All posts in category Salads

Summer Growing Roundup

We have had a busy summer, what with Whippet Pups and Baby Guinea pigs to look after. The Allotment Plots were pretty much left to their own devises, other than a spot of weeding and watering. Still we have manged to get plenty of good stuff from both plots so this year has been a success in that respect.

Whippet Puppies Baby Guinea Pig

Here are some of the highlights:

On Plot the good performers have been the Strawberries, Gooseberries and Currants, Swiss Chard, Yellow Courgette, Savoy Cabbages and Elephant Garlic, Beetroot and both the Savoy and Red Cabbage.  Winning 1st place on plot has to be the Sunshine Squash, a small/medium size squash which ripened nice and early and had the most delicious flesh when roasted and made into a soup.  I also used it in my curries and it thickened them up and added a sweetness to them which tasted really good.  I think I will grow these instead of the butternut squash next year which are still on plot struggling to ripen now.  I have had Blackberries this year which have been really nice made into apple and Blackberry pie.

Elephant Garlic Red Gooseberries and White Currants Sunshine Squash Yellow Courgette Blackberry - Waldo Summer 2013 Harvest

The Pumpkins have done well again, I haven’t got as many as last year but there is plenty there for us.  I have tried growing Turks Turban Squash as well, but they are still quite small and I have seen better on other plots in previous years.  The Pea’s (Maincrop ‘Boogie’) did ok as did the Round and Iceberg Lettuce.  I tried a line of Cut Flowers plants this year and was really pleased with the Statice and Helichrysum (definitely will grow these again next year).  The Larkspur also looked very pretty as did my usual Plot Sweet Pea’s, which this year were a mix of saved seed and some blue ones sent as free seed packet.  They were nice but didn’t seem to last that long, probably because I did not pay them enough attention during those very hot days that we had.

Round Lettuce - Valdor Sweet Peas Sweet Peas 2 Peas - Maincrop Boogie and Summer Raspberries Pumpkins Statice Helichrysum/ Strawflower Larkspur

The stuff that didn’t do well on plot was French Beans – eaten by slugs, Runner Beans – tough as old boots, Charlotte Potatoes – had a small crop of undersize potatoes (not sure what went wrong there), Leeks – planted them out too small and they just dried up in all that heat, onions and the avignon white garlic – very small harvest of each, Spring Onions – very weedy looking.   The biggest disappointment was the Sweetcorn crop.  The Parakeets were a nuisance last year and we had to cover up the corn crop to stop it getting stripped, well this year, we missed the opportunity to save the crop and the whole lot got battered to the floor.  Funnily enough other people elsewhere on the allotment didn’t cover their crop and it remained largely untouched.  I think that the fact that we are right on top of the treeline doesn’t help. They spot our crops before they see anyone else’s.

Container Garden: Luckily though I had some fantastic things growing at home to make up for the plot failures.  It has been a good year for my Chilli’s.  I have plenty of small to medium sized chilli’s to pickle.

Chilli Harvest 2013

The biggest surprise for me in the container garden this year was the Yellow Tumbling Tom Tomatoes.  OMG they just keep coming even now, they are out there, loads of them, I have never had tomatoes on toast for breakfast so many times in my life!  Love it!  I have three plants in a large container and puts some spare plants up on the allotment.  The allotment one’s are sprawled all over the dirt, doesn’t matter, they just grow and grow.  The slug’s don’t seem to touch them.  They have definitely out performed my former top tomato – Red Alert.  I think next year I will grow both the Red and Yellow Tumbling Tom varieties.

Tumbling Tom Yellow Tomato Container grown Tomatoes

The Container Cucumber’s did well as well.  They took over the back patio, but we had quite a few juicy home grown cue’s.  Well worth growing.

Sprawling Cucumber Plants Tastey Cue's

It’s been a good year for flower’s from seed too.  My star plant’s have been Rudbekia – Cherry Brandy.  Wow, gorgeous colour and big heads on sturdy stems.  The Petite French Marigolds did well as did the Pot Marigolds and Nasturtiums.  Weirdly, I ended up planting all companion plants in my own garden this year instead of up on plot.  I grew some really nice Sweet Pea’s at home as well, one of which was a Raspberry ripple type which I loved.  They lasted a lot longer than the plot one’s because they had sufficient watering.  My big flower’s from seed failing this year was my Sunflowers.  It’s the first year that I haven’t had them on plot.  I did start some seed off in a module tray but never got round to planting them out, so they grew tall and spindly with really small flower head’s.  I saved as many plant’s as I could by popping them in a large terracotta pot.  I have some nice mini sunflowers’ as a result but feel a bit cross with myself for not bothering to make a proper job of them, especially as they are one of seasonal favourite’s.  Oh well, there’s always next year to do better.

