Strawberry

I bought a strawberry plant because it was on sale in Homebase. I find strawberries very confusing when reading about them. So i am not sure what I am supposed to do with this one. I have transplanted it into a bigger pot but i need to ask Hilary about the runner thingys that are hanging down.

The picture shows it in its old pot along side the mint which has gone mad in growth since it was repotted.

Radishes

As we had emptied the pot which contained the potatoes, I decided to clean it up and get it back into use. We had had some success with the first sowing of radishes so decided to grow some more of the same variety.

They are “French breakfast 3”. They should appear in about 7 days. I have planted less seeds in the space this time as they were quite congested and I didn’t really get to grip with the whole “thinning” process.

You can plant this variety right up to September so if I get some more free space then I may plant some more.

They should be ready to harvest in about 4 to 6 weeks.

Potatoes - Pentland javelin

As I may have mentioned, I bought the pot of potatoes because my daughter thought it looked nice! Well to be fair, it has looked very nice and has helped fill up the appotment.

As the foliage was beginning to look a bit jaded, we decided to harvest the spuds and to see what £5 worth of home grown veg looked like.

I have to say, digging up those spuds with our mini trowel was worth every penny. It was so exciting seeing them appear. They varied in sixe from tiny to a good size for a new potato.

The resulting yield weighted one and a half pounds. I ate some of them for my dinner, boiled with mint out of the plot, along with home grown lettuce. I had to buy a tomato as mine are not quite ready but it was wonderful to eat what we had grown.

I have to admit that I ate the rest during the afternoon as sweets because they were so yummy

Shallots and lettuce leaves

As we had just harvested the potatoes, we were on a roll so decided to see what the shallots looked like. We first of all had to trim back the lettuce. It looked lovely, some red and some green but all very healthy.

We then cleared round the shallots and laid them on some newspaper. I had already perused several articles to see what to do with them and this seemed to be the generally accepted idea. This was the yield from 4 bulbs

I waited for the soil to dry off a bit then brushed them clean and laid them out in a row. Not bad for a first attempt. Now I have to go back to the books and find out what I do with them now as they can’t stay here they are.

Once I have found out the next step then we can harvest the other pot which just has shallots in with no distractions.

Lettuce

I have planted a new pot of salad bowl mixed lettuce in a round pot. The last lot that i planted has grown really well but has been made difficult to harvest as the shallots have been getting in the way. This should be a nice neat pot of lettuce (hopefully)

Sow outdoors March to August

Seedlings will appear in 7 to 14 days

For baby leaves, thin to 2 inches apart, for mature plants, thin to 10 inches apart. I will probably do very little thinning as i want the plant pot to look full and over flowing

Pak Choi

First thing to be planted for ages. Seedlings will appear in 14 to 21 days. Harvest unthinned as baby leaves or thin to 10inches apart to produce mature plants.

Can be used in stir frys or salads.

Plant every three weeks for continuous crops.

Sow outdoors from March to October

A new brown bin

My new brown bin has arrived at last. Our council will collect garden waste once a fortnight so I am planning on using them rather than setting up a compost bin at the moment.

The first sad addition to the bin was the remains of the courgette plant. Still not sure what happened to it. Maybe a combination of not enough soil for two plants, not enough water and food, too many black fly and all manor of other things that i don't actually know about. On the plus side, i did get 5 courgettes which are on the menu for this week.

I have also put in the bin the first of the mile a minute stuff that Lianne has cut down. I cant remember its proper name but it is growing over the fence from next door. This is part of the appotment expansion scheme as we clear the patio ready for use.