Potting on and progress

Here's an end of month update on progress in the garden. Let's start with the spuds which seem to be taking over the garden. Christine keeps asking me when the garden will stop looking like a jungle and I must admit, it's hard to walk round without being attached by huge stems and leaves. I rooted out a few Duke of Yorks from one of the bags on Sunday but when I cooked them they were still quite raw and not at all fluffy. It's like they are a bit veiny and haven't properly developed yet. Having said that, they still need another five weeks so I was jumping the gun a bit and being impatient!

I've now potted on all my tomato plants. I had to throw a few in the compost bin as I have about 15 and don't have room for any more now. I was quite sad to see them go but it was getting a bit ridiculous and I've bought so many 12" tubs in the past month it's unreal. All the toms are now outside as I no longer had room in the mini greenhouse. They are coming on fine, although I'm a bit worried I put them out too early. Hopefully, it won't stunt their growth too much. I have now trained them all up bamboo sticks so there's nothing more to do with them now until I (hopefully) start to see the fruits of my labours.

In the greenhouse, all that's left are two pepper plants and some herbs that have just germinated. It looks quite bare in there now - will have to think of what else I can grow! On the herb front, I have three basil plants going well, which I've just put outside and another one on the windowsill that needs separating into three different plants - enough to keep me going until the end of the growing season I think :-).

Planted out my sweet peas, which I will be training up bamboo sticks alongside my peas and beans. Both peas and beans are doing well, despite the attempts by our cat, Margot, to use their plot as a toilet. I got some lovely surprises when I put my hand in the soil the other day to plant the sweet peas :-o. The peas and beans aren't quite big enough to train up the poles yet, but are getting there. In the next bed, I thinned out some squash plants, just leaving the strongest ones to grow on.

Purchases this weekend included a couple of lovely plants whose names I have forgotten (piccies to come though) and an Acer with gorgeous red leaves. Apparently, the leaves are bright red in spring, deep red in summer and crimson in autumn. It's only fairly small and cost £30 but the garden centre had a bigger on at £100 - wonder how long it will take to grow to that size. Anyway, we've put it out on the porch at the front along with my exciting new tree that I've been itching to get for the past few months...

I am now the proud owner of a 'James Grieve' Coronet apple tree. I was thrilled with this purchase as I've been eyeing them up ever since seeing them in a magazine a while back. It's the perfect size for the porch and already has some little apples coming on it. It crops in September and the apples will keep until December. They say you are only supposed to let it grow 6 apples in the first year, but don't know if I'll be able to stick to that - will have to read the instructions and see how vital that is. I wanted to get a self-fertile one but I've struggled to find one that was a Coronet (dwarf). Anyway, the 'James Grieve' has apples now on it so I'm guessing that it has been polinated ;-). Not sure what I'll do next year - buy another one I guess - maybe a Cox's Orange Pippin or Egremont Russet. Then I'll just have to decide where to put the thing.

A few more things I forgot to mention, I sewed some rocket and cress that I bought. Used some lettuce I'd grown in a salad last night and also some spinach in a salmon and spinach lasagne - the first fruits of my labours, which was very exciting. I know it's only salad leaves but hopefully there will be much more to come soon!

Taking shape

Things are really starting to take shape in the garden. My potatoes are going mad. I made a hole in one of the sacks and had a poke around. I could feel a potato or two and dislodged one but was worried as I think it was attached to some stalks and I got worried I might stop other potatoes spawning. I think I may be jumping the gun a bit anyway as you are supposed to leave it fourteen weeks between planting earlies and harvesting and it's only been seven. Feels to much longer, but I guess I'll need to keep my hands off until the first weekend in July. I'm thinking I may be picking them by the 2nd so I'm counting down the days.

On the tomato front, I went to Homebase and bought about 10 green plastic 12" pots for £1.99 each. They seem pretty good value and I've made a start potting on my toms into their final place. Unfortunately, only done two as yet as I've run out of compost again, but it's not a big deal as once I've done them they have to stay outside anyway as they are two big for the greenhouse. I've started to harden off five Gardener's Delight plants. I put all my tomato plants (about 20 of the things) outside yesterday and some wilted a bit and others seemed fine. I kept the five strongest out overnight and put the others back in the greenhouse. The five looked okay this morning so they can stay out. I'll try some more next weekend and see how they get on. The two I potted on, I've put canes in with so I can grow them as cordon toms. If I am successful with all the plants, we could be eating them forever more.

