grow organic vegetables

lettuce, tomatoes, edible flowers like nasturtiums, peas, and herbs rosemary, lavender, sage, oregano, dill, catnip, mint but only in a pot or it will take over, fruit, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, black berries, apples

Right. I planted 40 snowpeas on the weekend. 20 are from one hugely prolific plant I grew in 2004 (these SHOULD do well…), 10 are from spindly 2004 plants, and 10 are from the original bought packet, which has a ‘best before’ date of Jan 06!!

It will be interesting….

In general, the aim of the game is to acclimatise various non-hybridised vegetables to my local conditions by planting seeds from the best plants I last grew – hence the 20 ‘prolific-plant peas’. BUT I must say after the last lot of packet snowpeas (where I planted about 20 & got 2 marvellous plants & about 16 spindly ones), I’m happy to plant another 20 experimental peas (as detailed above) just to see what happens!!!

Doesn’t curiosity just make it all worthwhile?!

...like:

basil, rosemary, thyme, lemon-thyme, tarragon, oregano, mint (but watch out! it takes over!).

Easy to take care of, and soooooo tasty in cooking!

hf_m))))

At the moment I have Tommy Toe tomatoes – which are yum – and have had a bad run with purple king beans. I’d like to plant more beans & maybe some watermelon. Time, time, time!!!

A couple of my courgette seeds have germinated and will be ready for transplanting in a few days.

I tried an experiment the other day with my chilli seedlings. I put a couple under my propogrator to see if it would help them grow faster. The next day I was astonished to find that my plants seemed to have shrivelled up and died. The soil was still moist and there was condensation in the propogator, could the heat have been too much for them? Luckily my other plants that I left out are thriving and will probably do well. Just mark this one up to experience.

With the weather being a bit unpleasant today I thought I would get some indoor planting out of the way. I finally transplanted my Marks and Spencers basil pot (which has been doing really well despite being used for so many pasta dishes) into a proper pot. To make my compost that I’ve had go a bit further I’ve mixed in some organic chicken manure, so we’ll see if it helps bring back the dark colour in the basil. I’m sure it’ll be glad to have more room for its roots. I also transplanted a few chilli seedlings into 3” pots. Although it’s late I’ve also sowed some courgette, I think the weather has been quite favourable for them of late, besides this is all about experimentation. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing new shoots from tiny seemingly lifeless seeds.

Went to the allotment today for the first time to dig up the ground that’s been compacted under some carpet for the past few months. It was hard work but it felt great to be out on such a lovely day and out of the crowds. The soil we have is a sandy loam and should be great for planting in. It definitely needed digging and breaking up. This week I’ll be transplanting my tomatoes and rocket seedlings.

I’ve also noticed that my chilli plants have germinated so I’ll get to transplant them in my 3” pots quite soon.

After a weekend away I was amazed to see that my rocket seeds have already germinated. Perhaps I’m not a touch of death after all. I’ve thinned them out a little bit and will let them grow in the tray for a little until there’s more growth.

Applied for an allotment today about a mile from the flat. It’s only a half-plot so it should be more manageable and less daunting than a full 30sq meter plot. I’ve already propogated my chilies (which will be indoors), rocket, and tomatoes. This weekend we’ll hopefully get some gardening tools so we can get stuck in.