Globe Artichoke in detail, plus a full progress report

Life is, currently, getting in the way of me blogging as regularly as I want to.

Thankfully plants don't really need to be photographed every day to grow, nor do they need that much time out of your day (particularly when you're only growing the small amount which I am now.

I had a concept for this blog post; the Globe Artichoke plant is putting on a show at the moment with its large leaves opening and closing depending on the time of day. Unfortunately I have not been able to really capture the variety of leaf positions that I have been observing so you'll just have to take my word for it, and enjoy the two pictures that did come out of the fifteen or so I took.

 This is taken at night and you can see that the leaves are closed up...

... and this was taken the next morning and you can see that the plant is opened up and presenting more surface area to the light.

You managed to avoid an update with purely photographs of the Globe Artichoke but you are not going to avoid the rest of the pictures I have taken just now with some excellent progress for you. So here goes:

First of all this is a Bromeliad; a new flower we just bought from Tesco. It is tropical (so may not do that well up near Mankychester like I am) and you have to water it through the flower, and never directly onto the soil. I just love the bright colour and the contrast with the lovely rich green leaves. This will be a favourite I think.

The other recent purchase isn't quite as exciting but is tastier; this is a shop bought Parsley plant sat on the kitchen windowsill. I need to report this very soon I think.

Moving on to seedlings that are old friends by now, this is the Moneymaker Tomato which has been knocked onto the floor twice so far; as you can see it is very much alive and very much thriving.

The other Moneymaker Tomato is bigger and better established as it hasn't been on the floor at all.

I haven't taken pictures of the blank compost which is both my Gardeners Delight Tomato attempts; for some reason neither seed has germinated and pretty soon I'm going to re-purpose the planters for something else.

The Mint plant is getting back to being a bushy plant, after Sassy ate almost all of it the day she got onto the window sill.

The six Crossley Special Chillis on the front window sill are going great guns and putting more and more leaves out. Pretty soon I may have to consider staking these up as I am sure they will suddenly shoot upwards soon. Quite excited as per last year.

The two Ghost Chillis are looking very healthy indeed; while they aren't going upwards, they are developing a very strong looking set of leaves. They are still in the heated propagator as they are tiny and there is no point in moving them until they start to need more space.

By contrast the Birsdeye Chillis are still very small and haven't even really put out any second leaves; I'm hopeful that this one may have a little nub of a bud and this might indicate some fast development.

The Parsnip seedlings still inside (but maybe going out this weekend?) and showing some signs of sadness. There are also some impressive looking fungi growing which is probably perfect evidence of how much I over watered the poor things when they were in the toilet rolls.

The Carrots are in a similar state of unhappiness and have even bigger fungi. Much props to anyone who can identify the fungus.

The smaller Geranium seedling is now catching up with the first one to appear. I can't wait for this to flower.

Since I have started watering the Foxglove they have really started to thrive so there is a lesson learned; Foxglove does need to have more water than any of the other plants I am growing.

The seed Potatoes are still chitting and I really should get around to planting them soon; the weather does seem warmer now. Hopefully I've not left them too long.

The earlier photographs of the Globe Artichoke were taken at the end of last week, this was taken today; this plant is growing so fast and free. It is just outside the bedroom and I get to water it and appreciate it every morning.

My seed grown Coriander is now fully grown and probably ready for potting up into a bigger containers; this one is the most impressive looking but the rest are all growing fast and strong.

The Begonia tubers are all sprouting now (bar one) but this is the most developed of the four which are sending up growth. I am quite proud of this picture.

Of the other plants inside, there is still nothing from the Echinops Ruthenicus, the Kerela and the other Globe Artichoke which is obviously quite a disappointment but you don't win them all.

Outside the Lettuce is FINALLY starting to grow so maybe in the next month or so I can start eating it direct from the garden; I may start a few more Lettuce plants off in the next week or two, to see how they compare and also to ensure I have replacements.

The Broccoli is also putting on a burst now the weather has improved a bit; I have no idea what to expect from this plant so don't know if it is looking healthy or not.

Finally for this update this is the Onions which are now lagging behind badly. I really do hope these start to shoot up soon because I really love how my Onions last year tasted; they were SO much nicer than any I have ever bought.

So there you have it; a blog post finally and apologies for the slight slacking from myself.

I have some ideas for some other blog posts, including some more about my whisky and an idea I've had for drying chillis.

Thanks for reading.

Moving the Globe Artichoke seedling plus progress

I have managed to get through this busiest of busy weeks. It truly is tough to get time to care for too many plants when you are holding down a full time job, helping run a business at weekends and you also have interests and hobbies which come in during the week.

However, today I have taken off work and so I have been able to get some moving of seedlings done (which I wanted to do on Tuesday) and also get round each pot to check on progress. Frankly I have left it too late for some; the Foxglove, having looked so healthy, today I have noticed had dried out and while it's not all dead most of the seedlings are very wilted; a good watering and back on the propagator for a few days before I decide what to do with them, I think.

But I am getting ahead of myself. My first task was to take the Globe Artichoke seedling and move it out of the propagator; it had got so big that I had to take off the lid of the propagator as the seedling was being squashed down!

This is what it looks like now; there is a hole in one of the leaves but I don't think this is a problem. It also already has second growth starting.

I have picked out a large-ish pot to move it to as it does seem to be growing very fast indeed.

The pot is filled with pre-warmed compost taken from my stash next to the radiator. You can see the hole already dug ready for the seedling to be put into.

