do things which should have been done at least a month ago as well as all the things that are scheduled for May.

 

Cardboard mulched with upturned weeds

Free Squashes

 I went down the to the allotment during the week and finished my cardboard mulching leaving a narrow strip for the bean arch. Now that the beans are all growing well I shall find time to get the arch constructed and in position then I can plant the beans out. I have got so many seedlings growing that I have taken up some space in another greenhouse (they stand side by side in the back garden). There are beans galore, butternut squash onions and leeks all waiting to go down the allotment. I have finally managed to get the maincrop potatoes in although they haven't sprouted very well. I hope that in the ground they will come to life and get growing. I was very disappointed to see that where I had weeded around the asparagus and herbs then planted a load of marigold seeds weeds have come back again. There is lesser bindweed which has the trick of snapping off its roots when you try to pull it out and every bit of root left in the soil will sprout. The same goes for a thistle which is also growing there (I am not very good at identifying the many different types of thistle). The asparagus which was about an inch tall when I put protection round it rapidly grew to over a foot tall! I hadn't planned on harvesting it this year as this is only its second year on the allotment and it should be left for two years before harvesting to build up strength. I shall look forward to eating some next year.

Scary Broad Beans (www.trekbbs.com)

I planted out some extra beans which were in the greenhouse. There were some French beans I acquired from the Master gardener weekend. I also have some Klingon broad beans which I was given by a master gardener – well they are a variety called Martok and all fans of Star Trek Deep Space Nine will remember General Martok – I expect they will all be ridged in true Klingon style!  The other broad beans have been attacked – possibly by pixies with pinking shears judging buy the neat work round the edges of many of the leaves. I suspect that something more mundane is guilty although I am not sure what. On the photos there seem to be a lot of black aphids and a slug but this looks more like caterpillar damage. Further investigation is needed.

Pixies with Pinking Shears

Up in the greenhouse I have been busy potting on seedlings of Scabious, Amaranthus and Canterbury Bells. Soon I hope they will be big enough to put out into the garden. The Moneymaker seedlings are in bigger pots. I really need to get the Gardeners Delight into big pots but the pots I use are currently inhabited by Blackcurrant cuttings waiting to be planted out on the allotment. As soon as there is room I need to sow seeds of biennials to plant out next year. 

Finally.......Having spent the winter trying to protect my Camellia I have been rewarded with the first show flowers for a couple of years at least.

Camellia of the Wilow Weep

So much to do – so little time …. I'd better stop typing and get on with something!!

Weeding and Thinking

Stop the Pigeon!

I'm quite excited by this weekend's weather forecast – they actually have rain over Norfolk!! I will believe it when I see it. The poor old allotment is parched, I haven't put any more new things in down there because they probably wouldn't survive and the ground is dry and quite hard to dig. I went down the other day, when once again rain was forecast, and uncovered the broad beans and bottle grown peas. They now have tents of chicken mesh over them, along with many other beds down there.

 

Cardboard mulch

In the end it barely rained at all. I have continued putting down cardboard and covering with uprooted weeds, in the hope that the dry weather will kill them off. I have plenty of cardboard in the shed, enough to finish off the bottom end and in doing so I will just have enough room to put up the rose arches to make a climbing bean tunnel. Despite all this dry weather the weeds are growing very happily so I cleared the herb/asparagus bed of weeds then scattered some Calendula seeds and covered the emerging asparagus shoots so nobody else could feast on them. I may cut a few shoots if they are big enough but really I should wait until next year.

Useful friend

Up in the greenhouse there is good news from the parsnip seeds – a lot of them have started sprouting so I have been popping them into compost. Yes I know it is very late but at least they are growing. Trouble is I have now run out of suitable compost so the rest will have to wait for a couple more days. I planted tomato seeds earlier in the year, the Moneymakers have grown but Alicante did nothing so I have put in some more Alicante but as insurance I've bought some plants from a local garden centre. I bought two Gardeners Delight and two Tumblers. Strangely the African Marigolds also failed to germinate too, so they have been resown. Lots of beans have been planted in the greenhouse; Cobra (climbing French) and sweet peas together; Borlotti beans which I found in the shed on the allotment; Runner beans have replaced the hopeless soya beans and Flagolets are all in separate cells (saves them fighting!). Many other things (flowers and veg) are sprouting so I will be very busy planting out soon.

