Pots or Beds?

The first year of owning a greenhouse and I am enjoying it! Even though I am using both the beds under glass I am also using pots. I have grown vegetables in containers for a few years now as I have never had a garden or a greenhouse before. I have found them at times frustrating but have still had a good crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines and zucchini from them. So this year I have planted eight tomato plants and some peppers and aubergines in the greenhouse but couldn't resist growing more in big pots and grow bags outside too. Above you can see the artichokes that I raised from seed about to be planted out into their terrace.....I need those pots for my peppers and chillies!

This is the only zucchini that I am growing in a pot this year. I am so excited about having enough space for the zucchini and room for their roots to spread out. But this one is Tromboncino and I am growing it in a pot so that it can climb the fence post. It is extremely decorative and has these wonderful horse shoe shaped huge fruit - I am looking forward to feeding it and seeing those zucchini grow. 

There are two more of these in the greenhouse. I am experimenting as Cucumber Burpless grows well outside too. At the moment this one is behind the other two but it would be great if it produces cucumbers later on too. I grew this variety in pots last year and they were delicious. Its just important to feed them as you would tomatoes. 

An outside aubergine plant. This is Moneymaker and there are more of them inside the greenhouse in the beds but I couldn't resist seeing if this would also perform outside against the fence. It will need staking soon and feeding...

Two sorts of pepper are growing now both in and out of the greenhouse. The above is Californian Wonder and I also have Marconi Rosso which is a very productive variety. They are in pots outside and in beds inside. It will be fun to see the difference between the two. 

Here is one of the greenhouse beds with a newly planted Black Krim tomato plant, a pepper and some basil in the foreground. I had to be firm with myself and take out some more plants that I originally tried to stuff in....so hard not to but I have learned that proper spacing, especially in a greenhouse is very important for the plants....hence a load of containers and pots for the ones that I took out!

Purple basil is growing in these beds as well as green Sweet Genovese and also the Greek Bush basil. I just want to smell that smell whenever I water in there!

Aubergine Moneymaker and purple Basil will look lovely I think when the purple aubergine fruit begins to form. Sometimes I just plant things together because they look so wonderful. Though the greenhouse looks a bit sparse now I am very excited about what it will be like in July and August with all the purples, the bright greens and the reds of the tomatoes and peppers....oh and the shelf full of chilli plants too!

The Patch comes alive!

Early summer is such an exciting time in the Patch! Seedlings have been sown or planted out and the satisfaction of at last seeing them safely into their permanent home is huge. After the pressure of getting everything started at the right time, now it is a question of positioning them according to all the plans you have made, warding off the slugs and weeding to get them off to a good start. Every morning I take a cup of tea and wander down to the Patch (usually very early!) and enjoy the peace, the birdsong and seeing what has happened in the night! At this time of the year things are emerging and growing at such a rate I just can't wait to see the changes. 

Really pleased with the parsnips - started off on damp kitchen roll and lovingly nurtured in the greenhouse they have planted on well. I think the secret was in the compost I put in the planting holes so that the tiny roots were not damaged by heavy soil. The bliss of planting like this is that there is no thinning and no gaps in the row!

The same with the beetroot - my system of soaking the seed, sowing into deep pots of compost and then planting them out has been very successful. I was able to plant them between the odd seedling that had germinated in the bed and now have three full rows. 

Isn't this Rainbow chard beautiful? Again by starting it off in pots I was able to place the red by the yellow by the white etc. Can hardly bear to pick it!

Here are the Radar onions that I planted in the autumn. They are getting fat now and I need them. I don't want to buy onions and these will be ready in the next month for summer use. Then the Setton and Red Baron will be coming on for the winter. There is something about that moment when a fat round onion starts to bend over that is wonderful - as if they are telling you they are ready for harvest!

I cannot rate the Aquadulce Claudia broad beans highly enough. Planted in the autumn they stood all winter and they have a particularly sweet flavour and very long and very full pods. If you love broad beans as we do then do try this one. If I had sowed more in Feb for another row I would have got two crops of this delicious variety in before the later Masterpiece which will be planted out in June. Broad beans freeze fantastically so you can't have too many. 

