Veggie meal

We had a meal tonight which included 10 vegetables from the garden! Stuffed courgette with salad and potatoes. The courgette was no 1 stuffed using tomatoes and poblano pepper. The salad included pea shoots, radishes, radish pods, chives, garlic chive flowers, strawberries and my Nicola potatoes, which were very good.

First tomatoes

I ate two tomatoes from the garden with my lunch today. Both came from Rapunzels. One from the outdoor bed and one from the growhouse.

Rapunzels look much weaker plants than my others but they are maturing tomatoes much earlier. Gardeners Delight has some green ones, Principe B has a green one or two. Costa F is a really strong looking plant but has only just flowered so no sign of tomatoes yet.

Will I beat the blight this year?

Carrots away.

The tomatoes and lettuce have germinated in the conservatory; the leeks and onions are spending their day out in the sun. I sowed two potfuls of Gigante Flakee 2 carrots today. I mixed 50/50 fresh sieved garden compost and last year's spent compost with some blood, fish and bone to add a bit of go. A good sunny day with brimstones, commas and peacocks flying around me. (Carrots up on 30 March)

Both apple tree areas have been mulched with fresh garden compost now. The wood ants were a bit annoyed!

My anemones grown from last year's seed have been opened to the air now. They are progressing well.

First tomato

I had my first tomato in a cheese sandwich for my lunch yesterday! Gardeners Delight is well ahead of all the others in ripening terms. They seem to flower much earlier than any of the other varieties I am growing.

The longest day

Last Saturday we had the first courgette off this year's plants. A Verde d'Italia. That plant is growing another one now, but none of the other zucca/zuccetta/zucchini are setting fruit yet. Quite a few male flowers around though.

On Sunday I sowed the biennial flowers in three inch square pots or modules. 10 of each - foxgloves (white, apricot and excelsior), hesperis (white and purple), sweet william (nigricans),  honesty and 5 daucus carota. They are outside this year.
The vipers bugloss sowed April 2015 is huge now and covered in flower spikes. The bees love it.

And today was the solstice. It rained heavily and some of my potted tomatoes were beaten down and needed staking. I planted three deeply into the large bed where I had just taken up the elephant garlics. They were not so good this year. They didn't send up scapes, are now yellowing and collapsing, so I lifted them. They are all "rounds". I will probably save them to plant again in the autumn.

More potting

Yesterday, I put out the rest of my squash/courgette varieties into pots. One of each variety is still waiting to go into the haybale bed. (They went in on 29th) I also potted a "left over" red kitchen potato that had sprouted in the cupboard. This is an experiment to see if that gives decent results, but I don't know the variety. (Maybe Désirée)

The day before, I potted on the eleven tomato plants (right) that are waiting to go into the broad bean bed. We ate broad beans in their pods last night. (They were lovely!) So the tomatoes may not have to wait too long.

The foxgloves (left) sown last June are flowering now, along with the hesperis and putting on a good show. The vipers bugloss are getting enormous and nearly ready to flower. The James Grieve apple tree appears to have set about 200 fruits!

Potted tomatoes

I potted up 12 tomato plants today. 6 are in the greenhouse, 3 by the summerhouse and 3 around the conservatory. All were potted very deep with lower leaves removed.

Basil plants are growing well. I removed all the tops today to make them bush out.

It was sunny and all the bean plants had a day outside, hardening off.

Beans are started

Last week of April. Sow beans my calendar said. So I did. 10 Hestia, dwarf runners; 10 Boby Bianco, dwarf French beans and 6 Meraviglia di Venezia, climbing French beans. They all went into the conservatory and the Hestia are up today. (The others followed in the next couple of days.)

I planted one tomato Principe Borghese out in the plot three days ago and a couple of purple basils went out next to it today. Six garlic chives were potted up, one gardeners' delight tomato went out in a pot next to the conservatory today and one Verde d'Italia courgette went into the squash bed. Broad beans are just beginning to appear and the apples have an enormous amount of flower just opening.

I bought two cucumber plants this week and potted them up into small pots in the greenhouse. Pak choy and salad greens have gone out into the shady plot and chard seedlings are just showing.

Squashes and courgettes

Last week I sowed squashes and courgettes. 2 seeds to a 3 inch pot. 2 pots each of 8 varieties! Golden Zucchini and Butterpie were seeds left from last year and new from Seeds of Italy are zucchino Verde d"Italia and Custard White, zucchetta Rugosa Friulana and Tromba d'Albenga, zucca Marina di Chioggia and Butternut Rugosa. The Verde d'Italia were first up but they are all up now and the weaker seedlings are being discarded from each pot.
	My basils had their first potting on last week and are sitting with the tomato plants in the conservatory.
The tomatoes have been up a month now and are doing well. The new Italian varieties are about 6 inches tall and the old seeds are about 3 inches.

Sowing gets going

Today I sowed a good pot of carrots (Gigante Flakkee). The medium was 50/50 leaf mould and Jack's enriched with an ounce or so of blood, fish and bone. And I set about tomato sowing. Five varieties this year: Gardeners' Delight (2yo), Black Russian and San Marzano from last year, with Costoluto Fiorentino and Principe Borghese, both from Seeds of Italy. These were sown in three inch square pots with Jack's compost.

Tomatoes came up between 20th and 22nd March. Carrots started appearing on 27th March.

Salad days

On Monday I planted out my third sowing of rocket and my first of mizuna. I sowed another set of each in the conservatory along with a tray of purslane. I added my outdoor San Marzano and Gardener's Delight tomatoes to the beds too. Black Russian is already in the broad bean bed.

The salad bed is beginning to look productive now but growth is still limited due to the persistent cold weather.

Some of my weakest larkspur have been planted out by the greenhouse along with a border of trailing nasturtiums. Other nasturtiums have been planted out the front on the garage bed and some in pots to trail down the "pillars" in the back garden. One of these pots has some of my white cosmos in as well.

Broad beans, both whole pods and shelled beans, along with carrots and leaf beet in tonight's dinner.

Tomatoes potted

On Monday I potted up 9 tomato plants - 6 for the greenhouse and 3 outdoors. There are 3 each of Black Russian, San Marzano and Gardeners' Delight. One of each is outside, although they had to go in for the night Tuesday night beacuse of a frost forecast.

The spring onions went out into their bed too along with a new sowing oudoors.

The squashes in grow-bags are struggling against snail attacks. I'm trying several different measures - picking them off, copper strips and fleeces so far.

I potted up my one cucumber plant on Tuesday into a 5 inch pot as an intermediate home. It's staying in the conservatory for now.

More seedlings

Cosmos and kale both made their first appearances yesterday in the greenhouse, cucumber in the conservatory.

I potted up the Tumbling Toms ready to go out but kept them in the greenhouse so far.

Tomatoes up!

The first seedlings appeared yesterday - 1 Black Russian, 2 San Marzano and 2 Gardeners' Delight. I'll update this post as others appear.
Updates
14th March: Now 3 Black Russian, 2 San Marzano, 3 Gardeners' Delight, 1 Tumbling Tom.
16th March: 3rd San Marzano arrived. - - - 17th March: 2nd Tumbling Tom.

March Sowings

I sowed my tomato seeds yesterday. 4 varieties - Black Russian, San Marzano, Tumbling Tom and Gardeners' Delight - 3 of each in fibre pots.  Today I sowed spring onion; 12 modules, rocket Rucola; 4 modules, rocket Dragons Tongue; 4 modules and land cress; 4 modules, all in a 24 module tray. And another 24 module tray of larkspur. Both trays left in the greenhouse to germinate along with the trough of leaf beet I sowed as well.

My Ramiro peppers have all come up today - no sign of the California Wonder yet though. (Update - the first California Wonder came up one day later!)