Harvests etc

Hello peeps, sorry I haven't been here in a while, sometimes I forget, sometimes I'm too busy and sometimes there's just not much to blog. While I've been away I've had a bumper crop of tomatoes, so many in fact I've been giving them away to friends and family. About 5 medium sized punnets in all, they ripened pretty late this year it was September when they all seemed to redden at once. Really tasty though there's nothing like the taste of proper organic tomatoes, in the supermarkets they're far too watery.

I've also had a few tasty raspberries off a very small plant and some strawberries too, I am currently raising rhubarb too but they are quite slow growing and even though I set them off indoors in August they probably won't be ready till next August and even then only a light harvest should be taken from the plants, in Yorkshire we have a tradition of "forcing" rhubarb which means growing it in the dark to make it grow faster and sweeter, it grows so fast in these conditions it can be heard growing. It's grown in a place called the Rhubarb Triangle in between Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford mainly around a town called Rothwell. I am undecided whether to give it a go, it might be a good idea for my smaller garden as it doesn't get any sun anyway. On a small scale the rhubarb just needs growing under a bucket.
Anyway that's all for now but I'll be back a little more regularly now hopefully.

Summer Distractions

I start by apologizing for the distance between my posts but Summer brings holidays, weddings and lazy days in the sunshine.

Well in the garden the weeds still pretty much have the upper hand if I'm honest but slowly I'm reclaiming the land, now the dandelions have gone to seed and planted themselves I have again dug them up, the main problem I have here is creeping buttercups which are buggers to get rid off, even with chemicals which I refuse to poison my soil with, so it's basically back ache or nothing.

I have had lots of progress in the tomato department, they have grown thick and very fast, until now I have only ever grown them in pots but they really are seeming to enjoy their free range life and the bees are doing a brilliant job of pollenizing them all. I'm now not just seeing little yellow flowers but little green tomatoes too. When I grow tomatoes I always grow too many for myself but it's great to hand out free food like this to friends and neighbors they'll love them so much more than supermarket stuff.

A week after my holiday in Wales I planted some butternut squash seeds and some more cucumbers, they grow great on windowsills with plenty of light and water. I can hardly believe the speed they grow and now just one month later I've had to separate them into bigger pots. Slugs and snails love cucumber plants as well as squashes so I'm keeping them covered for as long as possible so they'll have the best chance of winning the war with the beasties. Another problem was I planted them thinking for sure I'd know which was which but as it turns out the plants look pretty much the same at this stage.

 < Butternut Squash                                                                                     ^ Cucumber


I have also decided to plant up some flowers for my doorstep so bought some Nasturtiums from James Wong's range and some Phacelia I claimed for free from the Soil Association as they are supposed to be loved by bees. Nasturtiums as well as looking pretty go great on a salad as they have edible flowers which look lovely and colourful too. This is them not looking very colourful yet.


In other news my mum's eaten all the raspberries from my other plot outside her house and I've been handing out the herbs for free as they grow like wildfire. And I also have mini pepper plants growing on the windowsill and they are starting to flower so fingers crossed they do well this season.

Onwards & Defiantly Upwards

Right the time has come for most of the little veg plants to leave the safety of the windowsill and head out into the outside world. However plants cannot be just thrown outside into the soil and left to survive. They need hardening off first, I have recycled an old china cabinet as a little green house, it doesn't get too hot like proper greenhouses and there's still a little draft that can get in so it's good for hardening little plants.

 After a week or so the tomatoes, which are now starting to out grow the cabinet are ready to go outside. I have put in alot of hard graft preparing the soil. Backbreaking weeding and turning the soil, the dandelions really have taken over but don't worry dandelions have their uses too and the rabbit at the animal shelter loves them. The soil could do with manure adding, I'll have to steal some from Suzie at the shelter.
For the tomatoes I have chosen a sunny a spot against a wall, this gives them the best shot at ripening off but as it's between 2 hedges they have a little protection from the wind. The plants need staking because tomato plants can grow quite lanky and are easily destroyed by wind. I've planted them in half a foot apart so they've got room to grow.






