Spud and courgette update

Straw put round strawberries

More primrose seed sown

Today I sowed seed from a 'red frilly' primrose and a blue primrose.

Seed from yellow primrose sown

The seed pods on the plants with yellow flowers are smaller than those on the red-flowered and the purple-flowered plants, so I sowed the seed from 3 yellow pods.

Lupins

Capsicums sprouting

I had almost given up on the capsicum seed, but there now seems to be some activity.

Fox intrusions update

For some time there hadn't been much evidence of fox activity, but over the last 2 days they have caused some damage. It seems to me that the corner access point has been successfully closed off, but my attempts to stop the foxes getting over the fence on the other side have failed. However, I am planning further efforts to stop fox access.

Foxhole

Yesterday I noticed a fox had dug a hole near their corner entry point that I attempted to block off a few weeks ago. This suggests that the blocking-off has been successful and it was trying to tunnel through to the other side of the fence.

So yesterday I put a paving slab over the hole, but today I saw further digging had happened at the edge of the slab so I put another slab there.

Fox digs up courgette

I planted a spare courgette here, but a fox has dug it up.

Fox damage on runner beans

The first pic above shows a hole dug by a fox next to the runner beans. The other photos show damaged growing points of some of the runner beans (presumably damaged by the fox). Fortunately, other growing points are developing so hopefully the plants will be ok.

Heatwave!

Having endured a cold spring, we now appear to be entering a heatwave. The average daytime temperature for this time of year is apparently 17 degrees.

Primroses dug up and potted

I dug some of the primroses out of the front garden and potted them up. I think the front garden will be too hot for them to survive the summer, so I'll put the pots in a shady spot and hopefully they'll be ok. I split one of the yellow-flowered plants. Yellow is the only colour that I can't propagate by seed. Edit: just remembered the same goes for the blue-flowered plants.

Courgettes planted out

I think they may be too close to the spuds, but this is the only available space.

Contact!

This is the first runner bean plant to grip its cane.

Primrose seed sown

I have been watching one particular purple primrose, which had large flowers, to look for seed pods. There was one pod that I intended to leave a little longer, but today I noticed a small spider had spun a web inside the flower in which the pod was forming. I therefore reluctantly evicted the spider 'cos I was afraid it may damage the seed pod, and planted the seed.

The pic above shows the seed before being covered with a thin layer of compost.

I wonder what colour the flowers will be on the plants which (hopefully) will develop from these seeds.

I'm now looking out for seed pods on the yellow-flowered and blue-flowered plants.

Mystery plant

A year later, I still don't know what this plant is called, but I like it.

Runner beans planted out.

At last!!! Planted the 9 runner beans out. I found old roof tiles and bits of brick buried where I wanted to plant the beans, and had a bit of a struggle digging the rubble out.

First spud of second batch up

Courgette update

Put the courgettes outside today, they look a bit crooked 'cos they've growing towards the light on the windowsill. Maybe I'll plant them out next week after hardening them off.

Forecast for improving temperatures

Forecast

Tomatoes survived cold night

Last year, Gardeners' World said that only the first plant on each strawberry runner would produce fruit the following year. Nearly all my new plants have flowers so hopefully they will fruit.

Spud update

None of the spuds in the latest two trenches are showing yet.

Runner bean update

They're ready for planting out. Maybe tomorrow?

Lupin flower developing

Near freezing tonight

The cold weather continues, with really low temperatures expected tonight. I tried to cover the tomatoes as best I can, but the strawbs and potatoes will have to fend for themselves. Hopefully this will be the last really cold night - the forecast is for temperatures to reach normal levels for the time of year over the next couple of days.

Strawbs developing

End to the cold weather in sight?

The toms survived last night inside the plastic sheeting (which I can't put over the top due to the canes), but I think it'll be colder tonight, so after removing the sheeting during the day I put it back this evening.

I hope to be able to plant out the runner beans on Friday if the forecast holds true.

Toms planted out

The toms were getting too big to keep in their pots, so I've taken a chance and planted them out.

This year I've been feeding the tom seedlings. In previous years I've followed the standard advice which says you should not feed them until the first flowers appear. However, a few months ago I saw a forum discussion where people were saying that the seedlings should be fed with general feed until they flower, then they should be receive tomato feed.

Feeding the seedlings certainly made them bigger than normal, and they have already started producing side shoots.

I'll put plastic sheeting around the tomato bed at night and hopefully the plants will make it through until the milder weather eventually arrives.

Still cold

Looks like it might get a bit milder by the end of the week.

Tomatoes doing well

The tomatoes are doing well, apart from one gardener's delight, which is small. The toms need to be planted out, but the overnight temperatures are still too low for my liking. Have to hang on a few more days and hope for a change.

Wallflower

The harsh winter affected the wallflowers, this one (under a forget-me-not) has still not flowered.

Aucuba

The aucuba came through the winter, and is developing new foliage.

Never say die

I assumed this bush had been killed by the cold winter, but on closer examination green buds can be seen...
I also thought the grapevine had perished, but today I noticed leaves opening...

Survivors

These are asters and antirrhinums that have been in the cold frame on the patio. The impatiens that I had also put on the patio all died. Managing all these seedlings (as well as more which I am putting out during the day and returning to the garage at night, plus those indoors on the window sill) in this cold weather has been a bit of a pain. As mentioned in an earlier post, next year I will sow everything later, apart from the tomatoes.

The forecast is for it to remain cold until at least next weekend.

Runner bean update

The runner bean plants are ready to be planted out, but it's still cold so I'm reluctant to do it just yet. After taking this pic I spaced the pots out a bit more so that the plants aren't fighting each other for light.

Leggy phlox

Most of my second batch of phlox seeds have gone 'leggy' because I haven't potted them up. I salvaged those that I could by potting them. Next year I won't plant these seeds so early.

Courgette and capsicum seeds sown

Today I sowed four of my Dig In courgette seeds, and eight capsicum seeds that I saved from a red pepper bought from the supermarket.

Dig In

A few days ago my seeds from the BBC's Dig In campaign arrived. As I hadn't planned on getting these seeds, I may leave sowing some of them until next year.

Charlotte sprouting

One of the charlottes from the first potato planting is sprouting.

More spuds planted

The seed potatoes I had put aside for staggered planting have all 'chitted' to an advanced stage, so I felt I had to plant them all out today. I think the overchitting may be due to storing them too close to a radiator.

I planted 3 charlottes closest to the camera in the middle row above (forgot to take a photo before filling that trench in), and all pentlands in the third row (to the left in the above pic).

Each row has 10 potatoes.

One of the pentlands had gone a bit mouldy so I discarded that one.