Harringay Good Life

Strawberries

2011-03-27T18:53:00.001+01:00

Nice pot. New plants. What could possibly go wrong?

The sun comes out and everything goes growing-crazy, including, it would appear, Mrs Growbag. Walking back from a pub lunch, a decision was made to "go and look at" strawberry planters. After much umming and ah-ing, a wife-led decision was taken and a lovely glazed pot was purchased along with 6 Cambridge Favourite plugs and one Sonata (for the top).

This being said, growing full size strawbs seems an obvious next step. The alpine-strawberry-in-a-bag-for-the-windowsill that Mr G shoved in the ground three years ago has now got grandchildren and keeps on producing loads of tiny aromatic fruit each year. It's obviously prime strawberry country down here in North London, so with any luck in a few months' time we won't be able to see any blue ceramic as the whole thing gets covered in leaves and berries. There's some Osmocote slow-release mixed in with the compost which should keep the plants nourished, and they'll get some foliar feed later in the season if they seem to need it. Mrs G also came up with the idea of copper tape to keep the slugs off. To be honest, Mr G is pleased by this new found enthusiasm, but fears that equally enthusiastic steps may be taken later in the year to keep him off the fruit too...

Plant life

2011-03-24T09:07:00.001Z

Always good when things actually grow

The warming Spring weather is getting things going, and the Growbag garden is coming along nicely. Potatoes are now in the soil as of a few days ago, covered in black plastic (to keep the light out) with some slits in (to let the shoots through). They may get devoured by slugs, but we'll see.

The small winter veg bed has been planted up with seedlings: leeks and cavolo nero ("Cav"). Mr G has probably put too many Cav plants in, but has a plan to introduce another couple of types of kale plant later on to replace any Cav plants which are struggling.   He might also chuck a Swiss Chard or some Perpetual Spinach in later in the year. The aim is very much to achieve veg throughout the year.

The spinach and spring onions in a pot (above) are coming on nicely with the first true spinach leaves showing. Mr G will thin the spinach to 3/4 plants and treat as cut and come again.   Lettuce has also germinated, but is too small to bother photographing.   Leaves are bursting on all 3 fruit bushes and it won't be long before they're covered and the back of the garden looks lush rather than stark.

In the next few weeks Mr G will pot on his tomato seedlings and put them in the cold frame/greenhouse; plant some courgette and squash seeds; pot on some of the chillis and consider planting some beans.   As usual, space is at a premium and he has no idea where everything is going to fit, but he'll give it a damn good go.

Garden accessories #2

2011-03-24T08:52:00.002Z

Since Mr Growbag's last post bemoaning the lack of finches in his garden, he has been delighted to see 3 goldfinches fluttering around trying either to kill/mate with each other, and a chubby chaffinch hoovering up the sunflower... er... chaff under the bird feeder. From this he can only conclude that the local birds must be avid readers of Harringay Good Life.

From birds, to Team Cat. This gang of local moggies has been through many changes of personnel since Mr Growbag very unkindly cut down their jungle (the back garden) when he arrived. Keeping fingers very firmly crossed, the latest incarnation do not seem interested in digging up his vegetables and crapping in his beds - however this may be due to the resurgence of Team Fox, which occasionally leaves vile turds on the lawn.

Really unattractive temporary protection

Anyhow, Mr G had noticed that one of his bedding plants which did really well last year just wasn't growing. In fact, it appeared to be shrinking. Closer inspection revealed that something had been eating it. A quick Google and Mr G realised he was growing Nepeta, otherwise known as Catmint. Having seen a local kitten go a bit mental when next to it, Mr G has put two and two together. Whilst Mr G doesn't particularly mind supplying drugs to the local felines, it's not very helpful when said plant's only just survived an awful winter for its new growth to get chomped. Temporary precautions have been taken until Mr G's sussed out a method of protecting it more effectively.

Garden accessories

2011-03-03T08:51:00.002Z

Starling, claiming the fat feeder

There are many factors that come together to make a perfect garden, Getting Things To Grow being a crucial one, along with Stopping Cats Digging It All Up. However, no garden would be complete without its wildlife. Fortunately, encouraging little feathered creatures to a garden is, in Mr Growbag's experience an easier task than either of the above factors. Shoving a bird feeder or two in the garden is easily done and boy do the birdies love it.

Robin

Whilst the most exciting things Mr Growbag has seen in his garden are a jay, greater spotted woodpecker and sparrowhawk (in that order), none of these were due to his birdfeeder (unless you count the half-dead pigeon the sparrowhawk was sitting on as "bird food"). However, it's still nice to look out in the morning at the sparrows, blue tits, coal tits, great tits, wood pigeons, starlings, wren, robin and blackbird on or around the the bird feeder. The one type of bird notable by its absence is any type of finch - possibly surprising given Harringay's relative proximity to Finchley (groan?).

Blue tit

However, the life of the gardener and the life of the bird sometimes come into conflict. Apparently in cold weather birds tend to peck at the buds of fruit bushes, damaging their chances for the next year. The woodpecker when it visits takes chunks out of the ailing apple tree at the bottom of the garden looking for insects. The wood pigeons are a bit too omnivorous: while they hoover up the seed that falls from the feeder, they also are quite partial to leaving beak-marks on Mr G's land cress.

Added to this is the constant battle to provide food only for birds and not for squirrels. Mr G's local squirrels are Olympic standard, and will quite happily fling themselves from a fence post, grab on to the feeder, hoik themselves up clinging on for dear life and proceed to stuff themselves with seed. This weekend Mr G is going to go looking for a squirrel-proof feeder. Unfortunately Mrs Growbag has forbidden him to try his alternative plan of catching the squirrels for the pot, despite his protestations that Hugh Fearnley-Wotsit does it on TV, and plus they're grain-fed, so it must be ok...

And now, a song:

In which Mr Growbag considers "cuts"

2011-02-27T19:28:00.003Z

Pruning and weeding. Something that most people with a garden consider from time to time. Some are in favour, some are against. It is a subject which causes great disagreements: whether to have a garden that grows naturally, sprawling all over the place in verdant glory but is inefficient and not very productive. Or to prune, chopping the stuff back that isn't working very well and freeing up and encouraging the things that are.

The love of ~~cuts~~ pruning and weeding appears to Mr Growbag to be divided, not along party political lines as one might expect, but along the gender divide. Gardening Dad is a staunch advocate of cuts; Gardening Mum prefers to cherish every plant, regardless of its use in the garden. Having recently spoken on the phone to Gardening Nan, she also confirmed that Granddad Growbag, now sadly deceased, was also of the "if it's not working well, take it out" philosophy.

Mr Growbag's own attitude to ~~cuts~~ pruning is that, before proceeding, it's vital to take proper advice. Expert gardening books are a good resource, and probably best to look at a few to ensure you can come to an informed opinion on what can be pruned without leaving significant gaps in your planting or causing crucial things to die back.

Mr Growbag would also consider the adverse effect that not weeding and pruning may have on the richness of your soil. If you just let everything grow in an uncontrolled manner, it is likely that at some point there won't be any nutrients left to support the things that you really need in your garden, leading to having to max out your credit card on buying expensive fertiliser to get things going again.

At the end of the day, if there's no goodness left in your soil, possibly because the last owner of the garden didn't look after it particularly well towards the end, perhaps it's time to step back and cautiously appraise what's planted. Does it all really need to be there? The idea of getting rid of plants that may be nice to have is never pleasant but if your garden just can't support them any more, then maybe it's best to see if you can reinstate them when/if you have a bigger ~~society~~ garden. Don't rush into things: the old adage "cut in haste, repent at leisure" is certainly relevant, but Mr Growbag remains sceptical about heeding the advice of militant anti-cutting types: he doesn't want to end up with a garden so messy he might need outside help to fix it.

