Clarkie's Veggie Blog

2009-07-08T03:56:00.000-07:00

here are my beets and radish and raspberries and rhubarb too! everything is really growing now as you can see by the pics! yippee

Ok so now the veggies have been in two weeks and here are some pics to see how they have grown, I am lucky to have 3 waterbutts in the new garden which were left. I have sown carrots and beetroot and radishes, but everything that FG grew for me has taken off totally, so lets hope its a productive summer. I cant wait to taste all of them especially the toms, they are really growing well and i need to make a trellis of some sort. I would like to grow some herbs in the house so bought some little pots yesterday just for this purpose, some chives, coriander and rosemary may be good!

And I am planting in the 3 sisters fashion with peas, lettuce and sweetcorn and there are 2 outdoor cucumbers as well!

I love my new house and garden its home from home - I shall now try and update this as much as possible or I will be getting cained from FG lol!!!! take it easy everyone!!!

I have moved!!!

2009-07-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

Framer Giles aka Trev and me!!!

My beets and radishes are in here!

My potatoes in their pots!

My cabbages and caulis, and being wet after being drenched with a hose - thanks lol!

My toms in the greenhouse many varieties!

The sweetcorn and lettuces!

This is my new house and new garden and the other two pics is how it looks now!

Well on 10th June I moved house back to sunny Luton and my garden is a lot bigger and its flat which is lovely! So due to the stresses of moving I didnt grow any veg! But my friend Farmer Giles aka Trev from the Grapevine took my seeds and some of his and started growing them for me. Well he came up 2 weeks ago and we planted the ones we had and I am totally chuffed. Now you will see them all growing lots and lots! There are lots of different toms, such as Gardeners Delight and Alicante as well as plum and tumbling toms as well.

I will now be editing my pics and all about me as well! I will be posting more and more pics and I am pleased to be back in the land of the growing, lets hope that next year I will be having more and more veggies.

Happy Gardening everyone!!

Sunflowers!!! Van Gogh eat your heart out!

2008-10-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

my lovely tidy clean garden!
re-dug veg patch with onions and caulis covered up

my two small but perfectly formed pumpkins - starting to ripen up now
small perfect pots - the rest are left to grow on
Van Gogh's delights
I grew these all by my own self
Anyone for a Jalepeno!!!

What a busy day today, i have re-dug, weeded and tidied the plot and the garden, collected the last of the jalepeno's, then I cut my sunflowers and put them in a vase, as I thought I cant see them in the garden so I will look at them in the house instead, feel really pleased with myself, I looooove Sunflowers!!

The potatoes are coming along considering that the slugs have eaten all of the leaves, the four other planters have been moved to the greenhouse, so we will see what will happen by christmas.

Look at my pumpkins!!!! out of 3 plants I have ended up with two, considering the summer we have had and the plants getting powerdry mildrew, they are ok and will ripen ready for the end of the month, hopefully, i only grew them for halloween anyway.

So now everything is tidy, I even cut the grass today and cleaned out the shed, I am ready for the winter, the onions are coming along nicely and there is still some beetroot to be had, shame the brussels were mullered by the caterpillars!

I Wont be back now, until more than likely spring, so happy christmas everyone and a great new year xx

Autumn is now upon us!

2008-10-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

some sorry looking sweetcorn!!

Well thats it, summer has gone and left us, what have i done, we look we had some sweetcorn and it was lovely......so next year i am not doing runners i am doing more sweetcorn!

not bad for a first attempt i say!

well, i still have beetroot in the ground and planted out some all year round caulis and some red cabbage and have planted 100 onion sets, so fingers crossed. The small amount of leeks i planted are now coming along and if i can get the bloody caterpillars off the brussels then they would be great, but god its like a plague!!!!!

The jalapenos are really going red now, but the pots have had it really, the darm slugs have got to them and i hate slugs.

But i did have my tip posted in GYO about using pegs to collect the slugs and received a £10 voucher for T&M so that cheered me up, dont know what to get now though!!! LOL!!!!

So not much else to tell you all, really i not done much, just watching things grow and get cold whilst doing it!!!!

See you in the spring xx

ps. Started my degree in Early Years so hoping that i stay on top of study and get some stuff done in the garden!

Rain, Slugs & Caterpillars !! ARGH!!!!!

