My Tiny Plot

Yey! After a long, long wait it’s time to start chitting Potatoes. The garden centres and seed merchants are selling or delivering seed potatoes as from now so why not get stuck in and start yours off. I headed to the garden centre last weekend to buy mine. I went for Winston (First Earlies or New Potatoes to you and I) because the label said they had good blight resistance. 

I didn’t have any trouble with blight on my Potatoes last year but (as with everyone’s) my Tomatoes were ruined by blight and so I’m taking no chances this year. I’ll be opting for resistant varieties of everything capable of catching even the slightest bit of blight.

I’ve put my seed potatoes under the window in the potting shed - that way they are out of way of frost but have lots of light to enable then to grow nice, short, green sprouts. Make sure to look for the biggest eye and face that one towards the light. What you’re looking for is one healthy, big shoot, the rest can be rubbed off with your finger.

Good luck, chitters!

Yesterday, I harvested the last of the Leeks. Now the ground is ‘really’ clear and ready for those heaps of manure I plan to buy any day now. I also brought in my plant tags in order to give them a Winter wash. They came up really well with a bit of a scrub and now they’re drying off in an old clay plant-pot just waiting for the sowing to commence.

I took the opportunity to take a photo of the cleaning process (tags and Leeks). Don’t they look neat in their separate compartments?

January is a month of taking stock, getting ready for the coming season and generally trying to keep warm. Nothing has ‘really’ started growing yet and there is very little to do in the way of sowing yet. However, January is full of hope. It won’t be long before the growing season will be gathering speed so take some time out now to ensure that your soil, your tools and seed store are in tip-top condition ready for the busy months ahead.

1. Dig some manure into your beds
2. Order your seed Potatoes ready for chitting next month
3. Trim back Sage to give it a new lease of life
4. Winter prune Apples, Pears, Currants, Blackberries and Raspberries
5. Force Rhubarb
6. Sow Spring Cabbage, hardy Lettuce and Broadbeans in the cold-frame
7. Sow Early Carrots and more Garlic in situ under cloches
8. Clean your tools
9. Harvest the last of your Winter vegetables
10. Keep adding kitchen waste to your Runner Bean trench 

If you have any more suggestions for January jobs, add them to the list.

It’s pretty misty this morning. It makes the garden look all spooky and forgotten. Everything is covered in dew and it brings out the colours on the few things that are left in the garden at this time of year. I’m down to my last Leeks, patches of Spinach, some Kale, the Parsley is still hanging in there, and the Mint is probably still edible. So, not much.

I can’t even see the hillside anymore. Very mysterious and creepy and horror film like. Don’t you think? Actually, just after I took this shot the posty arrived in his bright red van - kinda ruined it a bit for me.

Back in the garden one of the few things that is edible right now is my Kale. The plants are quite small (planted them out too late) but as there are a few of them I should have enough Kale to go around. It looks particularly good in the dew.

It’s nearly time to cut the Raspberries down to the ground (early Feb) but for now they lend a certain interest to the garden with their crispy shapes that look like Star Anise.

After rummaging around the shed and shifting some stuff around I dragged my poor old bike out. It hasn’t seen the light of day since before Jackson was born (have you ever seen a pregnant woman riding a bike - exactly!). It’s time to get back on the old girl, I think. She’s in a sorry state though. Flat tires, covered in stuff that looks like sawdust (not really sure where that came from) and some rust starting to show. But the bell still works and that’s the main thing, right?

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the lovely people at Victoriana Nursery and they asked me if I’d like to review some of their plants, seeds, and products. Of course, I jumped at the chance. I’d seen Victoriana Nursery adverts in some of the gardening mags I read and so I knew all about them. They’re a family-run nursery who look like they also have a lot of fun growing plants. You just have to visit the website to see that.

I spent a long time choosing which products I would review. I wanted a cross-section of items. Some plants, some seeds, some plant feed, some items that would be useful around the garden too. This is the list that I’ve decided to review.

