Solstice sowing

Well, the solstice was yesterday morning so we are on the up now! I decided to grow some garlic. I took 2 good cloves from a supermarket bulb today and planted them in small peatpots. They are sitting out uncovered and I await results?
(They were planted out into the plastic bed in late January or early February.)

Autumn sowing

On November 17th I prepared my centre vegetable bed. It's 30 x 27 inches. I dug it over, incorporating weeds, dosed it with some blood, fish and bone, added a layer of 2015 leaf mould and topped it with garden compost.

Then I sowed 30 broad bean seeds, The Sutton. I finished the job by covering it with netting to keep out the squirrels, voles and mice who tend to visit this area. Now to see when they germinate. (First three up on Dec 18th.)

I must remember to give the plants plenty of support early this time.

New gardening year again...

...always begins when I plant my elephant garlics. The four "rounds" that I lifted in July went into the plastic bed in the first week of October. The plot was cleaned out after the dwarf beans and a handful of BFB added at the garlic end before planting. The area was topdressed with sieved garden compost too.   (3 came up on 8th December.)

I have nice seedlings of godetia and saved hollyhocks coming along and some anemones from saved seed too. The foxgloves, hesperis and honesty have been planted out at the equinox and are looking good in their beds.

I have prepared a new bed to become my herb garden. It had thyme in already. Lots more to go in.
(Lovage, sage, marjoram, oregano, lemon balm, mint, chives and garlic chives in a few days later.)

Apple trees and greengage have all been mulched with 2014 leafmould and the apple tree bed has been dressed with my spent potato pot composts.

First Sarpos

My ten-inch pots with a single Sarpo Mira seed potato have yellowing foliage and don't look like there's much more in them so I decided to drop one of them today and see what was inside.  The roots were very strong with a lot of potatoes looking very healthy. Perhaps they would have done a bit more. But still it gave 600g of good potatoes, more than the average of my Pentland Javelin pots. So I have high hopes for the other two pots and even higher hopes for the 30 litre bags to come later.

The pot was planted up on 31st March,  118 days ago.

The empty pot has been replanted with six leeks using the same compost rejuvenated with some blood, fish and bone.

Update: The other two 10 inch pots gave 610g each. So a good average for a small pot.

The first 30l sack was turned out on 12 August. Only 840g with a lot of scab so not very successful. The haulms were dying but the potatoes were very immature. 2nd sack gave 1092g with some good big ones! 3rd - 703g !  4th - 944g 5th 578g in one big one!

Xtra!  A sprouted "shop potato" was grown in a clay pot with unimproved garden soil and a handful of blood, fish & bone. Harvested on Oct 19th it gave 880g of good size and quality potatoes. I won't be paying for seed potatoes any more!

The fridge saved pentland javelins planted in July have been harvested. They gave a fair crop of very good quality.

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.

Pentland Javelin revealed

It was time to see how my ten-inch pots of Pentland Javelin were doing today. The foliage had begun to yellow (and been eaten by something too) so the potatoes were not going to grow any more.

 

So I cut off the greens and turned up the pot.  First views looked promising.

Then I noticed the extras. I was not expecting an ants nest in there!

But the potatoes were not affected. A fairly reasonable crop of 441g. That's near enough to a pound for me.

The compost is now back in the pot with a sprinkle of blood, fish and bone and another Pentland Javelin seed potato. This one was in the fridge from January till June 6th. It was then put in a yoghurt pot with some compost. It had about 3-inch sprouts when it went into the big pot today. I'm hoping this should give a crop in November. Wait and see!

Next pots - 410g, 620g, 360g (Average - 457.5g, a pound!)
Each pot was replanted with the saved seed potatoes.

September 30th.
First two "late planted" pots gave 445g between them of good quality new potatoes.

Some biennials showing

On Friday. Some foxgloves have germinated and some daucus carota. (The honesty were up by Sunday.)

My godetia have suddenly been eaten - about a foot tall and no leaves. Rabbits??