Molly's Lotment - Cottage Garden

The weeks just seem to have flown since I posted my last blog. And in truth, I've downed tools for a little while to take time out to watch the Chelsea Flower Show from cover to cover, visited a wonderful local National Garden Scheme garden and of course watched many of  the Jubilee events.
Way back  in March I cleared around the apple trees at the top of the garden.  Planted it up with  perennials grown from seed and plants I'd bought from a local supermarket. I chose the ones which looked to have the best potential for dividing which is what I did (Buy one and get five free). They looked almost nothing at the time but with the long lighter days, lots of sunshine and copious amounts of rain, Mother Nature has done her bit. There are still a lot of weeds that need dealing with as always, but today with glitches of sunshine between the showers, it was nice just to stand back and breathe in the moment.

The delphiniums are out and the aquilegias. I've planted hostas underneath the apple tree.  I had some spare red cabbage plants and dotted them here and there amongst pot marigolds and corn flowers. Foxgloves are just starting to flower and clumps of sweet william  are out.

There's a mish mash of Dutch iris. Valerian and Solomon's Seal.

I bought this little plant for the princely sum of fifty pence from  a car boot a couple or so years ago. It's quite a tall geranium and self seeds where it will. I think it's called 'Splish Splash' and this one certainly lives up to its name.

The oriental poppies were a present a few years ago in the form of a little envelope of seeds from my sister-in-law's garden.

I love pinks and this is one of my favourite - it's called 'Widdecombe Fair'. Pinks are so easy to propagate - just peel off the little side shoots and plant them in a pot of gritty well draining compost and as a rule they're away. I love the intense clove-y  fragrance.

The clay pots and bowls I planted up in March have filled up and are almost brimming over. No need to water - no need to do anything - I love them.
June is such a gorgeous month - a time to sit back and enjoy.
Molly

Molly's Lotment - Labelling

Root Ginger

Last year I thought I might have a try to grow some root ginger, This was just an ordinary piece left over from a supermarket buy. It grew very well over the summer months. I potted it up and labelled it and brought it out of the poly tunnel  into the house to over winter.

Green Shoots

What a thrill a few weeks ago to see stubby little green shoots appearing through the compost.
Little white bell-like flowers like tiny bracts started to appear.

Solomon's Seal

Today, no doubt about it, the pot I'd labelled as 'Green Ginger' was actually 'Solomon's Seal'


As that optician's advert keeps telling us ......'Should Have Gone To You Know Who!'

Molly's Lotment - Salad Days

Red and Blackcurrant Bake

Today the weather has been a mixture of biting winds, driving rain and then the odd glitches of sunshine in between. A day for log fires and home baking. I had a couple of bags of red and blackcurrants in the freezer left over from last year. This pudding was a bit of an experiment -

7oz frozen red currants& black currents mixed

4 oz flour (I used wholemeal because it was what I had in the cupboard)

4 oz sugar ( I used brown " " " ..........)

2oz butter

1 beaten egg

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add sugar and fruit.

Bind together with the beaten egg.

Place in a oven proof non metal (greased) dish

Bake for 50 minutes in a medium hot oven

Serve with cream or custard.

 Was quite pleased with the result and Other Half liked it - so something I will bake again.

Zlata Radish & Little Gem Lettuce

I spent a couple of hours in the afternoon, weeding in the poly tunnel. We tried a new radish (for us) this year. One called Zlata which is gold coloured instead of the red ones we normally grow. They have excelled themselves and are absolutely delicious. The Hispi cabbage are still growing well and I've planted a second crop in another small patch.

I  made a dish of coleslaw. Here are the ingredients I used - washed, peeled and shredded in the processor Mixed with a teaspoon of lemon juice and a table spoon of salad cream.

Served with salad, salmon, white Cheshire cheese, chunks of fresh wholemeal bread and lashings of butter.
That was our dinner.


Molly

Liz's Log - Modified Onion Spacer

Molly's Modified Onion Spacer

Molly's Lotment - Planting Onions

They said it was going to be 'All Change!' and they were so right. The end of  March was bathed in glorious sunshine. Wednesday April 4th - plummeting temperature, driving snow and high winds.

Turbo Onions

No time to lose, Tuesday we planted two rows of onion sets the length of the lotment down at the mill. The Man that Can cobbled up an onion planter/spacer which in all fairness worked like a dream.

Onion planter/spacer

Off cut of soft wood. Marked at 8" intervals. Remains of broken pikel stale lathed into pegs 2+" depth. Attach to length of wood. Loop each end of baler twine or any such strong string to wood and .....

away to go. I would have preferred a stout handle up the centre of the onion planter, but time was not on our side and what's more it did the job before the snow came. We also managed to plant four rows of main crop potatoes, a row of early onward peas and a row of Bunyard's Exhibition broad beans before the rain tumbled.
The weather is still wet and chilly. I spent the afternoon weeding in the poly tunnel ......

