My coldframe is finished and ready for some Winter action. Only five months late but hey one can’t have everything. I had hoped to be growing Melon in there this year but it just wasn’t done in time. Firstly, it wasn’t built so Under Gardener took care of that. Then there was no frame on it, so same builder took care of that. And then it wasn’t angle-ground into a nice slopey-slope, so builder took care of that. And then it wasn’t weatherproofed, and so I took care of that. But now, well now it’s finished. Hmmm…now what can I put in there?
Here’s the work in progress shots:
Step One:
I based the design on the coldframes I saw at The Lost Gardens of Heligan. First, choose some nice bricks and start building. We had some handmade bricks left over from our garden redesign. Use a string line and a spirit level like proper builders do otherwise it will be wonky. We used ready-made motar. It was fine.
Make the back of your coldframe higher than the front. Not too steep, just one or two bricks higher. This is to let in as much light as possible.
Start making the frame for the top. It’s basically three window panes stuck together. We watched the builder do this. Pretty skilled work actually. I think it would be a good idea to get the pros in for this bit - like we did.
Then the frame is fixed to a baton that runs across the back wall of the coldframe. This acts as the lid and can be opened and closed. He also used an angle-grinder to make the brick sides of the coldframe completely flush. Don’t try this at home kids - eye protection at the ready!
The frame was then glazed - in our case with perspex since we’ve got a little un’. And maybe you can see in the photo the glazing ‘runs’ off the edge to let the water run off and avoid rotting the frame. All very neat.
So there you have it. How to build a Victorian-esque coldframe! All I have in there at the moment are some Strawberry plants and an ailing Chilli.
This year I tried a new variety of Spring Onion - red ones. I’ve been harvesting them for a few weeks now. I find that Spring Onions are a great crop if you have patience. If you’re in a hurry to eat salad they’re a little frustrating. Why? They seem to germinate quite quickly and push up those promising, spindly, grass-like shoots but then they take an age to thicken up enough to be actually worth harvesting. And if you don’t sow enough of the then they’re picked and eaten before you can say Potato Salad.
I’m not complaining. After four years of growing veg I worked out that you really have to sow the whole packet over a period of weeks to get the volume of Spring Onion required in high summer. So roll on the Spring Onion. I’m ready and waiting for ya!
As you can see, the Peas are in full swing. I have learned some useful things about peas this year that I want to share with you. Firstly, I grew two varieties, Kelvedon Wonder (my usual) and Rondo (a new variety for me). Early on in the year I sowed both seed separately in lengths of guttering in the coldframe. Then once it got a bit warmer I put the guttering peas out and started to sow peas directly into the ground. I alternated between Kelvedon and Rondo so that I would have a successional crop of both varieties.
This sounds nice and neat on paper but in reality it didn’t work out so well. This was for several reasons. The first was that the two varieties germinated and grew at different rates. So even though I sowed them at different times, the Rondo seeds seemed to catch up on the Kelvedon pretty quick. Secondly, Kelvedon is a very short, squat variety that produces short(ish) pods with big fat peas inside. Rondo is a tall variety (1.5 metres at least) that produces larger pods with the peas spaced out inside. However, the pea sticks that I put in were really not designed to support a pea that tall and eventually the Rondo peas started to flop over - putting them at risk of slug attack and also they started to shade my carrots (which incidentally I planted way too close to my peas).
So now both varieties are pumping out at the same time and I have more peas than I can eat. So I’m busy harvesting peas everyday and freezing them until I can use the. I’m also stuffing as many into my mouth on a daily basis too - don’t want to miss out on that fresh, green taste.
So what I’ve learned is that if I grow two varieties then they should be grown in separate beds with appropriate support. And maybe choose some more distinct early and late varieties.
Ack! Some of my Radish came up blind (didn’t bulb up properly). It’s my own fault - I forgot to thin the row so they ended up overcrowded, which Radishes hate. It makes sense. They don’t have enough room to grow sideways so they grow up instead. So, make sure to thin your Radish to at least 2-3 cm apart, and keep them watered. They are easy to grow but that doesn’t mean you can sow them and forget about them like I did. Otherwise all you get is a nice row of lush green leaves, but no Radishes!
mtp has done a short slot on ‘How to Create a Plan for Your Patch’ on the latest Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast also available on Podcast Pickle. On a separate note, I’ve actually met the Podcast Pickle (oh yes, he’s completely real) - it’s my little claim to fame.
