greenhouse temperature and seeds

 

Here is the  new temperature guage for the greenhouse, it looks like its mild but we've a harsh wind coming from the east which is making it feel much colder... and of course its always a bit warmer in the greenhouse. 

My seeds have been ordered from MoreVeg Seeds , although any packets from last year that remain are  unsorted .... that is a plan from another day. Last years poor germination makes me think to start again with fresh seeds rather than use up the old. 

Two cats in the house now means there are frequent fights, they don't hurt each other but make a lot of noise. Hopefully they will settle down and I  do not need to keep improving my aim with the water spray bottle... its an old cleaning spray borrle labeled  'water for bad cats'. .......

I've not long finished reading the Larkin Family series, H E Bates,  and now am reading the complete works of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle,  on  my kindle, its so far been easy reading. it doesn't get too gorey or violent which are things I try to avoid. The Larkin books were purchased recently with an amazon token I recieved as a gift.... and surprised at how much it costs to have them electronically... the Sherlock one was a free download that I found in my content from 2000 and not read yet... don't know why it hadn't been read yet .

in the garden

garden greens... a brussels sprouts stalk is still throwing up leaves and trying to flower... I keep eating them... lol... and there is a handful of american hedge garlic... which has been self seeding in the garden for years. lovely fresh eggs from a freind, I used the two big brown eggs and made a fry up with french bread and greens for my lunch. 

 sitting in my pyjamas, with the cat, a coffee and reading a gardening book... Alan Titchmarsh's Kitchen Gardener. I went out to sit in the greenhouse but it was so warm we ended up just chilling outside.

aquired a coffee table to use as a low bench in the greenhouse, its got a metal frame so should be strong enough to have a few plants on it... the chair will come out soon so I can start planting up. 

one bed is ready to be seeded... plans for this one is to use the pallet collar with a shower door over it and direct sow carrots, turnips and beetroot. I could have done that today.. but chose to chill with the cat instead.
in the house I am eating lettuce leaves, sown about a month ago, and have cherry tomatoes about an inch high on the window sill, and fat tomatoes in the boiler cupboard waiting to sprout. not organised at all with buying seeds... I might be having a pot luck year with whatever I have left over... which is  a lot because I over buy when I am full of enthusiasm.... 
 

todays garden

 

Casper is very happy with his wee blanket in the greenhouse. video taken with my 'new to me' fancy phone ...lol.... as up till now I've used a flip phone that texts and phones.. nothing else... lol... still have to upload it to laptop to put it on here... see if that works ok. 

last week was very nice almost summery weather... because I'm off work this week its snowing in flurries, my usual luck with the weather. I've put my laundry out anyway because it'll get mostly dry and smell nice. as a holiday present to myself I've bought four more seed trays, and two clear lids. and three small ones to start stuff in the house.  

in the greenhouse the leeks are doing great, some onions came from last years seed and two trays of marigolds seeded so hopefully have lots for in amongst the vegetables. you can see in the video there is new wood for a veggy plot beside the clothes pole, there did used to be one there but its grown over. it might not get used this year as i'm short on time to get it going, also it'll get filled with fresh manure and it'll be okay for  next year. 

Garden Sales Company

 https://www.quickcrop.co.uk/learning/plants/

just discovered this company. saving to remember to go back and have a good look at all the information they have freely available. you never know everything, no matter how long you have been gardening. 

I've had a look at their raised bed kits. and considering the price of wood I think they are a good price for what you get... I'm putting one on my 'never ending wish list'.......

no dig gardening.. thoughts

  'no dig' subject. is a wonderful idea, I find digging difficult now, BUT.... I grow in small beds in a small area surrounded by mixed hedge which would  take over the whole garden if the long sucker roots are not dug out . The beds that are already 'going' were bastard trenced about 20 years ago and now are dug over to one fork depth.... just a turn over... to find any roots near the surface and get them out. The 'planned' bed(was a bed before,,, also bastard trenched 20 years ago,  but has overgrown to look like lawn now) will need grass taken off and again will be turned over to one forkful depth. I'll add a photo later when I've time as I would like to document the re-making of the Pole Bed.. its next to a clothes-line pole... lol. 

i'm halfway through this video so just a link here to get back to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXsYPLzyiE4

garden

I planted the bigger pot up with daffodil bulbs and topped all four of these off with little stones. I love this look and it  stops the soil getting washed out with heavy rain .

also a couple of smaller pots planted with daff bulbs, and all of the others topped with stones. I use this to show that there is ''something'' in the pot, it could be a cutting or something with a lost label, a couple of these have acorns in them and they can take a couple of years to show sometimes, and the stones mean 'don't tip this out'. it works for me.

