h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi SS ,

It has been a bit rough hasn't it. An allotment a few down from me, spent days building a lovely greenhouse out of polythene. Well, the day after, all he had left was the frame . The polythene ended up flying away in the sky!

All the best.

Nigel

Hello Sue ,

Thanks for visiting, hope that you are well .

Nigel

Welcome home Nigel! I shall look forward eagerly to your interesting postings.

Wednesday 18th March, 2009

It has been quite a while since I posted on my diary thread, mainly because there has not been much to report because of the winter season . Now the weather is hopefully getting a little warmer , it is the time of year when the seeds are starting to bounce about in their packets eager to get out .

I am going down my allotment about once a week at the moment, but will increase that when there are vegetables planted as they will need checking for water. Talking of water, down towards the bottom of my plot has been a boggy pond right through this winter which has been very frustrating. Frustrating because I sat on my little garden stool to prune my fruit bushes about a month ago, and I lent back too far and fell in . I was apart from being a little wet! Fortunately, the pond has dried up now and is revealing the heavy solid clay, I don’t use that bit as it is like concrete .

A few weeks ago, I brought my potatoes. All three types are now in the shed chitting (makes me every time I say that). I will reveal which varieties I am growing shortly. I always like to try different ones each year, and am looking forward to the very first home grown spud around June/July time . I have also brought my leek seeds which I hope will be more of a success than last year, also my swede seeds and a new vegetable I have never grown before which is a squash .

I will keep you informed from when I plant them, to when I eat them !

Yesterday, I sowed some organic cress seeds on moist kitchen paper. Although organic seeds are more expensive, and there are fewer in, I thought that I would try them to see what difference there is in taste. However, it has been about 10 years since I have eaten cress so I will have to try some non-organic ones too and see if I can taste the difference .

Anyway, I will go and check on these cress to see if they are still in the greenhouse, and will catch you all later .

Nigel

Thank you Nigel! It's lovely to see you posting again and I eagerly anticipate following your progress.

I've got Rocket and Pentland Javelin chitting at the moment.

Well it certainly is heading towards summer here, I believe that being in outer London I am a bit more south than you and WS Nigel.
They Cherry Blossom is doing well and birds nestinbg all over the place!
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I have no garden, just some Ivy on wall pots as a communal garden. I find Ivy always does better outdoors, perhaps cooler and moister, airwise.
I was given an easy to grow indoor orchid and as did really well on a window sill have been slowly adding plants and flowing bulbs like Daffs, which look lovely!
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I bought a Sage herb plant in a pot, I picked up wrong one, and found it grows to a 1m bush,oops,lol!! I was wondering Nigel if you have any tips about whether I can keep but prune it to keep it to size or am I doomed to having a blocked up window with a huge plant indoors?

Hi Scorp - I will keep you up to date on how my potatoes are coming on, I have rocket as one of my types. I have never grown that one before, but the name made me go for it .
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Hi SS - Glad to hear you are enjoying the wildlife spotting, and that the cherry trees are coming into blossom . There are no trees in flower here as yet, but always like to see the delicate blossom. When it is windy, the blossom blows about and it looks like snow! .

Your sage plant will benefit from trimming which will keep it in shape and to the size that you can cope with . I have found that in the past they only last about 12 months before going woody, and for that that reason I like to start some cuttings off in a cool place when they start to put on growth.

I have got some ivy in big patio pots which is about seven years old. It just refuses to climb except along ground level . They are the proper climbing species, and I brought them for the aim of growing up my trellis. I will keep training them though, I think my neighbour has got most of it growing through the fence along her patio .
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I have watered my cress twice today, it has been a lovely sunny day which makes a nice change. I am suffering with my asthma, I always do around this time of year when the trees are about to come into bud and lawns being cut triggers it off too .

Still, I won't let it ruin my love of the garden, will just have to rely on my antihistamines and inhalers .

Nigel

Okay, I will go for trimming then Nigel.
I think it is a Triffid as has doubled, literally, in height in a matter of days!
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Yep, the gardens are starting to come to life here now, the daffs in parks and gardens are looking particularly stunning now we have have fairly warm(17c) for quite a few days, perhaps why the Sage has started a growth spurt!
The now more active animal and bird life of course helps to spread seeds around through their droppings, I think the Suirrels in my garden are particularly helpful as so flipping greedy,lol!

The sage must like the position it is in SS . A lot of people use sage in cooking, I am not sure what for but you may know. Cooking has never been a strong point of mine, only when I left school and wanted to be a . I did work experience in a restaurant and it put me off for life .

Squirrels are very greedy, they are until they start digging my plants and bulbs up . They get called some names then! .

Nigel

Try making some tea with the leaves SS, it is very refreshing; if somewhat different.

Sage and onion stuffing

Good to see you back again, Nigel. I hope you are keeping well.

