Post-Frost Sowing and Growing.

Hello everybody, how are you all doing? It is ok not to be ok so hopefully help is there for when you might have a bit of a wobble; I know all about that but managing ok just now.

We are about to enter week eight of lockdown and here in Wales we are keeping to the #stayhomesavelives rule. Our lockdown will be reviewed in a weeks time. We're allowed to exercise outside for more than one hour a day and some garden centres are re-opening but not the one we use. All that is just fine by us; to be honest the only thing I had been lacking for outside was compost for the poly tunnel but we had a delivery plus our click and collect with feed for the chickens; could still do with a bit more for sowing and potting on but using some I put in a tyre for planting out which, in the meantime, I've decided not to do.

Talking of the poly tunnel I've got lots of jobs done since my last post; I've been sharing some progress on Instagram and Twitter but I like it when I can see before and after photos here; I hope you enjoy them along with my ramblings. Before my photos this is the cover of a book very kindly sent to me by the wonderful Rural and Rustic which is Maryline.

I do hope my tunnel looks close to something like this in the future. Maryline writes some beautifully insightful posts about nature, the seasons and all manner of lovely stuff on her social media accounts.

There was an incident where one of the lambs got in the tunnel as I'd failed to shut the door properly so..... I went charging down to the bottom of the garden howling like a banshee when I saw it just inside telling it to get out! When I apologised if he had heard my slightly blue language, my neighbour said he was quite impressed at my level of reserve! The damage could have been a lot worse and to guard against this happening again Jon has put up this cargo netting and it works a treat as I can comfortably have my back to the door without worry about intruders.

Something else new in the tunnel is my digital thermometer. Very excited to have this handy little tool; this was taken about 11am today, Sunday.

So from inside the tunnel I've made a little video; silent as a) I'm not keen on my voice when it is recorded and b) I don't know how to do it easily and for free. You can find that Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure has a great new YouTube channel so do try and find the time to take a look. Maybe I should ask her for some help - chic? 

Here goes.

A quick guide to go with it from left to right. We have Perpetual Spinach which I love in stir fry and salads, Rainbow Chard, a sorrel plant - a minor casualty of the sheep,

spring onions, beetroot then I've sown Snowball turnips followed by Wild Rocket. There is a gap, not sure what for yet, maybe an aubergine plant then you see the tomatoes; various varieties including Black Russian, Gardener's Delight, a yellow plum, Marmande and Maskotka; a couple of the plants were given to be by a friend. 

The dwarf beans in the corner are one of our most used things I grow so I have a good number of those before you get to the strawberry plants which are looking quite healthy 

- I moved a couple from a crate outside to fill the space. In the far corner I have two squash plants - one grown by me which is Butterbush meant for a container so thought it would be good space wise for indoors along with a Vegetable Spaghetti from the same tomato friend. 

Down the right hand side we have dwarf peas; I love dwarf varieties as I find them easier to take care of than towering wigwams, call me lazy but... I've planted three cucumbers - maybe a bit close but I'm just going with the flow in the tunnel being my first year; same thing could be said for the dwarf beans and tomatoes but what the heck! Another space just now followed by red and green lettuce which is something I manage to grow sooooo easily, inside or out, and there are a couple of rows of sown Mazur lettuce for another variety of salad leaves. 

There are leeks in trays not ready to go out yet-

never been successful with leeks so fingers crossed.

Kale is something I failed with last year but these plants I think will go in the bed of the poly house/gazebo when ready; love Kale, nobody else does really so that will be a freezer item.

Another of the minor casualties of the sheep incident was a couple of broccoli plants. These are not ready to plant out but will go in bed number 2, far left of the growing area, when they are a bigger.

Now to outside. During last week we had a couple of cold nights leading to some slight frost damage on my first early spuds.

I used some old hessian, coffee sacks to cover over and it was quite surprising the warmth I could feel underneath when I removed them. Growers of their own are breathing a sigh of relief, hopefully, that the colder weather is now over and I know lots of us are itching to get planting, inside and out.

I mentioned the red and green lettuce before and I have it growing in my old sink along with spring onions. 

Again, I haven't had lots of luck with onions before but some of those sown as done as here using the Charles Dowding multi-sow method.

Blueberry plants, mediterranean herbs and more dwarf peas coming along nicely; the first lot hopefully for a good FIRST fruiting and harvest!

You can see to the left of this planter that I've put down cardboard and some mulch to keep the weeds at bay. Seems to be working and I'm trying to do this in as many areas of the garden as I can.

The onion and garlic bed, considering we had a bit of shaky start regarding the planting (the rain kept bringing the sets to the top), is doing well. However, the onion bulbs don't look that big just now but plenty of time for both them and the garlic.

I've been asking for help on Twitter this morning as I've had problems identifying if my parsnips are growing; I'm now certain which greenery were interlopers and which are the plants so may re-sow, thanks for the advice.

The two courgettes I've planted outside in bed two are one Tondo di Piacenza and a Goldena, seen here already with a couple of budding fruit!

I thought I'd share my not-too-often-flowering lilac bush as it was blowing beautifully in the breeze as I was walking around the garden this morning.

Right, I think I've rambled on enough and hope you've enjoyed my little tour.

I really hope my first year with the poly tunnel is somewhat of a success, but know I'll be learning along and just giving stuff a go! With the current situation the garden is such a wonderful place to escape to, in all weathers. I really hope in the future that I'll be able to provide more food for our family, leading to us not being so reliant on supermarkets as people have found themselves during the lockdown.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx