Waking up this morning to bright sunshine (for what seems like the first time this year) I was filled with the feeling of twitchy fingers wanting to get out and do something in the garden.
I also noticed last night that the coriander is showing some corrugation on it's second growth which is great progress.
So today, I have some close up pictures of the progress my plants are making, now the snow has gone and spring feels like it is in the air *smiley face*
Coriander starting to show second growth, with the tell-tale corrugated leaves proving that yes, those tiny little specs which I planted all those weeks ago actually WERE coriander seeds. Soon I will be splitting these seedlings up into separate pots and will be able to give a few away to people (which I always like doing; sharing is caring as they say).
The mint has put up several new shoots, and this it the tip of one of them. The main growth that was there when I bought it is doing it's creeping-thing, leaning over and spreading across the windowsill. As soon as I am confident there will be no more frosts then this will be good to go outside.
A tiny lettuce seedling; however, the second growth is finally visible and from experience once you see that, it is about to go nuts and grow like the clappers. I'm so impressed this has survived all that snow, but I won't be planting that early again because there is just no point. I'm going to be checking this very regularly though as I reckon it will grow fast from now on.
The onions. There are a few clumps like this coming up, both from areas which were under the cloche and those which were not covered up. I hope that in the next month or two these are to a state where I can pull them as young onions and add them to a salad, maybe with the first of the lettuce leaves.
The broccoli, not really any different to what it was the week or two before the snow fell. Something looks like it is nibbling at the leaves too; it looks toothed rather than slug-shaped but I have no idea what could be doing that? Any ideas?
This is something I really cannot believe; all through the winter this plant has been producing beautiful looking oranges like these. And, as you've seen in previous blog posts, it has been putting height on in leaps and bounds over the last four weeks. I am really excited about how big it will get over the summer. Watch this space.
I also woke up with an urge to plant and so I have opened and set out the Basil and Oregano pot which was part of my Christmas present.
The unopened packet, with a very attractive wooden planter pair.
The package containing the Basil. Two bags of "planting material" (according to the packet) and a TINY packet of minuscule seeds.
The package containing the Oregano. A similar amount of "planting material" and a tiny packet containing slightly larger, but still little, seeds.
Planting material in the containers, "generously watered" and the seeds buried about 6mm under the surface. These are now sitting on our bedroom window, as this gets a lot of sun, and as per usual I am now waiting with great excitement to see the first green shoots. You can guarantee that I will be looking every single morning and you will be informed the minute something shows.
Finally this week I ordered the flower seeds to encourage pollinators to come to my garden. They are supposed to arrive this week so next weekend I could be quite busy (and my girlfriend quite annoyed as the house turns into a garden nursery).
I hope you are all out there starting to get busy in your gardens and getting ready for an exciting year or growing and producing food so you don't have to buy low quality low taste low fun supermarket junk.
Enjoy :)
Showing posts with label Basil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Basil. Show all posts
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Kitchen Herb Garden Update
So, as promised, I have an update that I have been planning for quite a long time.
You may remember that I saved a couple of plastic trays that meat comes in from a supermarket, put some soil in them, and planted a couple of different herbs in each compartment.
Also, my girlfriend bought some Greek herbs for a dish one day, which I added to the windowsill collection.
I have had a mixed bag of results, and here is my report:
The Greek herbs, a little brown but still smelling INCREDIBLE
The Rosemary (in the back compartment) never grew at all, but the Thyme is looking good.
The Sage has managed to grow two relatively successful plants.
The Basil was growing ok, but then died (I didn't let it die, this happened despite regular watering and careful care).
As you can see, this has not been a raging success, and I haven't yet actually used any of these herbs (such as I have grown) in any cooking.
I would like, here, to pass on a couple of tips that I have been told by various people in response to some of the questions I have posted on this blog over the last few weeks.
First of all, regarding harvest time for parsnips, apparently they should be pulled after the first frost.
Secondly, regarding onions, apparently if you sow with seeds in autumn, and leave the sets in the ground, next year you get even better onions.
So there you are, a couple of hints for you.
Enjoy, back tomorrow.
