My Tiny Plot

This is a photo of the lettuce patch at my new plot, mttp. The view is pretty amazing from here and I like to sit and watch the horse in the field every now and again. In a bid to save space I have planted small lettuce seedlings in between the larger lettuce. You might just about be able to see them in the photo. The idea is that when the larger lettuce are ready for harvest and have been pulled up the small seedings will be growing well and will fill the gaps made by the larger ones. I have sowed some new seed in the propagator so that I can start the whole cycle again once they are big enough.

Look away now if you don’t like spiders. I found this little clutch of spiders on a Hebe in my garden. I wasn’t sure what it was at first but it looks like they’ve just hatched and are huddling together for protection. Does anyone know why they do that? They’re very tiny!

These must be the coolest seeds I’ve seen. They’re like mini gems and don’t really look like seeds at all. I had to take a photo of them. I sowed some normal sweetcorn and some strawberry sweetcorn today. I notice that a lot of people have started to put their sweetcorn out - while mine are still under starters orders! It’s a bit worrying but I’m sure they’ll catch up.

This year I’m determind to make a go of growing tomatoes. Last year I grew Gardeners Delight but even though I knew I had to pinch out the shoots inbetween the trusses I didn’t keep up with it and consequently I ended up with a bush-like plant and very small tomatoes. This year I decided to buy my tomato plants from the nursery (to save space at home more than anything). I bought them this weekend they are: Gardeners Delight (x2), Shirley, Sun Belle (plum variety) and Supersweet 100 (cherry bush variety). All except the bush variety are cordons which means I’ll have to keep on top of the ‘pinching out’. I’ve planted them out already (after a night under fleece in my back garden). I spaced them about 40 cm apart and gave each one a sturdy cane for support. They’re doing well!
From reading around I’ve learned that tomatoes have one long tap root and lots of small ‘feeding’ roots near the soil level. The tap root is searching for water and the feeding roots are looking for food. The tap root needs a constant supply of water so I have saved five Avian water bottles specifically to help me with this. I have nailed some holes in the cap, sliced off the bottom and sunk it into the ground beside the tomatoes (I actually did this before I planted them so as not to damage the roots). I plan to fill this up once a day and the water will drip, drip through the holes. Hopefully this will give them enough constant water so they won’t split from over watering. I’ll feed the tomatoes too (with Tomorite probably) once a week but this will be watered directly onto the ground so that the feeding roots can gather the food. According to Sarah Raven you only need to feed your tomatoes once they have flowered and are setting fruit.

This is a picture of my seed tray right now. Starting from the top left and moving along in rows we have - Dill (no show), below that Corriander and Parsley. The row one in from the left is all Basil, then Spring onions (10 seeds per module), then another later sowing of Basil, then Rocket (that will be moved to the free modules when they are large enough). And on the right hand side in peat pockets from the top we have: Marjoram, Mint and Oregano. How’s that for an efficient use of space, huh?

I sowed some Borlotti beans today. I’m having some success with using my heated propogator plugged in outside. You see the problem with sowing seeds inside is that there just isn’t as much light in the house as there is outside. But at this time of year it’s too cold to sow seeds outside. And with no heated greenhouse you can see where the problem lies. So I decided to plug in my propogator in the shed and put it outside the door (light AND heat!) and it seems to work. I have raised some french beans already, plenty of rocket, germinated mint, marjoram and corriander - all of which are growing on nicely. It hasn’t escaped me that using the propogator outside isn’t exactly energy efficient. And that certainly is the downside to the whole plan. But then it’s just like a mini heated greenhouse and takes up less space in the garden too!

We finished digging and laying the beds over at mttp. Here is the finished plot all ready for new plantings. The first bed is planted with Pink Fir Apple potatoes, the second with a selection of lettuce seedlings, the third will be for tomatoes, the fourth for sweetcorn and the last one (partly in shade) will house the second round of lettuce that will mature in mid summer (and will therefore be thankful for a bit of shade). In the first bed along the side we put up a wigwam to grow some sweet peas, with plans to put some herbs in next to that. And in the far bed we have already planted a rhubarb crown and have left some space for one courgette plant (which is plenty if last year’s experience is anything to go by!). So there you go, from rotovation to planting in just one week! Not bad eh?

Call me crazy but I’ve taken on another plot - this one is a wee bit smaller than mtp so we’re calling it mttp (my teeny-tiny plot). As with all new plots it’s in a bad state. Lots of comfrey, nettles, bindweed and a fair bit of rubbish to clear (old carpets etc). But Ryan’s made a good start with our neighbours old rotovator and we’re hoping to have it up and running by the end of the May Day weekend. Since the new plot is just a minute’s walk from our house I’m planning to use it to grow plants that need a lot of attention or that need picking often: tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, etc

The gutter peas in the cold frame where getting huge (around 2 inches in length) so I had no choice but to plant them out into their final position. The guttering idea didn’t work out ‘quite’ the way I thought it would. The peas were basically stuck in it and I had to disturb them somewhat in order to get them out (thus negating the whole reason why I used the guttering in the first place - doh!). But they’ve been in the ground for four days now and they’re doing well. They’re even starting to scramble up the pea sticks. So I guess you could say that the experiment was a success. I’ve re-planted the guttering with more peas for a second row in May.