Green things are coming!

I hope your all having a splendid weekend even though the weather here has been somewhat topsy turvy this week. Early on we had beautiful sunshine, yesterday hail stones and today it has been quite chilly, and wet. Hopefully it will settle down to wall to wall sunshine, I can dream at least...

Right on to something green, I had a peek in the greenhouse this morning before cleaning out the girls and low and behold there was little green sprigs just peeking over the top of the toilet rolls, yes some of the leeks have germinated and so has the carrots I sowed in the little trough. A jig was danced to thank mother nature for being so kind.

On the vegetable patch the rhubarb is bounding along, looks like we may have another bountiful harvest and at least the girls will not be able to attack it this year. Also the peas are poking through, the little bit of heat we had sure has helped just need some more of it now please.
(Sorry there are no photos I left the camera at the shop.)

Until next time x

oooohhhh...

Well it has finally happened...
What! I hear you ask
Well...

This

Broad Beans erupting!

and.....

A Pea peeking out!

I thought I would just poke my head in to the greenhouse just in case anything had decided to germinate, and when I saw these I did do my little jiggy dance of germination joy!

I have been so busy again this past week, it's been all head down and arse up as they say! I cleaned out the girls coop yesterday and they had a play in the soil whilst basking in the little bit of sunshine we had. 

Matilda was not too keen on going back into the run and kept running up the garden path as I tried to coax her in. I threw down some seed which she devoured and about fifteen minutes later I finally got her to go back in the run. 

It had warmed up a little the past couple of days however it has been raining most of today and is forecast to do so tomorrow. We need the warmer weather but it looks like we are still going to have to wait a bit longer.

I am attending an indoor bootsale on Sunday at Woodbridge Primary School, 10.30 til 1.30 pm So if your local and at a loose end then pop along even if it is raining you can still enjoy a visit to a bootsale.

I have posted new photos on my Wigglywoo's Craft Emporium page you can see them by clicking HERE

Well I hope to catch up with you all again over the weekend. Have a wonderful weekend whatever you may be doing. You can always leave a comment sharing your gardening news/tips/advice or anything else you may want to say. Until next time x

Finally my Fingers were in the Soil!

Well I managed to get out and rummage in the soil! Oh it felt so good to be in the potting shed with my windup radio and dancing around whilst seed sowing to keep warm.

First job was to layout the seed potatoes to chit. As you can see they have already started. They are Pentland Javelin first early. I grew these last year and I'm sure they were a good cropper. I am going into town this coming week and will hopefully pick up some more seed potatoes. I am not sure what variety but it will depend on what the shops have in stock.

The second job I got done was to make up my salad box to go on the windowsill in my kitchen.

I added some polystyrene for drainage

I filled it with compost and sowed some mixed Oriental salad leaves. These are cut and come again leaves and will give a good supply of different leaves to add to our salad and sandwiches. I have also sown a small tub of cress.

Patiently waiting for something green to appear

I then sowed some broad beans into toilet roll inners. I had two varieties so I have sown nine of Witkiem-Manita which are a fast maturing crop of high yielding short fat pods and are ideal for freezing. The other variety is Aquadulce Claudia. These are also a high yielding variety with longer pods and also ideal for freezing.

preparing toilet rolls for broad beans

I found that an old funnel used for adding salt to a dishwasher is excellent for filling up toilet rolls for seed sowing. I have used the fish boxes to add extra insulation to the broad beans and the basil that I also sowed. I have three varieties of basil and have sown two pots of each. Franchi-Sementi, Basilico Bolloso Napolentano and Basilico Violetto Aromatico.

I also sowed some early onward peas, and a variety of peppers. A hot slim chilli pepper and California wonder, a sweet bell pepper. The peppers were also placed in a fish box and all the seeds have been placed in the greenhouse and have been covered with plastic sheeting.

Hopefully something will germinate!

I was bought this herb growing set for Christmas. You get these soil pellets that you add water to and they expand. I have added the water but as yet nothing has happened.

 I will check it again tomorrow and if nothing has happened I will throw out these pellets and fill with my compost. I like the look of the set and it seems a shame not to use it.

And finally I sowed a trough of carrots that has been placed in the greenhouse. Whether they will grow, we shall have to wait and see.

Whilst I was pottering about I let the girls out. They do make me laugh as they serenely step out of the run to then waddle and flap and try to take flight over to the raised bed and fruit border. Matilda is looking a picture of health compared to a few months ago when I thought I was going to loose her. She is the first to nestle down in the soil for a good bath.

I cleaned out the coop and then lead them back in to the run with handfuls of seeds and corn. I had to then sweep all the path as they had scattered the stones everywhere whilst they were searching for grubs.

Before I came in I thought I would go and dig up my parsnips.

Not impressed with this little lot but at least something grew. I will not be growing them again as they have to be in the ground for such a long time and then amount to nothing and to be honest I am the only one that likes  parsnips, it is less hassle and cheap for me to buy a couple from the supermarket.

I thought I would leave the digging for another day, my leg is not good today and I have a busy week ahead so I don't want to make it any worse than it is already, damn thing! I did however take a peek under the weed membrane that I put down at the end of the last growing season and some of the compost from the bins has still not broken down so it will need a good and thorough digging. I might have to call in dad to give me a hand of even get Jay to get the electric rotivator out and do it for me.

Well that is it from me for another day, I hope you enjoyed being with me in the potting shed today. I am now going to do a bit of baking, a chocolate sponge and some shortbread biscuits. Until next time x

The calm before the storm?

It has been a beautiful sunny day here, it is colder inside than it is standing out in the sun. Will this be the last sunny day I wonder as the weather has been predicted to turn this week.

We have had a pleasant day meeting up with family members who we hadn't seen since last summer. The buffet was huge, so everyone had plenty to eat and take home!  I was chatting to one of my uncles who grows all his own vegetables too, he has an allotment and he was saying that when he was down there yesterday everyone was busy putting fleece over their early crops of peas and beans.

I came home and quickly got changed and had an hour pottering about in the garden. first job was to cover the few remaining strawberry plants with some fleece. My search for some more strawberry plants is over, my uncle is dropping round next week with a dozen strawberry plants. They are runners from last years crop, these are the long stems that run from the main strawberry plant and if potted up will take root and form new plants for the following year.

It's great when you get the chance to meet up with other vegetable growers as you are able to swap plants and share growing tips and ideas. This is one of the many benefits of having an allotment and you can also get to try new crops with vegetable swaps once they have been harvested.

I had to put some more soil in the potato bags as the tips were starting to show again and I don't want them to be hit by the frost and maybe snow. I weeded the large bed where I have planted the onions, the warm weather had also spurred on the weeds.

The girls have only had some cabbage leaves and some left over cooked cauliflower today, so they have probably been quite noisy whilst we were out. We had three eggs today, so I will soon know if reducing their scraps makes any difference to how many eggs we get.

That pesky snail has been busy again in the little greenhouse. The sweetcorn shoots that were there yesterday have now disappeared! I will sow some more tomorrow to make sure I will have a crop of sweetcorn and put these in the big greenhouse.

For those of you that missed yesterdays post, I have put on the photos as I had promised earlier in the week.

And finally.....After a rather busy weekend I'm going to put my feet up and watch some TV. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend x