to ripen tomatoes

my little kitchen drawers are just the right size to fit a seed tray, where the tomatoes can ripen. 

after a dismal, cold and wet summer, they are just sitting in the greenhouse and not ripening at all, I've been brining in a hanfull every coupleof days to ripen and eat. now i'm just about to collect in another seed tray full and that will be all of them. 

there have been some nice broad beans to munch on , they are nearly finished now. little turnips early on, and there are nice leeks waiting to get bigger before eating.

not much success with anything else this year.
 

greenhouse update

 

the tomatoes are just starting to show a slight blush, maybe there will be one to eat at the weekend. 

Beans has been here for a year now, the greenhouse is not her favourite place, 

not comfortable enough she says. 

she is a nce wee cat, not much into cuddles but will keep you company. 

todays vegetable garden and greenhouse

a small harvest, some peas, beets, parsnips, turnip,  tiny courgettes and flower, cucumbers, kale, chard, spinach, greens, 

I'm always grateful for what grows. I'll eat them, with some bought potatoes, for dinner.

POTATO

 thumbnail for size referenct... lol.... potato in a bucket in the greenhouse... last year this method produced four potatoes in total... so maybe not the best... but it pleases me to grow things so thats a yield in itself. 

the weather is fabulous this week.. like summer... of course I'm at work and have next week off... here's next weeks weather report... 

''Still settled for many at the start of next week but a trend to showery and colder conditions is expected to take place from the north from Monday. Showers will likely be focused on northern and eastern areas, potentially wintry over northern hills and at lower levels in the far northeast. A good deal of dry weather persisting in the south and west. Potential for strong winds in the far northeast early in the period. Later next week and beyond, more unsettled conditions are likely with more frequent showers or longer spells of rain for many areas. After a spell of below average temperatures next week, temperatures are likely to return to near average later in the period.''

this Christmas basket was put out into the greenhouse last week, it looks quite happy, there was a poinsetia in it as well when I recieved it but that died after about three days... its been in the house since the week before christmas.

something a bit odd happened there when I tried to move the photo order... 

the small pot and this bucket inside a trug... are the Home Bargains freesias and I put two of the seed potatoes into a standard three gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom... and this is sitting in a trug.. to make it easy to water and to provide some further protection from cold out in the greenhouse

the leek seeds are coming up, I will eat the excess as they grow and end up with one per square that will get planted out in the garden later in the year,

the nearest propagator is one bought last year, with its nice clear plastic, and the one behind is an old yellowed one, very brittle now, it cracked as it was washed today with hot water and a sponge, it still does its job.

the daffodils in pots, outside, are starting to poke through, it doesn't look like they've all grown.. but there's time yet to see if any more come.

some little snowdrops at the bottom of the hedge by the tree.
 

good eating...

 at last some tomatoes, a constoluto type, squiggly, lovely. theres a few tomatoes now on all the plants. 

I've harvested a couple of handfulls of sugarsnap peas, eaten immediatley. and I've picked a few of the savoy cabbage leaves, leaving the plant to still grow, just cooked with potatoes and butter. lovely. also eating chard , kale  and collard leaves.

greenhouse video mid july

very much a jungle, the aubergine has flowers but no fruit, the peppers not even flowered, the lemon cucumber is taking over, and I've eaten a few of the small round cucumbers it produces, the tomatoes are flowering but no fruits yet.... and I've two friends report that they have tomatoes growing... so I don't know why its all so different.

the potatoes looked healthy enough but only produced three small potatoes from the bag... think a bucket would have been better as the soil that came out of the bag was very wet. i'll leave the oustide potatoes for about another month or so before seeing whats in there. 

the cougettes and pumpkin in the garden have failed totally... being eaten from underground and the tops. they started off well but can't cope with the slug population. slug nematodes are not available to buy anywhere and i won't use chemicals. there's a couple of beer traps out and i go hunting with a pair of scissors, lifting bricks to see whats under ,,,, also in the evening if its wet/cool and i can find them out and about.... cut them in half. leave the bits for the birds.... i've seeded another courgette and pumpkin , the pumpkin planted out this morning, not sure if i want to plant the courgette out or try to stuff it into the greenhouse in a bucket.

using the temporary coldframe..carrots and beetroot sown directly have done reasonably well, peas and beans that were sown directly under the coldframe are looking good , it was lifted off them when they started to touch the glass. the beans planted out.. gifted... haven't grown at all. the broccoli , cabbage, all the greens... all looking reasonalby good... have been eating a few chard and kale leaves.

greenhouse , updated with video

seems that laptop will upload today. maybe its the connection.... 

 in the greenhouse, potted into growing spaces are... two fat tomatoes, two cherry tomatoes, one each of pink and green tomatoes. Two cumcumbers, two green peppers and two aubergines. There are some potatoes growing in a compost bag.. hopefully some ready to eat soon, some carrots in a pot which are small but can be eaten, and a tray of lettuce that I've just started eating, it should do a few days. 

April

 

todays pickings of purple sprouting broccolli and chives, about to be made into an omlette and eaten for dinner. 

I'm tired out from work, weary of the changing weather. 

following are temperatures and what's been sown in the greenhouse, as typed into my garden diary adn copied and pasted to here.

