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halojedhaI bought seeds! Organic non-F1 seeds from vitalseeds.co.uk. I made some quick decisions about what to get, as the online shop is only open each morning from 9am until they reach the limit of how many orders they can process. I may have ordered too many seeds. But they were dispatched and are on their way and I am VERY EXCITED.
Thanks so much tokabarett, ewt and juliet for the super useful gardening advice in my last post. It was empowering, and helped me go from a state of feeling intimidated and overwhelmed to feeling ready to give it a go.
Today I slung E in a back carry when they showed signs of readiness for their afternoon nap, and went out into the back yard. The ericaceous compost I ordered had arrived, and I wanted to repot the Sad Camellia. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, a perfect day to work in the garden.
I did many things! I weeded and tidied all my container plants, topped them up with compost as required, watered them and moved them to the south facing wall. They look much happier now. I've got bay, camellia, three strawberry plants, rosemary, thyme, lavender, a little aromatic bush that was sold as curry leaves but which is not curry leaves, it looks like grey lavender but smells savoury, chives, and a tiny rose bush. A new green and vibrant thyme plant is growing next to the chives, which is good as the old thyme plant is looking pretty dried out.
The camellia got taken out of its pot, shaken until I got all the loose earth I could off the root ball, and put back into the new low pH compost. The root ball was huge, so there wasn't as much space in the pot for ericaceous compost as I'd hoped. I hope what I've done is helpful.
I didn't have any rainwater to water it with, so it got tapwater although I know that's not ideal. I want to set a water butt up. (We actually have a couple which we tried to make a biofilter for our hot tub out of a couple of years ago. The filtration system worked, but it didn't work fast enough to keep up with the hot tub, and the project got abandoned.) So at some point I need to decant a load of gravel and sand out of the biofilter and set the water butt up. Maybe under the gutter runoff? Although that would cover the drain, which might be bad if it overflowed since it's right next to the house.
I've set up three modular seed trays in the conservatory ready for my new seeds when they arrive. I'm excited! Here's what I've got coming:
Climbing French bean - Blauhilde
Dwarf French beans - Faraday
Courgette - Black Beauty and
Tondo do Nizza
Cabbage - Greyhound
Chard - Perpetual spinach/ Erbette
Kohlrabi - Superschmelz
Lettuce - Little Leprechaun
Oriental greens - Tatsoi
Rocket
Spinach - Matador
Winter squash - Meruhen
Basil - Thai
Basil - Sweet Genovese
Dill
Sorrel
I'm going through and making notes on each thing, so I know a bit more about the timings and care of each one. Then I'll make a plan of what I'm sowing when. I was in a hurry so may have got some things that won't fit into this growing season (winter squash doesn't sound promising now I think about it), but once I've got all the info assembled I'll figure it out.
I've also got coriander seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds in our food cupboard, and organic butternut squash seeds saved from the squash in our veg box.
It would be very easy for me to start way more seedlings than I have space for. So before I plant anything I want to do a garden plan and figure out what's going where. I need to decide what kind/size of container to get and how much compost I need to order too.
I'm currently thinking:
- herbs indoors (kitchen windowsill and conservatory)
- squash, courgettes and beans sharing containers outdoors (but how many, and how big?)
- cabbage and leafy greens outdoors in some configuration that works once I've finished making notes on what each thing likes
It might end up being three big containers along the edge of the yard with my other little pots in front of them, or something.
We're moving house end of September, so there's no point investing too much money in setting up a massive container garden here if the next house might have actual earth I can plant in. I mean I'll move my plants, but housemoves aren't great for plants. I'm also aware I'm cutting it a bit fine for stuff that needs harvesting in October, and may not be able to commit to anything that will need to go longer than that. Any seeds I don't plant this spring will save til next year.
Anyway, today I worked in the garden for an hour and a half with E on my back, and they slept for an hour of that! when they were awake they seemed totally chill and happy to look over my shoulder watching what I was doing. Which is frankly fucking amazing. It means I can do gardening WHILE doing childcare. I've been spending 60-90 minutes a day walking so that E can nap, and it's been pleasant walking in the woods listening to audiobooks, but being able to spend some of that time gardening instead is a gamechanger. It means this growing thing fits into my life. It may even be good for E - they seemed to sleep for longer than they normally do. I felt strong and mobile and surprisingly unconstrained by the heavy 9 month old on my back. I'm excited to grow things!
Thanks so much to
kabarett, ewt and juliet for the super useful gardening advice in my last post. It was empowering, and helped me go from a state of feeling intimidated and overwhelmed to feeling ready to give it a go.Today I slung E in a back carry when they showed signs of readiness for their afternoon nap, and went out into the back yard. The ericaceous compost I ordered had arrived, and I wanted to repot the Sad Camellia. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, a perfect day to work in the garden.
