Germinate, Germinate

Some of the seeds are beginning to germinate, others have failed miserably and need replacing.  Here are the ones poking out this morning.

Broad beans Green Longpod

Garden peas Meteor growing well in toilet rolls.  I've been using toilet rolls for peas fro a long while.  I recently asked my family to save their loo rolls for me, each one of my family member raised their eyebrows and wondered what on earth for?  When I explained, especially to my mother who listened with keenness, she thought it was a really thrifty and clever idea and wished she had known about it before. 

Golden Sunrise Tomato seedlings are leading the way. 

Beetroot Baraietola di Chioggia seedlings are doing well,

So are the White Chard seedlings.  The courgettes, squashes, fennel and black kale have been a little slow.  I wait patiently.

I mentioned that I also planted some strawberries.  Its El Santa.  I don't particularly like these, but it was all I could find.  I am still hoping to find another variety.  Other than the herb section, its the first thing gone into this ground.  If you click on the image, you will see that we have to work around the tree trunks that were removed by the landlord about a year ago. 

So how are your seedlings doing?

Seed Tins for the Garden or Allotment

At the weekend, I looked under the recycled bed-cold frame and found myself a tinsy*, teensy  bit annoyed.  Some of the plastic wrapping is flapping and not totally secure.  Silly me had forgotten about the joys of sowing seeds.  I was reminded instantly of the birds and the other small beasties in the garden (and allotment plots) that eye your seeds for nibbles.  Some of you may remember the acrobatic mice at my allotment a few years back.   

The seed trays with covering were fine, those without had all been nabbed, (except for the tomatoes).  The scented sweet peas and green peas are gone, the sunflowers husks floating above the soil and so forth.   I have just finished sowing and replacing some those seeds.  However, in some cases I don't have any more seeds.  As I mentioned I was making the most of my old seed packets from two - three years ago such as Gold Rush courgettes, Broad Beans, Scarlet Runner Beans and Scented Sweet Peas.  So along with the curly kale and purple top Milan turnips, I will have to buy them, but before I part with some pounds, I will check with my parents and see if they have any seeds going spare.  I should also mention instead of putting the seed trays back underneath the cold frame, I have decided to grow those without secure covering in the window sills.  When they are strong seedlings, I will return them to the cold frame.   The tomato seeds and companion flowers and herb seed trays have been put in the empty bath that I hope to fill up with compost and grow carrots.  I have covered them quite securely with plastic sheeting, so hopefully no beasties trespassing there. 

Today, I thought I'd share with you one of my seed tins.  I picked it up in Plymouth from a charity shop a couple of years ago when we were getting the ferry to Brittany.  I think its rather charming.  Each side has a different garden-growing related theme. 

Some of my seeds are definitely over two years old, so lets see if they do germinate.    Nothing so far, thanks to the greedy beasties.

Hope your seedlings are doing better than mine.

Tinsy - a silly slang word I picked up from my nephews and nieces meaning small as in tiny. 

New Kitchen and Garden

Some of my fellow bloggers have been nudging me to show my new digs.  So here are a few pictures. 

This is my new kitchen, albeit it rented for the next couple of years.

None of my crockery, pots or kitchen related things match the faint apple green colour.  I'm not that fussed though.  I am just thankful for the space to both accommodate an display my kitchenalia, many of which was once hidden in cupboards.

I am for once able to get out my white kitchen gadgets: bread maker and food processor.  I will use them a lot more now.

Looking back from the kitchen, you may notice that the food processor has been moved.  I am still shuffling things around.   The kettle has been moved five times already.
In this house, you can actually step out into the garden.  I think this is wonderful.  I have always dreamed of a herb or kitchen garden, and the dream is coming true.  This morning, D dug out the herb patch by the backdoor. No herbs in it yet, I know but it won't be long.  Ah I wish I could have brought that rosemary plant with me, the lavender, the sage....

Around the corner from this seat arch is the patio area.  Oh I do feel rather privileged.  I've never had a place with a patio before.  Now I feel like bit of a madam. I can get some deck chairs and just chill under the sun.  Highly unlikely, as I do not like sun bathing.    

