Greenhouse Year - April 2012

I've been inspired to make a contribution to a meme on the Patient Gardener's blog monitoring monthly progress in the greenhouse.  I'm a bit late with my submission as it's usually completed on 20th of the month, but here goes...

Due to the time of year and the rainy weather I've been spending a lot of time under glass (or in my case polycarbonate) over the past few weeks. 

Following a good day or two of tidying up the remnants of last year's tomato, chilli and cucumber plants I put together a potting bench that I actually purchased in 2010.  It's taken me all this time to assemble the bench due to the time taken to put togther the greenhouse...the saga starts here.

Anyway, after the great cleanup I set about planting seeds with gusto and now have a number of small plants growing on in the greenhouse including: cauliflower, All the Year Round; runner bean, Butler; kohl rabi; artichoke, Green Globe; tomatoes, Moneymaker, Yellow Stuffer, Principe Borghese; lettuce, Little Gem; aubergine...the list goes on.

baby peas

and broad beans

A few weeks ago I planted pea and broad bean seeds in modules and after a few days hardening off planted these little plantlets in the kitchen garden beds last Sunday.  They have so far had to weather sunshine, light and heavy rain showers and halestorms!  However they seem to be standing up well and I had to get them out of the greenhouse as I was running out of room.

Talking about lack of space, yesterday I transplanted forty-five leek seedings from small modules to root trainers.  These take up much more room than the modules so where to put them?  I don't have a coldframe yet (it's on the Handyman's construction list) but there was a bit of room under a tent cloche where I've been nurturing early carrots in one of the raised beds.  So the containers of leeks in root trainers are nestling between the rows of baby carrots until the weather gets a bit more predictable, then I'll lift them out and stand them between the back of the greenhouse and the oil tank until the time comes to plant them in one of the raised beds.

So not content with all the seedling filling the greenhouse and the plethora of seeds yet to be planted; borlotto beans, winter squash, more runner beans; I purchased eight sweetcorn plants from the local plant nursery yesterday.  They need to stay in the greenhouse for a couple of weeks before planting out in May unless...if space really is a problem I can plant them out covered with bottle cloches for a little protection.  I'm going to interplant the sweetcorn with the Little Gem lettuces - an experiment for me.

Every year at this time I think I should take a couple of weeks holiday from work as there is so much to do and enjoy doing, but then I'm not sure two weeks would be enough!

Perseverance Pays Off

Way back in May 2010 I began the construction of my new greenhouse.  The saga ran on through June and July of that year with little progress, amd then the winds came in autumn of 2010 and spring of 2011 and took out some of the panes of polycarbonate.  So, severely disheartened the shell of the greenhouse was all that remained standing through the rest of last year.

complete...at last!

However during the fine weather last weekend the Handyman had another attempt at fitting those 'b*!!?# polycarbonate panels' and despite, or perhaps because of, his frustration he managed to complete the installation of a number of panels.

Spurred on by this I decided to have another attempt and, surprise, surprise, I managed to finish the job!  So now I have a completed greenhouse after almost 21 months of frustration and disappointment - hurrah!

first seed trays planted up

Assuming that the structure stands up to our windy conditions I can now look forward to making good use of it and started today by sowing some seedtrays of sweetpeas.  It's good to have somewhere to retreat to if the weather becomes inclement and somewhere for the tomatoes, chillies and cucumbers to spend the summer months. 

tea and biscuits anyone?

Just need to dig out the camp chair and I'll have somewhere to sit with my cup of tea and biscuits.

The Colour Purple

...a great book and film, and this year the theme for some of my kitchen garden produce.

a handful of Purple Queen french beans for our evening meal...oh, and more courgettes!