Most importantly, don't assume that just because other people are pruning their garden this is the first step towards them digging it all up and laying a patio. Mr Growbag imagines that, really, they're probably doing their best to encourage sustainable growth in the future. And, as he is well aware, that's not an easy task.

Spring time just around the corner

2011-02-24T16:19:00.008Z

Purple Miniature Crocuses

Mr Growbag can tell that spring is on the way as things are finally starting to get going. He has now successfully germinated rather more chilli seeds than he was planning to (putting them on a plate on a piece of wet kitchen towel, covering them with another then the whole lot with clingfilm and sitting it under the worktop on top of the fridge has worked wonders) so is hoping that he manages to find space to grow them all on. Doubtless he'll work something out.

Meanwhile, out back, a pot in which Mr G has attempted an ornamental planting of a ring of spring onions with some spinach in the centre has started sprouting. Well, the spinach has, anyhow.

The potatoes in the greenhouse are pretty much good to go - lots and lots of healthy chits, so Mr G is considering the best site for them and is pretty confident that the London climate will allow him to plant them out next weekend under some kind of weed-proof membrane (if he can be bothered to go and buy some) or a black binbag (if he can't). The former solution would be better due to being permeable, but he's heard good things about the latter method too.

Honeymoon quince, in Spain

Also in the greenhouse, the tray of leeks is sprouting, along with the quince seeds that Mr & Mrs Growbag brought back from their honeymoon in Spain (in a quince that they were given by a random Spaniard during a walk in the countryside). Mr Growbag plans to grow one or two quince bushes in pots from these, so is pleased to see that they've germinated. He has a few extra just-sprouted quince seeds which are ready for planting up, so if any readers of this blog are interested they should let him know.


Mini Daffodils

In other news, the miniature bulbs in Mr G's lawn have come up, and he's been enjoying the first crocuses and daffodils. He always mows them down a bit too early, but they seem to have hung on for the best part of three years now, so he's pretty pleased with that.

Ladybirds, ladybirds everywhere and not an aphid to eat

2011-02-10T08:52:00.003Z

One of the many peculiarities of Harringay is the fact that things are rarely where you would expect them to be, or are where they would perhaps be the most useful. For example, when Mr G first moved to the area his innocent mind was blown away by the kebab shop which had some kind of boozy after-hours pool hall at the back of it. This may have even been called "Ali Baba's" which would have been massively appropriate in the circumstances but is, in any case, long gone.

It is also quite normal here to see all kinds of strange objects on the street, ranging from toys to mirrors, pieces of furniture to that bike which has been D-locked to the tatty railings of Duckett's Common for getting on for a year now. Unsurprisingly seeing as it was only D-locked by its wheel only the wheel now remains, sans tyre.


Ladybird on tomatoes chez Growbag, last year

Mr Growbag fears this disturbance in the natural order of things has extended to his flat, as despite having purchased a perfectly serviceable ladybird house for the garden from Ally Pally market last year, the ladybirds seem to prefer overwintering in the Growbag residence. Each year from Autumn through to Spring, it's not unusual to see a sleepy ladybird crawling along the ceiling; falling off something or sitting still trying not to be too obvious (tricky, when bright red). However, having done some research Mr G concludes that this is not that unusual after all: apparently ladybirds often overwinter in warm houses. Mr G just hopes that come spring they can be bothered to leave, as it would be good if they could eat some of the aphids that will inevitably attack something in the garden later on in the year.

2011 - getting started

2011-02-06T14:35:00.010Z

Mr Growbag is very aware that his posting lapsed somewhat in the summer last year. He would like to blame this on having other things on his mind, having successfully grown his relationship with live-in-girlfriend into live-in-fiancee into Mrs Growbag, however looking back, it seems that he always forgets to post later on in the year. Mr G had always hoped that being married should automatically qualify you for an allotment (along with beard, pipe, slippers etc), however Harringay being Harringay with its risible provision for grow-your-owners this looks unlikely to happen (as do the beard and pipe).

Small, a bit battered, but still alive!

It was a pretty cold winter with a whole bunch of snow and ice, so Mr G tried as best he could to save his half-hardy flowers and chard/welsh onions by utilising lots of plastic mulches etc. This seems to have worked for the latter, and it's probably too early to tell for the former. Recently, the Arctic cold appears to have turned into strong winds, which rudely toppled Mr G's already-injured mini greenhouse, spilling his seed tray of

Orla potatoes. Lively.

(ungerminated) leek seedlings. Having scooped it all up again Mr G is retaining a probably forlorn hope that the blasted things might still germinate, if slightly confusedly given that they may be mixed in with a couple of Quince seeds which were also spread around in the fall.

Also in the reinstated mini-greenhouse are some 1st early "Orla" potatoes, developing chits at a pleasing rate. The aim with these is to get them in the ground (rather than sacks) early and dig them out by midsummer or thereabouts to free up space for other things.

Inside, the yearly battle to germinate chillies and tomatoes is ongoing, with poly bags on the warmest windowsill. Success has, as ever, been mixed thus far, with only 2 chillies showing as yet (although one is a scotch bonnet salvaged from a fresh chilli so pleased about that!) and a couple of tomato plants. Mr G decided not to buy new tomato seed this year as he still had loads of Costuluto Fiorentino, Tumbling Tom and Nicholayev Yellow left.

Warm windowsill, fingers crossed

Mr G is also experimenting with soil this year. Previously he has tried to grow things just using compost and manure, carried with great difficulty through the flat into the garden. Results in the ground have been mixed. In an attempt to get more consistency, he is going to try adding slow-release fertiliser to the mix this year (Osmocote). Hopefully this will ensure that things grow faster and don't suffer for lack of nutrients. Mr G is aware that this will wipe out any chance of his "organic" status, but growing in small spaces is nutrient intensive and quite frankly he'd rather have more veg.

Also on the agenda for this year is more spaghetti squash (hopefully Osmocote will give it enough power to produce more than one fruit this year), the delicious and hopefully indestructable Cavolo Nero, another attempt at carrots, beans, and courgettes and some salad veg with any luck. The whitecurrant, gooseberry and blackcurrant have been pruned and dosed with a little sulphate of potash, and should be primed for a flush of tasty fruit. It's going to be a busy year. Bring it on.

Costuluto Fiorentino - first true leaves on the way

A Cacaphony of Chillies

2010-08-03T11:07:00.002+01:00

Mr Growbag is delighted that this year's chilli crop has gone so well. Today was the first major harvest, and the photo is a selection of the colourful spicy things that are going to jazz up his cooking for the next few weeks. From the top left on the bit of paper, moving south: "mutant Cherry Hot/Hungarian Black hybrid"; Ring of Fire (still green, but looks good); Hungarian Hot; Bulgarian Carrot; Hungarian Black (ripened to oxblood red). Yum yum yum.

Fruits of my labour

2010-06-24T15:11:00.000+01:00

Mr Growbag is feeling somewhat triumphant today, having harvested the first batch of fruit from his two-year old bushes. There were enough ripe Hinnomaki Red gooseberries and Ben Nevis blackcurrants to fill a baking tray. Gooseberries are rather vicious plants, so Mr G was glad of his thick gardening gloves when picking. Mr G is following in the footsteps of Fruit-Processing-Legend Mum, topping and tailing everything and whacking it in the freezer. Gooseberries and blackcurrants are very tasty fruits alright, but both come into their own in the autumn and winter, when crumbles and pies are needed (with custard).