I'm really pleased this wood fitted inside the car, I could have driven with it hanging out the back as it was only a few streets away but now that I know an 8ft plank will fit inside the car I can look for more wood and be confident I can pick it up even from a distance away.   I do try to get everything free or recycled   but I've had to spend some money  for these,  really good thick wood, and will be used to start renewing the edges of the veggy beds. it'll do one bed all round and two long sides of another.  

garden update

 

I forget if I've posted this photo ...  must really make a seed list. And I really can't keep garden notes on the lap top, I never update it.

there are some snowdrops showing,  but not in flower yet, and can see some cyclamen green leaves in a couple of places.

 can still  pick some broccoli, some leeks and some spinach, so those are things that need 'more of' for this year. 

in the greenhouse today – using seed trays and old high dome propagators.....

Onions sown.... Walla Walla and Cipolla Rossa Di Tropea

Leeks sown..... Blue Solaise and Large American Flag

the best christmas present, a digital Maximum Minimum thermometer.... todays readings are...  max  9.9c (49.8f), min -3.9c (25f), temperature as I was planting about 2.30pm was  5.2c dropping to 3.9c by the time I was done. Casper kept running between the house and the greenhouse telling me that he's not a gardening cat at the best of times, and it was too cold!!

planting out started

my record keeping has not been good. I have tried keeping records in a word document, but the last notes were from  22nd of march.... so its been updated now.  but without information about what has been sown (or re-sown) in the greenhouse since then. I'm wondering if I should start a dedicated paper diary, or folder? Thinking as  typing - that a folder/ring binder might be a better idea, graph paper for plans could be inserted and poly pockets for 'bits of things' .

and the reason I collect wine bottles and bricks.... the  bottles lift the fleece off the plants, helping to protect them from frost and cats, when they're  bigger it can be adjusted or taken  off.

waiting on the rain

 leeks and onions , ready to be planted out, and a covered tray of just sown peas and beans, I feel I'm a bit late getting round to doing things.

 broccoli, chives and spinach, ready to be planted out, they were potted on from seed trays into a poor mixture of tomato grow bag mixed with topsoil. garden centers still closed due to coronavirus

these two beds have been covered with plastic over the winter to stop weeds growing and keep the cats out, I've been dumping bags of horse manure onto them for the last few weekends, so they've now been turned over with it , not deeply - just the one forks depth. as its forecast rain (last night as well) I've left the plastic off and will put it back on later today or tomorrow. Now they're ready for stuff to get planted into them.
will try to upload a video view of the garden too.

From the MetOffice
Strathclyde weather forecast:
Today:

Cloudy start across the south with patchy rain, but drier conditions with sunny spells across Argyll soon spreading south. The rest of the day then looks dry and, although much cooler than recently, long spells of sunshine. Northeasterly breeze easing. Maximum temperature 13 °C.

Tonight:

A fine end to the day with some late sunshine then a dry night with long clear spells. With winds continuing to ease a widespread frost is expected. Minimum temperature -3 °C.

Monday:

A cold start to a sunny and dry morning. A little more in the way of cloud for the afternoon but remaining dry with sunny spells. Mainly light northerly winds. Maximum temperature 14 °C.

Outlook for Tuesday to Thursday: Risk of a few light showers across Argyll, but mainly dry through the coming days with clear or sunny spells. Temperatures rising but still risk of overnight frosts.

in the greenhouse

 lettuce, just before picking off leaves to have a nice plateful with my pizza and chips. and have started another tray off to keep the 'cut and come again' lettuce going... though thats all those seeds used up, I'll have to try to get some more. the plastic lids on these are years old, they've scrubbed up quite well but they are so brittle they are cracking and breaking bits off as you move them.

 various things, possibly beetroot and broccoli that can be planted out in a week or so, some herbs that will need potting on, the two little white pots are the tomatoes from Wildside, and I think there might be one or two more from the second planting of seeds that are just germinating.

just visible... Casper being Mr Grumpy of the Greenhouse, its warm, its out of the wind.... but not comfortable enough for his liking.

new potting bench

💗 new potting/growing bench for the greenhouse 💗
made by my neighbour, James Carr, he made the last one too.. which lasted 15ish years ... so I expect this one to see me out ... lol... and I am paying for it with bags of horse-poo , of which there is an endless supply.
I'll have a move round of things this weekend, maybe start some more seeds too.

