The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

although dejected ’bout the brassicas [see below] , there is time to sow more, mollycoddle them a bit and plant them in a different area when bigger - ie pretend we def do have club root and take precautions. will do that tomorrow. also hope to get sweetcorn out tomorrow and the large pumpkin. also have a med pumpkin and a med squash from the first sowings, and 3 experimental pumpkins from middle sowing then 5 winter squash and 4 butternut squash and 2 pumpkins [mars] from the final panic ones. poss have too many now… love them though, so will hve to find room!!

Sowing:

final sowing of climbing french beans to be ready to fill any gaps, and if there aren’t any, to wigwam in a pot. Sowed direct some spring onions and carrots where i pulled out the pak choi [ ] thinking they should be better.

Potting On

I had 2 courgettes left over, and have put them in a big container each and hope they do well in that. Having to water the garden so much, that container gardening doesn’t seem much different.

Harvesting

rocket and also some peas - yippee!!!

Otherwise i just did loads of watering, and got v v stung by a nasty invisible stinging nettle - ouch!! Anyone got advice for me about the brassicas tho, would be most welcome.

so not so much time to even garden frantically. a quick water is really all managing, but most do a weeding shortly! today spent a couple of hours on essential maintenance, tho could get called into work at a moment’s notice, so can’t do anything too big or get too messy!

Sown

the rest of the twinkle peas in situ. think none germinated before due to parched soil. so soil where sown is as mud, and will try and keep topped up with water!

Germinated

the second emergency sowing of pumpkins are germinating too. should have a lot in the veg bed then! The climbing bean blauhilde have germinated. when a bit bigger will plant out

awaiting the climbing bean cobra and the direct sown runnerbean…

Planted out

the rainbow chard, into bed 4. look v nice there. there are a few that didnt fit, so maybe DH will place in his square foot bed.

Harvesting

the rocket and a few salad leaves. the peapods on the first twinkle sown looking big, so hopefully not long, we have some green tomatoes and some green strawberries. i think the goosegogs nearly worth a try. the broad beans are some way off tho.

Maintenance

Need to keep those pesky rabbits off the veg! so have gone round the outside with chicken wire with 2 ad hoc ‘doors’. Wouldnt keep anything really determined out, but hoping that it will work for our domestic rabbits, as they have loads of other interesting places in the garden they can go [and lots of dandelions to nibble!]

Problems

1/2 our pak choi look really brilliant, 1/4 have died and the other 1/4 look pathetic. on uprooting one, there were hardly any roots. is this a pest? or just unfortunate??

something has been nibbling our pea leaves again, and it isn’t rabbits.

To Do:

1. plant out sweetcorn and the single pumpkin that is big

2. pot on all the new little pumpkins and squashes

3. get tomatoes supported.

Hmm, we have still been v much lacking in the rain department. however, have spent a little while frantically watering, plus a bit of good news about the germination of squashes and not so good re bean numbers!

Sowing

T and M had a half price seed sale, so I bought and sowed some runner beans moonlight, direct into the ground [eek!]

Germination

All the brassicas sown have germination. 1 pumpkin of those sown with old seed has germinated, and 2 of the new butternut squash. waiting for the winter squash and any others. so tiny and so far behind . the carrot sugarsnx [or something similar] has germinated well, but the purple variant hasn’t [both sown direct in rows] so wondering whether to resow or not.

Potted on

not quite potting on, but the side shoots of the toms had rooted, so potted on 4 for my mum to take home with her she has no greenhouse, so the perfect size for her to have on windowsill a bit longer and then go out.

Planted out

4 courgette plants [2 parador and 2 parthenon] , DD2’s 2 gourd plants [poor germination] and all the climbing bean cobra and blauhilde. There should have been 30 of each, but 5 destroyed detangling and a further 5 looking v sorry so a quick bit of resowing to plant in gaps if they appear, and the above runner beans, as our bean hedge has space for 70 plants. The early purple sprouting and normal brocolli has also gone out.Next year i need to sow the blauhilde 2 weeks later than i did, and cobra prob 1 week later than i did, and remember to sow so I have 25 of each of cobra, blauhilde and the runnerbean.

Pests

the rabbits have managed to decimate the leaves of the strawberries, so are confined to their pen currently, pending some fencing.

Maintenance

the pots have been emptied of dead stuff, yew and bay trimmed and we are ready to plant up the flowers again.