There is still a shed-load of both fruits on the bushes, along with some greeny-goldy redcurrants, which all clearly needs a little longer to ripen, so Mr G will be keeping his eyes (but not his gooseberries or blackcurrants) peeled.

Bean frenzy

2010-06-05T14:38:00.001+01:00

The hot hot sun is giving Mr Growbag's garden a whole heap of growing energy. The first batch of beans, lovingly planted on top of the bean trench filled with last season's compost, are going great guns - spiralling up the canes and gaining almost a loop a day. The more recently planted ones are growing at a similarly terrifying rate, and the calendula seeds Mr G planted in the middle of the structure are in (bright orange) flower. The observant may note the corn seedlings tucked at the back by the fence. They're closer than they're meant to be, but Mr G reckons with the steady supply of nitro from the beans, they should do just fine. There's the optimism of someone who's never grown corn before for you...

Today Mr G also saw an absolutely massive green caterpillar on one of his lupin's flowerheads (that would be why half the flowers on that shoot are missing then). Having looked it up it seemed to be a lacanobia oleracea, otherwise known as the tomato moth. Alarm bells rang, as Mr G became aware that not only was the bloody thing deflowering the lupin stalk at a rate of knots, but also that its decendants might potentially eat the tomato crop too. A swift tactical transfer of the offending larva from lupin to paving-slabs-near-bird-feeder ensued. I'm sure the blackbirds will thank me...

So A-maize-ing

2010-06-03T15:49:00.001+01:00

Summer has truly been good to me. Not even one sad day or minute have I had since it's come my way. I hope you know I'd gladly grow - anywhere there's space....

Some may even say that using Luther's song as a theme for this post is corny - but Mr Growbag has no editor to prevent him making terrible puns. On his way back from the shops this afternoon he couldn't resist picking up a little pack of sweetcorn plants from Anthos Florist (around mid way between Turnpike Lane and Harringay Green Lanes stations on Green Lanes), who seem to have a whole rack of young fruit and veg seedlings outside. Mr G is not sure where in the garden these are going to fit, but is currently thinking they can live behind the bean-structure. They'll get plenty of nitrogen there, and the late summer sun, once the beans have bean and gone [sigh]. They are also vertical plants, which should hopefully be ideal for a space-limited garden.

They may not do anything, or it may be too late to plant them - but for the sake of £1.50, Mr G is prepared to risk it. The potential payoff - of nine super-fresh cobs to stuff into his face with melted butter come Autumn - really is too good to miss.

Ribes Nigrum

2010-05-28T14:02:00.003+01:00

Or blackcurrants. More like "greencurrants" at the moment, but Mr G is confident that they'll ripen up nicely in due course. They are looking mighty good, even if he does say so himself. Top dressing the bed with sulphate of potash earlier in the spring seems to have done the job. Some of them are as large as big capers...

The fruit bush experiment has been an interesting one. The gardening books Mr G did not read in advance all said that bushes take a year or two to get going (as, indeed, did Gardening Dad). It's certainly going to be a complete contrast to last year's meagre pickings of 3 redcurrants, 10 blackcurrants and 0 gooseberries, as all the bushes have a good covering of fruit, despite goose and red both being quite small still. Mr G is looking forward to a.) a freezer full of fruit and b.) many crumbles, come the colder months.

Beans on the way up

2010-05-28T13:57:00.003+01:00

Mr G's bean trench, lovingly filled with the first batch of compost from last year's eating, is propelling this year's batch of climbing beans skyward. Mr G has 13 bean plants total this year (oops), so is going to be eating a lot of levantine bean stew...

NB: if you like middle eastern food I'd strongly recommend the above recipe.

Hungarian Black, 2010

2010-05-28T13:41:00.005+01:00

Coming to you directly from Mr Growbag's mini greenhouse, this year's Hungarian Black is well and truly in flower. Mr G never ceases to be surprised at how beautiful those little purple flowers are, and can hardly wait for the delicious jet black chillies to follow. All of the other chillies and the sweet chocolate pepper are also coming into bloom, both outside and in the greenhouse. As are the tomatoes.

Leviathan

2010-05-09T20:26:00.001+01:00

The ball courgette has been removed from the mini greenhouse (a couple of days ago) and put in a large 55l pot filled with manure, and topped off with a little mound of compost, so that the plant (when it grows to its eventual massive sprawling size) will hopefully sit proud of the pot and remain well ventilated - thus helping to avoid the risk of the dreaded downy mildew which always seems to hit Mr G's curcubits.

Mr G has decided to name it "leviathan" to give it some encouragement...

Tomato issues

2010-05-09T20:22:00.001+01:00

It was all going so well this year, something had to give. In addition to the chillies being nibbled by some as yet unidentified pest, the young tomatoes appear to be having some issues. Light brown patches are appearing on some of the leaves, which are curling up at the end a little - the patches are recessed into the leaf. Mr G's initial fear was the dreaded blight, but apparently it is far too early in the year, so, having consulted the books, it turns out that it might be some kind of bacterial leaf speck, leaf mould, or, equally likely, scorching due to careless watering before the sun came out. In any case, Mr G has cut the affected leaves off - hopefully that will sort things out. If any readers have any other ideas, Mr G would be grateful for suggestions...

Salad Success

2010-05-02T16:24:00.001+01:00

Well, it's somewhat of a first. Mr Growbag has successfully grown a proper head of lettuce. After limited success with cut and come again in previous years, and an abortive attempt at butterhead last year (like above, but got eaten by slugs within 5 minutes of going in soil) this year's first sowing of butterhead is now officially "eating size". That will make a very pleasant salad tomorrow, along with the handful of icicle white radishes that Mr G put in to fill the space in the chilli bed whilst the weather warmed up.

Interestingly, the recently planted-out chillies in the chilli bed (under their cloche) appear to have been nibbled by slugs/snails somewhat. A swift application of organic pellets has ensued. Hopefully Mr G's chillies will not fall prey to gastropod scum before they even have a chance to flower and bear fruit...

And no, I didn't grow the lemon.

Gooseberry!

2010-04-27T14:14:00.003+01:00

Spring forward

2010-04-27T14:09:00.000+01:00

Things are looking pretty good chez Growbag, as a nice hot Spring encourages all of Mr G's plants to get going. The chillies have now been potted on, and are enjoying the sunshine from the mini greenhouse (outside to get some sun/air today). This evening I will plant some out under the cloche, picking the majority of the radishes that are there at present. The lettuces taking up the remainder of the bed are also almost ready to eat, so in a few weeks that bed should be clear, ready for tomatoes and chillies. The costoluto tomatoes (left) are also going in the ground this evening, and I'm going to plant out one of the yellow cherry plants in a tub too, with some basil and marigold seeds. It's virtually May, so I'm pretty confident that we're unlikely to see any frost here in London from here on in. Mixed salad is coming on well next to the onions, and the bag to the right is one of two potato sacks. I may have overdone the volume of soil (and the number of seed potatoes per bag), but pretty sure that with some time and tlc, we should have some kind of crop.

Sage, chives and oregano, as can be seen, are going bananas.

At the back of the garden, the gooseberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes all have plenty of flowers, and the gooseberry is just starting to set tiny fruit. The blackcurrant in particular is covered, so hopefully we should get some tasty soft fruit this year - a real treat given that we got about 5 blackcurrants last year.

