Container Vegetable Gardens

No matter how small your garden, even if you just have a window box, you can have a vegetable garden.  You can grow so many vegetables, particularly salads in containers.  I quite like growing mustard & cress, alfalfa and mung beans in dishes in my kitchen, as well as herbs on the window ledge.  They are all so easy to grow.  You just need to scatter the seed onto some wet kitchen towel in a shallow dish and leave them to it.  As long as you keep the tissue moist, you will have a harvest in a week or so.

Last weekend, I finally managed to get my potatoes in.  I am definitely a fair weather gardener.  The potoatoes could have gone in between February and April but it was too cold, wet and windy for my liking until last weekend.

Having bought the seed potatoes weeks ago, they have been sitting patiently in my kitchen, happily sprouting.  I think this may have been good though as someone told me you are supposed to let them sprout before planting.  Needless to say, I have no idea.

I grew some potatoes for the first time last year.  I always thought you needed a large vegetable patch to grow potatoes and then discovered by chance you could grow them in barrels.  I found a polypropylene barrel was available which seemed ideal as it could be easily stored when not in use.   The barrels have handles at the top so that you can shift them around and a flap on each side at towards the bottom which you can open to harvest your potatoes without disturbing the plant at the top.  The flap simply stays closed with Velcro.  I ran a copper band around each barrel to stop slugs crawling up to the plants.

Planting is so easy, you simply fill the bottom half with compost, pop in your seed potatoes with the sprouts upwards and then cover with more compost until the barrel is about 3/4 full.  One barrel can take 3-4 seed potatoes but I put 6 of the salad variety in as I figured the potatoes are smaller and will take up less room.

I was quite surprised at how well my potatoes did last year, despite me forgetting to water them half the time!  I don't even know what I grew last year, they were red ones, that's all I know.  One important thing I did discover last year though is that I am really allergic to potato plants!  Having spent an afternoon brushing past them on the way to the shed, I came out in a really itchy rash that nearly drove me mad.  When I went to the chemist for some cream, I was told that potatoes are related to Deadly Nightshade and can cause highly allergic reactions.

This year, despite the late planting, I am trying to be a bit more organised with the potatoes.  I have bought two varieties, Red Duke of York and Charlotte salad potatoes.  I can't remember which barrel is which but I will find out when I harvest them.  I don't think I need to know - hope not anyway!

I also tried my hand at growing some onions in plant pots last year too, which were quite successful.  For Christmas my parents-in-law gave me a wicker planter which I have decided to use for my Red Baron onions this year.  The wicker surround is partly decorative and also helps to keep the polypropylene liner in shape.  The liner is split into two sections, so you could grow a couple of vegetables in them.  Again, when not in use, the planter just folds down flat for easy storage.  Each section measures about 45cm square, so it does not take up a huge amount of space.  You could easily place it on a balcony or on a patio.

As the weather improves, I will be planting more vegetables in containers.  I will put some tomatoes in a grow bag, salad leaves in a hanging basket (away from the slugs!) and I may try some runner beans in a large pot too.

Little Faces

One of my favourite plants is the Pansy.  They just make me smile with their petals that resemble little faces.  I'm not the only one who thinks that either.  The Afrikaans name for Pansy is "Gesiggies" which translates to "little faces".

I have to admire the resiliance of these winter flowering ones.  I bought them from a local DIY store at the end of November, as in my usual fashion, I forgot to go and buy any earlier.  There the were stragglely end of line ones which nobody else had bought.  They were quite small, not overly healthy looking and didn't get planted until the second week of December.  Add to that the three feet of snow that was dumped on top of them in January, I am amazed they even survived!

But survive they have.  Not only that, they are flourishing, as you can see.  They are planted into a metal basket which is attached to the South facing fence, so quite a sunny position until mid afternoon.  All I need to remember to do now is remember to water them as the basket is quite shallow.  Hopefully, if they can survive the winter, they can survive me too!

Blooming Late

It's Easter Sunday and Spring has finally well and truly sprung ..... apart from in my garden!  Everywhere you look there are swathes of yellow daffodils swaying in the breeze.  All of mine have yet to realise it's Spring though.  I did put some extras daffodil bulbs in during December, so I would expect those to be late but all the rest have no excuse.  A quick inspection around the garden revealed one miniature daffodil in bloom, with the rest no where near flowering yet.  No idea why.

I can't believe how much damage has been caused through the winter.  I think the prolonged cold weather, rain, wind and let's not forget the snow has really impacted on the poor plants.  Some of the pots which I have had for years have suffered bad frost damage and even my wooden half barrel has come apart.  Quite a few of the plants in pots need to be replaced including a really good lavender which is now half dead and a couple of fuschias.

On a more positive note, the birds are enjoying the continuous feast I put out for them.  As well as the usual suspects of the Robin, Blackbirds, Pigeons, Sparrows and Blue Tits, I have finally managed to attract a pair of Goldfinches with the niger seeds I put out.  Hopefully they will make my garden a more permanent stop now.

