Blog – Page 15

May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Runner Beans, Mangetout, Climbing Beans and Peas

I aspire to be a fine weather gardener. Today was more like an endurance challenge, wind lashing up the garden from the fields beyond, and heavy rain showers soaking me! I’m trying to finish off a new raised bed for the rapidly flourishing legume jungle of climbing peas and beans in my conservatory. Their tendrils have wrapped themselves round each other and anything else they can anchor to. I’ve been hanging back from planting them out for fear of frost and I’d not yet built the raised bed they are to move to! So I’ve had to get on and finish their bed and pop in some bean poles ready for planting.

I really enjoy building the bean pole structures; they transform a kitchen garden giving it added height and character. I try to avoid using bamboo canes as I prefer the more rustic look of coppiced hazel or chestnut, their irregular shape adds an extra dimension to the garden. I’ve used the coppiced hazel we harvested earlier in the year, making two different shaped structures, a traditional long tent shape for the runner beans and wigwams for the mangetout, borlotti beans, climbing peas and french beans. To ensure successional cropping I will sow extra seeds directly to the new beds as well as planting up the indoor sown plants.

The finished climbing bean & pea raised bed

The Runner Bean poles

Mangetout planted out and being battered by the wind

May 1, 2015May 2, 2015

The Kitchen Garden in April

The blossom has been stunning in the last month and the prospect of maturing fruit in months to come is very exciting. We have baby gooseberries, blackcurrants and our first tiny green tomato. The raspberries are shooting and we’re feasting on our enormous rhubarb crop.

A Baby Gooseberry

Black currants forming

My first tomato this year

The tender plants sown from seed in my conservatory are desperate to move to their final home, my borlotti beans have tendrils getting on for 2 feet high and the runner beans are not far behind. The courgettes have multiple leaves and are developing flower buds, they will all have to wait a little bit longer, we had a frost only two nights ago, which would potentially wipe the whole lot out. I have planted out two courgettes under cloches as I can’t wait to start harvesting one of my favourite summer vegetables.

Courgettes, protected from possible frost under cloches

I’m cutting the odd mizuna leaf for salads, a crop well worth growing, far more flavour than lettuce but not as peppery as rocket. It can be grown virtually all year round under glass and is a cut and come again crop.

Mizuna, a cut and come again salad crop well worth growing

We’ve started to harvest our first batch of radish and they are delicious. I served one to the husband who took some persuading to taste. The last time I grew radish, he claims it ‘nearly blew his head off’. I must confess it was incredibly hot and unpleasant. Lesson learnt, this year I have sown ‘Radish, French Breakfast’ with crisp flesh and mild flavour, they will definitely become a veg patch regular.

The radishes

Annual weed seedlings just keep coming up in the new raised beds, I take them out with a hoe as much as I can. In areas where there are delicate seedlings popping up it is very tricky, the weeds are best pulled out by hand. I keep telling myself that as long as the weeds don’t set seed themselves, there will be far fewer next year.

Annual weeds, in amongst my onion seedlings (can be spotted if you look carefully)

I have taken a new approach with my shallot seeds. Usually I sow shallots indoors in February and then transplant them individually into the veg patch, a laborious task, by the time I’m half way through the seedlings I’m chucking the rest on the compost heap. I saw a tip in a seed catalogue this winter which suggested sowing a few shallot seeds into modules which are planted out as a whole. It says the shallots will develop making space for each other. So far so good, fingers crossed the theory works and the shallots can make sufficient space to grow.

Shallots

For those who read my posting two weeks ago about sowing sweet pea seeds, I’m pleased to say their fresh green shoots are up, roll on the beautifully scented flowers.

Sweet Pea shoots

May 1, 2015

Amazing Skies

Yesterday evening we had amazing oppressive skies, made more intense by a thin distinct strip of clear cloudless evening sky on the horizon.

I’m digging, digging, digging at the moment, landscaping the area below the green house in preparation for my last three raised vegetable beds. A dedicated blog on this will be on its way soon.

April 28, 2015April 28, 2015

We’re in for a dry hot summer

‘Oak before Ash we’ll have a splash, Ash before Oak we’ll have a soak’

I noticed today our oak trees are coming into leaf, this sent me striding up the garden to see what the Ash tree was up to. It was not quite in leaf. I take note of what the saying says each year, usually the Ash and Oak manage to accuratly predict the summer to come. This year we’re in for splash, a lovely long hot summer. Does mean lots of watering in the kitchen garden, but it’s well worth it.

Ash not quite in leaf

Oak in leaf

April 25, 2015April 25, 2015

Blackbird, Broad Beans and the Cuckoo

Just in case anyone needs to find me. I made this sign this morning from a slate our builder left behind:

During the week I’ve been busy moving all the plants from the nursery bed situated below the greenhouse to new herbaceous borders. I hope to start building the last three raised veg beds in their place next week. Whilst tidying up after the replanting this morning, I made several discoveries. A black bird has nested in the trunk of our Crabapple tree. This is a source of worry to me, it’s only 3 feet off the ground and quite exposed. How it’s going to survive, hatch and bring up a family of fledglings with my three noisy children and the dog who loves anything in feathers is a concern. To its credit it has chosen the prettiest spot in the garden to perch at the moment!

Black bird nesting

The crabapple tree trunk the black bird has chosen

The Crabapple tree in full bloom

The broad beans are in flower, I think they are the vegetable I most look forward to every year, a very special treat. Sadly, they are one of the few truly seasonal vegetables; you only ever get them from the garden, a farm shop or supermarket when in season. For some reason they’re not imported from Kenya all year round.