2008-08-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

One of my potatoe plants mullered by the slugs!
on the sole remaining cabbages - not mullered by caterpillars
big & little - both delicious
3 beans heinz
still flowering & tasty runners

truss of Gardeners Delights
big and beefy going redder by the way
time for a pea anyone!
5 pumpkins - please swell
Butternut squash - gonna on i dare ya to grow

Well good old August never let us down did it, rain, rain & guess what, rain!!!! Well a bit of sad news, my sis left to go to New Zealand on 23rd August, but the good news is I am talking her into a greenhouse as veg is so expensive out there, so heres hoping!

Well what a month, I pulled up the onions and they are drying now on the greenhouse floor and seem to be doing really well, i need to string them up soon!

Ok the brussels, cabbages and caulis have taken a beating from the caterpillars, but i made a garlic & chilli fire spray and it stinks, but so far the cabbage white butterflies are staying away, but it needs to be reapplied especially after rain, but i learnt the hard way and needed gloves.

I have sown some carrots in pots again, some speedy seeds, which i am gonna place in the greenhouse to grow on and i have sown some all year round caulis, to see if i can beat the pillars!! I have also sown some pak choi in troughs, 2 in the greenhouse and 2 in the garden, but I want them all to grow as this is one of my fav veg, oh and dont forget two planters of speedy seed beetroot, i am so loving the beetroot.

Well yesterday, i realised i had Powder Mildrew on my pumpkins & squash and had to strip the affected leaves, but hoping that they still survive as i so want pumpkins for halloween, i will be keeping an eye on them, but have learnt that the weather doesnt help, if it is damp, so need to water in the mornings and not the evenings as this doesnt help!

I think that could be about it for now - oh no i forgot the gorgeous toms in the greenhouse, they are all ripening up and all taste gorgeous and i will defo be growing Gardeners Delight again, as cant get enough of them!

Just forget - my potatoes, i have added more compost and staked them, because i think the slugs have got to them and i so want them for Christmas, so please keep growing or i will be so upset on xmas day!!!!

Lets hope that september brings some sunshine!

Cricket balls & Beetroot!

2008-08-04T13:30:00.000-07:00

my tidy patch now weeded for hours!
chilli plant is still growing
look at the sweetcorn, it wont be long now
lovely, lovely cucumbers
basil having a growth spurt

my first harvested cuce
look at the size of that beetroot
runners for tea
i think these could be beefsteak???

well, here we are again and the veg is still going strong! the toms are the most surprising, they are getting huge! I dont know what variety they are as i threw the packet away, but i am sure they could be beefsteaks as they are so so so massive, i cant wait to eat them.

the sweetcorn as still a mystery to me, one lot are small and one lot are huge, the seeds are from the same packet, but one has just flourished and one hasnt but then again the cobs are coming on both, so i dont mind!!

now i have established that the cuces are marketmores and they are outside cuces, i moved them and wow how they have grown, i have loads and loads on them and they taste lovely, had three from them already.

Also the beets, well, i have pickled 3 jars now, picked a load today and have more in and the big one in the photo is the size of a cricket ball, just hope that its ok and not woody!!

I spent hours today in the garden, weeding and tidying up the plot and also dead heading the strawberry plants as recommended on the grapevine, cor that place is a source of information everyday, i am also gonna plant some onion sets for the winter and also get some over winter cabbages!!

I havent taken pics of my squashes or pumpkins, but the flowers are huge and they are taking over the garden ha ha ! not that i mind as i have seen a squash growing, so hoping now that they continue and i can make some nice soup, it would also be nice to have some pumpkins from the garden for halloween as last year i missed the boat and we didnt have any, at least i would have fresh ones from my own garden.

See ya all soon xx

so much growth is happening, its scarey!!

2008-07-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

a sunflower on its side! upsey daisy sunflower!!
look a cucumber wow!!
more toms - getting big!
the veggie patch with onions and caulis!
Robbie the adopted cat - he adopted us!

look at the runners, running away
caulis are getting bigger

the sweetcorn even bigger now

carrots - tasted lovely
beetroot - some pickled and some roasted - yum yum
sideways view of sweetcorn which now has husks growing
toms are everywhere

well not been on here for a while, been very busy, but as you can see there is veg everywhere, the days have been busy and the weather not too bad. The beetroot tastest delicious. On sunday i sowed about 27 potatoes in pots and bags, so hoping for a good batch for Christmas time.

Also, tasted one of the Gardeners Delight toms and still a bit bitter, but full of flavour, they are getting red now.

I bought a pepper plant with about 6 huge peppers on it and have re-potted it up. Also on sunday, i pulled up the lettuce and rocket and mizuna that has now gone to seed, so will sow some more this week.

The jalapeno is really growing and has about 20 chillis on it! Also had some runners and they were nice, but stu said i needed to cook for longer - how dare he criticise my beans ha ha.

