Chitting potatoes

Yesterday, we had the most delicious mashed potato with our tea, and I have decided to save a few to try growing. I've always grown my potaptoes from store-bought rather than seeds, and got really good results with earlies over the past 2 years.

These potatoes are called 'Melody', and a quick search tells me that they are a maincrop, grown for boiling and mashing. Their origins, from what I can tell, are Dutch.

So here are my first pototoes to be chitted this year! How exciting!

December Garden Update

I wanted to record what's happening in the smallest veg garden in December - not much, but here's what I have...

Shop bought garlic - doing well so far

New strawberry plants taken from runners

Remaining Leeks

4 Shakespear onions, only 2 emerged

4 Shakespear onion, 3 emerged

Lavendar, Tulip bulbs, and chives

An overview of the garden

A little bit at least. And for reference, I have worked out that the overall square meterage of the 7 beds is 3.1115sq.m. Aside from the pots, that is all I have to play with!

2018 roundup

It’s been a while – my garden is looking very empty now. All I have left in the earth are 2 savoy cabbages (one of which is destined for Sunday lunch this week!), and about 8 leeks. I have made a couple of batches of leek and potato soup recently, which has been lovely, but I have only used the few leeks which were planted as ‘spares’. The rest are a bit of a mixed bag – some of them are pretty fat already, but some of them are still a bit skinny and weedy looking. They look healthy, and I’m sure they fatten up a bit more over the winter months – fingers crossed!

I have decided to dig up and dispose of my tomato plants now, as they had pretty much stopped producing, and were looking less than healthy. I also dug up my 2 chilli pepper plants – I have frozen 3 fruits, and have 3 more drying out on my utility room (Which is lovely and sunny – you will see my seedlings raised there in the spring!).

The garlic and the remainder of the tomatoes are still on the windowsill finishing off, to be used shortly!

Speaking of garlic – my husband had bought a pack of garlic not so long ago, before I’d harvested these, and there was one that started to sprout in the fridge. So that one has been separated and popped into little pots to see if they are healthy enough to grow on. I managed 7, and I plan to use at least 1 of my harvested bulbs to grow some for next year. So should have plenty of lovely home-grown garlic next summer!

As I said in my last post, there were quite a few successes this year, a few disappointing crops, but a lot of valuable lessons learned once again! And with that in mind, I have made a plan for next year, which involves making much more use of the little space I have been blessed with. The whole garden needs to work much harder next year, and I’m hoping to have less empty space, and make more use of space as it becomes available after harvesting crops.

Over the past couple of weeks, as well as dealing with those unexpected shop-bought garlic cloves, I have bought and planted 8 sets of Shakespeare Onions, 4 direct into a raised bed, and 4 into the terracotta pot where my carrots grew in the summer. It feels great to have at least put something new in! And as I said, I will be putting some of last years’ garlic cloves in over the next few weeks, when I get a spare minute!

Something else I need to do is write these posts a bit more frequently. I don’t think many people read them (hi, if you do!), but it serves as a useful record for me each year, so I need to keep on top of that.

Triumphs and disappointments

Hello Friends,

We've had some gorgeous hot weather over the past few weeks - not that I'm complaining, but I think my garden might if it could speak!

I've had a few good little harvests from my tiny garden so far - the biggest success must have been my 2 bins of potatoes. I planted 3 seeds in each, and had a lovely yeild of about 35 from each, which equates to around 10 per seed. On the down side, as they were all earlies, they were all ready around the same time, which means they've almost all gone already. I think next year, I will try some different varieties, and so make them last a little longer.

Little Gem Lettuce

I have also had an abundance of lettuce - again, I didn't do well with timings when I planted the seeds, so I ended up with 4 all at once, and am now waiting for another 2 which won't be ready for a couple of weeks at least! Next year, I need to be more organised with that too.

As always, my mint is thriving, I now have 3 pots which have grown from one original plant my dad gave my about 3 years ago. I also have had some success with chives and basil.

I dug up my garlic just before I wnt on holiday a couple of weeks ago, and that is now drying out nicely in my shed. Looking forward to tasting that - I have already eaten the scarps, which  used in salads and sandwiches - they were loveley, a nice blend of garlic and spring onion.

Savoy Cabbages

My cabages ar begining to fatten out nicely, and should make a lovely meal or two during the winter, as with the leeks, which are also doing really well.

None of the beetroots (2 varieties) which I planted twice(!) emerged. I think that the minute they sprouted, the birds had them, despite my efforts to net them. I need to start the seedlings indoors next year, and give them much better protection.

Dwarf French Beans, Twinkle in background!