Rocket Potatoes

The early potatoes we planted the beginning of March are living up to their name. They were chitted in February.

Little Gem

Little Gem lettuce are starting to 'heart up.'

Webbs lettuce, beetroot and parsnips will soon need thinning.

And just outside the door of the poly tunnel - a clump of fresh mint defying the couch grass.


Happy Easter
Molly

Molly's Lotment - Potatoes and Things

Ground at mill

 The weather has been glorious in sunny Wales for the last few days but the weather forecasters tell us that all is set to change come the weekend. If it's not quite 'Make hay while the sun shines' time of year it's certainly been busy here on Molly's Lotment. We have been busy preparing the veggie patch down at the mill and planted our main crop of potatoes (all four rows of them). I bought the seed earlier on thinking that they were the early variety only to get home and find that I'd picked up 'Desiree' and 'Pink Kerr' which every gardener knows are  not the early variety at all. However I set them out in a card board box and they chitted well. Also sowed a row of Early Onward peas. I have sown a few boxes as well. Little critters are quite partial to freshly sown peas so a few to fill in the gaps is a good idea.

Pink Kerr and Desiree

It's been 'all systems go' in the poly tunnels too :-

Broad Beans are growing

Autumn King in a flower bucket

Discovered a brilliant tip from Gardeners click - sow carrots in a flower bucket. (I had an old one destined for the recycle centre - rescued it and banged drainage holes in the bottom) The variety I've sown are Autumn King. The great thing about sowing them in a container is that they can be lifted out of the way of the dreaded carrot fly. Looking forward to some nice juicy grub free carrots.

Hispi

The Hispi cabbages are ready for cutting and I've already made vegetable stir fry and coleslaw with a couple of them - 'out of this world mmm.'

Strawberries

My strawberry plants in the top poly tunnel are just starting to come into flower. They were a complete mess a few weeks ago. The runners had run everywhere and I had to thin them with a vengeance. The plants that came up with my cultivator have been planted outside. They're doing okay as well, but will fruit a week or two later than the ones inside.

Asparagus

And finally .... the icing on the cake - I bought two asparagus plants past their sell by from the garden centre a couple of years ago. They were throwing them out for the princely sum of ten pence. Not having grown asparagus before, I read on the packet that they needed to be planted on ridges of compost rich soil. I hit on the idea of planting them in an old potato planter which I filled with garden compost and then a layer of soil on the top. Two healthy little shoots poking through. You can't ask any more than that for ten pence can you?


Happy Gardening
Molly

Molly's Lotment - Wild flowers and More Weeding

Been busy again weeding the flower beds. The weather has been cloudy and overcast for most of the day. No complaints - perfect for doing those weeding jobs - not too cold and not too hot. We have did have an ancient plum tree growing in the middle of the top border.  Well actually, it was there long before I was and I formed the bed around it. It has not borne any fruit for as long as I can remember and the centre of the trunk was filled with powdery compost. Decision time - the 'man that can' came along with his chainsaw and I spent the morning clearing away thorny branches on to the trailer.

We took them down to the mill field to be shredded at a later date and I took time to look for the wild flowers growing there

Wild Strawberries

and primroses on the bank

Colt's foot

Trees in bud

I love this time of the year.


Back to work! 
Finished weeding and mulched the top soil with compost from the heap.

Top Border

Also planted out a box of foxgloves, grown last year from seed.


I try to grow most of my plants from seed  or divide the plants up where I can. Great to plant swap with friends and family.

Some of my plants

Two down and two to go!

Molly's Lotment - Digging the Weeds

Morning Mist

Brilliant day today. Really feels like Spring is 'Sprung'. The low mist at the foot of the hill just before the sun rose was something else.  A great day to start on the weeding. Weeds never fail to grow in abundance even if nothing else will. It's so easy to over do things and end up with a bad back for the rest of the week so gently does it (note to self.)

Bergenia along side the path

The Bergenia by the side of the path has really come into it's own this year. I chopped off several pieces  last year and planted them in one of the beds at the top of the garden. Even so the clump that was left, has spread with abundance all along the side of the wall, a forest of dark green, elephant ear leaves and a maze of pink flowers.

Seed Heads of Last Year's Sedum

Seed heads from last year's Sedum are still holding out. The relay of Winter handing the baton over to Spring and yet I feel  I want them to hold on just a bit longer. The rich copper colour is so pretty.

Weeds

Couch grass, creeping buttercup and dandelion roots have run amok amongst my day lillies and aquilegia.  A job pending tomorrow if the weather's dry and sunny. The one thing I really like about weeding is that you can see where you've been and I love little encouragement monuments.