You will also see a pic of Robbie the cat, he has adopted us and is staying for now, we know his owners and they moved away and he keeps coming back, so i think he will stay now and the kids love him, i have dewormed and defleaded him as well, ha ha - poor thing, but he is very friendly and likes us, well i think so.

The sweet corn is growing so much now and i can see at least 5 corns growing, the other little one has now started to grow as well and i dont know why it was slower, but it will soon catch up. The pumpkins and squashes have now got flowers so hoping to get some good crops from them and the sweetpeas are a hit and i keep cutting off the flowers and putting them in vases.

Oh how i love growing things!! roll on the rest of the summer, i want to sow more carrots for xmas and hopefully we will be eating all our own veggies, that would be a success.

See you soon x

Is the summer ever gonna come!

2008-06-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

the caulis are growing - thank the lord
my pumpkins - hope to plant them out in two weeks

parsnips, parsnips everywhere and not a one to eat.............well not yet anyway!

the jalepenos have flowers - stu is happy
look - gardeners delight, growing OMG!
runners are running away
The veggie plot! looking good, now with leeks and cabbages as well! oh and the brussells for christmas
My sunflower is getting very big!

Yum yum pigs bum!! and they are mine all mine!!
My first ever sweet peas - arrrrrrrrr
The salad "coffin" is doing well with Rocket, Cut & Come again and Mizuna
Big sweetcorn & little sweetcorn - what a way to go!
The toms are growing & growing as well as the cucs! will they ever stop!

i cant believe how everything is growing, wow wee!! i am so excited - i cant wait for the caulis, this summer i am also gonna grow some Pak Choi, love the stuff.

Exciting stuff as tomorrow i am off to meet fellow "Grapes", Heywayne and Piskieinboots, we are meeting at a pub in Wendover and I will be taking some pics and putting them on the blog.

I dont know if i have put this before, but next year i am gonna use grow bags stood up for my toms are they are about to fall over, but it is not taking away from the fact that they are really really growing and i couldnt believe it when i saw the cherry toms on the gardeners delight!

The strawberries are tasting delicious and i cant understand why i ever bought them in tesco, i cant get enough of them, i so hope that more flowers come, as i want more and more.

One thing i cant understand is that the sweetcorn were planted at the same time and are in different pots, but the ones in the blue pot arent as bit as the one in the planter, i may start feeding just to see what happens, but none the less they are looking really good and i am so pleased.

I also think i have got rid of the snails in the garden, i dont see half as many and my veg is staying quite intact, so perhaps i have the sorted.

More posting soon and more pics of the veg as it is harvested, by the way, i have seen the beetroot growing and also the carrots are coming along great!

My haven't you grown!!

2008-06-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

the plot so far! going great guns - onions are hiding behind the beetroot! more beetroot sown as well - lots of pickling hopefully!!
my runners with their flowers, hoping to get a healthy crop from these!
my grapevines i moved from last house in pots, now rooted into the ground - fingers crossed they will like it there
will they still be around by Wimbledon - i doubt it yum yum!!

one of my marigolds grown from seed, so pleased with myself
my sweetcorn have shot up the last few days in the sun, they seem to like it by the greenhouse
the triffeds have invaded! my toms have now moved again onto the floor as they are getting so big
my Jalapeno chilli plant, i am so proud of her and she has started to form fruits
look a cucumber is coming! now where are the gents flowers that i need to remove??

Well its been a few weeks since I last posted and I cant believe how everything is growing. Last night I gave away some cucumber plants on freecycle and this lovely guy came and we talked gardening for an hour!!!! he couldnt believe that 6 months ago I hadnt grown anything before, he was amazed and chuffed to bits with his cucs, I hope he gets lots from them. He showed me how to pinch out the tops of my tom plants as he said they getting big now and need to bush out more, so I did that this morning before i left for work and also I drenched the greenhouse floor, because its been getting hot in there.

Everything is moving on and the strawberries taste the best, no more tesco for me! home grown all the way. I have also painted my trough and now have growing Mizuna, Rocket and cut & come again salad in it, they have grown so quick.

I now have 3 pumpkins that have germinated and I have potted these on, I need to think of somewhere they will go when they are ready. I have ordered some seeded potatoes and these will arrive in July and then I can start with these for Christmas pots. I also think i will need to move my caulis that I planted out as not enough room for them in their spaces at present.

I have sown some more beetroot, i looooove the stuff, so plenty of roasting and pickling for me soon, well hopefully.

