Saturday 28 March 2009

Madly March Marches On

It's been a busy month, though I haven't posted much. Early March I got some seeds going indoors - Cabbages and Caulis first, and broad beans outdoors in pots. Next in the propagator tomatoes, leeks, rocket, cucumber and sunflowers then lettuce, courgettes and squash. The kitchen looks more like a greenhouse and will do for another month at least.
I bought a conference pear tree today (£4.20 from Aldi) so there's a job for tomorrow if the weather is willing.
It's still way too windy to put up the coldframe - I'd be retrieving it from distant gardens, but I'm on the lookout for extra long tent pegs to hold it down.
It's hard to believe that April is only a few days away. I love the spring but ye gods it goes too fast.

Friday 27 March 2009

Make a Potato Planter (or two)

It was one of those ideas that just sprung to mind and I knew it was a good one. Thanks to Sue who left a comment about making strawberry planters from an old composting bin, she started this train of thought. It was perfect - I had threee compost bins and only ever use two. All it took was a stanley knife and about twenty minutes to cut the bin in half. Two potato planters, no cost, no waste and they are easy to keep the cats off too. How's that for recycling!

Sunday 1 March 2009

Time to Sow Peas.

Yes the first peas are in the ground, just one wide drill of Hurst Greenshaft, if you will! Haven't grown them before but they look like a pretty vigorous variety. I planned to put Cannon (variety) in today (what is it with these names?) - one minute I had half a pack of them in my hand, the next they had gone, I've no idea where. I searched and searched but gone they truly are which is a shame as they are prolific plants and the peas taste great. I've given up on Kelvedon Wonder, as they produce small pods with only three to five peas, but take up just as much room as the bigger plants.
I left room for two more drills to go in later, at intervals of three to four weeks I think.
At my nan's later we ran a little experiment and sowed a few rows of early parsnips, to see how they do.