Tag Archives: propagator

The tulips begin to bloom and the propagator is full of new life

Posted on 26/04/2013 by | Leave a comment

I came home in the sunshine earlier this week to a crimson welcome, and the green shoots of new life in the propagator.

The Tulip ‘Negrita’ bulbs that I planted last year have overwintered and spent the last few weeks throwing lush, waxy-looking, green leaves and stems skywards. Now I have been rewarded with their beautiful blooms.

Tulip 'Negrita'

Tulip ‘Negrita’ on flower.

There were about 10 bulbs and they seem to all be present and happy..

Tulip 'Negrita'

Tip-toe through the tulips (nepeta and a nettle) with me.

However, I also stumbled across a terrible thing, and it comes as somewhat of an absent-mindedness confession, of which I’m not really happy with myself about – it looks like i might have forgotten to plant ANY of the beautiful cream and green lacy Tulip ‘Madonna’ bulbs. I found bag of them on my bench. There was a bit of a hole in the bag – so i *might* have planted a few, but there’s no sign of them yet.

As for the bulbs in the bag – they looked quite dried up, but i’ve planted them out anyway and now they have two chances. They’ll be massively behind for this year though – which makes me annoyed with myself.

Ending on a happier note…

The seeds that I sowed at the beginning of the month are doing pretty well. Both Courgette ‘Black Beauty’ seeds are now sturdy seedlings, there are 5 Tomato ‘Minibel’ seedlings, and 1.1 of the Sweet Pea ‘Candy Cane’ seeds have germinated.

IMAG1142

The Tomato ‘Minibel’ seedlings are doing well in the propagator.

Add to this, the Parsley ‘Laura’ (a delicious flat-leaf variety that’s great with mushrooms,  scrambled egg, or as a salad leaf) is thriving.

With the sunshine out, it finally feels like summer is lurking just off the horizon somewhere.

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Posted in 2013, Bulbs, Fruit, Herbs, Sowing Seeds, Vegetables

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Sowing – Tomato, Courgette and Sweet Peas

Posted on 09/04/2013 by | 1 Comment

Tonight I’ve continued the sowing of seeds for this year’s garden. Fuelled by another sunny drive home from work, I’m pretty satisfied that Spring has finally arrived.

Seeds in compost sitting inside a propagator

Tomato, Sweet Pea, Parsley and Courgette are ready to spring into life.

First up is something that I’ve not grown from seed before… a tomato. I’ve never been a massive fan of tomatoes but I was given some seed last year for Tomato ‘Minibel’ which grows happily in pots and produces cherry tomatoes. This ideal as I have little space to put them, and a few small fresh tomatoes will work well in the myriad of salads that my life consumes. Tomatoes are hungry things – so I’ll need to make sure that I use my fertiliser on them regularly in order to get the best out of them.

Tomatoes that never were

Spot the spider! 2010′s tomatoes looked good, but the wind soon flattened their hopes of producing any more than this.

My mother gave me some tomato plants back in 2010, and they did reasonably well, so this year I’ll put them in the same spot (gets the afternoon sunshine) and see what happens. Hopefully, like 2010, the wind won’t suddenly arrive and decimate them again.

Tomato 'Minibel' and Courgette 'Black Beauty'

Tomato ‘Minibel’ and Courgette ‘Black Beauty’

Speaking of which, I’ve also sown some more Courgette ‘Black Beauty’ seeds – just two – in a vain attempt to actually have courgettes as good as I had them back in 2010 when I was getting a bit of a backlog. For the last two years they have been disastrous – with mildew killing them off in 2011 after only about 2 fruits, and last year’s two dying – one from mildew again, and the other from a nice big healthy plant being chomped through the main stem by slugs and snails.

Hopefully these two harsh winters will have slowed the snails and slugs down even further, but I’ll have to keep an eye on them.

Compared to last year, it seems that I’m behind schedule. But with such cold weather, and now what seems to be full Spring ahead, I’m hoping that things will catch up. Besides, some of my plants (in hindsight) had gotten a bit ‘leggy’ because they’d been waiting too long indoors for the all-clear to go outside.

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Posted in 2013, Fruit, Sowing Seeds

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Running out of windowsill to sow Courgette and Dill

Posted on 17/04/2012 by | 1 Comment

I’ve just sown a couple of Courgette ‘Black Beauty’ and some Dill seeds into some pots and popped them into my propagator with the Cineraria ‘Maritima Silverdust’ that’s busy germinating.

In a couple of weeks i’ll also be sowing some French Bean ‘Blue Lake’. I last grew these in 2010 and was kept in a steady supply of green beans for the whole harvest season. Fingers crossed that they will be as successful this time too.

Courgettes and French Beans

Just a few of the Courgette 'Black Beauty' and French Bean 'Blue Lake' that I harvested in 2010.

