Cuttings of sage and phlox

Cuttings of sage and phlox

This is something I did last week: I've taken cuttings of my hot-pink phox, which I really like and want more plants of (it's a perennial), and cuttings of sage to try to overwinter in the plastic greenhouse, or perhaps indoors (frost will kill them).

The plastic cover that you see is to keep the compost moist and give the cuttings a better chance to root (the sage got covered with a clear plastic bag and a clothes peg).  Late summer (that is, August) is supposed to be a good time to take cuttings of some plants - sage is one of them, and I've taken sage cuttings before (successfully). I've never tried to propagate phlox before, but I've read that cuttings taken in August do relatively well. To help save moisture I also cut most of the leaves, including the ones at the top that are softer and always dry out first. The plant only needs a few to stay alive and grow roots, the rest of the leaves only make it dry out too soon before it can produce roots.

I bought this phlox in early spring from the pound shop, because I can't resist a bargain... It has the most amazing pink flowers (see this previous post, under the onions), and it has flowered in a shady spot that almost never gets direct sunlight, so it's definitely on my top list! (ah, and the flowers are scented too. Hopefully next year I'll have a bigger plant and more flowers that I can cut for the house).

La semana pasada he plantado esquejes de salvia y de phlox paniculata (descripcion aqui). La salvia muere con las heladas, y los esquejes son para ver si los puedo mantener a salvo en el invernadero de plastico o en casa hasta el ano que viene. Ya he plantado esquejes de salvia otros anos, y se me dieron bien.


El phlox lo compre en primavera por una libra, fue una autentica ganga y se ha dado de maravilla. Las flores son de un rosa espectacular (mirad aqui, debajo de las cebollas). Es perenne, pero quiero mas plantas en el jardin porque me gusta mucho. Ademas, no hay muchas plantas que den flores en la esquina donde lo tengo, donde casi no le da el sol directo nunca. Y, por si todo esto fuera poco, las flores huelen!


Los esquejes los cubri con plastico para mantener la humedad. El phlox lo tengo con una botella de plastico cortada, la salvia la cubri luego con una bolsa de plastico transparente atada con una pinza. Para que no pierdan humedad, les dejo solo unas pocas hojas y les quito las hojas de la punta, que siempre son las mas blandas y se secan antes. Lo justo para que la planta siga viva y le de tiempo de producir raices antes de secarse.

Tomatoes finally ripe!

First crop of tomatoes this year

I finally got some tomatoes today. Tonight's dinner will be a culmination of my summer vegetables: lettuce (red deer tongue), tomatoes, cucumber and spring onions, all homegrown!

It's very exciting getting ripe tomatoes, they look amazing suddenly so red standing out against the green, after all these months of only green. I must say, however, that my garden is not the best place to grow them: they mature, but very late! They will do much better with more sunlight, so I think next year I'll grow them at the allotment. My allotment neighbour has had ripe tomatoes since July...

Tarde, pero por fin hoy coseche mis primeros tomates! La cena de hoy va a tener una ensalada completamente de cosecha casera - la culminacion de los vegetales del verano: lechuga, tomate, pepino y cebolletas!


Los tomates en el jardin no se me dan del todo bien. La planta produce fruta, pero tarda mucho en madurar por culpa de la falta de luz. El proximo ano los voy a plantar en la huerta comunal, que tiene mas horas de sol al dia - mi vecina de alli lleva comiendo tomates desde julio.

The leek experiment

Leeks planted out

I've been trying to grow leeks for three years now, and so far with very little success. The first time I bought a tray of seedlings from the garden centre in the summer, they survived the winter under a cover of plastic, and well into the spring - when they hadn't even got to the "pencil stem" thickness stage I got bored and cleared them up. This year I sowed seeds in the spring (in a pot), got seedlings very similar (in appearance at least) to the ones from the garden centre, and this week I have planted them out in the ground, with some added garden compost. The brown stuff you see on the photo is ground coffee, which is supposed to keep the slugs away. I have a row of about 12 leeks at home, and a bed of about 20 at the allotment.

I don't know if this is going to work. They are still really small (smaller than the spring onions you buy from supermarkets), and I have doubts they'll grow through the autumn and winter to proper leek size. I always think that vegetables don't really grow much during the darkest and coldest months. But perhaps the leeks will prove me wrong! And in any case, I have all winter to do my research and reading on the optimum time to harvest leeks, perhaps I was too quick to clear the crop in spring the first year I tried growing them?

Por segunda vez voy a probar con los puerros. La primera vez compre una bandeja de plantitas y las plante en verano, pasaron el invierno protegidos con un plastico, y en primavera, como no habian engordado nada, me canse y los levante. Esta vez sembre yo las semillas en una maceta en primavera, y ahora estaban las plantitas mas o menos igual de grandes que las que compre el primer ano. Las he plantado mas espaciadas y con compost casero, a ver si esta vez se me dan mejor! Lo marron que veis en la foto es cafe molido, que dicen que espanta a las babosas y caracoles. En casa tengo una fila de 12 puerros, y 20 mas en la huerta municipal.

