Taking stock after a week's absence

Our daughter did well in looking after the vegetables while we were on holiday, even to the extent of tying up one of the courgettes when it started leaning dangerously in its pot on the doorstep.

A few more tomatoes have appeared on the plants in the conservatory, but they are still some way off ripening. I wonder if they will.

Jobs done this morning before the rain came on were to dig up lettuce which had bolted and lift a few dodgy looking potato plants. This is the first time I have tried Desiree spuds and I was upset to see some of the plants seeming to be ailing, with leaves going very yellow and spottled.

Three of the plants seemed to be in such a bad way that I had to dig them up to see what was happening. I was very surprised to get a healthy haul of this red-skinned maincrop potato, having thought that it would not be ready for harvesting until September/October. Scouting around to see other people's experiences with this variety, I was reassured to read this comment posted by one satisfied customer on the website for Marshalls seeds:

Very good cropper even in dry conditions, with no need for extra watering. Suffers some scab, slug damage and also the dreaded blight, but well worth growing for delicious, heavy mash. Desirees are often ready for harvest by the end of July in my garden and they store very well right through winter.

Hurrah for that.

And also hurrah for the beans, which have come on during my absence and which I began picking today. A bit of a tangle in the wigwam, but I believe I got all those which were lurking in there.

We're progressing (part two)

Well, I've put the broccoli seedlings where the new potatoes were and also some kohlrabi I had been cultivating in the conservatory. The last is a bit of an experiment as I have never knowingly eaten it and would be interested to sample the taste.

Also, some french beans have been transplanted from the conservatory to one of the wigwams.  The previous lot had been directly seeded, but didn't take off that brilliantly. Slug pellets have now been brought into use.

And, rather belatedly, we have had some of the lettuce from the garden. Finest lettuce in the world, if you ask me.

Spudulike

Here they are - eight of what I hope will become a bumper crop of Arran Pilot potatoes. I boiled them and we ate them with a spinach, red pepper and onion tart I conjured up, the spinach coming from the garden. A salad which included some lettuce from the garden accompanied. Simple but effective.

Actually, I'm still not sure what's going on with the spuds. They have yet to flower and the eight potatoes I harvested for tea were from three plants I lifted to see what their state was. A grand total of eight spuds didn't seem a big haul to me so will leave the remaining plants for a bit until something happens or curiosity gets the better of me.

It's been another day of showers, which I suppose saves me the trouble of watering the garden but also prevents me getting outside much. Even so, I managed an hour this morning before the rain came on really heavily. Weeding and pottering about was very satisfying, I found.

While thinking of a headline for this posting, I thought of the Spudulike chain and had to go and look up the spelling. I'm now the proud possessor the fact that the firm was once owned by the British School of Motoring. Business and the decisions it arrives at baffles me.

All things considered, not so bad

We're back from a week's holiday on the island of Anglesey, where it has been uncommonly hot. Along with the rest of the country, we fried. It was all a bit too much for our poor old dog Dolly. She really struggled and spent a lot of time asleep.

Thoughts turned, naturally, to the veg patch back home and how it was faring under the wilting heat. Susan warned me not to be too disappointed if some things had gone disastrously wrong because of lack of watering in my absence.

So there was a mounting sense of anticipation tinged with trepidation as we returned home. As it happens, to quote Jimmy Savile, things were not too bad. In fact, surprisingly good.

We'd moved the tomatoes out of the conservatory and into the open to catch whatever they could. They'd thrived so much that it proved difficult getting up the front footpath because of the spreading leaves.

It turned out there had been a day of showers prior to our return, giving the crops a well-needed soaking. The Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, about which I had been so worried, are now halfway up the pole and there are even signs of life in the one I had written off as dead.

Some of the runner beans have gone beyond the height of the pole (what happens then?) and there's a good bit of spinach and lettuce waiting to be harvested. In fact, we're having some of the spinach in a curry tonight. I like to think it will be the finest curry we have ever had, all because of my fresh produce from the garden.

The one thing I am really concerned about right now is the potatoes. They have still not flowered and some are looking distinctly blighted, ie leaves looking not too good. I haven't had time to do a proper fettle of the garden today and will have to have a trial lift of the potatoes tomorrow to see what they are doing.

Not bad overall. The veg don't seem to need me to be around.

Lettuce pray

Just as the pattern yesterday, the heavy rain of the morning stopped and I was able to go out into the garden again. Unlike yesterday, though, I had to come in after 90 minutes when a shower developed.

I achieved my goal for the afternoon. Which was to dig out the old lettuce and salad leaf patch and get the new lettuce and spinach in. The spinach, by the way, is a Cogarde (Oak Leaf), chosen from many varieties by me at Dove Cottage Nursery because of the slight association with where we live - Broad Oak Place. Let's hope it takes.

Did a bit more lawn edging (all the big jobs) and managed to mow the grass, something I had not done for about 10 days. Hadn't grown much though.


