Pak (of rubbish) Choi

I am really dissapointed with our pak choi.

It has bolted...

Some of you may not be surprised to hear this as you are a lot wiser than me, but if I knew that they were so sensitive I wouldn't have consumed our valuable growing space with 2 whole rows of this crop. I wish I had grown more lettuce instead!

I have now read that they are extemly sensitive to a real mix of weather conditions. So with the the days of drought followed by periods of sogging wetness, the pak choi did not approve and decided to run to flower.

I was really looking forward to a good crop of this. The good news is that we can still eat the leaves despite it bolting so a nice homegrown stirfry is on the cards tonight. Courgette, pak choi leaves, spinach, mange tout, maybe one of the fillius blue chillies to liven it up a bit. Delicieux!

We are both really enjoying our really healthy home grown meals.

Have a great day!

Martin

Glamping

Glamping is camping for glamourous people. You get dressed up in your best frock, buy a pop up tent and set off for the campsite. Ok, we bought the pop up tent but the night's sleep was far from glamorous. I had Amy whining all night, that the tent was leaking and she was cold. It was only spitting, so I said she was being silly. (By the way, I was snuggled up nice and warm and was also completly dry). I can only appologise for dismissing her concerns during the night when I saw how waterlogged her half of the tent was this morning. We are in need of some waterproofing spray before we go again in a few weeks time. Not comfortable to  be sleeping in the wet. (Sorry!)

I don't have many memories of camping, other than in my back garden when I was a kid. So the whole experience on Wednesday and Thursday was very new and refreshing. All the simple things were such good fun.

We played games such as tennis, catch, football and boules..

What tremendous skill...

Getting back to the real basics regards eating and drinking was nice. Boiling the kettle on the gas cooker, and preparing dinner and breakfast in the same way too! The whistling of the kettle was lovely...

We had chilli con carne with pasta for tea and a fry up for breakfast. Divine!

The tent it self looked good, despite the rain problem later in the night.

The campsite was really cute. It was easy to find, and the location was stunning. The pitch was well shielded from the wind, we were surrounded by tall trees and bushes. The campsite was lovely and quiet. It was only us, an elderly couple and the members of staff on the whole site.

There were lots of walks to do. The majority of fields in the area were planted with either rape seed, poppies or broad beans. Some had a combination of all of them where seeds had obviously spread from previous or neighbouring crops...

We walked through a broad bean field which had a public footpath in the middle of it...

It looked like they were up for a good harvest anyway.

There was plenty of reading to do in the evening too. We bough almost every self-sufficient book/magazine we came across when we did a spot of shopping in Bourton itself...

We have definately extended our home library. We bought some great magazines, and some books about chickens, bees and home brew. We also bought some more books when we popped in to the town of Brodway on the way back home. Ooops!

There were no lights on the campsite so during the night it was nice and dark and you could see all of the stars. Due to the brillaint location and landscape we got a good view of the evening's sun set....

We've only been back a day, and we already can't wait to go back!

We'd like to reveal, that we will be running a blog contest from Monday, which will run for 3 weeks. If you would like to enter the competition for a chance to win a £20 'Our Good Life' hamper including seeds, tools and other great resources then please visit us soon. How to enter will be posted at 5.30pm on Monday!

Good Luck if you decide to enter!!

We hope you have had a good weekend.

Martin

Green is the old... Green?

When growing your own fruit and vegetables you can end up with a period on your plot where there is a lot of green, green and more green. The only things ripening fast enough are courgettes and they are well.. green this year. We did buy some yellow courgette seeds for next year though. Then there's the lettuce which is.. green. Tomato plants are.. green, although the yellow flowers are dwarfed by mountainous amounts of.. green.

Following our visit to Gardener's World on Wednesday, I was inspired by some of the show gardens where there is less.. green... and more... purple, yellow, orange, red and blue. I'll remind you of a couple of the 'Grow your own' style show gardens. Look at them closely..

and..

I've learnt my lesson this year. When you are in a small garden you need a bit more colour. We did buy some seeds for yellow courgettes, purple runner beans and purple sprouting.There is the Fillius Blue pepper plant too with the georgeous purple flowers. But what can I do immediately to brighten the place up a bit?

No... flowers?!?!

