This is why I call it my 'Downs' and 'Ups'.

I have been trying to grow more vegetables this year that I have not grown before. But with that comes many failures.

Some failures are due to the fact that I don't know what care and attention is required. These radishes for example. Plenty of foliage, a bit flee bitten but the actual radish is not even worth picking. Of course, until you pick it, you don't know. The ones on the right I had picked out first. I've been told that they need plenty of water. It hasn't rained for over two weeks. My pea bin hasn't quite gone to plan. I have more weeds than peas growing. I think I need to chat more with my fellow gardeners at the allotment and find out where I'm going wrong.

Other failures are due to forces beyond my control. I am talking of the 'Bloody slugs'. I wouldn't mind so much, but they've found a way into the greenhouse. Of over 40 lemon cucumber seeds sown, now only two plants have gotten to a decent size, one at the allotment and one in pot at home. Now to see if any fruit comes from them.

Then there is neglect. I had five globe courgettes that needed moving from the greenhouse to the allotment. This was done over two weeks ago. I haven't been able to get to the allotment since then and it hasn't rain. They are all gone.

Bloody hell! Carrots.

Its not all been bad news. I finally have carrots growing. All I did was prepare the soil, sow the seeds, cover them lightly, water them and sprinkle some slug pellets. I never tried to be organic in the past, it's just that I never wanted to spend the money on slug pellets. They do need to be thinned out, but the fact that they are growing at all seems a shame.

Parsnip jungle taken from ground level

Next up in the 'Doing quite well' category are my parsnips. I'm not sure what's happening underground, but if anything, I'll have plenty of leafs for the compost.

Cauliflower. Sorry about the weeds

Inside the brassica tent, as well as weeds, I have a row of cauliflowers and two rows of savoy cabbage. These I have grown from seed myself rather than buying seedlings from the garden center.

The duel cabbage way. Savoy's

On Thursday I dug up my winter onions and to be honest, I not as pleased with them as I was when I brought them home. You see of 50 onion sets I only came home with 25 onions. Not meaning to sound ungreatful, but I was hoping for a bit better than 50% success. They were looking so good as well. The red onions don't look so bad in comparison.

The first of the years harvest

As you can see there are quite a few strawberries and a handful of potatoes. I have never had this many strawberries I one go and on Friday I had half as much again. As for the potatoes, I was too early with my first Early's.

May look great, but it's bloody hard work

While I was at the allotment on Friday, I cut the only grass path I have which I share with my neighbour. I have inherited this lovely push along lawnmower. It's not so lovely on a hot day trying to cut long grass. What made it easier was hearing the band Kasabian doing a sound check for their home coming gig. And now, while writing this post, I can here the Kasabian playing.

Garden Connect

I now have something growing in every square foot of my Garden Connect bed. The parsnips and onions are really doing well, but not too far behind is the nasturtium. It's growing like a weed. The purple carrots are also growing and in need of thinning. The kale and spinach keep growing, but I'm not sure what to do with them. So if the are past I wouldn't know. Two beetroots are growing nicely as is the only lemon cucumber. We have also enjoyed our first lettuce from the allotment. There is another one coming up, either that, or a dandelion in cunning disguise. And finally I have a French bean coming up. I didn't think I would have any so came prepared. 

Will this bean do?

I know it has been a while since I written a post, but the World Cup is on. We all have our vices. Till next time and thanks for reading.

The lowdown on the Hoe.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Wolf Garten Tools and asked if I would try out one of their tools and post a blog about it. I've never been asked to review anything before now and as you read on, it may be clear why. I have been given, for free, a hoe and I have been trying it out this last week. So what can I say about a hoe that hasn't already been said? Well the hoe I already have is a Dutch style hoe, a cheap one that I have had for a while. It's not very sharp and it never has been. The hoe that I have been given is Swoe style hoe. A bit sharper to start with. As you can see it is a bit different to my original one. It does allow you hoe around your vegetables without having to move backwards and forward all the time, no real hardship but it's nice to know I don't have to.

Not quite getting around the cabbage

Getting all the way around from just one spot

I've done my best to show you the hoe in action, so I hope you can forgive some of the photos.

