Strawberries and perennial flowers transplanted

Today, finally, I had a day off with sunshine (!) and even some warmth, and I enjoyed it at the allotment. My priority was to move the perennial plants, so when spring starts in earnest they are already in their final place. I have just gained use of this raised bed, which I inherited with a lot of strawberry plants. The bed was filled with topsoil when it was made, it's very good and less sticky than the clay in the ground so I plan to try growing carrots this year.

But first I needed to move the strawberry plants: I have moved the perennial flowers from one of my smaller beds in my plot and swapped them with strawberries. This is the new bed with the flowers planted in the middle (tansy, verbena bonariensis, sweet rocket and a few daffodils), a row of herbs on the right (sage, oregano, thyme, and a clump of violas), and I left a row of strawberries in the left because there were too many!

Hoy, cosa inaudita, hizo bueno, asi que por fin pude transplantar mis plantas: tengo una jardinera nueva que me ha tocado en la huerta, y la herede con un monton de fresas. La tierra es mucho mejor para zanahorias que la del suelo normal, asi que tuve que buscarles otro sitio a las fresas. Al final traslade las flores perennes que tenia en una de las jardineras pequenas a la jardinera nueva, y las puse en el medio. Deje una fila de fresas a la izquierda porque ya no me cabian mas en la jardinera pequena! Y en el sitio que dejaron las Flores puse las fresas:


Here is the new bed of strawberries:

Germination test for parsnips

The fist batch of parsnips I sowed at the beginning of March were not a suceess: out of six seeds, one in each plastic cell on the window sill, only one sprouted. The seed packet is new, other things are sprouting happily in the same propagator, and the packet said to plant from March so it shouldn't be too cold/dark; therefore, it must be that parsnips are particularly fickle.

Since I don't have unlimited space for underused plastic seedling trays, this time I'm going to use the system described here: http://vegpatchblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/this-weather-is-now-getting-boring.html .

This way, I make sure that only good seeds get sown in the plastic cells. Parsnip seeds may be fickle but at least they're easy to handle!I do like roasted parsnips, so hopefully I'll get more than a crop of one this year. Here's my own seeds from this morning, covered in cling film and resting on the wet paper:

Hace un mes sembre 6 semillas de chirivia, de las cuales solo una germino. Para evitar acabar con bandejas de compost y solo una o dos plantitas, que mi espacio no es ilimitado, esta vez voy a mirar primero cuales de las semillas estan vivas, y solo sembrar las que han germinado en el papel mojado.

Lei en otro blog que las semillas de chirivia varian mucho y no todas germinan, lo cual explica por que a mi se me dieron tan mal. El paquete de semilla era nuevo, y en la misma ventana otras semillas si que se dan! Por lo menos, son semillas grandes y faciles de ver. Las he puesto en este plato en la ventana, cubiertas con film de plastico para que no se sequen. A mi las chirivias asadas me encantan, asi que a ver si este ano tengo cosecha.

Hardening off my seedlings

The bad weather (spring snow!) has ruined my plans of a weekend planting out and finishing building my path at the allotment. Meanwhile, some of the seedlings I planted last month are growing fast, and I'm having to find them space until we get some decent spring weather again (the shock from indoors to frost will kill them). I'm starting them in the kithen window (warmest), moving them to the shed first, so they get used to colder temperatures gradually ('hardening off'), and the final step will be planting them out in the allotment.

These are some lettuce and some spring onions, sowed in some plastic cells (I cut the trays to fit into the windowsill propagators). (Note the white stuff behind the window? Yes, it's snow.) The plastic freezer bag is meant to keep the moisture in, but also makes it much easier to move!

Lechugas y cebolletas esperando a que el tiempo mejore y las pueda plantar en la huerta. Las voy pasando de la cocina a la caseta para que se vayan acostumbrando al frio poco a poco, ultima parada la huerta. Lo blanco detras del cristal es nieve. Las bolsas de plastico mantienen la humedad, pero tambien es mucho mas facil mover los semilleros de plastico.

My purple mangetout peas, in another corner of the shed:

Mis guisantes, en otra esquina de la caseta:

These lettuces are still in the kitchen window. The beer glass upside down fits the pot perfectly, and is prettier to look at than the plastic bags:

Estas lechuguitas todavia estan en la ventana de la cocina. El vaso boca abajo es mas bonito que las bolsas de plastico:

Building paths and sowing rocket

The paths next to the raised beds were getting very muddy and the good compost was falling into them, so I built these mini "retaining walls" today, with some boards that were lying around:

Ayer me dedique a la construccion: para mantener el compost en su sitio, y no en el camino, he puesto estas tablas de madera (a la derecha del camino, en la foto). Ahora esta todo muy delimitado y ordenado, como a mi me gusta!