I planted some of my seeds recently then my growhouse got blown to smithereens in the high winds. We did do a '52 card pick-up' and pu them all in one tub - let's see what happens with them

Friday 27th March, 2009 - Weather is windy, dull, and cold .

I have just been down to my greenhouse for watering checks, and everything seems . Last week, I sowed some cress seeds on moist kitchen paper. The one tray is doing well, the other looks a little . I think that it may be because I have sowed a few too many in the one tray which has caused overcrowding. It is only in the middle part, so hopefully the others will take over to fill the gaps.

This week, I have sowed a packet of Leek seeds called ‘Musselborough Improved’. I hope that they are ‘improved’ as the ones that I grew last year, did not do very well. I have another later leek to sow called ‘Oarsman’, it is a variety that I haven’t grown before so it will be interesting to see how they grow and taste. I always grow all of my seeds in the greenhouse, in seed trays, which gives them a better start than growing directly into the ground. I am hoping to pot the leeks on individually this year to get a better sized plant, and stronger, to be able to cope with the clay soils of the allotment .

I went down the allotment last Saturday to check everything was , and to see if the rhubarb was starting underneath the compost bin I put on top of the crown. After carefully removing the lid, I discovered some lovely young sweet stems about 6 inches long . They will not be ready for some time yet, but my mouth is already starting to water thinking about that crumble . The forced, young stems are the best and the sweetest .

Dad has dug the area up the top of my plot ready for the spuds, which are still happily chitting in the shed . I am a bit worried about them though, as I have just heard we could be in for a bit of a frost tomorrow night. I don’t think that it will be much, but I am going to get my piece of fleece out and cover them to be on the safe side. The shoots on the first earlies are quite advanced, and at a low enough temperature frost could affect them. However, if they do get affected it is not the end of the world (or the spud!) as they should grow back .

I have not been doing a lot this week because of a chest infection, which has been a pain to get rid of. I am feeling better now though, and hope it continues .

I am pleased to find that my geraniums are picking up well in the greenhouse now . I am still hoping to get out to buy some young plants soon.

My friend down the allotment gave me two massive Parsnips . My cooked them by boiling, and they were delicious. My dad wants me to grow some this year, so I will have to buy some seeds. They are a nice winter vegetable like the Swedes .

Scorp: Thank you for the tip about Sage tea, I will give that a go sometime . It sounds interesting!

Moonraker: Sage and onion stuffing, we usually buy ours in a sort of powder form which my adds water to and rolls into ball shapes. I think! I just sit down and eat . You cannot beat home made produce though, especially when it has been home grown too .

Br. Magwitch: Thank you. I am not too bad, good and bad days really like all of us. I hope that your seeds survive, even if you get a mixture in one pot . It will be interesting though, a sort of wild garden look-a-like . All the best. .

Thank you for reading. I am there has not been an article in for a couple of editions. I am hoping to get the one I am working on completed for the next edition .

Nigel

Unfortunately Strangely Strange hasn't been on for a bit as his sage has grown that big, he cannot find the way to his computer .

Nigel .

Blimey Nigel, I can't even get in my flat for Sage!
Sorry you have been unwell, don't say sorry for Post, people will just be glad for articles whenever you can. I heard there will be a frost too.
Parsnips are lovely crisp and roasted and make a roast lunch, or even just a solo snack as long as very crisp.

Hi SS ,

I am glad to hear that your Sage is growing well! .

Thank you for the parsnip tips, I will have words with the .

All the best.

Nigel

Nigel I thought you must have been ill or something as you hadn't posted for a while glad your now .
I took a couple of pic's hoping you might know what kind of tree this is .The bark is not like cherry much to light in colour and smooth looking ,I didn't mark them but they are numbers 1051 and 1053 here http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/dna/h2g2/brunel/F1694533/ext/_auto/-/http://www.flickr.com/photos/21128589@N02/

It is my allotment general meeting tonight.

I will let you know how it goes .

for not posting on this thread for a while.

Nigel

You don't have to appologise Nigel, I haven't posted either, lol!
My ivy in pots/tubs is doing well after the trim which is nice.
I don't think I mentioned it but my Aspidistra which I have had for around 5 years was on its last legs with even new leaves coming up with yellow stripes. I took pot off and it was abolutely pot bound with little soil left!
It needed division drastically and I have ended up with 2 large pots and 2 medium ones which seem viable as medium ones have a new leaf each growing with one old. The 2 big pots have either new leaves, 4 in one case, or what appears to be start of new growth. There is one pot of just a tuber sticking up which is really just a try and see pot.
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I am pleased I divided Aspidistra as really on last legs and am actually quite, actually very fond of it, and when it was soiless and ready for division it looked vulnerable, and I was really nervous. The sense of relief when it was fully divided and repotted was palpable,lol!

Any posting (however infrequent) from you is welcome Nigel. I look forward to reading them immensely.