Rhubarb! Germination!

Last week a "mail undelivered" slip arrived which I blithely ignored because I thought it was just some package from Amazon. Over the weekend I was wondering when my rhubarb I ordered would finally arrive (it said March delivery time), until this morning it struck me - eek, I bet that package is the rhubarb... And so it was. Collected this morning, and unpacked and planted tonight. I don't think they suffered any damage sitting in the post office for a few days.

I got two different varieties, "Stockbridge Arrow" and "Victoria". It was quite a spatial layout task to find the best position for them, since they will spread out. I hope I haven't put them too close together after all. Really looking forward to pie...in a couple years time.

(Stockbridge on left, Victoria on right - sorry, it was rainy and getting dark)

In other news, some of the seeds have germinated. The Turk's Turban squash is stretching out, I can see Red Pear and Marmande tomatoes coming up. Tigerella tomato and the cucumber and patty pan squash are a bit shy (although my spidey senses are tingling with the squash). Let's see if they dampen off or continue to grow.

Digging out the compost bin

Not as in getting out of storage, no, I mean literally digging out.

Late last year something bad happened to my compost area. An influx of cage litter, old bits of stairs I had replaced, large dead shrubs, doors (don't ask...), it ended up all around the bin. It got to the point where I couldn't lift the top off anymore. So today, taking advantage of the nice weather, I did some investigation and a clean-up.

The doors have almost rotted down, except one which must be made of some hardwood (it is still solid and I think it has been out there for years). Restacked they can go on doing their thing. The large shrubs are now a screen against the back wall. Found lots of old decking off-cuts which I can use for marking beds. Also found a broken BBQ and lots of other rubbish. A broken birdhouse is sitting on the curb hoping someone can muster up the will to put it together again. The bits of stairs now form a wall around a mound of cage litter which still has another year of composting to do.

(It may not look like much but you shoudl have seen it before. And yes, I know there is a plastic goose...wanna make something of it?!? It's not rubbish, it's..decorative. )

Then I tackled the compost bin itself. Three-quarters full of lovely compost! I emptied that out on the nearest beds which have been mainly made up of cat poo and builders rubble so far.


I went a bit crazy after that because then I also forked in the guinea pig waste that I spread out on the other beds, and I cleaned up the deck, getting rid of an old table to make room for this little beauty:


I also hope someone will take about 50 small plastic plant pots off my hands...Oh, and I found some ancient grass seed in my cellar which I put on the bare patches in the grassy path. And I spread out some bags of ballast I had hanging around on the other, gravelly path.

Now I'm exhausted but it was lovely to sit on the deck with a nice cup of coffee and a hot cross bun afterwards.

First sowing of the year

Last year's toilet roll method was more or less a disaster - nothing really germinated. This year I am giving little peat pods a go - the kits are cheap, compact and easy to water.


In my opinion, it's a bit on the early side to sow tomatoes, courgettes and cucumber since they can't really be planted out until mid-May. However, I am getting a mini-greenhouse so can move them there once they get going. I kept this attempt small so I can do another run in April or plant out directly in the soil in May. I sowed: tomatoes "Tigerella", tomatoes "Red Pear", cucumber "Crystal Lemon", tomatoes "Super Marmande", squash "Turk's Turban" and patty pan squash "Scallop Mixed" - two pods each. The pods are a bit small for the squash seeds but I'll see how it goes.


Here they are in the warmest and sunniest part of the house, the seat in the bay window. Also the most dangerous for them in terms of getting knocked over.

First planting of the year

Inspired by one of my friends I planted my chitted potatoes in a big planter today. I was going to wait a little bit longer. If it all goes wrong at least I can blame her ;)

I didn't use that much compost; the intention is to fill up the pot with soil as they grow to encourage more potatoes to form. The planter is fairly large and the potato variety (Anya) is fairly small, so hopefully it'll work out. I have seen pictures of potatoes being grown in black bin liners but I fancied something more, er, decorative. Last year, the potatoes in planters started off well but then were like sitting ducks for slugs which stripped the leaves off (the ones in the ground held out a bit longer but not much). Let's see if they make it this year - at least I didn't spend a small fortune on seed potatoes.

Chitting potatoes

Yes, you have to say it carefully ;)

I am currently in the process of chitting potatoes (putting them in a light place to get shoots so they grow faster when they go into the ground). They are happily sitting in an egg carton on the window sill and have some nice sprouts on them.


I decided not to go for expensive seed potatoes from a catalogue like last year which ended up being slug food. Ok, to be honest it was mainly the leaves - still got a few potatoes out of them but not enough to justify spending a lot of money on them. So instead I used a few potatoes from the ones I bought from the supermarket, a variety called "Anya". I know, I know, you are not supposed to do that. They are supposed to certified disease-free, from a reputable dealer. But this way I end up with as few as I want to plant, for a fraction of the price, even if it comes to nothing. I'll treat it as an experiment and plant them in the large pot I used last year (although that proved to be an easy and juicy target for the slugs) instead of the ground. Anyway they are hopefully going in around mid-March, perhaps even a bit earlier if the weather decides to warm up.

Tidying up and first shoots

Walking through the garden taking stock. Some semi-hardy plants like my Solanum alba have dropped some leaves after the deep cold. I also wonder if my Fuchsias grown against a sheltered wall have survived. Hope that they will perk up again.


I have decided that I just can't keep up anymore with the ivy growing up my wall which was initially planted to hide an ugly downpipe. So I cut it off to wither away and dug most of the roots out. I am thinking of growing a jasmine instead which is much easier to handle and will also provide a nice scent, or go with another Solanum.


I only noticed a week or so ago that the huge sycamore tree in my neighbour's garden has been pruned. Most of the branches are gone with only two big ones remaining - one of them still is a bit over my garden but very high up. I'm not sure if they'll take it all down or leave it like that but it's already a big improvement in terms of light. I gathered together the trimmings that fell into my garden so I should have plenty of kindling and a few logs when they are dried out.

Browsing through another gardening catalogue I came across two things that piqued my interest: first, curly kale. I always liked to eat it but have never grown it. Second, grafted tomatoes (a tasty variety grafted on to a vigorous root stock). Who knew such a thing existed! I will stick to normal seeds though.



In final news, I have spotted garlic shoots (along with shoots of the hyacinths and daffodils). It's nice to see something growing in this cold and damp season.

Dead of winter

Lots of snow this year and cold too. At least next growing season there should be fewer snails and slugs (hopefully).

The garden is mostly shut down. I left some white beetroot leaves out there, not sure if they survive or will be any good. Raspberry canes have been cut down. Plenty of material from guinea pig cage cleaning is being dumped on the beds. The ornamentals look a bit bedraggled but that is to be expected in early January (especially as there are some where frost-hardiness is doubtful; at least I managed to bring my pelargoniums inside).

I still need to go through the seeds which I ordered and that have arrived (rhubarb will arrive for planting in March). There are some items in there which I may be able to start off early inside. I am also contemplating getting a cheap greenhouse, which means I can move things (like tomatoes) outside much earlier. This year I am going to try the individual growing medium, having not had much success with the toilet roll method and also the normal seed trays.

Still haven't had a chance to build myself a better compost bin - lack of light/time and surplus of snow has been against me. As soon as it warms up a little bit I shall try though.

Probably not much happening for the rest of January...