This week, the runner beans have got to the top of their canes! And our first runner beans are starting to set after the bees have been hard at work pollinating them. Once they reach the top of their cane, we usually snip their tops out. This helps the plant to focus its energy on... Continue Reading →
Sowing brassicas
We helped sow some brassicas today: cauliflowers and calabrese. Like with most things, we sow our brassicas and grow them on in pots before planting out to give them the best chance. Firstly, we filled 1/4 seed trays with Levingtons Seed and Modular compost and dampened the compost with a fine rose watering can. We... Continue Reading →
We’re on Instagram!
If you've been enjoying our blog posts so far - we are also now on Instagram! We hope to use this to share some more of our growing experiences. Please follow us @itssowsimple
Keeping up with our runner beans
We took a look at our runner beans today. Each plant is now making its way up the cane, and any that were straying to a neighbouring cane were gently unwound and wound back round their own! As the plants are only about 6 inches apart, the sideshoots that runner beans throw up mean that... Continue Reading →
Our first harvest of 2018
And so it's begun - we are harvesting things that we've sown! The weather was nice today, so we thought we'd have a barbecue. This meant we could thin out some of the little gem lettuces we were growing in the pot and also harvest some of our radishes. They were both delicious!
Things don’t always go to plan!
We thought it would be a good opportunity to update you on our various container growing adventures. The onions, beetroot and carrots are all coming along nicely. It'll be a little bit of time before they're ready to harvest, but they're all moving along as expected. The lettuces are also growing well. We think we... Continue Reading →
It’s always fun to try new things
I've never grown cucamelons before, but I re-discovered a small packet of seeds in my seed box. They'd been there for a couple of years since my sister thought it would be a good idea to buy me a "grow your own cocktails" kit for my birthday. Needless to say, I tend to prefer to... Continue Reading →
Container courgettes
There are an increasing number of great varieties of courgettes these days that are bred specifically to be grown in containers. Some examples are Parador (which is also a lovely yellow variety of courgette), Patio Star and Midnight. Last weekend, I planted a Patio Star and a Midnight in 30 litre pots. We've grown these... Continue Reading →
Go Go Gogorez – Potting on the Peppers
**From 20th April 2018** ...Better late than never with this post! Despite the overly enthusiastic title of this post, peppers really aren't the quickest growers. These were sown back in February, and some two months later they are ready to be potted on. Step 1. As you can see above, the 6 peppers were... Continue Reading →
It’s amazing how fast everything grows when the weather is nice!
The radishes which we sowed on Monday had already germinated by Wednesday! You can see that today they have all germinated and have got their first two true leaves. The potato has also had a growth spurt, almost doubling the amount of haulm from this time last week! The other salad vegetables and runner beans... Continue Reading →
