Nearly a Potato disaster plus other progress

When I woke up this morning (hang on, you could start a song like that!) I looked out my window and saw a dreadful sight...

I said when I woke up this morning.....

OK OK I'll stop.

Anyway, something (wind / cat / whatever) had knocked over one of the potato bags and it was spread EVERYWHERE all over the floor :(

I have now picked it up (and another one which fell over during the day) and propped them up; fingers crossed they will now stay upstanding.

While photographing this sad state of affairs I have also gone round and taken some progress pictures. So, without any more delays (or singing, you'll be glad to know) here are the pictures:

The fallen over Potato plant. Sadly a couple of the stalks have snapped but I am hopeful it will recover. I was going to just leave it like this, but when I saw the second one had gone too, I've moved them against a wall with stuff in front to hopefully prop them up. We shall see.

The Carrots are still growing, though I did have to throw a slug away which was about to start munching through the leaves.

The Parsnips are also cracking on very well indeed. Certainly I have not managed the crop I hoped for from either these or the Carrots but at least I'll get some.

The Broccoli are still thriving, though it was only when I edited this picture down that I noticed the slug sitting middle bottom of the picture about to get very fat at my expense!

The Onions are starting to go red at their base which is really good because they are Red Onions. Hopefully this means they are starting to develop bulbs under the earth.

The Foxglove is still developing and is definitely established.

From left to right, the Mint, and two Geranium plants, one smaller but with the rings and the other growing massive but with no rings.

Moving inside, this tangle of plant is actually the two Moneymaker Tomato plants. I still only have two fruit developing on both plants, it seems I'm not getting enough flies in this house to fertilise the flowers.

Both the Gardeners Delight Tomato plants are also now growing well, particularly this one which also has flowers on it.

The surviving Ghost Chilli. Still tiny, but at least starting to put new growth on now. Maybe I'll just get some very late fruits, or maybe it won't fruit at all. Crossing my fingers here....

The Crossley Special Chillis are putting out massive amounts of fruit, as you can see from this picture. I have not counted them yet but my guess is about 60 fruits across the six plants.

This is one HUGE Begonia flower, it is on the end of a really long stem and is dangling right down; it looks ungainly but it is beautiful indeed.

Another Begonia plant with many flowers on it. I really do hope these are transportable.

So anyway, that is all the pictures I took this time round; I'm sure I'll be back sooner or later with more, and maybe the first eating from the garden too.

Keep growing, keep reading.

Cheers

Different stages of the Chilli fruiting

I've had another few busy weeks so haven't had that much chance to do any updates on here however I have got round to taking some pictures for a series I have wanted to do.

My Crossley Special Chillis have been growing very well; probably the best of all (apart from the potatoes but that is for another update).

I now have Chilli fruits in all stages of growth so, for your delectation, here is a photo blog of that process:

This is a new flower starting to show on the Crossley Special Chilli plant.

Another flower but this one open and ready for insemination.

This flower has been fertilised and so the flower has gone brown and is dropping off, while the base of the flower is turning into a Chilli.

Here we have three Chillis growing showing that sometimes the dead flower stays attached to the bottom of the fruit.

Finally another more mature Chilli which has managed to grow down through the plastic ring used to stake the plant up.

So there you have it.

I have one other picture to show you, some good classic Tomato porn:

I now have two tomatoes on one of the Moneymaker's; you can see, similar to the Chillis, that the dead flower has stuck to the bottom of the fruit.

So, I do have LOADS of other things to update you on, like the potatoes have gone INSANE and grown huge (wish I had done the wooden planter design this year now but never mind... I'll not get as much crop as I could have done but it still proves last year was just bad luck) and I also have a tiny Gardeners Delight tomato plant (very late in the year now, I doubt I'll get much off of them).

Keep growing, and keep reading.

Cheers

First sight of 2013 Tomatoes, and other things

Hello there, it's the weekend and so it's time for a flurry of blog posts.

