Avoiding the mice

cabbages and cauliflowers for autumn

 It seems like we're back to Winter or early Spring sowing seeds in the back porch instead of in the greenhouse or open ground. But we've had a lot of seeds dug up and eaten recently, probably by mice, so decided to keep the re-settings safe from harm. The peas and beans seem to attract them most but they also dug up brassica seedlings and left bean husks in the pots!

peas

Homegrown seedlings from homegrown seed

sweet peas

marigolds

 It's not that unusual to save flower seed to set the next year - things like sweet peas or marigolds which grow easily.

broad beans

Nor to save beans and peas 

but this year, I'm taking things a little further

late last summer I gathered up seed from a whole host of veg and now it's set and growing

Brussels sprouts 

a 'winter mix' of salad leaves

lettuce

even beetroot

Hopefully there'll be lots of doubly free veg in a few months time - and more seed to gather for next year

A week of contrasts

Despite sunny weather over the weekend, and a bright ill-omened Groundhog Day, this was the appalling sight that met us at the allotment on Monday. Fortunately once we'd diverted round by another path, our plot was comparatively dry. Hubby got a little digging done and set some Sparkler radish under a cold frame while I went round picking broccoli, brussels, spinach and radishes. As we were leaving, I spotted some rhubarb roots being offered free to good homes, so we now have two more. Can't have too much rhubarb!
At home, in Tuesday's sunshine, I started to clear the garden - lots of dead stalks needed to be tidied up to let the snowdrops through and a small area of the veg patch dug and weeded ready for sowing, though that probably won't be till next month.
After that the weather turned wet though I did manage some brief pottering around on Friday which was cold but dry. Clearing up at home has had to stop for a while as the compost bin is full again! When it's decomposed for a while, I'll carry on with the weeding.

Picked- and sown - this week - 26th January 2014

 A mixed bunch of brussels sprouts, kale and spinach

and three very small cabbages, only about 4 inches across at most.






Starting to get into the swing of sowing - broad beans in pots in the home greenhouse, and leeks and onions in a propagator. Still a bit worried about having too much growing while there's a possibility of frost and snow.

A couple of firsts

 The first crocus bringing a spot of sunshine to a dull day

and the first of this year's seedlings through - Moneymaker Tomatoes.

Sowing seeds for Summer

This morning's dampness gave way to an afternoon of sunshine which encouraged me to potter off to the shed and sort out the trays and compost for seed sowing. I'm starting off with one propagator of four quarter-trays; one each of moneymaker tomato, long purple aubergine, cayenne chilli peppers and Italian yellow peppers. I've set about a dozen seeds to each tray so if they all come up I may have a few too many but they're all rather old seeds so I think they aren't all likely to grow.

Garlic planting

It's time to get the garlic planted so in-between the rain I found time to clear a small patch of garden that had been a brassica seed-bed, and plant out the garlic bulbs.
These aren't the nice fat bulbs found on sale in shops but the wizened inedible bits and pieces left hanging round the kitchen. Not all of them will grow and the amount of garlic produced isn't going to be anything like the quantity I'd get from new bulbs - but it's free and it saves me just throwing these scraps away.

Seedlings for Spring

It's just Autumn and here I am thinking about Spring already! 

I have small Flower of Spring cabbage seedlings growing and recently pricked out into bigger pots, and these lettuce seedlings which I'm really pleased with.

They're grown from seed I collected myself from last winter's red lettuce - Sioux, I think.

It's the first time I've tried harvesting lettuce seed and I'm amazed how many seedlings have come through. I'm starting to realise how much money I've spent unnecessarily on seed in the past!

At least I won't spend so much in future!

Home grown seed

Over summer and autumn, I went round all sorts of plants collecting seed. I've regularly done this for flowers such as sweet peas and nasturtiums, and for beans and peas, but I'm now trying to save money by collecting other veg seed as well. I was a bit doubtful about how well this would work but it has!

These are kale seedlings and those below are early purple sprouting broccoli. I'm really pleased with the success rate from them. I set too many expecting some to fail but I don't think I needed to worry.

I have more harvested seed to try - radish and perpetual spinach among them - so I'm hoping those grow as well as these have.

Spring Seed Sowing

 Spring is at last looking like it's here. Daffodils and crocus are flowering at last, the sun is putting in a hazy appearance so it seems like time to get out and do some gardening.






 I've quite a hoard of free packets of seeds that how been waiting a while to be sown so today I've cleared and raked ground and sprinkled the seed liberally about. Tomorrow's rain should get them off to a good start and next week's forecast is for really warm weather.

I just hope my little helper hasn't eaten all the seeds before they start to grow!

Crossing fingers and hoping for Spring...