Climbing beans are well established in their small pots, and batch 1 will go onto the canes this evening. Batch 2 will also be sown. The dwarf runners may also go in, depending on whether I have time. Also off camera, the courgette and spaghetti squash plants are growing their second real leaf - so once they're both on the go the squash can go under the bean canes, and I'll put courgette 1 in the massive pot I bought for the purpose. Unfortunately, due to my overzealous potato planting compost is running rather low, so a trip to the garden centre or some mail-ordering may be needed. Eh well.

Planting out, seeding up

2010-03-30T14:08:00.000+01:00

In the last week the first batch of beans have been put in pots in the greenhouse to get started, along with one normal and one ball courgette plant, and a spaghetti squash. It may still be early for all of these, but Mr G is prepared to grow and pot them on if necessary in order to guarantee strong, productive plants.

All of the tomato seedlings are now up, and growing on in the greenhouse. The two Costoluto plants are getting almost large enough to pot on and looking very healthy indeed.

In order to free up some space, one trough of carrots has been moved out under netting, to continue growing in the fresh air. As have the pak choi - because my beloved Corinthing was too heavy for the cheap Wilko greenhouse and was buckling the plastic. Hopefully they'll be ok under netting, provided we don't get any frosts that are too bad. They are between two poorly insulated houses, so Mr G imagines there'll be a reasonable amount of residual heat to keep them alive.

The leek seedlings, beet seedlings and chard seedlings are now all in the back bed - the last of these under cloches. Lettuce seedlings and radishes are also in the ground under a cloche. For anyone looking to garden on a budget, Mr G recommends a trip to Poundland by Turnpike Lane. He picked up a wire-hoop and plastic sheeting 1.5 m growing tunnel cloche thing for .. .well... have a guess. Ludicrously good value.

Meanwhile, the chillies indoors are getting larger by the day - they may have to be potted up and put in the greenhouse in the not-so-distant - and the Nosegay is in flower. In keeping with the diminutive scale of the plant, these are tiny. Goodness knows how Mr G is going to hand pollinate them - a cocktail stick?

Chilli update

2010-03-22T12:02:00.000Z

Let not the absence of posts concerning this year's Great Chilli Project give the impression that it's not going well. The indoor Nosegay chilli is thriving and forming its first flowers; the others are coming on well, and will be moved to the greenhouse in a few weeks to grow on, ready for planting out. As you can see - a nice canopy is forming...

Frühling ist wiedergekommen. Die Erde ist wie ein Kind, das Gedichte weiß

2010-03-22T11:34:00.000Z

The German poet Rilke described Spring as being "like a child who learned many poems, and wins the prize for her long hard study." Mr Growbag likes this metaphor, as there is indeed something of a well-rehearsed performance about spring. All manner of beautiful plants start growing like the beginning of so many beautiful poems. Although perhaps it's an oversight that Rilke doesn't mention cats doing their best to dig up and defecate on his poems. Mr G will (fail to) resist the opportunity to draw a parallel with the current governing party's attitude to the arts...

Still, cynicism aside, things are looking pretty rosy chez Growbag. The bargainous mini greenhouse is working a treat, and Mr G now has tubs and pots of of carrot, pak choi, spring onion and land cress seedlings growing merrily. The "toilet roll" modules sown last month have also all come up - so baby leeks are unfolding; chioggia beetroot is developing its first set of real leaves and butterhead lettuce has been transferred into a bed where chillies will grow later in the year, under jam-jar and plastic bottle cloches. In the other half of the bed where the chillies are going later in the year Mr G has planted some radishes, which seem to be coming on reasonably well.

A couple of Hamburg Parsley seedlings are just up, so hopefully these will grow on and can be moved when young to the back bed. Add to this a successful indoor sowing of calendula seed in modules (now planted out to grow on and attract hoverflies), and two thriving Costoluto Fiorentino tomato plants - started indoors and now in the greenhouse - and everything appears to be going well. The last few weeks have seen a sowing of Swiss Chard (in TR modules - not up yet) and the unceremonious shoving of some seed potatoes in bags of compost with a little topsoil mixed in to aid water retention.

A bean trench has been dug, lined with the mini-greenhouse's cardboard box and filled with the contents of the compost bin (and unceremoniously christened by Team Cat). Mr G has also built a support frame above it, ready to take the climbing french beans (yellow and purple, as last year) forward. He might sow the first of these in a week or so in an attempt to get some kind of successional production going. The cherry tomatoes have also just been sown (in pots covered in plastic bags inside). This year Mr G is growing red Tumbling Toms and experimenting with Nicholayev Yellow Cherry tomatoes. Apparently the latter like cooler growing conditions, so let's see how productive they'll be.

Finally, if any more indication were needed that spring is indeed here:

The Greenhouse Effect

2010-02-08T12:24:00.000Z

Mr Growbag is well known for being enthusiastic about gardening. So enthusiastic, in fact, that he often ends up planting things too early, and then getting frustrated when they fail to break through the sheet ice/are torn to bits by sleet/grow, then freeze/don't grow at all etc, etc.

It is therefore perhaps a mixed blessing that live-in-Fiancee spotted a "4 tier mini greenhouse" for sale in Wilkos for the princely sum of £12. While a mini greenhouse will shield young plants from the worst of the weather, the overconfidence it produced in Mr G has led him to plant a whole load of seeds that aren't really meant to be sown until March, in an attempt to get things going.

Mr G assembled this yesterday, and planted a seed tray with leeks, beets and lettuces (in toilet-roll-modules). He also put in a couple of troughs of carrots, a pot of spring onions, and a pot of land cress. And the Pak Choi that sort-of grew last year, and has sort-of managed to overwinter, despite being dug up by squirrels and sat on by cats.

Of course, one day later, Mr G is typing and looking at the snow falling outside the window. The weather forecast predicts 3 days of freezing sleet and storms. Maybe he has got ahead of himself again. Still, it's only a bit of seed, and checking the internal temperature today, it's significantly warmer in than out. Plus, it's right next to the house, so as long as downstairs neighbour keeps his heating on, Mr G is reasonably confident that, barring a second ice-age or a Canadian-style cold snap, things ought to be ok for his little seeds. Plus, doesn't it look smart! Later in the season Mr G intends to grow half of his chillies in there for comparison with those outside. Exciting times...

Chillies up

2010-02-01T10:21:00.000Z

This morning Mr Growbag saw the green shoots of next growing season. A couple of weeks ago, Mr G got his wine bottle out and made some newspaper pots to start off the season's chilli selection. Today, the first of the seedlings poked their heads through.

Mr G always finds that chillis are tricky to germinate. They need a warm temperature and a good level of moisture. Newspaper pots posed some difficulties on this front, as putting them in a plastic bag kept the paper too soggy and caused a short-lived outbreak of mould. Removing the bags sorted this out, but how to raise the temperature? Mr G does not have an airing cupboard. In the end, live-in-fiancee came up with the genius idea of balancing the tray of pots on top of a hot water bottle, and this seemed to work very well, as at least one of each type of chilli has germinated (although they're not all fully through yet).

So, without further ado, time to introduce this year's chillies:

1. Nosegay. This was actually started last year, and has been growing well for a while now. It's an indoor ornamental variety which grows to all of 6" tall. Multicoloured chillies. It's currently around 1.5" and has lots of healthy looking leaves.