I am so busy in the rest of my life that the weekend is now firmly the only time I get to do any real gardening; other than a daily round of all the seedlings and watering them as needed. This is frustrating for me (as I want to be doing it more often) but it does sit will with the original purpose of the blog; how does trying to grow your own food work when you are busy busy busy.

So this update is my standard fare for the first one of the weekend; a load of progress pictures and chatter so, without wasting more of your time (or mine typing this) here we go.

**FANFARE!!** The 2013 Tomatoes are starting to show - this is a Moneymaker and was the one which I over-watered when making the self watering planters. I did not know this had started (as I've been away for a couple of days) so it was a great sight for me to see when I did my rounds just now.

Not one but both of the Moneymaker Tomatoes have become seedlings. This is the one on the front windowsill next to the Crossley Specials and the Mint. The Gardeners Choice still have not started but I am sure they will not be far behind.

A happy and settled looking Crossley Special Chilli fully settled in it's new home and clearly showing good second growth. All six of the moved plants are now looking happy (though a couple do still have a small amount of wilting still on the tips of their first growth leaves) so that is really good.

Another Crossley Special. As you can see they are looking happy and healthy and are enjoying being in a location where they get daylight every day. This is because I have put them behind the curtains so, even if we don't open them, they seedlings get the advantage of light.

Moving on, the Ghost Chillis are still in the heated propagator and the first seedling is now showing second growth. If you enbiggen this picture (by clicking on it) you can see that the back seedling has a couple of droplets of water nestled on the leaves. I think I will leave these in the heated propagator for another week or two at least to see if they establish themselves a bit better.

This was a very great surprise to see; this is the first green of the Globe Artichoke. I think this has only been in the compost for a week or two so I was fully not expecting to see anything.  By contrast, the Echinops Ruthenicus still hasn't shown at all. I am starting to wonder if it is not going to happen with that but I will leave it another four or five weeks.

The Foxglove seedlings have not really done much recently; these are confusing me slightly as I expected them to be quite strong seedlings standing tall (as Foxgloves do when they are fully grown) but they are spindly and tangled and not really putting much more growth on over the weeks. Anyone got any ideas?

The two Geranium seedlings, one of which is very advanced now. I am going to repot these tomorrow and there will be a blog about it you can be sure of that.

This is a very sad looking, almost certainly dead, Carrot seedling. I think I have made a few mistakes with my toilet roll idea - the main one was putting too much water in the tray. What has happened is mildew has set in and the seedlings have come up very spindly and they have started to fall back onto the soil and the soil is (as you can see) covered in mildew.

By no means, however, are all the Carrots looking unwell; this one is standing proud and has it's first growth leaves open to all daylight available. Whether I have made mistakes or not I am going to put these seedlings into deep soil tomorrow and hope that the mildew goes away and the seedlings become stronger and less tall and spindly. I will also be putting these outside in the next week or two as I hope the last of the frosts have been and gone.

The mildew affecting the Carrots is also encroaching on the Parsnips as you can see from this picture. The seedling has it's seed casing still attached which has been removed carefully to release the leaves.

Three Parsnip seedlings in a row all reaching towards the light. The Parsnips are looking much more healthy and solid than the Carrots but I will still be repotting them into the deep compost tomorrow.

My seed grown Coriander is now starting to properly flourish and has really started to look like proper Coriander. Pretty soon I will be giving a few of these plants away to people to spread the love of growing things and free up space for other things.

Going outside this is the shop bought Coriander which is looking very battered with the horrible weather we have been having for the last week or so however it is now established and I am confident it will mean that we do not have to buy any Coriander again this year.

A tiny Lettuce seedling. As I have repeatedly complained these have not really done much however, where before I only had three seedlings now a fourth has appeared so maybe something is going to happen here soon?

Four Onion spikes in a line; there are maybe ten or twelve spikes still looking strong and alive however I would suggest that the early planting has not really provided much impetus, nor the spring onions I was hoping for.