No tengo claro cuando se supone que tienen que estar listos, porque estos son tan pequenos que no les va a dar tiempo de engordar antes de que llegue el invierno. A lo mejor tengo que dejarlos mas tiempo en primavera para que les de tiempo de engordar? En fin, tengo todos los meses del invierno para leer mis libros e informarme, a ver si de una vez consigo puerros de verdad!

Saving seed and sowing for the autumn

Some seed gets saved, some gets sown

This time of the year there isn't as much to do as back in the spring, and more time to be outside enjoying the flowers and the food, but there are still some jobs I can do. I have started saving seed of my favourite annual flowers to sow again next year in spring. This is really easy, and because I've done it for three years already I know which seeds work better in my garden (that is, the seed is easy to save and the plants will flower in my shady garden in pots).

I always keep seed of calendula: simply leave some flowers dry out in the plant and then cut the whole dry head (it has lots of curved dry bits, each of one is a seed). Nigella is also very easy to pick: it produces a papery ball full of the little black seeds, if you let it dry you can pick the ball whole. Other seeds I save are: nasturtium, tagetes (french marigold), purple wallflowers (matthiola incana) and honesty (these two are biennials - you sow them this summer for flowers next year). And rocket leaves (I left one corner of it go to flower).  Today I have saved some dry flowers of cosmos for the first time: I sowed some seed I bought this past spring for the first time and it's been a huge success, so now I want to see if I can take it a step further and also save my own seed for next year!

Once you've picked the seed pods or flower heads, they need to dry out completely before you can store the seed away - otherwise they'll rot. I put them in paper bags (you can see a couple in the photo) and hang them from the ceiling of the shed. After a month or so, when they're dry, I will put them in paper envelopes until next spring.

Another thing I'm doing now is keep sowing plants for the autumn. I have sowed the plugs you see in the photo with turnip tops ('grelos' is the local name from Galicia, where I come from) an spinach. These two, if they get big enough and established before it gets too cold and dark, should keep during the most of the winter, although I fear I may have left it too late and they won't have enough summer left, but we'll see.

En agosto hay menos que hacer que en primavera, y mas tiempo para disfrutar de todas las flores y cosechas, pero hay un par de trabajos que si hay que hacer ahora: recoger semilla para el ano que viene, y sembrar para cosechas en otono. Las semillas de flores anuales son facilisimas de recoger, el unico truco es esperar a que las flores se sequen y cortarlas! Yo las pongo en bolsas de papel para que se sequen, las tengo colgadas del techo de la caseta. Dentro de un mes, cuando esten completamente secas, las pondre en sobres hasta la primavera que viene.


Despues de tres anos sembrando flores y guardando semilla, ya se cuales funcionan mejor (y cuales dan flor en las macetas y la sombra de mi jardin). Siempre guardo semilla de: calendula, tagetes, nigella damascena (pincha aqui para ver una foto), lunaria y alhelies morados (estas dos ultimas son bianuales, se siembran este verano y dan flores el ano que viene). Este ano voy a probar por primera vez a guardar semilla de cosmos, porque esta primavera pasada sembre semilla comprada y se han dado de maravilla!


La otra labor del dia ha sido sembrar para cosechar en otono. He sembrado, en las celulas que veis en la foto,  grelos y espinacas. No se si les dara tiempo de crecer lo suficiente antes de que llegue el frio y los dias cortos, deberia de haberlos plantado a principios de mes, pero a ver que pasa.

My onion harvest

Crop of onion 'stuttgarter'

I finally harvested my onions yesterday. It had been dry for a few days, so the onions shouldn't be too wet - they need to be dried before you store them, to avoid them rotting or getting mouldy. The soil at the allotment is so heavy that some of the onion stems snapped when I was pulling the onions out, but most of them kept their stems. With the longer stems I have made two plaits and the rest I simply bunched up and tied together, as you can see in the photo. They're all hanging from the ceiling in the shed now, waiting to be cooked!

Ayer toco osecha de cebollas. Llevaba sin llover un par de dias, asi que las cebollas estaban secas. Y ahora que las he colgado del techo de la caseta se mantendran secas y, si todo sale bien,  nos duraran unos cuantos meses. La tierra de la huerta es muy dura, y al tirar de las cebollas algunos de los tallos se rompieron; pero con todas las demas he trenzado las dos ristras y los dos manojos que veis en la foto. Ya tenemos cebollas en la despensa para cocinar!

Water cuttings from sweet rocket

Water cuttings from sweet rocket

These are some cuttings of sweet rocket that I took a few weeks ago. Of six cuttings I took, four have developed tiny white roots, quite a result! Two of them are doing really well - you can see them in the photo: they have green leaves, and one of them has even flowered.  I like the decorative stand with the glass "test tubes", it looks pretty on the windowsill while I'm waiting for the cuttings to grow new roots.

Today I decided to plant them outside. but to minimise the shock (these have been in the kitchen window for weeks now) I covered them with a a half plastic bottle. Hopefully they'll take!