Broad bean flowers

My final discovery of the day was hearing the cuckoo for the first time, always a special day in the year.

April 23, 2015

Watering systems

Kent is a desert. I’ve heard several gardeners describe the ‘Garden of England’ that way. Maybe a little excessive, but we do suffer in summer from lack of rainfall. Last year whilst renovating our home I did grow a few essential veg, they were a dehydrated disaster. I had no time to water on a regular basis, and to be honest still don’t. Raised beds are going to dry out quicker than those at ground level, which also adds to this watering issue. I garden on heavy clay soil; during dry spells the soil becomes solid and as hard as a brick. Adding garden compost, leaf mould and mulching all helps but water is the key to successful vegetables and cut flowers.

Now, my lovely friends who live round the corner had beans, courgettes and cucumbers. coming out of their ears last summer. They had a watering system. Whilst they were on holiday I was given permission to be in charge of this horticultural miracle. I have decided that it’s the most sensible way forward to ensure bountiful produce from our kitchen garden this year.

The watering system kit

I have set up micro flow dripper heads in the greenhouse; this is basically a mini fountain with 6 trickles of water from each head. So far so good, they’re keeping the tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers and basil well watered. They’re growing at the rate of knots. So are the weeds! The hoe has to come out once a week to keep them down.

Micro flow dripper Heads

Mini 360 degree sprinkler

On the veg beds I’ve gone for mini 360 degree sprinklers. These work well soaking all the soil, which helps the sown seeds to emerge. They are also good for watering the ‘multi plant’ crops such as broad beans, dwarf beans, onions and salad crops. I will use the same drippers as the green house for the larger plants such as courgettes, squashes and climbing beans. With these drippers you have more control over where the water goes, in theory saving water by just targeting the base of the plants. I am also going to use these dripper heads in the cutting border, directing the water to the bases of the cut flower plants.

In the last few weeks we’ve had minimal rain and the watering system has worked a treat. As the year progresses I’ll report back on how it’s really worked and what tweaks will be required for next year.

April 18, 2015

Problems germinating seeds

Seed sowing this year has been a challenge. I never usually have issues growing the majority of my plants for the kitchen and ornamental gardens from seed. It is much cheaper than buying plants and you have a far greater choice of variety. I am also a sucker for seed catalogues, I can fill hours studying them, formulating plans for the coming years produce and then being completely distracted by some gem I just have to have. Over the years I have accumulated three tins worth of seeds, a few from each packet used each year. With moving house and renovating our new home I hadn’t used the majority of the seed since 2012. I was full of eager enthusiasm to start sowing this year. As you can imagine I was incredibly frustrated when my normally fail safe seed would not germinate. Cosmos Purity, Calendula Indian Prince and my shallots did nothing, I sowed them again thinking maybe it was too early, but nothing emerged. All my new seeds germinated fine. It was when I started to look at the dates on the back of the old packets that my error clicked. My seed collection was old and worthless. I have cleared out and binned all the failed packets. Fortunately I do have a range of plants that did germinate, but, a trip to our local garden centre today was essential. A cutting garden without Cosmos Purity and a Calendula was unthinkable. Seed sown and fingers crossed for quick germination. Another valuable gardening lesson learnt the hard way!

Seedlings that I did manage to germinate.

April 17, 2015

Plum and Crab Apple Blossom, Tomato and Tomatillo flowers

The unusually warm weather earlier in the week has really brought the garden along. Leaves are beginning to pop open on the trees and hedges showing glimpses of vibrant fresh green. Sadly the heat was too much for many of our daffodils, but to compensate our blossom is starting to flower. The plum trees are a haze of white flowers in full bloom. My favourite crab apple tree, with stunning burgundy leaves and dark pink blossom is nearly out. In the next week or so the apple trees will present their own spectacular display.

The tomatoes and tomatillos are growing fast and flowering. I have high hopes for our first crops in June.

Crab Apple blossom nearly out.

Plum Blossom

Tomato flowers

My first Tomatillo flower

April 15, 2015April 15, 2015

Sweet Peas

Through the post today arrived my Sweet Pea seeds, beautifully packaged in their silver vacuum sachets.

Sweet Pea seeds ready for sowing

The sweet peas I chose are Mrs Collier, a lovely creamy white; Almost Black, as it suggests a very dark purple; Parfumiere Mix and More Scent another creamy white. I have selected varieties good for cutting, hopefully they’ll have long stems, a good vase life and a scent that will drift throughout the house come summer. I usually sow sweet peas a little earlier in the year, in the conservatory. This year I was a bit late ordering the seed and have decided to sow directly into the cutting garden border. I have built a frame with our home grown hazel stakes at the end of the border for the sweet peas to clamber up. At the bottom I’ve popped in pea sticks (the ends of the coppiced hazel) to help them on their way up.

The finished cutting garden border, at the far end is the sweet pea climbing frame

Pea Sticks at the bottom of the sweet pea frame, to help them on their way

I used a dibber to make holes about 3 cm deep and 10 cm apart and popped in two seeds to each hole. If both seeds germinate I will discard the weaker plant to give the stronger one the best possible chance. Sowing directly may mean the sweet peas take a few extra weeks to bloom over those sown indoors, but, the plants should be healthy and vigorous as they hate their roots being disturbed when planting on.

April 9, 2015

Fuji Cherry Tree

I am constantly distracted by the amazing thick and tiny blossom on our Fuji Cherry Tree (Prunus Incisa Kojo-no-mai), it is a smasher! Although not in the kitchen garden I had to sneak it into the blog. It really is the star performance in the garden at the moment. I can highly recommend this dwarf ornamental cherry, idea for small gardens and will reach at most 2m in about 20 years.