This week in your Kitchen Garden.

[mr steev]

It was more the currants I was thinking of (and raspberries to a certain extent). You're right that they don't seem to be that bothered about blackberries though. When the currants are ripe the whole bush is covered in little jewels - it must be one big advert to birds

 

[geminisnake]

I will maybe make a chickenwire frame type thing then coz I want some of my own fruit!!

 

[mr steev]

I will maybe make a chickenwire frame type thing then coz I want some of my own fruit!!

I would. Make sure you make it big enough so that they can't just perch on the wire and pick through the gaps though!

I remember a couple of years ago, the fruit on our bushes was looking great. I thought I'd just leave them for a few more days to properly ripen and had plans to make loads of jam and even some wine. I came back a couple of days later to see a few remaining fruit and loads of barren stalks

 

[Melinda]

Cleome (tall, for the back of borders)
Himilayan Blue poppy (perennial)
Schizanthus (to dot around the garden)
Sweet pea (for container/hanging baskets)
Marigold (good for amongst the veg)
Nasturtium (for the hanging baskets)
Rudbeckia (again, tall, for back of the veg plot)
Petunia (hanging baskets)
Coleus (for colourful foliage)
Lobelia (for containers/hanging baskets)

I've also got a sunflower selection pack with some interesting varieties, including one that looks like a pompom (no black middle and very fine petals), and a great looking red variety

I have a packet of 'gardener's gamble' from the garden museum which is a mixture of tall, short, annuals and perennials, suck it and see for the front garden.

Veg I'm hoping to get in this year: Cucumbers, runner beans, courgettes, chillis, tomatoes, beetroot, chantenay carrots and I'm gonna try some potatoes for the first time this year, plus some lettuces, rocket, basil, coriander and some spinach if I can fit it in.

I intend to plant mixed beds of flowers and vegetables to keep it pretty. Pics before and during will be forthcoming.

Just wow! Wow to size of your ambition and the wow for the amount of work you're taking on!
Your garden is going to look splendid! (Apart from the coleus which freaks me out!)

I did the veg/ flower mix thing last year and loved the outcome.

 

[Melinda]

39thStep and Mr Steev, my parsnips were fine! Thank you x

Found some potatoes too- Id cut the tops off planning to dig them up but failed to do so before I left for the winter.

 

[invisibleplanet]

<thinking aloud>I'm going to need a lot of canes for the bean bed. A bundle at least (30). One for every bean planted.

 

[The39thStep]

39thStep and Mr Steev, my parsnips were fine! Thank you x

Found some potatoes too- Id cut the tops off planning to dig them up but failed to do so before I left for the winter.

One of the more pleasant surprises in life is finding an undug spud

have you ordered/bought your seed potatoes for this year?

 

[Melinda]

I'll pop along to Phoebes (a lovely local garden centre) and pick a few bags up there. I fancy trying that fir apple variety that aqua (?) was talking about last spring. Also, Ive saved a couple of supermarket spuds to chit as well.

Quick question: can I grow sweet potatoes?

---
Half the hard landscaping work I was planning on doing last summer is still on my to-do list.

There is a large raised bed with large, ancient roses which would be great for veg.
Im trying to pull together the courage to grub them up. It'd be vandalism though...

 

[tarannau]

Had a little trip down to the allotment this weekend, mainly keeping on top of the weeding and laying down a few spuds.

And the second batch of chillies is going ok - about two weeks growth for the majority of cells, so just approaching first true leaves. Have remembered to water them appropriately this time around, so more hopeful they'll continue to flourish. There should be about 30 workable plants of about 12 types once they're ready to pot on

 

[The39thStep]

I'll pop along to Phoebes (a lovely local garden centre) and pick a few bags up there. I fancy trying that fir apple variety that aqua (?) was talking about last spring. Also, Ive saved a couple of supermarket spuds to chit as well.

Quick question: can I grow sweet potatoes?

---
Half the hard landscaping work I was planning on doing last summer is still on my to-do list.

There is a large raised bed with large, ancient roses which would be great for veg.
Im trying to pull together the courage to grub them up. It'd be vandalism though...

