Friday 14 September 2012

14th September 2012

The summer is just about over and the harvesting has been taking place for a fair few months. I have been getting courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, for a while now and they are beginning to show signs of either blight or are getting stringy. With children back in school and the weather a bit dodgy I have taken it upon myself to be the chutney queen this year, trying out lots of different recipes and phoning up friends to ask how they did a particular recipe.
Jobs to do: 1. Harvest all you can, if you have too many beans, you can par boil them then freeze them. As for the tomatoes and courgettes I usually make a ratatouille and then bottle them as a winter vegetable.
2. Of course do the odd bit of weeding, but in the vegetable patch I would just enjoy the crops to the end.
3. Watch out for the caterpillars on your brassicas, go and check them every day and pinch off any that you see eating your greens. I also still use slug pellets, they seem to love the tips of my courgettes and my lettuce.
4. Leaf clearing can drag on for a few months, but just keep sweeping regularly putting the leaves onto your compost heap. Leaf compost is full of goodness. You could even try stuffing them into specially designed leaf composting jute bags, I then put the bags onto my beds and let them decompose.

So today I would like to share with you a Beetroot and Orange Chutney Recipe, delicious in a cheese or jam sandwich.
1 kilo beetroot, trimmed, peeled and diced
2 large onions
3 large apples grated, you can keep the skins but not the cores Zest and juice from 3 oranges
1 tbsp mustard seeds
½ tbsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp ground cloves
½ tbsp ground cinnamon
400ml red wine vinegar
425g sugar

Throw all the ingredients into a pan and simmer for about 1 hour until everything has gone soft. Put it into warmed jars whilst it’s still hot and close the lids quickly to create a vacuum.

Thursday 9 August 2012

7th August 2012

August is a time to reap in your harvests, this is sort of true with me and sort of not as this has not been a very good year for me, my vegetables were swimming in water for about a month and this meant that although some of my plants have survived, a lot didnt.
I have learnt two things here. One, is to raise my beds next year and the other is to realise what I can still sow and get into the beds now. Luckily I had lots of little seedlings growing for a 2nd or 3rd batch already coming along so all was not lost. I have been quite shocked to find that other people werent as badly affected as me from the bad weather and their gardens are doing very well. Anyhow, jobs. 1. Sow more lettuce, radishes, rocket, spinach..... 2. Plant out any more seedlings that are ready such as salads and peas, broad beans.... 3. Harvest everything you can, if you have too much of something either share it with friends, freeze, bottle or make jams and chutneys with it. Harvest any tomatoes or peppers that are ripe. 4. Remember to water the greenhouse regularly. 5. Try to keep order in the vegetable patch, weed and mow.

Thursday 5 July 2012

5th July Don't worry keep going!

Going outside today determined to have a look at and a weed of my vegetable patch, I found that some things were actually doing OK. The courgettes will be ready for picking in a day or two. The garlic that I thought would rot in the ground actually looks alright, I had forgotten to pull it up as one should on mid summers day.
My cherry tomatoes have a few green tomatoes coming through, the plants themselves look abominable. Having not looked for a while I also found some strawberries that are ripe. My purple sprouting broccoli although slightly slug eaten seems to be loving the wet. What surprises for a soggy garden. Jobs: Go out and check everything – as it is wet the slugs are out with a vengeance. Put slug traps/pellets etc down. Weed in between rows. Cut borders with long scissors. Tidy things up, so that you can tell what’s what. Plant out any lettuces, rocket, peas, beans or other plants that you have ready to be planted. There is still time for sowing seeds, like broad beans or peas. If your first lot didn’t work perhaps the next lot will. Harvest all the time, courgettes, peas, broad beans, strawberries, redcurrants, gooseberries. Harvest whatever you can before the slugs or birds get at them. Cover and protect any fruit that you can with netting, cages or birdscare. This is vital as once a bird discovers some lovely looking redcurrants it only takes a day or two for them to disappear.

Friday 15 June 2012

12th June 2012

This is not how it is supposed to be, it is raining AGAIN! And the forecast is not particularly pleasant either. So we must keep calm and carry on! There will be nice days and if we put the hard wet work in now it will pay off, I have been planting like mad – still, and weeding like mad. There is so much to do, lawns to mow, edges to trim, hedges to cut. The secret I believe is to set yourself tasks that are not too long, 20 minutes on each thing, it is much more enjoyable and you get a variety of results. Jobs to do: 1. Mow all lawns, this always makes you feel better. You just need to wait for a dry moment. 2. Sow more seeds – don’t give up yet, we still have many more months of the summer. Sow lettuce, rocket, carrots, beans. 3. Plant out any plants that are ready, tomatoes, peas, beans, salads. 4. If your carrots and beetroot is coming up they may need to be ‘thinned’, this means pulling up any little seedlings that are too close to each other to allow the carrots or beetroot enough space to grow into something edible. 5. Weed around you strawberry plants and ft the ground is wet add some straw under the flowers\unripe strawberries so that they don’t go mouldy. Your courgettes should be starting to grow now too make sure they are also weed free. I am a strong believer in a ‘Haxnicks’ product called the ‘speed hoe’ this is an excellent tool for weeding in between your rows of vegetables. 6. Watch out for the slugs. Just be wary.

