Earthing up Potatoes plus flowers and outside progress

As mentioned in my last blog post the Potatoes have grown really well and had actually started falling over out of the bags...

I have today got round to filling the remainder of each bag up with compost and standing them up a bit prouder:

The falling down Potatoes. One thing I really do wish I had done is make the wooden Potato planter idea which I have linked to elsewhere and, when I get a chance, will look up the link and put it here. They have grown so well it would have been nice to have been able to care for them a little more as these little bags really are NOT big enough at all.

This is one of the Potato plants (not sure which variety) which has been lifted and supported better by the addition of more soil around it. Hopefully this will also fill with Potatoes.

Whilst I was outside I took a few progress pictures; this is the Foxglove which is looking like at least one of the plants has survived; it will not grow fast enough for me to see a result however I think I have learned a bit and will be planting many of these in my next garden.

This is the bed with the Coriander in it, with the shop bought one clear at the front, and the stringy seed grown plants looking wind blown, but if you look closely showing signs of green returning to them. I am confident these will now take and provide herbs next year.

This slightly blurry picture is the Chives which have definitely taken and will now probably go mad like the ones before at my old garden.

Finally for this brief update I have got flowers on my Begonias which are on my bedroom windowsill right next to my head as I sleep so I am now getting some nice whiffs off them (which makes a difference, in my bedroom I can tell you...)

This Begonia just has one flower on it but it is very pretty indeed.

This one is slightly larger and is covered in flowers. I hope that these will live for more than one year; it would be nice to have these every year.

Anyway, that's me for today.

Keep growing, keep reading

Some long delayed planting out and potting up

After no blogs for ages, now two in two days!

This is blog about some jobs that I have been putting off for many weeks indeed; two tasks which have probably directly contributed to a lower yield this year and two the death of maybe more than one plant.

First of all, my seed grown Coriander has been sat on the front windowsill since I separated the tiny seedlings into five distinct clumps and it grew well there (as you will see if you look back through the blogs) however a month or so ago it started getting too straggly and dry and ever since I have been planning on planting it outside; the second part of this plan was to put the Gardeners Delight Tomato plants (yes, plants; I  now have another seedling showing finally; more proof of the benefit of patience) onto this window as they are lagging badly behind the Moneymakers.

So, without any more blah blah blah words here are the pictures...

The five clumps of seed grown Coriander looking dry, covered in flowers, and seed blown; I think these have just got too dry with me only being able to water them twice a day.

Here is a picture of a hole. Yep. I want to excite you THAT much...

And here is the final result of the potting out of the five clumps of seed grown Coriander planted out around the established shop bought Coriander.

This picture is one of many which I took while planting out the Coriander; there must have been about thirty or forty bees clustered around the flowers on this bush all busily collecting pollen. In this picture you can see two of them near the middle of the picture; fantastic.

While I was outside I took the opportunity also of taking some pics of the other growth and progress...

First of all the exploding Potato plants which have completely filled their planters; I am going to struggle now to earth these up; this is going to be a challenge for tomorrow not today though. I am just very pleased they are growing so well after the total failure of last year.

The Lettuce has been shaded slightly by the Potato plants so they are looking a little yellow here; I have now moved them and watered them and will pay more attention I think.

The onions are growing and growing well; I cannot work out how the bulbs will be developing in there but hey.

Oh look it is a lot of Broccoli...

The other task which I have been putting off for ages was potting the Ghost Chilli Pepper from the heated propagator tray where it has been stalling in its growth; sadly while I was away on holiday the second seedling died.

I have some warmed compost on the left, and the Ghost Chilli Pepper tray on the right.

The surviving Ghost Chilli is looking quite strong here but, to its right, you can see the shriveled remains of its brother which didn't survive my holiday.

The Ghost Chili in it's new plant pot.

I have now moved the Ghost Chilli and the two Gardeners Delight Tomato plants onto the front windowsill so they get more sun during the days; hopefully this will cause some fruit to develop on these three plants.

Anyway, there we are; my update.

More soon

Flowers of Spring

Today I have a short but very sweet update for you.

With Spring (or is it Autumn) finally upon us I have some very nice flowers on a couple of my plants which I thought you may be interested in seeing.

The Citrus flowers which I spotted and posts a photograph about have now started to open and are looking very pretty; there are a LOT of flowers but this was the best picture I took.

The Citrus Tree is still growing well as you can see; with lots of new growth. I am tempted to prune this down at some point.

The seed grown Coriander has probably not been watered enough as it has started putting out tiny little white flowers on the top of each plant.