Mange Tout

My peas and beans are just starting to produce. We had our first small batch with Sunday lunch yesterday. Delicious! I thought that the dwarf french beans were going to fail, as they took ages to start producing, so I planted an additional 'Twinkle' pea, which is now sharing the space. Hopefully, they will be happy doing so as I'm looking forward to the pleaseure of shelling those peas!

Chillis

My chilli plants have quite a few green fruits on them - for some reason, they are much darker one one plant that the other. But they are a good size, so I will leave them to do their thing and hopefully will be able to enjoy them over the coming months.

My 7 tomato plants are all starting to bear fruit, I picked 3 lovely red fruits yesterday - should get some good ones if the buds are anything to go by.

So, lots going on, quite a bit growing, and a few lessons for next year. I thought I'd planned well enough, but I need to get stuff to fill gaps as they emerge.

How are your gardens doing?

Late May Update

My garden is getting much fuller now, and I only have one bed left to fill. This weekend, I have finally risked re-potting my tomatoes and putting them in their final positions in the garden. All of the established plants are flouishing, and I don't think there is nayting that hasn't at least begun to spring into life.

Here is a rundown of what's happening right now...

I'm excited that I've already got a few beans coming on my Dwarf French Bean plant! I'm wondering whether I should pick these tiny ones as the plant is still so small? The second plant has also started to set fruit, but not such big ones as these.

My Mange Tout is growing, and has this week found the beanpole and started to climb it. Again, I have two of these, and have high hopes of plenty of peas for Sunday roasts and stir fries!

These are a few of the 10 or so radishes I'm growing. The second attempt - the first lot got eaten, so I've covered these under cloches for protection.

My chilli plants have already begun to flower. Was almost tempted to pick them to let the plant grow, but I'm going to leave them for now.

Potatoes doing fantastically! Can't wait to see what I get from these. Last year, there were over 50 spuds from 4 plants. These 2 tubs have 6 plants between them.

Garlic coming along nicely. You can't tell from these images, but they are strating to dry and brown very slightly at the trunk - a sign that they are putting more effort into producing bulbs. They will be ready to harvest once the trunks are dry and brown, and the leaves begin to die back.

Lovely lettuces - little gem. There are 4 in this bed, and an additional 2 in another bed. I had planned for 4, but coun't bear to waste the 2 extra I had, so found a home for them in a spot where I was going to plant something else and changed my mind.

If you look very carefully, you might spot the tine carrots sprouting in this terracotta pot. I am planning on planting more in the potato tubs once they've been harvested.

The very slow germinating beetroot. I have two rows of different varieties, and am looking forward to seeing what we can make of them.

Strawberries starting to come into fruit. Got a fair crop from this plant last year, it's about 5 years old so looking forward to seeing how it performs this year.

One of 3 pots of mint - flourishing as usual!

Basil, not sure why it has decided to grow in such an isolated clump! Hope to get a better crop than last year, but I find it takes a while to get going.

3 of 9 tomato plants - I have given 2 away already and found a home for another - leaving me with 6! Lots of tomatoes promised for the summer! Might have to make some sauces if they're as prolific as last year!

A little pot of coriander - planning on keeping this in the kitchen, if I can for use in cooking.

A tray of 10 pansies, which I think will end up in the front garden at some point.

All in all, everything's looking pretty good. I'm excited about what crops I'll get from this little lot. One thing's for sure - we'll be eating a lot healthier this year!

Early May Update

Things are starting to heat up in the Smallest Veg Garden - and it's a long time coming! I'm hoping to be able to start getting at least some of my little seedlings out over the next couple of weeks, but I thought I'd provide you with a little snapshot of what's going on right now...

Dwarf French Beans off to a good start

Tomato plants in the left tray, chillis in the fore with more tomatoes behind, and leeks and baby salad at the back

Mangtout making a break for freedom!

Potatoes looking fabulous

Garlic - you'll remember this was shop bought, so excited to see if it gives me anything!

Little Gem Lettuce, despite the protection, one has already been eaten by Mr Slug!

Strawberries and Mint thriving

Beautiful Chives starting to flower. Already harvested some of these recently

One of these things is not like the others...

Hello readers.

It's still way too cold to be doing much in the way of planting, but I have got my leeks and a tray of salad leaves ticking away on my fairly sunny dining room. I'm itching to get something planted now, but this coming week promises yet more freezing temperatures. So annoying!

Anyway, here are a few images of my early seedlings. See if you can spot the odd one out...

Salad Leaves - Mixed

Can you see it, peeping over the edge at the front right? What is that? Let me know, please!!

The odd one out!

And here are my leeks - looking a bit leggy, perhaps, but I think they're doing ok...

Leggy Leeks

Well, that's about all I've got to report at the moment. Hoping that things will busy up soon so I can share more!