Fennel, Chicory and Manchester Carrots!

I had a quick visit to the plot tonight to finally get most of the seedlings into the ground.

These have been waiting in their pots for far too long, so I decided that I would have to squeeze them in wherever I could.

Fennel

I stuck my seven Fennel plants into my square foot bed planted one per square.

I have never grown this before, so I am looking forwards to seeing how it develops.

Italian Lettuce

Also in this bed are some Italian lettuce and also some Chicory.

I purchased a few seeds from Seeds of Italy this year, the plan is that most of the crops grown in Italy come from the Northern regions where the climate is similar to ours here in the North West of England.

Chicory

Chicory is another plant that I have never grown before, I believe it can be harvested through the summer for it's leaves to add to salads, but if the root is lifted and kept in the dark over winter it will form the chicory 'chicons' that we see in the supermarkets.

I'm really looking forwards to trying this out.

Little Gems

The Little Gem lettuce that I planted out about four weeks back have finally started to bulk up a bit.

Until very recently these plants had been shaded by some perpetual spinach and some chard that I had let go too far - the lettuces' progress seems to show that I made the right decision when I pulled up the giant plants to give these some more room.

Nantes Carrots

The Nantes Carrots have suddenly grown to a tremendous size, the fronds are now almost 2 feet high.

At one point I thought that I wouldn't be getting any as they took ages to germinate.

I also planted up loads of Manchester Carrots last night - hopefully these will not take as long to show.

Rocket with two rows of Celery in front

The Rocket I planted at the same time as the Celery has not responded well to the hot spell we are having - virtually every plant has bolted and produced a flower.

I have pinched out all the flowers and given them a good soaking - hopefully this will let me keep them a bit longer.

The Celery plugs in front of the Rocket are also doing well but are still growing slower than I had expected.

Nearly Ripe

Some of my strawberries are now ripening - I have had nearly 1.5kg so far over the past week, with probably ten times as many still to come as the various varieties I have ripen.


I think that I will be making strawberry jam this weekend.

\My first grapes

All of the fruit on the plot is at varying stages of ripeness.

Only one of my raspberry canes has ripened whilst the others are still at the tiny green berry stage.

The grape vine that I was given last year has loads of tiny bunches showing, and the gooseberries have lots of fat berries which are starting to change from green to red.

Black currant berries

Even the tiny black currant bushes have loads of fruit.

White Currant

Red Currant

The white and red currants that I was given last year have masses of fruit on them which is nearly ripe.

This is the first time that I have grown these, and as it was so easy to propagate from cut stems last year I think that I will probably have a few more this time next year.

Onions and shallots

The onions and shallots are swelling nicely, but some of the yellow onions have started to flop over which normally means that they are ready to lift.

These will be very small bulbs, but hopefully the rest will be able to grow a bit more before I have to lift them too.








Most of the shallots have split into four bulbs,but some have split into five or even six, and there are a couple of threes, but these are quite large bulbs.



I grew shallots from sets last year for the first time, but this year's offering looks to be a far better crop.

Shallots showing the split

This is probably due to the soil that they are planted in - last year they went into a bed that had been double dug, but was quite full of heavy clay.

This year they have been planted in a lasagne bed which had been used for my potato buckets last year, and so has had plenty of  compost dumped on top as the buckets were emptied.

Cara, Sarpo Mira and Pink Fir Apple Potatoes

Speaking of potatoes, this year's crop is doing well.

I have already had a few first earlies, both Red Duke of York and Maris Bard, which have been in the ground for just about 12 weeks.

My second earlies and maincrop are now outgrowing the first earlies and I am looking forwards to a good showing.


Now that I have started this season's harvest in earnest I have decided to keep a running total of how much it would have cost me to buy what I have grown from the supermarkets.

So far I have saved £16.50 - mostly on strawberries.

On the Home Front

With all that is going on down at the allotment I haven't done an update of what is happening at home for quite a while.

Aubergine 'Black Beauty'



Sweet Pepper

The sweet peppers and aubergine that I planted out into a growbag in the back garden are doing great.
The aubergine has loads of flowers which will hopefully provide at least one fruit if we have enough sun this September, and both peppers have got plenty of small, green fruit on, but nothing ready for picking as yet, probably down to the poor weather we have been having here.

Spring Onion 'White Lisbon'

The pot of spring onions are doing nicely, and will probably be ready to start harvesting from over the next couple of weeks.

Once I take the larger ones I hope the increased space available for the smaller ones will encourage them to grow a bit faster.

I posted some time back that my carrots had all been munched by the slugs, but I noticed the other day that I have three survivors that have germinated very late.  They are still tiny sedlings right now, but I have high hopes for them.

Winter Onion 'Tuffball'

The remaining onions I bought from Aldi are also doing well.  I have lost a small number of them, but I reckon I still have about 40 ready to go down to the allotment.