Nasturtium Marigold French Marigold Sweet Peas 'Ripple' Sweet pea

Rudbekia - Cherry Brandy Gateway Display

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by samsallotment on September 15, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Chilli's and Peppers, Container Gardening, Cooking, Cucumbers, Cucurbits, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Garden Flowers, Garlic and Onions, Leafy Vegetables, Legumes, Pickling, Potatoes, Salads, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes
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Posted by samsallotment on September 15, 2013

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June on plot – My first full basket

I love June on the Allotment.  To me this month is all about getting my Wigwams up and my Runner Beans out.  It also means the planting out of French Beans, Sunflowers, Leeks and any other bits and pieces that I have started off at home.  Unfortunately I haven’t got round to the later yet but I did have time to pick my first full basket of goodies.  The Allotment is so full of life right now, especially with the Bees working so hard gathering pollen from all the fruit blossom.

Bee on Raspberry bush Huge Bee on Blackberry Bush

What’s ready on plot at the moment?  I pulled my first small bunch of Spring Onions and cut some Chard and Cut and Come again lettuce.  A few more sticks of Rhubarb to wash up and put in the freezer and then for the soft fruit.  Surprisingly a few of the Summer Raspberries were ripe, just a handful mind.  The same with the Blackcurrants which are fruiting for the first time.  There were LOTS of Strawberries ready on plot one.  This Strawberry bed is in it’s third and final year and will be re-located and started from scratch using baby plants born from this years runners.  The second Bed over on plot 2 is in it’s second year but is not as productive.  This bed has been a bit neglected and although it’s early days yet and there are plenty of green fruit waiting to ripen, I don’t think it will live up to it’s full potential.  I must feed it and give it some tlc.

Runner Bean Wigwams Runner Bean Plants June Basket Washed up and ready to eat

What else is happening on plot?  My Elephant Garlic had developed flower spikes, so I cut them off.  The Spring planted garlic is way behind these other plants, which is a good thing as it won’t all be ready at once.  The Beetroot plants were hidden underneath a mass of self seeded Nasturtiums, which I had to rip up as they had just swamped the whole area.  The small qty of Shallots that I planted are hanging in there but the white onion’s fell victim to mould, swamped with the same Nasturtiums that buried the Beetroot.

The Iceberg Lettuce are getting bigger and the row of round lettuce is also coming along nicely.  My biggest surprise was how much the Maincrop Pea – Boogie had come along since my last visit to plot.  It is now covered with pea’s and is looking good.  Over on plot two, the Roots section is patchy.  Not all of the direct sown Parsnips have germinated, but there are a few plants there.  The carrots were more successful.  I intend to gap fill the row’s with some Turnip sowings.

Maincrop Pea Boogie Patchy 'Roots' square Cut and Come again lettuce

Plot flowers – the Red Wallflowers from seed didn’t really impress me this year: nice bushy, healthy plants but not that many blooms.  I will leave them in place to see if they survive the winter and do better next year.  The Poached Egg plants are finished now and that just leaves me with the odd self seeded flower here and there.  There is a single Sweet Pea plant winding it’s way up through the Peas and the odd Love-in-a-mist flower over by the Strawberries.  I have a full row of Sweet Pea’s to look forward to as well as the ‘Cut Flower’ row.

Self Seeded Sweet Pea Self Seeded Love-in-a-mist Flower

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by samsallotment on June 28, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Companion Planting, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Garlic and Onions, Leafy Vegetables, Root Vegetables, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on June 28, 2013

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Salsify, Stumpy Carrots and Mega-root Parsnips


The Weatherman threatened Snow for the South East this weekend, (although it hasn’t materialised yet) so when I found myself with a free day Friday I spent a few hours down the allotment, not knowing when I would get another chance if the ‘Deep Freeze’ set in .

It was a bright day, so just the normal jumper and jacket were required and by the end of my time down there I was sweating and felt completely exhausted but happy to be doing something on plot again. What had caused my state of physical fatigue was trying to get my Mega-root Parsnips out of the ground. To start with my Clay soil was wet and heavy, so just digging into it was quite hard work (especially for the unfit…me in particular) and then having found said Parsnips, I struggled to get them out of the soil.   Thankfully the Salsify was not such a challenge, it lifted easily and I just scraped the wet sticky mud off the best I could with my hands. I even discovered some rather stumpy looking carrots and dug those up as well. At the end of it I was completely plastered in mud but had amassed a nice tub full of root veg – overall a good result!