But today, I've cleared and planted one little piece of ground by the stream.  I sowed foxgloves, lupins and delphiniums in trays last July and planted them out today.  I buried hostas underneath the apple tree and planted pulmonaria, stachys and sweet william. It looks so bare at this moment in time, but I'm so looking forward to watching them grow.

One down and three to go.

Molly's Lotment - Sowing and Growing

Flowering Cherry

Last week's glorious weather lulled us all into a false sense of security. And then come Sunday we had howling winds, cold grey down pours and even a dusting of snow on the surrounding hills. Every day, in spite of the change in the weather, the flowering cherry trees on the edge of the lawn seem to get that much 'pinker'. I wish I had a  video recorder on stand by to record the blooms as they unfurl and then play it back speeded up. It's only when you take a photo and then a few days later, another, that you notice how much things have moved on. The miraculous silence of  growth.


Today I really intended to weed my flower beds and borders. The sun has been shining for most of the day, but a biting wind persuaded me to take cover and potter about in the poly tunnel. First of all, a little trip round to see how things are coming along.

'Hispi' Cabbages

The cabbage seeds sown last October and planted out in January are starting to fill up quite well. I hoed between them with my favourite hoe. It's an ancient onion hoe really with a narrow semi circled blade. I bought it from a car boot a few years ago for no more than fifty pence, but it's so good for doing all sorts of hoeing jobs. I'm hoping the cabbage will be ready to start cutting in April, especially with the price of vegetables ever rising.

'All Year Round' Cauli

As well as sowing cabbage, I sowed a tray of 'All Year Round' cauliflowers the same time.
I planted them the opposite end of the tunnel but the slugs played havoc with them. I tried circling them with rings of sawdust. It did have a measure of success but I'm afraid I had to include a few blue mini pellets as well.
Tiny curds of cauliflower are just starting to form so hoping they will make it to full growth. Think I may have to give them a dressing of blood, fish and bonemeal to boost them up a bit.

'Bunyard's Exhibition' Broad Beans

Here are some broad beans, I sowed in a couple of seed trays. Other Half thinks that they are well ready to be planted out. I'm hanging back a bit. Last year I planted two lovely rows along the edge of the poly out of the seed trays. So proud of my work, only to find that our four legged little friends had, had what might be described as a 'bean feast' during the night - bitten into and eaten all the bean seeds away and left a trail of lifeless shoots on the top of the soil. Who is Head Gardener in your house?

Parsley

Do you ever buy those pots of herbs, they sell in the supermarket? I bought a little pot of parsley some time ago. Instead of having, one little plant as you might expect, there were actually a clump of them and I separated them out and planted a row in the top tunnel. They have worked out cheaper than buying a packet of seeds and are at this moment still going strong. 


For the remainder of the afternoon, I've been indulging in a bit of seed sowing. The 'Ailsa Craig' tomatoes, I sowed in a margarine tub on February 8th have, as yet  just one head above the parapet. The seed was last year's so I don't know if any more will grow or not. Hedging my bets, I've sown another tub of 'Alicante' today. The Brussel sprouts sown in February have germinated, but I sowed another small batch again today as well. The first pinch of lettuce sown in January have survived and made it into a square in the poly tunnel. The second batch have also germinated. I've found out the hard way that it's a lot wiser not to sow the whole packet in one go.


Happy Monday
Molly 

Molly's Lotment - Growing Our Own Vegetables

 This is such an exciting day for me, my first blog entry on Gardening Journal International - Wales and what a good day to start - March 1st - St David's Day. My love of plants and gardening started as a child. My grandfather lived with us on our small farm. I loved being in the garden with him. He grew most of our vegetables and the most wonderful spray chrysanthemums. I can still feel the icy dew on their leaves and the wonderful heady  scent that garden chrysanths have. I have lived in Mid Wales for most of my sixty eight years and in the same house for the last thirty five. We live in an old farm house and have a couple of acres of land incorporating the ruins of an old corn mill. The land was covered in scrub and brambles when we moved in and oh so stony. Bit by bit over the years we cleared and reseeded the main of it. During the 1980's I used to run a  Saturday market stall, just over the Welsh/English border, in Shrewsbury, selling our home grown vegetables. At the time we invested in three poly tunnels which although a bit battered  (like their owner), are still going strong. Old age, as they say, doesn't come on its own and now we only grow enough to keep our family fed and the few surplus to give away. My first photos are from my album. The ones that follow will be (fingers crossed) the ones I take as my gardening year 2012 unfolds.

A view of the hills

Land across from the old corn mill

Banks

Trees

Streams

And thistles