All posts tagged Forcing Strawberries

Sun’s Out, Action Stations, Go!

What a weekend for Sunshine, and it is set to stay all week. Lucky, lucky me, I get to spend time in the garden, doing what I love best…sowing seeds and growing stuff!

The sunshine has bought on a flurry of activity from many gardener’s I’m sure, it certainly has for me. The Container garden is ever growing with additional pots now of Thai Basil, Tarragon, Curly Parsley and Thyme. I also srubbed up a recycled strawberry pot and made it into a Herb pot by sprinkling various herb seeds at each hole, hopefully, if I keep it moist enough they will grow out and hang down the front of the pot, we will see!

Sweetcorn ‘Lark’ is sown in pots and various things have been potted up: Woodland and Alpine Strawberries, Cape Gooseberries (the brassica seedlings are next on the ‘potting up’ agenda).  One of my early sown Pumpkin seeds has pushed through the soil (I have high hopes of growing a whopper this year).  The variety that I have chosen for this task is Mammoth.  Which although grows large, still retain’s it’s nice round Pumpkinny shape (Giant Atlantic Dill can look a bit deflated, in my opinion).

As the sun is so hot this week (18/19 degrees) I have convinced myself that it is fine to jump the gun and sow some tender stuff early as well. I have sowed 4 different cue varieites and two types of Melon. The varieties are:

Cue’s: Burpless Tasty Green
Marketmore
Crystal Lemon
Gherkin cue ‘Diamant’
The Melons are ‘Emir’ and Watermelon ‘Sugar Baby’. The Emir will be grown in large coldframes in a sunny spot and I am trying the watermelon planted through black plastic under the protection of fleece or plastic (although it is a very sheltered spot so I might not bother with covering them, I will have to see what sort of summer we have).

My husband and children are most looking forward to the Sweetcorn as I tried to grow it in a large pot last year on the patio but failed miserably. I myself, am excited about almost everything that I will be growing but must admit have wondered how I will get on with the melons. It’s an experiment which will hopefully have a nice outcome, if not, not to worry, I will try it a different way next year. I think that this is the best way to look at things, we have that luxury when growing veg that if you don’t get it right one year, there is always the next to try again.

The kids were laughing at me the other day, as I had locked up and was near the front gate ready to leave to go up the town when my youngest spotted a ladybird on the heather plants on the rockery.  I dashed back to the house, unlocked the door and rushed in like a mad thing to grab my camera before it disappeared from view.  When I looked at the pic’s that I had managed to capture afterwards when uploaded onto the computer later that day, it was well worth the ridicule!

 

 

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by samsallotment on March 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Brassica's, Coldframes, Container Gardening, Cucurbits, Mini-Greenhouse
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Posted by samsallotment on March 26, 2012

https://samsallotment.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/suns-out-action-stations-go/

Mangetout for the Container Garden

Mangetout is a very useful thing to grow, especially if you love stir fries (which I do), it bulks them out a bit, so you don’t have to use so many of the expensive veg like mushrooms and peppers to make enough for a few helpings. I tend to graze on a wok of stir fry veg, you have a dishful, you feel full up, an hour later you have another dishful etc etc until it is all gone. Yummy and healthy! Last year I grew Oregon Sugar Pod, which proved to be very vigourous and easy to grow. The slugs left it alone, much to my surprise so one row of it (spread out over two sowings) was plenty. In fact, more than plenty as so much of it went to waste. What would happen is I would either forget to check it, or I didn’t have time on a particular day to harvest, and then when I did come to harvest some of it had grown too big and stringy. Sometimes I got it right and would come home with a tub full of young juicy Mangetout pods but I realise I don’t  need to grow as much. So this year I am doing things differently.

The plan is to grow only a tub full at one time (thus reducing the amount I grow) and the real clever part of my plan – grow it at home on the patio where I cannot miss the right time to pick it. If I only have to wander out the front and check it over, how can I go wrong? I am trying a new variety – Golden Sweet, whose meer name makes my mouth water. I have chosen a large tub and put an obelisk in for the Mangetout to grow up.  Perfect!

While I was out in the garden I thought I might as well get a few other jobs done, so I planted my Pom Pom Dahlia’s in tubs and direct sowed Fennel and Dill to the Herb Garden. A good sprinkle of Love in the Mist and Mixed Cornflowers, oh and a handful of Pot Marigold seed and I was done.

The other container plants are doing well: the salad potatoes keep poking through and I keep covering them with compost to protect from frost.  The strawberry plants which have been bought along with a bell cloche are head and shoulders in front of the others that are planted in open ground up the allotment.  The Blueberry leaves are unfurling and I am looking forward to seeing them blossom.  No sign of carrots yet!

The sun was still out so I decided to sit out back and let the chickens have a good scratch about. They are so tame now, you can stroke them and pick them up and they don’t seem to mind one bit. They don’t come when called though and definitely take no notice when I ask them to lay me an egg for me. I get an egg a day, even though there are two chickens, so someone’s slacking. But still, we have all year and I’m sure my girls will give me two eggs on a regular basis one day…fingers crossed.

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by samsallotment on March 21, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Chickens, Container Gardening, Flowers from seed, Garden Flowers, Herb Garden, Legumes
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Posted by samsallotment on March 21, 2012

https://samsallotment.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/mangetout-for-the-container-garden/

Container Gardening

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Although I have the allotments to grow my fruit and veg , I also like to grow fruit, veg and flowers in containers in the garden, so that there is always something interesting to look at, discuss with and show the kids, but also for the convenience that if I can’t get down to the allotment for any reason, you have some stuff to pick from the garden. Whenever I am in the garden I always have a good look around my pots to see what’s going on. At this present time I have:

2 Blueberry bushes (bought in Jan of this year and potted on last week)

Some spare strawberry plants which I have decided to try to force into an earlier crop by keeping them covered with a bell cloche

Salad Potatoes in Wilkinson Potato bags planted early Feb

A range of bi-annuals sown last year to flower this year (Hollyhocks, Sweet Williams, Canterbury Bells and Wallflowers

A seed tray full of Poached Egg Plant which will be planted out very soon on the allotment around my fruit trees and bushes to attract pollinating insects.

I also have a Horseradish Thong from Wilkinsons potted up early feb but there is no sign of any leaves poking through yet. I’m sure it wont be long though.

I look forward to added to the collection of container’s throughout the year. My first addition will be a large pot of Sugarsnax carrots in march.

It’s well worth making room for a few containers, if only to grow mixed lettuce or herbs in, it makes alot of difference to pick fresh leaves and use almost immediately, both in the enjoyment of the food and the pleasure of maintaining such interesting and attractive plants.

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by samsallotment on February 25, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Container Gardening, Flowers from seed
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Posted by samsallotment on February 25, 2012

https://samsallotment.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/container-gardening/