The patio area is presently occupied by my rescued pots and containers from the old flat. I am so glad I insisted on bringing them along with me. We even managed to bring our bird bath with us. Its of sentimental value to us really as we inherited it from D's late father. I dare not show you what's over the wall: a mattress, rotting wood, bricks and rubble.  The landlord has assured us that these will be disposed of.  He has been true to his word, the pile is shrinking slowly, but surely.

If you keep walking round the patio area, you will find where I have put my recycled cold frames.  I mentioned them yesterday.  They are made from an old bed frame that came in two pieces, and then stapled with recycled plastic sheeting.

Here's a peek underneath the cold frame.  I've sowed loads of seeds this afternoon: beetroot, squashes, peas, climbing beans and so forth.  I would have continued, but I had run out of both seed trays and compost.  We will start up again with trying to make our compost.  My father has an extra compost bin that he is happy for me to have.  Making compost will take a while, and as we are starting of growing again, we will need to get some, so  its going to cause a bit of a dent in our pockets.  As its one of our shared hobbies we've agreed that its an essential expense and worth it in the long-run.  We don't need to worry about getting manure though, we've sourced a place that gets rids of the stuff for free, only you have to go and get it.  I'm looking forward to shovelling the stuff and stinking out our little silver car - not!    

We also have all this space to grow in.  I haven't measured it yet, but its massive and goes right round to the front door.  It has lots of potential.  I am already seeing lines of bean and pea frames. 

I  have to share, there is absolutely no way that we would have been able to afford living in such a house with such a large garden. There are two reasons why it has been made possible. One the landlord is a friend of the family; secondly the house (as you may be able to see in one of the above photographs) needs rendering, so rent was negotiated. It's not perfect by any means, but it suits us for now and the last couple of weeks has been heart and home warming.   Its not what the place looks like  that makes it a home, its the people inside of it.  Just moving here has lifted our spirits. Let's hope good and fair employment comes our way too (and the flat sells soon).   For now we have plenty of new distractions.  The weather has been reasonably good to us too, as we have been out and about exploring.

Sowing and Growing Again

I cannot tell you how excited I am to get back into growing vegetables again.  Since losing my allotment plot two years ago, I have really missed it.  Sowing the seeds, caressing the little seedlings, watching them grow, thinning/pulling out fresh baby carrots from the soil, picking green peas, the smell of fresh tomatoes, digging the potatoes, the fresh air  - all of it.  I've missed it and am so excited to get my hands and nails grubby once again. 

At the weekend, well Saturday namely I had my little army of nephews helping me in out the garden.  It really is true, many hands - albeit it tiny hands make light work.  We managed to clear up part of the garden for pots and seed trays.  

Not wishing to be accused of exploiting child labour by them or their parents, they were rewarded with veggie burgers.  Not one, but two which they ravished within minutes.  We also built a cold-frame with a two piece bed frame the landlord was throwing out.  We trimmed off the excess fabric and stapled a couple of layers of plastic sheeting around it.  Not the prettiest looking things to have in the garden, but they will save me £pounds and encourage the seeds to became seedlings.  I will show you the recycled homemade coldframes some other time, when I actually have seeds of try beneath them.  

Then yesterday, I tipped out my seed box.  I know some of the seeds will be out of date, but being a bit tight on money these days, I am just going ahead and sowing them and see if they germinate.  There are only a few seed packets I want to get.  I like curly kale and purple top Milan turnips, I don't seem to have them.  I will update my side-bar as I sow the seeds. 

 When we drove back to my parents to drop off the little ones, my mother showed me some 'elephant garlic' germinating.  The elephant garlic was given to her by one of my brothers friends.  She said, she didn't know when she would get round to planting it, so gave it to me as she thought I was more organised.  I don't really like elephant garlic, I find it lacks flavour, but I am happy to grow it and try again. 

Let the growing experiments begin once again.  Hooray. 

Wigwam of sorts and some green things

Okay, I admit its been a while since I written about progress in my garden plot, containers and pots. So here's a little up-date.
On Monday morning, taking advantage of the public holiday and the dry skies. We did some work in the garden. D built me a couple of pea wigwam with sticks we picked up on our travels around the Scottish countryside. I was erring whether to put the peas in the ground as its hardly that warm, but took the decision to do so. We are due to visit family soon, so while we are away some of these growing seedlings and plants will just have to fend for themselves. So the sooner I get them into the ground, the sooner they will be able to stand up for themselves in the Scottish changeable weather.