I have also started some of the sprouting seeds which daughter Dorothy gave me for my birthday. One is a rather exciting Melange Gourmet, made by A Vogel, pioneers in natural health since 1923, and is made up of quinoa, white radish and lentils. Should be ready in 3-5 days, as will the alfalfa seeds I have also started. Got a book too from Dorothy on recipes for sprouting seeds and am looking forward to using it. But I do confess I'm unsure about sprouting seed milk shake.

A perfect day (and not in a Lou Reed way)

Heavy rain kept me out of the garden again yesterday, but it brightened up around 2.0 and became exceptionally nice outside.

I was able to get out on the vegetable patches for a satisfying couple of hours of weeding, planting and generally mooching around. But not before we took a small trip to the very splendid Dove Cottage Nursery just a short hop from our house, where I bought some spinach and lettuce seedlings. I also took a punt on heritage tomatoes - a Red Russian and a Bonny Best (nice title).

Back at home I finally transplanted the runner beans which Susan gave me for my birthday and they are now nestling against one of the two wigwams built previously. Cherokee Trail of Tears will be ready to go out in next couple of days. Susan says reassuringly that the next thing is I will discover they have been eaten by slugs. Will I be upset, she asks. Who knows?

The tomatoes I was growing in the conservatory have turned into five seedlings, and have now been put into individual pots, although it looks as though one has died. Intend sorting out growbags for them soon. Reminded myself that this variety goes by the name of Outdoor Girl.

Had this message the other day from former work colleague Hilarie to tell me her vegetable growing isn't going too well:

Our allotment is completely waterlogged but the strawberries are blooming. Runner beans look moth eaten and the lettuce failed to germinate due to the cold and damp. Trying again with pak choi. Even the courgettes look sickly. If we were medieval peasants this would be very worrying indeed.

In the circumstances, I needn't feel too bad about my lettuces and salad leaves. I intend this afternoon to dig over their bit of ground and put in the spinach and lettuce seedlings I got at Dove Cottage.

Rounded off yesterday afternoon by doing some lawn edging and removing some nettles. Susan told me to take the sensible precaution of rolling my sleeves down. I did - I stung my ear.

All in all a very productive time and a well-earned beer at the end of the day. Seemed apt that it was a Combined Harvest made by Bateman's, a Lincolnshire brewery I was introduced to when my daughter studied at the University of Lincoln. Fine beers come from here.

The rhubarb is dead, long live the rhubarb!

Surveying a small patch beside the wall, I decided that the rhubarb I planted last year is never going to show its head above ground. Something must have had it or something must have gone seriously wrong below surface, but I feel it should have grown a bit by now.

Luckily, and very gratefully received it is, my friend Kate has given me a rhubarb crown she does not have room for in her new garden and I have now planted this in. Hopefully, this will thrive. While digging the hole I could find no sign of the previously planted rhubarb. Strange.

It also looks as though the lettuce and salad leaves I planted out recently have had it. Nothing has shown through and I reckon it should have done by now. This is the patch of ground where I have seen birds pecking away. Will have to rethink this part of the garden and decide what to do with it.

Am I dispirited? No. Winning some and losing some is all part and parcel of gardening.

One thing I am delighted about is that the mushrooms I have been cultivating have grown well and are coming through. We shall be having some tonight in a stew. Good stuff!

A squatter arrives

We have discovered an interloper in our shed - a bird's nest in the far top corner. Neither of us can tell whether it is currently in use, but our feeling is that it is old. Quite how long it has been there, we don't know, but neither of us had noticed it before this week. We haven't gone that close to it because of stuff in the way, but have decided to leave it well alone and let the birds get on with it.

Looking out of the window this morning, I saw one of our collared doves strolling over the ground where the lettuce and salad leaves are supposed to be, having the occasional peck on the ground. Should I have been mad? I don't know, but somehow I can't bring myself to do anything but shrug my shoulders. That's nature, I guess.


Surveying the land on the first day of May, I am pleased to see the plants bursting into life after days of sunshine and rain. The onions and chives are coming on apace, chives beginning to flower, and the potatoes are showing through nicely. Not so sure about the lettuce and salad leaves, though. Perhaps that pesky bird has done for them.

Yesterday I finally got round to planting out the raspberry canes and building a wigwam in preparation for the Cherokee Trail of Tears beans. Seemed an apt arrangement for them.

I have started off some basil seeds in the conservatory.

More planting

Spent some pleasant time this afternoon getting lettuce seeds in the ground outside, also salad leaves. They fill the last spare spot currently prepared in the garden. I also got some tomatoes under way in the conservatory.

The rain came down not long afterwards, for the first time in ages. Something the garden needed, although it didn't last long.

I'll now have to wait and see if the crops are attacked by cats, birds, snails, rot, mildew and whatever danger lurks out there. I must be prepared to take action if necessary.

My mate Steve says half the pleasure is in the anticipation. Just at the moment my anticipation is with regard to the visit to the doctor tomorrow morning about this hand/arm thing. A surprising number of people seem to have suffered in the past, telling me they had to have a sling or be strapped up. Not looking forward to that prospect.