Daisy cat is definitely enjoying the better weather and variety of birds to annoy.  She spends hours waiting under a bush in the hope of catching one but always fails.  The other morning I opened the curtains to see her thoroughly entangled in the Dogwood.  I can only assume she took a flying leap at a bird and misjudged the landing.  She was having real trouble unhooking her back legs from the branches much to the amusement of a robin sat a few feet away!

Valentine Roses

For St Valentine's Day last weekend, my lovely husband bought me two bunches of roses, one pale yellow and the other white.  I'm not a fan of red roses to be honest and the flowers at our wedding were pale yellow and white.

I don't know much about looking after cut flowers but I do seem to have a way with roses.  So often, bought roses end up with drooping heads and don't open up.  It's due to them not being able to take up enough water to stay alive.  Roses have woody stems which means they can only take in water on the cut edge and water can't permeate through the rest of the stem.

Whenever I am given roses, the first thing I do is snip the ends of the stems off as it gives them a fresh, clean edge to the stem.  Secondly, I peel the green of the stems for at least 10cm from the cut bottom edge to reveal the white underneath .  A vegetable peeler is the easiest way to do this.  If you don't want to peel the stems, you could bash them with a rolling pin to crush the stems apart instead.  Either will allow the roses to take up more water.

No doubt other people will have all sorts of top tips.  I'm sure I have heard of plunging cut flowers into iced water and adding aspirin to their water.  I always add the plant food that comes with the flowers and keep the water level above the peeled area of the stems.   I also change the water at least once a week.

As you can see from the photo, a week after St Valentine's Day the roses are still going strong and smell gorgeous.  The majority have opened up and there isn't a droppy head in sight.  One other tip would be to keep them in a cool spot if possible.  Above all, just enjoy them!

Blooming Marvellous!

At this time of year there really isn't much to get over excited about in the garden - well, if you live in the UK anyway.  One plant you can always rely on though is an Amaryllis which you can grow indoors.  I get given a bulb every Christmas and they never fail to put on a show.  The plants are native to South Africa and are commonly called Naked Ladies.

Needless to say, I have chucked the box away, so I have no idea what the variety of the one I am growing is.  It's the best one I have grown to date though.  They are so easy to grow, the bulbs come with a pot and some compost, so all you need is to add is some water. The plants seem to literally grow overnight.  You turn your back on them and they have grown another inch!  My Amaryllis went from bulb to two flowering stems with nine flowers, measuring about 50cm tall, in about four weeks.

The only advice I would give is to make sure you support the plant with sticks early on.  The weight of the flowers can cause the plant to toppel over as it is so top heavy.  Last year I forgot to support it and during the night another flower opened causing the plant to fall over and snap in two.  The plant kept flowering stuck in a glass of water but it didn't look quite the same somehow!

Gardening Calendars

If you are anything like me you won't have the first idea about when to sow anything.  Last year, I went to the garden centre on a whim and decided to try and grow potatoes for the first time.  I was obviously far too late as practically all the seed potatoes had gone and I ended up buying six small and wrinkley potatoes that were already starting to sprout tubers.

I didn't even have anything to plant them in and had to hastily buy some potato barrels for them.  They turned out rather well, with no help from me.  The largest potato was bigger than my fist and that was with me forgetting to water them most of the time!

Anyway, I can't remember the variety (they were red potatoes) and I can't even remember when I bought the see potatoes and planted them.  (You can see why I am now writing a blog for myself!)  I suddenly realised what I needed was a quick access gardening calendar.  I could trawl through my gardening books but sometimes you want a quicker answer.

A quick search on the internet and I found Garden Action's website.  It is perfect!  A real mine of information, including the all important vegetable gardening calendar.  According to that, I am fine for now but need to plant my potatoes in March.  All I need to do now is remember!

If you want to take a look at the site, the link is http://gardenaction.co.uk .

Walter Wagtail

I have a single Wagtail who visits my garden most days. I've no idea if it is male or female but I shall assume it is a lonely male in search of a mate. I'm probably completely wrong and it is a very happily single female!

Anyway, I find him quite entertaining as he struts around the garden. You can see why they are called Wagtails with their tail feathers bobbing up and down with every step. Their little spindly legs amuse me too, as well as their heads jerking backwards and forwards.

Watching the bird at the weekend suddenly reminded me of a rhyme my father used to say to me when I was small. I would sit on his lap and he would say, "Walter, Walter Wagtail sat upon a wall. Walter, Walter Wagtail fell down the hole!" As my father said the word "hole", his legs would part and I would drop down the gap. My father would be holding me under my arms to stop me hitting the floor though. He would then pull me up and say the rhyme all over again. I used to shriek with laughter as he would delay the moment he said "hole", so that I never quite knew when I would drop.

At the weekend, Mr Wagtail was sat on my fence posing for ages. What you don't realise from the photo is that he was actually having a Mexican standoff with my cat Dylan who had decided to sit on the patio by the bread I had thrown out there. Dylan, bless him, was convinced the birds wouldn't spot him sat there. It was so cold, he soon gave up and came back indoors though, leaving the birds to their breakfast.