The Vicarage Garden

What a beautiful day! Perfect for seed-sowing. So carrot (Early Nantes 2 and Amsterdam Forcing) have been sown in the raised beds along with spring onions (to deter carrot fly) and pak choi (under a cloche).

In a separate bed, which is too stoney for root veg, I’ve sown peas, making sure to put pea sticks in straight away to keep the pesky pigeons off.

Tomatoes seedlings are now up and putting out true leaves (not just seed leaves) as are a couple of chilli plants.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the garden, I’ve cut the grass and raked a fair bit of it with an ancient second hand Qualcast lawn rake. Each year I take it out of the shed and expect nothing, but each year I’m pleasantly surprised when it whirs away. Except this year it’s grinding away more than whirring, so perhaps it really is on its last legs. There’s plenty more raking to do, so we’ll see what happens.

No sign of the rose seed germinating, but they can take a long time, and it’s not easy keeping a steady temperature which, apparently, they need. Another experiment this year is some rhododendron seed. I’ve the perfect spot at the bottom of the garden for a very large tree rhodo, but they’re hard to find as small and reasonably cheap plants. So I gathered some seed and have sown it as suggested in chopped moss and vermiculite. I’m not expecting anything, really, but you never know…

It’s been a quiet winter and a very cold start to February, but today was not only  warm, it was my day off as well so it was time to set to in the garden.

Sarah cut the grass while I sowed tomato (Sweet Million, Ferline and Alicante),  chilli (Super Chilli), Leek (Porvite), basil (probably too early, but we’ll see) and Parsley. I find that John Innes compost alone tends to get compacted and very dense, so I use a mix of John Innes seed compost, multipurpose compost and vermiculite/perlite to add air. I sow one or two seeds per 3″ pots, and water with fresh water to reduce moss and algal growth. A propagator keeps the temperature between 15 &18C which, although slightly lower than recommended, has worked very nicely for many years. On very sunny days, the temperature can quickly rise above 25C, so I have to be ready to switch it off during the day and back on at night.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Leek Mussleburgh because many years ago when I was working as a physio in Peterborough, I had a patient who would at regular intervals cry out in a broad Scottish accent, ‘I want to go to Mussleburgh!’. So I remembered that dear old lady today as I sowed a row under a cloche.

I also sowed a couple of rose seeds given to me by a friend. Not something I’ve tried before, but I’m always up for a challenge. These were sown in vermiculite and put in the propagator.

The it was outside for other jobs. We cut back the autumn raspberries to the ground and then mulched them with compost. The rest of the compost heap was also emptied. The frost had got to a couple of large Echium pininana, so they were pulled out (I’ve got two in reserve in the greenhouse, so I’m not too bothered, and even less surprised). There were a couple of large pots of bulbs standing on the patio right next to the now bare border, so I sank them into the soil.

I inherited several clumps of Siberian iris that I”m now heartily fed up with. Over the last 8 years, I’ve divided and replanted them many times, but they need doing yet again. Cutting them back each year is a pain because the dead leaves are  too tough to pull and neither shears nor secateurs  cut cleanly through the thin, strap-like leaves. I wouldn’t mind if they flowered for a long period, but they don’t, and if they were easier to dig up I’d get rid of them all!

We all have them. Problem weeds.

Back in Elmdon (Cambridgeshire-Essex borders) it was cow parsley and bind weed. Here in Kent, it used to be wild strawberries, but years of weeding have largely eliminated them. Now it’s a little terror called oxalis corniculata.

The seeds come in compost – both John Innes and multipurpose, and now that it’s escaped into my veg plot, it’s proving very difficult to control.

In many ways, it’s a pretty little plant – red leaves which fade to green and yellow flowers – and it wouldn’t be worth bothering about in a mixed border because it would be insignificant beside larger shrubs and perennials, but in a veg plot where you want to germinate veg seeds, it not only looks unsightly, but, being more vigorous than many veg seedlings, outgrows and swamps them.  The problem is compounded by the way it scatters it’s seed: once ripe, the seed pod explodes and throws its seed far and wide.

So what to do? Well, I’m not a dogmatic organic gardener and I’m prepared to use appropriate weedkillers (e.g. glyphosate) when really necessary (e.g. on bind weed). But the slightest drift of a glyphosate spray will damage any plant it touches and since the oxalis is right next to and under the winter cabbages, it would be stupid to spray there (I’m also not too keen on eating glyphosate!). Since the seeds survive months spent inside a compost bag, I don’t think the old black plastic or old carpet coverings will work.

