2008

Early November: Thermidrome seed garlic planted in ~1m left of manhole cover

Late December: 9 mouldy Pink Fur Apple seed potatoes planted whole or cut in ~1m diagonally opposite garlic.

January

February

10th: Most of the garlic plants have broken ground - ~2-3cm. It was snowing and frosty for most of the last week!

21st: left hand bed (F, G, H, I J) filled with spent mushroom compost; stony stuff and rubble used to infill raised bed L.

Bed H staked out to mark buried wall foundation running down the middle third of the bed ~20cm down. Buried manhole cover opposite the one between beds D and E, but only about 10% under the bed; the rest is under the path.

Blueberry plants: potted up 10cm gravelly soil, soil that was mostly potting compost, and used up the 'reduced peat compost' (max 90% peat, so its nothing of the sort)

22nd. Front raised bed (L) 6-8 sacks of leaf fall buried under a 10cm of gravelly soil, followed by eight sacks (@25kg/40l) of green compost. Arran Victory buried approx 3 inches down to cover the sprouts.

Yellow and blue tubs filled with 10cm gravelly soil, and topped up to 2/3s full with general purpose compost; three Swift each, buried to cover.

Boxes filled with 10cm gravelly soil and similar amount of green compost. Three swift in each, buried.

Raspberries: trough filled with 10cm gravelly soil, loam/smc mix, green compost, soil.

Bed E dug out: layered with soil, spent mushroom compost, soil, leaf droppings.

28th: 'Plumbed in' water butts

A - pink fur apple potato

B - pea early

C - pea early, shallots?

D - garlic

E - mange tout, main pea, shallots

F - purple sprouting broccoli

G - front: shallots. Back - radish sowings 2-4?

H - shallots (front), broad beans (back, RHS), french beans (back, LHS)

I - runner beans (LHS), french beans (back, RHS) (plus radishes, rocket, etc?)

J - radishes tranche 1 (decimated by slugs) spinach (ravaged by slugs)

K - pink fur apple potatoes, leeks

L - Arran Victory potatoes

March

1st

Spinach (3 rows in triangle) and radishes (3 rows) in bed 'J'

Dug out beds 'B' and 'C' and back filled with SMC/Soil mix and soil

Eight sacks planted with Swift potatoes.

Pea early soaked over night and planted in small pots. Cloched outside.

Broad bean soaked over night and planted in small pots in lobby.

Tomato seeds soaked and planted in small pots on window sill - F1 Incas, Tigerella, Gardener's Delight, Golden Sunrise

5th - Water butts (40 gallons each; total approx 250-300l) full in 36 hours!

7th/8th

Built two of three troughs for tomatoes.

Narrow deep one filled with stony soil, covered with plastic (sack) and pierced, and then filled with soil, soil/mushroom compost mix, and more soil. About 30-40 litres more material required.

Tatty wide but shallow trough filled with sieved stony soil and gravel, a layer of pierced plastic, soil, soil/mushroom compost mix, Lidl peat free multi-purpose compost, and topped up with soil.

Playing it safe growing potatoes NOT in mushroom compost enriched soil. Though, that appears to be rumour and hearsay.

RHS didn't take the opportunity to warn about it here

SMC is pasteurised by composting prior to growing mushrooms, and should be again prior to being sold on

None of the early peas, broad beans, or tomatoes have popped up above the surface yet in their pots, nor has the spinach or radishes.

12th earthed up Arran Victories

14th: Most of the gardener's delight seedlings popped up over the last two days. First F1 Incas has popped up. Two of the early peas appear to be pushing through as well.

One of the Raspberry canes has kicked off a new shoot from the roots.

Earthed up pots, bags, and boxes of Swifts; topped up bed L with soil and, around the edges, the bits the sieve picked out of the Lidl compost.

15th: Topped up first trough with SMC mix, completed and filled the third trough. Pink fur apple seed potatoes buried in bed K.

16th: Seven of the Early Peas have sprouted; planted them out into bed B, and cloched against birds and frost, which was at one point forecast for later this week.

19th Early peas are all in the ground. Some indication of germination of the radishes and spinach in J. Purple sprouting broccoli and leeks planted indoors.

21st Lidl's Calendula in pots, Sunflower Autumn Beauty along the right hand edge of bed F, and Wilko cornfield mixed wild flowers along bottom edge of bed J.

23rd Pea main and mange tout had two nights soaking, one day drying, and have been left in newspaper pots to germinate in the shed. Plant cloched once they sprout.

26th: most of the broccoli has germinated!

April

1st: Leeks and Calendula have started germinating

5th First mangetout shoot appearing. Two more of the raspberry canes have produced new shoots from the roots.

7th Shallots along the front of E, G, H

8th

Basil (including dark variety), Coriander, Chives in pots on window sill.

Sage, Thyme, Parsley, Rosemary - two or more per pot in seed tray. Indoors.

Rocket planted out in seed tray. Indoors.

'backup' Tomato seedlings (not F1 Incas) repotted and the ungerminated ones discarded.

Broad beans spent first day in garden hardening up.

10th Newspaper pots seeded with radishes - first direct-to-ground batch is very gappy. After 36-48hr soaking, French beans, runner beans planted. First pea main has sprouted.