Ribes Odoratum

Around the garden at home I have been weeding and seeding. I wasn't unable to get the alpines this year so I have scattered various seeds in the sink and covered it to keep them warm and stop the cats using it as a litter tray. In the coalshed bed I have again tried to grow Canary Creeper (it says simple to grow on the packet) last year they sprouted then died. I have also added some Asters because they wont mind the mix of sunshine and shade which they will get there. The three little pink Fuchsias have survived the winter and are showing signs of life. I have repotted the Rosemary which I brought back from the allotment and put into a shallow pot on a pedestal by the back door. It will now stay in a large deep pot near the decking. I have surrounded it with Coriander and Sorrel. In a very similar pot I have put some spare Sweet Peas and Nasturtium seeds. The pots by the back door now have thyme and chives in them. I may add something else which can tolerate such vigorous neighbours. In the 'awkward bed' by the back door I have planted the Clematis which was in the sink, much too hot for it there, hopefully it will grow up through the huge Escallonia Macrantha along with the Honeysuckle I put in last year. Underneath here I have planted out the Cyclamen which were in bowls of compost all winter. I am glad to say that my Yellow Flowering Currant Ribes Odoratum is in flower – just one cluster, can't go overdoing it! I bought it as a twig and now it is growing into a good healthy bush.

In need of restoration

bubble wrap heaven

We have got very strong winds again and I once again I am worried about the greenhouse. It is very old, my mum gave it to me a few years ago and it was about twenty then. Currently all the good sheets are used at the top and the damaged ones at the bottom. This allows me to recycle large sheets of tinted twin wall polycarbonate at the bottom, either wedged or tied in place. Although the aluminium frame is fairly good the plastic sheets which fit into it have become very brittle and many of them are damaged. The original sheets are 1mm thick and I have found it very hard to find this thickness so it would mean getting thicker glazing and carefully opening the channels to accommodate it. To replace the damaged ones would cost in excess of £100 hence the large amounts of 'Gaffer' tape and bubble wrap currently in use! To replace all 40 panels would cost the same as a new greenhouse. I think a plan B is needed!

We've had some rain!!!

Digging and Planting

April shower with attitude

The bold leap of spring has already hit on a wobble. A few days ago the temperatures were hitting the giddy heights of the high teens, even twenty degrees in some places. Today we are back to just scraping double figures. Frosts at night are not unexpected at this time of year, often followed by glorious sunny days. Today got off to a good start then cloud marched in and turned everything very cold. On Saturday morning we even had a hailstorm.

I have ventured down to the allotment and been busy putting in the early potatoes; this years varieties are Première, International Kidney and Anya. The latter courtesy of a fellow gardener I met at the Master Gardener's induction weekend. I was hoping to get some of the Sarpo varieties but could only find 'taster' packs of five, not

Beds of seeds and mounds of potatoes

enough to feed a family and more expensive. Next to the potatoes I have added two rows of Scorzonera, something which is being grown as an experiment this year as I have not even eaten it let alone grown it before! Carrots have been put in next to the Scorzonera too. I have also uncovered the onions which have been living under the triangle tunnel all winter, they needed a bit of weeding and a lot of water. Next to the onions are two rows of Chard, again a first time for me but I've heard that it is better than spinach, which is a great favourite of mine. Most of the greenhouse grown broad beans have been planted out and are now having their turn under the triangle cloche next to the chard. Next to the broad beans are two double rows of field peas, which I was given, they should grow without needing any supporting pea sticks. I'll just be glad if they grow!

Tomatolings

 

The rotavating which I was waiting for sort of happened. In some areas the soil was too hard and dry for the machine to cut into so It couldn't be turned. There were a couple of places which were easier to work and I have very quickly filled them with plants or seeds. I was left with the quandary of what to do with the other areas which are not only hard to dig but once again choked with weeds, particularly grass. I could just get my spade and fork and dig it over, quickest but also back breaking work. I expect I shall have to do some of it that way because I need room to put in more potatoes and lots more beans. It is in the bean area that most work needs to be done! I have started to try out a different method, the no dig system. It may be a bit late to start because many of the weeds are well established. I have already started covering the ground with cardboard and covering that with soil. It will take a lot of cardboard and it will take some months before I can use it but if it works I shall save myself a lot of back breaking digging. I will cover spare ground with weed suffocating material in future.

Free Butternut Squash

Back in the greenhouse a lot more seeds have been planted, mainly vegetables but some flowers for the home garden. There are signs of life in several trays but the Spinach hasn't come up again, I hope it is just being slow. Using a tip from a fellow Master gardener I am trying to sprout parsnip seeds on a damp paper towel ready for planting out. Parsnip seeds are notorious for not keeping so this is a good way of seeing if you need a fresh pack. So far no life, same for the soya beans.

It could be spring

According to a newspaper today we are going to have a drought in May! Well April was not exactly rain soaked round here. Perhaps I should start growing Cacti instead!

