gardening

Carrots from seed – updates from the sill

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My kitchen window sill has now become the seed growing spot. I see them every morning and throughout the day, so realised that is their best chance of light every day, and general survival. After planting out the peppers, I started carrots at the at the same time as the broccoli and they finally started, its taken a week for these seeds to get going at all, but within a day of them showing signs of pushing through, we have more. It is on! 🥕

21.08.21
22.08.21

Hopefully they will all make it and by the time they need repotting I may have upgraded some others. Although they do all the hard work by growing, there is much to do to give them the best conditions to do that in.

26.08.21
28.08.21

It’s growing companions on the sill for now are a slow starting pepper which was planted at the same time as the others, and some mixed leaf lettuce which appears to be coming along nicely. It will just be a mission to keep this for me, slugs have always been my memsis for growing salad so fingers crossed this year I find a natural way to keep them away.

Lettuce – 28.08.21

(c) K Wicks

Broccoli

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I have started some seeds for carrots and broccoli, but so far the broc is winning by a mile (although it’s not a competition and I’m not judging them on it), but in just half a day, magic happened. From yesterday morning first thing it started…

this was at 6:08 am
By 1:30pm, they had really shot up!
By 8:00pm, all standing up and turned darker green.
New surroundings

And today they start their outdoor adventure, we shall see if they make it against the elements and the wildlife. I will do some learning along the way I am sure. Last time I did brocoli a number of year ago, caterpillars got them, so we’ll see how it goes.

(c) K Wicks

Peppers

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On my journey of growing things, I am trying seeds wherever I find them. I put a few sweet pepper (capsicum) seeds in to grow before throwing away. And they have sprouted 😁 I really don’t know where I will grow all this stuff. I have more seed planting planned for the weekend as well after buying a pack for some winter veg. But the potatoes are ready for digging up – I actually had a few for dinner the other night, which means there will be some space at the back of the garden. We shall see how it all goes.

I’ll try and share updates of these little guys, and my other projects if I remember to take pictures as I go!

(c) K Wicks

Strawberries

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With letting everything just grow, you get to see what things do given the chance. Strawberries will grow and spread and are very efficient at this. And because they are so pretty, attract lots of bugs and have fruit at the end of it, why wouldn’t you let them. I may regret saying that when they fully take over, but I will scale some plants back a bit now to make light and room for others.

This is how they started
This is how they are going

This box has all sorts going on in it, winter jasmine, parsley, rosemary and lots of trailing wild strawberries. I added a few poppies where they were getting crowded in my planters, and it rusn out the potatoes I grew in this box last year hadn’t all been dug up. So I have potatoes in both boxes now.

It seems I did have a pink strawberry flower plant left going amongst the others. These flowers only lasted a couple of days before they were munched!

The berries have begun to ripen 🙂

(c) K Wicks

Strawberry patches

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I bought two strawberry plants a couple of years ago. One with white flowers, one with red flowers. I didn’t realise the red one was just ornamental, or must be as no strawberries on it last year. And so far this year, no red flowers on it either. Maybe the other one took over, as per the picture further down.

These are three different patches of strawberries now flowering. If you didn’t know, strawberries spread, going as far as you let them.

One box now has them all the way along. And, although I didn’t plant any potatoes in this one this year, we have potatoes coming up! I guess I didn’t find all of last years and they’re coming back. Funny because I’ve planted potatoes in the next bed along this year.

At the end of the strawberry box, we also have a mingled corner with rosemary, parsley and winter jasmine.

Lots of green at the moment in the garden with small spots of colour coming through. Another couple of months and I am expecting a lot of colour 🙂 One of last years strawberries below, so I’m hopeful of at least a few more this year!

(c) K Wicks

This years garden #1

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Its all coming along nicely now. Some flowers giving it colour, tiny gooseberries forming and Bees starting to stop by. Lavendar, geranium and strawberries all seem to be a favourite so far. The nasturtiums and a sweetpeas are poking through, and I may have scattered more poppy seeds than I should have. We’ll see.