ON YOUR MARKS . . .

 GET SET . . .

 GROW !!

The bigger tray has Onions Walla Walla and Leeks Blue Solaise. Onions have 16 individual sections with two to three seeds each-to be thinned to one , the leeks have 8 individual sections with two seeds each-to be thinned to one, these are both for planting out . The smaller trays have salad mixes, one lettuce leaf mix, one spicy/ beet leaf and also scattered leek seed into a smaller tray to be used as salad, young leek looks like blades of  grass and is very yummy. 
All seeds only used part of the packets, so there can be a second planting later on or seeds saved for next year. 
That's a good start today anyway. There was a ray of sunshine when I started but just about sleet/rain by the time I was done, got a bit cold and wished I had put a jacket on. 

From the MetOffice;; This Evening and Tonight:Clear intervals and further showers this evening. The showers becoming more confined to Kintyre and Ayrshire tonight with many areas becoming dry with clear spells. Minimum temperature 2 °C..Monday:Sunshine and the odd shower in the morning then cloud thickening to bring rain in the afternoon, some becoming heavy later as southerly winds strengthen. Maximum temperature 9 °C.

little by little

 The twisted hazel is difficult to get under and into. One branch was really getting to the greenhouse so I've reluctantly taken it off... its a crazy thing to prune back so I just went as close to the base as I could, with a saw.

There is another branch reaching the same way, but I'll leave it for now. Also took height off the hedge from behind the greenhouse, little by little , and maybe in a year or so it will believe its a hedge again and not Trees.... eeeeek.

I've had a long weekend off work and intended to start some seed planting. Lost impetus..... mostly due to weather and temperature swings from 9c to -2c with a bitter wind.
here's the list of seeds, note some in here gifted from a friend some time ago. 

 Vegetables . 

·                     Aubergine, De Barbentane, Grow More Veg

·                     Beetroot, F1, Boldor, Suttons

·                     Broad Bean, Express Eleanora, Grow More Veg

·                     Broccoli, joint pack of Red Arrow and Rudolph, Suttons

·                     Cabbage, F1, Wintersweet, Suttons

·                     Carrot, baby type,  Ideal, Suttons

·                     Cauliflower, Romanesco Green and White, Suttons

·                     Celery, Giant Red, Suttons

·                     Chives,  Middleman, Lidl (Gartenland)

·                     Courgette, F1, Golden Griller, Suttons

·                     Cucumber ,Armenian, from Wildside home collected in 2015

·                     Greens, F1, Mustard Spinach,  Suttons

·                     Greens, Bright and Spicy Baby Leaf Mix, Grow More Veg

·                     Greens,  Lettuce Mix red/green salad bowl (looseleaf), Grow More Veg

·                     Greens, Leaf Beet, Perpetual Spinach, Grow More Veg

·                     Greens, Spinach Giant Winter, Grow More Veg

·                     Leek, Blue Solaise,

·                     Pea, Sugar Snap Deliket, Grow More Veg

·                     Pea, Kelvedon Wonder, Grow More Veg

·                     Pea, Aparagus (not actually a pea though, lol), Grow More Veg

·                     Pepper Mix Anaheim and Jalepeno, from Wildside... note these home collected in 2015

·                     Pepper, Chilli Zimbabwe Black, Suttons

·                     Pepper, Largo de Reus Pairal, Grow More Veg

·                     Pumpkin, F1, Hooligan, Grow More Veg

·                     Tomato, Constoluto Genovese, from Wildside home collected in 2015

·                     Turnip, Milan Purple Top, Just Seed

·                     Turnip, F1, Sweetbell, Suttons

Herb Seeds

·                     Coriander, Green Aroma , Grow More Veg

·             Mint, Pennyroyal, Grow More Veg

·                     Parsley, Bravour , Grow More Veg

·                     Rosemary, Grow More Veg

·                     Sage, naturally nurtured seed , Grow More Veg

·                     Thyme, Large, Grow More Veg

Flower Seeds

·                     Cosmos, Bipinnatus, Lidl (Gartenland)

·                     Poppy Seeds, Backrow Farm, collected 2019