Edit thanks to @clareyh for the following:
"Did you know not to water basil until it droops? And it hates having wet feet!"
and
"Best one I had I put in a large pot with 2"gravel at bottom and only watered when it was drooping Lasted 3yrs on windowsill 13" high"
So now we know why my basil is dead dead dead :( oh well, better luck next year :)
You may remember that I saved a couple of plastic trays that meat comes in from a supermarket, put some soil in them, and planted a couple of different herbs in each compartment.
Also, my girlfriend bought some Greek herbs for a dish one day, which I added to the windowsill collection.
I have had a mixed bag of results, and here is my report:
The Greek herbs, a little brown but still smelling INCREDIBLE
The Rosemary (in the back compartment) never grew at all, but the Thyme is looking good.
The Sage has managed to grow two relatively successful plants.
The Basil was growing ok, but then died (I didn't let it die, this happened despite regular watering and careful care).
As you can see, this has not been a raging success, and I haven't yet actually used any of these herbs (such as I have grown) in any cooking.
I would like, here, to pass on a couple of tips that I have been told by various people in response to some of the questions I have posted on this blog over the last few weeks.
First of all, regarding harvest time for parsnips, apparently they should be pulled after the first frost.
Secondly, regarding onions, apparently if you sow with seeds in autumn, and leave the sets in the ground, next year you get even better onions.
So there you are, a couple of hints for you.
Enjoy, back tomorrow.
Edit thanks to @clareyh for the following:
"Did you know not to water basil until it droops? And it hates having wet feet!"
and
"Best one I had I put in a large pot with 2"gravel at bottom and only watered when it was drooping Lasted 3yrs on windowsill 13" high"
So now we know why my basil is dead dead dead :( oh well, better luck next year :)
Monday, 21 May 2012
A kitchen windowsill herb garden
I have been planning on using some of those plastic trays that food comes on nowadays as planters for some "picking" herbs to sit on the kitchen windowsill, and today I got the 10 mins I needed to get this done.
I filled each tub half full with compost
And then planted, by dibbing a 5mm hole, a couple of seeds in each hole. I have Rosemarry, Thyme, Sage and Basil (last not pictured)
And finally watered each bed liberally.
All four are now sat on my windowsill; I will report back on progress.
In other news I have planted a couple of planters with Lettuce
I've planted about 10 plants in each planter, and will thin the seedlings to retain 4 or 5 per planter.
I did a bit of weeding around the garden this evening, and removed the plaster tunnel from over the carrots and parsnips as they are looking far more established now.
I also took a couple of quick photographs of things I saw while clearing around the garden.
A flower on our Chives
A cluster of buttercups in rough ground near the potato patch
Finally for today, one of my twitter contacts @pipcymru has asked me to post a question to you all as he is having a bit of an issue with last year's raspberries coming through his grass.
They were planted in a wooden barrel last year, but have now appeared with new sprouts through the grass.
If anyone has any thoughts how to deal with this please leave a comment, or contact him direct on the twitter account above.
Edit: thanks to andy, the advice given is, if you do not want to rip up your grass, just cut back the growth regularly and this will starve the roots.
Cheers for reading.
I filled each tub half full with compost
And then planted, by dibbing a 5mm hole, a couple of seeds in each hole. I have Rosemarry, Thyme, Sage and Basil (last not pictured)
And finally watered each bed liberally.
All four are now sat on my windowsill; I will report back on progress.
In other news I have planted a couple of planters with Lettuce
I've planted about 10 plants in each planter, and will thin the seedlings to retain 4 or 5 per planter.
I did a bit of weeding around the garden this evening, and removed the plaster tunnel from over the carrots and parsnips as they are looking far more established now.
I also took a couple of quick photographs of things I saw while clearing around the garden.
A flower on our Chives
A cluster of buttercups in rough ground near the potato patch
Finally for today, one of my twitter contacts @pipcymru has asked me to post a question to you all as he is having a bit of an issue with last year's raspberries coming through his grass.
They were planted in a wooden barrel last year, but have now appeared with new sprouts through the grass.
If anyone has any thoughts how to deal with this please leave a comment, or contact him direct on the twitter account above.
Edit: thanks to andy, the advice given is, if you do not want to rip up your grass, just cut back the growth regularly and this will starve the roots.
Cheers for reading.
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