Late last year I planted out some Winter Density Lettuce under plastic tunnel cloches, just to give them a try really. I have not looked after them in any way so was totally shocked to find that they had turned out very nicely indeed. They haven’t hearted up but the bright green loose leaves look very appetising. I pulled a row of them and popped them into a bag to be washed and used in sandwiches throughout the week.

I was keen to see if the slugs had eaten all of my Spring Greens like they did last year, telling myself that if they had then I wouldn’t bother with Spring Greens on plot again. Upon inspection the slugs or snails have had a good nibble at the outer leaves, plenty of holes in them but the hearts of some of them are still sound. I put down some more slug pellets but I am not going to get my hopes up too much.

I noticed that some of the Elephant Garlic has sprouted but I couldn’t find a single shoot for the ‘ Avignon’ bulbs that I put in at the same time. I might have to plant some more this year if for some reason they rotted in the ground before getting established. I am regretting not starting them off in bio pots now. I also noticed that the white onion bulbs that I pushed into the soil randomly have sprouted and are growing.

In terms of my various fruit bushes etc, the Rhubarb leaves are already starting to unfurl and I was shocked to see how much the Gooseberry Bushes seems to have grown. One bush in particular looks very wild and I will have to make a visit to plot next week to prune it along with the others.  It’s so nice to be doing stuff again.

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by samsallotment on January 13, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Root Vegetables, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on January 13, 2013

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October – What’s growing on plot?

Thought I would have a good look around the plots today and have a look at what’s still growing and how it is getting on.

The yellow Autumn Raspberries are still going, as are the Crystal Cucumbers, although I shall be clearing the latter away this week as I would like to use that area for Autumn garlic. Last October I planted out ‘Garlic Avignon’.  Despite the whole crop being infected with rust during the summer the end results were good, I have still got a whole basket full of bulbs in the kitchen now.

It is easy to ignore the winter Brassica’s as they are under a load of green enviromesh, but I took the nets off temporarily today so that I could see what was happening under them. There is a mixture of Brussel Sprouts and some White and Purple varieties of Sprouting Broccoli. I propped up any Sprouting Broccoli, that had become so top heavy that the plants were almost laying on the floor. With that done I had a good look at the Brussels and saw that the slugs and snails had been having a bit of a munch, so I put down fresh slug pellets.

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In the roots section, there are direct sowed Parsnips. I have already harvested the chitted ones which were started off in paper pots. They had gotten too large really, so next year I need to catch them earlier. I lifted a few of the direct sowed ones the other day just to check the size and they are at the normal small, slightly skinny stage, so I shall leave the rest to get bigger. I tried out Salsify this year, but that just looks like clumps of grass at the moment, I will have to read up on when that’s supposed to be dug up.

I planted out quite a few Kale plants, mostly dwarf curly, but also a purple one which looks great. The chickens love this stuff, and so do our newly acquired Guinea Pigs. The thing that I am most looking forward to is the decorative Brukale plants which have small ‘posies’ of leaves growing up the main stem, much like Brussels. the posies are only small, so I would like to leave them a bit longer before I start breaking them off. I can’t wait to stir fry them with some of my Garlic.

I have picked my winter Squash and have put them in the shed next to the pumpkins to protect them from the wet and cold. There is still one butternut squash plant still growing out on plot 2, the squashs are still small and very green looking so I will chance leaving it longer. I put slug pellets down as I see something has made a few holes on some of them.

I planted out the last few Iceberg lettuce a few weeks ago and I have a load of Winter Density lettuce seedlings on the mini-greenhouse shelf, waiting to be planted out with the ‘Pyramid’ Spring Greens. I planted out some Pak Choi at the same time as the Iceberg, but the little plants have lots of wholes in the, so I don’t know whether I will get them to grow big enough to survive to maturity. There is also a few late Swiss Chard plants which I will cover when it gets cold.

The Leek’s are almost ready, and I will dig up some of the bigger ones next week.  I am hoping the frosts stay away long enough for some late peas to finish off, they were a surprise crop from Peas that had self seeded into an area where I had planted a second lot of leeks.  The peas have grown over the leeks but I am not too fussed about that.