Now I have got bed 2 ready for them, they should be in by weekend, weather permitting.  The fifteen already planted in bed 1 are doing well, but not really showing much signs of starting to bulk out yet.  I have never planted such tiny sets before, so I don't really know what to expect.

Basil 'Minette'

I think that the basil is the one thing I am happiest with at home right now, as I have never been able to grow it past the first seedling stage before.

As you can see in the picture, it is doing really well, so well in fact that I potted on a few plants and gave them to a work colleague who was having problems with his own basil.

This variety has lovely, delicate, tiny leaves but is full of flavour.  I have harvested some already and we are looking forwards to growing this again next year on the plot, if I can get the fruit and herb area ready in time.

Spring Cabbage and Kale

I still have one tray of brassicas at home, waiting for space to be planted out at the plot.

There are fifteen spring cabbage and nine puprle curly kale.

So far they have escaped the cabbage white's attention, but I know it is only a matter of time before they are found and munched on.

Still on the Table

Most of the plants on the front garden table have been moved to the plot - all I have left are a few cavolo nero (caterpillar munched), a single strawberry that I couldn't get in the hanging planter, a gooseberry bush, one coriander, one oregano, a basil and the walking onion, which is ready for the seed pods (or whatever they are called) to be harvested as well.

Jalapeno

Oh - and the one jalapeno chilli pepper I have is producing some rather nice looking chillis.

In the raised beds the chard is being harvested and frozen, but the brassicas have all been attacked by the cabbage whites.  My own fault really as I was concentrating on the plot so much that I forgot to cover these at home.

The peas I put in have been pretty much munched down by the snails, as have two of the mange tout peas.

The borlotti, on the other hand, have put out a few flowers - tiny things compared to the size of the plants themselves - but no sign of any pods forming as yet.

Sweet Peas at Last

The sweet peas that were almost completely eaten have rallied, and we actually have three purple flowers.  I am going to cut these to encourage more to form.

Leeks almost overwhelmed by Chard

The leeks are all doing well, some are almost ready for picking (if we want baby leeks, that is) but I think I will leave them to mature over winter.

Both rhubarb plants are producing well - I think that I will have to harvest a few stalks this week.  Not sure if they will become wine or crumble right now - it all depends on how I feel at the time.

The tomatoes in the growbag have all got masses of flowers and loads of tiny fruits forming - I must remember to feed them this weekend.  Some of the leaves are turning brown on the ends - not sure if it is blight but I am removing them as I find them to try and slow it down if it is.

Even the tomato in the upside down planter has got flowers on it.

The lone remaining potato in the growing bag is not looking too happy right now, pretty sparse foliage and a spindly stem.  I may have to dig it up this weekend if it gets any worse.

Even the tomato in the upside down planter has got flowers on it.



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Both apple trees have still got their two apples each, these are now getting to quite a decent size but I will need to start staking the trunks as the weight of the fruit is causing them to bend alarmingly.

The autumn raspberries and the blackberry are all starting to show signs of flower buds forming, so I hope to get a small crop from them too before the fruit area at the plot is ready for them.

Hanging Strawberries

The strawberries in the hanging planter has got plenty of fruit on it now - this is the variety with pink flowers and I hope we will have enough sun to allow them to ripen.

The lettuce tub by the door has been allowed to go to seed so I can try and save some for next year.

Salad or Weeds??

A couple of the tubs that Angela sowed, and forgot to label have started to mature, it looks like we have a few nice lettuce developing along with a few other salad leaves that I am not familiar with.  I shall have to look them up before harvest, just in case they aren't salad leaves but weeds.

All of the herbs are doing well, and filling out the planters.

Yet more Seedlings

My stock of seedlings awaiting the allotment increased dramatically yesterday when I made a quick trip to Aldi.

They have just got in a batch of vegetable seedling plugs - a pack of 15 for £1.99.

I bought Winter Onions, Winter Cauliflower, Winter Cabbage, Spring Cabbage and Purple Sprouting Broccoli.

All I have to do is to transplant them into a proper seed module tray and water them in.  Once the roots start coming out of the bottom of the module it is time to plant them out.

The seedlings are in a tiny amount of compost which is sitting in a layer of gel (it is supposed to help with water retention and you can mix it with your compost in the seed tray if you want).

A quick spin around the seeds I have recently planted -

In the blow away almost everything is starting to show - both pumpkins are going well  (the Jack O' Lantern is doing best).



Jack O'Lantern on the left, Mammoth to the right





White Lisbon Spring Onions





Paris Market Carrots

The spring onions

are also coming on, as are the carrots. 



Kelvedon Wonder Peas



The peas are nearly an inch high and growing noticably every day - there is even a sigle kohl rabi sprout as well.

 

Basil - at last!

Best of all - there are a few basil coming up as well.  This will be the first time I have managed to get basil to germinate in over three years of trying, so I am very pleased with this.

Nothing from any of the courgettes as yet though, but they were only planted six days ago so I really shouldn't get too impatient just yet.