My baby carrots in a container pot have emerged. Hopefully this container is high enough for the horrid carrot fly to just pass on by.

On the left is my garlic planted in two long containers. They seem to be doing okay so far. The cluster of starry white flowers is from the wild garlic plant I lifted and transplanted in my garden border about a fortnight ago. It seems to have taken okay. I think being located near the water feature is helping, it is the damp part of the garden. If I am still living here next year, I may get to enjoy some of my own home-grown wild garlic, but if not - I have an idea where to go to pick some for free. And finally, the tight crimson buds of the chives that I had neatly lined in the border are starting to peek through. I look forward to seeing their lilac heads soon, as well as eating.

Above image is a picture of my wild alpine strawberries that I carefully lifted from my mothers garden in Wales and transplanted in pots. These tiny strawberries can only be described as little bullets of flavour. I am so looking forward to eating them when pottering about in the garden. I am not sure what variety the strawberries below are, as I had inherited these when I had an allotment. What I do remember though is that they are fat, red and juicy. Everything you would want in a good strawberry.

This is the 3 by 3 plot with a variety of lettuces, salads and radishes. I also put in a Gold Rush courgette plant bought from a garden centre. You can see it on the bottom left. It is beginning to flower, but it is not happy there. I think part of the reason is drainage. This weekend, I will transfer it to the other plot where the ground is established.

We've enjoyed eating some of our own home grown lollo rosso this week. Looking forward to these little ones bulking up. Home grown salad leaves taste so much superior than supermarket vacuum packed ones. The sleepy herbs such as the mint, including this particular one called black pepper mint is finally starting to come through. When I had my allotment one of the herb plants that I really cherished was a lemon verbena. It took me so long to find one. When I finally acquired my own lemon verbena, shamefully I had neglected it, leaving it out in the cold. I thought it was gone and was ready to put it in the compost bin, then miraculously it came back to life. I was ever so delighted and ensured I took care of it, giving it special treatment and attention, moreso than any of the other herbs. Then sadly I lost it with many other things in the allotment fire. Anyway, the point of all this, fortunately this weekend I found another lemon verbena. I will do my best to safeguard it. The scent is so enchanting.

On the window sills inside the flat I have a number of trays with seedlings. This is beetroot.

This is strawberry spinach.

And Swiss chard in its many different colours. I also have 4 chilli plants and 2 Golden Queen tomato plants growing well. In fact one of the tomato plants is actually starting to flower. Even though we may not harvest the same amounts of tomato as we did last year, I am very happy in the knowledge that I will still get the opportunity to taste some of our own.

Happy Growing my fellow readers. I do hope you get the growing bug and enjoy it as much as I do.

First seedlings of the year

It should not be a surprise that the first seeds to germinate on my windowsill are the: 'Trocadero' lettuce.
As you can see the seedlings are all pointing in one direction, towards the sunlight. I have taken of the propagator lids as I am concerned the seedlings will shoot up too fast and be weak.

I am hoping to sow some other vegetable seeds this weekend. My problems soon is going to be space in every sense, where will I put these trays and trays of growing seedlings. I'll think about it this weekend.

Guerrilla Gardeners and Green Seed bombs

‘Let’s fight the filth with forks and flowers’. I like this. It is so heart-warming and makes me smile.

Last week, whilst channel hopping I stumbled upon a Food show on one of the satellite channels on which renowned Guerrilla Gardener Richard Reynolds was appearing.

Guerrilla Gardeners also known as Green Guerrillas are radical and political gardeners. Guerrilla Gardeners take over an abandoned piece of land which they do not own and plant trees, sow seeds or plant a new vegetable patch. Guerrilla gardeners use a form of direct action to reclaim neglected and derelict land so that it develops a new positive ‘green’ identity. This renewed place is beneficial not just to the surrounding wildlife, but impacts on the behaviours and moods of people. Some guerrilla gardeners carry out their work at nigh in secrecy. Others work more openly, directly engaging with members of the local community and local council to sow seeds, plants and crops.