The Broccoli seedlings still looking the same as they did the last time I put a progress picture up and the time before and the time before. It is starting to frustrate me slightly that these have not given me the head start I wanted but I suppose I should not be surprised really.

Last but not least the shop bought Chives sat on their new bin-home. If the sun were to come out then these would be in the full glare of the morning sun however, since I moved them, the sun has not really made any appearance at all. They are also battered by the winds but I think they are established and will survive all year and into the next.

So, there you are... a lovely long and interesting update I am sure you will agree.

Tomorrow I will update you on re-potting the Carrots, Parsnips and Geraniums and will show you that yes, I do learn from previous mistakes.

Keep growing.

Lots of progress

So it is the weekend again and it is time for the latest update photographs from around my house.

I have a LOT of photographs so I will crack on now without any further delay.

The mint plant really flourishing. This is left behind the curtains all the time so it has lots of light, and I am watering it about once or twice a week at most.

The Moneymaker Tomato self watering planter. This is the one which I massively over-watered originally however the water has drained through into the reservoir and the soil is now the correct moistness; I think this idea is one of my favourites that I have ever come across.

Gardeners Delight and another Moneymaker Tomato. The self watering planters are really proving themselves.

The two Ghost Chilli Seedlings. I think these need another week or so in the heated propagator however they are looking very strong and healthy.

The biggest of the Crossley Special chillis, showing good second growth. The other five plants are all coming on and I am starting to think it is time to re-pot these into their final homes (which will also free up the heated propagator to allow me to plant other things).

The cloud of Foxglove seedlings seen through the cover of the heated propagator.

At last the second Geranium seedling has popped through. The first one is definitely ready for re-potting.

If you close one eye, squint the other and stand on your head you may be able to see the TINY seedling in this photograph (taken with a zoom lens standing on a chair as I do not have a macro lens... yet) which I think is a Echiniops Ruthenicus seedling. There are two of these showing but the other one is even harder to see!

The tray of Parsnips growing in their toilet rolls. I have been ensuring that there is standing water in the tray at all times.

The only Parsnip seedling so far showing and, as with the Echinops Ruthenicus seedlings, very very tiny.

The tray of Carrot seedlings (and yes, there are a number of seedlings) also with standing water to act as a kind of self watering system.

A single carrot seedling striving to the sky and with it's first little leaves opening nicely.

This carrot seedling has still got it's seed casing around it and stopping the small leaves from opening. This is a problem and I will blog tomorrow about removing it.

The shop bought Chive plant outside and still alive. It is looking a little unhappy, but is still growing. I think this needs moving to a more sunny position.

The shop bought Coriander which has bedded itself in well in it's new home. This, unlike the Chives, looks like it is OK with not being in direct sunlight.

A tiny Lettuce seedling, shown next to some hay and a chunk of moss.

Onion spikes luxuriating in the sun, but not really growing much.

The Broccoli, still the most advanced of my early outdoor plantings, but not really growing much either.

Just to do a quick summary, these early plantings have already been overtaken by the seedlings (like the Carrots) which were planted two months later. I think they have not really been a great success. I am hopeful, though, that with the advent of spring (and yesterday was 1st March) they may suddenly explode into growth and I will get a good early harvest. To test this I will be planting the same seeds again outside in the next month to see if the next seeds overtake the winter planted seeds.

Three oranges growing on the Citrus Tree.

The Citrus Tree (though I'm not sure it is large enough to really warrant the label "tree").

The tray of seed grown coriander which is another success; all the seedlings have reestablished themselves and are growing again.

One of the seed grown Coriander seedlings (which had previously been one of the worst looking seedlings) now showing how much it has grown.

Right, that is my update; short I know :D

It is great to see so much success and I have another blog ready for you tomorrow, and may even get round to doing some of my re-potting today also (which of course I will also photograph and blog).

Keep growing.