Yes Peas!

Peas Please?  Time to report back on the success (or otherwise) of the 2012 pea strategy.

Tranche 1 did very nicely thank you and yielded a fair crop of peas - tranche 2 was less successful and the peas didn't really swell (but I'll blame that on the weather!).

All in all the strategy seemed to work fairly well, and I'll replicate next year, but might plant a bit more densely to hopefully increase the yield.

Peas Please!

Have thus far failed to replicate the success of the pea harvest in our first year (2008).

In 2009 a lot of them didn't even get started (eaten at the off-go we think - probably mice), and in 2010 the 'nursery gutter' approach didn't really work, although we did end up with reasonable growth from later planting, the mice started on the pods and we lost a lot, plus they didn't really swell.

Didn't bother in 2011!

So for 2012 we're implementing a new strategy:

1. Soak and pre-sprout (in order to spread the harvest a little we've done this in two tranches - the first lot c. 23 April, the second c. 22 May).






2. Pot up the sprouted peas into half a toilet roll half filled with compost - cover with compost to the top and keep well-watered - initially these were brought on in the greenhouse.






3.  Wait till the seedlings are up, and a good couple of inches or more high, before planting in cropping position - our first tranche went out on 20 May - further updates on progress to follow!

One Month On . . .

An update to last month's garden post - as you can see the onions are still going strong - although we're having to watch for flower-heads and nip them in the bud as it were.







The peas have grown somewhat, although that initial row we cultivated so carefully in its nursery gutter didn't really come to anything, except for a few plants at one end.

The other two rows are looking ok, and there are plenty of pods although the peas haven't swollen yet.  The main concern is whether they'll survive to be harvested by us, as the mice seem to be doing a good job of scoffing their way through them at the moment!

On to the beans - the climbing variety in the pot either got too much rain or too little and only one or two appear to have survived.  The other beans did indeed turn out to be a bush bean variety - which means that they are particularly vulnerable to the mice . . .

We know it's mice - the little blighters are quite bold about it - while I was weeding the garden one of them was sitting quite happily under the guttering with baby onions in it, nibbling on something or other!

As well as weeding, I did plant some additional climbing beans and replaced the now died-back potato plant with a few late courgettes (as the ones I planted earlier in the year aren't doing much).

In fact, yesterday's harvest totalled a handful of beans, a few potatoes and one courgette!  Plus lots of green tomatoes, rescued from the jungle of the big greenhouse - here the plants had got out of hand, and the compost we'd dug in had germinated a fine set of weeds.

Generally the tomatoes are still looking a little disappointing in comparison with last year's crop - July just hasn't produced the sun needed to ripen them, and quite a few had gone mouldy / rotten on the vine. Two hours weeding and chopping did reduce it to some kind of order (see before and after shots below) - in fact I suspect I may have over-done the cutting back a little.   Hopefully now there's a bit more air circulating the current crop will ripen in due course, and we may get some re-growth:

 

The 'cheap' cucumber seeds I bought have produced some amazing plants, but very little in the way of actual cucumbers - a bit of a contrast to last year where we had a real glut of the things.  Lesson learned - if you want good produce, buy good seed stock.

More Growth

Said I'd blog something about the other veg plot once I'd weeded it - I've now weeded it twice!

As you can see, the onions are doing well - they're almost unrecognisable now as the rather weedy objects that we planted out back in May.  Some are larger than others, but there are a few potential 'monsters' at least.  A couple of potato plants appeared spontaneously as well - remnants from last year - we've left the two strongest in place to see what comes of them this year.



The peas have made a reasonable show, but I don't think we'll match the success of our first ever growing year - although I suppose they do have another 3 weeks to reach the 6 foot mark of that first harvest.  At least a few more plants seem to have survived into maturity - in contrast to last year.


Finally we have the green beans - we planted up a pot with the same variety we grew last year and they are climbing well.  We were given a bag of what we thought were a similar variety, but despite having a lovingly-constructed cane structure to grow up they are showing little sign of wanting to climb anything - I suspect they may therefore be a bush bean variety - well, we'll see . . .

Will confirm the bean situation, and just how high the peas did grow in due course . . .

Moving On Up

Things are moving on the vegetable front . . .

Finally moved the peas out of their guttering yesterday and into position in the garden. They seem to have survived the transplantation process, and have now been joined by two new rows which we planted directly into the ground. We planted these new rows quite deep, and have covered them over with some clear plastic to provide some initial protection from potential pea predators. Fingers crossed we'll get a reasonable showing anyway.

The maincrop potatoes are also finally on their way up - almost all of them are now showing some sign of life above ground, and hopefully now the weather has warmed up they'll soon put on some real growth.

The onions are coming along a treat as well - I've got a little more confidence now that they'll actually turn into proper onions in due course.

We've also planted out the courgettes - next up planting up the green beans, and sorting out the greenhouses.

Fruit and Two Veg

We've had some lovely sunny weather over the last few weeks (see future post - will link in due course) although most days have had a slight chill in the air. As such we've held off doing too much with the vegetable patches - other than digging them over a couple of times.

The soft fruit is coming along nicely though - the raspberry canes are coming up all over the place this year, and the gooseberry, blackcurrant and blueberry bushes are all in flower. The strawberries are looking healthy enough, and should provide a bumper crop in due course.

