The tomato plants went on their holidays!

I (like the lunatic I am) decided to take my tomato plants on holiday with me because my Aunty kills everything she touches. They seemed to enjoy the change from hard water to soft, so we will see what happens. I have planted my courgette plants, kale seeds and cucumber seeds. I have re-potted my mum’s gooseberry bush in a pot and he seems like a happy chappy. She has planted wildflower seeds in that space. I finished the planter but the white paint is just coming off in lumps now, everytime I brush up against it! (but don’t tell Marge) Here are some photos to be going on with, I’ve got more to update later! 

The soon to be repainted planter!

Planter in its entirety.

Baby broad beans

Radishes!

One happy gooseberry bush!

Courgettes 

Cucumbers

Happy germinating in the sun!

Tomato plants missing the south of England.

It is germinating now!

And after a hard days work...

Sowing and growing

It has been a while since I have posted on here, time flies when your having fun! I'm a tad behind Kathy on the growing front but I am slowly catching up.

I have planted out my sweet peas so I don't have to worry as much about watering them. I have found in the past that they are quite happy in containers as long as they have support to grow against. My simple method is using plastic netting and three bamboo canes. You can be as imaginative as you like though. I cant wait until they start growing a bit taller!


I know Kathy is going to acquire some strawberry plants so here are mine. I had left the old leaves on over the winter months to protect them from frost (learned from past experience....) so I gave them a good bit of TLC with some plant food thrown in for good measure. I also discovered where all the snails were hiding in the process haha
I grow mine in containers for better soil quality but also when the strawbs are growing they tend to go over the side and they don't touch the soil and rot. These are about 2-3 years old so I'm going to probably get a new set of plants in next year.

With all the sunshine about I have nearly finished my planter for my blueberry bush. I have picked a sunny spot and removed the weeds so when the paint has dried I will pop Ms Blueberry into her new home where she will be really happy and produce lots of yummy berries :)
Good bit of work with the left over wood I had if I do say so myself!

 

Phew I have been busy! I love it though so I'm always planning what to do next. Next jobs are to get the seeds started and get the blueberry bush outside. Off to water the plants :)

The cat’s new bed.

I have finished my planter! It needs a coat of wood paint (in purple) but for the moment it is a sticky, non-water proof white. It is made up of bits of wood that Marg and I sawed off my Gran’s old bench. The cats are miffed to have lost their old scratching post but Dorothy has found a new place to rest her fluffy head. I popped a temporary cover on it to make sure they did not use the soil for other purposes but thanks to it being positioned in a sun -trap, Dorothy has taken to sleeping on top of the cover. And who is to say no? She is such a fluffy thing. However she will have to find somewhere else when the carrots and spring onions get planted! I’m off to Cornwall on Monday so things are going to have to wait. But when I get back I’m germinating the rest of my seeds and buying some strawberry plants. The plan after this season is to take the tubers off the strawberry plants and make a patch of them in the planter that turns into a greenhouse. Finger’s crossed they’ll come up next year! With Marg’s supervision, of course. I’m going to have to get some netting for Gran’s planter. But for now, here are some pictures of my recently thinned radishes and slowly emerging broad beans!

Radishes, all in a row. 

Four broad beans!

You can just see where the cat has been sleeping!

Hard graft

With the better weather I have made it outside to carry out some serious grafting!

This is the raised bed that I constructed last year. I have finally got round to making it level on the ground before lining and filling with compost and some manure. The lining is great for keeping out weeds whilst letting moisture in. I popped on the netting to stop cats from using it as a giant litter tray (not Dorothy and Ange might I add). You can see from the pic above that the ground looks muddy. It's heavy clay hence the raised beds make it easier to grow anything my heart desires = happy Marge :)

Tell you what, I am aching though from moving the bags of soil and raking and lifting etc. Who needs the gym eh?

This is the second of my raised beds. I decided last year to put raspberry canes, which were in containers, in here and they are happy chappys! I hope in a couple of years that they will be bushy but they are only a year or two old so they are doing brilliantly. I pruned them at the end of the growing season (around Nov/Dec) and then around end of Feb gave them some general fertiliser to add some nutrients back to the soil. Raspberry plants have shallow roots so I am cautious when digging in, weeding etc.

So after all that work what did I do, have a cup of tea of course :)

My next job is to plant out the sweet peas and to prepare raised bed number one for growing new yummy things.