2. Bulgarian Carrot. Medium heat, orange, long chillies. Look like carrots.

3. Ring of Fire. All-purpose, red, long chilli

4. Hungarian Hot. Large medium chillies, good for cooking/stuffing etc. Apparently one of the chilli varieties used to make Paprika.

5. Hungarian Black. From seed saved from last year, this beautiful plant has green leaves tinged with inky black, and purple flowers. Fruit, when set, is jet black, ripening to a lovely ox-blood red.

6. Chocolate Pepper. An "actual" eating pepper, this produces large, sweet peppers with chocolate brown flesh. Hopefully.

Deep bed japes part 2

2010-01-25T17:00:00.000Z

Mr Growbag is pleased with how his pre-season planning is going. Today, the compost, bark chippings, topsoil and manure he ordered arrived on his front doorstep. Having painstakingly slogged said items through the flat and into the garden, in the afternoon Mr G set about finishing off the next bit of the new improved veg garden.

Having previously built the bed and laid the weedproof fabric, the back was looking a bit like this. Mr G enjoyed spreading woodchip all over the plastic and compacting it with the back of a rake. Nice and easy to do - and made an immediate difference in how things looked.

Following the woodchip path being down, it was time to fill up the deep bed. Brother in law of live-in Fiancee is a landscape gardener, and had recommended a mix of roughly equal parts manure (for nutrients), compost (for nutrients and structure) and top-soil (for water-retention). Having added some compost from the bin to the soil at the bottom of the deep bed and broken it up with a fork, it was time to create the base for this season's hopefully turbo-charged plants. 40l of topsoil, 50l of manure and 70l of compost was about enough to fill the bed. Mr G is aware that this is not the exact mix recommended, but the result, after forking, was so black and crumbly that Mr G is confident that plants are going to love it.

Next job, then, was to ensure that the lovely soil remained lovely, without Team Cat adding any of their own brown crumblies to the mixture. To do this, Mr G had purchased some canes and some net, with the intention of creating a permanent net frame over the bed, with a front piece that could swing up on top for access. This would also hopefully ensure that the local wood-pigeons and squirrels didn't dig up the young seedlings. To build it, Mr G bust out his mad boy-scout skillz and four build-a-balls. Several square lashings later and a bit of fiddling around to get the net stretched over and anchored on with cable ties, it was nearly dark, but Mr G's super-bed was finally complete. Bring on Spring...

January landscaping, part 1

2010-01-18T16:28:00.000Z

After a ludicrously snowy December and January, Mr G's garden is looking a bit of a state, to put it mildly. However, for a few days now the snow has melted (though it's meant to be returning later in the week) so Mr G has seized the day and got on with some hard landscaping -part of the Plan for the coming year's growing.

The various plants at the bottom of the garden did reasonably well last year. However, the lack of structure to the area and the odd positioning of Mr G's small fruit bushes meant that things were not necessarily as organised as Mr G would have liked. Add to that the constant disturbance by Team Cat using the bottom of the garden as a thoroughfare (even more of an issue now that next door no longer has cats to keep the neighbourhood mogs away) and growing conditions were not ideal.

Before the snows, Mr G had moved his fruit bushes into a nice line. Today, it was time to take his first step into the world of garden DIY and build a deep bed.

Mr G had looked at deep beds online and been a bit shocked at the price. Most timber ones are approaching £50 plus delivery. He therefore decided to go the cheapskate route and build his own. Unfortunately Mr G does not drive. Fortunately there is a Jewsons builders yard not that far away, so Mr G was able to procure the necessary bits of wood - a 3m wooden gravel board (for fences) and a 6ft wooden fencepost for the princely sum of £11.98. Both bits of wood were apparently pressure treated, so should hopefully not rot.

After lugging them home, it was time to get the saw out. Mr G cut the 3m board into one 5ft section and two 2.5 ft sections (approximately - apologies for the mixed measurements, but this is how Mr G measured it!). He cut the fence post into 4 approximately equal pieces. He then nailed the boards onto the fence posts to form a 3-sided bed with a bit of fence post sticking down at each corner. Spade time. It took a while to get the holes for the posts the right depth, but in the end Mr G did. The fact that the bed wasn't quite flush with the soil at the front was quickly solved by blocking up the gap with a few half-sunken bricks. All that remained was to fill in the holes and cover the bed with plastic sheeting to prevent it being used as a giant litter box before Mr G has bought the growing materials to fill it or built his net frame to go on top. Time taken: a few hours. Satisfaction level: high.

Those onions are well lush, Gavin

2009-11-23T10:24:00.000Z

Ah November. Everyone likes November. The month where it gets cold, rains a lot and your garden turns from an Autumnal picture book to a sodden mess of leaves, mud and empty beds.

Mr Growbag's garden is no different, and the vegetables in play are certainly now pretty limited. Leeks and Hamburg Parsley are battling on, but everything else is either composting or on the way out.

This weekend Mr G visited his folks. Gardening Dad has just supplemented his veg plot with a piece of land on a local farm to fill with the sort of inordinately successful fruit and veg that it appears to be difficult to grow in a small garden in Harringay. ~This is surely going to mean more veg for visiting offspring, which is good news.

Anyhow, GD sent Mr Growbag back on the train with a carrier bag full of one of his successes this year - Welsh Onions. These are sort of like a fusion of spring onion, leek and shallot - they grow in clumps, which keep dividing; stand year round, and you can use both the green bit and the small bulb. They are apparently not Welsh at all (sorry Ness) - but from the Old English meaning of the word "welisc" meaning foreign. Thank you Wikipedia. Which is presumably why we called Wales Wales...

Mr G took advantage of a gap in the rain to chuck them into one half of his wicker basket thing. They look a bit scraggy now, but GD assures Mr G that they will perk up in the spring and get on with growing and dividing. Which is definitely good news.

Growing season 2009 - a review

2009-11-14T10:33:00.000Z

Well, most of this year's crop is done - save some leeks which may or may not grow to a suitable size and the Hamburg Parsley, which may or may not swell its roots to a size worth eating.

All that remains this year is to clear things down and assess what worked well and what didn't.

Firstly, unqualified successes:

Courgettes - after last year's abortive attempt on the roof, putting the juvenile plants in the ground made an enormous difference to their production and resilience. Although slugs ate a couple of young plants and the others got mildew and eventually died, the yield was good. Next time? Mr G will try to restrain himself and only put one plant in. He always underestimates how massive they become, and hopefully a plant with more space is less likely to become a mildew-covered plant.

Climbing & dwarf runner beans - Mr Growbag put these in too early, but once they got going boy did they do well. Good yield and requiring very little input. He will most likely do climbers on a wigwam next year (as opposed to a trellis) to try and up the yield even further.

Tomatoes - The rooftop growbag ones were ok, but I forgot to water them - and as the summer was quite hot, this was a bit fatal. The large Italian ones in the garden were, again, much happier, and Mr Growbag will do this again. If he remembers to pinch out side shoots and stake them properly, he is confident they'll be even better.

Chillies - An excellent yield of Cherry Hots and Hungarian Blacks. Mr G has new seeds for next season already, so will be starting the majority off in a few months' time. He also has an indoor mini-chilli already in called "Nosegay" which is going to live on a windowsill.

Potatoes - small bags, so a small yield, but reasonably successful and very tasty.

Beets - another slow starter, but they ended up ok. Not sure Mr G will bother again, but will see about space after redesign of the veg plot this winter.

Failures:

Carrots - This year, carrots were crap. Growing in the corinthing just didn't work. Things kept on digging them up (birds?) and the next door cat kept on using the corinthing as a bed. The carrots that did grow were undersized and half of them seemed to be a bit rotten. Conclusion - need a bigger tub, or to put them in the ground next year.

