Wednesday 2 July 2014

Kitchen Garden Notes - Coming along nicely

It's been two weeks since I gave an update on my Kitchen Garden. The mixture of rain and sun seems to have suited everything growing both inside the greenhouse and outside. The tomatoes above are the 'First in the field' variety I grew from seed. In fact the only tomatoes I have ever grown from seed. All my previous attempts have been inside in trays left on window sills which I forgot to water. We ended up with seven strong plants. Three have gone in a grow bag in the greenhouse, one went to Mum and Dad last week (along with a tray of wild rocket), one is in a black bucket and the other two in this old plastic box. We've got to that stage where the greenhouse is full that other locations are being sought.

The beetroot has made a very good recovery after the cat attack of a couple of weeks ago. As I lost a couple of plants I sowed a few more to fill in the gaps. These have all germinated and looking strong.

The second sowing of carrots have also germinated. They are a different variety to the first batch. I haven't grown carrots before so I'm interested in which variety does better. The original sowing now has a very distinctive carrot leaf to them.

It seems that the three courgette plants are getting visibly bigger by the day. The good news is it's not all prickly leaf. All three plants have a nice selection of flower buds on them so hopefully I should see tiny courgettes developing soon.

Find of the week is the rhubarb. I seriously thought about digging it up a couple of months ago as it had only produced a couple of very thin, week stems. The leaves had also proved popular with the local slug population. The variety is Timperley Early and really it should have been ready to eat in April and May. I know I was baking cakes with it last May. After we went to the rhubarb weekend at Clumber Park I mentioned to one of the gardeners there that my rhubarb had failed this year. She told me it had been a bad year for rhubarb as it had been a very mild winter with only a couple of hard frosts. Last year we had snow every week until April but had a good yield of rhubarb. Patience has preserved and whilst hiding in the strawberry patch it has had a revival.

My only real concern at the moment are the French beans. We have been planting French beans for years and getting excellent yields. We've done nothing special but simply put beans in pots, let them germinate and then stick in some bamboo canes to let them climb up. Last year they grew and grew but not a single flower appeared and therefore no beans. We've planted two varieties this year and so far no flowers. I'm not sure if these little buds are flower buds or yet more leaf buds. Whatever they are I feel a bit cheated. These are the speedy variety which promised beans in 7-8 weeks from planting. I sowed them on 11th May and I can't see I'm going to have beans in less than two weeks.

This week's proof there are flowers in the garden is the multi-coloured hydrangea. It was already here when we moved in 12 years. Over the years it has grown and grown but I've never seen such a range or depth of colour to it.

Finally for this week is the greedy bird of the week. There's been several fledglings in the garden with blackbirds and starlings helping themselves to meal worms and the fat balls. None have been so cute as this little sparrow. It has been doing some major wing fluttering exercise on top of the feeder. Another favourite pastime is to sit on the tray at the bottom of the seed feeder and have a swing about. When you're hungry though the best thing to do is to sit on top on the feed station, call out noisily for mum and wait for her to turn up to feed you. 




18 comments:

  1. I really want to start my own herb garden! Especially as I love cooking so much!

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    1. Herb gardens are the easiest way to start gardening. Start off with a few pots on your kitchen window sill. Fresh herbs taste so much better!

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  2. This is so lovely. My partner and I are really getting into gardening these days. I would love my own herb garden and possibly a vegetable patch one day :)

    Fiona @ www.dollydowsie.com

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    1. Once you start gardening in any form it's gets rather addictive especially at this time of year!

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  3. Wow lovely i had to run out and water our herbs its so hot atm love your bird shots

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    1. I keep running out to the greenhouse as well to keep an eye on the rocket! We positioned the bird feeder so it would be easy to get photographs of them.

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  4. With seeing babies and now cute birds I must say I'm feeling rather broody at the moment *locks self in cupboard*
    Everything is growing well here, though I've not grown from seed yet, it's the one excuse I have to get a greenhouse next year! Such a lot growing in your garden at the moment - I do hope it's not really a bad rhubarb year - it's ,my fave!
    Thanks for joining in again x

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    1. You must get a greenhouse! The possibilities are endless! I've got to decide yet what to do with my precious rhubarb. Decisions, decisions...

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  5. oh my goodness... your hydrangea is absolutely beautiful!! we have planted many different herbs but it's always the basil and the rosemary that make it. good luck!

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    1. My rosemary is a big bush now and I have to hack it back every now and again. I've grown sweet basil from seed this year for the first time but something is munching the leaves. I might have to bring it inside.

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  6. I agree they are really coming along nicely! Every plant is promising and those lil birds are the cutest =)

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    1. There were three little ones sat on the fence yesterday. They all refused to fly over to the feeder and since their dad was on feeding duty he had to fly back and forth to them!

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    1. It is while it is still growing! I just hope I get to eat most of it!

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  8. I've never had any luck with French beans in years of trying! Am absolutely green with envy at your gorgeous hydrangea - they're my favourites for photos and dried flowers and yours is the sort of bush I see and think "I wonder if they'd notice if I pinched a flower head" (I should add hastily that I don't...!) Rx

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    1. There's so many blooms on the hydrangea this year I don't think I would notice! The winter was so mild this year I still had flowers on it in March.

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  9. Lovely pics. I like the one of the birds. And having a herb garden must be really cool! #HDYGG

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    1. I think I'm going to have to go through my herbs one week. It's really lovely to have the choice of fresh herbs to cook with.

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