My Garden

 Spent the early part of the week repairing damage from Sunday's gales and heavy rain - propping up the broad beans, tying escaping peas back in, staking battered cut flowers.  Last week's blog about plant supports turned out to be uncannily appropriate... 

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Planting out  French beans on the 3x3 plot today in a fairly strong wind on our open site brought home forcibly the need for good, strong supporting frames for climbing veg to grow over.    The beans - a type of borlotti bean to supply beautiful red-splashed pods for eating as well as beans for drying - will grow up hazel poles with brash (branchy material from birch and beech mostly) from the woodland here at Harlow Carr.   Hazel pole bean tunnels have peas and runner beans rambling over them. 

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The recent rain and warm weather has really brought everything on, and plants that were gasping in the heat a week ago are now looking green and perky.   At last we are able to plant out our tender veg - so this week courgettes, French and runner beans, sweetcorn and squashes, which have been hardening off in the shade tunnel for the last week, can go out into the kitchen garden.  The courgettes, squash and pumpkin plants can suffer on our windy site - a few twiggy sticks put around them to form a sort of tripod helps to stop the plants from blowing about in the wind. 

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One of the things Yorkshire is famed for is rhubarb growing, and the 'Rhubarb Triangle' - an area between Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield - has recently been recreated in miniature at Harlow Carr.   English rhubarb production has been centred on West Yorkshire since the late 19^th century and the scaled-down version is in celebration of our local culinary heritage.  The new bed (near the kitchen garden) contains over 40 varieties, including 'Grandad's Favourite', 'Cawood Delight', 'Muriel' and Yorkshire-bred 'Paragon'

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Bags of Potential

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Its so easy to be lulled into a false sense of summer after a few weeks of warm, sunny weather - we nearly brought out our courgettes and tomatoes from the nursery to the net tunnel on Monday, but fortunately checked the weather on the web first.   They would certainly not have liked 2 nights of frost, one down to -3C!    Even with 2 layers of fleece covering them, the emerging potatoes have suffered some damage, where the fleece was resting on the leaves.    

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These are exciting times here at Harlow Carr with all the flooding over the last 2 weeks, and much time being spent mending paths washed away by the torrential showers.  Thankfully, a desperate team effort managed to avert the potential disaster of a flood in Bettys cake shop!   Our kitchen garden and 3x3m plot are luckily at the top of a hill, and apart from the paths have come off very well.  Add to the list of advantages of raised beds that floodwater runs around them on the bark paths!

The 3x3m plot is looking really good just now, as all the tender plants such as French beans, courgettes and squashes have all been planted.  For the beans, borlottis will provide both fresh pods as well as beans for drying later in the season - a climbing variety makes full advantage of the space available and adds height to the plot.  Courgette' Venus' was the variety grown for the programme - it produced 17 fruits last year, and is perfect for the small area, maintaining a compact bush shape, so we've grown it again

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One of my favourite vegetables, I can never plant enough leeks so they had to be included in the 3x3 plot!  They're a good choice for a small space, and look very ornamental.  Ours were sown back in February in a 9cm pot, and are now ready to plant out - not quite ‘pencil thickness' (as all the books say) but sturdy plants like thin spring onions.   Made the planting holes with the end of a rake (forgot to bring the dibber), and emptied out the leeks, shaking the soil off the roots.  Interestingly the books all have different takes on cutting the roots down inlength, varying between to 2.5cm or not at all.  Basically, it makes putting the leeks into the planting holes easier, plus you don't want the roots twisted round at the base of the plant, so I cut mine down to 3-4cm.  If the leeks are taller than around 20cm, cut some of the leaf off too.   The variety is Varna, a dual purpose leek (as many are)  that can be broadcast sown & then thinned to grow as a baby leek, or grown on to a larger size to harvest in autumn or early winter.

The weather is very hot and sunny at the moment, despite the prediction of heavy rain (we wish!). The plan was to put out the tomatoes, basil and courgettes last week, but a forecast of lashing wind, hailstones and temperatures of 4 degrees put us off!  It is proving to be a very confusing early summer - for the honeybees too, as they are swarming like mad!  So next week, all the tender stuff will go out - they have been in the cold frames for several days now so should be Ok. 

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Long time no blog!

Its been a crazy time here getting ready to take the 3x3 plot to the Leyburn food festival in the Yorkshire Dales  - never been done as a show stand before so it was very much guesswork, fingers crossed and hard graft, but in the end it worked very well and looked good. Visitors really liked it and were interested in the small space veg growing idea, and many had seen the programme or book, but found it useful to see the plot in the flesh

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Another gorgeous day, albeit cooler than the roasting weekend temperatures - everything is growing before our eyes, and watering is a constant demand already. Covering our hardening off plants in the cold frames with green shade netting seems to help stop them wilting & keeps them cooler.

