Monday, October 15, 2012

Feeling smug

The sunshine this weekend proved something of a boon in the suburban veg plot. I hit the garden with great enthusiasm and a 'to do' list as long as your arm. And by Sunday afternoon, here's where we were:

Clear dead sunburst squash plant from raised bed - tick
Harvest remaining Conference pears that the damn squirrel hasn't got at - tick
Plant up purple pansies in window boxes - tick
Sow broad beans - tick
Plant garlic in beds and in modules - tick
Sow green manures in empty beds - tick (though it may be a bit late for much growth)
Plant out cauliflower and cabbage plantlets - tick
Feed any slugs I find to the chickens - tick
Clear dead sweet peas from raised bed - tick
Take propagules from sempervivum plant - tick
Remove yellowing leaves from sprout plants (and feed to abovementioned chickens) - tick
Harvest last of the toms and remove plants from greenhouse - tick
Harvest almost the last of the chillies - tick
Plant daffodil bulbs in pots - tick

Feeling rather pleased with myself after all that. What did everyone else do in the garden this weekend?



Sunday, October 7, 2012

Christmas sprouts

So, my tomato and chilli harvest may have been disappointing this year but I already have high hopes for the winter crop of brussels sprouts.
This is my first attempt at these but I love them sooo much and would be delighted to harvest my own sprouts for Christmas Day. I acquired my seeds from the lovely VP of vegplotting and they were sown in March this year. (If only I'd been so 'on the early sowing ball' with the rest of my winter greens...).

They germinated really quickly and I simply potted the seedlings on a couple of times through spring and summer. They initially stayed in the greenhouse to protect them from the pesky slugs but were moved out in late summer when we did have some hotter days.

I have two plants that survived long enough to be planted into a raised bed and since they went out, they've gone from strength to strength. They stand at almost 3 feet tall and I can see little buds growing in the leaf axils. Sprouts a gogo!




Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Start of a new term

Sept/Oct means back to school for some of us. And I found a wholly appropriate new notebook for my new horticultural course: