The Edible Garden..

I have spent a fair bit of time out in the garden today, mowing, strimming harvesting, hanging out numerous loads of washing, taking loads of pictures and generally just keeping busy and the garden tidy.

Here are some of the pictures taken from around the garden today : –

First of all we have the rogue sunflower, this beautiful big flower is the result of a seed falling out of the bird feeder and managing to land in a big flower pot, survive all winter and then germinate to produce this : -)

Next up is the final harvest of Peas for this year, we had these with our tea tonight, nothing went to waste as the chickens and rabbits got the remainder of the plants that I cleared from the garden…. theyre all stuffed full with pea leaves and stalks now 😉

Then I harvested some broad beans, this is the first year I have grown them and I love them, they will be back on the planting agenda for next year!   Still have one more harvest left then I will clear the area.

I found 1 solitary onion that had been left in from last year, I actually thought it was garlic, that was until I lifted it out of the ground, I accidentally pierced it a wee bit, so i’ll use it this week… Once I washed all the muck off it I hung it up to dry on the washing line 🙂

Can you spy the springer spaniels tail in the picture lol…. he managed to get in the act all the time!

Finally we dug up some potatoes… some of them were absolutely HUGE… and a couple of them were stinking and rotten for some reason, so we will be lifting the rest of them this week and having spuds for tea all week 🙂

Peas and Broad Beans

Picked some more broad beans and peas from the garden for this evenings dinner.. I reckon there will probably be enough left in the garden for another two more harvests.

This is the first year I have grown broad beans and i’ll definately plant more next year.

How the Veggies are progressing…

A bit of a mixed reaction with the growing season so far… it started out great, lovely and warm, then it kinda went downhill after that.. its not been that sunny and it has rained a fair bit, and I think this has had an impact on the veggies growing both in the greenhouse and in the garden.

Here is an up to date report on some of the veggies growing in my garden..

First of all the peas… I have some planted straight into the garden and also some growing in a trough on the high wall..

Both were sown inside the greenhouse then planted out about 2 weeks apart, the result for both is that they have grown about 10 – 12 inches tall (not really that big), they have produced pea pods, but not that many of them, I’d be lucky if there was enough to serve up onto one plate let along freeze a bag of them so we could enjoy them in winter.. so verdict on the peas 1/10 really disappointed.

Now on to the tomatoes in the greenhouse… I have around 10 plants all seemingly doing well but not a lot of fruits, in fact I had to take 2 off the plant this morning as they had blossom end rot, I always remember my dad moaning about it when I lived at home, cursing the blossom end rot lol, now i’ve got it!

The micro tom tomatoes… I dont think I will be growing these again, for me, its a bit of a messy looking plant and the fruits are too close to the soil.

 

The Potatoes are doing really well (I think)!   Grown in big spud bags, they should be ready to harvest quite soon.

Next… the onions, I’m not sure if they are doing well or not to be honest, I would have expected them to be bigger than they are, but we shall wait and see what happens..

The Carrots seem to be doing ok, must get some weeding done this weekend before the weeds take over..

Courgettes… well they seem to be doing just grand, in full blom at the moment, here’s hoping I get fruit this year, last year they rotted away just after forming because it was soooo wet.

I have some flowers growing in the garden too, which are adding a lovely splash of colour….

 

 

 

Peas in a Trough

I managed to get one half of the peas that were growing in the greenhouse out into the trough.

I have a wall that runs along the side of the greenhouse with a fence on the top (our neighbours back fence), so I attached some trellis onto this for the peas to grow up.

First Early Peas

First Early Peas

Originally uploaded by T o w n i e

Here are my first early pea’s… at the moment they are still in the greenhouse, its my plan to transplant them out into a large trough in the garden tomorrow… 🙂

The Peas are Planted…

A few weeks back my daughter planted some peas in the greenhouse, she only planted around a dozen.

They are now ready to go into the garden, and yesterday we planted them out into the 3rd raised bed.

We used some chicken mesh, Bamboo canes and Stripped conifer branches to stake them out, we left a bit of the foliage at the top of each stake to protect them from birds etc.

My daughter is really excited now and cant wait until she can harvest her very own home grown Peas 🙂

Veggie Growing Update…

I have been busy in the greenhouse today, potting on the seedlings

Firstly we have the Courgettes, I have around a dozen plants, last year was so wet here that my courgettes were a bit of a disaster, the flowers came and the fruits formed, then, promply rotted away, so fingers crossed that this year is better and not so rainy!.   Its my plan to put 10 plants out into the raised beds and keep a couple in the greenhouse, just incase.

  

Next we have the Coriander or Cilantro as its known in other parts.   My daughter planted the seeds and they are thriving away nicely, i’ll be transferring this clump into a bigger pot this coming week.

   

My tomato plants are growing like mad, I have several different varieties growing here…

Gardners Delight

Microtom

Moneymaker

Totem &

Yellow ones who’s name has escaped me (my memory is shocking..will probably remember 2 days time) 🙂 

  

My early peas are doing just grand too, these will be hardened off over the next week then planted out into the raised bed.   I have another large batch on the go too which were sown 3 weeks later than these ones.

   

The chives look fantastic, tiny green spears shooting up towards the sky.. i’ll be re-potting these too next week, then hopefully find a space for them out in the garden somewhere.

 

My daughter’s sweetcorn is doing great too, i’ll be repotting these into bigger pots this weekend and wait for the weather to warm up before planting them into the garden.

 

A Day in the Greenhouse….

I have spent the best part of today in my greenhouse, sowing seeds, organising things inside, enjoying the peace and quiet…

Here is an update on the things growing:-

 – Peas

 – Mixed Leaf Lettuce Seedlings

  – Climbing Flower – Morning Glory – the leaves on this are absolutely gorgeous!

 – Coriander

 – Finally – Our Pink Champagne Rhubarb that I Picked this morning.