It's Been a While.......Sorry.

Hi Veggers, sorry it's been a while since my last post alot has been happening I've been on a couple of holidays and I've moved house. Don't worry the Urban Veg is still there and growing in my mum and dad's front garden. I now have a bigger and more challenging plot (photos later).

So for an update on the existing veg we've had many many many cherry tomatoes off our 6 plants, more than me and mum can eat. I've got some juicy looking peppers nearly ready for picking. The leeks are doing well as are the little turnip I'm hoping they along with parsnips will be good for Christmas. Parsnips taste sweetest after the frost has got to them.

Also we have electric daisies which I tried the other day and must say are a acquired taste, nasturtium which the caterpillars took a fancy to are now in bloom and the cucamelons are fattening up and should be ready soon.

On a downer the sweetcorn just didn't do well, it went to seed and on the plus side is now feeding the birds, lucky birds.

Apologies also for the image quality my big camera wasn't to hand.

A Note on Recycling.....Plus James Wong update.

I've found over time in the garden that things really don't have to cost much and when I'm not in Pound World (or Pound Land) or ebay I see things around that come in very handy in the garden and the best bit is it's all free. My latest ingenious find came when I realized the cucamelons I started growing after James Wong's tips were starting to trail, they needed something to climb. I used canes but they were out grown in a couple of days. In the corner of the garden was a rather unloved sad looking pan stand which we put flowers on top of last year and tied the little greenhouse to when it nearly blew away.
I re-planted the cucamelons in bigger pots, put them on the bottom shelf of the stand then trained the vines up between the other shelves. Now they are growing happily, wrapping round the shelves and poles and we're hoping to sample their delights soon.




While we're on the subject the electric dasies are also doing their thing I haven't had any flowers yet but (apart from a little leaf munching) they're looking good. I planted them up in a old tub that you buy bird's fat balls in. Just melt or drill (me and power tools don't go) holes into the bottom for drainage and put some stones in before you cover with compost.




Also the Nasturtiums are doing well I lost one plant while I was on holiday but the other's going from strength to strength. The bees will love em when they flower.

Final note...The peppers are in flower. Yey!

Our many neighbours

The resent rain after the hot 2 weeks of sun have sent our wildlife into overdrive, we're now getting bees by the dozen, peacock butterflies and cabbage whites. Our Budlia or butterfly bush is in flower which help attract so much life. This is a Buff-Tailed Bumble Bee enjoying the Budlia plant ------------>

Our resident Tree Bumble Bees are also very busy with males hanging round constantly waiting for the busy passing females. We are now unfortunately starting to see the ill and dying members of the colony, this is only natural as bees like to keep their home clean and free of disease so the kick out the sick members. We are seeing the odd one on our garden path now.  They are however very happy with our flowering herbs especially the thyme.
This appears to be a big male on the thyme.








I've also seen my first Peacock Butterfly of the year in the garden, they are totally stunning. I snapped this one as it basked on the potatoes. ------->








And then we have a problem, I am a organic gardener with a love of wildlife and nature but unfortunately sometimes the wildlife just doesn't respect the veg and just goes munching straight through it. This is a cabbage white caterpillar, I found him munching massive wholes in the sweetcorn leaves. But don't worry I just picked him off and relocated him however I don't think the food will be as tasty. It's best with caterpillars and snails etc to just relocate them don't kill them as they're a tasty meal for the birds.

Just an update

After 3 weeks of scorching weather and one massive downpour the veg is getting exciting and there are more happy tree bees about as the herbs are in flower, soon the buddleia (butterfly bush) will be in flower too.

The tomatoes are now well on their way, I usually buy Money Maker Tomato seeds, they are quite reliable and give a good crop, at stages throughout their growth I pinch off lower leaves and stems as the plant can then focus more effort on fruits.

They're now green and just need plenty of water and sun I have also caned them up as with the weight of the tomatoes and the heavy rainfall they're starting to droop, I don't want them to snap.









Next is the pea pods which are really starting to fatten, I'm not sure how many peas I'll get it will probably just be one serving but hey, as long as they taste as great as other home grown veg. Unfortunately my peas appear to be affected by a pest known as Thrips tiny black or brown bugs which hide under the leaves, they've made a mess of the leaves but they don't really touch the pods. They can be controlled with a organic insecticide spray.


While I've been gone the sweetcorn has grown nearly as tall as me but I'm not sure if it will crop well being in a container. I guess we'll just have                                                          to wait and see.

Summer Fruits

While on holiday my neighbor was more than happy to water my veg for me but never the less I was worried. The mid July temperatures soared while I was away enjoying the cooler coast. As it turned out on my return I had no casualties Yey!

                                                              Peas Beautiful Peas.

In fact what I had was sweetcorn plants nearly as tall as me, pea pods dangling like gems, strawberries and LOTS of raspberries. I'm actually stunned at how the plant took off when I took it from the pot it had been in for 2 years and put it in the ground, within a couple of months it must have doubled in size.