I am no flower expert. I won't pretend to be one either. Ask me about fruit and veg and I have had the input from my grandparents, I've read all the books, and I've read your blogs, and I've been experimenting with varying degrees of success and failure all my life. So I may be able to answer your questions. However, look at those photos again if you need to. What can you see? Yes, flowers. Look at the bizzy lizzies planted in the children's wellington boots in the second picture. Look at the rows of marigolds inbetween the tomato plants. Sunflowers too!

Amy was keen to get flowers but I consistently said to her 'they waste valuable growing space' which I suppose is still true. But she has twisted my arm, with the help of the endless amounts of green fly sat on our tomato plants.

We took a visit to that garden centre in our town that Amy didn't know existed two or three months ago (she is a regular now). They have a great choice of flowers. We didn't want too many, just a few.

So we bought 84 marigolds, two trays of labelia and two trays of something which I  can't remember the name of (and two cheeky pepper plants of course!!). The marigolds are an ideal companion plants for tomatoes as they deter the ever persistent green fly. On sunny evenings at the moment, Amy only needs to go over to the vegetable patch to get swarmed with them, and then have to pick them out of her hair afterwards. I'm sure they get in my hair too, but Amy's hair is a really light blonde so they show up easily.

Well, you know that blue tubtrug we bought on Wednesday. Well we decided we would use it to store our tools. Until today....

We filled it 3/4way with compost. Before placing a tomato plant in the middle. Then we placed 16 marigolds around the edge. This tomato plant won't be touched by green fly that is for sure. We've now put the planted tubtrug next to the tomatoes in the grow bags so hopefully this will work out well in fending off the invasion.

The one blot on our veg plot was the ghastly old hanging wall baskets that had been untouched for well over a year. So using some more of the marigolds and the labelia. The veg plot has had a bit of a much needed face lift.

We had a few left over marigolds so I have planted these strategically in the garden. I've just sown some wild flower seeds and we have 3 sunflowers that are ready to go in to their final positions.
The raised squash bed which I have mentioned before. Is now a seprated area of the garden. Last month I made a post called 'Windy' where I said that the old water feature had fell over thanks to the rapid winds and the top of it had smashed in to bits. Although there were many small bits that were not useable, I saved the large bits because I knew they would come in useful at some point. Well, they have and they are now the edging around the raised area which is the squash bed. I planted some more marigolds next to the edging to give it even more colour. There is also the giant yellow tubtrug and the Rhubarb in the blue pot.

Look at the sweetcorn in the yellow tubtrug. Because it is in the tubtrug it doesn't compete for root space with the squash and (soon to be planted) pumkin. Therefore because the squash plants should swallow the majority of the area and need the root system to support it, we are ensuring that the squashes, pumpkin and sweetcorn get their fair share of needed nutrients.

The green has definately been brushed over with the flower power and the introduction of the new brightly coloured tubtrugs and the yellow plant labels. Here is the new and refreshed view..

I'm hoping for a bit more colour soon when all of those fruit and veg start to ripen up nicely, ready for harvesting.

We are making the homemade beeswax candles tonight, so that's something to look forward to.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Martin



Gardener's World Live Report - Part 3

I hope you enjoyed reading parts 1 and 2 of this report. If you haven't seen them yet, then they should be directly under this post on the home page.

I mentioned in Part 2 that beehives and chickens featured prominently throughout the show. Not only was there a large presence in the show gardens and displays, but there were plenty of stalls inside that were selling or advertising related products etc.

This stand was by the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA).

It really is a step in the right direction for promoting the hobby, it was one of the most bespoke and outstanding pieces in the whole hall. As you will all probably know, numbers of honey bees around the world are in serious decline following outbreaks of viruses and bacteria that thrive on healthy colonies. This stand really went the extra mile. There were many beekeepers on hand partaking in different activities. Some were taking apart hives and demonstrating to potential newbies. There were other beekeepers demonstrating candle making, which is something we hope to do soon and there were others manning stalls with honey and beekeeping products. There was a display hive too. It is basically a glass window with two brood frames in so that people can see how the bees go about their business. It is always interesting to see the bees even though we have our own, but because Amy doesn't go near the hive (yet!) it was great for her to see them up close. They also had 2 bee hives in the outside area with live beekeeping demonstrations taking place throughout the day. It did make me laugh how clever they were bringing two hives and plonking them in the middle of the show gardens. Think of all that amazing honey they will get now!

Before we move on, we will take a look back at the other gardens or displays with beehives on them.

This was one of the edible patches designed by local schools and charities.