Pink Fir apple are really great tasters but they are lates and as such are succeptable to blight. They are also quite slug prone. i think they are best grown in tubs. Allernatives: Belle de Fontenay, Roseval,Anya but my favouite is Charlotte. They are all waxy sald potatoes with a nutty/chestnutty taste.

You can grow sweet potatoes but they are a really long growing season , do better under polythene and don't know where you are but they need some warmth. The returns outside a re disappointing. if you want to have a go then you buy them as 'slips'.

You could grow some nutty sweet squashes instead. I have some Red Kuri squash seeds if you want some:

 

[sheothebudworths]

BACK OUT IN THE GARDEN!

Weeded the strawberry bed and put up the net tunnel over it to try and stop the NAUGHTY FOX digging it all up
Weeded the whole veg patch, and cut back the raspberry canes....THEN turned out all the compost from one of my bins into trenches in half the bed and shoved a load over my really VERY pathetic looking PSB (which has tiny, tiny, tiny signs of actually producing any PSB....let's just say that if I get any, it's going to be VERY SMALL ) and the peach and pear tree....found FIVE parsnips I'd missed too!

Covered the newly dug bit with a tarp to stop the cats shitting all over it 'Oh LOOOOOK - she's made us a nice new TOILET! '...the little CUNTS!

I'm knackered but had a FAB day - sun was shining an all! My bezzer's coming over on Sunday* for a whole day of gardening and I can't wait to crack on now!













*It'll probably rain, tbf :-/

 

[invisibleplanet]

I dreamt we planted seeds last night, so many that the entire kitchen side, table, and lounge floor were full of seed trays/pots

 

[invisibleplanet]

Starting this weekend, I'm going to sow seeds (directly in the garden) for broad beans, carrots, beetroot, salad (japanese bunching) onions, rocket, and radish.

I am officially full of the joys of spring, but want to get this done as the equinox is up-and-coming and the weather always gets very blustery either side of it, which is not so pleasant for the planter-of-seeds.

 

[tendril]

Starting this weekend, I'm going to sow seeds (directly in the garden) for broad beans, carrots, beetroot, salad (japanese bunching) onions, rocket, and radish.

I am officially full of the joys of spring, but want to get this done as the equinox is up-and-coming and the weather always gets very blustery either side of it, which is not so pleasant for the planter-of-seeds.

May be a bit early to sow outdoors if you're in the uk, still a chance of frost

 

[invisibleplanet]

May be a bit early to sow outdoors if you're in the uk, still a chance of frost

I'll take that risk. Now's the time. I'm expecting rain after the next two weeks. I know the local weather system quite well and the curlews have flown to higher ground.

Sow seeds of the following crops outside or under cloches: carrots, beetroot, broad beans, salad onions, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, spinach, leeks, lettuce, rocket, coriander, mixed salad or stir fry leaves, radish, turnip, peas, lettuce and Swiss chard
http://www.gardenersworld.com/what-to-do-now/week10/checklist-fruitveg/

 

[invisibleplanet]

Off to the garden centre in around 15mins
I'm like a big kid, so excited, lol
It doesn't take much to make me happy
A box or two of blood & bone, some more seeds, and some potting compost will keep me amused for hours!

 

[fogbat]

I crumbled, and bought an electric propagator. Should hopefully get a better germination rate with the rest of my chilli seeds.

 

[The39thStep]

B&Q have a good offer on 10 plants including chillis and aubergines for £7.

 

[invisibleplanet]

I planted some chive seeds in a plastic skull (with no skullcap) this afternoon with my neighbour's son, George.
Brings back happy memories of younger-child rearing and some ace forensic anthropology lectures from my first year

 

[BoatieBird]

Finally got out the garden this weekend, and it feels so good
Planted peas, broad beans and spinach outside (I've been saving all my clear plastic bottles to act as cloches if we get frosts)

 

[sheothebudworths]

Doesn't it just, Boatie!

Had a great day with my bezzer yesterday - still not got round to planting any veg seeds etc but we had a very good tidy up, dug out a new flower bed and got all the bedding plants in round the lawn and in the raised bed....which also involved shifting a few of the existing ones around - lots of work!
Mowed the lawn, discussed the ongoing plans to keep the cats out ....this is THE LAST YEAR they will shit in my beds!