You can see just how full this pea pod is going to be! By getting up early and seeing it with the sun behind it I have a good idea of where it has got to. These are Douce de Provence which you can also sow in the autumn if you want to - maybe I will next year. Compact and pretty but I made a mistake in not staking them well. They are hard to get at as they are supported only by a few pea sticks. I think it is worth the effort to put stakes and strings to give them something to grip onto. 
Fat delicious peas - one of the best things about early summer - fresh peas in salad or cooked with mint,   and new potatoes and asparagus...mmm..

Support Structures

May had some wonderful sunny warm weather and as there seemed no risk of frost I managed to get my zucchini and beans planted out of the greenhouse in the third week of May, giving the tender veg an extra week to settle into the Patch. We built a structure with bamboos for the St George runner beans and the Blue Lake french climbing beans and managed to get them settled into the bed which I had been feeding with manure and turning over in preparation for them. 

It was important to stabilise this structure by fixing it to the fence posts at both ends and in the middle as we get high winds up here. You pay for a wonderful view with it being very windy and the windproof netting around the rabbit proof fencing of the Patch has saved all my seedlings this year. Last year when I put the french bean seedlings out they were leafless within a couple of days and I put up the net. Since then protection from the worst of the wind, especially at the very young stage, has been brilliant. It seems that the spring and early summer are particularly windy here!

Here you can see the runner bean plant already leaning into the bamboo poles - I fixed garden string all the way along and it was not long before they were safely attached, winding their way up the string for support. I did not grow runners last year because of the wind and grew dwarf beans which did quite well - but you don't get the amount of beans that I wanted this year. I have grown Blue Lake which is a climbing french bean and is very productive. I don't think you can have too many beans...and the runners freeze beautifully too. 

The next structure to build was the Borlotti bean support. I have put them in a round bag I bought for french beans a couple of years ago and made a wigwam from bamboos with a circle of plastic at the top which keeps them separated and strong. But it was hard to know where to put it. We are building this year and so none of the barn walls would offer support or protection from the wind. We decided to put the bag between two old thick fence posts and build in bamboo poles horizontally as well as vertically to keep it in place. The bag takes a lot of compost and one fine morning I took the big pot of Borlottis and planted them, dividing the roots carefully and planting one by each pole.

Watering them in well,  then attached a piece of rabbit fencing around the bag and scattered a lot of slug pellets in the bag and around the base and hoped for the best. 

I have battled with the slugs and had to bend the chicken wire away from the leaves cos those little blighters can climb everything! Its quite exposed here too, but at the moment the lingua di fuoca seem to be climbing up the supports ok....lets hope for a harvest.

The only wall which is south facing that won't be disturbed by building work is this one and the outdoor tomatoes need it. These are six Ferline which are a blight resistant tomato, three Sungold (they are also in the greenhouse but I can't bear to throw away seedlings!) and three Principe Borghese ( a baby bush tomato which is great for storing and drying).

 As you can see the structure is made secure by wires which run through the blocks of wood and are screwed into the wall enabling the bamboo poles to be attached and stand proud of the wall. It is rock solid - the west winds we have been having (  no gales actually!) have been sending the wind down this alley and the tomatoes have survived. Lets hope that there will be enough sun to ripen the tomatoes on this hot wall and not too much wind when they are heavy laden with fruit!

Gardening is all about planning and support structures are a vital part of successful harvesting. Fingers crossed!

The Secret to planting Leeks

Last year I planted all my leeks in peat pots and though they were fine and we ate them all winter they were slow to get going and did not have the lovely creamy white stems I love about leeks. After research I realised that I should have planted them in deep holes! This year I have planted the majority of my leeks - Musselburgh and St Victor - on the terraces near the zucchini and artichokes in long double rows. We love leeks and I use them about four or five times a week in the winter as the base for so many dishes, casseroles, pasta sauces and vegetable bakes. This year I have planted well over a hundred. 

I started them off in the greenhouse in deep pots and let them grow there for a couple of months until they were as thick as a pencil and at least eight inches tall. I dug over the bed several times, digging in and down the wonderful cow manure which was well rotted and which I spread over the bed to let the worms take down months ago. Then I emptied the pot of leeks and began to separate them - a much easier task than I had thought as they are tough and the roots are strong. 

