Planting: Garlic

Last night we found some garlic cloves that were sprouting in the back of the cupboard. They looked quite healthy and M. suggested I pop them into the ground and give them a chance at growing. So last night at 9pm I was out in the garden with a torch in my mouth dibbing holes between the parsnips and potatoes.

Planting: Asparagus - Connovers Colossal

Four crowns planted in the border next to the neighbours vegetable plot.

Sowing: Parsnips - Tender And True

Three rows of parsnip seeds were sown close to the green shed.

Sowing: Potatoes - Arran Pilot

Two very small rows, ten seed potatoes in total, were sown into the newly dug over area.

How To Remove Rust From Your Spade

My dad recons the best way is to dig with it. The first digging of the season was done today. Not by me, but my dad dug over an area about 6' by 18'. We also made a big dint in the compost heap by digging it into the newly dug area.

I also made a trip to the local garden centre. We bought some seeds, some potatos, a packet of four asparagus crowns, a bag of seed compost and some fibre pots.

New Secateurs

I got some new Felco 8 Secateurs and a big tub of Grow More fertilizer for my Birthday.

Sutton Seeds Catalogue Arrives

As the subject says, the Suttons Seeds catalogue is the third one to arrive. Just Marshals and Unwins left.

The Second One Arrives

A day later and the Mr Fothergills catalogue has arrived. Now even more vegetables to look at.

M. is very keen on getting some tomato plants. I find them too much work, plus I can't stand the smell of the plants themselves, so M. has agreed to look after them. We don't have a greenhouse anymore so that restricts the choice a bit, so a self supporting cherry variety looks to be good.

First Catalogue Arrives From Thompson & Morgan

As the title says, the first of the catalogues that I ordered online has arrived. It took five days, not too bad at all.

More Tidying

More builders debris cleared up, with the last of the pile of rubble outside the living room window gone. We also tackled the area around the big shed and got rid of various broken plastic pots, buckets and toys. Finally we tackled the green shed doing the same and you can now get to the back of it again.

Tidying

I spent the afternoon in the garden tidying up old building debris from our recent extension. I moved a pile of sand near the house into a big bag (the type they deliver sand in) further up the garden. I also chopped up old floor boards for fire wood. The daylight ran out so we now have a big pile of wood in the middle of the garden. Michelle is burning some of it now to warm the place up because I left the back door open all afternoon!

On The Hunt For Seeds

I need to get some seeds. In the past I have just gone to the local garden center and picked up whatever looked ok, but this year I am going to try and do a little research by ordering some seed catalogues first. After a little bit of googling I have found these seed merchants with online catalogue ordering:

• Suttons Seeds
• Fothergills
• Marshalls
• Unwins
• Thompson & Morgan

Now I need to wait and see how quickly I get a response.

What To Grow?

It's the time of year when I need to start thinking about what vegetables to grow this year.

Over the last few years I have been growing a few vegetables in my garden but not in a specific vegetable patch, rather I have been using the flower borders. But this year I intend to expand the border I used last year into a specific vegetable patch. This will involve digging over some lawn area and laying paving around the back for access and to move the vegetables away from the fence/hedge where they suffer from lack of water.

I want to do leeks again as they seem to do well and you can leave them in the ground over winter and pull them as you need them.

I'll do runner beans again, the kids like them and they provide height.

Along with large onions and salad onions, I am going to give shallots a try.

My dad has suggested parsnips so I'll give these a try along with carrots again.

As I think of other vegetables I'll jot them down here.

These French Beans (The Prince) look like they could be good and the whole family like French beans.