Our Veg Day last Wednesday was a huge success, with loads of interested visitors and lots of people very keen to start veg growing.  Most striking were the questions about some of the most basic growing techniques - a timely reminder not to take a level of knowledge for granted!  Most topical was how to water small seedlings without washing them flat.  First of all you will need a fine rose (the sprinkling attachment on the end of the spout) on your watering can - this governs the size of the water droplets.  Ensure the sprinkling side is facing upwards, then start pouring before you are above the tray of seedlings to get an even flow, and don't stop until you are no longer over the tray - otherwise there is a tendency for the spout to dribble.  Have a look at the picture in my gallery - hope it is helpful

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With the fantastic warm sunny weather over the last week or so, things are really getting going & we could easily fill twice the time we have each day!  Apart from keeping up with the sowing and planting, we're frantically preparing for next week's Veg Day - Get Growing!  on Wednesday, 11 April.  Its part of the RHS's Veg Year activities, related to the Grow your own Veg programme, and  there will be lots of veg-related talks and demos, a product corner (including a variety of raised beds on show) and children's activities.  You could also come and visit the 3x3 plot, and the kitchen garden in general!  With all this work to do, we didn't really need the diversion of chasing young rabbits from a burrow found in the kitchen garden...

Back to the 3x3 plot, the material that was being hardened off in the cold frames has now been planted out  - very satisfying as the beds begin to look as if something is happening!   Broad bean, peas, kale, spinach and lettuce have all gone out, and I've sown some beetroot, oriental leaves, more carrots and Paris silverskin onions.  The beetroot has been sown in groups again, with lettuces planted in between.  All these leaves can be harvested as cut and come again, ie. a few leaves from each plant at a time to make up your salad.  Don't take too much off the beetroot or the roots won't get enough energy to develop properly

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The seeds I sowed under the cloche in the 3x3 plot have germinated, so I uncovered them in the sunshine on Thursday in the morning.  They had literally grown and spread their leaves by the afternoon when we were closing the frames down for the night - amazing what a bit of warmth and light will do.  This is the most exciting time of year for growing as well as the busiest - when things change before your eyes and you can almost watch plants grow - brilliant!  This thrill of seeds growing never goes away, no matter how long you have been doing it - its still amazing.

I've sowed a tray each of the 3 ‘virtual' lettuces - Pandero, Freckles and Little Gem Pearl - in the glasshouse, and also plan to sow some direct in the plot - it will be interesting to see how they compare re development.  We tend to keep a constant supply of lettuces & other salad leaves growing on in modules in the glasshouse or coldframes, so that any space in the plot can instantly be filled with a further crop, without waiting for seed to germinate and get away.  It's the key to having an uninterrupted supply of salad leaves for your tea

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Several of the plants we started under glass have been moved out into the cold frames next to the kitchen garden and 3x3 plot, to begin the hardening off process before being planted out.   We will probably do another sowing in the greenhouse before we start sowing direct into the soil in early April.  Before then germination can be a bit unreliable.   The good news is that you don't need to have a greenhouse to raise plants in modules or pots  - I sow mine at home in a cold polytunnel, in seedtrays with clear plastic lids and it usually works fine!  The little plastic patio greenhouses would work as well, or a coldframe.   Sowing in modules gives us a couple of weeks start in the season (the plants are ready to go when conditions outside improve) and a reliable result.  If you do get behind with sowing, don't panic - later-sown crops often catch up anyway!

Beans, peas, onions, lettuces, spinach, and kohl rabi are hardening off nicely - the plants are lovely and sproingy when you brush your hand over them.   They have been going into the cold frames over the last few weeks, and the lids are being opened in the daytime (fully opened on good days, just a bit on chillier days) and will gradually be left open overnight as well before we plant out.    It is so important to harden off nursery grown plants (& this will include the plug plants you buy at the garden centre, unless they are outside) before you put them out - the shock of the sudden change in environment from glasshouse to outdoors will surely kill them or severely check their growth, leaving them vulnerable to attack from disease or pests.  Strong, so-called ‘hard-grown' plants will always be able to withstand attack better than those that are tender or overfed, sappy ones. 

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Spring has certainly felt as if it has sprung here over the last week - we were working outside in shirtsleeves in the sunshine - its so tempting to sow loads of stuff, but still a bit risky.  This week the sharp winds are back, and frosts - you really have to take a full wardrobe out with you to cover any weather permutation.  

I did succumb and sowed some cool season crops for a salad mix under our ornamental Victorial glass cloche - peas, red-veined spinach, lettuce and beetroot.  I've multisown the beetroot - a couple of seeds in each hole - so that ultimately there will be a group of small beetroots which push each other apart as they grow.   Beetroot leaves are good in salads if you collect a few at a time along with your lettuce, spinach, rocket, etc.  Chioggia pink or Barbietola di Chioggia has amazing pink-striped roots when you slice them open (the stripes are more defined in smaller beets), and the leaves are a lovely fresh green.  The red-veined spinach also has a gorgeous leaf.  I've sown the peas for pea tips - if you haven't tried these, grow some this year.  They are truly delicious - you can sow thickly in a pot to grow lots purely for pea tips - best to choose a dwarf, fast growing or early variety.  If you want to grow them on peas, don't take too much off each plant.  Definitely worth a go.

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Friday, 2 March 2007

The plastic cloche used to cover the soil on the 3x3 plot has done its work well - soil temp is now 10 degrees C, so great for sowing.  Just as well really,  cos it blew away yesterday and had to be rescued from among the shelter belt trees.  The site is very windy and exposed, not ideal for veg growing.  The plants need some shelter and protection or growth can be seriously stunted and plants damaged.  

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