As spring approaches, more flowers are beginning to show, Aconites and the first of the crocuses. Yet more spring flowers We’ve still got lots of leaves to clear up but the weather isn’t perfect.
Category: Blog
Do you want to contribute?
This website is primarily about my experiences growing (mainly tomatoes). However, I’m thinking about widening the number of contributors. If you would be interested in making contributions on your experiences please contact me. If enough people are interested, then I’ll find a way of making it work.
2022 – Spring is Springing
Our garden is a woodland garden, surrounded by trees in neighbouring gardens and a 100 year old oak in the middle of ours (see here to get the idea). Its not good for trying to grow fruit and vegetables as much of the garden is in partial shade through the summer months but its meant…… Continue reading 2022 – Spring is Springing
Harvest – Mid October 2021
The days are drawing in, the evenings are darker and the weather is significantly cooler. However, there are still green tomatoes, some of which seem to be ripening others of which are succumbing to blight. Since the last harvest post we’ve picked another 9kg of tomatoes, four cucumbers, 2kg of carrots, half a kilo each…… Continue reading Harvest – Mid October 2021
July 2021 summary
Here we are at the beginning of July and our tomatoes are doing well. Most have fruit set and growing and the plants are well established. This year I am keeping the indeterminate varieties to a single cordon rather than as I did last year, letting all of the sideshoots grow. I’m also planning to…… Continue reading July 2021 summary
Weird Flowers and the Effect of a late spring
Yes, its a Foxglove I was wandering around the garden this morning when I saw this. I asked my “expert” what it was and was pointed at a page on the Kew Gardens website (kew.org) from January 2016. It turns out its an example of “terminal peloria” a well known but infrequent spontaneous genetic mutation…… Continue reading Weird Flowers and the Effect of a late spring
Big Garden Birdwatch 2021
Like many people in the UK I did the “Big Garden Birdwatch” last weekend watching out for birds in the garden. For whatever reason, this year was a “bad year” with the total list of birds being: Great TitWoodpigeonCrow I’m convinced that the birds know that its Garden Birdwatch weekend and hide away because in…… Continue reading Big Garden Birdwatch 2021
Using the Raspberry Pi for Fantastic Video Communications with Zoom
Moving slightly off-piste this time, not talking about tomatoes or any other garden related things. Lockdown has meant that we haven’t physically seen our children/grandchildren much this year (in fact hardly at all) so we’ve got used to talking to them via Skype and Zoom. Some games work well (Uno, UnoFlip, Bingo, Go Fish) but…… Continue reading Using the Raspberry Pi for Fantastic Video Communications with Zoom
The best place to get your seeds?
At this time of year, I look through my boxes of seeds wondering whether I stick to the ones I’ve got or whether I should try to buy some new, different ones. My database (well spreadsheet) of tomato seed cultivars is a list of 6,000+ names, most of which its impossible to find a commercial…… Continue reading The best place to get your seeds?
End of the Tomato Season – 2020
The season is over, all the plants are pulled up and the harvest processed, stored and ready for use over the winter. Its been a peculiar year for a number of (largely unrelated) reasons. I terms of the size of the crop, its been good (a total of just over 40kg of useable tomatoes of…… Continue reading End of the Tomato Season – 2020