Penellype's 2016 Garden Diary

[Penellype]

This is the current scene looking out of the back door:



On the plus side, the men say they should finish grinding out the mortar today.

I have rearranged the tomatoes again as one of the remaining plants was getting too tall for the growlights, and potted up another sideshoot. I'm a bit stuck now, as I daren't go outside in all that dust, and all the pots etc I need for doing any sowing etc are in the garage

[Bigmallly]

It'll all be a distant memory come the weekend..................

[Penellype]

Dust!

Another beautiful sunny day and I was determined not to waste it despite the ongoing dust issues. Near the house the dust was about 2mm thick and covered every leaf and flower as well as the hotbin, seat, windowsills, paving stones and soil. It gradually thinned out so that by the end of the garden it was just an almost invisible fine layer. As cement contains lime, I wonder if my soil will ever be the same again.

Wearing a dust mask, I swept what I could off the paths with a soft brush as I dread to think what sort of slop it would make if it got wet. I hate dust masks as I wear glasses and find that the glasses steam up within seconds and I can see only marginally better than without them (I'm VERY short sighted so I can't just take the glasses off). I soon gave up trying to sweep as it didn't seem to shift very much.

Then I had a "bright" idea. I decided to hoover it up. This worked reasonably well on the bigger leaves and on surfaces like the windowsills and hotbin, but of course I couldn't hoover anywhere near the mulches, and the hoover started to make a strange noise so I gave that up too. The neighbours probably think I am barmy. Anyway I have shifted some of the worst of it, at least I thought I had.

Then I looked up at the roof. My solar panels were almost invisible at the end nearer the work. I'd thought the amount of electricity I was generating was low for such a sunny day, and while I was expecting dust I was not expecting there to be such a thick layer of it on the panels, so I have arranged a local window cleaner to come and estimate for cleaning them.

Wandering round inspecting the plants it soon became obvious that they were in need of watering. This has not been an issue (apart from the plants in the house and under cover) since last year, but some of the buckets had got very dry, so I had a major watering session. It is so easy to forget how quickly things can change from almost flooded to needing watering once the sun gets stronger.

I also moved things about indoors as the peas had germinated so needed to go in the grow light garden and one of the tomato plants upstairs was nearly touching its lights. The tomato came down into the sitting room, displacing carrots which moved to their own tray ready to go outside at the next opportunity preferably when it is not going to be frosty!!!). The carrots displaced the celeriac which went into the grow light garden as it had germinated. The red cabbages, now homeless, have gone into the growhouse and will be taken to my friend's greenhouse at the weekend.

Sowed my main lot of tomatoes, using pots this year (last year I was not over impressed with rootrainers). They are all now upstairs with a propagator cover over to keep them warm and damp. Varieties are Belle, Ferline, Garden Pearl, Legend, Mountain Magic, Roma VF and Sungold.

A few other bits and pieces:
Forgot to mention the other day that I had planted out the 2nd lot of peas. The very early Meteor peas that I planted in a bucket are starting to flower.
Carrot Eskimo has now germinated.
Most of the potatoes are now showing above the soil except for the late planted Sarpo Mira. I have cloches, bubble wrap and fleece at the ready.
Also put up a frame around the apple tree ready to protect the blossom from frost. None of it is open yet, but some of the buds are very pink and look like opening very soon.

[Bigmallly]

You could have killed 2 birds with 1 stone Pene if you had a pressure washer, you could have cleaned everything & watered the plants at the same time............

[Penellype]

My spring spinach has provided quite an interesting lesson in different environments.

On 4th April I sowed some Red Vein spinach in a trough in the garage. It stayed in there until showing signs of germinating, when it was brought out and put at the sunnier end of the path.

On 11th April I sowed some Amazon spinach in a self watering salad planter in my cold frame. The cold frame only has one of its 2 lids (the other was broken when a cat jumped on it), so although the lid covered the spinach it was basically more open than not.

This is what the 2 lots of spinach look like today:



The red vein is on the left and the Amazon on the right. Despite being planted later, the amazon is much bigger. Last year I planted Red Vein alongside Tirza (a similar variety to Amazon) in the salad planter, and Red Vein grew faster, so I think the difference here is due to the partial cover and the self watering pot.

In the background, my pak choi, namenia and mizuna seem to be enjoying the self watering chiligrow too.

[Penellype]

You could have killed 2 birds with 1 stone Pene if you had a pressure washer, you could have cleaned everything & watered the plants at the same time............

I dread to think what a pressure washer would do to the flowers, soil and mulches!

[Bigmallly]

Just put it on fine spray when near tender plants.

[Penellype]

New Potatoes!

I did an ad hoc experiment last autumn. My friend found some sprouted supermarket potatoes at the back of a cupboard - they had long shoots and were clearly inedible. She had no idea what varieties they were - there were clearly 2 different sorts. Rather than throw them out, we decided to plant 3 of them in a 30 litre pot in the greenhouse, joking that we would share the potatoes in the spring. I was expecting nothing from this.

There was fairly sparse foliage which grew very slowly and never flowered. It had started to go yellow and I needed the space, so I harvested the whole bucketful today.