Chard - Mr G was devastated about this one. Swiss Chard was last year's great triumph - a never ending supply of tasty leaves. However, this year, the plants all seemed to get diseased or, simply wouldn't grow. Most annoying. Perhaps the seed was past its best. Will try again next year.

Salad - Mr G didn't get this right either. The stuff in bags & tubs dried out too quickly (hot summer, not enough watering by me) and the stuff in the ground got eaten by snails. Very limited yield.

Gherkins - pointless little spiky things. It was fun to watch the vine grow, but what do you do with gherkins, other than pickle them? Won't bother again.

Horseradish - again, not worth the bother, and, as I've discovered - hard to get rid of. Invasive plant of doom - Mr G is going to have to dig up the entire back of garden to get the roots out.

Nature's bounty

2009-08-10T12:06:00.000+01:00

It has been a busy old summer for Mr Growbag, with a major career change implemented, a sneaky conversion of Live-in-Girlfriend to Live-in-Fiancee and a highly relaxing holiday in the Scilly Isles. Small wonder then that the veg plot has been somewhat neglected. However, despite the tomatos on the roof dying, they have still set a whole lot of fruit which is now ripening merrily; despite the courgettes getting mildew they continue to produce whilst Mr G continues to chop the worst bits off; and despite the beans starting slowly, they now seem intent on world domination. Which led to the above harvest on Mr G's return from holiday. Stuffed marrow for dinner tonight. Mmm.

Accidental Marrows

2009-07-21T08:46:00.000+01:00

It is now mid summer and the various vegetable projects are proceeding, as ever, with variable degrees of success. The main triumph is project courgette- the bushes are enormous and producing over 10 fruit a week. Including one Mr Growbag missed and discovered a bit later on, having grown to over a foot long and several inches thick.   This success has not been without problems. Slugs seem to be occasionally eating the fruit on the plant and the other morning Mr G noticed an attack of the dreaded mildew which killed the stunted roof plants last year. However, Mr G performed some quick surgery and hopefully the removal of the affected bits will at least delay the onset. Spraying them with a milk solution is also reputed to help, so Mr G might try that next weekend.

The colours of summer

2009-06-08T09:30:00.000+01:00

Mr Growbag has had a good week in the garden, which has cheered him up despite the appalling European Election results last night. Only a third of the population voting, and that slice favouring euroskeptics and a party of misguided right-wing isolationist cranks - and a thankfully smaller slice voting for a party of unreconstructed racists. Worrying times.

Back to the garden, last week was a good one for people who like blue - sunny times indeed for those who are Conservative (with water, natch). The garden is looking increasingly Green, and the first of the tomato plants is setting fruit, but hopefully my Liberal applications of mulch might also help the yellow courgette flowers to do well in the future. However, most importantly, as the last of the soil vanishes under vegetation after a long time of Labour, Mr Growbag is delighted to see that Brown's definitely on the way out...

One potato, two potato, three potato, four? c'mon, there must be at least four potatoes here...

2009-06-01T14:04:00.000+01:00

Mr Growbag had a sneaky rummage in his potato bags yesterday, and was delighted to find a perfectly formed little tuber (modelled here by Throws-White-Balance-of-Camera-off-Girlfriend). This, combined with the fact that the instructions said they'd probably be ready after 70 days, encouraged Mr G to be a have-a-go harvester, and see what other delights lurked beneath the soil.

Stage one was chopping the leaves off. Stage two tipping the whole lot onto the patio. This is where the inherent flaw in the instructions and Mr G's enthusiasm became apparent. There were not a great number of potatoes. There were quite a few little nodules that might have become potatoes had Mr G been more patient. The second bag will be saved for at least another month. Still, the spuds that were there (enough for a meal for two) will doubtless be delicious. Mr Growbag looks forward to eating them in due course.

Dearest Courgette, you have entered my soul. And soon you will be gone

2009-06-01T10:47:00.000+01:00

Boubil & Schoenberg's lyrics rang true for Mr Growbag in the last few days with his ongoing concerns about his courgette plants. After last year's courgette fiasco, where the plants (on the roof) dried out, got blown around by the wind, didn't produce proper courgettes, got mildew and died, the next generation, at ground level, are also not proving trouble-free.

A slow start (Mr G thinks he put the plants outside too early) led to some slug damage on the two plants (bottom), whilst the one in the raised block at the top was from last year's seed and always looked a bit sickly. However, eventually, the bottom two plants got going and now have a few flowers, and ever expanding leaves.

This weekend, Mr G replaced the top plant with a new one (from Homebase) which was meant to produce yellow courgettes. However, the ~~tigers~~ slugs came at night. Yes, overnight, after only one night in the ground the plant had been reduced to a stump and a detached leaf, full of holes. As I cradled the dying plant in my arms, I found myself moved to song:

"Don't you fret, you poor courgette
You don't feel any pain
A little fall of rain
Won't help your growing now..."

Anyhow. Mr G had a think, and has come up with plan C for this area, which involves courgette seed, planted in a pot with the bottom cut out, sunk into the ground. Hopefully the barricade pellets both around and on the pot will discourage sluggy action, and eventually this plan might bear fruit before I have to make more attempts at it than Jean Valjean did at going straight.

The spice is right

2009-06-01T10:36:00.000+01:00

It's been a hot few weeks which has, on the whole, been rather good for the various vegetable projects. Particularly pleased have been the various chilli plants, which, following their initial scorching and shock from their move outside have acclimatised fully and are now getting on wioth the business of growing and ripening fruit.

Mr Growbag potted on the two "cherry hot" plants into a larger container, which seems to have made them quite happy. The attached photo demonstrates why the chilli got that particular name. Having since eaten one, Mr G can attest that they are indeed reasonably hot - though only about as hot as a supermarket chilli. Perhaps if he leaves future ones to ripen further they will hold even more of a kick...

Team Cat update

2009-05-08T10:01:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since this blog went off on a tangent, but this morning provided the ideal opportunity with an amusing Team Cat-related incident. Looking out of the kitchen window this morning, Mr Growbag spotted a large wood pigeon in the apple tree. Oh, hang on, that's not a wood pigeon is it? It's a cat. Heaven help the poor blackbirds who'd nested up there... The photo's a bit dodgy due to being taken through a window, but you get the idea.

Mr Growbag has only spotted this grey cat in the garden once or twice, but, due to its aerial antics this morning, has decided to name it Sneaky Cat.

Furthermore, unfortunately the MegaSonic Cat Repeller seems to have lost its effectiveness. An inspection of the garden yesterday revealed many "cat seeds" planted at strategic intervals around the garden. Mr G is just hoping that the beds fill up quickly (with plants, hopefully), as this seems the only way of de-litter-traying his garden.

Potato Triffids

2009-04-29T09:32:00.000+01:00

Team Spud is doing very well. Every day the bags get closer to vanishing beneath a massive bush of potato leaves. Having filled the bags virtually to the top already, there's little else for me to do with these monsters than wait for my first crop at the end of next month. I might try to cram a bit more soil in, dependent on if I can get a trowel through the verdant canopy. The Amazonian tribesmen will be back at this rate!