At last we shall have spring flowers.....

Rip Van Winkle

Wow! We have temperatures in double figures AND the sun has been shining. The wind has turned to the south so the general consensus is that, one month late, SPRING IS HERE! It is late but it doesn't have a note from Mother Nature explaining its lateness, or apologising!! Clearly it has gone to my head. In the garden we have Forsythia, daffodils and primroses. Having spent the last few weeks franticly feeding the birds are now nest building like its going out of fashion. The nestbox cam is set up and we have a Bluetit in residence, it has been roosting in there for a couple of weeks at least. I heard a real herald of spring this evening – the Housemartins have started to return -Hooray!- the first one's were chattering in their nest on our neighbour's house. I don't know what will happen when the three who nested near our bedroom window will do when they get back – Wrens have been roosting in their nest over the winter, there could be ugly scenes.

Borad beans

Enough of the birds what about the garden?! I hear you cry. Well........

Ready to burst

   

The greenhouse is full to bursting with seeds in various pots, cells, bottles etc etc. I have risked the weather and moved the frost tender Acers outside along with the two small Christmas trees and two berberis but they are only just outside and can be shoehorned back in if necessary. The broad beans and peas are sprouting, there is even life in the spinach and tomatoes! The assorted fruit bushes, or cuttings of fruit bushes are mostly coming to life. I hope the dead looking ones will still have live roots and catch up soon. Out in the garden the Rhubarb has red nodes where the leaves are forming, lovely sweet young rhubarb coming very soon. I have been planting Nigella and Malope seeds in the difficult corner, I also popped in some hibernating Crocosmia which had been languishing in pots. Unfortunately one Ceanothus which was put in for ground cover seems to have been killed by the frost. The wonky Weigela has been moved to the bed where the giant Spirea lives, we only managed to get about a third of it out. Down on the allotment not a lot has happened. Mainly because I have been away training......

Peas in a bottle

I have joined Garden Organic's Master Gardener scheme and spent last weekend over at Gressenhall for the induction course and to meet the other nineteen new recruits. It was a very enjoyable weekend, I learnt a lot, made new friends and my love of gardening was rejuvenated. Being a Master Gardener is a voluntary post where experienced gardeners go out into their communities to help families or schools or other community groups to grow fruit and vegetables organically. Full details are available on http://norfolk.mastergardeners.org.uk/ I am really looking forward to getting my teeth into this exciting new venture.

Music while you work

I don't know if it is tempting providence but I have taken the spade out of the back of the car. It was in there in case I got stuck in the snow. 

The very sunny weather we've been having has made me think that maybe, just maybe Spring is on the horizon. The blustery bitterly cold wind defies this. According to the weather people we have only until the middle of April to wait for warmer weather, if they had said that in November we'd have laughed at them, now it is a relief. It seems we may be exchanging all this lovely sunshine for rain, which of course is better than snow and will stop all the topsoil blowing off the farmers fields. So there is just a small window of opportunity to get the allotment dug over and the ground prepared for sowing all those things which should have been done several weeks ago.

Bottles of peas

With this in mind I have been busy chitting potatoes & sowing pea seeds and hoping that the broad bean seeds will finally wake up. Many gardeners grow their peas in lengths of guttering so that they can be slid into the ground without disturbing their roots. I haven't tried that and thought I'd give it a go this year. However lengths of guttering are not cheap, I'd also need to buy end stops to. Then I'd have to cut them into manageable lengths, usually about 1metre long. I would have to carry them the length of the garden to put them into the car and drive to the allotment and carry them from car to the right bit of allotment. This sounds like a recipe for disaster! I have come up with a shorter, cheaper more portable alternative. I have used 2 litre fizzy drink bottles instead of guttering. Cut off the top and bottom because they are too thick to cut through without some powered device. Cut in half lengthways (if you look carefully there are seams which will act as guide lines), snip small holes in the bottom of the 'gutter', place both halves into a seed tray, pushed close to one end to keep the compost in place. Then part fill with compost, put in about 14 seeds evenly spaced and cover with compost then lightly water. I planted 84 seeds the other day!

The first days digging

I have at last managed to venture down the allotment to do some work, there is a lot to do. I am still waiting for the rotavating to be done but the potatoes are sprouting and I need to get their beds ready. So I got to work with my trusty stainless steel fork, it is like a hot knife through butter. As usual I think I was alone down there, can't see all the plots but I think nobody else had ventured out. Sometimes I am happy just to listen to the birds, if I have company I will chat but quite often I have music playing on my (borrowed) mp3 player. There is quite an assortment of music on it, lots of greatest hits of different decades or driving rock ballads and some sound tracks from films and shows, things to get you moving. To this I have added some of my own favourites. Needless to say it is a good job I am often alone down there as I sing along to the greatest hits of T.Rex.

