[Dave K]

To follow on from the 2010 thread...

Well I imagine some of you grow winter vegetables ( I don't ) so how did the cold end to 2010 affect you?

Seed potatoes should be available now or very soon and I have some on order to start the chitting when they arrive.

I've got several jars full of dried chillies from the last two years so this year I am going to have a go at a couple of "extreme" heat varieties, fatalli and chocolate habanero. These are supposed to be very difficult to get to germinate and can take several weeks so I have put them in propogation trays today in the airing cupboard to see how it goes, despite being a bit early in the year. It's a bit of a risk if spring turns out to a cool and frosty as my unheated lean-to can get pretty cold even in May, when they should be too big for small pots indoors and ready for the last potting on plus needing the extra warmth/light. At least if germination is a 100% failure I still have time to try another batch or different varieties by March.

[John Mason]

I've got loads of good shallots left, runner beans in the freezer & spuds, but on the land the winter has taken a heavy toll this year. Friends and my parents are all reporting mature broccoli plants annihilated.  Mine never really got off the ground, which is a bummer - last March-May I was getting a good feed off the purple-sprouting every other day. But I'll try again this year - gambling that a December like that won't happen again for a while, though if Petroukhov & Seminov are correct, which remains to be seen, we shall have to focus on stuff that can be harvested & stored in early Autumn.

Cheers - John

[Dave K]

And there are some contrasts in rainfall too to cope with John, a dry but snowy December then the snow thaws followed by a short very wet spell and now looking like it could be dry for a while once more.

[John Mason]

Aye - I have 150 gallons of water but that might get exhausted this Spring!

But at the moment, the ground here is wet through.

Cheers - John

[scrapemedic]

See now you are making me feel guilty that I have hardly been to the allotment since november, but between work and christmas, snow and rain there has been few if any opportunities to go there. Did have some lovely brussels for christmas and the potoatoes were still coming out of the ground in a good condition. Had a few parsnips and carrots, and may yet still have one or two more. but one thing is for sure, there is a lot of work to do to catch up this spring. Heres hoping the next weeks anticylonic nothingness mean i get a chance to get started on it.

[Nigel Bolton]

Spinach is making something of a recovery after being almost decimated as it was buried in very deep snow for a week or more. May let it recover, or more than likely will pull up and plant some broad beans in its place.

N.

[Dave K]

Quote

scrapemedic - 21/1/2011 04:58 See now you are making me feel guilty that I have hardly been to the allotment since november, but between work and christmas, snow and rain there has been few if any opportunities to go there. Did have some lovely brussels for christmas and the potoatoes were still coming out of the ground in a good condition. Had a few parsnips and carrots, and may yet still have one or two more. but one thing is for sure, there is a lot of work to do to catch up this spring. Heres hoping the next weeks anticylonic nothingness mean i get a chance to get started on it.

No need to feel guilty Liz, I am certainly one of a probably large number who has done nothing in the garden for months. After the last mow of the lawn in early November  the cold, snow and ice followed by the deluge of the last 10 days - not at all tempting to go outside ( though I really should have dug up the clay a bit before the cold spell so the frost could get at it and break it up a bit ). At least the grass hasn't started growing again until the last few days.

[Dave K]

Received my seed potatoes today, International Kidney which I will try to grow as earlyish new potatoes (these are the same variety that are Jersey Royals except there are special conditions for those - being grown in Jersey not the least!). I'll be starting chitting tomorrow, around a month earlier than the King Edwards I grew last year - fingers crossed for a decent spring and early planting [hmmm]

[Dave K]

Three of the Chocolate Habanero chillies ( assuming they were correctly labelled ) have germinated over the last week, which is a good 2-3 weeks earlier than I thought possible. None of the Fatallis have come up yet. Now I have the problem of nursing the seedlings through the remainder of the winter with what little light and heat there is this time of year indoors. I have been warned to watch out for etiolation ( or as I called it before I discovered the word, being "pale and leggy"  8-) )

[Dave K]

This cold HP is at least bringing a good drying wind - and I hope some more sunshine - which brings promise that the soil and lawn will become less claggy soon, but still not quite right for doing very much outdoors apart from tidying up.