The only issue is keeping some of the local wildlife out. As you may remember something had all the blueberries last year, and there are ominous small holes indicating that mice (? or similar) are burrowing in under the base boards. Did some re-fortification works last weekend, tying down the netting in all the places that a squirrel may have found its way in . . .

Made the most of the last of the really sunny weather yesterday to finally get some planting done in the garden - notably starting to populate the two veg plots. Martin got the maincrop potatoes (Maris Piper) planted up in the smaller of the two plots (the one we had sweetcorn, courgettes, and left-over peas in last year).

I cleared out the last of the weeds and old netting from the frame in the main veg plot, and dug in some fertiliser, before planting up my onion seedlings, some of which are beginning to look like spring onions at least!

Finally, this morning, as the rain finally returned, we planted up some peas. Mindful of last year's poor showing, we're trying a new approach. Using some of the old guttering (which we replaced last year) we've planted up our first row in the garage - once this is through and sufficiently established to ensure that the birds can't do much damage we'll transplant back into the main veg plot. Hopefully this strategy will work!

Got a few more things to plant up still - the tomatoes and peppers and chillies are coming on now, but not ready for planting on yet - and we've got cucumbers and spinach and some salad veggies to plant as well as green beans. In the meantime, at least the potatoes and onions will appreciate a little rain . . .

Growing Elsewhere

Outside of the greenhouses (big and small) we have the old veg plot, the new veg plot, and the fruit cage. In terms of progress here it's a bit of a mixed picture . . .

Starting with the old veg plot:
- the onions are doing ok, although note for next year, don't plant in a block as it makes it difficult to weed;
- the broccoli has yielded a good first crop (now in the freezer) and hopefully there'll be more to follow;
- unfortunately things aren't going so well with the potatoes - some of which actually look like they are dying back - although I suppose we can't judge until we actually pull them.


The peas, which were last year's success story, have also proved somewhat disappointing. Our main problem here was that something ate most of them (note for next year, plant them deeper) - the ones that are left are doing well mind you, and we've filled in the gaps with some green beans (carefully started off in the greenhouse and transplanted).


In the new veg plot:
- the success story (at least thus far) is the sweetcorn, which is looking good;
- in between the sweetcorn is some butternut squash, which hasn't done much at all yet;
- a subsidiary row of peas has grown thickly, but only to about 20cm high . . .



The courgettes are doing better - six plants in all, and we should hopefully be getting a reasonable harvest out of these.



Finally the fruit cage:
- the raspberries, blackcurrants, and gooseberries never really got anywhere this year - we've just harvested a handful of raspberries;
- more on the blueberry bush later, but it broadly seems to be be doing ok;
- the strawberries have proved most attractive to the local wildlife with numerous nibblings of the net - as a result we've had to refortify with wire netting (as pictured).



Even so, despite some nibblings here and there, the strawberry harvest is going very well, indeed; six plus large bowls and more to come - when this year's runners have established themselves, I think we're looking at strawberry jam in 2010.

Garden Update

Vegetable garden that is. We've pulled up a lot of the main veg crop now - as you can see in this photo we're down to the onions (which we'll probably pull any day now), and the broccoli, which is cropping nicely - there are also a couple of courgette plants in there. We've got some sprouts and perpetual cabbage to plant out, and the swede to sow.

The carrot and beetroot plants seem to be doing ok in one of the raised beds as well, and we've still got courgettes sprouting all over the place. Had a fair harvest of potatoes (see below), but the peas were the real success story, we had at least three of these baskets.

Growing Our Own

We inherited a very lovely garden, as you'll have seen in the last post - and as yet haven't really put 'our' stamp on it. We've confined ourselves to weeding, and waiting to see what comes up / into flower next. So I suppose it's the vegetable patch that we've really taken 'ownership' of.

Not that we were very quick off the mark on this - it was early May before the potatoes and onions went in, and the peas and broccoli took a little longer ... The picture on the left above shows things just planted (if you look at the full-size version you might be able to spot an onion or two), the picture on the right is where we're at now.

You might also notice from this an evolution in fencing technology; this stems from bunny insurgency directed at the first generation broccoli / sprouts - which unfortunately didn't survive.

Luckily we had some extra plants in the greenhouse, so were able to replant once the bunny fortifications had gone in. Thus far these seem to have worked - and our brassicas are growing unmolested.

We've had a few potatoes (leaving the plants to mature now until early August), and the onions are coming along nicely, but it's our peas that are looking most impressive - the plants are approaching 6 feet tall and loaded with pods - just waiting for the peas inside to swell.

Our other success story is courgettes, we've got them in the greenhouse, cold frame (actually a mini-greenhouse taken from the old house and laid down on the ground), and outside - the ones under cover are doing particularly well and generating a good crop.

In addition to the veg patch and greenhouse, we've constructed a couple of raised beds, one for strawberries and one with carrots / beetroot in it (planted very late).

And there are the two apple trees we planted - which can be seen, together with the development of the compost heap (now corralled within some old pallets) - in the third garden picture from the other day (as compared to the second from May). Unfortunately the eating apples didn't survive, and it looks like we'll only get a couple of cookers. We had a sheep invasion one day - five of them squeezed through the hedge, and they took a bit of a fancy to apple tree. That was an interesting morning, herding sheep with my next door neighbour ...