What I have is a pole which you can swap for different attachments, in this case the hoe. Nothing complicated about changing from one tool to another. Press and hold the yellow button and one attachment is loose, get the next one, slide it into the slot till it clicks and away you go. It is a lot lighter than my original hoe, but in no way do I feel I need to go easy on it. It also feels quite comfortable in my hands while using it. A friend of mine, his father, has had these tools for many years and swears by them. I do hope that the new ones have been made just as well, because I'd like to build on my collection.

I'm only 5'6" so this gives you an idea of reach

I hope this review has been a bit helpful or at least interesting in some way. Till next time and thanks for reading.

I love it when a plant comes together.

Well to be honest, quite a few have really come together. The very fact that I have carrots growing is my best success this year. I will continue to sow carrots the same way next year. All I've really done was sprinkle slug pellets after sowing. A lot of the carrots are small. I was told to thin them out and I can hear a big 'I told you so' from other gardeners.

Beetroot I have grown to like, but it could never count as one of my 'five a day'. You see I only like them sliced thinly and fried. Don't knock it till you've tried it. 

My brassica tent has also done it's job this year, this Savoy cabbage is the first one I've picked so far. Hardly touched by caterpillars at all. I'm still waiting for the cauliflower show.   

Finally the courgettes are still coming. So I quite sure that the food scrap pit is working. That's something else to remember for next year. 

Most of what I've harvested today will be eaten by tonight and mostly roasted. Only a short post today, but I'll soon get back into the swing of things. Till next time and thanks for reading.

Garden Connect update.

The days are starting to get warmer, but with that (and a little rain), the weeds are all over the place. Turn your back for a moment and they are everywhere. So on Sunday, with it being a dry day, I spent the day weeding. An ideal time to give a little update on what is and isn't happening in the 'Garden Connect' bed.

Only one kale plant, but doing well.

Lemon cucumber has lasted a whole week at the allotment

Another nasturtium has come up

Golden sunrise tomatoes. Sorry, I've cheated a bit

The parsnips are going crazy

Spinach big and really small

Just one lettuce at the moment even though keep sowing more seeds

I'm finally getting some purple carrots

No worries with the onions

And finally, just two beetroots

You will notice that there are no french beans or sweet peppers. The French beans just don't seem to be growing, it doesn't matter what I do. The sweet peppers aren't quite ready to be planted out yet. I have taken no chances as regards the slugs, I have dotted the whole plot, not just the 'Garden Connect' bed. As a result, the courgettes are settling in, I have a row of carrots and beetroots which need to thin out, a row of leeks well established and strawberries are on their way.

This one's about the size of a ping pong ball 

I did clear most of the weeds on the plot and after four or five hours in the sunshine I also got a bit of sunburn on my arms. Till next time and thanks for reading.

A bad and good day.

I have to start with an apology. It is all regarding my paper pots. I've just planted out my sweet corn sown in paper pots. It didn't quite work as well as it had for me in the past, and for this reason I have deleted the 'Paper pots' blog post. I have either missed something out in making them or I got lucky in the past. I do hope that if anyone has tried my method, they have better luck than I have. I am truly sorry.

So, bad day and good day. The bad day started of with the paper pot disaster. Not only did the paper pots not come out as they had done in the past, basically they didn't want to come out and when they finally did, it practically fell to bits, but also walking round to the allotment with a tray of seedlings, the little bit of wind we have had today bent the stems. But I carried on regardless. I don't hold out much hope for sweet corn this year what with the roots having been disturbed, I will just have to wait and see.

Now for a bit of good news, the courgette that was eaten by slugs two weeks ago has sprung back to life. Not only that, but another courgette seeds has popped up in the greenhouse and thinking that the first one was long gone, I took it with me to plant out. I also have some globe courgette coming up. I think I need to find some room for it all.

Now this may not really look like much but if you look closer, I have for the first time a proper row of carrots. You can also see a few slug trails, but these are the trails of dying slugs all thanks to the slug pellets. I think I counted about twenty dead slugs.

A mixture of good and bad regarding the lemon cucumber, the good is after I removed the slug eaten seedlings a few weeks ago, I resown some more which when I checked them earlier in the week where coming along fine. However, when I checked them this morning, yes you've guessed it, another slug had found its way in and started to eat the new seedlings. I caught him in the act and he didn't get to finish.

