Allotmenting:: And so it begins ::

The seeds arrived a couple of weeks ago now, but with the arrival of some of the live plants this week, I really started to get going on this years growing season. Oh my, it is awfully exciting, so much hope and expectation in each tiny little seed.

I purchased the majority of my seeds from these guys this year, and they certainly look fabulous (obviously I can't vouch for the seeds themselves yet, having only just sown a few of them). The packaging is really nice, simple, but comes with great information, and even instructions on how to save next years seed from this years crop, brilliant.

I purchased too many to list here, but some of my favourites are the atomic red carrots, black plum tomatoes and squashes, but there really are lots I'm looking forward to growing.

This week I've sown, a windowsill full of herbs, (I've been slack with fresh herbs recently and really there is no excuse not to have a least a pot of basil in the kitchen) cauliflower, perpetual spinach, alpine strawberries, aubergines (3 varieties, this is surely a little ambitious as none of mine worked last year!) asparagus and leeks.

The plants that arrived this week came from Thompson Morgan, they include, black currant, white currant and red currant canes, honeyberry plugs and a variety of potatoes, I've also got some Jerusalem artichoke tubers arriving from these guys.

It's only January and I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed, I best get myself down that allotment and digging!

exciting times...

...I have been a fairly absent blogger, but I most certainly have not been an absent gardener the last couple of months.  There are seedlings on every available windowsill in my house, weighing down the shelves of my little green house and even a few outside (though some naughty snail/slug has devoured two of my baby marigolds).

Here is a little list of what is currently growing in some form or another in my garden/greenhouse/house:

Fruit ::

• strawberries : some from last year and some newly purchased runners, some of these are already flowering which seems crazy!



• blueberries : 3 newly purchased little plants
  
  
  
  
  
  


• raspberries : again a new addition, I have 3 varieties and 3 canes of each.  Planted in big containers and currently covered with some plastic sheeting in an attempt at a little polytunnel for them!


• gooseberries : this is a bit of an experiment, I took some cuttings from a huge gooseberry bush just over my fence (which is currently a building site, I imagine they will remove the bush in due course) and have just popped them a pot of compost, I have no idea if this will work, apparently it's fine to take cuttings like this but it should be done in the autumn, these are already flowering so we'll see how it goes!


• watermelon : from seeds, I know this is probably a massive long shot but thought I'd give it a go anyway!

Vegetables ::

• aubergines


• borlotti beans


• carrots


• courgette


• cucumber


• french beans


• garlic


• globe artichokes


• kale


• leeks


• onions


• peas


• potatoes : 6 different varieties


• purple sprouting broccoli : some forming florets from last year and some new seedlings for next year



• runner beans


• salad leaves : various kinds


• spinach


• spring onions


• sweetcorn


• tomatoes : 7 different types this year!

Herbs ::

• basil : regular, purple and thai


• dill


• mint


• oregano


• parsley


• sage


• rosemary


• tarragon

Plus a whole lot of flowers, including ::

• calendula


• dahlias


• marigolds


• nasturtiums


• poppies


• sunflowers

It's such an exciting time and seeing it all listed like that makes it seem even more promising!

All of this was already going on and growing away destined to become potted plants in my entirely decked little garden, when on Sunday I received a fabulously exciting email telling me an allotment had become available if I was still interested and wanted to make an appointment to view it!  I had a couple of reservations (namely time and that's it a bit of a distance away, about 30mins on foot) but the thought of having a proper proper space to grow food was just too tempting!  So I am going to view my little space this afternoon, I cannot tell you how much time I have spent day dreaming allotment plans since Sunday!

I am throughly daunted don't get me wrong, I really have no idea what I am doing, I have had 2 years experience growing in pots, I have read a fair few books and I did attend a weekend permaculture course back in October, but as for proper practical work I am very inexperienced.  I have no doubt the old time allotmenters will be watching me with raised eyebrows and little smirks, but at least I am not to be sniggered at alone as the lovely Bex of stuffed nonsense has vowed to help me out.

So back to dreaming of spiral herb gardens and little ponds full of wildlife, beds bursting with lovelies, necessary new purchases such as tools and wellies and a bike (with a basket of course), whilst I twiddle my thumbs waiting for 2 o'clock to arrive when I can go and view my little plot.  In my head this little plot is covered in weeds and throughly neglected a little smaller than I'd like without a shed and in the furthest spot imaginable from the entrance and water. I figure if I picture the worse, I can only be pleased with what I get!

 

**I actually took these pictures from the garden about 10 days it's amazing how much has changed in that time, the raspberries are full of leaves now and the broccoli is huge, ready to cut any day I think!**

vermicomposting...

...I have wanted a wormery for such a long time and now we finally have one!  I wanted to make one, but we were lucky enough to be given one of these lovelies for christmas.

I'm a little anxious about the worms though, I'm really worried we going to over/under feed them!  But I can't wait to have all that fabulous compost and plant feed, if all does go well!  They are living under the kitchen sink at the moment, but once the worst of the cold weather seems firmly behind us, they will be going in the garden.

January 05 2011 ::

So I've been a little rubbish at keeping this blog updated, but I haven't really been doing a lot of gardening, so I guess that makes it sort of OK?!

There isn't much happening yet either it must be said, but will a haul of new gardening books from christmas and the promise of spring, very slowly, approaching, I will gradually be sowing some seeds and tidying up my new out door space ready for growing.

I can't wait to get started again and when I do I promise myself I will keep a better record of it all here!

Trusses and violas!

I have some of my first trusses appearing on my tomato plants!

So exciting!

I also bought myself a few violas today.

I am completely in love with the black molly sanderson's.

Johnny feels growing flowers is wasted time and space (which is of course nonsense) so I am restricting myself to only edible flowers!

March 4th 2010...

...today I have...

• planted some strawberry runners (with a little help and advice from some lovely twitter peeps)


• purchased some seed potatoes and also a bag to grow them in, however the bag is way too big, not too tall but too wide, it won't fit where I want it to without causing a massive obstruction!


• sown some spinach seeds

I also have another little sprout!  This time it's the green basil-which looks fairly massive compared to the little purple basil sprouts!

Despite then fact majority of my pots are still inside on sunny window sills looking after little seeds, the terrace is starting to look fairly good! I can't wait for that whole space to be full up with pots and plants!