I was attracted by the seeds of the purple podded french bean, Purple Queen, when I planted them in May of this year.  The plants have rewarded me with foliage that is green with a purple tinge, really pretty purple flowers and then the beans themselves.  Like many french beans they do not grow very tall, about 60cm, so they don't need much in the way of support.  They do seem to be producing a decent crop, though not prolific...perhaps if I watered them more frequently, a constant cry in the garden this summer.

contrasting colours...before cooking

When prepared for the pot they make a lovely contrast to the bright green of our runner beans, however when cooked they revert to green.  Flavour wise, they are tender and tasty.  I will grow these again next year, if for nothing more than the purple flowers and the liquorice stick beans.

Note: The purple pepper in the photo is F1 Mavros, very attractive in the greenhouse alongside Mohawk, an orange pepper and red pepper, Thor.  Both Mohawk and Thor fruits are still green at the moment, photos and post to follow when they change colour.

From April into May

A lot of time has been spent in the garden over the past three weeks and it's beginning to show the benefit.  It's coming into its best and things are developing nicely, though we did lose a few shrubs with the hard winter.  Amongst the more serious casualties were the two pampas grasses that gave a lot of cover and privacy around the edge of the circles garden. On the plus side this has given us an opportunity to try other plants in their place.  We're thinking of putting in a couple of hazels and keeping them shrubby at about 5ft high at the back of the border and putting a couple of specimen evergreen conifers in front to provide some colour through the winter months.

The Handyman has already removed one of the pampas grasses – who needs to go to the gym for a workout! We've planted a self-seeded HG hazel and Cypressus Macrocarpa 'Goldcrest'.  This evergreen cypress should reach a height and spread of 15ft x 8ft in about 10 years but can be clipped, but not into the old wood.  In the interim we've divided a huge clump of yellow rudbekia (aka black-eyed Susan) and planted two groups either side of the cypress.  These will grow in excess of 5ft tall in a season which should provide some privacy on the circles garden through the summer and early autumn as well as masses of flowers the colour of liquid sunshine.

The original rudbekia plant was given to me by my sister's partner, JC, when we were in our previous home. A clump was transplanted with us to Holly Grove and now we have several stands around the garden and along the hedge line – a great value for money plant and one of the latest flowering in our garden – we often have flowers through to the end of October.

The second pampas grass will be tackled when the Handyman feels like another workout…and we're still trying to decide what to grow in the spot; current thoughts are Thuja Occidentalis 'Rheingold' growing to 6ft x 4ft in 10 years or there's a golden yew that I've found in one of my gardening books that looks good – I'll update when we've made our decision.

After a slow start this season, I'm beginning to catch up a bit in the kitchen garden, thank goodness! I was ashamed to show it to my sister, JA, when she visited over the Easter holiday as it was very weedy and looking quite neglected. But after a few days concentrated effort it is now fully weeded and planted.

I've sown broad beans, carrots, onions, lettuce, small white turnips, kohl rabi, sugarsnap peas, radish, spring onions, beetroot and spinach in three of the raised beds and seed potatoes, Charlotte, in the remaining raised bed. I also planted up a potato barrel of Pink Fir Apple, a knobbly, pink, salad potato at the end of March and they are sprouting well, almost time to cover the shoots with some more soil.  If you've never tried potatoes in a tub then you should.  Great fun when you tip out the pot at the end of the growing season and search through for the potatoes and especially lovely to share with children.

I've also planted seeds of runner beans – Butler and Lady Di, French beans – Blue lake, tomatoes – Principe Borghese - and courgette in the greenhouse and also have five varieties of small tomato plants – Gardener's Delight, Shirley, Tomtom - and a couple of cucumber plants that I've just potted.

So all in all, not bad progress for a few days effort.

Flower-wise about three weeks ago I sowed my sweet peas directly into the border where they will grow.  At the same time I sowed a couple of pots in our cool greenhouse as a backup and, surprise, surprise, both sowings have germinated at the same time.  Over the past couple of weeks we have begun to replace the seven or eight shrubs (in addition to the pampas grasses) that succumbed to the winter freeze – more of this in a later post.