Things should be growing faster now that it is getting warmer and I'm looking forward to bringing some veg home soon. But until then, till next time and thanks for reading.

Bloody slugs.

I wanted to write a more strongly worded title, but that would have put my blog in a  more, 'Warning, Adult Content' category, due to the profanity I would like to use toward this pest.

Lemon cucumbers all gone.

On Friday there was a break in the weather and I went to look at what was happening in the greenhouse. The sweet corn are coming up nicely, at the second attempt, the Brussel sprouts have finally germinated and I have more cucumber seedling than I will have room for. All seems to be well in my growing world, I just needed to check the propergator where I have my lemon cucumbers. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, all 24 seedlings have been eaten, some, below soil level. I was a bit angry to say the least. It's not like I can nip down to the local shops to buy more of these seeds. I set about looking for the culprit, not holding out much hope, but there, in the lip of the propergator lid was the little bugger, snoozing after his hearty meal. His execution was swift and painless. I still have seedlings growing fit and well, and more seeds to sow.

What's left of the courgette.

They say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place and that is very true. You see, it struck at the allotment. Last week I planted out a marrow, pumpkin and courgette. I took the procourtion to cover them with a cloche. That was no deterrent to a slug. I wouldn't have minded so much, but not only am I trying out an experiment with the courgettes, it was also the only one that grew out of the whole packet of seeds. I suppose as luck would have it, in the gardening magazine I buy, a packet of courgette seeds came as a freebie along with some others. They are the globe variety, Tondo di Piacenza, so it will be interesting to see what I get, if anything. I just have to make sure I have slug pellets at the ready.

Potatoes looking better.

It wasn't all bad news this week. Only a bit of weeding needed to be done. The potatoes have recovered from their touch of frost, the parsnips are soldiering on, as to are the onions and I am pretty sure I have some leeks coming along. Either that or some blades of grass growing right where I planted the leeks. I've also sown a row of swede today.

The poly tunnel I found a few weeks ago has been torn to ribbons this week, so I've put some netting over my 'Garden Connect' bed. Not much to report on this side of things this week. I was talking to a fellow 'Garden Connect' buddy, Suffikboi, this week regarding the lemon cucumber. We have put in a lot of effort so far sourcing them, sowing and generally looking after them as best we can. But what if we don't like the taste? He has tasted them and liked it. I'll just have to wait and see for myself. If not as he said, they could make unusual gifts. I could always put a slice in a Gin & Tonic. Till next time and thanks for reading.

All part of the learning process.

Who would have thought that I would encounter two different problems at opposite ends of scale. Let me elaborate. We have had unseasonally frosty nights lately which has affected the potatoes, but also during the day the sun has been out which has turned most of the peas to mush before the have germinated.

Caught by the frost

Mushy peas

Regarding the potatoes, I was told by a friend that if I cut off the frost affected leaves, the rest of the potato plant should be OK. They even gave me a pair of scissors, which was rather kind of them. As for the peas, with me using a sheet of perspex on top of the bin acting as a greenhouse, they have been cooked. It turns out that peas don't mind a bit of cold. So off with the perspex and on with the twigs to protect what has germinated from the birds. I have put some more peas in to fill in the gaps.

Sorry about the finger in this photo

A few members of the squash family were planted today, one courgette, one pumpkin and one marrow. The courgette was planted in a pit that I'd put kitchen scraps in. Courgettes are supposed to be greedy plants and just rotting waste is what they like. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I've also resown a row of beetroots and I've put in a row of carrots. For the first time on my plot since I've had it, I've put down slug pellets. They have been put around the strawberry patch, brassicas bed, newly sown beetroot and carrots, and also around my Garden Connect bed.

Garden Connect

I haven't mentioned anything to do with Garden Connect for a while and I'm living up to my title. There are 'Downs' and 'Ups'. 

Of five seeds, just one has germinated.

Same story with the beetroots.

No worries with the onions.

I did have more lettuce seedlings growing, but the slugs got them.

Got one spinach doing ok.

As with the onions, the parsnips are fab.

The purple carrot seedlings have all disappeared, so they have been resown. At home, the French beans in the greenhouse haven't germinated, so I've tried them again. It's all part of the learning process. Till next time and thanks for reading.