Planted!

Finally the weather is improving and I had some time so the great planting exercise of 2012 was launched. Everything went in at once because it's really late in the gardening year to get going.

Although it doesn't look like much at the moment, I got the tomato plants and the lemon cucumber plants in there, along with two different kinds of mixed salad leaves and what I believe may be some raddichio (the packet it came in was not in English). Also I direct-sowed some climbing beans.

In the back of the garden we have rows of carrots, white beetroot and kale, topped off with patty pan squash, zucchini, and a mysterious plant which could be one or the other (a snail ate the label off the pot so I couldn't tell).

I may have to invest in a bigger watering can because the hosepipe ban is still in operation (and the hosepipe connector doesn't fit onto the tap anymore anyway since I changed the tap). Now let's hope for some nice weather, and hopefully my bamboo defences will deter the cats from digging up the seeds and the snails and slugs will leave the starts alone.

One can't have too many tomatoes...

Fatal mistake: DO NOT GO TO GARDEN CENTRE WHEN THERE ARE TOMATO PLANTS FOR SALE.

Although I have ended up with tomato seedlings given to me, I have acquired yet more. Come summer I will be awash in tomatoes. Garden Fever has such an amazing variety that I just couldn't resist. Tomatoes for canning, slicing, or just plain looking at. Lots of heirlooms, black, green, purple, striped, pink with orange spots (I'm only partly making this up). The winners for me were: Velvet Red, Striped German, Black Prince and Costoluto Genovese. They are worth buying for the names alone never mind the plants: Velvet Red has fuzzy foliage, Striped German has golden fruit with pink marbling, Costoluto has fluted tomatoes and Black Prince is - guess! - a black tomato. I am very pleased.


Still a bit too early to plant them out without the risk of a late frost but they'll keep the other, still tiny tomatoes company for a couple of weeks.


More news on the garden front: there is no sign of the damn carrots. Nada, zilch. Ditto the arugula Sylvetta. The broccoli and other arugula that I sowed at the same time are coming up. Maybe I was too hasty and too fooled by the nice weather. Will try carrot again but this time it'll be Danvers Half Long from Ed Hume. Should still have some more of the other arugula to do another row. I'll try and get out there over the next few days to see if something has happened but it looks like the first failure of the gardening year.

Garden Clear-up

Remember how I said that spring has sprung? Well, not so much this week... Yesterday there was an Earth Day event at Overlook Park to which I cycled through hail. Good outcomes though: ended up with more free seeds (corn, borage, sunflowers) and other free swag (little thermos!).

Which brings me on to my first update on seeds. As I reported a couple of weeks ago, I saved some seeds from a store-bought squash to see if it would be usable. It is!


Now I have to figure out what to do them until it is time to plant them in the garden...

Today was the community garden clear-up (early 9am start - ugh - but new thermos came in handy). Usual suspects turned up to do some work and we managed to clear a path of weeds before turning to our own projects. Another clear-up is scheduled for beginning of May, with more volunteers (hopefully). Apparently all plots have been allocated and there is now a waiting list. Two more people turned up when I was leaving, they were the garden's Produce for People coordinators and have commandeered the raised beds - usually reserved for disabled people but not claimed this year - for growing stuff for the program. They used to be at Reed (famed and fabled for being nice and huge and then being closed to make way for student dorms) and seem very organised.


Before leaving I was checking over my plot briefly. Removed a few weeds but now it's easy if I can keep on top of them. Strawberries are still liking it. Arugula Roquette has germinated - yay!


There is no clear sign of the other variety of arugula yet but I'm hoping there will be soon. I think the broccoli was starting to peek through too. Sowed some chives and another row of broccoli.

Came home, had some breakfast/brunch, and then nerdishly made a list of seeds and a planting calendar. Now I'm feeling sleepy and I need a nap...

Spring has sprung

Today was 74 degrees Fahrenheit (about 24 in Celcius) after nearly week of cold dampness. It just suddenly feels like the planting and growing season is upon us. Amazing what a difference a couple of sunny days can make.

Last week I put in strawberry plants and arugula seeds. No sign yet of the arugula but the strawberry plants seem to enjoy it and are sprouting new growth.


(If you look very carefully, there is a ladybug on one of the leaves...)

When I arrived there were more gardeners I hadn't met before, along with more evidence of work going on in the rest of the garden. Next weekend is a big garden clear-up so I expect to see most of them there.

My task for today was putting in a few beds so I can start sowing carrots (Nelson Hybrid) and broccoli (Zamboni sprouting). Since my sowing times and bed creation are all mixed up, I had to change the drawn plan I carried along, noting what I had sowed where and when. I am going to try and remember to sow little and often. Today I sowed two short rows of carrots and 1 short row of broccoli. Next week I'll sow more of the broccoli.

I also put up some poles that will serve for growing beans (still need to get string and really make sure they are solidly in the ground). It's starting to look respectable (the gardener I met commented that I was "approaching it very methodically").



Oh, and there was a first harvest of sorts: I finished off the day by collecting dandelion leaves for the guinea pigs from areas that haven't cleared of weeds yet.