So for the last two days I’ve been patiently weeding it out, and am determined to keep on top of it and so prevent it setting seed this year. Time will tell…

Twice this week we’ve woken up to find a touch of ground frost, so I couldn’t put off sorting out the greenhouse any longer.
First job, get rid of the old tomato & cucumber plants, empty out everything else & clean the glass.
Then put up the bubble plastic. I hoped it would be ok for (yet) another year, but it really is so dirty and so many bubbles have burst that I’ll have to replace it. The trouble is, everyone seems to be stocking the small bubble wrap this year which is not only less effective at keeping the cold out because of the small air pockets, but is sold in narrow widths which means more joins and even less efficiency. So I try to track down the large bubble, 1.5m wide. Notcutts have it, but at £2.69 per metre, it’s really too expensive (I’ll need 12 metres). Online is a little cheaper, but I think I’ll have to rejoin the local allotment society and buy it from their stores!
Then there was the electrics to sort out. The old sockets are broken, so I’ll have to replace them. I won’t bore you with all the details of ip ratings, building control regulations etc., because it really is a bit of a bore! Nevertheless, I think I’ve sussed out a way of sorting it legally and safely.
Now the banana, echiums, cacti, orchids etc. should be safe for the winter. The dahlias, orange & ginger can follow in a bit later – they’ve always been ok with a touch of frost, though if the truth be known, I’m just putting off pruning the orange tree – the thorns are 2 inches long and really vicious!

Wow, what a day! 30 September and it’s 80F. With this late summer heat, growth has restarted in a number of plants (especially cucumbers, tomatoes) , and it’s given autumn sowings a flying start.

Broad beans, cabbage, lettuce and even late carrots are growing fast:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At last the hedychium has flowered. It’s not, perhaps, the most spectacular of flowers, but it is beautiful:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the bananas, sown earlier this year, are now growing at an incredible rate:

Keeping tender plants over winter is always a challenge, and one plant in particular has caused me headaches over the years – my ‘orange’ tree. I put it like that because, having planted it in 1969 (when I was 7!) I can’t remember whether it is an orange or a grapefruit (as mum thinks) or a satsuma or some other citrus. It’s been carted from Surrey to Norwich, London, Tunbridge Wells, Cambridge and back to Tunbridge Wells  – and even though we rarely had a greenhouse, I somehow managed to keep it alive.  The good news this year is that we’re going to have a glass porch built which should keep it a little warmer, and who knows, perhaps, after 42 years, it will flower… But don’t hold your breath!

 

 

 

I’ve never been very good at the successional planting thing. I know the experts say that you should be able to pick something from the garden all year round, but a) you have to remember to sow, b) I think they assume you have a polytunnel and c) I imagine that you have to like eating some fairly weird stuff!
I don’t have a polytunnel, but I do have some old cloches. They’re only wire and polythene sheet, but they’ve lasted more years that I can remember. Usually I just use them in the spring to warm the soil and keep the birds off, but I’ve just put them back on the raised beds to protect some lettuce seedlings and in the hope that carrots sown very late might just come through. Yes, I know most people say it’s too late for carrots, but one or two websites reckon it’s worth a try…
I’ve also ordered broad bean, ‘Aquadaluce’, and winter cabbage ‘Spring Hero’ (from Vegetable seeds.net, of course, and I’m hoping they’ll be delivered very quickly so that I can get them in soon). I’ve not tried growing cabbage before, but having just removed the leguminous peas & beans, it seems a shame not to use what should be nitrogen rich soil for some good old cabbage!
One of the great things about keeping this blog and being given vouchers for vegetableseeds.net is that you can give new things a go without losing anything!

The oddness of this season just keeps on going: one day it’s cold and wet, the next it’s hot and dry. To what extent it’s the weather that’s affected my crops is hard to say – I don’t keep all other things the same (e.g. compost, feed, planting & transplanting times etc.) – and I haven’t been growing veg for long enough to know what’s ‘normal’ (if, indeed, there is such a thing in England!).

As I’ve said in previous posts, results had been mixed, and that’s the only thing that remains constant. My carrots (flyaway and early nantes) are uniform in shape and are hardly touched by the dreaded fly, but they don’t have that wonderful deep carroty taste. Yes, they’re better than shop-bought, but not as good as previously.

