Back from holiday to a broccoli explosion

My partner and I have been away for 2 weeks to Tenerife. It was great, but towards the end I was looking forward to getting back to my plants.

It turned out that I'd totally forgotten where I'd planted broccoli and where I'd planted brussel sprouts.
The sprouting broccoli wasn't finished and there's now 2nd huge crop with much slower growing plants. Great! But many of them had gone to flower. If I'm extremely lucky I may get a few more heads before they die off for the winter.

Not only that, but I have 4 peas! Yay! I steamed them, shells and all, because to be honest I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with them, which variety I'd sown. After doing so, I can only assume they weren't designed to be eaten pods and all, haha. 

Broccoli bouquet

I thought I wasn't going to get any peas this year as I sowed them so late! But this is extremely cool. I know what not to do this year and so next year's will be better attempted.

Closh before and after

4 months difference between first planting and now. Not bad considering how rubbish the soil is and how close they were planted. Goes to show that its not impossible to grow things even in a tiny space!

Collecting my own seeds

For a while now, I've been trying to collect some seeds from the plants I've grown this year.
So far, my first attempt was to collect borage seeds. Most of them had already blown away by the time I inspected the plants.

Something that I've learned in doing this, (something that I probably SHOULD have known) not all seeds develop properly. When you buy seeds most have been graded and only the best quality seeds are sold. In DIY seeds, the percentage of bad seeds is easily 30% in the plants I've seen so far.

I have managed to collect a few different seeds and put them in envelopes to dry. Poppies of various varieties and other flowers. I'm still waiting on my perpetual spinach seeds to ripen. I desperately want to grow them again next year.

I'm hoping to try and collect livingston daisies too, before the plants are put in the compost bin.

Not to mention the seeds I've bought for next year. I have rainbow carrots, rainbow beetroot, rainbow chard. I have pink currants ordered and on the way. I have PINK blueberries ordered. I have yams on order, Shetland black tatties. Anything weird and wonderful, I'm going to try it.

I can't wait for next year. 

Continued war on caterpillars and other Saturday shenanigins

Today my partner has the car, so I'm still at home in my pajamas.
Since I can't get to the allotment, I decided it was finally time to do some things in the post-stamp garden this morning. First task. Caterpillars.

I thought I'd rid myself of most of them after last week. But nope. I'd seen a few in passing to the compost bin a few days ago. But its worse than I thought.

I'm going to have to make a daily effort to go out and check that there aren't more fat hairy worms on my poor brussel sprouts. They're not looking happy.

I had less mercy with them this time. I put them in the compost bin. Probably not a good idea, as the bin is basically next to the poor plants BUT, I did do a lot of weeding and tipping out of wet old icky soil on top of the caterpillars, so they should be entombed. Even talking about caterpillars and I can feel them all over me. It makes me itch! Yuck.

Next up was onions. I wanted to dig them up. We're going away on holiday soon and I didn't want to leave them until I got back- although they most likely would have been fine. I have to laugh though as they're only about as big as they were when I put them in the ground.

This is due to the poor soil, the density of planting and the fact they've hardly been watered all summer. AND I pulled them too early. Its my own fault but it was fun to try. They're drying in the shed.
I never expected them to work properly in that location anyway. I'm going to try a lot harder this next year in the allotment with them.

I finally separated out the Rogue Pot and finally repotted my strawberry runners. If they survive, there will be 3 new strawberry plants from runners and 1 tiny strawberry from the rogue pot.

I also separated out the primroses into new compost. I now have 5 pots of primroses from the one rogue pot. Hopefully my rough treatment of them won't hurt them and they'll grow next year.

I repotted my loganberry that was looking very sad in its current pot. It was very root bound and I should have done it months ago. I'm hoping the discoloration isn't due to something more malevolent like vine weevil.

Bees are still visiting the garden. 

Chicken pals and endless weeding

"You left your hand coverings on the ground. I don't like them."

Meet Jemima, the mud-diggin' chicken. ;)

This isn't her official name, only my name for her, as I'm fairly sure she isn't named. Nearly every time I've been out at the allotment recently, she's joined me to help 'dig'.

The routine is, I arrive with my car and collect my tools from the shed adjoining the chicken coop. The cockerels kick up a fuss at the sight of me, to which the entire flock joins in, squawking. I head off to start digging. As they calm down, Jemima sneaks away and quietly appears beside me often making me jump.

The rule is, its my job to turn over a patch of earth, then its her turn to dive in, pecking away the worms and other undesirables. Teamwork. Not so fun for the worms, but I'm sure there will be plenty survivors from her massacre.

She has only eaten one worm from my hand so far, so quite a ways to train her before we're best buddies. In the past I've had chickens so tame they'd hop on my lap and fall asleep. Thats the goal.