I'm now getting fruits daily with the first harvest giving me a punnet with fruits nearly double the size of tasteless supermarket fruits. Yummy! I'm now waiting on blackberries to follow for a summer fruit salad.

             Tip for tasty Strawbs:- Water them a couple of times with sugar water for super sweetness.

Being arty with the produce + giving them a wash.

Our New Guests

I haven't blogged in a while as I've been at the rather more cloudy East Anglian coast. However on my return I find I have new neighbors, a queen bee appears to have chosen our sparrow terrace (a bird box with 3 holes for sparrow families) as the perfect home for her tribe.

Upon researching our new guests we found them to be Tree Bumble Bees (Bombus hynorum), who like to inhabit holes in trees or nest boxes. They are none aggressive (one flew into my camera lens and went happily along it's way)

They were only discovered in the UK in 2001 but they are a welcome foreigner as they are pollinators, bees prop up life on earth and keep the human race in food, a very important species I am proud they chose to live with us.

It seems they were attracted by The Veg, and why not it's very attractive veg as well as wildflowers growing on the motorway embankment and the other flowers round the garden like lavender. What's fab about bees is the ladies rule the hive so the queen and workers are all women and men just linger outside the door hoping for some action. This is a pic of a hopeful Mr Bee.

I'll be keeping a keen eye on these little lodgers over the coming months.

Enjoying the Lavender, eat up little bee. For more info on attracting bees or helping their conservation see http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/gardening-for-bees/

A Pointer from Gino D'acampo

This is a quick post just to get down on paper a interesting growing tip I heard on "Lunch with Gino and Mel" apparently Rocket grows best where the air is dirty. As they act like an air filter. Sort of like mussels in the sea or river filter dirty water and grow big. Apparently Rocket grows best next to motorways, dirty air is what gives the peppery taste.

So I'm thinking Rocket is perfect for the Urban Veg Grower because of the dirty city air, if it gives out clean air it can only be good for the environment.

Salad Potatoes are on the Menu.

I've been watch my potatoes grow in their bag, they grew there successfully last year, but just a week or so ago they started to go a bit wrong. Potato plants are usually lush and green and when they produce little flowers (white or purple depending on breed) it's time to harvest. But these plants started to look very unhealthy 2 out of 4 went brown and sagged and the other 2 just looked a bit sick. So because I go on my hols next week I decided to pull them and give something else the space. Below is a photo of the sickly plants.

Happily in the time they've been in they produce a little crop of salad potatoes which I'll enjoy later.

In other news the sexy carrots pictured here with Quorn Sausage and peas were delish and Mr Urban Veg will be putting what's left in a pie.

Sexy Carrots.

Today I decided to pull my carrots after noticing they were going to seed. One set of carrots were in a trough (I knew all along was too shallow but had no other containers). The others were in a potato bag (should've been ok).

There's really not much more I can say about them but well look at the pictures. At least they all have nice personalities, even though they're unpealable. Oh well that's my salad topping sorted for later and mum's veg to go with chops.

My Royal Subjects hehehe

Now everything's starting to go mad in the garden, I spent 1 night away from home and something new emerges =0. Yesterday I came home from the fella's and found the strawberries were popping exciting EEEEEEE! I most look forward to strawberries, I'm hopping the raspberries and blackberries catch up so I can have a nice summer fruit salad.

Also shooting up are the spuds, I have a patio bag out front to grow them in and a bed out the back (which we keep having to pull the dog out of). You know I really can't remember when I planted the ones in the bag but I should be expecting them to flower soon.

The latest crop I've tried this year is peas, last year I grew beans which was silly because I don't like beans. So yeah I'm currently trying to train them up a cane wig wam but it's windy and some are finding it hard to grip, they need to grab the canes so they don't grab each other and pull themselves down.

Another plant that's fairly new to me is the sweetcorn, the Royal Consort likes his sweetcorn so I have to make an effort to please him
 I accidentally killed it last year very early on so I'm
paying extra attention to it this year, I've got 5 stalks at the mo growing happily in a bag. Lets keep it that way =).

Tomatoes are doing well as they always do in pots in the sunny front garden, last week I spread them out into 3 troughs, 3 plants each. Today I nipped off the extra shoots at the bottom of the plant so they can put more         energy into fruits. 

Also doing well in the little cold frame are the pepper plants, turnips and a little grape vine I bought cheap hopping when I move out I'll grow have more space to grow it up a pergola. 

Also out there is a little fig bush, spring onions, beetroot (not doing so well), leaks, goja berries and carrots which I went a bit overboard with.

                                          G Dog is not impressed with the lack of biscuit plants.

Bargain Books

Just a short post on good books for gardening and helpful people.

I've built up a collection of books over the last couple of years but they really don't break the bank, I've bought most of my books at less than half price in The Works bookshop. Just because they're cut price doesn't mean cut quality these are really ace books. Some like the Good Fruit and Veg Guide are RHS books, this book in particular shows every plant you could want in a edible garden and a guide on how to grow them, perfect.