Jobs

1. tomatoes pole and strings

2. plant out sweetcorn [have to dig over the bed first]

3. pot up flowers into patio pots

I love May. I love the smell of mayblossom and cow parsley, and then elderflowers to come. The rape flowers are fading now so the fields less fluorescently yellow! I love may. It reminds me of my youth, of infant school [surrounded by hawthorns] and my best beloved Nanny, who died 2 years ago, and whose birthday was May 1st.

Also, in May, if we have been organised, I can start to see the veg patch coming together, and the greenhouse starts to be in emptying phase ready for the final position of toms etc. We have been fairly organised this year.

Sowing

I am still sowing things! today it was some mixed lettuce and rocket into modules, to be planted out when big enough between brassicas for a catch crop.

Potting on

i have potted on all the tomatoes into their final pots - woohoo!! Also all the aubergines and half the peppers. Actually not all the tomatoes, as 3 will be going into a growbag and pot system [a DH trial to see which works best] . SO we have 15 tomato plants, 5 each of gardeners delight, sungold and golden sunrise. I have 6 aubergines [from a mixed pack, so will be looking forwad to seeing what they are!] currently 5 potted on and 1 spare, 5 pepper jalapeno, 5 pepper inferno and 6 pepper mixed grill. This is less tomato plants than normal, but we usually have had too many. More pepper plants than before tho. DD1 loves red peppers, so planted loads for her

Planting out

The second sowing of brassicas went out - some purple pak choi, white cauliflower and brocolli romanescu.  They went into my DH’s bed, and he grumbled a bit as he had planned to properly square foot things in it. sigh . a) he should have told me, b) what is he going to put in it? since i have done most of the sowing etc it would be helpful to know and c) with the girls 2 beds of flowers and his bed of square foot, by veg patch has had a quarter knocked out of it . Anyway, I apologised and next yea, with a bit of planning, he can have his to square foot [the brassicas are all at square foot distances tho…] and will try and persuade girls to be ‘in charge of some of the veg - eg carrots perhaps.

Maintenance

DH has dug over the area for the climbing bean fence, and so next weekend plan to plant out the beans - eek!

Jobs to do

1. put up bean fence

2. clean out pots and put in herbs/flowers for patio and in front of kitchen

3. order a couple of climbers and a chaenomeles for infront of the kitchen

4. rabbit proof our veg patch. they are our rabs, and i am soft hearted letting them run around the garden, but they are nibblers, and this cannot continue!

we are on a water meter here, and i think the garden is getting more than we are! it does really need to rain. SO v british that weather thoughts are at the top of my head! it also needs to not go below 0 again! last night it was -0.5 , and although there are no tender veg in the garden, the girls have all their flowers out, and actually i don’t want any checks to growth. so there you are, i would like warm sunny days and showery/rainy nights please The gooseberries are really starting to swell now - and no sign of sawfly, there are fruitlets starting on the raspberries, and the strawberry plants have flowers. Excellent.

Sowing

I have sown the last 3 butternut squash and 3 experimental pumpkin seeds. Only 1 butternut squash out of 6 had germinated, and 1 pumpkin out of 3, so thought i would hope for them all to germinate this time, and if not have chance to buy another packet of seeds.

Sown directly were peas [twinkle] in DH’s bed and a row of carrots there too.

pricking out/potting on

have pricked out DH’s rainbow chard. i had thought he had sowed that number close in modules because they were going to be cut and come again or salad leaves. Apparently not, so now each has its own module, and will eventually get planted out . Also pricked out were the last sowing of alpine strawberries. [mmm] . The chickpeas now have a new home having been potted on. They are very beautiful plantlets at the moment and having sown them in a moment of whimsy from dried chickpeas from the pantry, i have now looked up their cultivation. A couple of aubergines and peppers got potted on, but most are waiting their final potting. planned for this weekend.I collected the spare night scented stocks of DD1 and put 4 in a pot for many pots, and also at the weekend am planning to put them on the library stand [we gave the library just over £8 for spare plants sold to date]

Planting out

the lettuce little gem and the rocket have gone into DH’s bed, and been surrounded by  bit of wire fencing to deter the rabbits DD2s pansies were planted out as well.

Maintenance.

the modules and pots etc were sorted, as wild sowing into modules coming to an end. Everything was watered [lots] due to lack of rain. We uncovered the area that will hopefully be hosting the bean hedge, and covered over a weedy bit.

