This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[citygirl]

i have to go down later and survey the possible devastation the rain and winds may have brought to my teeny little plants :| but at least i managed to plant me pumpkins out t'other day... hope they're still there and they've not been slimed

 

[LilMissHissyFit]

My peas have started to emerge so Ive put some netting up and some canes for it to grow up. The courgettes, french beans and something else ( I forgot what) is sprouting in the seed trays.

I must get the onions in this week while the weathers good

 

[BettyBlue]

Planting my beans, salad and kale out today, and some more red onions

 

[gentlegreen]

I've been trying to do justice to my home-grown bamboo bean structure, Ray Mears-stylie. My ropework leaves a lot to be desired. It would help if I had something chunkier than doubled-up green string.

Photo to follow once I've got all the verticals cut to size and lashed.

You can see it through the end of the greenhouse which is getting close to going into production-mode.

 

[Melinda]

That looks beautiful! Very lush and verdant.

Has most of that been grown under lamp GG?

Can you annotate your pic?

 

[citygirl]

look what i brought back from the lottment!!


good ol' yorkshire roobarb



Having just weighed it, it's 4lb 7oz without the leaves and inc the carrier bag i'm well chuffed.. gunna make the biggestest crumble you've ever seen tomorrow

 

[Melinda]

What a haul!

*applauds*


We're being battered by high winds and my fruit trees are suffering.
All the raised expectations from the fabulous blossom period have been wrecked.

The ground in my garden is carpeted in almost fully formed morello cherries.

 

[citygirl]

What a haul!

*applauds*


We're being battered by high winds and my fruit trees are suffering.
All the raised expectations from the fabulous blossom period have been wrecked.

The ground in my garden is carpeted in almost fully formed morello cherries.

Aww Thanks hun I just made the most delish looking crumble to have after tea, made with museli, melted butter and honey instead of the traditional way I shall let you know how it tastes.. and there was enough rhubarb for two lots (3 1/2lbs washed and cut ) so i've washed, prepared and frozen half of it to use again next time... which, going by this one might not be too far away


Sorry to hear about your fruit trees though chick

 

[gentlegreen]

Made some progress with my "desert island" and it looks like I have room for all "three sisters" - so I will start some more sweet corn.

The bean structure would probably not pass Ray's high standards due to the green string, (and the fact that I stood on a stepladder and trimmed the canes with a hacksaw, and spent ages on the aesthetics )- but I'm going to look out for some nice plain sisal to replace it.
I'm sure he would appreciate the double bracing though - I may add some more in the front-back direction - since I'm not exactly short of bamboo.

The whole "island" has a lot of old compost in it, but because of the proximity of the bamboo, I scooped out a deep groove and shoved in some old compost that had been lying around for 8 years, plus a good few handfuls of Aldi's best organic fertiliser. I'm arranging for the greenhouse to drain directly into the area.

It will be "Armstrong" runner beans at one end and "Blue Lake" French beans at the other. Hopefully I'll have decided by the time I sow them tomorrow evening.

 

[gentlegreen]

We're being battered by high winds and my fruit trees are suffering.
All the raised expectations from the fabulous blossom period have been wrecked.
The ground in my garden is carpeted in almost fully formed morello cherries.

I had a tremendous gust yesterday that sent a potted bamboo over - luckily not in a direction that did any damage.

Are there any cherries left on the tree ?

Sounds extreme, but maybe there were more cherries than the tree could cope with - as with the "June drop" you get with apples. I once had a small and somewhet poorly James Grieve in my garden that would drop a percentage of even very few fruit...

 

[gentlegreen]

That looks beautiful! Very lush and verdant.

Has most of that been grown under lamp GG?

Can you annotate your pic?

I'll see if I can hack something together.

It's about 70 percent indoor raised (plus a week or so in the greenhouse), and 30 percent ornamentals raised from corms and tubers I planted over Easter

I have sown nothing outdoors or in the greenhouse so far this year. The Beans will be the first - and the beetroot and carrots in the salad bed once I get a proper cover sorted out.

