Yet more excitement!!!!!

Just a quick update as I'm very very excited. I've picked some turnips today as they were getting quite big. I made them into spicy turnip soup, yummy! I've got flowers on my potatoes, tomatoes and chillies now as well as my peas. I've actually got a pea pod forming too. So yes, I'm very excited that my months of digging and weeding is finally paying off!!!!

Growth spurt!!!

Well, everything's been growing really well since the rain/sun combination of the last few weeks:

Turnips (slightly nibble by slugs):

I've now planted out some of my purple plum Tomatoes:

Some Burgess Buttercup Squash plants:

The Japanese Bunching Onions are coming along nicely:


But the Red Baron Onions are looking a bit feeble. I think the slugs have had a couple. It's a good job I've got loads more to plant out:

Radishes:

My King Edward Potatoes are now huge and have some flower buds on them (the picture doen't actually show just how big they are, and needs rotating, but hey-ho!):

Telephone peas, which in the two days since I've taken this pic, now have flowers on them, yay! Again, the picture doesn't really show just how huge they've gotten!!

A new addition, I've got a fig tree!!

The only cucumber plant that I got from my seeds (I stupidly water-logged the rest, this was the only one which survived!!):

Another new addition, a Blueberry Bush:

So now I've got a full weekend off and it's going to be lovely apparently, so i'm going to fix the shed (the roofing felt came off in the wind) and get some much-needed weeding done. I'm also going to do a bit more planting/sowing so will update soon with what I've done.

Now with pictures........

Well I've been up to the allotment again today, despite the drizzle, to get some weeding done and prepare another bed. I also took some pictures of what's growing up there:

Red Baron Onions






Japanese Bunching Onion

Turnips

Early Nantes Carrots

King Edward Potatoes

Telephone Peas


I also got very excited today as I ate the first of my home-grown produce for lunch. I've had some of my very own Rocket in a salad, and very nice it was too!

I've transplanted some of my Chilli seedlings into individual pots which are growing nicely in my kitchen window.

I had another round of planting on Saturday and planted the following in my greenhouse:

• Melons
• Squash
• Radishes
• Cabbage
• A.M Forcing Carrots
• Rocket
• Bunching Onions
• Chicory
• Peas
• Leeks

Winging it

Well it's been over a month since I last updated. I've been to vegas and back, planted more seeds, grown more veg, built a frame for my peas and raspberries and really still haven't got a clue if everything's going to grow properly!! I really am winging it with this veg growing lark. But let me re-wind to catch up with what's happened since my last post. Vegas was fab and I returned to find everything ticking along nicely. Nothing had died and lots of new things were sprouting up all over, not least the weeds!!! The peas were getting a bit big for the greenhouse thing, so I planted them out in the allotment. I have also planted:

• Early Nantes Carrots
• Rocket
• Mixed Leaf Salad
• Cucumbers
• Dwarf French Beans

That was back at the start of april, so lots of these have grown quite a bit now too. I also put my thyme and basil into large pots in my garden. The Tyme is doing well but the basil seems to be laking somewhat. There are still leaves on the little Basil plants, but they don't seem to be growing very much. Fingers crossed they improve!

The turnips have just taken off and taken over the tray in the greenhouse. So I decided to plant them out last thursday. This was quite difficult as the roots had all intertwined and so I hope that I've not damaged them too much by planting them out. When I checked them today they still looked vaguely alive, so again, fingers crossed!!

My cucumbers have started to sprout up, but no sign of the beans yet. The seed is a bit old for the beans, so not sure what'll happen with them. Rocket is doing well and needs planting out soon. I have planted out some of the stronger-looking carrots. They were easier to plant out than I'd thought, but the roots are quite simple and hadn't intertwined. My tomatoes, chillies and peppers are coming along well.

My marigolds however are a different story. They have withered away and there are just a couple of seedlings left that don't seem to be growing much at all. I wanted them to keep pests away from the tomatoes, so I've got some more seeds in the hopes that the 2nd batch will fare better.

My potatoes on the other hand, are doing well. I've been covering the plants with earth as they come up, as this apparently encourages more potatoes to grow.

That's about it for now, I'll try to update again soon.

St. Patrick's Day Planting

Well, I've been told that you should plant your potatoes on St.Patrick's day, so that's what I've done. I rushed home from work and up to the allotment and planted my King Edward maincrop potatoes. I've also given some leftovers to my nextdoor neighbour, who has also just aquired an allotment, as I had way more than I needed. I have also had another round of planting things undercover:

• Peas
• Marigolds
• Purple Tomatoes
• Pink Tomatoes
• Purple Chillis
• Chocolate Peppers
• Summer Turnips
• Bunching Onions
• Red Onions

I also got quite excited that my Garlic has sprouted, as have my first tray of Peas, Basil, Thyme and my first half tray of Marigolds. Yay!

I'm off to Vegas on thursday, so will give everything a good water tomorrow, which should see everything through for the week. Can't wait to see what grows whilst I'm away!

In the beginning.......

My Grandad was a keen gardener and grew alot of fruit and veg whilst I was growing-up. I always enjoyed helping him in the garden and picking fresh veg and fruit for my dinner. So I decided about a year ago that I'd like to aquire one of the allotments at the end of my street, having no real garden to speak of, and start growing stuff myself. Kind of a tribute to my Grandad if you will.

So last autumn I found myself in posession of a half allotment plot in Leeds. It was covered in weeds (at least somthing grows there!!) and leftover veg from it's previous owner. So I roped in the muscle-power of my "I've never gardened in my life" husband and set off digging and weeding. Then nothing much else happened on-site for the winter as it was too wet and cold for digging really.

During the quiet non-digging winter, I decided to order myself some seeds and gather all the equipment I would need. After a little bit of searching, I stumbled upon a fab website selling unusual varieties of non-hybrid seeds: http://www.realseeds.co.uk/index.html It really is worth checking out as they give you full instructions on how to save your own seeds too. I promptly ordered a load of seeds, the ones from this site are noted in my "Growing in 2009" list with a *.

I then bought and assembled a shed, recieved donations from my Nan of my Grandad's old gardening tools and books, and went out to the local gardening centre to stock-up on pots, compost, a small plastic greenhouse and two big tubs of chicken manure (my Grandad used to swear by this!!). All ready to start planting in the spring!!!!

I also ordered some raspberry canes, which I planted out straight onto the allotment in the winter. They're pruned right back ready to fruit in the summer.

After what seemed like the longest winter ever, I finally started planting undercover in my mini greenhouse-type-thing. I thought it best to plant undercover and then transplant to the allotment once the seedlings are bigger. The soil in the allotment is quity stoney and weed-prone, so I thought it might give my seeds more of a fighting chance! So far I've planted:

• Peas
• Onions
• Marigolds
• Basil
• Thyme
• Garlic Chives
• Garlic (actually outside in a tub)
• Peppermint
• Parsley

Today I've been up to the site and planned out my beds, dug the manure in and tried to remove some of the stones and bricks that I keep finding everywhere. I also got a bit giddy when I saw that some of the things I've planted undercover, have started sprouting, yay!

So that's where I am at the moment. I plan to plant a few more things at the weekend, then I jet off to Vegas next Thursday, so I hope more things will have sprouted by the time I get back, a week later.