RHS Day Course.

Happy Fathers' Day.  Belatedly...
This Fathers' Day, my present was a day course at RHS Harlow Carr in growing Organic Vegetables.
What a cool present!
I arrived slightly late (which I blame entirely on the fact that the roads around Wetherby have been re-routed since Googlemaps wrote my directions - it has absolutely nothing to with the fact that I left the house after the latest-possible-time-I-could-leave-and-still-make-it-in-time)

Foolishly, I didn't take many pictures on my phone, but loads on the proper camera, which demands that I downsize them before uploading them...  Hey ho.
Anyways, we started with a classroom-based session that went through loads of the theory.  Some of it I obviously already knew, but it was good to have it all consolidated and built on.  There were, predictably, a couple of people in attendance who would have happily spoken all day about their own area of expertise, but thankfully there wasn't much room for that.  There wasn't, in fact, much room in my day for anything...  We looked at soil, environment, green manures, pest and disease control, weed control, as well as various other things.  Lunch was a mad dash around the garden for me (well, a very small patch of the rather large site.)  It was also sweet pea day, so a few pictures of sweet peas might sneak in...

But the excitement of lunch was that the Gardeners' World team were recording that day, so I got to see them in action.

That's Rachel de Thame doing her thing, and a whole bunch of members of the public being resolutely British and ignoring the fact that there's a camera crew in the middle of the garden.
The afternoon session was spent outside (yay!) and the weather held off for it, which was a relief, given I'd not bothered to take any sort of waterproofing items...
We sowed some green manure in a raised bed in the veg garden.

Well, as it happens, I sowed some green manure in the raised bed.  I'm hoping to get regular updates on its progress from the gardening team...

The veg area itself was pretty impressive, though staggering to think that it was much smaller than you would have found on a country house estate many years ago.  Here's the rhubarb patch:

And here are some other bits of the fruit and veg area.

 And here is a view that gives you a small idea of the large scale...

Sorry it's a little blurry...
And here are some flower shots.  I like the last one the best.

I said it was nice, didn't I.
All-in-all, it was a fab day, and I had a lovely time.  Just a shame that I had to leave early to get back for a youth group (which I was 45 minutes late for anyway, because the traffic was worse on the way down!)
Thanks to my lovely boys :)  (And, of course, to their lovely mother, who obviously had to do the organising of it!)

Sow sow.

Had more time in the garden today (YAY!)
So we finished putting stuff in Big Boy's little raised bed.  There are two tomato plants in one end, two peppers in the other, and two rows of flowers sown in between.

Also sowed some more of 'my' seeds.  To add to the carrots, purple-sprouting broccoli and beetroot, I plumped for radish (which I don't really eat) fennel (ditto, but like the smell) and some lettuce.  Of course, this called for some more of the aforementioned lollipop sticks.

Also planted out four of the tomato plants in the 'main' bed, behind the garlic.  Really need to get the carrots and broccoli protected before they start sprouting...
Also had a crack at tidying the patio a bit, but as it's one of my least favourite jobs, it's not yet complete.  I'll head back out after this to carry on (*hangs head in anticipation*)
In other news, the blossom in the orchard continues to delight.  The apples have taken over from the pears (which themselves took over from the plums).  What's more, the quince is blossoming nicely.  Does this mean that we'll have fruit this year?  I hope so!

Seedy stuff.

The latest update.

But before I say what I've done, here's an exciting new venture in the garden - coloured lollipop sticks.
Yes, you heard right.

You can buy 1000 lollipop sticks from Amazon for about a tenner.  These come in cool colours.  They work brilliantly as plant labels (though the deep purple will probably be easier to write on once it's sun-bleached a little).  Now, it might be less garish to go for the non-coloured ones, but I figure that, if the flowers don't work, at least you've still got some colour in the garden...


Been sowing:
Saturday (5/5/12)
Two trays of sunflowers.

Also planted the cherry tree out in the orchard.  Need to stake it really...