Some decent progress on the chillis with two of the Fatalii finally germinating to add to the three Chocolate Habaneros, struggling a bit to give them enough warmth and light but as they came up so early slow growth not a problem and they look healthy. Also sowed three Numex Twilight a tenday ago and they are rampant compared to the others, not needing so much cosseting.

Will be time to sow the tomato seeds indoors in another fortnight or so, potatoes chitting extremely slowly but fingers crossed that the weather will be right to plant them out in the container by the end of the month. A friend gave me an unwanted medium size container and I bought a good 10" x 14" terracotta pot so I shall have some fun deciding what to use those for.

[Nigel Bolton]

Have actually had some time today to do some serious gardening, in, by far the brightest sunshine of the year so far. All the beds having been dug deeply, manured, and limed, have been dug over, awaiting first veg. Gromore has been sprinkled over the surface.

Planted radishes and salad onions in troughs in sunny position, and tomato seeds have been set indoors.

How is everyone else doing?.

N.

 

[Dave K]

Well we do have this thread already http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=41265&posts=10&start=1

Haven't sown any toms yet, last year at this time I had already sown them but they were too big for indoors and flowering in early May before the weather was ready outdoors ( we don't have the mildness of the SW or UHI! ) so will hold off for another 7 -10 days. Potatoes still chitting, frost looking a bit less likely now so hoping to get the earlies in containers outside at the end of the month.  Chillis all doing quite well though its been hard to give them warmth and good light having started them so early.

Can't do much this year due to planned building work for the conservatory, so space has to be left for access plus the possibility of damage meaning plants in pots/containers needing to be moved somewhere safe (but very limited space and too shaded/cold).

[John Mason]

I'm taking the advice of the older gardeners around here, Nigel. "Let the soil warm up more", they are saying. Days like today with wall to wall sunshine are good though!

I lost my broccoli (very sorry about that) and chard to the severe frosts in December, but chives and garlic have come through very well, and my echinacea has shoots coming up, which is great!

Attached are a couple of shots. The boys have been cutting along the lines lately, so I was able to bring in wood-chip for the paths today, and the dry weather meant a creeping-buttercup-pyre was doable.

As the first shot shows, I've redone the bed-supports recently. Some friends had a horrid row of big Leylandii behind their house, spoiling the view. I agreed to drop them in return for the timber. Leylandii lasts for a very long time, so 18 trunks have proved very handy!

The second shot is garden #2. This is an experiment: ground utterly untouched for 15 years, so that digging it involved meticulously picking out the roots of bramble, bracken, couch and bindweed. Some spadefuls looked more like a chow-mein!!

Digging is now complete. I will take a lot of rotted manure, that I mucked from the lairage at our local small abbatoir a few months back, and lay it in 2-3 lines. Soil from the heap will be ridged over them, leaving a wide margin around the outer boundary to combat pernicious weeds that want to attempt the jump. Potatoes are the intended crop.

The third project I have is that a friend has asked me to "manage" her greenhouse this year, and I've also been promised space in someone's polytunnel which could prove useful.

Cheers - John

[Halo]

My rhubarb is coming nicely but that's the only thing so far. We've been working on building four raised beds and so far have nearly completed three of them. Only got to finish filling them with soil then they will be ready. A friend has said I could have as much pigeon muck as I want which is handy thinking ahead to next year also. Once done we can decide on what/where vegetables are going to be planted. I'm planning another bed for herbs or strawberries, not made my mind up yet. Will be busy in the coming week so fair weather is important.

[Nigel Bolton]

Quote

Big Dave's Gusset - 13/3/2011 17:47 Well we do have this thread already http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=41265&posts=10&start=1

Apologies Dave, for running roughshod.... Should have looked closer.

John, my grass has been growing at a phenomenal rate just recently, despite frosts last week. Is now cut.

Have only planted outside seeds in limestone troughs and not in garden soil yet, will probably leave that for another week at least.