I did many things! I weeded and tidied all my container plants, topped them up with compost as required, watered them and moved them to the south facing wall. They look much happier now. I've got bay, camellia, three strawberry plants, rosemary, thyme, lavender, a little aromatic bush that was sold as curry leaves but which is not curry leaves, it looks like grey lavender but smells savoury, chives, and a tiny rose bush. A new green and vibrant thyme plant is growing next to the chives, which is good as the old thyme plant is looking pretty dried out.
The camellia got taken out of its pot, shaken until I got all the loose earth I could off the root ball, and put back into the new low pH compost. The root ball was huge, so there wasn't as much space in the pot for ericaceous compost as I'd hoped. I hope what I've done is helpful.
I didn't have any rainwater to water it with, so it got tapwater although I know that's not ideal. I want to set a water butt up. (We actually have a couple which we tried to make a biofilter for our hot tub out of a couple of years ago. The filtration system worked, but it didn't work fast enough to keep up with the hot tub, and the project got abandoned.) So at some point I need to decant a load of gravel and sand out of the biofilter and set the water butt up. Maybe under the gutter runoff? Although that would cover the drain, which might be bad if it overflowed since it's right next to the house.
I've set up three modular seed trays in the conservatory ready for my new seeds when they arrive. I'm excited! Here's what I've got coming:
Climbing French bean - Blauhilde
Dwarf French beans - Faraday
Courgette - Black Beauty and
Tondo do Nizza
Cabbage - Greyhound
Chard - Perpetual spinach/ Erbette
Kohlrabi - Superschmelz
Lettuce - Little Leprechaun
Oriental greens - Tatsoi
Rocket
Spinach - Matador
Winter squash - Meruhen
Basil - Thai
Basil - Sweet Genovese
Dill
Sorrel
I'm going through and making notes on each thing, so I know a bit more about the timings and care of each one. Then I'll make a plan of what I'm sowing when. I was in a hurry so may have got some things that won't fit into this growing season (winter squash doesn't sound promising now I think about it), but once I've got all the info assembled I'll figure it out.
I've also got coriander seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds in our food cupboard, and organic butternut squash seeds saved from the squash in our veg box.
It would be very easy for me to start way more seedlings than I have space for. So before I plant anything I want to do a garden plan and figure out what's going where. I need to decide what kind/size of container to get and how much compost I need to order too.
I'm currently thinking:
- herbs indoors (kitchen windowsill and conservatory)
- squash, courgettes and beans sharing containers outdoors (but how many, and how big?)
- cabbage and leafy greens outdoors in some configuration that works once I've finished making notes on what each thing likes
It might end up being three big containers along the edge of the yard with my other little pots in front of them, or something.
We're moving house end of September, so there's no point investing too much money in setting up a massive container garden here if the next house might have actual earth I can plant in. I mean I'll move my plants, but housemoves aren't great for plants. I'm also aware I'm cutting it a bit fine for stuff that needs harvesting in October, and may not be able to commit to anything that will need to go longer than that. Any seeds I don't plant this spring will save til next year.
Anyway, today I worked in the garden for an hour and a half with E on my back, and they slept for an hour of that! when they were awake they seemed totally chill and happy to look over my shoulder watching what I was doing. Which is frankly fucking amazing. It means I can do gardening WHILE doing childcare. I've been spending 60-90 minutes a day walking so that E can nap, and it's been pleasant walking in the woods listening to audiobooks, but being able to spend some of that time gardening instead is a gamechanger. It means this growing thing fits into my life. It may even be good for E - they seemed to sleep for longer than they normally do. I felt strong and mobile and surprisingly unconstrained by the heavy 9 month old on my back. I'm excited to grow things!
no subject
Date: 2020-04-04 10:42 pm (UTC)Please let me know how you get on with the 'Meruhen' winter squash, I adore winter squash and am always interested in new varieties to try.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 09:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-09 09:58 am (UTC)They'll be happier with one per container. I grew one per 40cm container last summer, but they weren't exactly what I would call happy.
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Date: 2020-04-04 11:12 pm (UTC)*Hugs you*
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Date: 2020-04-09 09:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-05 10:12 am (UTC)For squash and courgettes the bigger the better, container-wise. They have quite significant roots IME and they're quite heavy feeders so more compost is good and you'll need to keep feeding them for best results. The lettuce-y stuff you can get away with smaller/more shallow pots, but chard/perpetual spinach/etc is a form of beet (just bred for leaves not roots) and needs a decent-sized root space too in order not to bolt too soon.
Glad E was happy on your back while you were out there!
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