Hangin' out in da greenhouse

More prep to be done this week. Managed to get another 2 beds turned and weeded so it's finally starting to take shape. 

We did get another 2 raised beds done on top of that but it was all a bit lazier. By lazier I mean we didn't weed it (I know that's bad). We just turned the soil, weeds an' all. 
To be fair, we're not gonna be using those beds for a bit so don't give us a hard time. I think they're gonna be used for the garlic towards the end of the year so we'll deal with the weedy re-emergence when it happens.

Anyway, seeing as the British weather is still not aware that Spring is upon us, we're not going to plant anything out just yet. We're just going to concentrate on starting off some seeds in the greenhouse first.

In the pic you can see the tray for sprouts, a seed tray full of peas and a plant pot with leek seeds in. 

Start small is the order of the day.

Read More

You gotta be chittin' me

Well, after the freebies on Saturday it was time to get chitting. 

Tools required? Well, as far as I was aware, all I would need was the following: 

• A couple of egg cartons or equivalent container
• The spuds 
• A nice dark cupboard at room temperature

Put 'em all together and what have you got?

This:

A pretty uninspiring shot I'm sure you'll agree but it's not supposed to be gracing the front cover of Vogue. It' a bunch of potatoes. 

I'll leave those bad boys in there for a couple of weeks and check back soon.

Growing anything else?

Nice of you to ask. 

There's gonna be chillis. Loads of them. 

Ordered some on eBay a few days back as it looked like a steal. 

20 varieties, 5 seeds of each. Habaneros, Fresnos, Scotch Bonnets. The whole shebang. 

Bought some peat pellets to grow them in too. Never used them before but thought they looked pretty convenient, so why not?

Here's the seed packets, reconstituted pellets and the name sticks (made from a Domino's Pizza box, how very frugal!)

Chilli Collection

Well, got them planted, now it's just a waiting game. We'll see how we get on but I'm not holding out much hope due to the bloomin' British weather but I should really be an optimist with this sort of thing.

Read More

And so it begins...

Well, I finally bit the bullet and took out a plot at the Three Mile Park allotment in Gosforth. Me and one of my mates have gone half each on it after waiting around 1 year to get it. 

One thing I will point out is that neither of us have much of a clue with what we're doing or what we would like to grow. Don't get me wrong, we've both managed tomato plants, chili plants, strawbs, sweetcorn and the like at home but when it comes to spuds, broccoli, etc, it's all new ground.

Looks like we've been pretty lucky with the plot as the previous owner put raised beds in and left us 2 compost bins. We also got to keep the greenhouse for the measly sum of £30 too. SCORE! To make the greenhouse a bit more reliable we went circa '1940 blitz' on its ass and put criss-crosses of tape on them as there have been frames blown through in the past. The tape just stops it shattering too much.

Here's a quick pic from the front (not too shabby eh?). The pallet composter is hiding a plastic compost bin and wheelbarrow but from here to as far as the eye can see (to the fence) is ours:

The plot from the front

Here's another sexy shot but this time from the back. Got a cheeky bit of rhubarb popping up on the right of the pic too:

The plot from the back

And finally one of the 8 lovingly installed (by the previous owner) raised beds.

The pic above was taken AFTER we took the time to weed it (there were loads!) and turn the soil as it had compacted a fair bit over the winter. Hopefully it'll dry out soon so we can break it up a wee bit more. We managed to get 2 beds done so felt quite proud with our handy work!

A little later we met one of our allotment neighbours, Michael, who was a lovely bloke. He started chatting to ask us what we were going to do, what were we going to plant and where. We couldn't lie, so we just told him, "we really don't know." He then offered us loads of 'chitted' potatoes. "You need to chit them a bit more, are you ok with that?" he asked, "Yep, sure do", we lied. Chitting? What's that all about? After the 'C' word was mentioned a couple more times we had to give it up and admit we didn't know what it was. "Stick them in the dark for a bit" was the reply, "Don't worry" said Michael, "I didn't know what it was until 3 years ago when I started!" 

Well, as they say, everyday is a learning day! So we picked up the spuds from Michael and a free hoe too, can't argue with that!

Now it's time to think about what we want to grow...

Read More