To Do

[1. find home for artichokes]

2. make the bean fencing

3. clear out the greenhouse of all that can go out

4. pot on all tomatoes and the melons.

had hoped to do a bit more in the garden before we go away for the BH weekend - making the most of it thanks wills and kate. Argh for frantic weeks really - where we get the blog name from.

Germination

still waiting for the butternut squash, caulis germinated tho and the chickpea plantlets are really pretty. [must take a pic]. when we return think i will resow butternut squash if not come up.

potting up

having not got the desperate artichokes into a place in the veg bed, i potted them up.

I also potted up DD2’s fur balls - must look and see what they actually are as to what to do with them when they are a bit bigger. Also took pity on DH’s datura and echinacea and potted them all up. disturbed a nest of teeny tiny spiders, so now am suffering from overimagination and feeling them crawl everywhere.

I potted on DD2’s gourds - only 2 out of 4 germinated and the courgettes, parador and parthenon [all germinated] and the pumpkin.  Also potted on the watermelon - all 6 germinated!!

To Do

1. find home for artichokes

2. plant up DH bed

3. pot on all tomatoes and the melons.

[think the big list before not achievable!! so putting the 3 most urgent on my to do only]

The weather is changing though. the wind is blowing more, and although not rained, the forecast is for cooler. As long as no frosts [perlease!] an just milder [fingers crossed tho for gentle rain]

Potting on

The remaining mangetout have been planted up into a bucket for the patio pots. Still currently living in the greenhouse though. Greenhouse looking much emptier though

Germinating

All the chickpeas and all the brassicas bar the white cauli, and all the cucurbits bar the butternut squash.

Planting out

this is the scary bit really. due to the weather [gorgeous] and early sowing [taking advantage of the children’s interest] we have ended up with things that just have to go out, potentially too soon if the weather turns too dramatically. Just keeping fingers crossed really.

DD1’s bed is all planted up. She has made a cane wigwam and the sweet peas are out, and then done her initial in zinnias to one side of it, surrounded by autumn aster, and a fish the other side in night scented stock, with brompton stock around. All her own plan, with scant reference to heights, flower colour, season etc etc. Fingers very very crossed!

Potatoes are a go! The are all in. The kids have some earlies in sacks, and the rest are in the main veg bed. DH has decided to do a bit of an experiment. Half are going to be earthed up, and the others are thickly covered with straw. Let the science begin

Maintenance

The girls and I made some cane toppers out of fimo [bakeable modelling clay] Perhaps they will work! perhaps they are as perilous as the canes

To do:

1. globe artichoke - find a home!

2. DH beds to fill - quite urgent - salads currently

3. empty all weedy pots around patio and pop in spare flowers etc

4. buy climbers and plant infront of kitchen, and populate herb pots there

5. pot up tomatoes to final pots

6. sort out the beanfence.

7. make nettle infusion

Our greenhouse is looking like a jungle and things are bursting out! The ornamental cherry is beautiful, and myself and the girls had a go at watercolour paintings of the flowers. We also got time for some gardening. Am getting a bit worried that there are lots of things in the greenhouse - particularly flowers! - and I am not sure where they are going to fit. The girls got ‘ a bit’ carried away.

Sowing

I still did some sowing tho as I realised I hadn’t sown any ‘normal’  brocolli [calabrese], nor had I sown any early purple sprouting. So I remedied this by sowing in modules. I also, for a bit of fun sowed some dried chickpeas. They do sprout, I have no idea if they crop, and didn’t want to pay a lot until i worked out how well they did for us - so these are a real trial. Also sown into modules and into the propagator to join the sweetcorn, french beans and watermelon currently in there.

Sown direct [eek, something i am still not comfortable with doing after all those years in Leeds] are 2 rows of carrots, a purple variety and a supersweet variety. the broad beans sown way back when have all germinated and are growing strongly.

Can’t locate any runner beans - odd that! so we won’t be growing any this year.

Potting Up

the dwarf gold french beans have been potted up, there are 8 in each of the girls painted buckets [with drainage holes] and with limanthes in the middle. i thought they might complain, as they have so many flowers to find a home for, but I don’t think they realise they have a problem yet!

In the same root trainers were the mangetout, so in the end i popped 8 of them in another bucket with a cane wigwam and if we hadn’t run out of compost, would have done that for all of them. I think I will do that for them all when we have some more compost.

