What a difference a bit of sun makes!

Due to the warm weather we've been having, some of my seeds are sprouting in no time. The picture below shows some of the faster ones at a week old.

From left to right they are - courgettes, watermelon and cucumber. I have since potted the courgettes on & they are even bigger now. The cucumbers are going in raised beds in the greenhouse, so I have put a couple of those in there already. I now need to build a frame for them to grow up. Last year I used chicken wire, but it wasn't very good, so it's back to the drawing board this year. If anyone has any good tips, I would love to hear them.

I have also planted marigolds out in my outdoor raised beds as companion plants. I have planted them all around the border.The smell should deter pests. Anyway, I think they look lovely anyway, no matter what job they are put there to do. Here's one looking all pleased with himself in the sun!

Whilst I've been out in the garden enjoying the sunny weather I've also had a nice surprise. This is my strawberries a month ago:

Whilst I was watering them at the weekend, I just noticed that they have flowers appearing! I am so excited, as I actually bought some strawberries from the supermarket last week and they were rubbish. They were all white inside and tasteless. The ones I grew last year were red inside and almost melted in your mouth.

I am counting the days till I get get some cream on these!

Thanks for reading my blog xxx

Trying new things

This year I'm growing a few new things in the garden. One of them is kiwi - it looks to be growing pretty well so far.

It seems to have come on very quickly. I am growing it in one of the raised beds in my greenhouse. When I first got my greenhouse (my huband built it for me), I opted for having raised beds in there & it was the best thing I ever did. It is so much easier. Here's the greenhouse a few weeks ago, when there was not much in there.

I'll post another photo of it later this year, when everything is in full bloom.

I'm also growing watermelon this year for the first time - I sowed some seeds about a week ago and they are just starting to sprout. I think they like humid places, so I may cover with some plastic to increase the humidity.

One of my successes already has been the rhubarb - here's a reminder of what it looked like:

And let me tell you it tasted wonderful in a crumble I made a few days ago! It was wonderfully tender!

To stew the rhubarb I cut up, then added a little honey (not too much to overpower the rhubarb though), sugar and orange juice - very nice! When I make crumble I always add a little ginger to the crumble mixture and I think it goes really well with rhubarb too. I need to start looking at more rhubarb recipes now, as I've got quite a lot to harvest. Any good ones, let me know.

Thanks for reading.

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rhubarb's coming up trumps

If you've been following me on twitter, you might have read that I have been running out of pots to cover my rhubarb with. I have used 4 plantpots, each one increasing in size and gradually they all became too small.

Someone then kindly recommended I place a dustbin over it - so I have. Before I did so, I took a new photo:

I think some of it looks about ready now, so I'm going to be using some this week for certain. I last put a picture of the rhubarb on here about two weeks ago, so it is amazing how quick it grows, as it was only just coming out of the ground before.

I also spent some time this week getting new compost out of the compost bin. Here it is tumbling out at the bottom:

And here's my dog Mischief having a good old sniff of it:

The only thing that didn't seem to have composted properly was mango - don't know why?

Anyway, I've got lots of work to be getting on with this week, I expect the compost won't last me long!

The start of something good.

Now that Spring is officially here and the clocks have changed (so lighter nights), it feels like the start of something good. Lots of seeds have been planted and are now starting to appear and it feels really exciting. I've tried some leeks this year (first time) and I am so happy to see the little mites growing.

I can't believe that these tiny things are going to grow into leeks. I've got a section all ready for them in the raised bed. One of my friends also grew them in piping, as that encouraged them to be "whiter", so I think I'll have a go at that too. They used plastic piping. I've also heard that you can store them in sand afterwards (although I think I'm jumping ahead a little there!)

I've sown lots of flowers too, to use as companions, so that the pests will not be attracted to my veg. My favourite ones are marigolds, as they are such sunny characters. They are popping up a little too:

I like to plant them as a boarder on the edge of all my raised beds. 

I really must take another picture of my rhubarb for the blog too, as it's doing tremendously well. I had put 4 different pots on there (each larger than the other) and it still keeps growing. Yesterday, I put a massive bag type thing over it that I usually use when weeding - it was the only thing I could think of that was big enough. I'll upload a photo in the next couple of days.

Thanks to everyone who has commented on the blog - it's brilliant to get ideas / thoughts from others.

Sprout Tops

I spent some time yesterday clearing out some 'old' plants to make way for some new ones. I had a bed of brussel sprouts that I had eaten all the sprouts from but left the plants in the bed.

                                   

I was then able to use all the leaves from the sprouts tops in a similar way to cabbage. I've now cut it all up & frozen it in bags. Each bag has four portions in it, so will do us for a meal. I managed to fill 20 bags up yesterday, so that should keep us going for a while. Last night we had some cooked with leeks at tea-time. It's also good stir fried with some garlic.

Here's what it looked like on the chopping board -

It's good to use up parts of a vegetable that might otherwise be thrown away! I also composted the stalks of the sprouts, so it's all been put to good use.

All I need to do now is get on with planting the potatoes in the bed I took the sprouts from!

Rhubarb Forcing

Last year I planted some rhubarb. I heard that the first year, you should not use it, but let it die back down & then it will be better the year after. I was sooo tempted to cut some off (just one pie or crumble), but I didn't. I am pleased to say that this year it has come back (hopefully bigger & better than last year!).

Last week on Gardener's World, Monty Don talked about forcing rhubarb, so that's what I've decided to do. I have put a large pot over it & am awaiting the gloriously tasty stems! Here's what it looked like this week, before I covered it up.

I'll keep adding photos each time I have a sneaky look at it!

I'm in the right area for growing rhubarb, as only a few miles away from me is the Rhubarb Triangle in Wakefield, where they are famous for growing rhubarb indoors in sheds.

New plants on the way!

At least some of my plants think Spring is on its way. This year, I am trying to grow a tayberry. I've never had one before, but I think it is supposed to be a cross between a raspberry and a gooseberry (or is it a blackberry & a gooseberry)? I've often seen them when we've been on holiday to Hereford & always wanted to grow some. I ordered one last year and it's now sprouting!

I'm excited to see what it will be like - would be good to know if anyone has had them before. I guess you use them in the same way as blackberries etc?