Apart from the weeds, I noticed all the new seedlings which have come up from the companion plants that have grown on the plots this year. Some will get dug up during the winter dig, but not all, so there will always be plenty of flowers on Samsallotment.  The ornamental cauliflowers grown from seed this year are doing very well and have been left untouched by the slugs.  They should provide me with something to photograph in the winter months.

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by samsallotment on October 2, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Brassica's, Companion Planting, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on October 2, 2012

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July – Whats growing on plot and at home

I must admit I have not done any real work on plot for a couple of weeks now. When I pop down there at the moment it is more to pick things rather than pull the weeds up. As a result, plot 2 is back to looking a bit scruffy again, but all is growing fine so I am not that worried. Once the desire to impress the allotment judges has gone, you are left with the enjoyment of just growing for your own pleasure, and weeds do not spoil that for me. As long as the vine weed is not strangling anything, I can walk past them without flinching now.

The strawberries on plot one are still going! Everytime I pop down there I come home with plenty of them to cover at least two days worth of desserts. The same with the raspberries (I tend to mix the fruits up and serve together). The gooseberries are looking fantastic and the red tinge is coming on some of them (presumably the first stage of them turning completely red) I didn’t get to see any of this last year as the bushes were too young to fruit well. I picked a half punnet of white currants and have been mixing them with the other soft fruit or sprinkling them on icecream. Yum Yum.

Plenty of New Potatoes to harvest still, the ‘Charlotte’ have reached a good size, some of them huge in fact.  I don’t even want to mention the peas! Last year I didn’t grow enough and was disappointed with my yield. This year I have gone overboard and have so many that I cannot keep up with the picking and have had to ask one of my plot neighbours to help himself and pick what he wants! I never thought I would see the day when I was sick of eating fresh peas in the pod. I shelled some the other week and cooked them for dinner which made a change.

This week I pulled up all the remaining spring onions and the early carrots which were started in the cold frames. I have got the carrots outside in a bag and what I do Is I bring in a bundle at a time, wash them up and either slice them up to cook for diner or make a carrot soup out of them like I did yesterday. They are small enough not to peel so a quick scrub up and in the pot they go! I like things to be easy like that. The spring onions go in a sandwhich, on salads or sliced up for stir fry’s.  I bought home my first few Iceberg Lettuce.  I took all the outer leaves off for the chickens which left us with two good size lettuce for the fridge.

The first round of white flowered runner beans are flowering and the sweet peas are out in full force. I picked a bunch and they have filled the front room with their wonderful smell. Are they my favourite flower? Quite possibly, but I can’t say for certain as there are so many flowers that I love, all for different reasons.

I had a bit of a sad moment on plot one this week when I had to pull up the hollyhocks that I had grown from seed last year, they are just about ready to flower too. But they looked awful with their leaves all brown and covered with some sort of rust fungus. Luckily the plants on plot two have not been affected so I will still get to enjoy them. I scattered Cornflower and mixed varieties of pot marigold on some rough ground at the back of plot 2 this spring and that looks nice now, but I forgot to photograph it, so will do so next time.

At home we had the excitement of picking our first small handful of ripe Blueberries. They were big juicy ones and tasted fab. I haven’t managed to keep up with the golden sweet mangetout even though they are right outside on the patio and some of them have gotten to big to eat now, but there are still some smaller ones left which I should pick today and put in the fridge. The chilli’s and pepper plants are doing very well. I have moved the two big windowsill chilli plants outside now as they were just getting too big for the windowsills (more like small chilli trees than bushes!)

The Herb Garden is big and bushy, the curry plant is flowering and the mint smells wonderful everytime you brush past it. I think Mint has to be my favourite herb as it is so easy to grow and there is always so much of it. I want to try to make some of my mum’s mints sauce that she used to make when I was little. She would finely chop the mint and mix it up with normal brown vinegar and a white sugar. It was rather basic but I loved it’s sweet and sour taste. Much nicer than the acidic mint sauce you buy from the supermarket.

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by samsallotment on July 7, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Chilli's and Peppers, Companion Planting, Container Gardening, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Herb Garden, Legumes, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on July 7, 2012

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Harvest time

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Picked lots of stuff up plot today. Including a head of Calabrese (the first of this year). There were three heads, but the other two have been left a little too long and the flower buds are just starting to open. I picked the one remaining Butterhead lettuce (the slugs have ate the rest) my fault, I planted them in between a row of peas and the young cauli’s. They were hidden away and the slugs were left to munch in peace. Pulled my first young carrots which were started in the coldframe at the start of the growing year. Also my first bunch of baby beetroot which I will give to my mum this week – she loves it.