Well, that was the flower excitement... now for some more normal update pictures:

The late starting Gardeners Delight Tomato seedling has put out more leaves and is growing fast. Hopefully it will catch up and produce some fruit. There is still nothing at all from the other seed yet.

Both Geranium plants are looking very similar; they have very large leaves now which are soaking up whatever sun comes to them on the windowsill.

The five Begonia plants are all enjoying the new experience of having sun on them.

The Birdseye Chilli seedlings are really weedy and pathetic looking still. I really am not sure why they are so sickly still but I have moved them to a more sunny location so fingers firmly crossed.

Last but not least the Globe Artichoke is now really quite tall and seems to be thriving. Each new leaf seems more spiky than the last. I am quite excited about what will happen next and when the "globe" part of its name will become apparent.

Anyway, that's all for today. Thanks for reading and remember to keep growing your own

Bank Holiday Excitement

Happy bank holiday people.

And what a lovely day it has been. Who says bank holidays are always rainy and horrible.

The sun shining in through my bedroom window this morning encouraged me to get loads done today and, as such, this blog post is super long so I'll crack on with it without any more fuss.

First task for the day was to plant out the shop bought Coriander and Chives, and the Foxgloves.

It's the first outing of the year for the All Steel Spade, here after the planting hole (slightly too deep as it happened) for the Chives has been dug.

The Chives plant (not looking very healthy but worth planting out) watered in to its new home.

I dug a shallow trench for the Foxglove and put potting compost into the bottom of it.

The Foxglove nestled into the trench and with dirt tamped down around it.

Digging the planting hole for the Coriander with the All Steel Spade

The Coriander watered in and tamped down with dirt.

The three plants bedded down into the soil; you will notice that I have deliberately not taken all the weeds away; this is down to inspiration from The One Straw Revolution which is a book I got for my birthday and have read through without any pause; I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The lettuce are starting to actually look like lettuce now.

This is the broccoli, almost unrecognisable from the tiny little plants that were all that were there before the sun finally came out and they have exploded into life.

The Onion spikes are still tiny but they are growing again I think.

Today I also moved the Carrots and the Parsnips outside (I have put a cover over each to stop birds taking the seedlings) so hopefully these will now also start to thrive.

A panoramic photo of the growing things in the back garden. From left to right: Coriander, Foxglove and Chives in the bed, Broccoli and Onions in the terracotta pots, Parsnip and Carrot in the square white, Lettuce in the round white and finally the Potatoes in the green planters.

So, that is the update and planting from outside. The next thing I achieved today was last week I saved some seeds from a Pepper I used whilst cooking.

The Pepper seeds saved from cooking last week drying on kitchen paper.

All the seeds separated from the casings and ready for planting or storing.

I've used my last empty TicTac box for the Peppers.

I have planted four Pepper seeds into my empty Heated Propagator trays.

The Heated Propagator is now on the bedroom windowsill which gets more direct sunlight than the dining room window which is effected by the kitchen extension blocking the sun.

The two Ghost Chilli seedlings in the sun; I am sure that with the increase in direct light these will have a growth spurt.

The Birsdeye Chillis have now started showing some second and third growth and as such are looking much healthier than they were a few weeks ago.

Three Crossley Special chillis in a location which gets solid afternoon sun and demonstrating just how much they enjoy the sun; shortly these will have to be staked soon to stop them collapsing as they have started to do so.

One of the most exciting updates is the Citrus plant has suddenly got LOADS of flowers on it; fingers crossed all of these will turn into fruit. I am expecting to have to self-pollinate, but maybe I'll just keep opening the window next to it.

This is the middle Begonia seedling, and I picked this picture to show the tiny hairs on the stalk .

All five Begonia seedlings with two very well established at the edges, and the others much smaller; the picture above is of the seedling in the middle of this tray.

This detail of the Bromeliad shows how the red leaves start brightest at the centre, and as they spread out and down they start to lose their red colouration and turn green (look to the bottom left of the picture).

The Gardeners Delight seedling which has finally sprouted has already put out second growth; I think this is going to sprint now to catch up with its Moneymaker brothers.

And here is one of its brothers; the Moneymaker Tomato.

Lastly for this monster length update this is the Dining Room window sill now; with (left to right) Moneymaker Tomato, Geranium, Gardeners Delight Tomato (not sprouted yet), another Geranium and finally the Gardeners Delight Tomato which has sprouted.

So, there you are; it's that exciting time of year when everything starts growing and gardeners get outside after the freezing cold of our extended winter.

I did take some other pictures of the trees in the garden showing shoots but thought you'd probably have enough pictures to look at here.

Keep growing, keep reading.