This show garden was called 'Working with nature' it was a very tranquil looking garden.

There was also the show garden which we awarded the 'Our-good-life' silver medal.

Well, I suppose you are all bee-hived out. Well, here is a selection of gardens and displays which were based on the 'grow your own' theme.

The above display by 'Robinson's seeds and plants' was a breathaking mass of colour and texture. It was different from most other displays because it was a display of harvested vegetables and  fruits rather than growing plants. It still scooped a Gold Medal, and we bought the lovely Filius Blue chilli pepper plant which was photographed in Part 1 from here. You can also see the 'Turk's Turban' squash in the bottom left corner, we bought one of these plants too because Amy was amazed with the shape and colour of them. The plant has now been planted in the squash and pumpkin bed. They had this display of beans too, I am very envious of them...

This next garden was very vintage. It had a cute little chicken coop/adapted rabbit hutch in the foreground and the whole plot was in 4 segments with the greenhouse in the centre. I thought the 'Dig for Victory' post was a really nice touch. This garden had lots of good information published on small placards strategically placed throughout the garden. Great idea!

In the past I've been to talks by Paul Kelly, James Martin, Jimmy Doherty and Carol Klein. But this year we went to see good old Alan Titchmarsh doing a talk about growing your own veg. Amy wasn't keen on the idea, but I dragged her by the hair all the way to the stage. (joke). She did buckle and came along, and we were both surprised at how funny he actually is and his whole talk was adapted around growing in smaller spaces which was very relevant for us. He did a questions and answers session at the end, which was good of him. The picture doesn't show a lot other than Alan and some stranger's heads...

We got a bit closer to good old Monty though who was filming for Friday's show...

Anyway, away from the gardeners and back to the gardens. Or displays as like to call this next lot.

The UK Bonsai society always make me laugh. People queue up to talk to the experts and their conversation always goes like this.

Person: ''I had a bonsai tree''
UK Bonsai Expert: ''..and it died''

It always makes me laugh at loud, the same thing happened again yesterday and Amy gave me a nudge in the side. The bonsai trees on display always look amazing, like minature pieces of precious woodland. But, if you have ever owned a bonsai tree like I have, they die, and fast. I've had four or five bonsai trees in the past and not a single one lasted more than two weeks. As soon as one leaf falls off the whole lot seems to go, the conditions your provide are always too hot, or too cold, too sheltered or not sheltered enough, too much light, or not enough! No matter what book I have read or what I have done, the same result is always impending doom. What sort of witchcraft and wizardry do they use to nurture these beauties....

Amazing aren't they!

Well, I have to admit that I am pretty bad when it comes to flowers, my knowledge is not as extensive as my knowledge of fruit and vegetable growing. I often forget the names of the flowers like with the following displays which are actually rather beautiful...

I can just about say that either side of these flowers there are some alliums. But I'm not sure what these are. I like the white and pink ones near the top.

Here are some more outstanding flower displays..

Some foxgloves...

Amy liked the display by the company that provided the trees for the Royal Wedding on April 29th. A couple of the trees from the wedding were on display...

I have been writing this post since 9:30 am and it is now 11:39 am. Time flies. There are a lot more photos left, so I am going to do a fourth part to this report called 'Best of the Rest' It will got live at 9am tomorrow Friday for those of you who are interested.

We had such a good day, I really envy all of those people who have been today too. Can't wait for next years show, Amy did joke that we should do a show garden because she recons I could do a better job than some of them.. Don't even want to think about all of the work that goes in to that!

I really thankyou for your support once again.

Martin

Gardener's World Live Report - Part 1

Last night, I couldn't sleep. I was like a child at Christmas. I just kept thinking 'I'm going to Gardener's World tomorrow, I'm going to Gardener's World tomorrow etc.' I think we were both so excited.

We were up early this morning and left home at about 7:45 am to make sure we were amongst the first throught the barrier and in to the event. I'm going to do this report in three parts. This one now is about all the amazing and fun things that we bought (because that's what yo uare all really interested in) and then tomorrow morning will be a feature on the show gardens (including our own rankings) and then finally tomorrow afternoon/evening you will get all of the rest!

There are so many problems with this event. The first problem is that you spend a lot of money on gardening products, and then secondly they add the Good Food Show to the event too. Therefore you spend a lot more money in the Good Food Show. The third problem, which is a genuine problem is that you buy so much stuff and then you soon realise that one more piece of straw will break the camel's (your) back, therefore everybody buys a £12 trolley and you are constantly getting hacked with it. (We bought 3 tubtrugs to carry things in, they will have a use after today!)