The springtime flowers were especially lovely this year and are now being followed by foxgloves, roses, rhododendron and clematis coming into bloom.

The blossom on the fruit trees was glorious and about a whole month earlier than last year, so we're hoping for a bountiful harvest of apples, pears, plums and cherries later in the year.

Continuing on the fruit front we started to pull rhubarb a couple of weeks ago and should continue to harvest this until June. I have two established plants, Timperley Early and Victoria and have just planted a, currently, very small Pink Champagne rhubarb.

The raspberries in the fruit cage are looking good so my pruning and tying in efforts last autumn seems to be bearing fruit (excuse the awful pun). The redcurrants, whitecurrants and blackcurrants are loaded with immature berries, all of which should start to deliver fruit for the table and preserving pan sometime between late June and late July. I also have a small gooseberry bush but as it's only little I don't think it will produce any fruit this year.

So that's the garden round up for late April to mid May – it seems like quite a lot as I read it back! But there's still plenty more to be getting on with including: grass cutting, the Handyman's wild flower garden, weeding, deadheading and planting – always lots to enjoy in Holly Grove's garden, thank goodness!

Gardener Turned Painter?

We have lots of places to sit at Holly Grove - not that we spend much time using them! But they are an important part of the garden; the metal table and chairs outside the sunroom door make a lovely spot to sit for breakfast and the companion seat at the top of the circle lawns is perfect for an afternoon cuppa, then the swingseat in the evening sun...

To these the Handyman is adding a small gazebo in the shade by Valentine's gate. This was a structure he made for our previous garden and it has been sitting dismantled in the 'builder's yard' since we moved here three years ago, so as you may imagine it is in need of a coat of garden paint/preservative...my job.

Not quite the transition between gardener and painter that Monet evoked in his Giverny garden but then he probably had 'staff' to paint the Chinois bridge. The painting of the gazebo will take me several days to complete as I intend to attack it a bit at a time. At the same time I'm repainting the metal table and chairs, a glutton for punishment you may say, but the reward will be in having one new place to linger and another refreshed.

As an antidote to all this painting I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen garden removing the gone-to-seed rocket and radish (I always sow more than we can eat) to the compost bin and sowing two more rows of carrots and one row of Little Gem lettuce in their place. The cut and come again lettuce sown in the half barrel earlier this year has been a great success and is still flourishing and we had the first thinnings of our carrots last night for tea with the first of the sugar snap peas - delicious! I don't have a photo of these as they went straight from plot to plate in minutes.










In the greenhouse the first courgettes are ready and small green tomatoes are appearing on all the varieties. The first two tiny cucumbers have also materialised -- how exciting! Oh, and I glimpsed the first ripe raspberry as I was sowing the carrots; must go out and harvest it for my breakfast...
Yummee! Hoping for more in the coming days.

Time Flies...

I can't believe that it is almost a week since my last post on this blog. The weather has been variable from hot, sunny days to cloudy and cool with heavy showers. The poor plants don't know whether they are coming or going and neither do I; one day in shorts, t-shirt and sunhat and the next back in my fleecy trousers and waterproof jacket.

On one of the sunny days I lifted the autumn planted onions, a fairly good crop they are drying off on the greenhouse staging and then we'll see how they store. In the space freed up I have planted Brassica Petit Posy plug plants - a free offer from one of the gardening magazines. By all accounts these plants should provide greens through autumn and winter. We're looking forward to tasting this brussel sprout/kale cross vegetable. Cauliflower, Pak Choi and Wa Wa Sui cabbage seeds have also been sown.

The red onions are shortly to be lifted freeing up another half bed. More carrots will be sown here with a second sowing of kohl rabi.

In the (nearly completed) greenhouse the tomatoes, courgettes and peppers are in flower and it's time for me to pot on the cucumbers to their final pots and keep my fingers crossed for baby cucumbers later in the summer.

