My Tiny Plot

Tomatoes are a pure delight to grow. Watching your own plants swell to produce sweet, aromatic fruits is one of the true pleasures in life and one that many people repeat year after year. The Tomato is one of the only vegetables that you can grow in a diverse range of shapes, colours and sizes. With around 7500 varieties to choose from you can grow virtually any kind from bulging Beefsteak Tomatoes, to a cascade of sweet cherry Tomatoes or pear-shaped yellow ones to, this year’s fashion, teeny-tiny, pea-sized ones.

Choosing the colour and shape of your home-grown Tomatoes is all well and good but what’s really important is the taste. Nothing beats the intense flavour of a Tomato that tastes like a Tomato. And nothing can really match that Tomatoey aroma that you only get from a vine. Twist a fully-ripe, sun-warmed fruit off the vine and bite into it. You’ll be overcome by the rich and sweet, juiciness of it. It tastes amazing.

Tags: Tomatoes

I don’t know about you but I get hacked off with all the plastic that is used in gardens. I have a mountain of plastic pots from the garden centre, and have been given many plastic seed trays. I also go through so many plant tags that I resorted to buying plastic ones that crumble over the winter and leave tiny bits of plastic in the soil that I can never get rid of!

Other types of plant tags work for a bit but then some flaw is revealed – wooden tags look great but tend to rot after about two or three years. Slate can work but if you snap it the points are lethal. I even tried a label maker and I also tried copper but it was too hard to read.

I decided I’d had enough. I’ve invested in a plant tag making system that uses aluminium tags and these cool-looking metal punches that you use with a, very heavy, jig.

You place your blank plant tag in the jig, line up the guides, select your letter punch, put it in place and whack it really hard with a hammer. In this way you spell out your plant name. I’ve made tags for all my permanent planting such as my ‘APPLE – Queen Cox, planted 2008′. And ‘PEACH – Peregrine, planted 2008′.

The system works perfectly for trees and other permanent additions to the garden, like Roses, or Wisteria. You can even buy those ‘cloud-shaped’ tags that the Victorians were fond of and you can see in just about every walled kitchen garden you’ll ever visit. I have also bought a stock of stand alone plant tags that stick in the ground and bend slightly so that you can read them.

For other, non-permanent plants I’m planning to stamp out the type of plant ie. ‘Carrot’ but then add the variety in pen (which can be wiped off next year). I haven’t tried this yet but I’m hoping that it works.

So…the plan is never to buy another plant tag but to continue making my own until I have every type of plant covered. I’ll let you know how that goes. But for now I’m just going to sit back and admire my handy work!

Tags: Plant labels, plant tags

I went to the Spring Gardening Show in Malvern this weekend. It’s always lovely to see so many gardeners walking around with basketfuls of plants. This year there seemed to me to be more than the average number of nurseries selling unusual plants and flowers. I even thought about buying a Clematis! Still thinking.

One stand caught my eye though, it was chock full of heirloom Tomatoes. The Tomatoes were beautifully displayed in coconut shells and miniature gardens and made me want to plough my whole plot and plant nothing but Tomatoes! Very inspiring. The ones pictured above are Green Zebra (on the left) and Striped Stuffer (right).

I forgot to make a note of the name of this Tomato but it could be Green Sausage.

I love the shape of this huge Tomato. It’s called Pearson and looks to me like it might need the protection of a greenhouse. Large Tomatoes normally do.

These little apple-shaped Tomatoes are Ceylon. I might give them a try outdoors this year. I bet they’re prolific and mouth-wateringly sweet.

I like to grow at least one Tomato that isn’t red. This one looks amazing. It’s called Tangella and is unusual enough to spice up any plate.

I do find that some Heirloom Tomatoes are not very appetising to look at. Some of them are, well, just ugly. Some of the black ones even make me wince a bit. Anyone with me on that one?

Finally, this is a photo of the whole stand. I really love the passion here. Heck. I know they’re trying to sell Tomato seed and it’s their business but from the effort that has gone into this you just know that they breathe Tomatoes. I’m grateful that someone is so passionate about it to make this wonderful display that really made my day.

Tags: Heirloom Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Although my garden is mostly about fruit and vegetables I do occasionally make a foray into flowers. I recently decided it was time to brighten up my deck area. However, I have a one year old little boy who loves nothing better than to ‘check out’ mummy’s pots. The only thing I have on my deck is a large galvanised tub housing a climbing rose. It’s prickly enough to deter him but that doesn’t stop him providing a soil removal service on a daily basis.

If I were to go down the flower route, I would need to think about protecting them in some way. The anti-child planter started life as a basket for toiletries, and then graduated to a ‘not very successful‘ mouse deterrent. In its new guise it provides basic protection for white pansies and in turn doubles as a useful coffee cup rest. Everyone’s happy, as they say. Well, not everyone.