Dave, I plant outdoor toms in large tubs, which I can then move around. Allows me to move from shade to sunshine as and when.

N.

[scrapemedic]

Well I have finished doing the spring tidy at the garden, just got to start on the allotment. The garden had gotten very dry so i have re-installed the watering system and given it a good servicing despite the risk of frost. Almost everything is awake in the garden, the only exceptions are the astilbe and the gladioli which is not unexpected. Got some lovely early colour from the spring bulbs and the aubrietia, pansys and wallflowers. The little woodland area which will get a make-over once spring is over is full of healthy growth and flowering pulmonaria.

The woodland patch does well at this time of year, it gets enough light and rain to thrive, but once the trees get going the rain fall drops and the area which is a little banked dries out too much. So the plan is to put some sleepers in the front to try and get it to retain water better.

Might have to water the main beds tomorrow whilst I am out on the ambulance as they really could do with a good soak. It is dry at the moment, a bit like last years pattern of snow, then a month of rain then long dry periods, only this year it is a month earlier which doesn't bode well for the later spring and early summer months which rely on winter rain.

Then next week on my days off it off to the allotment; got the potatoes chitting away in front of the TV, and need to get a bed dug for them. Going to try Charlottes, Maris Piper and King Edwards and take my chance with the blight. Though having said that I don't remembe seeing any of that last year, I guess it didn't get warm enough for long enough at the right time of year for blight to get a hold.

Other jobs on the list include painting the picnic table, building a sort of log store to store some pots and things and create a few more raised beds. I got a stand and tap to fit to my liquid fertiliser bin, just need to find something that would make a good tea bag for the weeds that I put in it. Its a good way of disposing of those perennial weeds and putting otherwise nasty roots on the compost heap. Four weeks steeped in water and those roots aren't good-to-grow.

So if the weather holds dry for next week, it should be a good time to get ahead of those gardening projects.

[Dave K]

Sounds like you have your work cut out Liz :)

Keeping an eye on the weather in case of a chance to plant the early new potatoes out in their container but nights still rather cool and frost is possible this weekend so have to hang fire on that for a few days.  Three radishes have germinated outside  but not the spring onions yet. Other than that, indoors, got three tomato seedlings just germinated and the chocolate habanero chillis doing very nicely with the fatalii, numex twilight and Hungarian hot wax further behind.

[scrapemedic]

Ha, Dave. you got that right. It started as a three year plan and has changed into a five year one. Mianly because of the preconcieved ideas I had a bout how an allotment, and the garden should be. you start off with one idea, realise your mistake and have to change it the next year, which of course throws off your projects for therest of the year. Unless they could add in a leap week, which w ould be helpful for getting all those "round to" jobs.

Yes timing the potato planting is a thing of magic. You have to leave it late enough so that if there is a late frost the growth hasn't appeared above ground yet. I got it perfect last year, but some of my neighbours went too early and lost a bit of their crops.

I won't bother growing chillis, I will just pop round and try out a few of yours! Looks like you will have enough of them Dave :)

[Nigel Bolton]

Quote

Nigel Bolton - 14/3/2011 21:19

Have actually had some time today to do some serious gardening, in, by far the brightest sunshine of the year so far. All the beds having been dug deeply, manured, and limed, have been dug over, awaiting first veg. Gromore has been sprinkled over the surface.

Planted radishes and salad onions in troughs in sunny position, and tomato seeds have been set indoors.

How is everyone else doing?.

N.

 

Radishes and tomatoes are up. No Spring onions yet. Chives are a foot tall and the blackcurrant bushes are coming into flower. Blackcurrants had a heavy prune last Autumn and there is now plenty of new growth round the base.

Onion sets, beetroot and carrots were put in today. Garlic and leeks will hopefully go in tomorrow.

Courgette pits are now ready.

N.

[scrapemedic]

Being a little ambitious as I am want to do, I am going to have a go at celebrating the Olympics by having my own little tribute in the garden at work. So I have worked out the dimensions of the rings, (because strangely they are no where to be found on the internet) and case anyone else wants a go I thought I would post them here. The Olympic Ring dimensions