Noticed today that my first Runner Bean wigwam is set up too close to the main potatoes. The large sprays of potato foliage are just touching the beans.  It is so easy to make spacing mistakes at the start of the year.  You forget how big the leaves of the veggies get.

I noticed the flowers are coming on the French Beans so I will look forward to those.  Smelt my first Sweet Pea of the year.  I planted a couple of spare plants at the end of one of the pea rows.  It was open today, pure white.  It smelt beautiful.  I have lots more to follow, hopefully they will all be as nice as this one.

The Strawberries on plot one are still producing loads of fruit.  I don’t think I really needed the second bed afterall, I will have to get into Jam making..fast.

My neighbour’s apple tree was covered with baby ladybirds today, he was going to spray them, thinking that they were a pest!  They don’t look anything like ladybirds at this stage, so I am sure that this happens alot.  He was happy to leave them be, once he knew what they were though.  Good job I was there today really!

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by samsallotment on June 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Brassica's, Companion Planting, Flowers from seed, Root Vegetables, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on June 25, 2012

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Casualties on the allotment!

I am sad to report that the ‘Emir’ Melons did not make it planted out in cold frames on the allotment. I think that half the trouble was that they dried out very quickly as they were planted underneath a tree canopy in a sun spot. The watermelons are still going but I do not hold out as much hope for them as before. I think that although the packet’s say that they can be grown outside, most British summer’s are not really suitable for them.  I will try them under glass next year (if Hubby is nice enough to get me a proper patio greenhouse.)  At least at home, I can be more vigilant against them drying out. I also noticed today that three of my Lemon Crystal Cue’s planted out to climb up my A-Frame have died for no good reason. Disapointing to say the least. I have gap filled with Sweet Peas. There are still a few gherkins and cue’s left so all is not lost….that is if no more die. It must be all the wet!

On a more cheerful note, there were plenty of ripening strawberries to pick today (I finish the ripening at home, otherwise the mice get them before I do), and the Summer Raspberries are ripening, I ate 4/5 today straight from the bush. I think that I will plant some more Raspberries in the autumn on plot 2, they are easy to look after and produce a crop that is expensive to buy in the shops.

I pulled some more spring onions, dug a few more potato’s, picked more peas and the star of the harvest was two Little Gem Lettuce.  Last year I learned that the Little Gem’s are better picked as soon as they heart up, they went bitter last year when I didn’t pick them quickly enough.

Last year I grew lots of flowers but did not pick any to bring home for flower arrangements. I plan to change that this year and picked an armful of Sweet Williams today, which look splendid in my vases.

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by samsallotment on June 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Cucumbers, Cucurbits, Fruit, Salads
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Posted by samsallotment on June 18, 2012

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June Growing, On Plot and at home

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We saw a rainy start to June this month, but I have still managed to get most things done: on plot, the Tomatoes are in, as are the Sweetcorn and the rest of the Courgettes and Pumpkins.  I have one gap left on plot 2 for two Hunter Butternut Squash, which I must plant out soon.  Yesterday I managed to plant out some Chard and dibbed in some leeks and I was given a few purple Cauliflower plants by a neighbour so they went in as well.  That still leaves me with the task of finding enough room for the Brussels, next years Sprouting Broccoli and the Perpetual Spinach.  Perhaps the Brassica’s could stay in their pots until some more space becomes freed up?  I always seem to grow too much.  Nevermind, I can always squeeze things in if needs be.  I am not growing for competition, just for fun, so I can get away with it!

At home the Blueberry bushes in tubs are covered in fruit, I am really surprised that they have done so well in their first year of being planted.  If they all turn Blue we will have a really good crop.  The carrots in containers are bushing up and the Golden Sweet Mangetout has a pretty purple flower and is looking most decorative.  The Herb garden is looking great, the chives have been flowering for a while now.

Strawberries: there are tons on plot, I have picked half a dozen or so this week, the mice have pinched a few which were on the turn.  I have picked two nice red ones from the tub at home.  I have had plenty of cut and come again lettuce from the pots and the Iceberg, Butterhead and Little Gem lettuces are coming along nicely on plot.

I have netted the Gooseberry Bushes which have some fruit on them this year. I could do with netting the Currant bushes as they are just starting to ripen.  There are plenty of green raspberries on my Summer Fruiting types with a couple of them turning red now.