Well here is what we bought. Quite an array of useful bits and bobs...

I mentioned in a previous post about how we are rapidly preparing for winter. We scoured all of the great seed offers available and bought loads of seeds, you can just about see them laid down on the table above. When it come to seed buying, I have a real addiction and don't know when to stop. I think 'that one looks good, and that one, that'll do too', then you have more seeds than you realise to add to your already massive seed collection. Oh well. I love it. I discovered a few great varieties too which look like they are ideal for smaller plots and gardens. The whole list of seeds is as follows....

Vegetable and Fruit Seeds
Courgette - Zucchini
Cauliflower - Igloo
Kale - Dwarf Green Curled
Turnip - Oasis
Aubergine - Orlando F1 Hybrid
Strawberry - Woodland
Climing Bean - Blauhilde
Sweetcorn - Hark F1 Hybrid
Brussel Sprouts - Brilliant F1 Hybrid
Swiss Chard - Bright Lights
Swede - Brora
Broad Bean - Aqua Dulch Claudice
Courgette - Foleil F1 Hybrid
Tomato - Gardener's Light
Lettuce - Little Gem
Brocolli - Purple Sprouting

Flower seeds
Mixed Wildflowers
Dwarf Topalino

The ones that are in bold have already been sown in to pots! How good are we! We got home about 4:45pm and we were in the garden until about 7:30. So much to do today, and even more to do tomorrow.

We also bought a great book about allotments called 'The allotment source book' by Caroline Foley, but in general it looks like a great book about growing your own (more reading...)  for only £5 too. It was marked up at £20 originally. We both love an impulse buy and bargain!

In the photo you can see the lovely planter we bought. It was very 'rustique' and we have filled it with potting compost and scattered various herb seeds. It will look great as a mini herb garden.

Amy also bought a fat ball maker for making our own fatballs for the birds.

Here are the 'growing' things we bought...

You can just about recognise a few of the things we bought.

The last few years at Gardener's World they have had a 'plant swap' stall, where you take a plant you don't want or need and swap it for one of the others that somebody else has brought in. This time, they changed it a bit. So you donated your plants to Children in Need and then if you wanted one of the other plants you simply donated what you thought it was worth to charity. From this tent we bought three sweetcorn plants that are very well established. Remember our sweetcorn failure when we planted the seeds earlier in the year. We also got a butternut squash plant that was at the top of our shopping list before hand anyway.

Well. The sweetcorn have been transported in to their final growing position too...

......in the large yellow tubtrug next to the rhubarb. We have had such great success with growing the courgettes in a tubtrug that we had no hesitation putting the sweetcorn in one too. Well we did have 3 brand new tubtrugs to use up too...

One of my favourite buys was this georgeous 'Filius Blue' pepper plant. The plant is full of small sized chilli peppers with the most indulgent purple colour, however they apparently turn red as they finally turn ripe.

Amy is very busy in the background labelling all the plants. We bought some funky yellow plant labels and we have now labelled everything.. and have abruptly ran out of labels for future use.

Look at the purple flowers too. This is a really ornamental type, it certainly brings some lovely colour to the veg patch especially with new tubtrugs and the yellow labels...

Simply georgeous!

I mentioned earlier that we bought the butternut squash plant, well Amy was intrigued when she saw a Turk's Turban squash in the show gardens... so we bought one of those too! The area that used to be where the eglu sat has been raised up with some well rotted home made compost and some multi purpose compost from left over bits from one place and another. The two squash plants are planted here, and are waiting to be joined by the pumpkin plants which I am going to leave for a little bit longer in the greenhouse...

We can't wait for our own squash to grow.



We bought plenty of delicious food at the Good Food Show but I'll put that all in part 3.

We've had the most amazing day, and I hope you've enjoyed reading about what be bought!

Part 2 will be up at 9am tomorrow (sharp!).

Thanks for reading.

Martin

Hanging Baskets with Grandad

I spent Thursday making some hanging baskets with my grandad. I've spent a good chunk of the last week sorting out my granparent's garden and it is now complete!

Here are a few pictures of the hanging baskets...

 

(We bought the last one)

I'll take some more pictures of the ones we made when they settle in a bit more and establish themselves.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

More to come later!

Martin