(c) K Wicks

Last years garden

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This year there have been changes, despite things working and not. This post will be the things that did to show in small garden you can have quite a diverse range of things growing. And still have some lawn for the dog to run around.

Yummy loganberry Bush, this one took straight away and branched out quickly. Although its was a good yield, I realised my mistake of planting it too close to the neighbouring fence and within another year it would be an issue. So its been moved into a big planter box. And a cutting taken which seems to be doing OK. Fingers crossed for this year.

I have a couple of types growing, one with pink flowers that didn’t do well, I think now maybe its just ornamental? But the other had lovely juicy strawberries I just had to get there before the wildlife. They photography well before they are ripe as well.

They have raged a bit out of control being honest, and are spreading. Even escaping under the back fence, but who doesn’t like strawberries growing!

I purchased two blueberry plants having tried before years ago and failed. But last year was different, working out where things should go pays off in the end, after years of trial and error. Only a handful of them made it, but they were delicious and thoroughly enjoyed.

I love redcurrants. I used to have a blackcurrant bush years ago and it was extremely plentiful. I just didn’t like blackcurrants!! So I have planted a red one and it looks to be doing very well this year so far and as you can see, last year was quite good on the harvest front.

I also grew some potatoes. A couple of supermarket leftovers that sprouted a bit too far, but they went into another meal, so not all wasted.

And cucumbers. They did rather well but I didn’t give them enough roof, of a solid enough structure to climb up (I ended making my own small trellis for them but it was too late, and it struggled with the weight once a number of them chunked out at the same time.

And some tomatoes. These were the first time growing them from seed on my kitchen windowsill and planting them out. I’m not that big a fan of tomatoes though, so rather than be wasteful, I’m skipping them this year. It’s different not going to garden centers anymore, I have to plan well in advance and have taken to saving more seeds and planting my own rather than just picking up ones that have been started. It’s good.

And it all helped to attract and hopefully feed some wildlife too. I had lots of lavender and nasturtiums too so the large and small white caterpillars/butterflies were happy and I got quite a smart little bounty out of it for a few days.

I also have some herbs growing, a rosemary plant slowly turning into a bush and flat leaf and curly leaf parsley. I did have chives but when we got a dog they had to go – if you didn’t know, onions, garlic, chives and leeks are all toxic to cats and dogs. I have only just found out it’s onions too, so that will be uprooted shortly (I had planted a supermarket leftover, but something else will have to go there instead).

I thought I might even try and be brave this year and eat some dandelion and nasturtium (if I get to them before the butterflies do that is). But we can share, I have planted lots of extra seeds this year for poppies and sweetpeas too and got a pack of bee friendly seeds as well, so we shall see what occurs over the next few months.

(c) K Wicks

Little pot

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I am looking forward to some slightly better weather to get some gardening underway. It’s nice to be able to clear back the dead stuff from last year and clear the way for new growth.

Last Spring, while turning over the beds to plant new things, a small pot revealed itself, perfectly intact. I have no idea what make or how old it is but I love it nonetheless. A good find 🙂

(c) K Wicks

Cherry Tree…

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A cherry pip dropped into our garden earlier this year and took root. From an established tree in our road, the birds have been distributing the seeds by flyover.

Mostly a few here and there, picked up and discarded so the dog doesn’t eat them. But I planted a few and one appeared growing on it’s own. That’s the one that has made it and I gave it it’s own pot – I can’t have it growing in the ground as it would be too close to the house. Hopefully it makes it through the winter and can be repotted in the spring for the next growing season.

These first two photos were taken in July, only a few months after they sprouted. It’s exciting to see how quickly trees can grow.

Now Autumn has set in, the leaves turned a wonderful orangey yellow and into deep red as the days and weeks have progressed.

I’ll miss the leaves for a little while.

Winter is well on the way, the little cherry tree is taking a bit of a battering and will soon just look like a stick, waiting to burst back into visible life in the spring. I look forward to it.

(c) K Wicks