The slugs and snails are becoming less and less, 4 nights ago I collected at least 50 snails and 20 slugs in my salt box, it has now become less and less and I only found 2 last night, apparently you have to kill them as they have a homing beacon of 30 miles.

Yesterday I managed to by a great book from the RHS on Veggies and Fruit for only £5, what a purchase, it has loads in it, loving the bargain. Also, myself and my friend Angela are going to plant some veggies in our kids school, they have about 4 raised beds that need some help, a lovely freecycler passed on some veggies to her, god I have been bitten badly by this bug!

I have to say that I must thank my grandad "Charlie Grover" for my green fingers, as he always said to me "you are one of the best" and I have to say, so was he, I am therefore dedicating my new found love of growing to him, I wish he was here to see it, I think he would be proud.

Well thats enough from me, happy growing!!

Wet, but green!!

2008-05-25T05:11:00.001-07:00

green, but very wet
i loooooooove my garden
a very pretty flower when not wet!
loving the colours on this flower
tomato plant flowers - gardeners delight

Well its a lovely wet Sunday!!!! so not much to do, but yesterday I cut the grass and checked on all my lovely veggies, oh I did just cut some Spinach for dinner, so I am excited about that.

I had to buy a new laptop, as my other one died a death, so i took some pics in order to explore as this one has Vista, I am liking it so far.

Well as you can see from the garden everything is growing and all of my tom plants in the greenhouse have lots and lots of flowers and i even checked the cauliflowers that I sowed direct next to the runners and they are growing lovely as well, still covered with fleece and will be for a while, i hope they survive, mind you I ordered from Suttons some small plants of cauli's and in mid July, I should receive my potatoes, so that will be very exciting, as I am gonna try and grow these in potatoe sack thingy majigs!

Also during the week, my friend Angela gave me a 200lt water butt and she is also locating for me a composter so I am excited by that and at least with some rain they will be filled up ready for the summer.

Thats it for this week, I still only have one pumpkin seed germinated, but oh well, anything is worth a try, the squash in the ground is growing at a great rate and after the cold snap during the week everything has survived, also sowed some more radish direct, it is so yummy!! See ya

It didnt last long did it!!!!!!

2008-05-17T09:10:00.001-07:00

the runners are growing great guns!
Spinach for the OH - Popeye watch out
Snuggles coming to get me
Yoda (fattie) & Fern (white patch) cosying up
Another yummy radish

Gardeners Delight Tomato Flowers - woo hoo

Sweetcorn is growing really well
Look - Strawberries!!!!!!!!! yum yum
Cucumbers are coming to life
Squash now planted and doing well so far - cloching them at night still, just in case of the cold!

Well the rain has come and it is pretty cold and miserable, so i must remember to cover the runners up tonight with some fleece! My squashs have gone into the ground and are still being covered, just in case!

The piggies are also growing, so i decided to put some pics of them in, they are loving the leaves from the radish I am pulling each week for salads.

Today I have noticed some flowers on my toms and asked the "grapes" for some confirmation, Wayne said they look like it, so I am now gonna start feeding them, hoping that I et some lovely fresh toms soon, look at the strawberries growing as well, maybe in time for Wimbledon, i hope.

Also, today I cant find the seed packets I bought from T&M, half price in the sale and I am very frustrated as I had Pak Choi and PSB in there, as well as cauli, I found some cauli seeds and have sown them direct today, next to my runners and covered them with fleece, so fingers crossed as this is my fav winter veg. The others i planted in a bucket have passed away, also my little Blackbird babies have died...........they were in the conifer near to my kitchen and I am gutted, i checked on them today and Stu is now gonna remove the nest and the dead chicks, they were getting big as well, so that has peed me off some what.

Also I have had one Pumpkin seed germinate, so i am gonna try and grow it on now, lets hope it works, i want it for halloween.

Now where in hells name did i put my bloody seeds - I am now off to go find them!!!!!!!!!! How annoying !

And there's more!!!

2008-05-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

A corker radish & it tasted lovely!
The toms are getting there! Pinched some out today!
The runners are happy in the ground and growing really well.

The Sun has got its hat on!! Yippee!!

2008-05-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

My lettuce - not eaten at all!!
Yehaa! flowers on the strawberries!
Left - onions & garlic, then radish and some beets
one of my healthy squash
sweetcorn is going great

What a fantastic week this week with the weather, I have worked hard and thought I could show myself how, in my blog! Everything is growing great and my radishs are almost ready to eat, great news!!