Thursday 24 May 2012

24th May 2012

It’s all very exciting, everything has started growing like mad – including the weeds! So really you could be spending a lot of time outside enjoying the garden, weeding the flower beds and planting out all sorts of exciting things. You shouldn’t need to water your vegetable patch unless we have a heat wave. Do not overwater. Jobs 1. Empty greenhouse, start to take most things out of the greenhouse as it will get too hot in there. Plants like tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, peppers, chilli’s and aubergines can all stay in there as they love the heat. Don’t forget to water well. 2. Plant out all kinds of beans, sweet peas, peas, courgettes, tomatoes, lettuces.... Make sure that you harden off the plants before actually planting them. When planted water well straight away. Some plants will benefit from still keeping the tunnels on such as tomatoes and strawberries.
3. Pinch out extra stems from tomatoes, pinch out broad bean tips. 4. Weed any beds that are getting out of control, try to keep on top of the weed situation. Don’t let your vegetables have to compete for energy from the ground. 5. Sow another batch of salads. If you are doing 2nd batches of beans or peas sow these too. Sow carrots.... 6. Harvest asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, and salads. 7. Get ready with some form of birdscare/netting for the soft fruit.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

16th May 2012

We have had such appalling weather over the past few weeks that many of us has abandoned the garden. But we are mid May and there are warm days on which to go out and garden in the sun, it is so good to get out and you will appreciate your efforts later in the summer. Jobs to do: 1.Plant out small plants such as runner beans, peas, lettuce, courgettes, squash’s, tomatoes...Don’t forget to harden off the plants first by leaving them in their pots in the place where they will be planted – cover with a cloche/tunnel if there is risk of frost.
Plant out companion plants such as marigolds and nasturtiums these deter insects. 2. Sow seeds directly in the ground such as carrots, beetroot, spinach.... Again if you have poly tunnel’s cover your seeds with them as they will a encourage faster and a more reliable growth. 3. Sow seeds in pots, more salady things like lettuce, rocket.... Sow sweet corn, 4. Weed gently where necessary, cut the lawn and keep the edges of the beds clear of weeds. Having a messy patch encourages slugs! 5. Weed around your strawberries as very soon you will be able to harvest the first of your crops, around the bases of the plants spread some straw to stop the fruit from getting mouldy/wet/soggy. 6. Lastly harvest – If your asparagus is older than two years, it can now be picked, rhubarb,
spinach and salads. If you are lucky you may have some strawberries too, but where I am I think it is still a little cold. Things are very slow to grow this year so far so don’t feel that you are doing anything wrong – It’s the weather!!!

Friday 20 April 2012

19th April National Gardening Week

For those of you who havent realised, it’s National Gardening Week. And what a week it is, I take my hat off to all those out there perservering in this changeable weather.
Jobs to Do.
1.Planting out – I have been trying to free up space in my green house so I have planted out my courgettes and tomatoes this week. But they definately need to be under a cloche of some kind as any sign of a frost and that will be the end of them. Also with this changeable weather they still need mollycoddling if they are going to survive.
2.Even though it is rainy outside you must not forget to water all the plants in the green house.
3.Keep sowing new seeds. Find out what your friends are growing and try to swap excess plants.


4.If you have spare cloches or tunnels place them over your strawberries as that will help them to fruit earlier and protect them from the birds.
5.If you have fruit trees such as pears that don’t produce very well – like me -you may like to pollinate them yourself by getting an artists paintbrush and dusting the blossom of one tree onto another. If this seems like too much hard work you can hang a bouquet of blossoms from one tree on a different tree, then the wind and the bees are more likely to do the work. Painting the blossom is quite fun with children.

Monday 2 April 2012

2nd April Potatoes Seeds and Water

The sun is still out , the sky is still blue, there’s not a cloud to spoil the view and there is still so much to do.
Jobs.
1.Plant potatoes in your patch or in potato bags, for some this is late but I always like to plant mine at the end of March. They should be planted roughly 30cm (12”)apart at about 10cm (4”) deep. I create a mound of earth to cover the tops. A) so I can see where my row is and b) so that they have time to grow a bit so that the last of the frosts dont nip their leaves when they poke out.