However, I'm quite worried that she'll never get used to my voice. Every time so far that I've been out to the allotment so far, I've been listening to an audio book read by Ian McKellen. She knows his voice! Whenever I talk to her, she gets startled and looks at me funny.

To her, I'm a magical digging machine that unearths bugs with the voice of Ian McKellen. There could be worse things than being a Gandalf, the Worm Wizard to a chicken, I suppose.

"No worms?! Work faster human!"

Having a dirt bath with one of the jealous cockerels trying to take her back to the coop

The compost pile is growing. I'm not sure how many barrowloads of weeds are still left in the field, but would easily be upwards of 20.

The worst offenders are chickweed, deaf nettles and creeping buttercup. Creeping buttercup is by far the worst thing to deal with. Their roots hold onto the earth so fiercely. Other weeds taking hold include a few rogue dockens, daisies and thistles. No nettles yet, thankfully. 

Deaf Nettles by the millions

Chickweed

A few weeks ago I went on a mission to acquire some old carpet to lay as a temporary weed killer. Anything to help reduce the workload of the whole area will help.

The plot as a whole is still a long ways from being finished, but its getting there. I'll keep chipping away at it.

Caterpillar Shenaniganary- not for the Entomophobic!

3 weeks ago I was out watering the garden after a few sunny days without rain. I noticed a trapped cabbage white. It couldn't escape for leaves in my box of of brussel sprouts. It only had half a wing on its left side and I felt sorry for it. It looked like it was having a hard day. So I moved the leaves aside so it could fly out.

No more than 3 minutes after its escape, it landed back on the plant, immediately laying eggs. I groaned. How could you butterfly, I thought we were friends, reproducing wasn't part of your release deal!
After it flew away I cut off the offending egg leaf to dump in the compost bin then searched the rest of the plants for more eggs. I found some more and removed them.

On this Friday past, I looked out the back door and found caterpillars on nearly every leaf, all munching away happily on my hard work. I don't know when or how they arrived. But there they were, having a party on my kale and sprouts.

I didn't want to move them until I was sure they were cabbage whites. A google later,  indeed they were. If they were red admirals or any other type of butterfly I would have considered leaving them, but they'd already eaten whole sections away from my plants.

On Sunday I decided enough was enough. I took a cup and a pencil and went about shoogling the caterpillars into the cup. I didn't have the heart to kill them, regardless that they were cabbage whites. They're only trying to survive. The only thing I kill with no mercy are midges. As a general rule, I'm not keen on anything that wants to take blood from me, GPs included!  

I didn't realise that caterpillars were so covered in silk. They were thoroughly stuck to the leaves and it took a lot of careful poking to dislodge them. Some leaves were so infested with them that instead moving them by hand, I snapped the leaf away entirely.

Years ago when I lived in Lerwick with my parents we used to have regular trips removing bucket loads of slugs from the garden.

I couldn't bear to pick them up myself, preferring to bully my poor younger brother into doing it for me. Once we'd (mostly he'd) collected a slimy pile, my parents would drive out to our regular slug depositing spot. It was a walled patch of long grass that was in the middle of a roundabout. No escape.

We only lived 2 minutes away from this spot, regardless, whoever was holding the bucket would panic as the slugs would slither closer and closer to the top of the bucket.
Unfortunately this roundabout no longer exists, otherwise I would have the caterpillars there! But I was about to relive the panic of escaping creepy crawlies.

The caterpillars using the leaf as a climbing frame, started to climb upwards. I poked them back down again, hopping in the car. Of course, like cartoon ants, more caterpillars marched up the leaves replacing the ones I poked down. I didn't have anyone at the house who could have accompanied me as caterpillar container,  I just had to go, QUICKLY. Of course, hindsight is 20/20. I should have put them in a better container. Preferably one with a lid! 

As I was driving, again they were nearly at the top. I nearly went off the road more than once trying to keep them from spilling out into the car. The idea of finding caterpillars in the car for weeks was horrifying. I don't mind bugs, but I certainly don't want them crawling over the gear stick or pupating on the rear mirror. The thought makes me itchy.

As I parked the car, this is where they'd got to! ARGHH. Seconds to spare!

After arriving in an innocuous enough spot away from gardens, I pulled in and RAN carrying the cup. I half dropped, half poured them out onto some grass with the infested leaves as a last supper.

More likely as not they'll starve, or be picked off by birds. But at least they might have a chance.

Next year I'm going to cover my brassicas with netting, prevention rather than cure.

For the rest of the day, every time I closed my eyes I could see imaginary caterpillars crawling around. And writing this whole post has given me the shivers and itches.

The Rogue Pot

Oh really? 