Cageless fruit cage

Today I started working at quite a speed, one Bolan song per width of allotment, at first anyway. Either I slowed down or the songs were got shorter but it finished up with two or three songs per width! I think it was shorter songs, well it was the earlier acoustic stuff. After an hour of digging I decided to have a breather and so took the netting off the fruit cage, should have done it before the snows I know! I have discovered a new pet hate (along with wire coat hangers and chewing gum) it is plastic netting. The dreadful stuff grabs hold of every twig it can find whenever you try to gather and roll it up. It is also not

Evil netting

very environmentally friendly so I will stop using it in the future. I will not be using the plastic mesh bean supports again for the same reasons. Having had a breather from digging and run out of T.Rex I had a change of genre and went back to digging with renewed (although short lived) energy. I changed to a new favourite, a surprise one too as it is Scottish pipe and drum music! I grew up hating traditional pipes & drums but this is very different full of energy and passion. Check out Clanadonia (http://www.clanadonia.co.uk/) on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN1wOQ1u9EA and you will hear why I was revitalised and dancing around the allotment – sorry to the dog walkers who passed by! (Whilst looking for the video clip I've found another band very similar called Albannach, will investigate further....) If I am not singing and dancing along to music I am speaking a foreign language, Italian has made way for Czech which is a very difficult language full of consonants in the wrong places, even saying good morning will be a challenge!

May be edible

I finished off by digging up the parsnips I had missed when I last did some digging before Christmas when I was coming down with 'flu.  

Unruly Lonicera

Back at home I have also been busy pruning. Well there was this Lonicera it was overshadowing the rhubarb and choking a holly tree. It isn't any more! Just look at the pictures, I ran amuck with loppers and a pruning saw and now no more unruly Lonicera.  

Unburied Holly

You may think I'd been listening to some mega heavy metal while I did this but no, it was a long planned attack and took very little time so no music was used. The huge Spirea billardii triumphans has been cut down ready for reducing to a manageable size and freeing up some more border for me to plant fuchsias!

Well I think I'm going to be quite busy over the coming weeks, hopefully I'll have time to keep up the blog. I don't think anybody has noticed that I didn't post anything last week! Phew!

Realm of the Ice Queen

This time last year

According to the TV news and weather people this time last year we were basking in temperatures of around 70F – Today it is a smidgen (technical term) over freezing. We woke up to yet another covering of snow and a biting cold wind from the east. Looking on the Met Office website my planned week of gardening may be spent in front of the fire instead;

“Scattered wintry showers, especially in the east, some turning heavy towards midweek. Widespread, penetrating night frosts, locally severe.

Snow Primroses

Outlook for Wednesday onwards; Some sleet or showers are still possible in the east but these will tend to ease. Staying generally cold or very cold with widespread overnight frosts and bitter winds. Rain, locally heavy, probably spreading into southern areas from around Saturday next week and turning to sleet or snow as it moves northwards, giving further snow accumulations in places. Cold or very cold at first, but temperatures recovering to nearer normal across southern areas during Easter weekend.” (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_weather_noscript.html)

Brave or foolish

Out in the garden a few spring flowers have braved it but nowhere near as many as you would expect at this time of year. 

Like many other gardeners I am frustrated by the continuing cold, unable to get out and get planting. In the greenhouse some broad beans are hiding in tubes of compost waiting for spring warmth. Last year I had already planted raspberries, taters, strawberries, asparagus, broad beans, spinach, carrots, parsnips, beetroot and herbs. At the moment on the allotment there is a row of onions hiding under a cloche and the resident fruit bushes, asparagus and strawberries toughing it out.

January and March are the same

A new life awaits

Its just by the door!