On last Monday evening I planted chillis, tomato, another pumpkin 'Mammoth', borlotti, sugar snap peas and radish on the box room windowsill, so they have only had four full days so far.

The only movement is from the radish.  It started to show after only two days, and this is where they are now.

Some of the seedlings are nearly an inch tall, and almost all the seeds have germinated meaning that I have two seedlings at each station.

I may try to transplant the weaker one of each pair, but I have read that radish doesn't like being transplanted, and you should seed it where it will be growing.

It will be interesting to see how the radish that I will move fare compared to those left behind.

Windowsill Goodies

Even though I have run out of room in the blow away, and the table in the front garden is completely covered with seedlings just waiting to be taken down to the allotment when I finally manage to get in there (8 days and counting!) I just had to pot up some more seeds tonight.

I am going to put them on the bedroom windowsill in the boxroom, right next to the computer so I will be able to take good care of them.

I sowed 9 radish 'French Breakfast' - I grew these last year but only managed to get a couple of them before they were munched by the pests, so I am hoping that by growing indoors I might be able to have a few more.  Sowed a couple of seeds per station.

There are three pots of Chilli 'Anaheim'.  We love chillis and already have some strong plants growing in the blow away, but I fancied trying a new variety.  Only put a single seed into each pot as I want to see how the Square Foot Gardening method of sowing works out - it is recommended to sow one or two per station.

Windowsill Goodies

There is a single pot of tomato 'Sweet Baby'.  I think this is a bush-type, and most of the others I already have growing are cordon, so I wanted a change.  About 4 seeds in this pot.

I have also got a pack of Borlotti and one of SugarSnaps - going to get them going tonight too.  I realise that they may be too late for this season, really, but hey - it's only a few seeds.

Finally, I couldn't resist potting up another pumpkin - 'Mammoth', just in case the one I potted in the blow away doesn't come up - no movement as yet.

Talking of the seeds in the blow away, I had another peek at the ones planted eight days ago.

Still no movement from either pumpkin, got a few peas showing now, quite a few carrots are starting to germinate and I even have a couple of spring onions coming through, but not a thing from the Basil.

I have never been able to get Basil to germinate, either inside or out - I really don't know what I'm doing wrong.

Time to check Google, I guess.

More seeds

Sowed a load of seeds yesterday ready to be transplanted to the allotment as soon as I have a bed ready for them, which I am hoping will be around my birthday on July 10.

I put in loads of cucurbits (courgette family) as last year I put them in late, and although some small fruit formed almost all rotted from the flower end before they were big enough to pick.


I planted 3 x Courgette 'De Nice A Fruit Rond' (never had a round courgette before so really hoping these come up),  4 x Squash 'Patty Pan Custard White', 3 x Courgette 'All Green Bush', 3 x Courgette 'F1 Defender' and 3 x Courgette 'F1 Atena'

I had a few spaces left so I decided to try some Kohl Rabi 'Purple Vienna' - another veggie I have never grown, or even eaten for that matter.  I sowed three or four seeds in each 'plug' just in case some didn't germinate.



What I planted today.



I also planted out a couple of spare plants to replace the slug and snail eaten ones - a couple of Romanesque broccoli and a Cavolo Nero kale.  All my brassicas are now protected by pop bottle cloches.

I don't want to lose any more seedlings so the cloches will stay on until the plant is too big for them and hopefully big enough to survive the odd leaf being munched,

Fully loaded Blow Away

Had a quick look at the seeds I planted 10 days ago - no signs of anything from either of the pumpkins or the spring onions, but a couple of the Kelvedon Wonder peas are showing, and there is even a tiny bit of green from one of the Paris Market carrots.

One of the pepper plants in the blow away has got a flower on it.  Apparently they self-pollenate, so I may have at least one fruit this year.

Flowering Pepper

Also in the blow away is my single aubergine plant which is getting quite tall now, and looks like it has recovered from the slug attack a couple of weeks back.  Apart from the pumpkins I think that this is the plant I am most looking forwards to see growing.

Aubergine - Recovered after slug attack

Maybe I can do this gardening stuff after all!

One new thing I tried yesterday was to mulch round the leeks in my raised bed with grass clipplings.  It is supposed to keep water in the soil - not that we have had any problems with shortage of water recently! and also to deter slugs and snails as it dries and becomes a barrier.

Part-mulched raised bed

We will see.

New Sowings

With the hope of the allotment looming close I suddenly realised that once I have managed to clear the plot (or perhaps just part of it) I have nothing ready to plant.

Rather than waiting until early July to get started I decided to use my blowaway to propogate some seedlings that I will be able to transplant once I have space cleared.

I chose to plant the following :

Peas - Kelvedon Wonder
Spring Onion - White Lisbon,
Carrot - Paris Market
Basil - Minette
Pumpkin - Jack o' Lantern
Pumpkin - Mammoth

I planted plenty of the first four, but only one each of the pumpkins because if they germinate they will need a huge amount of space, and I want to grow more than a single plant to a bed this year.