OK, so here's the plan for 2010:
Jan buy seeds impatiens, wallflower, dwarf wallflower, runner beans. Turn last year's compost.
Feb sow impatiens seed indoors. Turn last year's compost.
March mark the position of the daffodils in the front garden in preparation for the GREAT FRONT GARDEN CLEAROUT (see Sep/Oct). Buy seed potatoes, and chit some charlotte potatoes from the supermarket. Chit large potatoes for a good crop. Sow tomato seed indoors. Sow wallflower seed in pots outdoors for planting out later. Plant first batch of spuds. Sow antirrinhum seed in pots indoors. Sow seed from back garden 'mystery plant'. Turn last year's compost.
April plant second batch of spuds. Sow lettuce seed (see entry for 09 Apr 2009). When weather permits, put out tomato and antirrinhum plants during the day. At the end of April sow runner bean seeds. Turn last year's compost.
May collect primrose seed and sow them. Plant third batch of spuds. Plant out impatiens, tomato and antirrinhum plants. Last year's compost should now be ready for use.
June plant fourth batch of spuds. Sow second batch of lettuce seed.
July plant fifth (and final for the year) batch of spuds. Check for ripening plums. Pick, cook and freeze James Grieve apples.
Aug sow dwarf wallflower seed.
Sep/Oct clear out the border in the front garden, but keep the mystery pink and white-flowered plants that you've been splitting and replanting over the past couple of years. In fact, split and replant some more. And keep the daffodils.
Oct plant up front garden with primroses, forget-me-not and dwarf wallflower. Buy crocus bulbs and plant in front garden. Apply last year's compost to the beds around the garden in preparation for gardening, 2011.
Throughout the year try to keep the foxes out of the garden!
Thursday 31 December 2009
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Review of the year
I was very pleased with my spud efforts. The spud bags worked well, and the spuds in the garden were fine. I realise now that the spud planting season is longer than I thought, so I plan to do more staggered planting next year. Not sure whether I will plant in bags next year, as I have prepared a larger garden plot for spuds in 2010.
The foxes were a constant headache. Although they haven't been as evident in the last couple of months, there was an occasion last week where I noticed they had dug up a nicely established foxglove plant. I had a spare plant with which I replaced it, only to discover the following morning that it had also been dug out.
I have been trying to prevent the foxes from entering the garden by placing garden canes parallel with the fences that I know they can jump, in such a way as to hopefully prevent them from jumping down. I've also been using large twigs and/or chicken wire to try to block other known entry points. The foxglove incidents demonstrate the I haven't yet created a fox-proof garden, but I will keep trying to exclude them. I hope to see a fox in the garden at some point, then note how it leaves. However as mentioned above they are not so evident in the garden in the daytime now as in the summer.
Another thing I didn't achieve this year was identifying the first strawberry plant on each runner. Apparently the first plant on each runner is the only one which will fruit the following year. I had intended to move the first plant on each runner to spread them evenly over the strawb patch, but the runners were so convoluted that it was hard to identify the first plant, so I just guessed and moved a few. Next year the runners are going to be growing off the patch. I might need to think about creating a new strawb patch for 2011. Also, apparently if you remove the flowers from a strawberry plant in its first fruiting year, the following year will see the plant give a much larger crop than normal.
I was pleased with my efforts in growing primroses from seed, but disappointed that all the new plants had purple flowers. Next year I'll try to germinate seed from the yellow-flowered primroses, which should produce plants with red/yellow flowers. I must also ensure that the pots in which I germinate the seeds are protected from the foxes, as this year they turned over the pot in which I was germinating seed from blue primroses and I lost them all. I'll also try to split the existing yellow plants so that I have more in subsequent years.
Next year I plan to do some crop rotation, so in the garden where I grew the spuds this year, I will grow runner beans. This will be another first for me.
The foxes were a constant headache. Although they haven't been as evident in the last couple of months, there was an occasion last week where I noticed they had dug up a nicely established foxglove plant. I had a spare plant with which I replaced it, only to discover the following morning that it had also been dug out.
I have been trying to prevent the foxes from entering the garden by placing garden canes parallel with the fences that I know they can jump, in such a way as to hopefully prevent them from jumping down. I've also been using large twigs and/or chicken wire to try to block other known entry points. The foxglove incidents demonstrate the I haven't yet created a fox-proof garden, but I will keep trying to exclude them. I hope to see a fox in the garden at some point, then note how it leaves. However as mentioned above they are not so evident in the garden in the daytime now as in the summer.
Another thing I didn't achieve this year was identifying the first strawberry plant on each runner. Apparently the first plant on each runner is the only one which will fruit the following year. I had intended to move the first plant on each runner to spread them evenly over the strawb patch, but the runners were so convoluted that it was hard to identify the first plant, so I just guessed and moved a few. Next year the runners are going to be growing off the patch. I might need to think about creating a new strawb patch for 2011. Also, apparently if you remove the flowers from a strawberry plant in its first fruiting year, the following year will see the plant give a much larger crop than normal.
I was pleased with my efforts in growing primroses from seed, but disappointed that all the new plants had purple flowers. Next year I'll try to germinate seed from the yellow-flowered primroses, which should produce plants with red/yellow flowers. I must also ensure that the pots in which I germinate the seeds are protected from the foxes, as this year they turned over the pot in which I was germinating seed from blue primroses and I lost them all. I'll also try to split the existing yellow plants so that I have more in subsequent years.
Next year I plan to do some crop rotation, so in the garden where I grew the spuds this year, I will grow runner beans. This will be another first for me.
Friday 18 December 2009
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Friday 4 December 2009
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