At the moment my cupboard has the best part of 90 plants in it and I suppose I'm taking 15 plants outdoors every week. There are a lot of ornamentals - nicotiana, heliotrope, verbena bonariensis, and I'm raising caulis and corn for my brother.

Hopefully next year I will be better organised and get stuff sown and out sooner, but I started late. I sowed my Tomatoes, peppers and Aubergines on the 2nd of April.

 

[pennimania]

I'll see if I can hack something together.

It's about 70 percent indoor raised (plus a week or so in the greenhouse), and 30 percent ornamentals raised from corms and tubers I planted over Easter

I have sown nothing outdoors or in the greenhouse so far this year. The Beans will be the first - and the beetroot and carrots in the salad bed once I get a proper cover sorted out.

At the moment my cupboard has the best part of 90 plants in it and I suppose I'm taking 15 plants outdoors every week. There are a lot of ornamentals - nicotiana, heliotrope, verbena bonariensis, and I'm raising caulis and corn for my brother.

Hopefully next year I will be better organised and get stuff sown and out sooner, but I started late. I sowed my Tomatoes, peppers and Aubergines on the 2nd of April.

It gets to be hard work planting out ornamentals doesn't it?

i've raised lots of nicotiana, amaranthus,cosmos, opium poppies and atriplex, planted out loads yesterday but still more kicking their heels in the polytunnel. Must sort it out very soon.

 

[gentlegreen]

nicotiana, amaranthus, atriplex,

What sort of nicotiana ?

I've just found some seedlings in a recently prepared bed. I've potted them up to see what they turn into. If it's nicotiana affinis I will be surprised enough because it was 8 years ago that I last grew it. If it's n. sylvestrisI will be flabbergasted because it was probably more than 12 years ago when I grew a row of huge scary, sticky plants that grew so spectacularly from dust-like seed.

I very nearly bought a pack of amaranth seeds the other week with the idea of growing a specimen plant in the middle of my ornamental kitchen garden - to go with the chard .. torn between the purely ornamental versions and the calaloo I just bought my first can of - to my shame I've lived in a multi-ethnic part of town and have only just had my first attempt at akee and saltfish ...

And atriplex ... another spinachy thing ...

And alongside the freebie bronze fennel and tobacco and suspected hops - some verbena bonariensis - which I would not have recognised had I not recently bought a packet of seeds.

I nearly always pull up the evening primrose these days. When I first grew it 25 years ago, it actually had scent. It's now growing up and down the street.

 

[pennimania]

I'm not quite sure what exact sort it is.

I try to grow things that do well up here - this grew enormous and lasted till November - smells divine - does have a sticky quality. Very easy tomgrow from seed. I like the lime green ones best.

The atriplex hortensis is supposed to get really tall - I have a LOT of space so I'm growing things in big patches.The amaranthus is good for this too -grows huge quickly.

i also put in lots of pansies which I started from seed, and teasels for the goldfinches. With so much space I have to grow them myself mostly - too dear otherwise.

On another note - I was wondering if last year's hard winter has actually benefitted some plants. Never seen so many blossoms on my roses, lupins positively burgeoning as is aquilegia.

 

[fogbat]

Right then.

Butternut squashes replanted into the biggest tubs I could find, with 1 part manure to 2 parts multipurpose compost. I also scattered a good layer of manure over the rest of the plants, too. Hopefully they'll appreciate the feed.

Spent nearly £50 on big pots, compost, and manure
These squashes had better be worth it

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm hoping the rough bit at the end will actually be clear enough before my squashes are past planting.

I suppose even the £400 greenhouse I bought around '95 will pay for itself eventually.

But homegrown food is good for the soul.

 

[fogbat]

Yeah, I know, you're right

I'm really just sulking at the cost of the pots - 7.99 for just one big pot

 

[pennimania]

Yeah, I know, you're right

I'm really just sulking at the cost of the pots - 7.99 for just one big pot

but once you've got them you can use them again and again

I 've got some that I literally inherited from my uncle - god knows how old they are

and i also use old fish boxes with the bottoms drilled out for my raised beds.

