2015 Gardening Season......soon!

Well another gardening season is well on the way now here in a chilly UK.
I have just had a few of my first seed packets for the new season arrive here and already I am excited about sowing them, though looking outside today It might be a month or so yet!
I start in my Greenhouse usually in February, with some Onions.   Then onto bedding plant seeds and gradually more & more vegetable seeds.
So far I have the following seeds arrived...

Beetroot (Cylindra and Detroit 6 and Boltardy)
Florence Fennel
Kale
Swede
Borlotto Beans
Spinach (Perpetual)
Swiss Chard
Shallots
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Peas (Alderman and Onward)
Celariac
Chicory
Leeks
Runner Beans
Tomato's (Various Varieties)
Pumpkins and Squashes
Gourds
Chillies
Peppers
Sweet Peas
Potatos (Charlotte - Pentland Javelin- Lady Christle)
Onion Sets (Santero - Hytec)

Already on the Allotment plots are Strawberries & Raspberries.

I now have three plots so filling them should not be too hard.
Including two polytunnels, which are so very useful in the UK climate.
Last year I just had one, but I have now inherited another, as our retiring secretary has allowed me to use his and I have taken on his plot now too!.
As soon as weather allows I will be rotovating the plots and spreading our animal manure on them. Its a mixture of the Ducks, Hens and Rabbits.....and it look great!
Hopefully we'll see the benefits of it later this year.

CHILLI FESTIVAL -"Dorothy Clive Garden" - North Staffordshire - September 21st 2014

Chilli Eating Contest

Indian Cooking

We made another visit to the "Dorothy Clive Garden" on the borders of Cheshire and North Staffordshire, to see a Chilli Festival, which was quite Interesting. A few cooking demonstrations including Indian, showing how to Incorporate Chillies in your cooking recipes. Also stalls selling Chilli related goods and books and Chilli Jams, etc. Then we took a look around the gardens themselves which were very colourful and the autumn leaves in their splendour too. It was a lovely warm sunny day. Not bad for late September!

Harvesting Time

It has been a very busy time lately, gathering in the produce from my allotment plots.

I brought home the Pumpkins and Squashes to store in a dry place, also picked all our Apples from our garden and the Cayenne Peppers from the Polytunnel. Also I've picked all our Tomatos that were still outdoors on the allotment, which had been prolific this year.  Dana my wife has been making Stuffed Peppers from some of the Peppers from the Polytunnel too (Photo above). 

Been such a productive year again and it's saved us quite a bit of money growing as much as we can ourselves. Also knowing how much fresher everything is, when you pick it yourself as you need it.  The allotments now are mainly in need of tidying up and start to prepare to clear everything off, so I can get the soil cultivated for next year.

At home the back garden will soon have a major pruning and get ready for Incinerating the branches and old plant material. A big job indeed! 

We have also saved a lot of seeds from this years vegetables and flowers for next years sowings. 

PUMPKINS , SQUASHES & GOURDS

A Selection of the Pumpkins and Squashes and the Gourds, from my allotments this summer. We will store them in a cool place and use the Pumpkins/Squashes for our soups, etc this coming Autumn & Winter. The Gourds which are not edible, will be used at home for decoration purposes. They are fun and the colours really amazing too.

UPDATE ON MY ALLOTMENT PLOTS - June 2014

Allotment Picnic bench

Frame for squashes to grow upwards

Kale protected from Whitefly

Tomatos and Polytunnel

Interior of Polytunnel

Tomato area

Strawberry patch

Cabbages

Potatos

Globe Artichokes

All is looking good on the allotment plots so far this year as the above photos show. Though germination of the seed rows has been a problem this year, i've managed to get most things going now. I have also taken on another half-plot for now!.....though at the end of the season i'll decide if to continue with it, as it all takes time on there weeding, etc. But so far i'm pleased with everything there. The polytunnel has been a big success this year with tomatos, peppers, chillies and aubergines all looking very good. They all need regular watering and feeding of course.  Strawberries & Raspberries are in season now and i'm picking those almost daily.  The Kale is being protected by a very fine netting I bought online, which is supposed to deter Whitefly from attacking the plants. Usually most brassicas are affected by Whitefly under the leaves, which puts you off eating them. So this year I tried the special neeting, which is much like net curtaining used in a house!....in fact it might be, but it is a very fine net. So hopefully it will do the trick. It allows water through it, but nothing else!.

The pumpkins are all strting to grow now, so we hope to enjoy more of those this Autumn onwards, after they lasted up till April this year.

Meanwhile on the Garden at Home.........

Wisteria

Front Garden Border

Rose -"Compassion"

Delphiniums

Window Basket

Rose - "Iceberg"

Campanula

Fig Tree

Garden Arbour

Me with Wisteria

Things are looking good on the garden here at home, with so much in bloom now.

It's the first time out Wisteria has flowered on the front house wall, after being there 3 years. It is looking great there and we hope it continues to spread.

The Clematis are looking very nice too and seems a good year for those. Maybe because of all the rain we had. The fig Tree has plenty of Figs this year and generally all the fruit trees are well laden with young fruits, which I hope will continue to grow now. 

The pets are enjoying the current good weather, with the Ducks enjoying bathing in their troughs especially on warmer days. We'll soon be adding to our Hen population here!

In July we are adopting another 20 Hens from a nearby farm, who are re-stocking.

So they put all their current Hens up for adoption. So i'll be adding photos of those when they arrive on July 19th. 

BBC GARDENERS WORLD "LIVE" 2014 - NEC Birmingham UK

Show Garden Exhibit

Show Garden

Edible Garden

Ladybird Poppies

Floral Marquee (RHS)

Show Garden

Jazz Band Entertains

Cocoa Garden (Winning Entry)

June 14th 2014 we visited the annual BBC Gardeners World show in Birmingham.

I have visited this event so many times since it started and I always find it very inspiring as well as interesting too. Lots of stalls to buy gardening stuff and there is a floral marquee with exhibits of all types of flowers and vegetables, with many plant nurseries selling their plants too. We bought a few perennials for our front garden as well. The "Show Gardens" were very good this year and designed very well I thought. The winner was a garden based on "Cocoa" with seats that looked like Cocoa beans (photo above) together with a chocolate pool and Cocoa Bean trees too.

Thankfully the weather was very kind and the sunshine made it a great day to stroll around the site looking at everything. Amazing to think that these exhibits are only temporary and all will be taken away now the show has ended. But it was well worth the visit and I'm sure i'll be there again next June!