Planting Upward and Onwards

Filled up the newly constructed 'salad box' with compost.

Planted up ...

Tomato plants - two Money Makers, one Beefsteak (bought today) and an Alicante.  Still have a couple of tomatoes plants to find a home - another Money Maker and one Black Cherry.  Seedlings are starting to sprout so will also have some normal cherry tomatoes too.

Courgette plant - bought on Saturday, which is getting munched by slugs and snails already.  Surprisingly one of the courgettes I planted is finally starting to come through.

Three cucumber plants (bought today) - outdoor ones.  Giving up on the seeds I'd planted.  I also have a yellow, cucumber plant.

Peas - not something I'd usually grow but I bought a pot today and will see what happens.  More likely to be slug fodder.

The second sowing of runner beans are just starting to come through.  The four other plants are growing strongly and will get planted up as soon as I get hold of some well rotted manure.

Planted up some more mangetout from a freshly purchased packet.  Hopefully these will do better than the last lot and not take too long to come up.

Sifted out a load of compost to fill up pots and container from the second bin - along with a load of bindweed - it gets everywhere unfortunately.

Plumpton College - Plant Sales

A few additions to add to the vegetable garden for this year, picked up at Plumpton College yesterday.  Grown by the students at the agricultural college and on sale at their Open Day.

Two tomato plants - way ahead of the one's I've sown - which haven't emerged yet.  A 'black' cherry tomato and good old Moneymaker.

Two chilli peppers - one 'Big Jim', a large variety (as it's name suggests) and a 'Jalapeno'.  We'll see what transpires.

The basil and chive seeds are just starting to come through - no sign of anything else yet.

It's always exciting at this time of year - lots of starter plants and seeds starting to grow and it won't be long until they're growing away and hopefully just a few weeks when they're being picked.

Peppers and Chillies

Lovely crop of peppers this year - although they're certainly not up to the sort of quality control that the large supermarkets would be looking for.

They're also not very big, although they've all come from just one small plant.

I love the fact that their shapes are so different, I'm sure they'll taste fine and have a great flavour.

Also had a good crop of chillies - haven't yet found out how fiery they are but they look good.

Today's Haul

A nice selection of cherry tomatoes and one or two small plums (tomatoes that is) and a cucumber.  Possibly going to be the last of the year as the tomato plants are dying back as it gets cooler and many of them are split with the recent rain.

Still a few cucumbers growing on the plants and the chillies are reddening up.  Not sure the green peppers are going to grow much more - they're a petite variety!

The courgettes have all but given up - as usual I didn't get very many - despite the addition of horse manure in their pots this year and regular feeding.

Wondering what might happen with the potatoes I planted.  A bit of a try it and see, as I put a couple of tubers in an old dustbin and when they finally emerged, have been earthing them up.  I noticed there's one that's grown up in the compost heap.  The squash I planted on top of the old heap never made it beyond a few inches before being eaten by slugs.

Debating planting up some purple sprouting broccoli for over the winter - I spotted a few plants in a local nursery.  Don't have the space for anything larger - like cabbage or sprouts but some winter veg might be nice for a change.

Developing Fruits

It seems like ages but the tomatoes are finally forming and I know I'll have a glut soon as I have so many tomato plants.

As usual, I've not been that good at pinching out the side shoots so I have a rambling mass of tomato plants sprawled across the patio.  The cherry toms in pots are looking slightly more ordered.  Most of them were seedlings.

I've also got a few sweet peppers and chillies expanding nicely.

January Update

There's not a lot happening out in the garden at the moment. My purple sprouting broccoli hasn't sprouted or at least the little seedlings that emerged haven't grown any further, so no luck there.

The baby squash remained babies and the cold, wet weather has now put paid to them. Will certainly get them planted out earlier this year.

The cats are continuing to use their large litter tray but at least it keeps them out of the rest of the garden. I finally picked a handful of the small red chillies but haven't used them yet. Tiny but they could pack a punch.

Now - I suppose I should be starting to get some of those seeds planted.

October Update

Well, I have to say that the vegetables this year haven't been that successful. My chilli plant has produced some minute chillies and a couple of them have now turned red. Although they're meant to be small, I think they're meant to be slightly larger than a cherry.

As I've mentioned the runner beans have been competing with the snails - although didn't do too badly in the end and I got some lovely straight bean, so I'll definitely be growing them again next year. Although I will put them slightly earlier and hope that I have more success growing them from seed.

The tomatoes took a bit of a battering with the wind and ended up being blown over and crawling rather than climbing. What tomatoes did ripen were mainly small, with only one bush actually bearing any standard sized tomotoes. The sungold variety in the hanging basket was delicious but suffered from the dry weather.

The courgettes have been a bit of a disappointment. After a promising early start with a few good fruits they suffered from heat, slugs and snails. Never seem to get the right mix of water and nutrients to keep them coming.

Salads were good and it's lovely to pop outside and pick a few leaves for lunch. They're coming to an end now and going to seed, although I'll keep picking.

This month is mainly going to be about tidying up the plants that have grown up over the summer, turning the compost heap - one of the bins is full with new stuff, the other has been rotting down over the summer.

And Even More Rain ...

Another downpour this weekend has given the garden a good soaking. Fortunately, not as much rain as they've had further north where they've had severe flooding. A couple of heavy showers and there's plenty of water to fill all the barrels and top up the pond.

Unfortunately the slugs and snails are now starting to have a go at the runner bean plants and two of them have been almost totally stripped. Hopefully the others are growing fast enough to withstand the onslaught - or the blue pellets will have to come out again.

The beetroot - such as they are - are growing well, even the chard is starting to look more chard-like but the carrots and radish are barely there - in fact I can't distinguish anything that looks vaguely like a radish seedling, so have given up on them.

Have now planted up a chilli pepper, cucumber and squash and will keep fingers crossed that they don't get devoured either. Out with the garlic spray again.