22/3/21                18.7        11.8        3.8

27/3/21                19.1        9.9          2.2          sown  ===some more Cipolla Rossa Di Tropea Onion as they just don’t look like germinating, Blumen Sapore Italiano. === Pepper Largo De Reus Pairal, More Veg.=== Pepper Quadrato  Asti Rosso, Blumen Sapore Italiano===Carrot Ideal, baby type.. for little first carrots.Suttons===Courgette Black Beauty===Pumpkin Small Sugar===Cucumber Lemon===Leaf Beet Perpetual Spinach, More Veg===Spinach Giant Nobel===

31/3/21                21.2        9.7          4.2

2/4/21                   21.9        2.1          0.3

3/4/21                   27.3        21.9        2.1

4/4/21                   20.1        12.8        1.5          sown === Cauliflower Romanesco, Suttons === Cauliflower Snowball Y Improved, Sow n Grow===  Broccolli Continuity,Suttons === Broccoli Walthan, Sow n Grow=== Kale Vates Blue Scotch Curled, Sow n Grow=== Cabbage or Kale Cavalo Nero di Toscana,  Blumen Sapore Italiano  === Cabbage Winter Jewel, Suttons === Cabbage Savoy Perfection, Sow n Grow=== Green Pepper Pepperone Friggitello, Blumen Sapore Italiano=== Chard Ruby Red, Sow n Grow === Chard Lucullus, Sow n Grow=== Collards Vates, Sow n Grow=== Brussells Sprouts Long Island Improved, Sow n Grow === Arugula, Sow n Grow===  Anise, Sow n Grow===Fennel, Sow n Grow===

March

hyacinths, smell wonderful.

snow on the hills, weather is changeable with some warm days and some not

a good day, out riding.

in the garden, the first little daffodil to flower, its about six inches high, and the purple sprouting broccoli, making a nice colour and providing some to eat, I eat the leaves too, and the last leek, which is a skinny one, but tasty all the same.

vegetable growing advice from Mother Earth News

 https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/crop-guide-growing-organic-vegetables-fruits-zl0z1211zsto?fbclid=IwAR1up-O2KKWYz2RydupMJEFfhScp2hc_G18gXN9AHzTgYWxtsA9q6fbfatc

last Sunday in September

a little late, aubergines just starting to grow now.. its too cold and the green house will be emptied  in a month...

there was a frost this morning, and by the time I was up and out to the car it said 4C. the leaves are turning on the tree and starting to fall.

I halved some apples and put them on the grass.. the birds peck away at them, leaving little empty skins.

in the grass

and colours again. 

I've some nice fat tomatoes to eat, some cherry's too. several fat tomatoes still on the vines in the greenhouse, and a few bunches of cherrys.. still very green. there may be another cucumber by next weekend if it would stay warm enough for them to grow a bit. beans are pulled out, peas might have a bit of life in them, the broccoli is recovering a bit from the caterpiller onslaught now that the cold has taken them away to hibernate. some onions , beetroot and leeks still to pick, but they are fine in the ground for just now. a nice harvest to have re-started with, hopefully get more in next year. some years in the past I did have more than could be used in the moment , so I would freeze some, nice to have something you've grown to eat when all the garden is empty.

the shed got a second coat of protective paint, its about 15 years old I think, so hopefully that'll keep it going for another few years, it needs a couple of patches covered to stop rain getting in when the wind blows. the greenhouse still needs to have something done with it.. but who knows what or when or how, no glaziers to cut glass to the right size, and plastic is expensive. well, maybe next year. I managed with what I had available and that was ok.

 

end of august

 not the clearest photo , but I've eaten it now so can't retake it.... and I've saved some seeds from this one. 

plenty of green ones waiting to ripen in the greenhouse but I think things are being held back by the low temperatures, not enough sun to heat the greeenhouse, and outside is cold and wet. things are still growing, eating sugar snap peas and broad beans.

from the garden

onion, leek, broad bean, sugar snap pea, chives, spinach, celery leaves, cardoman seeds and yellow beetroot, enough vegetables to cook with rice and have a very tasty meal.

a Wildside tomato. xx

 interesting colours too. 

edited.... new interface causing problems...  probably designed for the all intrusive smart phone and not a laptop.........

Canon Camera

My gardening and kayaking friend Fiona has gifted me a second hand camera, its the same as the first good digital that I had, a Canon S2IS, so here we go .... close up Calendula

 and orange too. these have come up from wildflower seeds sown last year.

 Hosta,

 this little viola has seeded itself into the edge of the 'lawn', so I have to mow around it, this is one of the reasons I can't pay to have someone cut my grass for me, they would cut it down....

 Mahonia berries. I think these are edible?

 Wildside's tomatoes, this is the first one, about the size of a thumbnail today.

and another bed planted up... the middle one, with broad beans, sugarsnap peas, peas, asparagus peas, and some marigolds and a couple of begonias, also what was left of the lettuce in the greenhouse, past their best but lettuce can have lovely flowers so they've been given the chance to do that in a corner, if they survive the slugs.....
I've used branches cut from the twisted hazel , over the peas, for them to grow through. 
the bed on the left has done well , I think most things that were planted have survived, you can see the brocolli escaping the fleece, its  not good quality and has been shredding in the wind, but its done its job of protecting the new planting and keeping the cats off.. I'll leave it on a bit longer.

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.

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.

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.

Eating Seasonally | What Can Be Harvested In January (2020)

on the subject of forks.. with  my ''new garden'' I received and expensive spade and fork set from my employers, the fork broke very quickly, the shop replaced it.. it broke again.. the shop replaced it... it broke again.. at that point I told them not to replace it to refund the money.. which was quite a lot.. and I bought the shops own cheap brand for £5 (Homebase). 15years or so later I am still using the Homebase one, and thats a shop thats gone out of business now.

crop !!

one little ripe cherry tomato. very tasty.
it has about six friends waiting to ripen, poor neglected tomato plants.
the greenhouse is still a mess. the garden is .. one thing at a time... might take years to sort.
I did not build the garden in a day... I cannot fix it in a day either.
hey ho
edited to add.... Permaculture... Obtain A Yield..... well I did. lol