I started my gardening this year on the 7th Jan. Apparently January and February is the time most people are depressed, but for the gardener it’s a time of excitement and anticipation! I am really excited about the garden this year.

First Job was to plant my garlic in pots in the conservatory. – Garlic was by far my best crop last year and I hope for another fantastic crop again this year. As usual, several different varieties planted this year (all supermarket bought). I am convinced they are exactly the same as the expensive seed versions form the garden centre! I have found the best method for me is to grow in trays of six or 12 indoors in January then put outside to get frosted and plant out after the last frost. If your late you can always stick them in the freezer overnight to cheat!

I am late with the giant onion attempt but it’s not going to stop me from trying. I will be planting seeds very soon. I am going natural this year with no artificial light or heat. – I was getting carried away!

The chickens are doing well and have survived the wet winter so far. We have a couple of new arrivals to add to the flock. I had the incubator out over Xmas and Two lovey big Black Orpingtons were the result. – 2/6 probably no too bad for January hatch rates. One is a cockerel so is being raised for the table! Not looking forward to the day…

I havent decided on what to grow this year yet but I usually just spend a few hours browsing seed catalogs and see what I end up with. I am keeping it simple this year and going for mostly trusted varieties with maybe one or two novelty varieties thrown in for good measure.

Would love to hear what you are growing and your plans for this year – Get in touch using the comments system below!

Happy Gardening,
Doug

I am trying to avoid a repeat of last year when mould formed around the roots and killed the tomatos growing in the system – http://wellrooted.co.uk/2010/06/hydro-disaster/

I have three types of chillis in the system – Jolokia, Apache and Cayene. I am using ‘Chilli Focus’ diluted in the resevoir water to feed the plants.

The top of the tray I had used last year was made from wood and I cut holes in the top to allow the plants to grow through. The difference this year is that I have the correct plastic top to the tray and I have cut diagonally through the cube cut-outs. I then bent up each corner and cut a small hole in the middle to allow only the stem of the plant to come up through. In theory, this should stop the light getting to the ‘rockwool’ cube that the plants grow in which should in turn stop them becomming green with algae and allowing mould / disease into the system…

Here’s hoping.

So far I am growing,

• Numerous chili varieties,
• Numerous Tomato varieties,
• Draft French Beans,
• Dwarf Kenyan beans,
• Dwarf yellow beans,
• Peas,
• Butternut squash,
• Pumpkin (Dills Atlantic Giant)
• Runner Beans,
• French Beans,
• Celery,
• Salad,
• Courgettes…
• Onions (Ailsa) – See Dougs giant onion attempt 2011!

All progressing well even though I did need to re-sow my tomatoes and chilis due to a freak hot April day in the greenhouse. – they all got toasted!

Pictures will be soon to follow.

Doug

I now have all the wood I should need for the new garden boxes and will hopefully make a start on them this weekend. I also installed an autovent onto the greenhouse window which is working a treat.

I was also very surprised to see flowers and even small green strawberrys on my outdoor plants today!

This is the idea I have come up with…

I’m going to make three seperate wooden frames with strong plastic mesh panels. The idea is that to get to a section of the raised bed you can just lift off a box section and continue with the planting and just place back again when done. I shall use a light wood so they should be very easy to move about. Each box will be 109x87x60cm so I’m going to buy just over 30m of wood to build them all!

Back to the plants and the tomatos (big zac, cedrico) and chillis (apache) are doing great at the moment…

I have already planted a good few seeds and they appeared through the soil in just 5 days, hopefully a sign of things to come! This is what I have planted so far…

Tomato (Cedrico, Big Zac, Shirley, Ailsa Craig) Onion (Ailsae, Ailsa Craig) Chilli (Jolokia, Apache)

The onions will be part of my bid to improve on last year’s giant onion attempt, my measly 800g Ailsa Craig. Follow the attempt here.

In the picture, you can see the newly built boxes ready to be filled with soil. The near left hand corner will be filled with the hydroponic kit again soon. The box with the soil already in has held extra strawberry runners from last years plants over the winter along with the ones in the pots. The advocado tree in the background has just about survived the cold (I think)!

The sunbeam squash plant has also gone now, leaving only a very trimmed courgette plant in the bigger wooden box. I never really used the produce from that plant all that much and I don’t think I will plant that one again next year. The courgettes were much more useful to me.

The tomatos are taking a long time to ripen, I hope they can turn red enough before the plants die!

Here’s a few pics from the garden.