Still got to put the plastic greenhouse thing back up (although I might just get rid and get a big cold frame cos I'm sick of this one blowing over/the cover blowing off),have some wires to put into the walls for the two climbers and the walls/fences to make cat proof and THEN I get on with my seeds! It's beautiful today but apparently tomorrow is going to be good too so I'll defo get some more done then.

 

[geminisnake]

Lidl have gardening stuff in atm. I got some anti bird netting, 2 for £5. They had a lot of other stuff like fleece, seeds, tools etc.

 

[invisibleplanet]

May be a bit early to sow outdoors if you're in the uk, still a chance of frost

I only planted the chive seeds with my neighbour's son and other jobs took up most of my time outdoors.
I'm quietly glad I didn't plant any seeds yet, because we had frost this morning, and it's already frosty again tonight.

 

[sheothebudworths]

Yeah frosty this morning here too - I'm holding off on the seeds for a bit.

Another BEAUTIFUL day here today though so going to get back out and on with some more of the other jobs I have out there.

 

[Strumpet]

My neighbour could build me a large box thing (no lid) with tiers to do my planting in. Apparently, ANy thoits vey hard ground here and the earth doesnt go deep. Any thoughts?

 

[sheothebudworths]

You mean like a raised bed, Strumps?

If so then it sounds like an ideal solution!

I guess dig as low as you can - dig some compost in maybe - then stick the raised bed on top and fill that up with compost?

 

[sheothebudworths]

Plastic greenhouse is back up (I give it ooooooh....3 days till it's over again), lots of new wire up for the jasmine (a scary job - I'm not keen on banging nails into brick ) which I then tidied up, put the last of the sweetpeas in and a couple of aubretias in the front and.....tomato, aubergine and sweet pepper seeds sown!
Also did a small pot of salad leaves....supposedly for quick results but they never took the *3 weeks* promised last year, so I don't suppose there's any reason why they will THIS year either!

 

[sheothebudworths]

Strumps - had a read up about raised beds and you'd be good to go (raised beds can even go on a HARD surface) but let me know if that IS what the plan is cos I was WRONG about filling up *just* with compost (thought I might be! )....


Now - QUESTION! Last year I grew strawberries from seed - got a small crop and left the plants in, which are all looking reasonably healthy at the mo - but I've just read that I should have sheared the old leaves 'anytime after cropping' leaving just the new ones and the crown - well I did no such thing I had already removed any dead ones (like errrrr....last week) but should I do it (and/or something *else*) NOW? Or just leave them? Have I fucked it all up for this year?!

 

[invisibleplanet]

Best not to dig more than a spit (depth of your spade) deep.

If you want to find out where the pan is (a stratigraphic change of soil-type which looks like a completely different layer), then by all means dig a test pit. However, if you dig into or below the pan and this pan 'layer' becomes mixed with the soil you intend to plant in, you could severely damage your soil's ability to drain and you'll definitely affect it's fertility. Basically, don't mess with the pan layer unless you have severe drainage/compaction problems, and if you have those problems, seek expert advice or ask the oldest bloke on an allottment what to do (!).

The only time I ever interefered with the pan layer was on my allottment. It was riddled with bindweed, which used the top of pan to send out it's evil tendrils before pushing up through the topsoil. I had to remove the topsoil layer into a separate pile, then dig the pan to remove the bindweed network, then burn the fucking bindweed, and re-make the pan, before putting back the topsoil. What a geek! It was worth the effort though.

 

[tarannau]

The shared allotment's coming along after some hard digging, plus the first 'proper' batch (around 30 or more plugs) of chillis should be pretty much ready for repotting this weekend. Nagas, white habaneros, ajis, birds eye, serrano, jalapeno and a whole host of others to start the season. And two healthy wiri plants as well to boot. A further 16 or so plugs of wiris are just starting to sprout now. The only failures (so far at least) have been rocotos and purple venezuelans, which remain resolutely ungerminated after nearly a month

That should free up the propagator for a load more chillies and the first of the summer herbs to try and get a headstart. Need to get the herb plot in the last corner of the allotment ready, but I suspect frost will be with us for a little while yet. And then it's just the greenhouse to set up - have my eye on all sorts of self watering trays, pot systems and associated bits to make things a little easier to maintain. My fingers are still crossed for a great summer and plenty of heat.