When my mam was making room for more seedlings in her shed, gave me a pot to take home. It was one of my wild primroses she grew for me from seed. She nabbed the rest of them for herself.

I took it home and a few weeks later, it started to look a bit odd and sprouted some other things. I left it to its own devices to see what it would do. Apparently the wild primrose is sharing its house with a strawberry plant (that I nearly pulled out thinking it was a weed!) AND a corncockle.

It certainly wasn't as advertised. I'm not sure what happened in quality control when this one was potted ;) Free strawberries!

2nd Volunteering Saturday at Turriefield

Since my first visit, I'd told my mam all about Turriefield. I recruited her to come and help for the day. I knew she would be inspired by what they were doing. She is much more into growing flowers and isn't keen on vegetables, where as I'm the opposite.

We arrived on another lovely day. Our job for the morning was to weed the chard and beetroot patch. The only annoyance was that the wind fell away entirely. Penny and Allan provided midge repellents which was a lifesaver.

Hard at work.

This is one of my favourite pictures I've ever taken of my mam.

Hundreds upon hundreds of peas and beans. 

One of my relatives said he wouldn't want to be a weed in my presence haha. 

The sun threatening to shine! 

We were fed another amazing lunch including toasted marshmallows to celebrate one of the volunteer's birthday. Ian and Penny are fab hosts. Their bannocks are some of the best I've ever had anywhere. My mouth just waters thinking about it.

I didn't take any photos of them, but my favourite part of the visit this time was seeing the progress of the Turriefield polytunnel pumpkins. They were HUGE. Pumpkins are something I would never have expected would have been able to grow up here, even inside. But its possible!

Now if only I had a polytunnel of my own so I could grow all these wonderful things. Some day!

Perpetual Spinach

I sowed some perpetual spinach in June. The name perpetual spinach almost put me off trying it. It sounds like a condition! "Oh, did you hear, Mr Davies was diagnosed with a bad case of perpetual spinach. Poor soul."

I can't remember exactly whether I left them outside or germinated them inside, but either way it didn't take long. Within 3-5 days the first seedlings were popping through.

I was so impressed with how well it grew. I let it grow to this point before I took any leaves. It looked so beautiful I could hardly bear to cut any off!

 I wasted a lot of seed as I sowed far too many. But I gave some plants away to one of my friends, so it wasn't a total waste. I'll know for next time to sow thinly. I'm learning all the time!

Looking worse for wear

As a result I didn't buy any salad from the shops for the rest of the summer, just from 9 plants. I don't think I'll ever buy salad from Tesco ever again. It was far more fun popping outside to grab a few handfuls whenever I needed some, rather than buying an oversized bag that I've rarely ever managed to finish. By the time salad leaves reach Shetland, they are always a few days older than they would be if you bought the same bag on the mainland. In no time they go soggy. Growing your own salad just makes sense. Plus its stupidly easy.

A plant in the ground for comparison.

Seeds!

I've since let the plants go to seed. They're looking pretty sad now, probably a combination of the plants coming to end of their lives and the fact that I haven't fed them for more than a month. There can't be any goodness left in the soil of the shallow tray they're living in.
I'm hoping I'll get some seeds before the wind blows them away. It would be much more satisfying to grow it next year from my own seed rather than buying them again.

Definitely one of the best successes I had this year.  

Making room for my closh.

Needing a haircut! 

Our summer this year was very late in coming. It rained solidly all May. I heard on SIBC (local radio) that it was the worst summer in 30 years. I can believe it!

For a while, not even the grass would grow. Everything was so sodden that there was no way anything could go outside to be planted. The weather was ridiculous.

Eventually though, the rain did stop. And unfortunately the grass did grow. At this point I had a lot of plug plants that desperately needed to go into the ground.
I had to dig a patch of grass away but couldn't do that until it had been reduced in volume. I decided (despite my horrific hayfever) that I would strim the garden, instead of pawning the job off to my poor partner. It took hours just for our tiny patch on a battery powered strimmer. Eventually I finished, eyes streaming, asthma attack threatening.

Much better. 

Grass and weeds scoured away

Extra digging required

Once the grass was cut, I started digging. I cleared along the fence and left it at that for one day.

A few days later I bought a closh. I'd dug the patch neatly in line with the wall of my garden shed. The closh was of course far wider than the patch I'd already dug. 

Plugs seperated! 

Grass removal. My favourite task...

 I first planted my plugs without separating the plants out. Having realised my mistake a few days later, I had to dig everything back up again. How annoying.

In hindsight, I would have done everything much differently. I didn't add any fertilisers, organic material or any goodness into the soil. I planted directly into it. I could have had much better results if I'd planned ahead better instead of diving in head first.
I also planted everything far too close together. I'll know better for next year. Gardening is very much a learning process.

Closh, and then some.