On the construction front: work continues intermittently on the greenhouse, the glazing panels are a nightmare to fit, however one side of the greenhouse and both ends are now fully glazed, leaving only 2 panels on the other side and half the roof to complete. A new slimline water butt and stand await positioning on the end of the greenhouse to catch precious rain water and whilst it was raining yesterday I put together my recently delivered potting bench (below), a posh addition to my very tidy shed.

The pergola linking the steps is progressing much more quickly than the greenhouse (that's because this is the Handyman's project). My contribution has been to paint the structure and select and plant the plants. The side supports are all in place (below), leaving only the overhead struts to position and a bit more painting to complete.

Planting has already commenced with two climbing roses on the trellis by the top steps. The roses are Creme Anglaise and Evening Light (below). I've yet to decide on what to plant by the remaining four panels but no doubt clematis and more roses will feature.

So an enjoyable week in the garden, lots of different jobs completed and more to look forward to over the coming days, including a trip to the local nurseries looking for inspirational climbers for our new pergola.

Postponing and Potting

My intention to complete the greenhouse was good, however my effort was meagre. I managed two panels before I gave up for the day, my excuse being that I had some fuchsias and pelargoniums that needed potting up in their final position.

To be honest I needed a day without the frustration of construction, the weather was warm and balmy and to ease my conscience I first cut the grass on the circle lawns and front garden. Now it was time to treat myself to some creative fun assembling the soon to be (hopefully) sun-baked pots on the terrace. Every year I create large and small pots of pelargonium for the Handyman's pleasure, he especially loves the brightest red. This year I have the usual bright red, but also a delicate pink, called Appleblossom.

The red geraniums I have teamed with deep blue lobelia in black pots whilst apple blossom is matched with a soft blue lobelia (Cambridge Blue?) in blue glazed pots. I started to pot up the bush fuchsias and some coral pink Busy Lizzies (Impatiens) at the back of the house where they will live mostly in the shade, then I ran out of time and daylight and i still had the baskets to water...watering by moonlight, a sight often seen at HG.

I'm hoping to finish off the pots today and maybe add a panel or two to the greenhouse, but at the moment it's raining steadily, so the Handyman and I are going out to search for some new garden furniture to dress the party patio - now a six or eight seater, teak or metal, round or oval...hmm?

Bank Holiday Fun?

Yesterday I continued with the greenhouse construction even though I should have put it off due to the very windy conditions. I really just want to get it finished, rehouse the peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes and get back to some gardening.

Fixing the polycarbonate panels is enough to try the patience of a saint and after spending about 6 hours on the remaining construction and glazing I still have 2-3 panels on the bottom and all of the roof panels to fit - so very slow progress.

I'm determined to get it finished today as quickly as possible and with the wind factor much reduced perhaps I'll have more luck with the panels today.

On the garden front, the wind has blown one of the stands of oriental poppies about, due to lack of plant supports and the number of full blooms balanced on long stems. One day I'll learn that time spent fixing supports in the early spring pays dividends. I did add supports to the poppies in the circle beds and they seem to have done the job. These have yet to produce their lovely blowsy flowers but there are plenty of buds.

And a poppy I had forgotten is blooming under the small and ancient apple tree in the swingseat garden, a lovely pale pink confection, it's name long forgotten, but delicious none the less.

I've quite a few recent purchases awaiting planting, so my incentive to finish the greenhouse is redoubled as the reward of planting awaits...hiho, hiho it's off to work I go...

BYO Beginner

PYO and GYO are relatively common terms to the gardener, but I've been learning about BYO - Build Your Own. The Handyman is somewhat incapacitated at the moment whilst recovering from a nasty accident involving broken bones, so the flatpacked greenhouse that I ordered and has been sitting awaiting attention for a number of weeks now.

I decided to replace our existing greenhouse with a green-framed version with polycarbonate glazing, for aesthetic and safety reasons. I don't want to be worrying about potentially nasty accidents with glass when my grandson visits.