I've hardened off three courgette plants and they are doing well with new shoots coming on. I think that will be ample and I'm looking at buying that book from Amazon - What Will I Do With All Those Courgettes? as I don't really know what I will do with them all.

Planted lots more peas, dwarf French beans and nasturtiums in the back border and at the front of the house. Thought I might as well get them in anywhere there is empty space. Also, sewed some nigella and aubrietia out the front to fill in the gaps created from Christine's weeding the other week!

Earthed up the tatties, which took another two bags of compost leaving nothing for repotting tomatoes but oh well - am looking on the Grapevine forum to see what the options are for re-using this compost next year for other veggies. Otherwise, don't know how I will get rid of the bloody stuff. Talking of compost, I've been trying to win the war against the fruit flies this weekend. The damned things have taken over the compost bin - they are just loving all the veggie scraps. I bought some organic bug killer from the garden centre but don't know if it's any good yet. It doesn't smell of anything and claims to contain natural ingredients although it doesn't list what these ingredients are. I'm a bit suspicious but thought I'd give it a go anyway. I heaped some garden cutting on top of the veg scraps and have turned the pile over with a fork and then sprayed like hell. I left the top off for a bit and added some compost accelerator and they seem to have gone away more-or-less. However, we'll see if they return in a day or two.

In the legumes bed, the peas and beans are coming up a treat. They are all about an inch or two high now so hoping to start training them up the canes in a few weeks. In the next bed my squash has made an appearance and I sewed another in a large 12" tub yesterday. Apparently, they will grow fine in tubs as long as the tub is at least 12". I absolutely love squash with a passion so am looking at buying some more unusual varieties and sewing some more.

I am taking part in the Seed Swap on the Creative Living forum and last week the seeds arrived on my doormat. I took out some beetroot, acorn squash and gourds, which have all been sewn this weekend. Put in some leek and radishes, which I can't stand but I'm sure others will love.

I've now sewn most of my seeds so other than sewing more lettuce, spinach and carrots as the season progresses, I will be concentrating on repotting and hardening off my tomatoes and stopping pesties from attaching my produce. Can't wait to start harvesting but it's going to be another month or so before there's anything ready to pick...

Tomato plant overload

In my infinite wisdom of sewing lots of tomato seeds, expecting most to fail, I now have about 20 tomato plants and not enough room in my little plastic greenhouse. I'm hoping to harden them off fairly soon and get them outside to make way for more sewings. Luckily I love tomatoes and they are so versatile that I have no doubt we'll get through them. Anything left can just get made into a tomato sauce and then frozen anyway. This is assuming that they all fruit successfully of course.

I have two courgette plants really coming on, which I've repotted and hoping to get outside soon too. My greenhouse is absolutely stuffed full and one or two things are suffering now from lack of good light.

On the potato front, I'm busily earthing up the Duke of Yorks and Charlottes but keep running out of compost. I must have spent hundreds on the bloody stuff this year but hopefully it will be worth it. I've now rolled the compost bags right up so just need to earth up to the top and then leave them to it. Need to do that this weekend in order to ensure I get lots more tatties. The rest of the potatoes in the raised bed are really starting to come up too. Once they are all up, I'll take the netting off and earth them up.

I've now planted the rest of my beds. On May Bank Hol weekend, I created wigwams using bamboo cane and have sewn French beans and sugar snaps. One or two of these are starting to germinate already and I think they will look great once they start climbing the canes. I may plant my sweet peas amongst them as they are finally germinating in the greenhouse.

In the other empty bed, I've sewn squash and pumpkin, although I'm a bit worried they will take over as apparently they get huge. Thing is, I absolutely adore squash so have to grow it. Someone on the Grapevine forum said that you can grow trailing squash in growbags and bush squash in 12 inch containers so I'm going to try that one - more compost! Got some red cabbage into this bed too.

Sewed some parsnips in a black bucket I got for £1.99 from the garden centre. Cheap is the key when planting as many tubs as I am!