I dug up the first of the new potatoes earlier this week and have had two or three tubs full of the peas that were over-wintered.  The peas sown fresh this year have grown very tall, probably because of all the rain and are podding up now.  I have pulled a handful of small turnips and the same with the spring onions.  Not much to report on the Melon front.  Lost one of the Emir plants but the rest are still going.

The Over-wintered Japanese Onion sets have impressed me this year by growing big.  I must say that they are the best onions that I have grown to date.  I dug all of them up the other day and are drying them out in one of the sheds.  I shall definitely grow these again in the Autumn for next year.

The wallflowers grown from seed last year have put on a real show up the allotment but are finishing now.  The Sweet Williams have stolen the spotlight now and smell amazing.  I shall grow these again next year too.  The Hoverflies love the Poached Egg plant and the pretty yellow and white blooms brighten up the beds.  the Nasturtiums are just starting to flower but haven’t really got going yet, the same with the Pot Marigolds.  I think that the slugs have nibbled most of the heads off the top of the French Marigolds, so I am not sure if I will get much of a display from them this year.  I think there is still time to sow more, I shall have to check the packet.

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by samsallotment on June 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Allotments - What's Growing on Plot, Brassica's, Companion Planting, Container Gardening, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Herb Garden, Root Vegetables, Salads, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes
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Posted by samsallotment on June 14, 2012

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Potting up Tomato and Chilli pepper plants

Over Easter I managed to find the time to prick out and pot up my Tomato, Hot Chilli and Sweet Pepper plants.  This is an enjoyable job and luckily the kids were all behaving themselves so I was able to get on with it in peace.  Despite my resolution to be ruthless with seedlings this year (and believe me many have been discarded to the back of the flower bed) I still have extra plants, but I do plan on giving some away so the end number shouldn’t be too bad.  It is just so hard to not pot up a strong healthy seedling, when getting rid of them, you have a nagging feeling that you will somehow come to regret it, that something will happen to your chosen few and  you could have had all those other’s as backup.  But let’s face it, unless you have endless amounts of space for all these pots it is just not practical to do this.  Also if disaster did strike, you could just pop down to your local garden centre and buy some plants – not the same as raising your own, I know, but OK in an emergency!

Anyway I have ended up with 24 tomato plants and 17 Chilli and pepper plants.  I didn’t have a great crop from my chilli’s and peppers last year (lack of regular watering and feeding saw to that) and am so determined to make up for it this year, back in January I declared that this would be the year of the Chilli.  My star plants ‘Apache’ and ‘Basket of Fire’ apparantly produce huge qty’s of chilli’s so it doesn’t make sense to have too many of these plants, but surely a couple of each is not overkill?  Or is it?  It depends of course on how many Chilli’s you use in the kitchen.  You can always pickle or dry them.

Other seeds are coming up well now that we are into April.  The Sweetcorn got off to a slow start in the Mini-Greenhouse outside, nothing seemed to be happening, so I bought the pots inside and it come up in a couple of days.    Same with the Cape Gooseberry seedlings.  Outside they didn’t do much, bought them back in and they started getting bigger almost immediately.  It is all trial and error with growing fruit and veg and I am still very much learning the ropes.

The first round of SweetPeas sown back on the 2nd March are almost big enough to be planted out.  They have stayed in the Minigreenhouse all the time and have coped well with the up and down temperatures.  I have a second sowing just coming through now and plan to do a third and final sowing when I sow my French and Runner Beans (mid to late April).

The Melon seedlings are slowly growing on the windowsill.  The Emir melon seedlings are romping away when you compare them to the seed leaves of the Watermelons that don’t ever seem to get any bigger.  Melons are a new project for me so I shall have to wait and see what happens.

The Oriental leaves and Mizuna are almost big enough to harvest and the Woodland Strawberry plants are growing nicely in their individual modules.  Perhaps I can transfer them to the Strawberry planters at the end of the month?

Star of the Garden this month: Dicentra – Bleeding Heart plant.  I have a pink and a white one, but the Pink always comes out first and is my favourite one of the two.

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by samsallotment on April 10, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Chilli's and Peppers, Container Gardening, Cucurbits, Flowers from seed, Fruit, Garden Flowers, Salads, Tomatoes, Windowsill Growing
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Posted by samsallotment on April 10, 2012

https://samsallotment.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/potting-up-tomato-and-chilli-pepper-plants/