Planting out

DH has got all the strawberries in the ground - woohoo . Unfortunately he has taken all the area which i had earmarked for artichokes! I will have to rething there

I did plant out the brassicas. I was going to plant 3 across a 4 foot bed, but having updated myself on some of the square foot plantings, I have done 4. they do look v close together! If they look crowded, the successional ones will be planted 3 spaced. I only planted out 4 of each - white cauli, violet queen cauli and broc romanescu. They had all germinated, and I had 12 of each, but am trying to be a bit more sensible with growing to see what we actually eat, and sowing successionally a bit. The spare modules where each given a pot so that they can go in DD1s honesty box drive sale in aid of the local library.

Also into this bed went the purple pak choi [at approx 4 per square foot] and I sowed the 2 carrot rows as above. At the end of the bed went out the twinkle peas. I love the guttering thingies! made the peas a doddle to slide across. Should have done them far earlier tho, as the roots had made a bit of a mat at the bottom. hmmm. These weren’t quite the square foot spacings, as had been in the guttering. next time will try and do them, asI think i have planted too closely.

The whole of this bed was then covered with enviromesh. Our peas have been decimated before, and i saw one white butterfly! SO thought would start off v covered and will obv release peas from this when they start to flower. it also will protect them from our rabbits until we sort out how to stop them getting into the veg patch.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and the plants have grown well. The broad beans are flowering, and those sown in situ have all germinated and are growing up. the garlic is growing well too.The apples and pear tree have been absoluted covered in flowers, so hoping for a good harvest in the Autumn.

Sowing

Today I have sown sweetcorn ‘lark’ , climbing bean cobra and blauhilde and dwarf gold bean all in roottrainers, hoping to be not to early and not too late so we can plant  out in about 4-6 weeks. [lets see!] . I have also sown pumpkin [T and M experimental] Courgettes parthenon and … and butternut squash in module, again hoping for 4-6 weeks and out. As a gamble i have sown some watermelon seeds into pots - you never know!! I also sowed a second sowing of pak choi, broccolli romanescu and white cauliflower. only 3 of each, as think i sowed too many the first time, and really should think about when we are going to eat them! Next year I would like to work out how many of each to sow at a time. A second sowing of peas too [twinkle]

Potting On

I have potted on 5 each of the different peppers [inferno, jalapeno, mixed grill] all 6 of the aubergines [mixed] , 2 of the multiple cape gooseberries, 4 of the 5 melons and 1 more of each tomato [sungold, gardeners delight and golden sunrise] to make 5 of each. Hoping this will be the right amount of everything! I also potted up the last of DD 2’s short sunflowers - a week has made a noticeable difference between them and those potted up before we went on holiday.

Into the coldframe

go the brassicas and pak choi, and the mangetout. plan to be into the ground on weds.

Maintenance/DH

DH has finished this eve the first of the marked beds - not quite raised as our soil drains so very freely! but a marked out zone, one each so that we can be putting our chosen plants in.

So, To Do:

Sowing:

locate the runner beans and sow! then see what other wierd and wonderfuls i have bought and if there might be space

Into the veg patch:

Strawberries into strawberry planter and along veg bed wall. artichoke also along veg bed wall

Potatoes - into bags and into the ground

beds 1 and 2 of the 4:

Brassicas - into bed and enviromesh around them

peas/mangetout - into bed and need supporting structure

carrots - into bed if there is space! otherwise consider sowing into pots?

beds 3 and 4:

get ready really, some of the girls plants could go out, tho quite small ? better to pot on further before planting out? never sure of optimal size. DD2’s sunflowers are ready, but not sure whether not too early?

into pots:

dwarf french beans

discuss with girls and DH all their flowers and herbs and where they are hoping to put them!

Maintenance

lots of weeding!!

and the weather is gorgeous. there are a few things i have forgotten to do tho, and so am behind. mostly the chitting potatoes that i forgot that are in the dining room. hmmm. hopefully they will catch up a bit. The brassicas also need a home, and DH bought some strawberries - apparently - which should have been planted. 90 of them!! The toms need potting up urgently too, and we are off away on holiday for a week. eek! SO the potatoes get left in the dining room, the girls heel in the strawberry plants as a temporary measure. I pot up tomatoes and give everything a good water and off we go!!

SO currently everything growing, even DD2 has 2 gourds that have germinated. when i return, i will need to go through greenhouse and take out those things that need an outside bed now, pot up everything that can’t go out, and try and find enough space to empty propagator of the peppers and aubergines so that i can sow the french beans, sweetcorn and cucurbits. will ask DH very nicely to continue to make the beds and also to say where he is thinking the strawbs will go!