I mentioned the broad beans in tubes of compost – they are toilet roll tubes filled with compost. It made me think about the great tradition of recycling in gardens and on allotments. In the past allotments were filled with wonderful home made sheds, usually made form old doors and cast off windows. Which of course could make an allotment site look like a shanty town if done badly but done well it added character and colour to allotment sites. All manner of things were recycled to make plant supports, plant protection and even seating. Today because owners of allotment land want things to look tidy and uniform and because of an increasing need for security the makeshift sheds have been replaced by mass manufactured ones but the inventiveness of plant supports and other structures remains the same. On a smaller scale it is in seed raising that recycling is particularly useful. With so many plastic containers and food trays being unrecyclable (in this area at least) they get re-used a few times before finally heading off to landfill. The square deep boxes that mushrooms come in are useful for seeds or in the kitchen for vegetable trimmings before composting. The rectangular deep fruit boxes are good for seeds because they have drainage holes in already. Cress containers can be used to grow more cress or similar seeds. Milk containers make useful scoops or funnels. Large clear fizzy drink bottles are very good – cut off the bottom to make individual cloches; cut in half lengthways, cut off the ends and make a manageable length of pea guttering; if you cut fins in them they can be used as spinning noisy bird scarers. No end of assorted household items get used for storage of garden sundries, particularly if they have lids to stop spillage. I think nearly all gardeners use egg boxes for chitting potatoes and I'm sure they have other uses too. As well as household items gardens themselves would be recycled with prunings of hedges and bushes being used as plant supports or protection the following season, plants composted and grass trimmings or swept leaves used as mulches. Perhaps all this recycling and being in tune with nature is why so many gardeners are happy contented people when out on their plot.

Fashion Victims

A Frozen Start

Well with the weather reverting back to winter it has been all systems stop in the frozen garden here. Siberian then Arctic winds, snow, sleet hail, frost and sunshine all in one week! Wildlife doesn't know whether to start nesting or hibernate. Today I drove part of the way to work on frozen snow covered lanes, came home in glorious sunshine. Next week apparantly it is a return to milder but wetter weather, for a few days anyway.

I have been looking at the trends in gardening for this year, for those fashionistas who see gardens as something which has to be changed like a wardrobe of clothes. We can easily ring the changes with annuals, providing your local garden centre follows trends – most of them seem to follow tradition. I tend to think of an ornamental garden as something more long term, allowing shrubs, trees and perennials to settle and establish themselves not be uprooted just because they have become last year's fashion.

Brave Little Dafs

I saw somewhere that Tree Lillies are fashionable this year, providing you can give them the warmth and shelter they need. As they are perennials will they survive or even be in fashion next year? According to one webpage 'Bright Jewel' colours will be in fashion – a great relief for flowers, heaven help us when beige flowers are invented!

Fashionable Jewel colour?

Last year apparently saw an upturn in the popularity of wildflower meadows and this trend is set to continue as part of the general trend for wildlife gardening. This would also tie in with two other trends; one for more naturalistic and native planting schemes. Naturalistic is a bit of a misnomer isn't it, they need to be managed as much as any other style of gardening otherwise it is just an unruly mess. Planting with native plants better able to cope with our bizarre climate is a better idea, less of those fussy, tender, demanding foreign plants will make life a bit easier. With this trend in mind the people at Miracle Gro have come up with a great idea, a variation on their 'Patch Magic' lawn seed this is Flower Magic. In a plastic container they have mixed flower seeds with coir compost and plant food. All you do is prepare a bare patch of earth and scatter it on, hey presto a flower meadow, or if you prefer colour co-ordinated flowers they do pinks or blue and white mixes. I like the sound of it – the garden anarchist in me can see it being used all over the place – writing messages on lawns, or in fields, or creating a piece of art visible from the air!

No way, not even indoors

The other trend is for tactile gardens which encourage us to 'engage with our gardens' and not just walk through them. Engaging with my garden usually means getting down on my knees and weeding – cant get much more engaged than that! I read that there is set to be a rise in the use of 'tactile trees and shrubs' – does that mean getting groped by a Garrya or fondled by a Fagus?!! Perhaps I'll plant a tactile tree and see what happens.

As is often the way when in recession people become nostalgic and this will be reflected in a trend for Victorian styled pots, planters, cloches etc. If people can't afford new nostalgia then recycling will become more popular with all sorts of thing being turned into planters, ornaments, seating, decorations and anything else that they want to make the garden look like an artistic scrapyard.

Shock the neighbours

The grow your own movement may well suffer a wobble, some are predicting an increase in GYO because of hard times. Whilst others are saying it may decrease because of last years dreadful summer and so many failed crops will put off novice growers. An interesting thought is that people will start to grow edible hedges due to foraging becoming trendy. Great for the birds if the hedges are left when that fashion fades.

Stylish recycling

I have never really followed any fashions, I very much doubt I will be jumping on the trendy gardening band wagon. No trees covered in old cutlery masquerading as art, no old toilets used as quirky planters, and we won't be having a fire place installed in the garden either! (supposedly big in outdoor living this year) Non tactile shrubs wont be uprooted in favour of more sensual ones. Bright coloured flowers will not be replaced by jewel coloured ones – hold on aren't they the same?! No I'll just do my own thing as usual.