Back at last!

It's been a while since I've posted, due to some health problems!  Have been a bit tied up over the summer but did manage to get some veg sown in the spring. It's been mostly left to it's own devices since then though!
I did go out once or twice to declare war on the slug and snail population to try and salvage something!

I ventured out earlier today to pick some beetroot to roast for dinner and decided to carry on harvesting.

Some tomatoes in the polytunnel had ripened up nicely.  There are a few different varieties and some of the skins are a bit blemished but hey-ho, they still taste pretty good!

Picked a few pears from one of the pear trees.  The variety here is 'Williams'.  The Conference pears have still a bit more growing to do.

I dug up a large bowlful of 'Pink Fir Apple' Potatoes and washed some ready for dinner.  mmmm....I just love the nutty, sweet taste of these potatoes.

Dug a row of carrots and washed them  ready to eat.  The one on top couldn't make up it's mind which direction to grow so opted to grow both ways!  And not a lot to be said about the poor wee boy below!!

The variety is 'FlyAway' and I'm really pleased with the results as I didn't have the usual attack of carrot fly on these.



Onions below were harvested last week.  I've just left them out in a tray to hopefully form nice brown skins.






So all in all - a good day's harvest - even though I do say so myself!

All Sowed Up!

The seeds that I managed to get sown up to the first week in February have come through pretty well now.

Cauliflowers, leeks, peppers, onions

 You'll notice the slug pellets around and in the pots of my onion seedlings.  That's because overnight I lost eight or nine of my seedlings to a slug!  I know, I know - shutting the door after the horse has bolted and all that - but honestly - they were inside a zip up greenhouse, inside my polytunnel - slugs obviously have a bigger brain than I give them credit for!!

It's more than my seeds that are sown!  I'm pretty sewn up myself just now having just got out of hospital after a big op.

Got a visit from the district nurse yesterday armed

Broad Beans, Chillis, Aubergines                                                                   

Tomatoes

with a pair of pliers (at least they looked like pliers!) to remove my many staples.

I'm sore, weak, tired but also so frustrated because I want to get into the garden to get on with all the jobs that need doing at this time of year - but I can't!

I have to content myself looking out the window, planning what's going where, and once a day taking a slow walk to have a look and see how my seedlings are coming on.

The empty green pots are for planting out my tomato plants once they get a bit more established.
Hopefully the water resevoir in each pot will ensure they get enough water going down to the roots without getting the foliage wet.
  I'm looking forward this year to growing tomatoes that actually ripen.  Have sown a few different varieties from centiflaur to giant amish paste, and some in between. I'll let you know how  they get on.

Leeks and Cauliflower

Yesterday, I sowed a tray of leek seeds - varieties 'Musselburgh', 'Long de Meziers' and some seed that I saved from leeks that a friend had given me two summers ago. I don't know what the variety was, but they hadn't had a long enough growing season and I just left them in the ground.  Last summer they grew beautiful big seedheads so I eventually cut some and had them in a vase in my hall.  After a few weeks I began to notice seeds falling from them and ended up collecting them from the seed head.  So I've planted some to see what happens!

I also planted some cauliflower seeds - varieties 'Autumn Giant' and 'Mayflower'.  Last summer I had varying success with cauliflower. This is a picture of the first one that flowered .  The ones that came after this one weren't so perfect-looking - In fact some of them had pinkish florets.  They looked as if they had been watered with Ribena!

Anyway, I know it might be a bit early to sow these, especially this far north, but I'll nurture the seeds and once they're through, I'll move them from the house to the potting shed to the polytunnel and if we're going to get a decent summer this year I'll then get them outside!   That's the plan anyway.                                                                      

Sowing Peppers & Chillies

That's the peppers and chillies sown and I've tried a few different varieties of each.

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I got a paper potter for Christmas, so took great satisfaction in making my own newspaper pots for sowing the seeds.

I ran out of plant markers, so picked up a tip online about cutting out old plastic milk cartons to make them.  I  recycle my milk cartons anyway, so now I'm doing it in a different way!  They have been turned into a box of plant markers for all my sowings. That's saved me some money too!

I found the trip switch in my Polytunnel so I have heat - no light though - I think water must have got into the strip light and that's what's tripped the power.
I'll have a closer look at it this weekend.
Roll on Spring!

Ready, steady, SOW!

Well, we're off and running!

 In November I sowed my garlic cloves- variety Marco.  They are well through now.


On 31st December 2011, I sowed some onion seed.  3 different varieties.  Sturon, Yellow Rynsburger and Ailsa Craig.  The Sturon and Yellow Rynsburger seeds I got from the Real Seed Company
The Ailsa Craig seeds have been kicking about in my seed box for a couple of years now.  If they were on a supermarket shelf they'd be out of date!  I'm not sure how viable they are - but nothing ventured, nothing gained!  I decided to give them a go anyway!

I bought sets of Troy when I dropped into a local garden centre.  They were reduced in price as they really should have been planted by now, but today I'm going to plant them outside and we'll see how they do.

Rhubarb that has been in the top corner of the garden was lifted last month as I wanted to move it to the other end of the garden.  I took the opportunity to divide the clump before replanting it.
It's already through! It's been so wet and mild for the time of year that I'm sure the plants are totally confused.

Case in point!  These are my snowdrops - they appeared last week - the first herald of Spring!

We've only had 2 frosty nights here so far over the whole autumn/winter period to date!







This weekend as well as planting late onion sets, I'm also going to sow peppers and chillis .  They'll go on shelving in my potting shed (some low heat in there)  the pots covered in poly bags.  This will hopefully give them a long enough growing season to get a decent crop.

There's something wrong with the power supply to my polytunnel, so I can't get the heater on in there until I can get the electrician to have a look at it.  He's in Vietnam at present, and won't be back till the middle of February.  So until he returns - and fixes the problem - I can't put tender seedlings out there.

House and shed will have to do for now.