End of March 2010

Equinox!

Some photos for you:

• Peas (right)
• Plot Views (down & up)
• Rhubarb
• Flowers
• Onions & Leeks
• Gooseberries / Blueberries
• Garlic
• Flower Pots
• Onion Sets
• Parsnip & Carrot
• Leek Walk
• Cosmos Flowers
• Leeks
• Broccoli
• Broad Beans
• Beetroot

Warm Spring Weekend

Had a practical weekend. I decided to move the entrance to my plot nearer to the fence - should confuse any would be vandals. I filled the old gap with a door I was using for the compost bins. Where the door was, I made a bay using some old planks.

Rebuilding the paths

I lifted the old bricks and relaid them - makes it less muddy walking about.

Planting, Poundland and Plotting

Planted the onions and garlic I had sprouting in the greenhouse. Got some cheap cloches from Poundland, so put them in the middle row - this will be where the beans will be.

Happy Equinox!

Weather Update: A Warm Spike in March

Since Tues we had been enjoying a warm spike to temps. For example, the last 24 hours temp's ranged between 7 and 14.5 degrees. That's important as 10 degrees is the approx. zone of good germination. Looks like it will not last and slip back to a range between 5 and 10 degrees next week.

Despite this, it looks like March will come under the long term ave. for March (6.3C) by about -0.5 to -1.0 C - so a range between 5.3C and 5.8C is likely. To put his into context, this is a run of 4 months all below ave. (Dec = -1.5C, Jan = -2.4C, Feb = -1.0C & Mar = -0.5 to -1.0).

Let's see what April 2010 will bring. More below ave. temps like the 1980s?

Rain & Spring Showers

After a long spell of high pressure giving us settled, dry and cold temps - looks like the jet stream is back and will be associated with low pressure systems, rain and warmish air.

Here's to spring!!!

Extra Sowings

To take advantage of this new weather regime I have sowed some sweetcorn - will see if this comes up strongly in the next few weeks.

£1 Pound Bargains

Am off to £1 land to go on the hunt for cheap bargains for lotty - have had a look online and it looks like I can get a plastic bench cover which is a good enough size that I could use as a poly-tunnel-cloche...will update on this later.....

Good Day Down Lotty - Erected An Arch Too!

Today was a barmy + 6 degrees, not bad since last weekend loads of places broke overnight record lows (minus 7 to 9 was common).

The temps have not caused too much of an issue for my seedlings - had a look in the greenhouse to find the following have sprouted:

• Perpetual Spinach
• Beetroot
• Cabbage
• Kale

Arch Erection

Sounds rude - but this was a gift from my parents - am using it to grow beans (Runners & Berlotti), should look lovely.

New Paths

Decided to revamp the paths and bed borders. I made the main path a bit thinner and took the extra bricks to make 1-brick width paths to separate the beds. This should make getting about the plot much easier and less muddy.

With the top bed, I made a new middle path ad erected the arch to mark the new entrance.

Planted Globe Artichokes & Flowers

I finally planted the globe artichoke 'bulbs' - put them either side of the arch, to make a nice feature. Also, put one more at the end of a middle bed. The flowers were planted mid access path to break up the look. Have planted Lupins and Delphiniums.

More Poo & Compost

Went out on a spending spree and bought 3 x 75 litre bags of compost and 4 x 25 litre bags of rotted horse poo. Oh and some organic slug pellets.

More Tomatoes

Sowed some more varieties of tomatoes:

• Striped Tomato
• Cherry Type
• Pomorodo
• Tamina

End of Feb 2010

February continued the very cold run - with well below average temps, lots of snow and ice!

It has been the coldest winter since 1979!

But, that didn't stop me from sowing and I have some seedlings coming along just fine:

• Indoors = Tomatoes have come up (Money Maker)
• Outdoors (greenhouse) = Cabbages / Broads / Peas

So all hail the plastic greenhouse!!! Will follow up this post with a vid very soon....

More snow!

Woke up this morning to find 3 inches of snow. Have popped down to lotty to see the effects. Whilst down there took some photos and knocked the snow off my greenhouses.

Winter not done yet it would seem!

Wintry Day On The Lotty

Have had a good day, all in all. Got the new plastic greenhouse up - very impressed with it.

Hat tip: Argos / Homebase 'Versatile' Large Walk In Greenhouse £50 approx. (although got mine for £33)

Did some sowing - figured the greenhouse will give me a head start with the stuff I usually sow in March:

1. Parsnips
2. Carrots
3. Beetroot
4. Spinach
5. Peas - Purple & Feltham First
6. Broad Beans
7. Cabbage
8. Cosmos
9. Rudbekia
10. Lavender
11. Thyme
12. Basil
13. Spinach
14. Kale
15. Purple Sprouting Broccoli
16. New Onion bulbs

Did 1 six module pack per item - so didn't waste too much seed if they don't come through.

Decided to also lift some stuff I wanted to move to another place. So dug up the Leeks, Onions and Garlic - potted them on and will bring them on in the greenhouse too.

Laos did a quick job of amending the plastic roof-water collection system. Ran a pipe to the other water barrel - so in principle, both barrels should fill up at the same time.

So - with the new warm on offer and cover from frost - let see what happens.

Bliss!

If you are feeling nostalgic - take a look at the great Geoff Hamilton at work:

** as a geeky side note - this was filmed in 1996, a cool year. I am expecting/predicting this year to be similar to the temp/climate experienced in 1996 (average for 1961 to 1990).

Quick link to start at 2 mins 20sec

Quick link to start it at 40 secs

Expanding My Greenhouse Area

Found another 'plastic' greenhouse for sale, a little bit larger (Size (H)187, (W)121 (D)185cm), that I will probably buy on Friday.

Exciting!! Will put in behind the smaller one I bought last week.

The idea is to have a totally covered bed for squashes, pumpkins and courgettes. So - a poly-tunnel on the cheap - should be total cost of £80. Ok not so cheap - but worth the extra heat for growing, esp. after last year's rubbish weather!!

Will update and post the results!!

Update: Bought it today! Got it for a bargain knock down price from £49.99 to £32.99.

Here it is - fully erected!

New 'Plastic' Greenhouse

Went and splashed out on a new plastic greenhouse!

Bit cold and snowy at the moment - so could prove useful.

Do I look stupid? (don't answer that!)