Potatoes!

Well, after two weeks, the garden centre-bought potatoes look like this:



I'm rather chuffed. :D Yes, I cheated slightly, but they're doing quite well!

Apparently I'm not giving up after all

So, after a brief period this morning where I contemplated throwing everything on the patio onto a bonfire, I went to Squires and bought some fungicide.

Removed the blighty leaves, and a large amount of the plants below them, then drenched them with mancozeb, so hopefully they'll be OK.

I bought some big pots and a couple of potato plants from Squires, and they're now in my secret anti-blight defence:

Here's to hoping they stay blight-free...

Giving up

Cucumber plants died because I put them out too early.

Cauliflowers died because my idiot mother squashed them because of carelessness.

And now my potatoes have blight.

I give up.

The bad and the good

Well, unfortunately my crystal lemon cucumber plants died, as did three of the four squashes which were left out in the same set. I've still got four squashes which have been kept in the kitchen, and they're doing quite well—I re-potted them today into medium-sized pots that can go on the kitchen window ledges—and one squash left from the original lot which is looking a little weak and pale, but it seems to still be alive, which is good I s'pose.

Crystal Lemon Cucumbers - 2010-03-29 :)

Crystal Lemon Cucumber - 2010-04-04 :(

So, I thought I'd try to save them with some improvised greenhice…

Squash plant in a coke-bottle greenhouse. - 2010-04-04

…But that didn't really work…

Dead Squash. D: - 2010-04-18

…So, I removed the dead plants and repotted stuff in the soil from the pots. I've planted loads of onion sets (probably a bit close together, but that's not too much of an issue), some curly kale, some asparagus pea plants, and a few calabrese romanesco seeds to see how well they'll do in a trough. I've also re-potted the squashes that were growing indoors as I mentioned above.



I also planted two pots with onions 'cause I have LOADS of them!

LOOOOOOADS of onions! :o

Two extra pots of onions.

Summer ball squashes - top left and top middle, Butternut squash - other two

On the bright side, the potatoes I planted have finally all come through. :D

Oh, bollocks

I think I killed my cucumbers. :( I left them out for too long, and the leaves are all frostbitten. This is really rather ridiculous. It's April. Why is it still frosty in the mornings? Bloody stupid country.

Also, I really could do with even a little bit of support from my parents. I don't know what stupid, insane impulse made me think I could grow vegetables in this house. Absolutely everything I do, I'm up against resistance from my parents. It's like trying to bring up two teenagers, except those teenagers are 49 and 56, and think they know everything about everything.

I'm actually very close to giving up entirely on these stupid plants.

EDIT: Droopy squash:


Frost-bitten cucumbers:


:(

I have seedlings! :D

Eight teeny tiny plants popped up this afternoon, and they're growing really quickly. :s I'm a big worried that they'll out-grow their pots within a few days, which means I won't be around to re-pot them. :/

Unsurprisingly, the promised pallets to build the beds never materialised, so next Saturday is visiting B&Q day to buy the wood I need to build the beds. I think I'll have to leave Mum instructions, and get her to send me photos on a daily basis so I can let her know when she needs to re-pot things, and where.

So, the things that have germinated are the Graffiti Cauliflower:


(The white fluff is an annoying mould which is apparently harmless, and the brown powder is cinnamon, which is apparently anti-fungal.)

...which is purple! :D

And the crystal lemon cucumber:



...

Well, they're not very impressive at the moment, but they'll grow! Hopefully... :o

Propagation

So, today was mostly spend in the garden putting seeds into trays to go into propagators. I made up a mix of compost and topsoil to plant them in, and they're sitting on the various window ledges around the house. :)




Now all I need to do is wait and see what pops up! Hoping that I get at least 50% of them coming through. :)

No sign of anything form the potatoes yet.

Edit: Forgot to list what I'd planted! Crystal Lemon Cucumbers, Summer Ball Squashes, Hawk Butternut Squashes, Graffiti Cauliflowers, two types of sweet pepper, and Moneymaker Aubergines. :)

Planted potatoes! :D

Hurrah! I have planted potatoes! :)

The beds aren't built yet, so I've bagged them using the bags from the grow-your-own kit they came in (Giftmas present :)).

I should start to see shoots through the top of the soil by the end of the week! :)

Potatoes! :D

My seeds have arrived! \o/

My seeds have arrived in the post! \o/ :D The onion sets will arrive later in the year, and the potatoes have already sprouted! :o

I went to Homebase earlier and bought 4 bags each of compost and top soil as I need about 9,000 litres of top soil / compost to fill the various beds! >.< Will get the things to start building the beds tomorrow, hopefully; may need to hire a van…

So, the list of things I'm growing:

• Kale (Redbor)
• Leek (Musselburgh)
• Asparagus Pea
• Calabrese (Romanesco)
• Pumpkin (We B Little)
• Cauliflower (Graffiti)
• Lettuce (Vanoise)
• Kohl Rabi (Azure Star)
• Broccoli (Rudolph)
• Pepper (Mixed)
• Cucumber (Crystal Lemon)
• Carrot (Purple Haze - F1)
• Radicchio (Palla Rossa)
• Squash (Summer Ball)
• Radicchio (Trevi)
• Shallot (Ambition)
• Chinese Radish (Mantanghong)
• Beetroot (Mixed)
• Aubergine (Moneymaker - F1)
• Carrot (Sugarsnax)
• Kale (Dwarf Green Curly)
• Parsnip (White Gem)
• Pak Choi (Green Revolution - F1)
• Beetroot (Boltardy)
• Pepper (Minimix)
• Chard (Bright Lights)
• Butternut Squash (Hawk)
• Potatoes (Foremost, Nadine, Desiree)

I'm really looking forward to seeing what I get out of this, as I'm hoping the answer will be vegetables with flavour!

Uh-oh...

There goes the neighbourhood.

Well, the back garden, at any rate. :) Yes, I've decided to start growing my own vegetables. I've done potatoes and carrots before, but I thought I'd actually give it a proper go.

So, I've bought a load of seeds for a real mix of stuff, and I'm building two raised 10mx1.8m beds in the back garden, and just need to put everything up! Also, it's a good excuse to poke and prod my Dad to help me put up the Greenhouse he bought in 2001. ;)

So, yes. I'll be posting stuff here as things progress. :) Check back!