Estos esquejes de hesperis matronalis los corte hace unas semanas, y han estado en la ventana de la cocina hasta hoy. Este soporte con los "tubos de ensayo" es muy decorativo, y hace bonito mientras espero que los esquejes echen raices.  De los seis esquejes que corte, cuatro han echado raices, y dos de ellos - los veis en la foto - han echado hojas tambien, y uno hasta tiene una flor!


Hoy los plante fuera por fin. Como llevan en interior varias semanas, los cubri con una botella de plastico cortada a la mitad, para que no sufran demasiado con el cambio. 

Homegrown cut flowers

Homegrown cut flowers in my two favourite vases

I love having bunches of flowers in the house that I cut from the garden - it's almost as satisfying as growing food! And now that the garden is a little bit more established, I tend to have enough flowers to share with the bees... 


Cortar flores del jardin para poner en el jarron dentro de casa me da casi tanta satisfaccion como cortar hojas y fruta para comer. Y ahora que el jardin esta un poco mas establecido, suelo tener suficientes flores para cortar y dejar en la planta. Esta es la lista (abajo) de que flores tengo ahora para el jarron.

This is what I'm growing and cutting at the moment (between pots, a small bed on the ground, and weeds in between cracks in the concrete patio). Some don't last very long once cut, such as the budleia, but they look and smell so lovely that if I have spares I would cut one or two for a short-term display indoors!:

Picking now, summer (verano):
Roses (rosas)
Sweet Rocket (hesperis matronalis)
Lavender (lavanda)
Perennial Wallflower (alhelies morados)
Freesia
Budleia 
Calendula
Nigella
Cosmos
Pinks (clavelinas)
Petunias
Sweetpeas (Lathyrus odoratus)
Fushias


For foliage (hojas):
Weeds - including grasses (hierbas silvestres)
Sambucus nigra
Golden choysia


Picking in spring (primavera):
Hyacinth (jacintos)
Daffodils (narcisos)
Bluebells (campanillas azules)
Scillas (campanillas ibericas)
Honesty (lunaria)


To add for next year (mas para el ano que viene):
Red clover (trebol de flor roja)
Cornflower (centaurea)
Chocolate cosmos
More sweetpeas (mas Lathyrus odoratus)

What to sow in August

WHERE:
There's lots to harvest now, and as some crops get eaten or die off they leave new spaces where to make new sowings. (Beetroot, lettuces sown early in spring, garlic, potatoes, onions, early peas, broad beans - these are normally dead or eaten come August).

WHAT:
There's two main options: a) you can either sow quick crops that will grow and get harvested before the end of the summer (October); or b) sow plants that will grow through the winter and you can eat during the winter or early spring.

HOW:
Same as you did in spring, you can either wait until you lift one crop and sow directly in the newly cleared ground; or sow in small pots (also called modules, or plugs), and plant out the little seedlings later on. Growing seedlings in pots means that you can start early and at the same time that you have the old crop still producing, thus minimising the gap until your next crop is ready. When you have little space this is a good option, otherwise you'll be without anything to harvest for a couple of months!

I dug up my potatoes last month (it was an early variety), so in that bed I planted (all grown in pots beforehand): swede, turnip and kale (for winter); lettuce, pak choi and spinach (for a quick crop before it gets too cold). This weekend I'm going to lift the onions and sow some more stuff, but because I haven't got any more seedlings in pots left they'll have to be direct sowings. I think I'm going to go for quick crops (the seed packet confirms they should be ready in 8-10 weeks, that means early October - still before any frosts, hopefully!): lettuce, cress, radishes, maybe some quick carrots (the varieties called 'early' tend to be faster-growing), spinach, pak choi. I don't like the taste of oriental salad leaves like mizuna, but they're good to sow this time of the year too.

There are special varieties of lettuce that grow better in cold weather, so I'll go for those. Spinach also don't mind growing into autumn. And, if you cover them with plastic (I make my own cloches with bamboo canes and clothes pegs) they last a bit longer - until it gets too cold and too dark.

Donde se van cosechando lo que plantamos en primavera, van quedando huecos, y ahora es el momento de plantar cosas nuevas. Por ejemplo, mis patatas las levante el mes pasado, y en su sitio he plantado: berzas, nabos, grelos, lechugas y espinacas. Este fin de semana levantare las cebollas, y sembrare: mas lechugas (de otro tipo, para variar), espinacas (que nos encantan), zanahorias (una variedad que madura rapido) y rabanitos.

En agosto se pueden plantar dos tipos de cosas: a) cosechas rapidas que maduran en dos meses (el paquete de semillas suele poner cuanto tiempo tardan en madurar, "8-10 semanas" quiere decir principios de octubre, cuando todavia no hace demasiado frio - antes de las heladas); o b) plantas que aguantan todo el invierno fuera, como berzas, nabos, brecol, coliflores, repollos.

Yo a menudo siembro en macetas pequenas, porque asi la planta va creciendo mientras la cosecha primera todavia esta en la tierra, y cuando levantas las plantas viejas ya tienes una planta medio desarrollada. De esta forma tienes que esperar menos tiempo hasta que la segunda cosecha este lista (en vez de 8-10 semanas, quizas solo 4-6), y cuando tienes poco espacio lo ultimo que quieres es tener que esperar dos meses hasta poder volver a comer algo...