This is my half of the crop:



Not bad

[Penellype]

Fairly restrained this weekend in view of the forecast, although the dire warnings of a cold wind and winter temperatures over the weekend didn't really materialize. The main worry is frosty nights throughout this week.

At my friend's
Harvested the overwintered potatoes (see above).
Earthed up the buckets of Sarpo Mira which had only been half filled when I planted them. I used the compost from the harvested potatoes for this, which I know I shouldn't really do, but they seemed healthy and Sarpo are blight resistant anyway.
Noticed the outdoor Charlotte potatoes were poking through their compost so found some fleece to cover them with.
Removed the old broccoli plant as all the remaining spears have been trashed by slugs.
Removed the weed matting that I had planted the brassicas (including the broccoli) through. Removed about 100 slugs.
Applied slug nematodes. Hoping that they will survive any frosts, but they were ordered before the forecast went cold and expiry date was at the beginning of May so I had little choice.
Dug a load of couch grass out of a small area of path. The path is tarmac chippings over weed matting and the roots have grown not only through the matting but through the tarmac chips too. I had to smash several large pieces to get all the root out.
Noticed the strawberries I brought into the greenhouse earlier this month are now in full flower. The same variety outside still have very small flower buds.
Rehomed the red cabbages into the greenhouse.

At home
Difficult to do much due to continuing problems with dust (the builders should finish by Tuesday). The problem is that it is all over the roof and garage roof, and every time there is a puff of wind another shower of dust covers everything. Where is all that damn rain when you need it!!!
Applied nematodes as above.
Replaced one of the cloches over the potatoes with 2 blowaway covers on well anchored frames. These are in the sunniest position and the leaves were up against the cloche cover - no good if it is going to be frosty. The covers are where I plan to plant my Sungold tomatoes when they are ready to go out (currently not yet germinated) and will act as a greenhouse until the tomatoes get too tall.
Finished harvesting the overwintered Eskimo carrots and used their compost to earth up some potatoes that were in need. Used the pot for turnips - a new variety called Oasis, which is supposed to taste of melon! I will believe that when I taste it.

[Penellype]

Some dramatic looking April snow showers around this evening:



In the foreground of that photo you can just make out the fruit on my balconi tomatoes:



Coming along nicely

[vixylix]

we've had snow (and sunshine) this evening too

your tomatoes look fab!

[Penellype]

A slow old week due to a combination of weather and builders, with most of the effort having to go towards clearing up. We have avoided the snow, but Wednesday night in particular was very cold (-2) with large chunks of ice forming on the plastic cloches. The potatoes inside look to have survived the experience, thankfully.

The rain has washed most of the dust off the roof, so that is no longer a problem, and the garden is looking better. The men did a fair job of clearing up the drive when they had finished on Tuesday, but as its gravel it still looks rather a mess. I'm looking into getting some more gravel to cover it up. The real issue is the garage, which had to stay open so that the men could access the electricity, and everything in there is covered in dust. I didn't get time to cover everything up as they came at very short notice, so I am having to work through it in very short bursts wearing a dust mask, which as I said earlier I find almost impossible. I've got nearly half done now.

On the plus side, most of the tomatoes, the lettuces, carrots and mispoona have all germinated. Today I sowed my courgette seeds. Hopefully the weather will warm up before they are ready to go outside!

[Containergardener]

It's supposed to start warming up from tomorrow..or so they say.
Great reading again

[Penellype]

Potatoes

I thought I had got growing potatoes sorted. Plant in buckets, earlies first for really early crops, protect from frost and give as much sun as possible to get them going before they have to retreat to the shade to make room for summer veg. Simple.

Or not.

This year I planted my Lady Christl first, then the Charlotte, then the Desiree and finally the Sarpo Mira. I staggered them because I didn't have enough compost to plant all of them to start with (waiting for things like carrots to be harvested) or enough room in the garage. When it came to the Desiree I put them straight outside under a cloche because I was full up in the garage. The Charlotte followed them out and the Lady C stayed in the garage for longest to give them more protection. At this stage none were showing above the compost.

What I found was that the Desiree appeared first, then the Charlotte, and the Lady C were very slow, in fact one of the pots still has no foliage showing and I am supposed to be harvesting them in May! I think the mistake I have made here is assuming it is warmer in the garage because it is (probably) less cold in there at night. Next year the earlies will go outside first.

The 2nd mistake I made was to take the cloche off the Charlotte, which were pressing against the plastic, and replace it with tall growhouse covers which will eventually house tomatoes. I thought that the foliage might be damaged by pressing against the plastic on a frosty night. Some of the Desiree were also doing this but I didn't have another tall cover so they had to take their chances. What I have found this morning is that the Charlotte foliage in the tall covers has been somewhat damaged by frost. It isn't too bad and will recover, but its not ideal.



The Desiree, pressing hard against the cloche cover, is undamaged.



The only explanation I can think of is that the warmer air is trapped nearer to the foliage by the top of the cloche, whereas it disappears above the foliage in the taller growhouse.

Note to self - if it is frosty cover plants in the tall growhouses with bubble wrap!

[Jungle Jane]

Do you think Desiree might be more frost tolerant? I worry about my potato leaves being pressed against my plastic cover too,I was wondering about raising mine but won't now,thanks for letting us know about that! It doesn't look like too many leaves are affected it's good you noticed when you did!