I’ve been rapidly running out of windowsills, so I’ve cleared an entire windowsill of my Spider Plants ‘Chlorophytum Comosum’ - which i often add to containers as bedding.

Scale Insects

Close-up of Scale Insects. Photo: Gilles San Martin.

However, whilst clearing the windowsill I’ve discovered that these plants had Scale insects - tiny brown/orange sticky bugs that suck the sap and secrete a sticky solution over the leaves and anything else they come into contact with.

So, I’ve really had to clear the windowsill with hot soapy water (and a blast of Dettol spray for luck!). Those Spider Plants are now outside where they’ll spend the rest of their days – dodging frosts.

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Posted in 2012, Houseplants, Pests, Sowing Seeds

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The Crocuses awake!

Posted on 01/03/2012 by | Leave a comment

The Crocus ‘Giant Ruby’ bulbs that I planted back in October, are now right on the cusp of opening after months of growing up through the soil – and for a few weeks, snow as well.

Crocus 'Giant Ruby' bulbs about to flower

Some of the Crocus 'Giant Ruby' bulbs that have grown and are ready to flower.

I planted around 70 bulbs and it would appear that most are doing something. Many have the dash of purple as above, whilst the ones that I planted during November are somewhat behind (I planted them because the Antirrhinums just wouldn’t die!).

I’ve seen a few bees around (including a big fat bumble bee inside a Tube train on the District Line of London Underground the other day!), so hopefully those that have woken early will find these and feed on them – as it’s absolutely crucial for bees to get this early food in order to survive.

Getting a head-start with the vegetables

I sowed some seeds back in the middle of January, and these have been busily growing in my propagator. The Sweet Pea ‘Cupani’ have grown very fast and I have been busy nipping out the tips of the plants so that they grow strong and sturdy (and don’t grow too much before i can plant them out). Hopefully these will be far enough ahead that they will survive if/when the aphids swarm again.

Pepper (Sweet) 'Friggitello' seedlings

Pepper (Sweet) 'Friggitello' seedlings

The Pepper (Sweet) ‘Friggitello’ seedlings have been steadily growing, alongside my second attempt at growing Aubergine ‘Black Beauty’. I have high hopes for these Peppers, and as I sit here typing, I’m reading the packet which describes them as ‘small, very sweet, conical fruits. Perfect for stir-fries’, I’m looking forward to them even more.  These should be ready to harvest between July and October (about the same time as the Aubergines) – so they’ve got a while yet.

I do believe spring is here!

jobs for the weekend

This weekend I aim to do the following:

  • Remove weeds and any dead foliage from the garden.
  • Sow Chives and Parsley indoors (remember that Gardeners’ World kit?)
  • Check up on the Strawberries – the cold weather once again gave them a hammering and I’m not sure how well they’re coping at the moment.

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Posted in 2012, Bees, Bulbs, Flowers, Vegetables

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The first of the 2012 seeds are now sown

Posted on 15/01/2012 by | 1 Comment

I’ve just sown my first seeds of the year!

Six pots containing newly sown seeds.

The first seeds have been sown.

Yesterday I popped over to the wonderful Twenty Pence Garden Centre where I picked up a new propagator and a small bag of compost. I managed to somehow resist even touching seed packets – knowing that I’d already done my buying for 2012 and that there were also plenty of seeds in the secret santa gifts and my farewell present from CBM.

As last year’s Aubergine ‘Black Beauty’ plants just didn’t seem to be far enough ahead, and following the suggestion from fellow blogger Barry at The Gourmand’s Progress, I decided that I would sow the seeds in January to give them a head start.

I took the opportunity to see what other plants in my seed collection were recommended to be planted in January and it turned out there were a few… so after some rummaging for pots, I ended up with a propagator full of sown seeds ready to start life.

The seed packets

The four types of seeds that have been sown.

Having seen the bees swarm around the one Salvia Nemerosa Ostfrieslan plant I picked up by chance last summer, I decided to hunt down this vivid blue flower for myself. So I’ve planted a small number of Salvia ‘Farinacea Victoria’ in a bid to replicate this for myself.

Despite being decimated by greenfly last year, I’ve sown some more Sweet Pea ‘Cupani’ in a bid to get them that bit ahead of marauding pests. These were determined to survive (and they did) but the pests damaged their young leaves and buds, stunting them in their bid to scale the canes.

I’ve also sown a couple of Pepper (Sweet) Frigitello - apparently they are ‘vigorous plants with small, sweet tasting, thin walled conical, green fruits which turn red’. These will be joining the Aubergines in the wicker basket.

So there we go, 2012 has properly begun, and the propagator is now sitting on a windowsill waiting for the signs of lush green growth to push through the compost.

Have you sown anything yet? What are you going to try growing this year? – as ever, let me know in the comments below!

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Posted in 2012, Sowing Seeds

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