12th Some of the rocket has sprouted!

13th

Plastic compost heap moved, the top 50-80cm rotated, the bottom 50-80cm put in the wooden bin instead, along with a tub or two of pretty well rotted leaf debris.

Concrete area cleared and leaf mould 'bed' built.

Pink Fur Apple had surfaced in bed K. Earthed up with soil and well rotted leaf debris from concrete area.

Radishes have started sprouting indoors.

18th

French beans sprouting

Left hand half of bed L mulched with bark

Two sacks of soil held back, and left hand half of bed K filled out with green waste compost

20th

forty or so slugs fell in their beer at their leaving do. More found in the pub still in the morning.

pea early is struggling. half the plants didn't survive the slugs.

two of the french beans of sprouted

thyme and coriander slowly starting to germinate

21st: chipboard, plastic roofing etc. disposed of.

22nd

Eight broad beans in RHS of bed H

Mange Tout (LHS) - approx 15% new planting, the rest seedlings. Main Pea (RHS) in bed E; 50% new planting.

Four pink fur apple potatoes have bad it through to the surface, post earthing up.

Vast majority of the radishes have germinated in pots and are doing well. Plant out to bed H LHS when more mature.

23rd. Radish seedlings and new seed in LHS bed K

26th:

Courgettes, cucumbers, peppers in pots in cupboard on office (hopefully warm!).

Chives and Coriander have germinated; Basil in the cupboard as well.

Sunflowers in newspaper pots; apparently slugs like them. All but one pink fur apple is up; xmas day plantings a write-off.

30th

Cucumbers sprouted.

Sage germinated.

Sown radish has germinated in bed K.

May

1st: 3-4 Xmas day Pink fur apple potatoes have surfaced! Earthed up.

3rd: courgettes sprouted

4th: one sunflower sprouted

6th: peppers sprouted

8th: sunflower in ground

13th

Potted up tomatoes

Runner beans in the ground

Potted up courgettes (which had generated immense root systems), peppers, and half the cucumbers. Don't plant in pairs next year!

16th

Only four french beans made it. Planted a load more.

Broad beans appear to be failing; they've grown little, less that a foot high, and are flowering

Put in lots of more early peas. See if they all get eaten!

Basil reseeded

Swift plants struggling with wind and slugs/snails. Pink Fur Apple plants now bigger than Swifts. Arran Victory plants immense and more windproof; starting to flower.

17th: Planted more sunflowers in pots, plus Sorrell, Tarragon, Oregano

26th:

pulled out the broad beans; they'd all flowered at one foot high.

emptied one of the sacks of new potatoes as all the plants had gone yellow. There was enough for a small bowl full; watered the rest and mulched with green waste compost. Fingers crossed they recover.

Sunflowers didn't sprout.

Most of the french beans sprouted and doing well.

Courgette plants will be ready to go out in a few days. Cucumbers doing ok.

Potted up the remaining tomatoes, and there's now four Gardeners Delight, three Tigerella, and two F1 Incas in troughs. Heavy rain and wind forecast for tomorrow. D'oh.

seedling radishes (23rd April) doing very well in Bed K; started thinning them out. The seeded radishes are a few weeks away from needing thinning out!

June

3rd

Emptied raspberries from their trough into bed F.

2.4kg of new potatoes from five sacks.

4th.

Tomato troughs filled; Gardeners Delight trough fully, but lost Tigeralla and Incas plants - filled those troughs with Golden Sunrise! Calendula seedlings planted direct.

Broad beans planted direct, plus backups in pots. French beans getting used to being outside.

August

25th: garlic has all died back; dug that out.

removed final clusters of shallots which had also died / been eaten back.

Abandoned peas as the slugs/snails and dryness has made them all pretty feeble.

Beds D and E topped up with spent mushroom compost, and along with bed C seeded with fenugreek.

Cute little leek seedlings in bed F and, I think, about three broccoli plants in bed J.

Runner beans about to go full glut, and tomatoes ripening on schedule. Lost probably half of the F1 Incas to end rot.

Todo:

Plant out Broccoli

plant out french beans

peas should start cropping

July

Tomato Golden Sunrise cropping

Plant Christmas potatoes

August

Tomato Gardener's delight and Tigerella cropping

start harvesting runner beans (until Sept)

harvest french beans (until September)

September

Tomato F1 Incas cropping

Harvest late maincrop potatoes

Plant Christmas potatoes

October

2008 leaf mould should be approaching half way.

November

harvest leeks (nov-feb)

December

Reference

Garlic instructions: 'when leaves turn yellow lift and dry in sun or air shed'

Seed potato instructions: 'keep in cool dark place until tiny shoots appear, then move to 8-10 degree cool light place. Tubers can stay in trays until planting conditions are right.'

Pink Fur Apple potato: Plant late march, harvest October

Swift potato: Plant Mar-Apr, harvest May-June (first early) - crop after potentially 7 weeks. Plant closer together (9-10") and keep well watered.

Arran Victory potato: (late maincrop)

Xmas potatoes: mature ~October (+10 weeks) and would be First Early / 'new' potato varieties, such as Swift. Foliage dies back. Cover in straw/fleeze to protect from frost, or move containers to frost free areas.

Potato info: WCF Phoenix

Potato council variety DB