I have lots of small seedlings - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers - up and growing on windowsills around the house and a porch full of harder stuff - cabbages, onions, sweet peas.  All of these were set back in February when I expected Spring to take its normal course and I'd be able to move the more hardy out to the greenhouse by now but frosts have returned, anything that can be moved back in the house has been and we're desperate fro some milder weather.
Still, I'm crossing my fingers that now we're at the equinox, the weather must turn and so I spent yesterday afternoon sowing courgettes and more peppers. With the heating still on full blast, they'll get off to a nice warm start in their propagator in the airing cupboard and hopefully by the time the shoots appear I'll have windowsill space for them.

Pretending Spring has arrived.

Almost magically, overnight, the snow melted and this week was mostly lovely and sunny - though with a very chill wind at times. I decided to at last get round to pricking out the straggly spring onions into a larger tray.

 I also thought it was time to start sowing seed - some Bedfordshire Champion onions and Winter Salad leaves that were free with a gardening magazine, and the delicate sorts of plants - tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and chillies - that take forever to grow.
Down at the allotment, I set some radish and carrots in the polytunnel greenhouse, hoping they'll grow and crop before it's needed for cucumbers and such.

Busy busy

 Having a busy week in both allotment and garden.

I've lifted my 'accidental' crop of garlic - which is what you get if you don't lift all the roots! It's looking rather good though.

.

Started pulling the winter onions - I've left these a bit too late and they're starting to run to seed - and the last of the leeks which are almost heading the same way

Pulling more spring cabbage which unfortunately is so nice and tender that all the slugs are feasting off it - and I feel like I'm throwing away more than I dare eat. There were also a couple of very small, very ragged looking cauliflowers. I'd hoped they'd do better than this so bending over leaves and keeping fingers crossed for the rest of the row.

Setting MORE seeds. I thought we were starting to run out of space even with a whole allotment to use - expected French and borlotto beans to need to wait till broad beans or potatoes were lifted. But now we have a whole new bit of ground to play with so I've been sowing more sweetcorn, blue lake french beans, cabbage, brussels, cauliflower and red kale(some of this may stay at home as ornamental food). I've gone back to sowing in trays of seed compost as anything trying to grow out in the garden at the moment is being chewed up by slugs and snails.

Ready for Spring....

I've managed at last to make it as far as the greenhouse to check on seedlings there - all looking well under the fleecey wrappers.

Freezing temperatures and heating turned up means the indoor seeds have been kept warm so I now have onions, tomatoes, aubergines and peppers peeping through.

All this late snow is going to slow things down outside and we don't want to wait too long for new season veg, so yesterday we set broad beans in pots in the back porch to keep warm and start growing while the ground is still too cold.

Sowing for Summer

It's cold this week, frost forecast, possibly a little snow but the sun was shining this afternoon so I decided it was time to start sowing seed.
I set the first last week - ailsa craig onions. Today was the turn of hot weather veg (or are they all fruits?) - tomatoes, peppers, chillies and aubergines. All in small pots in a propagator and then in the bottom of the airing cupboard which will be nice and warm as the heating needs to be on.
Now I just need to sit back and wait for Summer.

sowing seed

seems a strange time of year for it but we've been sowing seed this last week. some radish into a small patch of cleared ground. all year round lettuce, apollo spinach and offenham flower of spring cabbage in seed trays. hope to remember to set all year round cauliflower and advantage cabbage in a week or so. all brassicas are for overwintering. the others should crop later this year with luck.

sowing again

seed sowing again- carentan leeks, bridge brussels and merveille des quatres saisons lettuce in the greenhouse.

seeds and mice

warmer day yesterday so back to sowing seeds. two sorts of carrots - mini Amsterdam3 and full size Nantes2 - and scarlet globe radish out in the garden under a fleece cover, boltardy beetroot in plug pots in the greenhouse and sweet crunch cucumbers and super roma tomatoes in the propagator.

meanwhile overnight, something -probably a mouse - has been digging holes in the broad bean pots. luckily the seeds are sprouting and look untouched. put sprigs of holly around them now which is supposed to deter mice.

the overwintering peas also look nibbled through, though could be just broken by weekend's snow.

lifting leeks

lifted the first (hopefully) of the leeks. we always grow the over-wintering varieties, sowing in spring, growing in a seed bed over summer when we're short of space and then planting out in September, to be ready to crop late winter/spring.

seeds and seedlings

a warmer day, or at least less cold, but a real feel of Spring in the air this afternoon. onion seeds now coming through so I've moved them to the windowsill. setting flower seeds today - veronica longifolia, diascia and rudbeckia indian summer - and some more peppers and chillies.