Wednesday 30 April 2014

Good growing weather?

Over the last week or so we have had a fair bit of rain (which is a good thing, because prior to that we had had a long dry spell). This, coupled with a steadily increasing mean temperature, has provided some good growing conditions for my plants - especially the veggies and herbs. I have started leaving my tomato and chilli plants outside overnight now, albeit inside the plastic mini greenhouses. The night-time temperature here has been about 8 - 10C for several nights now. They can manage that.

Look how lush the herbs are now:-


In the photo above are Lemon Balm, Marjoram, Oregano, Winter Savory, Good King Henry and Comfrey.  The little Comfrey plants I relocated about three weeks ago have just shot up:


Here we can see Mint, Greek Oregano and Chives (amongst the Sweet Peas and Aquilegia).


This patch of Oregano looks very attractive to me - anyone fancy making something Italian-style??


The Broad Beans ("Stereo") look very healthy too - though still small, although that is normal because this is a small variety:


The plants have huge numbers of flowers on them already. This variety apparently produces lots of small pods, generally with 4 or 5 beans in each. The pods themselves are alleged to be tender enough to eat whole, in the style of mangetout peas.


The one plant conspicuous by its near absence from my garden is the Carrot. The second sowing that I made has not germinated yet. I hope it really is a case of "yet". I'll be really disappointed if I don't get at least a reasonable crop, after all the trouble I have gone to with my big Woodblocx raised bed.

At least the Beetroot seeds have germinated now...


That photo above demonstrates clearly how Beetroot seeds need thinning. What we think of as a single seed is actually a cluster of several, and if they all germinate you need to remove all but the strongest one in each cluster. Having said that of course, you could leave them all as they are and hope to end up with a bunch of little roots rather than one big one. I prefer to thin them.

6 comments:

  1. It's definitely good growing weather, everything's shooting up. I'm going to have a go at growing carrots in the ground this year now that I've got my new plot. I've got Enviromesh at the ready.

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  2. Carrots do take forever to germinate don't they? We need it to warm up here. We have been in a bit of a cold spell. But I think tomorrow things are supposed to change for the better. Which is good since otherwise even my greens will sulk.

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  3. Greens look very lovely and ready for eating. Wish it was that warm here - it's only 3-4 degrees at night here and only up to 10 during the day. Spring is very much behind the schedule.

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  4. While the weather is good for growing I'm having the same problem as you with carrot germination or lack of it. They are very sparse. I'm hoping for a big planting session next week if the weather stays as it is, I'm sure the greenhouse will breathe a sigh of relief.

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  5. The growth spurt is underway!! Let's hope nothing checks it.

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