Tomato Apex

2009-04-29T09:25:00.000+01:00

The latest addition to the roof farm was installed a few days ago now, and is already thriving. That's what a sunny April will do for you I guess... Anyhow, the plan is to lie a growbag along the apex and have tumbling tomato plants hanging off both sides, with salad growing in the space behind each plant.  The tomato seedlings haven't grown that much yet though the lettuce has already germinated so I'm hoping that the spot is not too exposed for the toms - I deliberately sited it behind the chimney for that reason.

A Cautionary Tale

2009-04-27T09:57:00.000+01:00

A delicious dinner, what could be better? Whilst cooking, Mr Growbag asked whether live-in Girlfriend might go up to the roof and pick some delicious salad leaves. Live-in Girlfriend prepared a delicious looking bowl of greenery, and we sat down to eat.

Mr G: This salad leaf... something odd about it, so thick and tough and spiny. I wonder what it is? Did you maybe cut some radish leaves by mistake?

Live in Girlfriend: .... er... no....

Mr G: Right, that one's going in the bin. Hey, isn't this leaf the same as the last one? It's kind of thick and spiny too. You try it.

LIG: *nibbles* Hmm... I think I already ate one of these.

Mr G: These are radish leaves, aren't they.

LIG: Er... yes.

Mr G: *collects radish leaves and makes sad face on plate with offending items*

LIG: You're not going to blog about this, are you?

Mr G: ....er ... no (yes)

Parsley Root and the Bimbostar

2009-04-22T14:07:00.000+01:00

Mr Growbag is a sucker for a.) Hungarian Stuff and b.) Unusual Stuff. Therefore, on discovering that Mr Fothergills sold Hamburg Parsley, he was unable to resist spending another shiny £1 coin on yet something else to cram into his garden.

Hamburg Parsley, or Parsley Root is a staple of the Hungarian kitchen (according to Mr G's Hungarian cookbook). On paper it looks like a crop of unparalleled genius - green tops that look and taste like parsley, and a big fat tap root underground, which can be used like a Parsnip and tastes pretty similar. It's frost-resistant, and can grow in shade. Other than mowing the lawn, and scaring cats, it seems to do pretty much everything.

Mr G has high hopes (as ever) for this latest venture. Space is getting tight, but he's confident that he will be able to find some space for this supervegetable. In the flowerbeds if need be. Mr G was only slightly perturbed by the fact that the variety was named "Kinga", which as some readers may be aware, was the name of an obnoxious blonde brought into a series of Big Brother several years ago who did rude things with a wine bottle.

Having very nearly also bought a gherkin plant named "bimbostar" to put in a hanging basket, he eventually decided not to do this* and bought some less ridiculously named cornichon seeds. Mr Fothergills does free P&P, which clinched it. At least Mr Growbag does impulse buying on a budget.

* Partly because he would not be able to resist making many jokes about this to Very-Tolerant-But-Nonetheless-Probably-Has-Her-Limits Live In Girlfriend, and did not want to run the risk of ending up with having Parsley Roots put up his nose whilst he slept.**

** Which is, regrettably, NOT where Hamburg Parsley's Big Brother namesake put the wine bottle. Now there's a bimbostar...

The Heat Is On In London!

2009-04-21T09:55:00.000+01:00

Some more snaps of the veg patch and patio. The courgettes have enjoyed their first day and night outside and are noticably bigger than yesterday. Ridiculous. Meanwhile, the 2 cherry hot chilli plants are looking perfectly content outside as well.

The potato plants seem determined to become enormous, so I'm letting them run with it. Might need to space the bags out a bit more soon. Can't wait for all those lovely spuds.

Bags of Fun with the Agricultural Alphabet

2009-04-20T09:38:00.000+01:00

A is for Absence. Mr Growbag has been away all weekend, so was delighted to see how much everything has grown over the last few days. The roof salad is looking truly verdant.
B is for Beans. Having started them off on a windowsill inside, I checked the weather outlook and risked putting them in the garden today. I've got climbing french beans in two colours: Anellino Giallo (prawn shaped yellow beans) and Violet Podded. Also dwarf runner beans (Hestia). It's meant to be mild for the next month, so hopefully frost won't be an issue.
C is for courgettes. Similarly, these have been started indoors and popped outside this morning. Also for Chilli Confidence. I've put two of the cherry hot plants outside on the patio. If there's no frost they should be fine.
D on the other hand is for Damn Slugs. These have eaten all of my butterhead lettuce seedlings. Decided to use that patch for a third courgette plant, as slugs don't like them very much.
E is for Extra sprinkling of slug pellets. That'll show the little buggers. Also for Earthing up. The patio potatoes are growing at a terrifying rate, and I've nearly filled the bags with compost now. Hopefully this will mean spuds aplenty in a month or so.
F is for fruit. All three bushes (blackcurrant, gooseberry and redcurrant) are now in full leaf and looking full of health. Not bad, considering I bought them looking like sticks.
G is firmly for Growbag. I really need to plant the 3rd bag-o-roof-salad up.
H is for healthy eating. We snipped the first of the salad and pulled a few radishes last week, and it was delicious. Hopefully much more of this to come.
I is for impulse buying of seeds. I'm not very good at controlling this, and we now also have some red spring onions (Furia) in a pot. Also some broadcast leeks (Musselburgh) which I'm going to prick out when they're small. Dunno if that will work, but hope so.
J would be for Jerusalem Artichokes, but I didn't grow any, so it's probably best if I end this agricultural alphabet here. Bet you are gutted.

Spring in air. About time.

2009-04-07T10:17:00.000+01:00

A mere 4 days from the last picture of salad on the roof, and the onset of spring is apparent. Growing is noticably speeding up, and the Mesclun, Rocket and Radishes are nearing my plate. The lettuce and land cress has a bit longer to go, as do the scraggy little spring onions, but I'm sure that as the year plods on, things will continue getting more and more verdant until I can't move for fresh vegetables. Which was always the plan.

Spudsapoppin!

2009-04-07T10:06:00.000+01:00

Even better news on Team Potato - all three bags have now sprouted leaves. Foremost, Nadine and Desiree are all merrily growing away, getting ready to deliver me an earthy bounty of potatoes from early June. The little 'uns are full of energy. Though not quite as much energy as the dance number in the film from which I have stolen this post's title. Nary have I seen more tenuous a link, but seriously - check it out.

Tomato overconfidence

2009-04-05T20:22:00.000+01:00

Well, wasn't this weekend just glorious? Mr Growbag's suntrap of a back garden felt so summery that he decided to spend the majority of the weekend outside. Perhaps having breakfast in the garden on Sunday pushed him over the edge, because in addition to starting off various types of bean and more tomatoes inside, he decided to plant out the "Tumbling Tom" tomato seedlings he had already grown.

"But wait!" cries gardening tradition. "Tomatoes don't go out until the END of April at the earliest. They'll get done in by Jack Frost!"

Folk wisdom is called wisdom for a reason, and Mr Growbag's wishful thinking may indeed end in tears. This also seemed to be the opinion of Gardening Dad, who, according to a SMS sent by More-Tech-Savvy-Than-Gardening-Dad-Mum was "concerned" for the plants' futures. You know that your life is probably going all right when you succeed in generating parental concern for your plants...

A great fan of ignoring sensible advice and trying very hard to be right anyway, Mr Growbag has developed a secret weapon. Having recently acquired a random standing light made of bits of stick*, he is in possession of a lot of transparent plastic packaging. In true Blue Peter fashion, he has used this, some thin garden canes, a little bit of parcel tape and a clear plastic punnet to fashion not one but TWO half-arsed cloches. Hopefully, these will shield the plants from the worst of the elements. With some luck, the little seedlings will breeze through any cold nights that may be coming and be in great shape by the beginning of May when Jack Frost will have nipped his last nose. Without luck, at least you can all laugh when Mr Growbag is chipping frozen seedlings out of the hard earth with an ice pick next week.