 

[cesare]

penni, do you have enough room for angelica? I grew some once in a relatively small garden I had an angelica forest

We had to fight through the angelica to get to the potatoes. I dunno why I thought it was a small plant ... perhaps cos of the small candied stems in little tubs

 

[pennimania]

penni, do you have enough room for angelica? I grew some once in a relatively small garden I had an angelica forest

We had to fight through the angelica to get to the potatoes. I dunno why I thought it was a small plant ... perhaps cos of the small candied stems in little tubs

I might try that - my garden is huge and mostly uncultivated or covered with large clumps of fuschia and rosa rugosa.

It has to be tough here tho, we get a lot of gales and seaspray.

 

[gentlegreen]

I actually once grew an angelica because I'd seen an enormous one at the Malvern show.

I generally speaking go for big plants.

It was going to be Giant Hogweed - the umbels are like champagne glasses - I even harvested some seeds in the wild and germinated them...

I eventually boiled a lot of it up in syrup, but I could never tell whether the white fuzzy stuff was sugar or mould. It certainly tasted funny - still got it in the kitchen 8 years on ...

 

[bingiman]

I want flowers this year. Lots of flowers.

I have got a lovely herb patch and I can grow salad in the other raised bed and the borders are a mix of shrubs and annuals.

This year I am experimenting with a mix of climbing nasturtium, morning glory and sweet peas over the fences.

I love sweet peas but am never around to pick them; so they go away.

If anyone knows of a fast blooming sweet pea I would be interested.

Basically I have run out of room and flowers are good at filling in the gaps.

I love flowers.

But I told you that already.

 

[gentlegreen]

You can get dwarf ones ... or I would imagine they might flower sooner if you pinched them out earlier ...

Or maybe be cruel to the plants so they go to seed ...

 

[gentlegreen]

I'm aiming to have something blooming and something smelling nice all through the year - as well as something edible.

My ultimate flowering plant is brugmansia (datura) - but it'll be flowering too late for you and they take a lot of watering in containers (they have to go indoors for the winter.)
To compliment that, nicotiana affinis - I reckon it's a beautiful flower as well as smelling nice.

At the moment I'm waiting for my pink to get its act together - only just coming into bloom.
I'm raising night-scented stocks and lavender and heliotrope for the summer months ...

I've even found a whole bunch of fragrant corms - a gladiolus, a "giant Peruvian daffodil".. ...

 

[cesare]

I might try that - my garden is huge and mostly uncultivated or covered with large clumps of fuschia and rosa rugosa.

It has to be tough here tho, we get a lot of gales and seaspray.

Ooo, maybe you could try and get hold of some seacoast angelica?

I actually once grew an angelica because I'd seen an enormous one at the Malvern show.

I generally speaking go for big plants.

It was going to be Giant Hogweed - the umbels are like champagne glasses - I even harvested some seeds in the wild and germinated them...

I eventually boiled a lot of it up in syrup, but I could never tell whether the white fuzzy stuff was sugar or mould. It certainly tasted funny - still got it in the kitchen 8 years on ...

I think I'd personally feel safer with eating angelica stems and seeds

 

[fogbat]

Updated photo of my roof garden, with squashes transferred to hulking great pots filled with compost + manure

 

[Melinda]

The gargantuan green pot- is that the new expensive one?

Next time, you could try a rubble sack with a few holes.


Whats the view from your roof like?

 

[fogbat]

The gargantuan green pot- is that the new expensive one?

Next time, you could try a rubble sack with a few holes.


Whats the view from your roof like?

The gargantuan green pot, and also the garganutan black pot, and one of the gargantuan brown pots £7.99 each, though

In the end the rubble sack seemed like overkill, tbh. I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future, though.

The view from the roof is largely a view of other flats / houses, and of a weird garden / warehouse / housing thing that I believe has some sort of connection to Anthony Gormley.

 

[gentlegreen]

Ooo, maybe you could try and get hold of some seacoast angelica?

Alexanders.

Hugh F-W rates it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexanders

 

[zenie]

£7.99 for a plastic pot fogbat? 'kin ell!