Growing Fast

We have had a really sunny week and the garden is growing fast. There is a big difference in the tomatoes and squashes and the sweetcorn is shooting up. The watering system works great and just keeps the soil damp. Its now on twice a day 7am and 7pm.





The poor potatoes have not been looking to good of late and its not lack of water. We think it might be sitting next to the electric fence so we have moved them down beside the greenhouse.







Courgettes and squashes flowering.








I planted basil, chervil and parsley before going on holiday - infact I took the seeds on holiday incase the dried out. Anyway they are now transplanted into pots. They do look a bit frail at the moment but hopefull will strengthen.







I was at a friends house and she grows strawberries in hanging baskets. I had these 2 bags from the previous house and thought I'd try lettuce and strawberries in them. There were also nails in the decking already. The strawberries don't look to happy at the moment coz they didn't have a good root system. They were just pulled from the garden. Not sure how they will do if we have a holiday. I have put watering retaining gel in them.

still catching up 5th and 7th May

Planted garlic into the garden, easy sow carrots, parsnips and onions.

In peat pots planted cauliflower, marigolds teasal and malva moschata and cardoon ( all seeds).

Herbs havent done well so done a re planting of lovage, coriander, basil, summer savory and parcel. Fingers crossed this time.

Still behind but catching up 24th April 2010

Planted asparagus pea and courgette directly into the garden.

I gave the grass the first cut of the year - boy was that hard work.. Long term need to get rid of some of this grass - i spend a lot of time cutting it and it grows again - there could be better things to do.

Got a bit behind - 21st April 2010

Transplanted tomatoes, sweetcorn, pepper, squash, courgette into grow bags and big green bags in the greenhouse. We also planted spinach coriander, good king henry, calabrese and romaine lettuce in seed pots.




Put in an automatic watering system coz we might have some holidays away and dont want to loose our seeds and plants. This happened last year and it was a real nuisance going to all the effort of growing and going on holiday and wondering if the plants will survive.

I bought it from Two Wests and I just bought the basic kit which was enough. Steve cut all the bits of tube and set it up for our greenhouse layout. I also put a hole and plant pot in the middle of each grow bag coz last year it became harder to water inside the bags as the tomatoes got bigger. This way if they do need manaul watering I can just pour it into the plant pot and know it is getting into the bag and not overflowing down the sides.

Update on seed growth 28th March 2010

Tomato Seeds
Really coming on well. They are now in the wee greenhouse and on the next water constellation I will pot them up into homemade loo roll pots. My books suggest potting up on the opposite sign to the one the seed is planted in so tomatoes were planted in Fire so will be transplanted in Water on a descending moon in the afternoon if possible - 1st or 2nd of April.




Pepper Seeds
Again these have really come on. Will leave them a bit longer as they are smaller. I also planted Asparagus pea in the same tray and as yet nothing has come through. Need to check out growing conditons and germination period.




I am keeping a note on the general calendar of the things to do. Write it up in green.

Herbs
Some are doing great and others haven't popped their heads up yet. Parsley and Parcel have not appeared yet but it seems they have a long germination time. Basil, Coriander, chervil, lavendar and Hyssop are up and doing well. Parsley and comfrey haven't made an appearance yet. tarragon is up but has gone a wee bit leggy.


Squash and Courgette
Already potted up and doing grand.









Potato Bags and Bean Bags
Planted and just waiting. I have covered them with fleece to protect against frost and to stop the crows digging them up.

Spring wildlife in the garden

This is Ruadh - our wee squirrel. He or she pops down most days at 7.30am for a wee feed and then back for some lunch about 1.30pm.

















This is a Great Tit having just given up trying to get food from the squirrel feeder.

Planting Seeds 20th March 2010

Earth Constellation - Root Veggies, Moon in Aquarius, Moon is waning and ascending

Planted after midday coz before was fire and fruits and seeds.

