October Picture

The harvest is coming to an end. The sweetcorn has been eaten - yummy, and the runner beans are coming to an end - just a few more and that'll be it. Good thing too since some of the poles snapped in the recent winds and the whole lot have collapsed against the fence!

Just a few beetroot ans the winter squash to be fetched in. And last will be the parsnips but they need to wait until we've had a good hard frost!

September Picture

I'm harvesting like mad at the moment - the potatoes are in, the sweet corn almost ready and the runner beans still cropping - the weight of the plants is starting to pull the poles over!

Anyone know any good runner bean recipes?

Blackfly!

My first infestation – and I’d been doing so well!

They’re attacking my broadbeans – all the tender young shoots covered in a mass of black aphids, and they’re starting to creep over onto the runner beans too.

They’re being farmed by ants and I have to admit it’s rather fascinating watching them running up the stems of the plants tending to their herd, while a couple of large ladybird lavae lurk on a leaf nearby, waiting their chance to move in on unattended stragglers – it’s all drama in my patch of dirt.

But, interesting though it is, it’s not doing my plants a lot of good.

I attacked them last night with a spray of water and liquid detergent but it doesn’t seem to have done much good. Perhaps it’s too dilute. I’ll give them another dose this evening with a stronger mix – maybe that’ll be more effective.

Anyone got any good tips for getting rid of blackfly?

Weeds!

I arrive home from a weeks holiday and the first thing I do is run down the garden to check on my patch of dirt.

Wow – hasn’t everything grown!!

The runner beans are halfway up the poles – the broad beans pods are a good six inches long (so hubby tells me) and the peas and potatoes are flourishing.

The nettles are doing really well too. Dandelions and hogweed have sprouted from nowhere – How on earth does hogweed get to be so big in only a week? It certainly wasn’t there when I went on holiday! And there’s loads of it!

And that looks suspiciously like bindweed chasing the runner beans up their poles.

Not good!

I like the poppies though so they can stay.

Winners and Losers

Some things are doing really well in my patch of dirt - as you can see from these pictures - I've even added one from a different angle this month for you to see my main successes so far - my legumes and potatoes coming on a treat! With a bit of luck I'll be eating peas and broadbeans and maybe some new potatoes in only a matter of weeks!



My parsnips and sweet corn are also doing allright, even though they are still quite small.

But I have also had a couple of resounding failures. My carrots are a disaster! They germinated but now I only have a couple of plants! I've no idea why. Did something eat them? And I have only one cauliflower plant. I put them outside the greenhouse to harden off and the slugs munched them!!! Death to slugs!!! And as for my courgettes and squash - it was really sunny here on Monday and they were sat in the greenhouse while I was at work and when I got home they were all scorched and brown. Anyway, I've planted them out so we'll see what happens.

So to try to fill the gaps I've popped in a row of beetroot and some onions. I'll let you know what happens to them :-)

May Update

Here's what my patch of dirt looks like this month.

On the left you can see my legumes - broad beans, peas and runner beans, all coming on nicely. Behind them the potatoes are breaking the surface. You can't really see them but trust me - the carrots and parsnips are germinating, as are the onions. The sweet corn and squash will soon be ready to go in and in the greenhouse I'll be growing melons, peppers and plum tomatoes.

I feel hungry already. :-)

A Watched Seed...

….never grows!

It’s exciting having a greenhouse – with lots of little trays of seeds sitting there, waiting to grow …. and waiting….and waiting.

Every day when I get back from work I scurry down there to see if anything has happened – will there be any little shoots poking their way into the sunlight?

And then at last….a melon started to germinate – tiny and green…only to shrivel and die two days later. Oh dear. 

But all is not lost. I’ve bought a tray of broad beans from the local hardware store and those will be able to go in soon, along with the peas and the potatoes that are chitting nicely.

And now, at last, something else has started to grow – the first of the runner beans are sprouting, and the cauliflowers too.

So all is not lost – I will have some plants to grow in my plot.

Sow by Dates

So how set in stone are these sow by dates on packets of seeds? They always seem to contain far more seeds than I actually need, and I do so hate waste - but with only a small patch like mine I'm hardy going to be growing 300+ parsnips, am I.

Anyway, I have several packets of different varieties of winter squash left over from various failed attempts to grow these in previous years, so I thought I might as well give them a go.

So, now that I have glass in my greenhouse I've been planting:

Pumpkin (no idea how old these seeds are)
Trombone squash, (last year's seed)
ordinary courgette (last year's seed)
Italian round courgette (new seed)
Another sort of squash but I can't remember what it's called. (last year's seed)
Some very old spaghetti squash seeds (don't hold out much hope for these)
And melon (new seed)

I've also started off some cauliflowers and brussel sprouts (Why on earth did I plant the devil's vegetable? Everyone in the family hates them. Oh well.)

And finally - runner beans. Oh, but I've had a right muddle with these. You see I bought a load of loose seeds, in a brown paper bag. When I got home I found that mice had been at one of my old packets of runner bean seeds from last year and they had spilled all over the place. So I picked them up and put them in another brown paper bag.

Yes, you've guessed it - when I went to plant the runner beans I had no idea which were last year's seeds and which were this year's seeds. Great! Well I suppose if nothing grows then I'll know I planted the wrong ones!

Anyway I'll let you know what comes up.