An Organic Lifestyle (Organic Growing Pains)

The Broad beans have begun producing, this photo was taken a few days ago so they have gotten a little bigger since then, the quandary  now being when and how to pick and cook them?! Today, 3 onion beds weeded,fed and watered with the paths in between clipped with a hand clippers. We were going to dig out the paths and cover with 'something' but regular clipping will keep them tidy.There are 2 white onion beds and one red, they seem to be in varying stages of growth even in the same bed as can be seen in the top bed in the photo! The courgettes are really taking off, even though none have reached an edible stage yet there are lots of blossom. The sweetcorn is about a foot high and developing nicely, it is hard to see them properly here seen through the netting to deter the very determined Cock Pheasant from getting in. The small green plants around the edge are dwarf French beans, they are planted around 2 sides of the bed. The lean to tunnel is fulfilling its ...

Cauliflower & cabbage plants, these were bought and potted on into larger pots and will be repotted probably twice more before going out into their permanent plot.They have been netted against the birds which would love a taste of some nice green veg to vary their winter diet.  Our seed potatoes chitting in the shed, not a whole lot but we don't have a lot of space and it will be late by the time we get them in  The rhubarb which I broke off  the big plants we had on the Hydro, I have one in the garden here which is growing fine these got 'a touch of frost' the other night and are looking a bit sorry for themselves I set to on the seed box last night and discarded out of date seeds and opened packets.I had been tidying out one of the spare rooms and came across a gardening journal which I had started last year. I start one every year but then forget about it! I was amazed at the amount of seeds I had already sowed by this time of the year so we will have ...

I returned from my nice relaxing Sunday afternoon and uploaded my photos and previous post.It was such a nice day I had left the hens out in the garden while I was away. I went out to put them in for the night and was stopped in my tracks! My lazy housewife beans given to me by matron over on veggies only blog , which had climbed their pole after a slow start were romping away when I put them out yesterday morning, they had grown bushy and green around the top of pot before climbing began. They have been out every day and the hens paid no attention to them as I had watched carefully, what changed yesterday I do not know. They could not reach the top growth and I can only hope they recover enough to provide seeds for next year, I had kept them at home not wanting to risk them out on the plot in case of wind damage! Matron if you are reading this my apologies and I am sure you are nodding sagely and saying I did try to warn you! This is entirely my own fault as I knew they had a liking f...

The sun shone here in the south for most of the day and it was back to warmth and some work on the plot. The peas are coming along and setting lots of pods but to my surprise some of the lower ones had been chomped despite wire netting around the bed.When we walked on to the plot a rabbit ran from between the lavender and pea bed but I thought they could not get at the peas?!I had to put more netting over the lower one to prevent anymore incursions. Some of the snowball onions drying, these were about 10 that Michael had given me earlier in the year to try out. The second row of netting around the peas, I had to adjust the colour of some photos as the sun was so bright at this time of the day! Our lavender is nearly ready to cut, the bees are colonising it at the moment and anyone who passes takes a blossom to smell! The main onion bed. I bent over the stalks as it seems to be the done thing but I am not too sure of the benefits of it?!The onions on this bed are all good sized bulbs no...

I got a couple of slips of mint which I have potted up, I will keep them in pots as it is very invasive sending out shoots into adjoining plants and beds, which is how I got these two slips.There are 2 pots, one for at home and one for the mobile home not that I intend doing any gourmet cooking down there but mint is an essential ingredient for Mojitos to which we are all a little partial.GYO cocktails could be a whole new off shoot from GYO veg! The power and water was turned on yesterday in the caravan park so I will spend some time there over the weekend turning out the mobile home and airing it after the winter.I thought there may have been frost damage to the pipes after the long cold winter but everything is Ok. Some slips of sage potted up, I have it growing on the herb bed on the allotment but have often needed it at home so this pot is for here. The sweetcorn, cucumbers and courgettes are growing and will be potted up between Sun and Tues according to the moon planting guide.T...

The yard long beans lost no time in coming up and seem to grow before my eyes.I have not grown these before in fact never even heard of them!I received them in my gardening by letter project, where we sent a garden related card with some garden related bits and pieces inside. The brassicas are hardening off, they were repotted into these larger pots again adding a handfull of lime to the compost mix.Their next step is to be transplanted into their permanent bed on the allotment in a week or two.I was very single minded and only used the strongest plants and discarded any that were undersized.I have sown seeds of summer cabbage at home , I used Derby Day which I had last year and it was a firm favourite and good performer on the plot. Today was a beautiful warm sunny day so D.Aisling and Kevin and Scott accompanied me to the plot for the afternoon.Aisling getting stuck in with a fork, she did volunteer and I accepted! Kevin and Mom dug and cleared another bed. Scott had barely arrived w...

We are enjoying days of glorious sunshine and temps in the high teens!We have had beautiful April days before that promised beautiful summers which never materialised so we are making the best of what we are getting at the moment.I have been on the allotment every day and there is Trojan work being done on all of the plots as everyone is busy. The strawberry plants have blossoms on 9 of the 20 second year plants, the first year ones can just be seen in the background but none have blossoms so far. The lettuce in the greenhouse is coming on , the strange upside down bottles are Kathryn's idea to seep water to the roots of the plants. Fill a bottle with water with the cap screwed tight and punch some holes around the neck, bury the neck of the bottle in the soil and the water seeps out slowly to the plant but I think one near each plant would be better.The milk bottles crunch in as they empty but the drinks one stays in shape and seeps slower. I dug over the new brassica bed yesterda...

Yesterday was warm and dry for a few hours so I worked in the greenhouse pricking out plants and planting up into bigger pots.I planted out some of the winter cos lettuce into a tub but covered them with plastic in case of frost. Looking into greenhouse, snapdragons on the stand and broad beans on the top I pricked out over 220 antirrhinums (snap dragons)I had the seeds left over from last year and they are tiny so I sowed the lot of them never thinking they would all germinate!They came down from the bedroom windowsill yesterday and after pricking them out into trays I thought they would need some extra protection as the forecast for last night was more cold and frost. I wrapped the stand in bubble wrap inside the greenhouse and after checking them today they are all looking perky none has toppled over due to the cold so far.I am sure there will be lots of takers for any extras! The shelves on the left side have cauliflower,leeks calabrese,marigolds and on the bottom shelf Spinach and...