April 2006

Remember the full story (often with pics) behind the diary entries below will appear on the relevant Veg Garden, Flower Garden, Fruit Garden etc page.

1	Dodging the April showers I have tidied the back lawn, dug the second bed in new veg patch, set up my mushroom growing pot, taken two indoor plant cuttings, reorganised the conservatory to fit in my new étagère, deployed the second étagère to the potting shed and  put some shallots in a tray of compost to start rooting. In the evening craft line, I'm crocheting a white lacy top.
2	Bit of a planting day as I risk my first outdoor seeds, in-between more April showers.  Great delight as I see the first germination of lavatera, broccoli and sweetcorn seeds planted last weekend.
3	I fear heavy rain last night may have washed yesterday's seeds away - only time will tell.... After over a week of milder weather, my new fruit trees are budding, but there's a frost forecast for the next two nights, so protection is required --> (gosh - thinking ahead, I may be getting the hang of this gardening lark). Similarly, two pots of budding blueberry bushes have been moved into the greenhouse but the gooseberry pot is too heavy to move and the bush is too awkward to cover, so I'm having to risk its survival - fingers crossed.
4	Visited Maldon farmer's market this morning but wasn't too impressed.  There was some nice stuff, but all very expensive. Cleared the ground around the original fruit trees and fed them with sulphate of potash.
5	My usual ex-work walking partner came over to try a jog with me.  I did enjoy having a jogging "partner".  Mixed grain bread cooked while we were out. Put together two new butterfly planters for my pot garden, interspersed with some general garden and pond maintenance. Aggie, our old chick, had some very senior moments today, parading around the front garden with a purpose, examining all of the pots as if searching for something.  She finally settled in the nest and laid her fourth egg in four days!  That meant three eggs today, small, medium and large -->
6	First planting in the paddock.  It was a brilliant tip to root the shallots before planting.  I'm sure it will give them a better chance in the unfriendly clay soil.  Thirty five shallots planted in one half of the first bed and another tray put to root in the potting shed. Nasty shock this morning when I found that rabbit had been in my original fenced-off vegetable plot.  Very fortunately it dug where I haven't yet planted.  I'm guessing that it got in under the gate - the most vulnerable place - so I've blocked the gap with two big roofing tiles I found behind the stables and put down some wild animal repellent. Another two flower pots destroyed by rabbits :-((
7	Planted my herb wheel today with chives, parcel, basil, coriander, marjoram and thyme.  I've placed it in the greenhouse to germinate, covered with a clear plastic sheet. Put remaining 47 onion sets in a tray of compost to start rooting.
8	17 seed potatoes planted in the paddock under black plastic sheeting (old compost bags, actually). A variety of flower seeds set to germinate in the potting shed, plus two pots outdoors.
9	This is getting beyond a joke.  Having blocked off the gate, a rabbit has now dug under my (obviously not very) "rabbit proof" fence around the vegetable plot.  Boy am I glad I haven't planted out my seedlings yet!  Drastic measures required, more old roofing tiles employed and my back aches!!
10	No sign of any further rabbit activity in the vegetable plot, but three spotted in the front garden this evening, one big mama and two babies - how can something so cute be so destructive?
11	Brrrrr.... it's cold & wet outside, too cold & wet for any more potato, onion or shallot planting. Spotted a pair of very pretty Pied Wagtails hopping about on  the lawn this morning. Tried a spot of cheese scone baking.
12	Even with five hours out to visit mum-in-law, I still had a fairly productive gardening day in which I potted up four more courgettes, planted up a 22 station propagator, planted 10 grow tubes, planted paddock bed two and took my mushroom pot to stage 2.  Also visited Alton garden centre and got a set of four bargain painted pots for £9.99, a free hanging basket and invested in a small heated propagator for my special/expensive seeds which need germination at a highish constant temperature.
13	No gardening today - needed to seriously clean the house.  Boring........
14	Guests for dinner tonight, so mainly a cooking day.  Menu: Egg & chutney salad with sundried tomato & parmesan bread, followed by venison with chocolate red wine sauce, new potatoes, carrot & swede mash and swiss chard (from the garden), followed by manchester tart and cheese board (cheshire, lancashire with raisins, apple & cinnamon and harlech with horseradish). Yum yum! Still had time for a 3 mile walk and a little pottering in the garden, thinning out turnips & radishes, general checking around & watering.  Started putting my broad beans, dwarf beans & haricots out for hardening off.
15	Another cool & dull day.  Did one of the worst garden jobs, collecting chicken poo from the back lawn.  Yuk!  Still, it's not a complete waste of time as it goes on the compost heap. Finally finished my planting plan for the main vegetable plot (I think!). Out for dinner with friends tonight which is quite a treat for me, no cooking or clearing up :-))
16	Paddock vegetable bed 3 planted with rooted onion sets and shallots. Two new houseplants potted up, 4 giant begonias planted in a very large pot and some outside flower pots tidied up.  Indoors, finished crocheting the lacy white top - see it in Chick Originals.