5 Cabbage Plants - All Year Round Blend = £2.25
5 Cauliflower Plants ‘Snowball’  = £2.25
Bean Seed - Climbing French Bean ‘Fasold’  = £4.35
Cucumber Seed ‘Crystal Apple’ = £1.50
Instant Life (50 Gallon Pack)  = £6.95
Love ‘Em And Leave ‘Em Leaf Sack = £1.95

I chose Cauliflower and Cabbage plants to see if this year, because I didn’t manage it last year, I could grow some Brassicas to be proud of. Frankly, I’ve tried growing them from seed with not much luck. So I’m hoping that buying in some over-wintering plants will give me the helping hand that I need. If this trial is successful I’ll be buying in bulk next year! This year’s plants are tucked up under my fleece tunnel and so far have withstood the hard frosts we’ve been having here. So far so good. 

I grew Climbing French Beans for the first time last year. They were a great success and only took up half the room that the normal dwarf variety would do. The problem is that I used up all my seed and only managed to save a handful for this year so when I saw it here I snapped it up. And Crystal Apple - well who wouldn’t want to grow round cucumbers?

The packaging on the Instant Life plant food was so interesting that I had to have that and the ‘Love Em and Leave, Em’ leaf-mould sack is just perfect for someone with a small garden with not a corner to spare for a leaf-mould pile. 

So there you have it - Victoriana Nursery is officially on test. Watch out for updates on how the different products fair over the coming year.

I get really excited when it’s frosty. Not when it’s just a bit frosty, but a really hard, deep frost that never goes away all day. It’s even better if the sun is out - but I’ll take frost whatever the weather.

It’s my favourite kind of weather. Actually, that’s not true, snow is my favourite kind of weather but because I live in England and there is very little chance of seeing any snow in the winter these days, I have attached myself to frost as the next best thing.

And sometimes it is. If you squint your eyes a bit the kind of frost that covers the hills and trees, and paths and leaves and even individual blades of grass, really does look like snow.

It’s frosty today and I love to take photos on days like today. I have a folder on my laptop called ‘Frost’ where I keep all of my photos of frosty days - don’t worry it’s backed up! 

As a gardener frost has another significance too. Contrary to popular belief frost is your garden’s secret best friend. Frost kills, bugs, disease and viruses. If we have a mild winter (here in England at any rate) then the summer will be awash with pests and nasties partying it up in your garden - and we don’t want that do we. Yes, frost is a good thing all round.

But you must be prepared for it. Cloches, cold frames and lengths of horticultural fleece are a must in this weather. If I have anything that I think might not withstand a hard frost then I cover it up, if only just for the night. 

I also find it best to have some of my winter digging done before the real frosts come. This is ideal if your soil is clay-based or lumpy. You can rough dig it and let the frost break it down. Nature has way more energy than I do so I let it take the strain.

But most of all I try to remember to enjoy my garden during the winter months as well as the summer. It’s too easy to stay inside, with warm toes by the cozy fire and forget to get your hat and gloves on and get out there.

So that’s where I sign off. Guess where I’m going?

I spent the day in the garden today, looking and learning about what’s new at mtp. On the surface of it the garden looks like it has shut down for the winter. Dank and brown, you could be mistaken for thinking that there’s not much going on. You’d be wrong. Look more closely and there’s lots of things springing into life (albeit slowly and sluggishly underneath all the frost). 

I was surprised to see that the Garlic cloves I planted back in November are already sprouting. I have put them in the cold frame (with the lid open so that I don’t have to water them all the time). The soil is frozen solid but the tiny shoots are pushing their way through. Very encouraging. 

I noticed too that the Chives are already re-growing. A few months ago when the first frosts came the Chives died back. But now new, stronger, frost resistant shoots are sprouting up from the base ready for next year. They are always one of the first things to flower in my garden and so I’m looking forward to their display in early Spring. 

The Rhubarb too is making a bid for freedom. A tiny, tiny orange shoot is just about breaking through the soil. Soon the familiar curly green leaves will make an appearance too. Rhubarb crumble, anyone?

I’m so excited about this coming year. This will be the year that Jackson can finally help me in the garden. The year when I harvest the first Peaches from my tree, the year when my Tomatoes don’t die from blight (I have a cunning plan which I’ll do a separate post about) and of course the year when I finally manage to grow an edible Cauliflower. After last year’s Parsnip success, anything’s possible!

A Happy New Year to you all - may 2009 bring you joy, love and lots of fresh and tasty vegetables.