I want to tell you a little about my pets just because they are awesome
Charlotte- She is the most boring of my animals, she's a normal cat very pretty, likes hunting and brings home dead animals. She is very loving though and enjoys sleeping wherever is most inconvenient places for me.
George- this is the coolest cat I have ever known. He looks exactly like the felix cat! George is very clever we have a low letterbox on our door and he knocks this when he wants to come in. And if the kettle is boiling he comes up to you and knocks your hand when your pouring milk s he can lap up the splashes.
Lulu- lulu has my heart and soul. She is the craziest, stupidest but most loyal dog ever. Lulu barks at everything in sight runs in to closed doors and windows and is fiercely protective of me. She was named after a character from a Harry Enfield sketch lol
Monday 10 March 2014
First seeds of my season are in the ground
Some may call me optimistic with this lovely mild weather we have been having but I have planted out my beetroot seeds today. I have only planted 6 as I'm still sceptical that we are not going to have any snow, the bane of my life for the past few years. Ive covered the seeds with my homemade cloches (halved pop bottles) to try to protect them from any frost we may have. I would not be bothered too much if they do die off from the cold but I don't want to miss the chance of a slightly longer growing season if the weather stays (as it is predicted to do)
I am extremely excited to have my first seeds sown that I'm driving my family mad with all my gardening chatter. In fact both of my kids are feigning ear infections to ignore me :( like they don't bore me when they talk endlessly about their hobbies but I listen and pay attention to them lol
I am extremely excited to have my first seeds sown that I'm driving my family mad with all my gardening chatter. In fact both of my kids are feigning ear infections to ignore me :( like they don't bore me when they talk endlessly about their hobbies but I listen and pay attention to them lol
Saturday 8 March 2014
Veg varieties
Because I have a large plot I am having a go at a lot of different veg but few of.
I have read a fair bit about different cultivars and these are what I am growing
Carrots- Autumn King
Beetroot- Pablo F1
Potatoes- Maris Piper ( Early Maincrop)
Courgette- F1 Taxi (yellow flesh)
Cabbage- Derby Day
Parsnip- Guernsey
Strawberries- Mignonette
Cucumber- Spacemaster
Sweet corn- Saville F1
Pumpkin- Big Max
Chilli Cilegia
Tomatoes- San Marzano
Peppers- Californian Wonder
Cauliflower- candid charm, a very quick growing variety
I mainly chose these varieties because I liked the sound of them either because of their reputation for being easy or because of flavour for example the "Guernsey" parsnip variety is highly acclaimed for being flavoursome and it comes with a recommendation from Alan Titchmarsh :)
I have bought the majority of my seeds from moreveg.co.uk they are a family run company who supply small managable amounts (courgette 5 seeds, cabbage 50 seeds) of seeds for low prices (most 50p per packet). I loved that this company is manned by gardeners and all seeds come from their crops.
I have read a fair bit about different cultivars and these are what I am growing
Carrots- Autumn King
Beetroot- Pablo F1
Potatoes- Maris Piper ( Early Maincrop)
Courgette- F1 Taxi (yellow flesh)
Cabbage- Derby Day
Parsnip- Guernsey
Strawberries- Mignonette
Cucumber- Spacemaster
Sweet corn- Saville F1
Pumpkin- Big Max
Chilli Cilegia
Tomatoes- San Marzano
Peppers- Californian Wonder
Cauliflower- candid charm, a very quick growing variety
I mainly chose these varieties because I liked the sound of them either because of their reputation for being easy or because of flavour for example the "Guernsey" parsnip variety is highly acclaimed for being flavoursome and it comes with a recommendation from Alan Titchmarsh :)
I have bought the majority of my seeds from moreveg.co.uk they are a family run company who supply small managable amounts (courgette 5 seeds, cabbage 50 seeds) of seeds for low prices (most 50p per packet). I loved that this company is manned by gardeners and all seeds come from their crops.
Introduction
My name is Kayleigh, I live in Solihull, a small town by Birmingham ( want to know Solihulls claim to fame? Richard Hammond the hamster was born and raised here! Oh and we have the land rover factory.
I live with my husband Damien, my two children (who are growing up to fast) Jack 10 and Ellie 9. We also live with our border collie Lulu and our two cats George and Charlotte.
Last year I got the growing bug. I used to hate gardening and my garden reflects that, I have a large garden but 30% has been taken over by overgrown stinging nettles.
I was given some tomato seeds last spring for my daughter and this started off my love of veggies.
I grew cabbages, about 30 tomato plants and onions. I grew everything in containers, I did no research whatsoever and pretty much neglected the plants and still managed to produce some ok vegetables.
This made me actually want to do it properly and see what results I can get.
I have spent the last 8 months researching different growing methods, different species of veg ect and in October I dug out all of the stinging nettles with some help from the kids and the dog and I levelled off the earth and dug in a lot of well rotted manure. I now have a respectable veggie patch 20ftx18ft and a medium sized greenhouse. I know this is very ambitious for a first timer but I'm not a person to do things by half measures .
I wanted to write this blog mainly for my own record keeping and learning experience but if any experienced or not gardeners want to pass on any advice in the comments they would be appreciated.
I live with my husband Damien, my two children (who are growing up to fast) Jack 10 and Ellie 9. We also live with our border collie Lulu and our two cats George and Charlotte.
Last year I got the growing bug. I used to hate gardening and my garden reflects that, I have a large garden but 30% has been taken over by overgrown stinging nettles.
I was given some tomato seeds last spring for my daughter and this started off my love of veggies.
I grew cabbages, about 30 tomato plants and onions. I grew everything in containers, I did no research whatsoever and pretty much neglected the plants and still managed to produce some ok vegetables.
This made me actually want to do it properly and see what results I can get.
I have spent the last 8 months researching different growing methods, different species of veg ect and in October I dug out all of the stinging nettles with some help from the kids and the dog and I levelled off the earth and dug in a lot of well rotted manure. I now have a respectable veggie patch 20ftx18ft and a medium sized greenhouse. I know this is very ambitious for a first timer but I'm not a person to do things by half measures .
I wanted to write this blog mainly for my own record keeping and learning experience but if any experienced or not gardeners want to pass on any advice in the comments they would be appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)