This is the hole it went in.  For some reason, I chose to plant it next to the stump of the apple tree that got knocked over a few months back.  This was a good idea, until I found a root that was about 4 inches thick.  Thus the pickaxe.  I also got a splitting maul, but it's not in this shot.

Today (7/5/12)
Sowing.
A tray of beetroot Detroit (birthday gift)
A line of beetroot Boltardy direct sown next to the purple sprouting broccoli sowing.
A pot of mint.  The last lot failed en masse.  It's supposed to be indestructible, but I can't seem to get any going...

Potting on:
One tray of sunflowers into the 3" pots.  Total of about 25 out of a 40 module tray.

They had absolutely amazing root systems:

Planting out:
Tomatoes in Big Boy's bed.
Pansies in the pots on the front steps.
Marigolds by the purple sprouting broccolli and between the gooseberry bushes.

Busy busy busy.

Lots of stuff done, and even more stuff not done.
This weekend I raked over the main veg bed in the garden (fine tilth and all that) and sowed some carrots and purple sprouting broccoli.  Went out this morning to find a frost on the ground...
These tulips look *way* better in real life.

And this is to show that the copper beech hedge is showing signs of new growth.

I love that time of year when everything's just poised, about to explode into flower/leaf.  There's a sermon in there somewhere...
Also potted on the tomatoes, and put a bunch of the failing squash/courgette/pumpkin seeds outside in the hope the sunlight might do something...
Also ordered 1000 lollipop sticks to use as plant labels.  Less than a tenner for the lot...  And they're all different colours, so at least there'll be some colour in the flower beds!!

Yet another update.

It's been a productive few days...
21st was seed sowing day, with echinacea, pumpkins, squashes, courgettes and the like all done in pots for inside germination.
The toms, chillies and onions are coming along too.
It also saw the potting on of lots of pansies.  Hopefully will be ready for a nice late-spring display.

The blossom on the plums is almost over (I'm hoping the bees have done their bit!) and the apples are beginning to show some signs of life.  The other fruit trees have been showing hints of life for a couple of weeks too (pear's early, but the quince, cherry, little plum are all progressing).
Bought two blackberries, two blueberries, a growbag and a big watering tray on Thursday.  The soft fruit hasn't made it into the ground yet, though, as Thursday was the day when this was done:

That slightly odd looking construction with bits of wood is Big Boy's protection for a carrot that he buried.  I tried to explain that I'd just harvested the carrots, and you planted seeds and got carrots, rather than planting the carrots themselves.  It rather fell on deaf ears.

If you're wondering why the light is different, it's because it was dark by the time I finished up, so I couldn't take the photos on the same day :)
This bed will be planted up in due course, though with what, I'm not quite sure.  Probably a mix of veg and flowers, like last year.  Might put the flowers in the middle this time.  The bit of greenery left in the middle at the moment is garlic.  I sort of accidentally left it in, so I'll leave it be and see what happens.  Probably just slightly deformed bulbs come harvest time.
The red cabbages that overwintered look like they might produce seeds this year (I think they're biennial, aren't they?) which is exciting. 
Anyway, the sun's just starting to burn off the morning mist (it's now half twelve!) so I might go and plant some soft fruits.

Bbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Chilly.

It's been a cold snap recently.  Most distressingly, my fuscia seem to have been killed off.  I'll cut them back, and see if they give life another go, but it doesn't look too hopeful :(  I got them as plugs, and they'd grown to about a foot in pots...
The chickens have had a little extra protection:

I draped horticultural fleece over their 'bedroom' bit of their house.  I have no idea if they slept better as a result, but I know I did!  Thankfully, to date, all three are still with us.

Not much chance to do anything else outside.  We've picked up a couple of big pots for a pear tree and an apple tree, and they can be done despite the weather, as they don't require digging!  Perhaps a project for this week. 
I keep promising myself I'll do an onion sowing session ... been saying that since December.

TIMBERRRRRRR

Our tree's just fallen over.
It used to look like this:

Now it looks like this: (different seasons, clearly!)

Here are the bits of it...

 

It's been quite windy here...