As well as tomatoes, the sunflower, peppers and cucumber need hardening off too so into the cabinet they go, it won't be long till they go out for real.

<-- Sunflower plant now needs a stake to hold it up, only one seed out of 3 germinated, I have no idea why.









In other news I have brought the potted strawberries from the courtyard at my previous plot and planted them out in prepared soil. Strawberry plants are fantastic for people without much time to garden, they are perennial (they come back every year I've had mine for 3 years), they survive frost and water logging and even do well in prolonged periods without water and if you want them to they'll spread so you get more crop. They are however hard to raise from seed so buy baby plants from the garden center.

Finally I am trying to raise funds for Yorkshire Animal Shelter and have crafted cards featuring my photography, I am trying to sell them on eBay without much success so far, if you're interested head here for a look --> Emma's eBay Shop. Or just text YASG18 £3 to 70070 to donate £3. Ta.

Rhubarb + Seedling Update + New Bees.

Well Spring is well and truely under way and I'll begin this blog by letting you know I have now discovered Rhubarb, I know it's practically criminal but until the other day I had never tried rhubarb. I was put off by rumors of it being sour and strange but last week I was offered some from the onsite allotment so I picked a few stalks out of politeness more than desire to try it. When friends came to stay last week I bit the bullet and made them rhubarb crumble with a packet of oat crumble topping. It's so easy just boil rhubarb with sugar and water for 10 minutes, drain and add the topping and bake for 20 minutes. The results were surprisingly tasty but the rhubarb was not pick and attractive as the supermarket ready meals would have you believe but mainly a greeny colour with hints of pink. Just goes to show. Anyway I have now planted some rhubarb and am looking forward to my own Yorkshire Rhubarb in a years time (don't pick the first harvest the plant gets tired).

The seedlings are now moving along well and we have multiple money maker tomato plants, a sunflower, cucumber, lettuce, peas, mini peppers and very surprisingly a butternut squash seedling. The butternut squash was a experiment I planted 6 in all but squash prefer planting in Autumn and have a long growing period. After 2 months and out of 6 seeds just 1 has shot straight up so fast it must have took less than a week for it to touch the top of the propagator. In not very long many of the seedlings will be big enough to be grown on outside in the ground I an currently preparing for them.

Also after missing my little tree bee friends at my parents place I today discovered new neighbors on my patch. These critters were paying particular interest in the little holes made by old screws in my wall. My friend has suggested these are masonry bees, a solitary bee which lives in brick mortar. I believe they were carrying little clumps of mud to their new homes and arranging it, however I have sent this photo to the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust to confirm it for me, more info when I found out. If you want to do something to help bees in the UK sign the Soil Association's Petition to make the government listen to bee's plight and don't use un-natural pesticides and herbicides in your garden. Bees love fruit and veg plants but if you prefer lawns keep a unkempt corner of your garden where wildflowers can grow for bees. Bees are important to ALL life on Earth look after them.

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Young Gifted and Skint

My roof is finished Woo Hoo!!! Unfortunately this means I am flat broke =(. But it's Spring so I shouldn't let money put me off gardening. This is the time of year you can get out there and find bargains. Pound Land and Pound World should never be ruled out for gardening supplies and seeds (no matter how unprofessional it may seem) B&M is also great for bits and pieces, you've just gotta pick your way through the tacky solar lights and gnomes to the good stuff (I apologize to any gnome fans reading this).

The other day I purchased a couple of bits in Pound Land and got a voucher for 6 gardening items for the price of 5, exciting when you're skint. What are great if you know what your looking for are the fruit bushes that just look like sticks in bags, now you don't want the ones that are just sticks but the ones that have a couple of little shoots on them. I bought one 2 years ago and last Summer with the help of very busy bees it gave pots of raspberries. I have just bought another raspberry and a blackcurrant bush, they need potting as soon as you get them home and really over-watering to get them going. http://www.poundland.co.uk/home-and-garden/gardening/bulbs-and-seeds.