2.Sow more seeds either straight into the earth, such as carrots, spinach, nasturtiums, peas, rocket.. Or sow seeds that are more delicate such as courgettes and climbing or dwarf beans, into rootrainers or seed trays and leave them on a sunny windowsill or in the greenhouse. If you are sowing some of the larger seeds inside beware of the mice!
3.Some of the seeds that you may have sown over the past couple of months may be large enough to transplant. It is good to transplant them into a bigger pot rather than leave them in seed trays as they get bigger more quickly if you do. Keeping them in the seed tray stunts their growth after a while.


4. Neaten up your vegetable patch, trim and mow. Make sure the earth is fine and ready for planting, it makes all the difference being tidy, you can produce so much more.
5.Lastly, I have been thinking about saving water and am going to rig up a hand pump, hose and water but under my bathroom window. So that I can use all the bathwater from our house for watering plants etc.

Monday 26 March 2012

26th March and there is so much to do

The sun is out , the sky is blue, there’s not a cloud to spoil the view, it’s time to get going there’s so much to do!
Jobs.
1.Rotivate. Feel the motivation and do the rotivation, the softer and smaller your soil the better your plants will grow in it, especially if you are planting seeds in directly. Make it easy for them.


2.Sow. Sow seeds like mad, there are so many to be had! Choose what you have space for, don’t go too wild, but if you do like me you can always swap them with friends or give them away to inferior gardeners. I planted out in rootrainers some globe artichokes and now have a very successful crop of around 30 plants, where am I going to find a space for 20 of those, each one grows into a sort of bush and if I remember correctly they need at leat 1m sq each!


3.Pruning . All roses could do with a prune, cut back each bush by about a third, take it to the shape that you would like it, cut just above a bud. Roses can be very hardy shrubs, you can hardly go wrong, I once used a chain saw to prune as an experiment, it was quick and easy and had great results. (Don’t tell the Royal Horticultural Society.)
4. Planting out. Be wary of what you plant out there are still frosts, if you are going to plant out your vegetables, use poly tunnels or cloches. Some plants are hardy, you can plant out peas, sweet peas, strawberries and rhubarb plants. Be safe rather than sorry. Use cloches. The best cloches are available from haxnicks.co.uk .

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Is the 21st March the Official First Day of Spring?



Spring is definitely here, the daffodils, hyacinths and tulips are in full flow. The smell of freshly cut lawn is telling us to do the same and it is dry enough to do so. So out we must go.
Job list
1.Put manure on the vegetable patch if you haven’t already done so.
Put manure onto the bases of your young trees. Don’t forget that the manure must have be well rotted.
2.If you have a fig tree now is the time to prune it. The fruit for this year at the moment are little pea sized things so don’t cut the branches off that have these on. Cut any dead, damaged or diseased branches. Cut any shoots that are coming from the base of the tree.
3.Carry on sowing seeds, this goes on for months, I sow about 3-4 packets a week at the moment. Seed trays and rootrainers are all over the windowsills of my house and in the greenhouse. In about another months time I shall be able to start planting things straight out into the garden. This can be done earlier if you have tunnels or some sort of frost protection.
4.Some plants such as the tomatoes can already be moved from their seed trays into individual pots, this will enable them to grow bigger sooner. ‘Move them on’ At the moment it is all a question of juggling space until it gets warmer and the last of the frosts have been.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Things are Beginning to Happen in the Garden - 12th March

Here in Dorset we have just had a glorious weekend and doing any kind of gardening meant having a purpose to be outside fiddling about.
Lawn mowing season has just about arrived, so neatening up the garden is now possible. This always makes the garden look as though it has been hoovered!
Job List
1. Sow more seeds, lettuces and rocket can now be sown every other week, only about 15 seeds at a time, the packets contain hundreds, don’t use them all up at once! This is called ‘staggered’ sowing. Sow flower seeds, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers – we are holding a family competition on who can grow the tallest and best – lupines, delphiniums, aquilegia’s – these cost a fortune in garden centres and don’t take long to grow at all, I also find them easy to grow.
Sow peas and beans, this may seem a little early, but I am going to have two batches, you can wait a few more weeks for these.
2.Transplant your broad beans out into the vegetable patch, but only if you have a small poly tunnel in which to cover them with, a frost could kill them. If you sowed sweet peas last Autumn they should be also ready to be planted out, try to keep these covered too with maybe some kind of cloche or solar bell. If your tomatoes are large enough, you may feel that they are ready to be transplanted from their seed trays into larger pots and put into a greenhouse/on windowsills. Mine are getting large and leggy, so I will, Use ordinary compost with a 1/8th mix of sand to help with retaining water.
3. Dig or rotavate beds to get ready for planting out your potatoes.

