An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

I returned to the task of setting up the mini greenhouse today, it is still very strained but hopefully will stay upright for the season!. The cover fit over it OK and I have anchored it down around the sides inside and out. I cable tied the shelves in place as I did last year because I think it gives some degree of stability to the whole frame. I insulated it with bubble wrap as some late frosts could wipe out any tender seedlings and we can get frost well into April or early May. I transferred the seed potatoes from the shed into the greenhouse as they will get a lot more light in there. Home guard top left,Sharpe's Express & Duke of York on right. Onion sets spread out in seed trays as recommended by Terry Walton,you can see if there are any soft or damaged ones. Shallots will be started in modules, we have not grown these before so will have to read up on them. What not to do with your seed potatoes! For some reason I did not put this bag of Duke of York out to seed wen I w...

Every time I open one of my wardrobes I was getting the distinct smell of lavender. Investigating today I found the source, a 400grm bag of dried lavender which I must have put in there myself and forgotten about! We have 6 lavender plants growing on the plot and having wrestled some of it from the bees which spent the entire summer buzzing around collecting pollen, I dried it and packed it into a zip lock bag. These crafty hearts are appearing in most of the garden centres/craft shops etc, so I got the idea to make some packed with lavender.I had this rose patterned fabric, maybe not the most suitable for lavender but shabby chic and vintage roses are 'in'!The lavender is inside a muslin heart shape inside the rose fabric.They can be hung on the bedroom doors or inside a wardrobe. They also look OK hanging on drawer handles etc. I have to visit a craft shop over the weekend to buy some more fabric etc.,it is forecast more rain so there will be no gardening for a few days and I...

Broad beans sown last week are up a couple of days now.They now have the lids removed to prevent them getting soft and spindly.They are on the bedroom windowsill, my usual 'hotspot' for starting seeds as regular readers to the blog will remember.As soon as they grow a little bigger they will be transplanted into 3" pots to grow on. The 3 broad beans moved to the side and now joined by Inca tomatoes,Golden promise tomatoes, peppers, and half a tray of greyhound cabbage and half a tray of lettuce. Potatoes are chitting in the shed but the weather has been against us in getting out to the plot so the onions are still waiting to go in. The decision to get hens has been taken and after online and land line investigation the hen house and run has been bought. It arrived today flatpacked as I will not be ready to put it into place for another couple of weeks. I have been reliably informed by the vendor that even a man could assemble it easily! I will be getting 4 hens and this si...

I had sorted through my seeds and knew I did not have Tomato or Pepper seeds. I bought them a couple of days ago in a local garden centre but they did not have a big range of seeds as yet. Incas , marked Organic cost 3.99e for approx 8 seeds! Yellow Perfection I meant to pick up Sungold but had these when I got home! I will try them as I have them ,they are supposed to be a sweet tomato. Approx 50 seeds for 2.99e I will pick up other tomatoes of different varieties over the next few days. Sweet Peppers approx 10 seeds for 2.99e Our peppers never seem to do well and I think I know why, we sow the seed to late! Reading Matron's blog, pepper seed is being sown NOW because they need such a long growing season! Aldi are getting in the garden supplies, and have fruit trees ,plug plants etc. I got 2 packets of Sweet Pea seeds, each packet contains approx 20 seeds for 69 cent!!! They have some veg seeds but I already have them.I did use some of their seed last year and could not fault t...

Shopping has commenced in the garden centre for the new season.Seed potatoes, onion sets and shallots, enough to be getting on with at present! Seed potatoes are all first earlies, we decided this is what we would grow last year and will continue for this year. Early potatoes are priceless especially when you can dig your own! They will probably escape blight or at least the worst of it. They are at their most expensive early in the season, at the moment we can buy 10kgs of Roosters for 2.99! Home Guard, Sharpe's Express & Duke of York are going in, I still have to source Colleen which we have grown each year. There will be a lot more space given over to potatoes this year,it is a staple we use a lot of and with the recession continuing unabated we are going to grow produce we buy on a regular basis. First earlies can be used within 12 weeks from sowing. Second earlies 14 to 16 weeks and main crop at least 20 weeks and are suitable for storing over winter. First earlies mean we...

The first day of Spring really did feel like Spring!There was some frost during the night but the morning/day was sunny and mild. It was also the first day of the new season on the allotments so I went out to take stock after the long cold winter.The turnips took me by surprise as there was not a vestige of green foliage left!They look OK otherwise, behind them are the skeletal stalks of the Brussels sprouts,stripped bare by the pigeons no doubt! The leeks survived the extreme frost apart from some damage to the outer leaves. I took some home with me after taking the photo, a couple went to D.Aisling and I added a couple to a pot of leek and potato soup. Rhubarb poking through the mulch, 2 of the plants had new growth visible but I covered them over once I had taken the photo as frost could do damage to this tender growth now as we are not out of the woods where frost is concerned yet. The day was so nice I persuaded myself to get stuck in with some digging. I was surprised the ground ...