The existing greenhouse was sold and removed over a week ago and my precious tomato, cucumber and pepper plants have been sitting outdoors with everything crossed hoping for warm days and nights whilst they await the construction of their new abode.

Now construction is not my forte, so it was with some trepidation that I unpacked the contents of the large box...inside I found a myriad of parts and a chunky instruction manual. So off to the tool box for spanners and screwdrivers and, disconcertingly, a rubber mallet!

Five hours later the basic frame is in place and, so far, I haven't lost a nut or bolt, though I did lose my temper a couple of times. I am hoping to finish the frame tomorrow and glaze it on BH Monday but the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so some delay may be appropriate. More BYO news to follow over the next few days...wish me success, and patience!

PS Just look at how my rocket, lettuce and radish have progressed since their last post appearance just 2 weeks ago. Simple things please the gardener, well this gardener anyway.

Summer Days in Springtime

Hurrah! Lovely summer sunshine and temperature in the closing weeks of May mean lots of weekend days and weekday evenings spent in the garden. After the poor weather in the first half of May this is a wonderful end to the month and hopefully a good start to June.

The garden has moved beyond the fresh flowers of spring, the daffodils are well and truly over, as are the primulas, and the aubretia is due a haircut. In their place come the hostas, aquilegia and hardy geraniums, to name but a few. The summer flowering clematis are covered in large flower buds and are streaking up their various supports and flower buds are forming on the peonias.

In the kitchen garden it's time to manage the various legumes: plant out french and runner bean young plants, sow some more peas and feed the broad beans. The first flowers have formed on the tomato plants in the greenhouse and the courgettes are coming along well.

What a lovely start to a day...sunshine, warm air and the prospect of a whole weekend in the garden...hurrah again!

Busy, Busy...

Spring is a fantastic and frantic time in the garden and particularly our kitchen garden and greenhouse. I haven't sown as many seeds this year as I usually do but the greenhouse still looks pretty full. The hanging baskets take up almost all the roof and floor space so it will be good when these can be put out in their summer positions, but we've had a few nights of very low temperatures here so they won't be going out overnight for a couple of weeks yet.



















The raised beds have a selection of vegetables planted in them including onions and garlic planted last October and they have started to really put on some growth as the weather warms.

Amongst the usual potatoes, broad beans, carrots and peas are a couple of new entrants to HG; kohl rabi and fennel (the bulb type). I'll be interested to see how easy these are to grow and whether we like to eat them. It won't be too long until we can start to pick baby salad leaves and the radish 'French Breakfast' look like they can be pulled any time now.



















I've had a few problems with getting my beans to germinate in the green house and I'm on my second attempt. I think the warm April and then cool and wet May, plus a bit of over watering from me, contributed to the lack of seedlings. So fingers crossed for better luck (and management) this time!

End of Season Bonus

The time has come to clean out the greenhouse, first removing the exhausted courgette plants. These two have provided lovely baby courgettes and giant marrow for many a meal over the months from late June to September and, with two large marrow remaining, will provide some more food for a little while yet.

Then it's the turn of the four tomato plants, one each of four varieties: Gardener's Delight - a prolific small-fruited variety, Totem - a bush type, a beefsteak and a plum tomato - varieties unknown. Lots of green fruit especially on the Gardener's Delight. I could leave them a little longer on the plant to ripen but the next few weekends are busy with friends and family and if I don't get the greenhouse sorted now it will be the end of October...so looks like Holly Grove Kitchen will be making a batch of green tomato chutney sometime soon.

The last of the onions drying out on the greenhouse benches are gathered up and together with the garlic bulbs this makes a substantial basket full of produce from the greenhouse.

I'm already thinking of how I might use the greenhouse - a 6' x 10' unheated type - over the coming months starting with a couple of growbags of lettuce to overwinter, some broad bean seeds to start off and, of course, to shelter the fuchsias in pots before the first frosts.

So, with my Harvest Festival basket and thoughts of new plantings I set off for the HG kitchen...