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 .

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.

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!