Proof that vegetable growing can be done by anybody. From a couple of under 30s – one who grew up growing and one who has just got going…
We grew a couple of cucumbers outdoors last year successfully, growing up a batten fixed diagonally to our garden fence, so we wanted to try this again. Therefore, we sowed our cucumbers in a 1/4 seed tray in seed and modular compost. We sowed the seeds on their sides the best we could, gently pushing... Continue Reading →
We thought it might be interesting to give you an update on some of the crops we've already planted out. This time round: lettuce, beetroot and courgettes! We planted these out 10 days ago - and they've grown loads already! They've been in the polytunnel as Dad has kindly given up part of the path... Continue Reading →
We're getting ready to re-plant the herb garden for 2020. And this post focuses on the mint. Although mint is a perennial plant, we find that it grows with more vigour if you take cuttings each year and re-grow it. We have three types of mint: ordinary garden mint, apple mint and black peppermint. First,... Continue Reading →
The lettuce and beetroot that we have been growing were ready to plant out this week. We are growing these ones in pots so that we can provide them with some protection from the frost by bringing them in to the cold greenhouse overnight. Otherwise, our later sowings of lettuce and beetroot will be planted... Continue Reading →
We thought it would be good to give you an update on our peppers, almost three months after they were sown. So here they are: Dad has given us up some space in his cold greenhouse to keep them, and we have been watering them since we pricked them out into these pots and watching... Continue Reading →
Different seeds have different shelf lives, with the shelf life typically decreasing once the sealed packet has been opened. But we always think it's a shame to just throw the remainder of a packet of seed from one year away the following year if you didn't finish it. Therefore, early on in the season we... Continue Reading →
Some herbs are perennials (grow again year after year), but lots of the ones that we grow are annuals (you need to re-grow them every year). These are some of the herbs we have sown for this year: garlic chives, italian parsley, chives and tarragon. We also have sage and thyme which have overwintered and... Continue Reading →
As well as our container courgettes, we thought we would start off some salad crops indoors. For now, we've sown some Little Gem and Iceberg lettuces and some Boston beetroot. The lettuces were initially sown in quarter seed trays, like most of our seeds, and then pricked out into these small cell trays (about 1 inch diameter). The... Continue Reading →
We would usually sow our courgettes around the third week in April. This means that by the time they are ready to plant out, the chance of a frost is reduced where we live, therefore giving them the best start to their growing lives. Given the lockdown we're currently under, we thought we'd sow a... Continue Reading →
Last weekend, I did a bit of tidying of the strawberry bed. We're hoping for a slightly more successful season with the strawberries this year. There were two main reasons we think we didn't get many strawberries last year: We only bought the bare route runners quite late on in the Spring, which meant they... Continue Reading →
It's Sow Simple 