Thursday, 15 September 2011

A warm September?

I'm hopeful, maybe ignorantly, that the warm September we are having might actually see one of tomato plants produce, even if it's the tiniest green tomato ever seen I would be chuffed. The mini greenhouse I have is not situated in the path of a lot of direct sunlight so I have moved the stronger tomato's to a sunny part of the garden in hope this might encourage them to flower. According to my research this is unlikely, but I have nothing to lose by trying.



I pulled some radishes yesterday, they were such an arrange of shapes I was quite confused, they all went in at the same time, same soil, same greenhouse, so why do they look like this?
 Does anyone know if I should replant the little sprouty looking ones?
 Also, the ones I did pick looked and tasted lovely straight after, but by this morning they had wilted and gone completely soft?

Monday, 12 September 2011

My Tomato Conundrum

It's not really a conundrum. I know that my plants are not going to produce and fruits, I planted them too late in the year and I don't want to admit this to myself. I planted my tomato seeds in July (I think) and it's now mid September, I have been reading and researching and so far it seems they will probably not produce tomato's in time or make it through the frosts.
Here are my biggest plants...


I know they are on a slippery slope out of here, but I live in hope.

Please. Help Me, I'm a total novice.

So, I'm very new to gardening, it all started a few months ago when I went to a Mexican restaurant (Wahaca, it's delish) and as a nice touch at the end they gave everyone a little packet of chili seeds, I planted them that weekend in old food tins I found in the recycling bin and stuck them up in a little plastic greenhouse at the end of my father in-law's garden as me and Chris are currently 'between home's, being a relatively newish member of my other half's family, his clan all naturally assumed I was interested in gardening, which resulted in relations bringing me other seeds they had at home, shoved away at the back of the kitchen draw. I got tomato's, spring onions and radishes. I thought what the hell, there is something fun about it, and I planted all the seeds in a variety of improvised tubs and watered them whenever I remembered, or about every other day.
 Within a month it looked like there was a jungle in the mini greenhouse, the plants were growing too big for their pots, there was a little outbreak of some sort of white fly all over my chili's, I'd added over the weeks a seed tray of cherry pips and the tops from a punnet of strawberries sprinkled with some soil which were now sprouting.
 Even as an inexperienced gardener it did cross my mind that August was a bit late to start planting such an array of fruit and veg but I got completely carried away in the excitement of seeing things actually growing especially after the success of my radishes.
Now I am halfway through September, my tomato's and chili's are yet to flower, well enough produce fruit and all my plants are probably going to perish during the miserable English winter. I have however discovered, that although I have a lot to learn, I could potentially be 'green fingered' or referred to by that tarnished term a 'gardener,' or at least willing to learn?
 I am adopting that past time of the over sixties and/or hippi eco warriors with holey brown jumpers.


 Although I'm sure I have had a few raised eyebrows from my extremely unoutdoorsey, ready meal eating friends who's flagstone gardens are only there to have a fag, and who are yet to see my usually manicured nails chipped and dirty. I'm quite liking the idea of growing my own veg though, especially being a vegetarian, I just hope that next year I will actually be able to eat some of it!
 Now I'm off to Selfridges to find myself a brown holey jumper....

My first Radish. Woooohooo.

Well. It was a proud day today when I pulled my first radish. Although (according to every gardening book and website I have read) it is one of the easiest vegetables to grow, it's still my first ever vegetable and I feel extremely pleased and proud of it, I only got four and they tasted lovely, they had a lot more flavor than any shop bought one's I've tried, they all had a really peppery after taste, no idea what type they were, I paid no notvie to the seed packet.
 I have left a selection of other radishes still in the ground (or old baked bean tins which are quickly going rusty), all sizes and I'm hoping by pulling them up I will learn through trial and error when the best time to harvest them is.