Richard was on this particular show to share the work of the Guerrilla gardeners around the world, promote environmental awareness, and how we as individuals can play our small part. He was also on the show to showcase these fantastic green seed bombs.
The green seed bombs are actually little capsules made from recycled materials, organic compost and fertilizer. Each is implanted with wildflower seeds indigenous to that region. These seed bombs have been designed to be thrown into dull and neglected places in the city and brighten that space not just for the human eye, but also for the wildlife, especially the bees and the butterflies. All that is required is a little helping hand from mother nature in the form of rain and then the seed bombs self-destruct (a bit like MI technology) or should I say be more poetic and say, they disintegrate and become one with nature.

This ‘seed bombs’ initiative of creating and greening the city was originally pioneered in New York in the 1970s, when environmentalists filled condoms with seeds, water and fertilizer. This initiative is still going strong in some parts of the States, as well as Australia. If you check out Richards blog, you will see that it has even impacted on other counties.

Anyway, I was well impressed with the ingenuity of these seed bombs. The seed bombs are cheap and easy to make. I would have be happy to give you the recipe, but thought it was better to give you this link where Richard demonstrates how to make these from scratch.

If you don’t want to get your hands grubby, you can also buy these seed bombs in the shape of petals, a pistol.

as well as aesthetically pleasing ones such as an Opium plant and even a grenade bomb. I read that the grenade seed bombs were moulded from old newspapers and teabags in which seeds are both implanted as well as contained within its hollow core, so they rattle a bit when you shake them. The kabloom grenade shaped seedboms were launched by Scottish Guerrilla Gardener Darren Wilson last year. As much as I like them, and I really do, I would like to advise you that they cost around £9.99 for a pack of four. So I would strongly recommend making your own and getting your hands dirty, especially as it is something that is going to disintegrate into nature.

Thanks to Richard Reynolds I will be making some’ loopy’ lupin and ‘nasty’ nasturtium seed bombs this year, or will that be naughty of me - you know the reputation nasturtium seeds have.

Ah if you still want the recipe Lush USA have got a quirky poster for it. Just follow this link. PLEASE NOTE: Images in this post are not mine. If i've done it properly, you should be able to click on the images for the source.

Shelter from the rain

The sunshine was fooling around with us today. When we left home the sun was out, by the time we got out of the car and walked onto the allotment site, it started pouring down. Typical. Look at the guttering and you can see the rain pouring in. Good job we recycle the rainwater which slowly, or in this case very quickly makes its way to the water butts behind the hut. An ingenious system developed wee Alex, my plots previous owner.

D decided to hide, I mean shelter in the tomato greenhouse, where he began the process of pricking the tomato side shoots, whereas I spent most of the time inside the other greenhouse. So let me give you a little up-date on what's happening indoors.

Rainbow swiss chard coming along very nicely. These did really well last year, plus they made the plot look rather vibrant.

A whole list of other seedlings including green beans, cabbages and lettuces are stacked on this rack. Some of the trays need up-potting, a job for tomorrow I think.

This broad bean plant is beginning to flower, it needs to find it's way to Ds plot tomorrow.

Hestia is a dwarf runner bean. It shows of some lovely red flowers that later develop into the edible runner bean. It's a good productive plant for pots, a good one for the balcony, veranda or porch.

Silverline white sprouting broccoli.

When the rain stopped, which it did now and again, I managed to transplant both the white and purple sprouting broccoli into its allocated brassica bed, which D then covered over with netting.

The strawberry bed is starting to perk up even more. I wish I knew what variety these were. I transplanted these last year from D's plot, as they were getting overcrowded by the raspberries.

A good tip I picked from Celia Brooks Brown blog was to move leeks that you are not ready to use, which I have done. I will cook with these when I get back from Paris. At the back of this plot are my potatoes which are starting to emerge through the soil.

D also took of the netting that was covering the alliums (red and white onions) to stop the magpies from pulling the allium seeds out. I think they should be safe from the magpies now.

Carrot seedling coming up too, all in a nice neat line.

I also took a peek under the netting of the other brassica bed where I had planted some cabbages, turnips and cauliflower - they seem to be okay too, not swished or dislodged by the downpour.

Even though it rained on and off, I managed to spend about 4 hours at the allotment today. Most of it undoubtedly in the greenhouse, hence the number of pictures in this entry.