Today I potted up 2 pumpkins , so hoping they germinate and will post when they have! I also repotted my squashs (3) which were great, so hope they going ok.

I repotted my brussels and some seem to be dying, so I may have to plant straight out, I have lots of seeds so not too worry.

Hope the weather keeps up, the runners are going great guns as well, now they are in the ground.

Bring on the summer when I can eat all my veggies !!

Nearly there!

2008-05-04T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well what a very very busy day, today i had a list of jobs so this is what i did!!!

Cleaned out the greenhouse
Put the toms that are in grow bags on the top of upturned boxes, so they not on the floor
Re-potted brussels, spinach, parsnips, toms & some more runners into 3" pots
Re-potted into planters - Beetroot (in medium planter - 15 plants), Sweetcorn in large planter (in their loo rolls - 3 in big one and 2 in another), spring onions in the shallow planter, with more seeds sowed direct, in between the ones grown in the mini greenhouse.
Big blue planter of carrots, covered with fleece, to stop the carrot fly.
Big blue planter of cut & grow lettace with radish (sowed from seed)
2 x troughs and 1 growbag of the cucumbers (2 in the growbag and 3 in the troughs)
Planted out the runners into the prepared soil and made a wigwam for them, got 6 runner beans in this spot (thinking about putting cauliflower next to them) - covered with fleece and netting.
Then i watered all the plants and put down some blue organic slug pellets and changed all the beer in the beer traps.
Turned over and aeriated the composter (adding newspaper from the piggies and their pooh!)

Now i need to start to harden off the plants in order to put them out soon, the weather seems to be getting brighter now.

I also bought a rechargeable torch from Homebase, so that I can go and do the slug/snail lobbing at night (I go out twice every eve).

I need to find out about "pinching out", I dont have a clue about this, so I will be asking on the Grapevine to see how this is done, apparently I need to do this to my sweetpeas, so that they get bushier and more flowers, not seen one yet, but they are about 7" tall.

Also, yesterday I mowed the lawn and put down more grass seed, it is really starting to shape up out there. Nice and green, so I will be taking some more pics soon.

By the way, my radish are almost ready to come out of the ground, cant believe that the first thing I have ever grown from seed is almost ready to eat, yum yum! I will eat a whole plateful!!

Back soon x

Well here it is! My veggie patch

2008-05-01T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is my greenhouse & Strawberries in pots!
My toms - getting bigger by the day
hooray 100% germination on the sweetcorn
Marigolds, carrots, all my own work!
Homemade slugtrap - with baby slugs

My veg patch with fleecy to keep warm and cuddly!

The greatest runners on the earth lol !

In January, I decided to rip out the rockery and create a veg patch, my Cousin from NZ, Darren came whilst on his hols here and helped, as well as my mum and we dug and dug the garden and trimmed trees etc. I started feeling optimistic and was bitten by the bug.....

By January, my dalek composter was up and running and I was getting excited, by all the veg and straw going into it, as well as newspaper etc. I am remembering to aerate every week and keep brown & greens going in.

In Feb/March I started sowing some seeds, my mum had bought me some seeds and a mini-greenhouse for Christmas, after a trip Homebase, I come home with compost, seedling compost and some tools for the job, including pots.

In Feb, i dug over the plot and tilthed again, then added some pooh from "Meg", our pony and some compost and covered it over with some polythene, waiting for it to warm before planting, I then left it alone warm up!

My "better half" then decided that as I was being a good girl, I should have a greenhouse and as we already had a patio area right next to the patch, then this is where it would go, bought from Tesco Direct, Stu then puts the greenhouse up over easter, in the snow!! Then he made me some staging, what a star he is and I started potting up more seeds. I also bought a heater in the clearance area of Homebase, they are starting to know me there now!

As you can see from my pictures my Runner beans that were potted up about 4 weeks ago, are going great and will be put into the garden this weekend, hopefully. Also my sweetcorn which was only potted 2 weeks ago have all germinated and my toms which were one of the first things to pot up are growing great in their grow bags. My strawberries have flowers on them and in the ground are onion sets, garlic, radishes and beetroot. These were all planted 3 weeks ago and the radishes are coming along great.

In the mini greenhouse, coming along nicely are:-

Parsnips

Beetroot

3 x squash

Spinach

Brussels

Cut & grow again lettace

Cauli's

Sweetcorn

Runners

Salad onions white & red

Some of these are going into pots, to be grown...........

Also in a raised bed, but the kitchen is:-

Little Gem lettace

Coriander

Parsley

More to follow soon with dates of sowing, planting out & harvesting!! (cant wait for that bit)