I planted the Runner beans (desiree) in fairly deep shade (the only space I had left), and so they’ve been very late, but even I’ve enjoyed eating them though they’re not my favourite.

Courgettes, I’ve decided, don’t like being in pots despite what some people claim. Different composts, very large containers and good feeding simply hasn’t worked (again) so it’s back into the ground for them next year. There was an interesting article in the September RHS Garden magazine about different varieties of courgette (round, long & thin, yellow, pale green & all sorts besides) so I might something different.

I know you’re supposed to plant sweetcorn in a large block to aid germination and I thought 9 plants would suffice. It doesn’t. The cobs haven’t fertilised well, and so have few kernels (though they taste good!). So next year it will have to be a minimum of 12 plants.

Low night time temperatures are once again stopping the cucumbers from setting. But then it’s a bad year all round for my greenhouse tomatoes & cucumbers – the plants are smaller than ever before, and less productive. The up-side is that they do taste good!

The HAHA is the Hawkenbury Allotment Holder’s Association, and although I don’t have an allotment, I am a member, and yesterday saw the relaunch of their annual show.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s the show had become massive, raising thousands of pounds for charities. But then appalling weather and the recession saw falling numbers of visitors and sponsors. So the hugely ambitious show was scaled back, and brought into St Peter’s Church which proved to be a great venue. There was a  steady stream of visitors, and, although there weren’t that many entries this year (partly due to the bad weather), there was a great atmosphere. The show organiser made me promise to enter next year, so I’d better learn my lessons this year!

Now the temperature has started to climb again, the plants have also started to climb again. Cucumbers & courgettes that had stopped flowering have started again, and tomatoes have begun to put on fresh growth despite a grumbling blight infection (Ferline is supposed to be blight resistant, and hasn’t succumbed in previous years, but there are signs of it this year).

My great surprise this year has been the peas. I’ve never grown them before, but have been amazed at how many pods a few plants can produce – certainly worth growing again, especially as they’ll be fixing nitrogen for next year.

Earlier, I thought that the dry weather of May had ruined the blueberries, but they’ve swollen up nicely (especially those in the shade) and are starting to ripen.

In most households, it’s the husband who cuts the grass and the wife who does the plants. In our house it’s the other way round, so Sarah’s not enjoying this wet weather because the grass is growing furiously. I, on the other hand, am enjoying having lots of grass clippings to get the compost heaps really steaming. I have three heaps – one ready to empty, one maturing and one filling. The old coalbunker made the best container – no need to rebuild this every 10 years when it rots!

Non-vegetable successes have been the girls’ cacti which have flowered non-stop for weeks, and echiums which are growing at an astonishing rate. I’m hoping that, though they don’t usually flower in the first year, the hot weather earlier in the year may have got them off to such a good start that they’ll throw up their spectacular flower spikes.

Some of my dahlias have been flowering for a week – about a month or six weeks earlier than normal. I’m not sure what exactly they are, they came from a packet of mixed seeds, but they’re a bit like the infamous Bishop of Llandaff – single red flowers & dark foliage, whatever they are, if I keep deadheading and feeding, they may keep flowering for a full 5 months.

Meanwhile, the parsnip seeds I pre-germinated have finally started to push slowly through the soil. But the lettuces have run to seed extraordinarily quickly, presumably due to the rapid changes in temperature we’ve been having (the pak choi has done the same, but I gather this is normal). Now under the safety of a net, the curly kale has recovered from pigeon attacks, and is providing healthy suppers (kale is very high in vitamins A, K & C as well as other goodies!).

The recent rain seems to have encouraged the blackcurrants to swell up nicely, and they’ll need harvesting this weekend. Strawberries too have been in abundance and very good quality this year, partly, I suppose because the plants are now 3 years old and at their peak, but partly because the weather seems to have suited them. The only problem was a brief, but unpleasant, plague of snake spotted millipedes.

Unlike the dahlias, the sunflowers (Velvet Queen) were from what was supposed to be a uniform packet of seeds. Unfortunately, the plants are anything but uniform. They’re all in the same bed, within a few feet of each other, but one is 6′ high, with strong and healthy foliage, two are a foot shorter with weaker foliage, but still quite healthy. Three are 4′ high and really rather spindly,  and one is 3′ and pathetic!

A few years ago I took cuttings from a number of roses, and now the new plants are looking as good as their ‘parents’.  Whether they’ll suffer in years to come remains to be seen, but for now, I’m enjoying them!