Spring is Here - 2nd March

March is upon us, there are jobs in the vegetable garden that need doing and the weather this week has been glorious. So, no excuses.
Jobs List
1. Sow seeds and plant out whatever you want for this year.
Indoors: Asparagus Aubergines Brussels Sprouts Celery
Cucumbers Cabbages Chilli’s Cauliflowers
Fennel Kale Leeks Melons
Marigolds Nasturtiums Tomatoes
Outdoors: Asparagus (crowns) Lettuces Onions (sets) Parsnips Spinach Rhubarb (crowns)
I generally plant everything into seed trays or in rootrainers leaving them in the greenhouse or on windowsills, later on re-potting the plants or planting them straight out, rather that sowing seeds directly into the ground. This means that I know what I have planted out and where.
2. Cover perennials (plants that come up year after year), such as strawberries, cover your lettuce, spinach and anything else that you have growing with mini poly tunnels or cloches. This will give them an extra boost to grow faster and better. Cover where you are to plant your potatoes with either a fleece of tunnel to warm up the earth ready to plant them out at the end of March.
3. Rhubarb, if you have a rhubarb forcer now is the time to use it!
4. Potatoes, these should be placed in a light airy place chitting. This means letting the roots begin to grow.
5. Dig or rotavate the beds in preparation for planting out.

February 24th 2012

What You Should Have Done Last Week in your Garden – Or NOW
Everything is still a little slow in growing at the moment but I am hoping that you have sown some seeds already such as broad beans, tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, cabbages, cauliflowers, onions, leeks, lettuces and of course sweet peas. It’s not too late but the sooner you sow them the sooner they will bear fruit – so to speak.
Your potatoes should be in a light airy place chitting (sprouting shoots), I have put all mine into egg boxes standing like soldiers. So far they have been there for three weeks and there has not been much change.
Don’t forget to keep all your little seedlings damp, they shouldn’t need too much watering as there hasn’t been much sun to dry them up. Over the next three weeks you will see a big change.
I haven’t been out digging yet as the ground is still wet. The blossom on my plum tree has not yet flowered although it usually does in the beginning of February.
So all quiet in the garden really.


12th January 2012

What You Should Have Done Last Week in your Garden – Or NOW
From glorious weather to weather that you can hardly stand up in because the wind has boon blowing so hard, these two extremes are a complete sample of winter life. This last week has I have found that I have only been outside to do the bare necessities and that I have opted for the kitchen.
Here is a recipe for some of the remaining apples, yes I still have some under the apple trees that I can cook with.

Apple Biscuits
These biscuits are delicious at tea time with a nice cup of tea or you can use them to jazz up a bowl of ice cream.
6oz 175g butter – soft is better
3oz 75g caster sugar
3oz 75g light brown sugar
1 egg – large
½ tsp vanilla essence
8oz 225g plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cooking apples

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes Makes 20 biscuits

1. Turn the oven on to 150°C, 300°F, Gas mark 2 (low - medium sort of heat).
2. Grease a baking sheet or two with butter.
3. Put the butter and all the sugar into an electric mixer or bowl if doing it by hand and beat until soft and creamy.
4. Slowly add the egg and vanilla essence.
5. When this is mixed in add the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon.
6. Peel the apples, and then grate them with a cheese grater.
7. With your hands squeeze the juice out of the grated apples. When you have done this add the apple and the oats to the mixture.
8. Mix it all in then, roll the slightly sloppy dough into large balls, flatten them and place them quite far apart onto the baking sheets. 6-8 per sheet.
9. Put in the oven for between 15-20 minutes, until the biscuits are a golden colour. Leave them on the trays for about 5 minutes and then put them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

January 11th 2012

January 11th 2012
What You Should Have Done Last Week in your Garden – Or NOW
This weather has been so glorious that there is no excuse – for anyone not working - not to be out there in the sunshine doing jobs, planning things and moving on with the New Year.
Get your compost out and start sowing whatever you dare. I would suggest that you can now sow some varieties of tomatoes, sweet peas and broad beans. Sow the tomatoes into shallow seed trays and the broad beans and sweet peas into something deeper like rootrainers.
Cover them both with some kind of frost protection, I often bring mine inside and put them onto a windowsill, but a greenhouse if you have one will do the trick.
Now for the manure. Manure must be over six months old before you use it in the garden otherwise it is too powerful and can kill or damage plants. I put manure over my vegetable patch and just leave it there, except where the root vegetables go such as potatoes, carrots etc. I also put manure at the base of young trees, roses and just about everywhere to give it all an extra natural feed. If you don’t have manure yourself you can get it from local farmers, livery yards or garden centres.
Lastly there has been so much wind that I have constantly been doing a twig clear up and fixing fallen fences. Now is a good time just to tidy up generally. The fresh air is so good for you!