Here is the hole I made with a thick stake and I have pushed the roots deep down, about five or six inches and let the leek drop into the hole and the secret is not to fill the hole with soil. Just water in the leeks and the water will take enough soil to the roots and eventually the leek will be completely supported by soil. I found it very satisfying.

In this photo you can see the zucchini growing on well next to the leeks. 

This is Romanesco and alongside it are Soleil, Best of British, Defender, di Nizza and Patti Pan.

I am really hoping that both varieties of leek will do well this year. St Victor was recommended by Sarah Raven - it is a purple leaved very pretty variety which also goes well through the winter and has a good flavour. Musselburgh is an old favourite and I grew it last year - it was wonderful and looked and tasted exactly the same in March and April as it did in the autumn. We ate every one and missed them when they eventually ran out and I dug up the last one at the end of April. I wouldn't be without leeks - one of my top vegetables!

May - baby seedlings fill the greenhouse!

The greenhouse is stuffed full! This is the month when everything is being sown and stuffed onto shelves and staging, waiting to go outside into the Patch. I get so much pleasure from the white labels sticking up in rows and knowing that the plants are protected from strong winds (we live on a hill!) and slugs while they germinate and grow strong. 

At the moment the loose leaf salad is feeding us well from under the staging. The rocket has bolted but the Black Seeded Simpson, the Cocarde, the Green Oak Leaf are supplying salad every day from one bed and Tom Thumb and Salad Bowl are producing crunchy hearted lettuce from the other. The artichokes are now in big 9 inch pots under there too waiting to go out into their bed in June. 

And behind them you can see the main crop peas Hurst Green Shaft in their gutters just about ready to be slipped into their bed in the patch.

Baby leeks, red veined sorrel and a host of tomato seedlings are growing on well - the shelf is full of aubergine an pepper seedlings.

More tomatoes on the shelf, borlotti, french beans and scarlet runners are nearly ready to go out and the pots of coriander will soon be in the beds.

Borlotti beans Lingua di Fuoco will go in a huge tub between two sturdy fence posts. This is the first year I have grown them and I'm looking forward to cooking them the Italian way in the autumn. You can dry the beans for the winter but I am not sure I will wait, they are so good cooked fresh and drizzled with earthy green olive oil....

Blue Lake were recommended to me as a great climbing french bean and so I will put them next to the runner beans on the supporting frame this year. I am hoping for a great harvest from them. We have strong winds up here on the farm so the windbreak netting will be vital when they first go out. Last year every leaf of my french bean seedlings was torn off in a couple of days so protection is needed!

And behind them the pots of St George runner beans growing on well. The best thing about runner beans is that they freeze beautifully and nothing beats their unique flavour. They are also very prolific which means that they are good value in a small patch and produce from August until the first frosts - a staple late summer crop. 

Baby squashes and zucchini are coming on well and will be able to go out at the end of the month - Defender (old favourite), Best of British, Soleil (yellow), Romanesco, di Nizza (round)and Patti Pan will be in a long row on the terrace providing more than enough zucchini for our needs and then behind them with a high bank to grow up will be all the squash - Yellow Scallop for the summer and Gem Rolet; the for the winter Hunter butternut, Red Kuri and Kabocha with the little Munchkin Pumpkin. Its fun to see them all germinating in the greenhouse - a whole shelf of them. 

This is the aubergine and peppers shelf - I am growing Moneymaker aubergine this year as I want some of them to be able to grow outside in pots. Some will stay in the greenhouse too - we love them and want loads. Marconi Rosso is a pepper highly recommended by Sarah Raven as it is so prolific so I am growing them inside and out too with Californian Wonder as a second pepper. Chillies are growing in pots on a greenhouse shelf too...I want to dry them and string them up in the kitchen in the winter - the best christmas decoration. 

The salad is wonderful - here is a bunch from under the staging - a perfect lunch. Baby Tom Thumb lettuces start in pots behind and you can just see the kohl rabi babies and some sprouting broccoli seedlings too. 

Not an inch to spare and by the beginning of June all of these will be outside and the greenhouse will take on its summer form - tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and aubergines in the two beds with the wooden slatted shelves removed and green and purple basil planted to fill the place with their delicious aroma every time I water! My first spring with a proper greenhouse has been a great joy.