Tags: pansies

I count this as my first real harvest of the season. It’s my over wintering coldframe Lettuce Reine des Glaces, with a little bunch of ‘this season’ herbs and a clutch of early Radish called Rainbow mixed from Plants of Distinction. The colander is a vintage enamel one that I bought at a flea market at the weekend in my attempt to ape the colanders at Holt Farm. I think I’ll use it for salad harvest for now until the salads get too big and then I’ll plant it up with some Basil maybe.

I’ve recently started buying vintage gardening tools. Previously, I had bought a set of Spear & Jackson traditional range. Not for any quality issues but purely because I liked the look of them. They have been great actually. But then I thought, rather than buying tools that look vintage, how about buying some that really are?

I figure if they have made it this far and are still in good repair they they’re pretty sturdy, right? I picked these up on eBay. The fork and trowel were around £5 each and the hedge clippers were around £9 I think. I’m very happy with them. Their handles have that smooth wood feel that only comes from years and years of use. And I love the colour of the fork.

Now I display my tools and because I like looking at them I even give them a clean now and again and have a bucket of wet sand standing by for that very purpose. I’m sure I’ll be adding to my collection. If I ‘ever’ get a greenhouse I’d like one of those long brass water sprayers.

You know it’s wet when a snail is sitting on the latch to the shed! I know everyone is talking about it but can I just say “Meh!”. More rain today, the same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that and…

This is the first time I’ve been out to the potting shed for about a week. And I got dripped on. I need my garden back. Just an hour will do.

Tags: rain

I’ve never made compost tea but I saw a demo recently of how simple it is to make. So I thought I’d share it here and have a go myself (if it ever stops raining that is).

All you need is a bucket, some rain water, some honey and an old pond pump (try eBay).

1. Fill your bucket about a third full of mature compost
2. Pour rainwater in to fill the bucket
3. Add one or two spoonfuls of honey
4. Put in your pond pump and switch on
5. Wait 2-3 days, strain and use immediately

Compost tea can be used on fruit and vegetables wherever you think they might need an extra boost of nutrients. It’s ideal for plants in pots, or on poor soil, or plants in the greenhouse.

Tags: fertilizer

Yesterday I was invited over to see Holt Farm, the organic garden that was created by Sarah Mead near the idyllic Chew Valley lake. It was a perfect day. Rain then bright sunshine which made the colours and the view just come alive.

The garden may be in an idyllic setting but the family business (Yeo Valley dairy) sits right next door. I expected an amount of noise to come from a dairy of this size shipping products to every supermarket in the country but its 600 employees were seemingly silent and double-deck lorries crept slowly up the hills and out of sight.

I hardly knew the cows were there while sitting on the deck of the tearoom, eating home-made chocolate brownies and watching the hoverflies flitting from one flowering Broccoli to the next.

The view from the tearoom is largely the ornamental kitchen garden. Set out in raised beds (some with box hedging running diagonally through them) this part of the garden is neat and structured with brick pathways. Next door trained Apple trees line the borders, a cutting garden produces Narcissus at this time of year and fruit cages are home to ornamentally trained Raspberries. There are decorative forcing pots dotted around the garden too.

Broccoli has been allowed to flower and adds a bright yellow interest to what is an otherwise green kitchen garden at this time of year. The bees love it!

And brightly coloured colanders are lined with horticultural fleece and are busy growing herbs to furnish the tearoom tables on the deck.

The colours are a great contrast to the green backdrop.

But even the Lettuces and Cabbage at Holt Farm are victim to slug attack. Being a certified organic garden they need to find environmentally kind ways to eject our slimy friends. At the moment they are using pelleted sheep’s wool to protect Kale…

…and oyster shells around their Broadbeans. Both with, ‘some success’, according to Sarah.

The garden is so much more than a kitchen garden. There is a beautiful tulip garden, wild flower meadow, shade garden, and reflecting pool. All pieced together with wiggling walkways and a view of the lake. But by this time the brightly painted sea-sidey chairs were calling me again and it was time for more coffee and biscuits.

If you’d like to visit the garden it’s open Thursdays 10.00 – 5.00pm from the 12th April to the end of September, and the first Sunday of the month 2.00-5.00pm May-September. There are also courses running throughout the summer. The garden is also open as part of the National Garden Scheme for charity.

Tags: Garden Visits, Holt Farm, Organic Garden

I spent the day at Yeo Valley farm organic garden today (more on that later). This afternoon the head gardener, James, showed us how he makes his own seed sowing mix, which let’s face it, could save us all a penny or two.
He roughly sieves his homemade leaf mould mix to get the lumps out and adds the same amount again of horticultural sand. That’s it! The resulting mixture is fine, light and packed full of nutrients. I’m not sure I’ll ever buy seed compost again.