The plant pots are also better quality that places like ASDA and are just £1 for 5, can't go wrong. B&M Herbs have an offer on at this time of year where herbs are £1.99 each or 3 for £5, the other day I bought Oregano, Lavender and thyme all great for bees.  . Again these plants will probably be mass produced under stress so it's important when you get them home to give them a more roomy pot and a good watering. I like to put herbs in window boxes after the daffodils have died off.

The seeds at bargain shops my not be Unwin's, Sutton's or Mr Fothergill's but guess what? They grow veg just the same you just don't get the same choice in breeds of veg but if you're happy with gardeners delight tomatoes and black beauty courgettes then you'll save a lot of money. Bargain places are usually great for things like bird food, fat balls etc too.

I guess what I'm trying to say is gardening should be accessible to all on all budgets, it's important that families can grow their own and it's not always possible to go to the garden center and pay garden center prices. Children especially should get to know where food comes from but you don't wanna spend a fortune on teaching them, you can even get mini mushroom growing kits at Poundland. So get out there and get bargain hunting.

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Spring Getting More Springy

It's now late March and things are beginning to happen, my roof is being done currently so little can be done outside as a huge pile of slate and timber sits in the middle of what was a lawn. However indoors there's a little action.
My mushrooms are sprouting away and I've had a few but probably not as many as I could, mushroom are easy to forget about I must admit but the soil NEEDS to be kept moist. Another problem is with their love for warmish moist conditions they do attract some tiny little flies, I can't think of a way to remedy this unfortunately so I just keep them as far away from us as possible while still being indoors. This is one of my chestnut mushrooms, I left it a little too long before picking, it's still good to eat but you should pick them before the gills underneath show.

Second the tomato seedlings have really took off and I've transplanted the strongest of the plants into a pot so I can sow more seeds in the propagator. The pepper seedlings have just started to show too, they take longer than tomatoes. No sign of butternut squash seedlings yet =(. We've also got microgreen herbs and Chinese chives from the James Wong selection on their way.

Now I'm very scatty and there are plants I plant and forget about. About 18 months ago I bought small fig tree only half a foot tall at The Range thinking oh well that'll be different. I re-potted it and it grew. It loses it's leaves in Winter and has to be brought indoors to avoid frost. When I moved house last Autumn I left the fig tree, lovingly named Phileas Fig with my mum. She looked after him over Winter and the other week tells me "that tree shot up and it's got new leaves." I took a look, now mum's hallway is very small and a bit gloomy so as well as getting in the way poor Phileas wasn't getting the nourishing light he needs so he's a little pale. But to my surprise there were 2 little green nodules growing from the tree. Figs! Wow unexpected he's still only small. He's gonna need some multi-purpose feed and when he's moved outdoors after any frost risk has gone I'll grab some manure from the animal sanctuary. Tomato feed once every 3 weeks helps too according to RHS. He's now in my hallway, alot more room and light till he can go outside.

A Bit about my New Kingdom.

I realize since moving to this new house with it's 2 gardens I haven't posted on it. The house has 2 gardens a back and a front, the back is the biggest, it's south facing and where my Grandad used to plant all his greens. However as mentioned in an earlier post my Grandad left this Earth before I was born so the garden hasn't been producing veg for over 26 years. Instead my Grandma was a big fan of anything that flowers so both gardens are now full of bulbs, bedding plants, shrubs and one lawn the size of a postage stamp. As well as these there are 2 holly bushes which the birds love (but I don't) and an Ivy which started growing up a washing line pole but has now taken over the entire garden wall.



This garden is great for the wildlife and I want to keep it that way but more in harmony with the productivity I want to bring to it. It's gonna be hard work as it's so overgrown now. Currently I've began removing the bedding plants and daffodils, I don't want to get rid of them as my Gran loved them to I've found some neglected pots lying around so, with some fresh compost I've added the plants to the pots, they look lovely sat on the door steps.