Another great pair of books are by "Dirty Nails" who is a wildlife/eco friendly gardener and the books "On the Plot" and "Vegetable Gardeners Year" are fab, they take you through jobs that need doing every week of the year and what he finds along the way. Dirty Nails is fab and you can find him on Facebook where he's always willing to answer questions too. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dirty-Nails/174305439287?fref=ts

I don't think I have a book that cost me over a fiver and ones I haven't picked up in The Works are usually from World of Books, http://www.worldofbooks.com/ which sell second hand books for charity. They can be found on eBay too.

James Wong's book are also good but are more aimed at plants for medicinal purposes but he gives a great list of the essential plants you should have. For tips I like his Facebook page too. https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-Wong/172599712783088?fref=ts

BBC Gardeners World books are also good they're usually full of ideas. Also I pick up the odd magazine of Grow Your Own because they sometimes give away 5 or 6 packs of seeds.

Exciting James Wong Seeds

Ash was watchin Sunday Brunch a couple of weeks ago and tells me "there was this botanist bloke on tv recommending plants you missed it." Later I found out on Facebook it was James Wong from Grow Your Own Drugs. I went on his site and found out about electric daisies, little flowers that taste of citrus. Cucamelons, tiny melon that tastes of cucumber but are much easier to grow than both. Saffron that' worth it's weight in gold and nasturtium, bright flowers which are great on flowers and also keep pests off other veg.

So yeah off I go to http://seeds.suttons.co.uk/search?w=james+wong&asug=, thought I'd drop the link in
there. I've bought seeds for electric daisies, cucamelons, nasturtium, chinese chives and winter green (little berries that taste of root beer).

It's all really exciting and the reason why is these little plants I have never ever tasted before I doubt many people have. You can't buy any of this in the shops. There's still alot I've got to try and grow I just picked the most appealing as I don't have masses of space. I'd like to buy Saffron bulbs but they're a bit more costly (I have a budget) but flower into pretty crocuses, I might bu them at next pay day =).


                                          Thankyou Mr Postman eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Today I planted the daisies, cucamelons and nasturtium. I don't know which to look forward to the most.                   

Green Fingered Legacy

I'm feeling a bit emotional today so I thought I'd share with you a little bit about the Grandad I never knew. My Grandad Jack, my mum's dad was a miner, a hard worker and a true Yorkshireman. He would leave the curtains open until the last glimmer of daylight had gone from the sky as he valued it so highly after his time in the pits.

I never knew Jack as he died of a heart attack 2 years before I was born while my mum and dad were on honeymoon in Southport so all I have is photos (he liked photos) and what mum and Grandma (who's memory is very quickly fading) tell me. I know he was a gentle and quiet man, he kept pigs and loved dogs and he loved his garden, veggies above all else.

My mum always said he had his priorities right, the beans, the dog, his daughter, his wife. Lol.

When I started growing I didn't have much of a thought about my Grandad it was just a natural progression that came from a love of nature, wildlife and free tasty food. But over the last year or 2 I've been hearing more and more of "oh your Grandad would've loved you he would've loved helping with that" from Mum and Gran.

So yeah green fingers must run in families and I feel very regretful that I never got to meet and chat to my Grandad, to ask him what feed is best for garlic? Where would be best to plant potatoes? What's the tastiest breed of tomato? I'm not a spiritual person anyone who knows me will tell you but I don't have alot of garden mishaps so maybe he's there tending to the herb bed, checking on the veggies and giving some love to the fruit bushes, I dunno maybe it's just blind luck, it's a nice thought though.

Through gardening it has brought me closer to a man I never met and I feel like I know him, like we're working to the same goals.

I specially picked these photos below because I love how they illustrate his character.

                                                                                                        Feeding mum to the Mary the Horse.

Baby Birdies

This is just a short post to share my photos of the baby Starlings which were taking over my garden this morning all lining up along the fences waiting for their mums.

Good to see they did so well even without stealing the thyme from my herb garden. After I took m photos and the neighbors scared them off I went out to fill up the bird bath to make sure they had plenty of water to start them on their flights.

Growing My Own Drugs part 2.

Ok so on the success of the herb garden I decided to give the other small part of the garden a make over in a similar way. It was coming up to May Day bank holiday which ment 3 for 2 plant sale at B&Q YEY!
Plant I was looking for in particular were heather for my bee friends, lemon balm and sage for herbal remedies.
I found all these and set about adding to my medicinal garden, along with the Raspberry bush I raised, strawberry cuttings, blueberry plant and 2 different honeysuckle plants I bought at work for like £2.

I've done a bit of research before choosing the plants I have some remedies are more obvious than others, blueberries are high in antioxidants and along with raspberries and strawberries taste delish. But did you know that raspberry leaf and sage tea is good for hot flushes. And honeysuckle is good for headaches, rashes, colds and flu. Lemon balm has anti viral and anti bacterial properties also so again good for colds and flu.


 Strawberry Plant                                                                                    Raspberry & Honeysuckle

Lemon Balm & Strawberry