And here it is, happily set in it's new home and ready for me to decide which of my over-crowded windowsills it should be put on. hmmm...

So that is the extent of my useful progress this week. I have, as discussed earlier, also got to go round and check on progress for all the other plants so...

I have previously talked a bit about how the Crossley Specials are all looking very happy now but some of the seedlings still have evidence of wilting. This is a picture of one of the seedlings which is like that.

This Crossley Special, however, has no such problems and displays no evidence whatsoever of wilting. It is exciting to see the stalks starting to turn red.

I've not put a picture of the mint for a while because it always just looks like mint. I thought I would today though to show you just how quickly and well it is growing.

This is the Moneymaker Tomato seedling which I managed to throw on the floor a few weeks ago. As you can see it is not showing any signs of distress and even has second growth starting to appear.

The other Moneymaker Tomato is also looking healthy and happy in its self watering planter. Unfortunately I have no sign of any growth at all from the Gardeners Delight Tomatoes so they are obviously not really living up to their name just yet :/

The larger of the two Geranium seedlings is now really starting to look established. Is there anything better than planting a seed and seeing it come to life and grow so well? If there is, I don't know what it is!

The smaller of the Geraniums is also growing well and its leaves are starting to show the shape of a Geranium.

The shop bought Coriander and Chives are still inside after their near miss with the snow and a good thing it is as today it is howling a gale outside and snowing.

A detailed picture of one of the seed grown Coriander. I am so pleased with this each pot now contains a very healthy and happy plant. It may even be time to move the ones I am going to keep into larger containers and give away the others to deserving homes.

Back to chillis, these are the Ghost Chilli seedlings which are still in the propagator and are established now. I think I am going to leave them in there until they get too large, as they obviously appreciate the warmer soil.

The two Birdseye seedlings are still going, but as I am always told by my friend, these do not grow fast or large. It feels like all the growth you see happened over two days and then they have stopped for the last week or so. Strange.

Now coming to what feels like the less successful parts of my experimentation; these are the Parsnips which are, truth be told, not look too weak but still I am not totally confident of a good harvest from these eight plants :/

Even worse are the Carrots which all look sad and droopy. I am going to keep watering them, keep an eye on them, and cross my fingers that this year I get at least ONE Carrot to nibble on.

The Potatoes are still chitting, though since last night I have noticed that where the Rocket was putting out nice white looking shoots they now appear black? hmmm

Finally for this a tray of soil which, honest, contains the Begonia tubers. No signs of life yet but hey, they haven't been planted for that long.

So there you have it; a nice full  update of all the progress made. Currently not giving me any joy at all is (in no particular order) the Kerela, the Echinops Ruthenicus, the other Globe Artichoke seedling, the Gardeners Delight Tomatoes and the Oregano and Sage which I am completely sure is totally never going to grow at all.

Lastly for this update I have taken a picture of our dining room, which I like to call my Nursery. I have the heated propagator on the windowsill, Carrots, Parsnips and Potatoes on the chairs, Coriander, Chives, Geraniums and Tomatoes squeezed in on CD racks and in spaces on the windowsill. There is NOT much space at all!

Cheers

First sight of Birdseye Chillis and other things

So a brief update today, just focused on some progress I spotted which inspired me to take photographs of various green growing things.

I'll get straight into it...

Leading off with the most exciting of the progress, the thing which inspired this whole post. This is the first Birdseye Chilli seedling which appeared literally over night (as they do) and is already 15mm tall. Now I am going to be checking every day for sight of the other seedling.

This is one of the Carrot seedlings I transplanted thinking it was dead. As you can see I was wrong. The white stain is the ring caused by the toilet roll which is now fully buried and rotting away.

The Parsnips are still in their toilet rolls and are growing well; think these will be a transplant job for the weekend.

The two Ghost Chilli seedlings are looking well established and are showing second growth now; from memory this presages a bit of a growth spurt so maybe soon I will have to put these into a larger container too.

The Globe Artichoke seedling which appeared so quickly has continued it's super fast growth and is now almost too big for the heated propagator tray. It's mate still hasn't put in an appearance though.

I'm still waiting for some advice about the Foxglove seedlings, which it seems to me have looked pretty much like this for weeks now. Should I be moving these into a bigger space? Or wait a little longer....?

The Moneymaker Tomato seedling still only with primary leaves but looking strong. The Gardeners Choice have not yet put in an appearance, but the seedling I threw on the floor (not pictured) is actually still alive and well.

The large Geranium seedling which is growing again and slowly shedding the dirt I scattered on it by accident. The smaller seedling is still only in early stages and does not show the leaf style of a Geranium yet.

Last but by no means least this is one of the Crossley Special Chillis. These are now really starting to look strong and healthy and I have a lot of hope for a good crop this year. You can see that it is really starting to put leaves on now and these, as commented earlier, really help to turbo-charge the growth of the plant.

So that is it for now; just a quick update around a few of the seedlings.

I will do a full update at the weekend if I get time.

Keep planting and growing.

*** EDIT ****

I almost forgot, I have a little update on the shop bought Coriander and Chives. If you remember I brought them in because of the snow and they were looking very unwell indeed.

While not looking incredibly healthy I think I can comfortably say the Coriander has survived.

While the Chives are not looking quite as good I think they may survive also.

Thanks to everyone who said encouraging things to me about these plants, including but not limited to my Uncle Alan.

They made it!