So I’m in Miami right now. And I’m having a nice time walking to the beach and back, playing in the pool and eating waaay too much French toast with eggs and maple syrup and butter!
Infact we were walking back from the breakfast diner today and then we saw it… the place where we will live in my dreams forever more.
A 1937 art deco home, currently derelict and in need of some serious lovin’. Five bedrooms, no kitchen (hey who needs a kitchen anyway), double garage, gorgeous wrap-around garden and … as if this was the least of it… within a short stroll of the beach. I mean… what’s not to like?
Okay, so it might need a bit of work. Okay so it might need a lot of work but I’m game! If only for the chance to grow Tomatoes for eight months of the year. What I can’t understand is why this house has been on the market for almost a year. Can’t they see how beautiful it is?
So, anyway back to earth. It won’t be mine. Even though Under Gardener did say that he would buy it for me if he had the money. And even though I did have to break it to him that no matter which city we travel to in the whole world, I ‘will’ find a house to buy, no matter where it is.
But I hope someone buys it and makes it into the beautiful family home that I have already imagined in my dreams.
My Peach tree is starting to show signs of life. I can just about see some tiny pink flower petals starting to emerge under the deluge of rain we’re having here. It’s time to deploy my Peach frame.
So my exposed little Peach tree became…
…my protected little Peach tree. I don’t want any nasty Peach Leaf Curl setting in or my beautiful flowers giving in to some late frosts, do I?
What we ‘do’ want is a gorgeous Peach-laden tree, that you can smell when you walk by it - like I had last year. My mouth is actually watering!
I’ve started to chit my Potatoes. As you can see I’ve got a small clutch of a standard variety of first earlies (Rocket) and two rather unusual varieties (Congo and Highland Burgundy Red). The smaller seed Potatoes were given to me while I was on a pruning course last year.
I put them in an airtight container and placed them in the potting shed all winter. They’ve saved well so I’m hoping to have some really unusual Potatoes in this year’s harvest.
The problem is, I was a bit worried that they might cross-pollinate and I would end up with a large batch of darkish or purply-red Potatoes instead of ones that are true to one variety. So I did some research.
It turns out that Potato flowers have both male and female parts and so are very likely to pollinate themselves. I watched a video on how to create a new Potato variety by cross-pollination and it looked like it was pretty difficult to do actually. So the likelihood of the bees managing it for me is very slim. Plus, I suppose people plant three, four, sometimes five varieties of Potato on one allotment sometimes and you don’t necessarily get cross-pollination, do you?
So, I’m resolved to give all three varieties a go. I might plant them separately, away from each other just to be on the safe side. But I think I should be okay.
Does anyone have any more data on this? Is there a definitive yes or no answer?
I was sent a link today from the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society for those outside the UK). It was a list of things to buy for Mother’s Day (March 14th). They included things like gardening show tickets and memberships but what caught my eye were these, absolutely gorgeous prints of fruit and vegetables.
I heart the RHS but I had no idea that they sold these. They are the most beautiful I’ve seen.
There are tons to browse and these are just my favourites. And, yes I would definitely like to get one for Mother’s Day!
I sowed some Broadbeans (Aquadulce) a couple of days ago. In the photo you can see that I’m also being wuss-pants and I had my camping heater on to keep me warm! I know, I know. If I was a true gardener and all that. But hey, I don’t want cold fingers and you just can’t sow seeds with your gloves on, can you?
In to the coldframe they go. In the photo you can see I’ve got quite a few things growing in the coldframe. On the left is my Cauliflower (Avalanche) that I sowed in the Autumn and on the right are two varieties of over wintering Lettuce (Winter Gem and Winter Density).
I’m really pleased with my seedlings in the coldframe. They sat through the snow and all the harsh frosts we’ve had. They’re a bit spindly but I’m sure they’ll toughen up once the light levels increase. I have high hopes for some early Lettuce and a Cauliflower crop!
What’s in your coldframe - if you have one?
While snuggled up in front of the fire watching my favourite DVD at the moment, The Victorian Kitchen, I came across something that caught my eye. They mentioned that Joseph Paxton, one time head gardener at Chatsworth, designer and engineer of the Crystal Palace at the The Great Exhibition 1851 and all-round great guy, had invented something called Paxton’s Strawberry Crinoline.
I was intrigued and went straight to the Internet to look it up. Was shocked and dismayed to find, nothing, not a sausage about Paxo’s Crinoline. What? Really? So I’ve made it my mission to furnish the Web with data.
Here, in all its glory is a reproduction of Paxton’s Strawberry Crinoline. Sorry about the quality of photos as I had to take a shot of my TV screen! But you can clearly see what it does. It’s a kind of wire frame (hence the crinoline name) that sits underneath your Strawberry plant and lifts the berries off the ground. Thus keeping them free from dirt and away from the slugs - a bit like straw but better looking.
So there you have it. What a great idea. I’m surprised no-one is selling this - or are they and I haven’t seen it?
I usually throw my coffee grounds in with the kitchen waste and they eventually end up in the compost bin. Yesterday, however, after I’d made my morning coffee I looked at the grounds and thought, I know, I’ll put them on my Blueberries.
Why? well mostly because they make the soil look all black and neat like new compost, but also because I understood that coffee grounds, being acidic, would make a lovely mulch for my acid-loving Blueberries. Makes sense huh?
I mentioned this on Twitter and got a reply that said when you make the coffee (ie run water through the grounds) that all of the acid is washed away. I’m not a coffee ground expert and I haven’t done said experiments myself so I turned to Google to show me the way.
It seems there is some confusion in the matter. Some sites say that grounds are virtually neutral by the time they hit the ground making them nothing better than a good mulch and worm fodder. Other sites insist that these tests were flawed and that coffee grounds are indeed acidic.
Well, I for one, am confused. Should I be wandering around the garden in my slippers at 8am on a Saturday morning with a pot of used coffee grounds in my hand or should I just chuck em in the kitchen compost as usual.
I’m thinking if they are acidic then the Blueberries are loving it. And if they’re not then the worms are loving it instead and the Blueberries are like, “it’s about time the worms got something, they have a hell of time of it.” But I can’t really say either way.
And… who knew that coffee grounds could be so useful outside the garden?
Do your Autumn-fruiting Raspberry canes look like this? Then it’s time to prune them. There’s not a moment to lose.
I don’t want to create panic or anything but this really is the time to prune Raspberries if you want a nice big Autumn crop. If you leave it any longer then the plant will start to put more and more energy into the existing canes when what you actually want is the plant to put its energy into this year’s growth, which will subsequently fruit.
I know that you can leave Autumn Raspberries unpruned and they will crop on the existing canes, just a little earlier. But isn’t that what Summer Raspberries do? Besides, I love my Autumn Raspberries.
Gorgeous handfuls of plump Raspberries in late August, September and October, you can’t beat it. My little boy couldn’t eat them fast enough! I pruned at this time last year and got a bumper crop so I’m doing it again.
And don’t forget the plants wouldn’t mind a nice mulch at this time of year too, rotted manure, home-made compost or wood chippings will do. Happy pruning!