If your Endive is nearly ready, like mine, then it’s time to blanch some of the leaves so that they don’t taste too bitter. There are various ways to do this. Some people advocate using a plate. This is where you place a place on top of the Endive to block out the light. This works if you’re growing in your own garden however it might not be very helpful for allotment owners - if the wind doesn’t whip away your Vera Wangs then someone will. I’ve opted for the ‘tie it up nice and tight with a bit of old string’ approach. This works fine. You should have some sweet, blanched leaves in around a week. However, remember that Endive is not the type of leaf that you would make a whole salad out of - mix it with something that tastes a little milder.
While reading the ‘Kitchen Gardens of Heligan’ I made an amazing discovery. It seems that the popular idea that carrots like sandy soil is a myth. They don’t! They just like soil that doesn’t have any stones in it and generally sandy soils are devoid of stones hence the begining of the myth. So, if you can afford a small army of boys to pick out all the stones in your soil (as the Victorians did) or you fancy doing it yourself then you can practically grow carrots anywhere.
I had a question from Barry over at Mr Toad’s He asked: “Perhaps I can ask for your opinion on a matter: the field secretary recommended using “Roundup†to knock everything down before I start and assures me that it’s commonly used for such purposes. What’s your opinion of this chemical (the plot is pretty bad).”
Personally, I try to avoid using chemicals. However, I have to admit to using RoundUp when I first took over my plot and the occasional (very occasional) sprinkle of slug pellets. I would say that mtp is mostly organic and that our heart is in the right place. When I first got my mitts on mtp, way back in Feb 2005, it was in a pretty bad state. Ouch! But I (and the undergardener) got out our digging forks and cleared the weeds on one half of the plot by hand until it looked so much better. This process took us 10 weeks. But that was only half of the plot - the other half still looked like a weed graveyard. And because it was just turning May it was starting to grow! So I decided to use RoundUp. I asked one of my neighbours to do it, who had a handy backpack type thing which made it easy over large areas. I paid him £10. I did it, it was me!
I’m not proud of it but it did mean that I could start to use the ground straight away. I think it was a good thing that we put in 10 weeks of back-breaking work before we reached for the RoundUp - it kinda made me appreciate the instantaneously clear plot. But… and this is a big but… RoundUp will kill the good nasties as well as the bad nasties so you might want to keep that in mind if you choose to skip the digging and go straight for the RoundUp.
Please add your thoughts on whether to RoundUp or no?
This year I have decided to do my first bit of seed collecting. I think I will stick to ‘easy’ seed for the moment, which means large ones like pumpkin, peas, runner beans and the like. I have already collect a ton of Klevedon wonder peas, Futsu and Uchki pumpkin, and the seeds pictured here are Enorma runner beans. The secret is to leave them on the plant to dry out for as long as possible. If you harvest the seeds when they are still green, they will rot in storage (as I found out with a previous batch of peas). They must be bone-dry before you pack them up into paper bags (or envelopes which is what I’m using). As usual store them in the dark in a cool place.
Last year we grew Little Gem, Pentard Red and Webbs Wonderful lettuce, with great success. Obviously, because it was our first year we made a lot of mistakes.
We planted far too many seeds, all at the same time and far too close together. This year we’re much wiser. And… we’ve got Monty on our side. As I found out after reading his book, The Complete Gardener, Monty is crazy about lettuce. He grows it all year round and has a poly tunnel dedicated to the task. On his list of ‘approved’ lettuces are the following:
Cos Lettuce = Little Gem, Lobjoits Green, Rouge d’Hiver.
Butterhead Lettuce = Tom Thumb, Merveille de Quatre Saisons.
Looseleaf = Salad Bowl, Red Oak Leaf.
Red Lettuce = Red Salad Bowl, Aruba.
Iceberg = Mini Green.
Winter Lettuce = Winter Density & All the Year Round.
Out of those I have chosen one from each group - Little Gem, Aruba, Salad Bowl, Lobjoits Green, All the Year Round and Merveille de Quatre Saisons. I ordered them all from The Organic Catalogue and Johnsons Seeds (I did look at The Cutting Garden, Sarah Raven’s site but they were the most expensive and charged £2.50 for delivery, so I didn’t bother).
I know it’s a lot of lettuce to be growing, but we really like it, and you have to leave some for the slugs, don’t you?
