New Video - The Second Growing Season
Archive of ‘Sowing’ category
Katie’s Allotment Video - Jobs in June!
Potting on with the Paper Potter!
I’ve just uploaded another video onto my Youtube channel! I’m using my new Paper Potter to make some pots for my tomato seedlings which desperately needed potting on. I’ve also taken everyones feedback into account and decided on making shorter, more frequent videos. This in fact will be easier for me when it comes round to filming and it will also give me the choice to create a longer, recap type of video at the end of each month for the people that like to watch longer videos. So everyones happy!
Enjoy 
Potato planting
After chitting away on top of my fridge for nearly a month it was time to put the tatties in the ground. The weather had been glorious all weekend and sun is forecast for the rest of the week, my soil is also nice and dry making it perfect for potato planting
The potatoes that I have chosen are called International Kidney and they are an early, salad potato (formerly known elsewhere as Jersey Royals) Now I’m taking a small risk with this variety simply because I don’t know anyone who has actually grown them, I haven’t even read any reviews regarding International Kidney potatoes. However I do love Jersey Royals and I think its a risk worth taking and if it works then great (and if its a failure then I will spread the word!) Now I do know that Jersey royals are grown on a slight slope with direct sunlight, I don’t have a hill but my plot does get the sun all day long so fingers crossed that they grow happily in Hampshire. I planted three rows of this variety, 10cm deep, 30cm apart and 60cm between rows. I was able to plant 9 potatoes per row so that makes 27 potato plants overall and they will hopefully be ready for harvesting between June and July.
In other news I just thought I would update everyone on the other crops still growing on plot 15C. The garlic is still growing, although I have a funny feeling that nothing is growing underneath and the tips of the leaves are still yellow. I might actually have to read up on garlic one evening! The broad beans that I planted back in November are going really great, they are over a foot tall now and one of my jobs this weekend is to put some supports in because they are currently having a growth spurt with all this sunshine we are having lately. I also planted some bulbs last year and the daffodils are on the verge of flowering, Spring is just around the corner after all
Small Seedlings of Hope
It seems like I have been waiting patiently to get sowing some seeds for ages now but the time is finally here and Spring is just around the corner. Unfortunately I don’t have a green house due to lack of space on the lottie and at home so my seedlings have to take up every windowsill area in the house! I am hoping to build a coldframe using remnants of my shed which had to be cut down, I am just waiting on finding an old salvaged window and because I am extra fussy this is taking longer then I expected.
I planted some Cosmos Sonata Dwarf seeds on the 26th of February and they have popped up beautifully, some even have their seed hats still on. However some of them didn’t germinate so I am lucky that I decided to plant two seeds per module, although I still think I’m going to be over run with cosmos flowers (not that I’m complaining!) My potatoes have also been chitting away nicely for around 3 weeks now so they are ready to be put in the ground later this week (they remind me of little aliens with furry antennas!)
Now I realise theres a whole massive debate about whether to chit potatoes or not to chit them. However, I brought my seed potatoes in February and decided to place them in a empty egg box and store them ontop of my fridge. This infact gave me something to do in February when lets face it, there is hardly anything for a gardener to do but sit and plan. My Dad also chits his potatoes (as does Monty Don!) and I have read that a chitted potato grows more faster, it ages it and therefore you should get a good crop of potatoes earlier which is meant to be very good for early potatoes in particular. I personally see no harm in chitting a potato when they are really already chitting away in the local garden centre before you buy them, but instead of knobbly, small and dark shoots they are producing those horrible, long and pale shoots!
March is going to be a busy month with lots of seeds being sown. Broccoli - Calabrese Autumn Spear, Brussel Sprouts - Bedford Winter Harvest, Mars Pumpkins and Munchkin Pumpkins, Chives and Garlic Chives, Dill and Ridolfia Segetum will all be sown this month with even more seeds being sown in April. The house is going to be packed with trays and pots but hopefully it is going to be worth it, and theres always something special about the wonder and hope one little seed brings, it really is quite magical to watch
Temptation
Whats that saying again? ‘The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.’ So when a Sarah Raven catalogue popped through the letter box I gave into the temptation and treated myself to some beautiful seeds!
Even though I had my flower patch all planned out I just couldn’t resist this beautiful mixture or Zinnias, I love the pinks and oranges together and they would look beautiful in a vase with some yellow/lime coloured Ridolfia Segetum. I also ordered some ordinary chives and also some garlic chives to put in my flower pathway border and I am looking foreward to eating the flower heads! Along with the chives I will be planting some edible flowers into the pathway border because A, they will look pretty, and B, they look amazing in salads. Last but not least is a last minute buy, munchkin pumpkins that climb. Now I know that I said I will be growing small pumpkins in my brassica bed but I couldnt resist buying a packet of these seeds. I’m thinking it might be better to have them climbing upwards rather then spreading all over my brassicas? Its either that or have them climb up a garden archway which I’m planning on making for the entrance of my pathway.
Actually my splurge wasn’t that bad considering, although I’m thinking if I’m not happy with how my flower patch turns out at the end of the year then I will be highlighting a lot more flowers from this catalogue! This has got my super excited though and there will be lots of seeds to sow in March, if only I had a greenhouse to store all my seedlings!
Thats a wrap!
Good news everyone, after 3 weekends of filming I can now tell you that my first ever video will be up on Youtube this weekend! Woohoo! It took a little longer then I thought it would, but in the end we managed to film everything in just 3 hours. I admit it took us a while to get used to the camera, getting the right angles and making sure the camera wasn’t pointing into the wind or at the traffic whilst also remembering what to say. Theres a lot more to this filming marlarky then I thought! I am however, very pleased with the final outcome and I can not wait to show everyone, all I need to do is find some music for the introduction and do some editing and it should be on your screens on Saturday.
I also managed to get my first double row of peas in the ground and I sowed some cosmos seeds, my first sowing this year which is ever so exciting (you’ll find more about this in the video!) I’m hoping the cats in the house next door look after my peas just like they looked after my broad bean seeds