17	In the potting shed, swiss chard planted.  In the vegetable garden,  peas planted. In the flower garden, borders weeded, old tall pot cleared and ivy replaced by white polemonium (too high for rabbits!).
18	A trip to the local garden centre for a propagator thermometer and a stash of compost for up and coming vegetable potting. In the vegetable garden. another pea drill and two rows of broad bean seeds planted. In the flower garden, four more giant begonias planted in individual pots. Bad news, my sprouting broccoli seedlings seem to be expiring and I'm not sure how to save them. BIG treat this evening - in a box at the Royal Albert Hall with personal waiter, drinks and nibbles for a live performance of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.  Excellent !!
19	The trickiest part of the vegetable gardening begins....  planting out of precious nurtured seedlings.  Two courgettes and twelve broad bean plants now in the big bad world of weather and rabbits! Meanwhile, Crow mowed the front lawn and it looks pretty good, especially considering that we do nothing in terms of looking after it, except cut it.  This evening he has reported rabbit sitings in my paddock veg beds.  Will there be damage in the morning?
20	Heated propagator put into action today.  My precious white tomato, orange banana tomato, bolivian chilli and golden berry entrusted to its warm enclosure.  Took a break to go walking then outdoor planted summer sprouting broccoli and calabrese, although I don't think the soil condition in my broccoli "enclosure" is really suitable.  Tidied up and deployed my three hanging strawberry pots.
21	Cordon tomato Brandywine added to heated propagator, along with more golden berry and aubergine.  Then, potting on of tomatoes, red peppers and mini cauliflower.
22	Paddock beds 4 & 5 planted with potatoes.  Thinned out my carrot container and tried transplanting some of the thinnings, rather than just discarding them.  Otherwise, just general monitoring and watering.  Paddock bed 1 shallots coming along nicely.
23	Radishes (red & white) still doing well.  Beetroot seedlings have appeared and will need thinning soon and at last, I think there is some sign of salad leaves and cress but the spring onions are a failure - possible eaten by mice?
24	Everything in my herb wheel has germinated, although the parcel (as expected) & chives are lagging behind.
25	More sweetcorn, bean and pea seeds planted in pots, the peas so that I can recognise the outdoor seedlings from weeds when they appear.  Ten more pepper seedlings potted on.  That means I've got 21 pepper plants at the moment, but I don't expect them all to survive. Oh no!  Aggie has turned broody and just wants to sit on the nest all day, on Tat & Titfer's eggs.  Once the young ones have laid, we have to lift Aggie out and close the hen house door to deny her access.  Seems cruel but you're supposed to keep a broody hen off the nest.
26	Weeded, dug and disinfected the greenhouse soil.  Still conscious I had some kind of bug in there last year, that enjoyed my low growing tomatoes.  Finished thinning the carrots and planted a beetroot pot. Baked a carrot cake from a recipe that came in the Battery Hen Welfare Trust newsletter.  I'm not an experienced cake baker so I was very pleased when it turned out successfully.  I picked it because we have guests for dinner tomorrow and a dairy-free meal is required.
27	Dairy-free menu:  Egg, tomato & home-made chutney mix with crunchy salad and herby bread, followed by honeyed crispy duck with oven-roasted winter vegetables, followed by cider & pear dessert with honeyed yogurt (for us dairy lovers) and/or carrot cake. Everything in the orchard is doing well except the rabbit damaged Elstar Apple.  The established cherry plum, pear and two apple trees are about to burst into bloom.
28	Shallots in paddock bed 1 are doing so well that I've had to remove the fleece which was starting to impede their growth.  My salad leaves and cress planted in plots 1 & 4 aren't doing very well, so I've planted some polycress, which I had success with last year. Otherwise, I felt destructive rather than constructive, so I hit the weeds in the flower beds. Aggie tries everything she can think of to get back into the nest:
29	Of course, the rabbits have started to dig up the uncovered shallots, so I've had to construct a "scarecrow" with red/white tape and old CDs.  Not pretty!
30	But pretty effective - no dug up shallots this morning! Last year's mint doesn't seem to be re-growing so I've started two new mint pots.  The heated propagator has proved successful in germinating my exotic seeds but the seedlings are very long and leggy before they are really ready for potting on.  I can't see any option but to risk potting on; 6 orange banana tomato, 2 white tomato, 4 golden berry, 6 brandywine tomato and 2 bolivian chilli.  Then some vegetable patch digging as I plan mass planting this coming week.