Today I planted potatoes in a potato bag. We have problems with deer - who are lovely but eat anything with leaves on it. They really enjoyed the garden last year. We cant afford fencing so are thinking of other ways. Bags with fleece over them may be an option.

the potatoes have been chitting for 2 weeks - I have only planted 5 and will plant another 5 in a few weeks time to get a later crop.

I also planted celery seeds in homemade pots of a cut toilet roll holder with a piece of newspaper at the base - good recyling. The seeds are now in the wee greenhouse to germinate.

Planting Seeds 13th March 2010

Earth Constellation, root vegies, moon descending and waning, Capricorn
Had to get everthing planted before 11am. After 11 moon moved into aquarius and air and this is the best time to plant for flowering plants.

Planted lots of garlic in bags and doing a trial (see photos) to test out companion relationships.

Made up bags (can be moved around)

Just Garlic - my plan is to have these in movable pots as garlic discourages pests so i plan to put some pots round the tomatoes in the greenhouse and move them round the garden as needed. Garlic can also be mashed up and made into a spray as an insectiside. Garlic is also meant to keep away mosquitos so I am hopeful that if we put some round the decking it may reduce the midgies.




Garlic and spring onion and carrot- onions and carrots planted together keep pests off each other.
Celery and carrot - not sure what my thinking was here.
Carrot and raddish - get on well together according to my book
carrot and garlic and red onion
Carrot and Leek - good companions.



In the garden we planted red onion and raddish and have to cover them with fleece as the crows like digging up the seeds and small plants.

Planting Seeds 6th March 2010

Water Constellation - Planting for leaf, moon in Scorpio descending waning moon

Planted mostly herbs as they are a good companion plant for many other vegies in the garden so wanted loads. Parsley, chervil, coriander, hyssop, tarragon, dill, basil, lavendar, lovage and parcel.

Indoors mini greenhouse for now as too cold and still risk of frost.

Down to the nitty gritty

28th February 2010
Composted garden - stevie doing no dig so building up soil by puting down cardboard first then compost on top.

What seeds, when and why

Fire Constellation , moon in leo, descending waxing moon - planting fruits and seeds
So I planted Squash, courgette, asparagus pea, peppers and tomatoes as seeds and have kept them in the mini greenhouse in plastic bags until they germinate.

Books I am working from

I am using 2 main books "In Tune with the moon" and Companion planting. In tune with the moon takes a wee bit of working out. Its a really good book for understanding what to plant and when and has great images in it. It also has implications for living far beyond the garden, like beer making and bread making - right times etc.

The Companion planting book is really lovely - its so easy to use and i keep it with me all the time.

Equipment

Thought I'd start at the beginning. We moved into the house last april and the garden hadn't been touched for 2 years. We have a greenhouse and a garden on the side of a hill. We just kind of had a go at putting stuff in last year although steve worked on the forest garden idea and has been planting trees and shrubs which are edible.

This year i totally cleaned out the greenhouse. I used Armatillox http://www.armillatox.com/coz it claims to be a natural product. It worked well in cleaning the greenhouse although is quite smelly so must make sure the area is well ventilated. Washed all pots in Citrox (another natural citrus based cleaner) and put what plants were in the greenhouse out and if they went back in re-potted them to minimise risk of bugs.

I bought 2 shelving units for the greenhouse and organised essential equipment for planting
dibber - (chop stick)
plant labels and market pen
pencil for taking notes
paper clips for closing seed packets (stops seeds spilling everywhere)
wee trowel (got a kids gardening kit so used the trowel in it)
sand
seed compost
seed trays
saved plastic covers from magazines to cover my seeds until they germinate (no waste here)
still need a pair of scissors out there.

did all this end of jan/ beginning of feb

Getting Started

I have been meaning to do this for weeks but was a bit nervous about starting a blog coz i have never done it before. Anyway here I am. I am using this as a way of recording my gardens development and my learning - at least that is the plan for now.

Over the next few weeks I will start recording my seed growing exploits and attempts at planting and growing according to the lunar cycles.

I have become more aware of the moons cycle since moving out of Glasgow into the country, ie when its a full moon or what phase the moon is in so thought i would have a go at planting according to this method.