The front garden is probably less than half the size, North facing and encircled by a privet hedge. It's pretty dark but looks out over a council bowling green where the staff actively encourage wildlife so we get lots of bird and of course Bill the squirrel. In fact at the moment we have a pair of blue tits looking at making their nest in the air vent next to or bedroom window. Anyway this garden is just full of snow drops, bedding plants and a hydrangea. To be honest I really don't know what to do here besides trimming the hedge and finding some shade loving crops, maybe I'll try forcing some rhubarb here. It would be a shame to make all the snow drops homeless though.

New Lemon Tree and Mushroom Growing too.

I hate Ikea, but the other day I saw some thing that didn't require delivery, assembly or an allen key. It was a lemon tree, just a couple of feet tall and costing £20. But something bothered me and that was all the signs around them saying "fruit is not edible" and "please do not  eat the fruit". I went home to read up on why this is. I suspected it was just to stop people stealing the fruit as I has never heard of a purely ornamental lemon tree. Reading on the Grow Your Own forum http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/  a person had the same experience at Aldi and the experts say it is because the tree and fruit has probably been sprayed with pesticides and other nasties but after the fruit growing in store has gone further fruit will be fine. Great we went out again and brought our lemon tree home and named it Jonny, after a friend who used to call himself Mr Lemon.

Something bothered me though and that was the size of the pot Jonny was crammed into, poor thing. It's roots had emerged on the surface, this is the sign of a pot-bound tree. So off I went to my local garden center (I tried The Range first but word of advice, they're useless) to buy citrus compost. You should plant citrus plants in special compost because they are very picky. A pH of 6.5 is ideal,they don't like acid or alkaline very much at all. It also needs to drain well. They also need feeding often especially in the summer. For now Jonny lives indoors in the corner of my living room but in summer He'll probably go live on the step outside the door.

My next little (indoor) project at the moment is mushrooms. Chestnut mushrooms to be exact. I bought a little kit from The Range for £3.99 which is a good price as they're usually about £8. Maybe you pay for what you get but we'll find out. The kit is basically just a box with a lid, wet compost and substrate covered in mushroom spores. Follow the instructions, keep moist, warm and dark and wait for the mushrooms. I tried one of the little kits from the pound shop before and they are good, mushrooms only take a couple of weeks to pop up. Can't wait chestnut mushrooms are great in a stir fry or risotto.

Photos will be added when the mushrooms grow but for now I thought this was funny ^

Hibernation and New Year Plans

My posts here are becoming a bit few and far between..... Sorry. I am planning on picking up properly again soon but at the moment the wild weather is rather keeping me in a semi-hibernation and out of the garden.

That said I have noticed one or two things. The first is the holly bushes I have in my new garden, these bushes come December are usually full of berries, this is to help support birds and small mammals through the hash winter. But this year the bush is empty and the same is true of the holly tree back at my old patch. Does this then mean a mild winter? Also as I put out fat balls weekly for the squadron of sparrows that visit my garden they are not going down as quick as they usually do, the birds mustn't be too concerned about building fat reserves then. So my best guess (better than the Daily Express anyway) is that it's probably gonna be a wet, windy but mild winter, not bad for wildlife.

Regarding my new years resolution my first was to break the plastic bag habit, there really is nothing worse than seeing a supermarket bag flying around in the wind or even worse, stuck in a tree for days/months on end. I've even dug them up in my old patch. Yuk! It benefits sea life too, it sickens me when I hear of whales found with a stomach full of rubbish or rescued turtles and dolphins caught up in plastic. So no I don't need a bag I've got a cotton one thanks ;-).

Next is simple I'm going to try and help my local wildlife even more, by planting insect friendly plants around my plots, hopefully adding a small pond and making some little hidy holes for mammals (or whoever wants to use em). I've seen foxes round the area on my late night and early morning drives so hopefully over the coming year I'll have more to report on these urban cuties. Oh then there's Bill. Bill is our resident squirrel, at the moment he's a little shy, I catch glimpses of him on my way to work, but back in Autumn he was out front searching for conkers so I threw him a few peanuts. I like Bill, even though I'm a big supporter of native species I guess round here is not ideal for reds anyway, Bill can stay.

                                                               Say hello to Bill!

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.

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.