The other thing I made/built today were these containers at the back of the plot. I've sown the one on the right with rocket, and I plan to sow one container every two weeks to have a succession of crop. I think they look good, hopefully they'll work too!

La segunda obra de ayer fue poner estas jardineras de plastico en la estanteria que tengo al fondo de la parcela. En la de la derecha de todo (estante de arriba) sembre rucula. Mi plan es sembrar una jardinera cada dos semanas, asi como dicen los libros tendre una cosecha continua durante mas tiempo. A ver si funciona, de momento por lo menos hacen bonito! (bueno, es un decir, pero quedan bien y parece que tengo una parcela mas productiva)

Haringey compost give-away 2013

Today was the council compost give-away. Everyone at the allotment turned up, and we had a nice assembly line going. I was in the advanced camp, shovelling the compost into bags, while Dan and Dave drove them back to base camp, and the rearguard group ferried the bags into the allotment, emptied them, and the drivers went back to the big pile and to get the next lot of bags.

When we finished the shovelling and all came back, there were hot bacon sarnies and cups of tea waiting:

Here are all the piles of compost in every plot:

And here is my own pile!

Herbs project - no space & no experience required

If I had no outdoor space for plants, or zero green fingers, and wanted to try growing some veg, I would choose growing herbs in a windowsill, without a doubt.

You only eat a little amount of the plant each time, so you only need one -  and they’re small – so suitable for a windowsill.

And they’re expensive to buy fresh for cooking – so you will save money!

Herbs, like any other plant, divide into two groups: ”annuals” -  that die naturally after one year, and “perennials” - which will stay in their pot for years. For the least amount of maintenance:  I would choose perennials: buy them from the garden centre (or the supermarket, although these tend to come in a worse state and don’t always survive), plonk them in the pot in your windowsill, remember to water them when the compost gets too dry, and don’t forget to pick leaves to eat on a regular basis!

In terms of container, it’s only a matter of personal preference: you can grow them in individual pots, or put them together in one of those long window-sill, trough-like containers. Pot size starts at mug- size (for one plant), but if you have space for something bigger the plant will be happier and last longer. Use any multipurpose compost - these plants are not fussy, and they won't need any kind of extra fertiliser.

Some herbs like it a bit drier, some prefer their compost wetter: I would grow each set in a separate long pot – and water one a bit more often than the other:

Herbs for dryer compost (they come from the Mediterranean):

·         Oregano

·         Thyme

·         Rosemary

·         Basil*

Herbs for (slightly) wetter compost:

·         Mint

·         Chives

·         Parsley*

·         Coriander*

*These three are annuals

Rule of thumb: when a plant finally dies, simply buy a new one and replace it.

Windowsill propagator

I went to the garden centre yesterday, and came back with a few packets of seeds and.... this!

I've always wanted a windowsill propagator, but in my old house I didn't have a suitable window ledge for it (they were too small or too dark). This window gets quite a lot of sunlight, despide the fence quite close opposite, and as you can see the box is just the right size and fits well. So I'm going to give it a go. Unlike the heated one from my last post, this one will be colder so I expect the seedlings to take much longer to sprout; but it will still be earlier than they would have done direct in the ground, and they won't be attacked by slugs and snails (until I plant them out).

The black cells (square pockets) come in 5 separate sets of 6 pockets each, and in each pocket I've sown: parnsips, onions, cosmos, lettuce (a variety called in the packet 'all year round') and parsley. I look forward to seeing what sprouts first, and comparing the different-looking type of seedlings - geek that I am. And because the plastic sets are separate, when the time comes to take them outside, I can take only what is ready and leave the slower growers inside a bit longer.

Tengo un semillero nuevo. Este no es electrico (no como el de mi ultima entrada en el blog), asi que las semillas tardaran mas en germinar, pero siempre tardaran menos que si las siembro sin proteccion al aire libre, y ademas evito caracoles y babosas. Esta ventana, a pesar de tener una valla justo enfrente, es muy luminosa, y el semillero encaja perfectamente en la ventana! He sembrado: cebollas, chirivias, cosmos (flores), lechuga y perejil.

Los huecos donde se planta, el plastico negro de la foto, estan cortados en cinco bandejas de 6 huecos cada una. Es perfecto para mi, porque asi puedo irlas sacando segun esten listas para plantar fuera, ya que seguro que un tipo de planta crece mas rapido que las otras. Seguro que es entretenido ver como son de distintas las 5 cosas que he sembrado, y a ver cual crece mas rapido.