* Whoever thought up the idea of getting some sticks, winding LEDs round them and then flogging them in a department store which shall remain nameless for a vastly inflated sum to gullible punters was an entrepreneurial legend. Mr Growbag's girlfriend was less than impressed when 100% of said sticks turned out to be snapped, and her advice to take it back for a refund was indeed very sensible. However, as it was on sale and he couldn't be arsed to go back to Brent Cross to return it he now has a random stick-based light with a sellotape feature. This is another example of MG ignoring sensible advice in an attempt to be right.

Roof farm update

2009-04-03T10:22:00.000+01:00

As is apparent, some lovely March weather has enabled things to move on with the two growbags on the roof. Growbag one is now getting on with things, and the rocket in particular is living up to its name (bottom bag, top left compartment). Radishes too are doing very well and starting to swell at the base, whilst everything else has at least germinated. The land cress, bottom bag, top right compartment is taking the longest to get established for some reason.

Meanwhile, Growbag two has germinated, so it must nearly be time to get the third one going. I'm umming and ahing whether to do more salad veg in this, or use it for some more trailing tomatoes, perhaps coming off the apex of the roof. It's difficult to know how much salad I'm going to want to eat - but, if it's as delicious as last year's - this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Spuds-a-roonie!

2009-04-03T10:02:00.000+01:00

Great news this morning. Two of the three sacks of potatoes (Foremost and Desiree) on the back patio have little sprouts poking through the soil. As they've been in the bags since March 11th, I wasn't sure if they were doing anything, but they were obviously bobbling away underground merrily. As per the sterling advice of the Gardener's World website, I'm going to leave the shoots to grow to about 10cm, then earth them up by adding some more soil and roll up the side of the bag a bit. This, apparently, will result in more potatoes.

There also seem to be pawprints in the middle bag, so I have adjusted the netting to try and make the sacks a less attractive springboard for team cat.

Chilli Fun

2009-03-13T10:02:00.000Z

I took this snap of one of the overwintering chilli plants. This is the sole Hungarian Black I managed to get to germinate and coax into reluctant life (it started its life with a completely twisted stem so I turned this into roots by the simple procedure of burying it in the soil, which perked it up no end). Recently, I got bored with pulling all the flowers off so I actually let these ones stay on and hand pollinated them a little while ago. And this glossy black growing chilli is the result. Yum yum yum.

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh

2009-03-11T09:37:00.000Z

Spring is here. Well, at the very least, it's March and the ice and snow that characterised last month is long gone. This has led Mr Growbag to get cracking on his over-documented urban agriculture project for 2009. Having just had a lovely new leak-proof flat roof installed by his landlady, he is actually a little loath to grow a great deal of stuff on it, but with a newly cleared and well manured patch at the base of his garden to grow things in as well, this should not be an issue. The new plan is to use the roof to try and maintain a constant supply of salad, and perhaps also a hanging basket of tomatoes.

The first stage, then, was getting roof salad on the go. Learning from last year when his salad bag tended to lose its shape, this year's edit is carefully compartmentalised into 6 portions - which hopefully will lend the bag enough structure to stop the edges from flopping about and losing valuable soil. The large outer compartments have been planted with rocket, mesclun, land cress and mixed cut and come again lettuce; the middle compartments with radishes and spring onions. A week or so after this photo was taken, the first seedlings are poking through. The aim is to plant one of these bags up every 3 weeks or so to ensure that there's always tasty salad to be eaten.

The box in the picture is a covered egg carton of seed potatoes. There are 3 varieties which mature at different times, so Mr G is chitting them (giving the shoots lots of light to get them going) prior to planting in potato sacks on his patio in a week or so's time. The whole thing (potato bags, seed potatoes and instructions) was a kit from Homebase costing under a fiver. Looking forward to lots of delicious new potatoes by late May...

Having learnt from last year, when my tomato plant didn't quite reach its full potential before the weather got cold, this year's Tumbling Tom seedlings have been sown (and are up), as have a few modules of butterhead lettuce to go in the new veg patch.

The overwintering chilli plants are still hanging in there, but are infested with tiny annoying flies (thrips I think). Having already pesticided them (which nailed the aphids), hopefully planting them out in late April will sort this out (and feed the ladybirds) - I hope I can keep them alive for another month or so. The only Hungarian Black variety I managed to get to germinate has set a couple of fruit, so that's quite exciting too.

It's all go. And, on the subject of all go - Leapy Cat's reign appears to have been short lived. I fear his owners may have moved on, taking him with them. And, having given my super-megasonic cat repeller some new batteries and repositioned it, the garden (touch wood) seems to be remaining free of feline gifts.

Free seeds and Dig for Victory

2009-01-13T14:03:00.000Z

Mr G was delighted to spot this link to Hidden Eden, who are not only offering free veg or flower seeds (type unspecified) to anyone who wants them, but will send you a monthly "dig for victory" e-mail with tips on what you might be doing in your garden/on your roof each month.

Mr Growbag's preparations for the 2009 growing season are underway. His aging and leaking roof is getting redone, so nothing can be set up on the roof-farm until this has happened. However, plans have been made for the formerly derelict area at the bottom of his garden he cleared last autumn. Subsequently, he has ordered several bags of manure, growbags and some multipurpose compost to be delivered in the next few weeks. The manure will be dug into the back bed, (taking care to avoid the fruit bushes - which will be mulched up with manure) ready to accept a whole bunch of veg seedlings come spring.

Team Cat, with their new signing for 2009 - Leapy Cat* - have taken a large amount of advantage of Mr Growbag's absence from the garden, and the ratio of flowerbed to cat poo grows ever closer to 1:1. However, I have pencilled in a begloved blitz followed by liberal applications of anti-cat chemicals for the next few months, which will hopefully get this back under control.

* Leapy Cat lives in the upstairs flat next door, and exits their dwelling through an open window. From the ledge it leaps down to the next windowsill on the floor below, then to the ground floor windowsill, and then to the ground. It performs this feat of athleticism in reverse to get back up. Not bad, considering the windowsills are less than a foot deep... Once the owners shut the window by mistake, and it sat on the windowsill mewling sadly for a bit.

Floppy haired mayor bigs up roof farming

2008-11-05T14:12:00.000Z

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/30/climatechange.greenpolitics

But remember, Mr Growbag was there first...

Test jam

2008-11-05T12:32:00.000Z

This is a test of mobile blogging. Look at the lovely chutney

08 farm done. Onwards to 09...

2008-10-23T13:03:00.000+01:00

This blog has had a singular lack of attention since the Vegideath post. Fairly predictably, the ailing courgettes died, and were disposed of along with the skeletons of the beans. The carrot tops remained a bit funny, but the carrots have stayed in good nick under the soil, and we are eating the last few now. Yum. Spring onions and lettuce were an unqualified success.

We got a few tomatoes from the garden, but the season was cut short by the weather deteriorating. If only I'd put them in earlier. Swiss Chard is still producing leaves (the same plants) and I can't recommend this heavily prolific and very tasty vegetable enough. Just be prepared to share it with the slugs!

The roof is now clear, and I've started laying plans for next spring, learning from some of my mistakes. My proposed roof layout is to the left.

I'm going to plant earlier, and stagger my sowings to ensure a steady supply of stuff. Two growbags: of cut and come again salad and mesclun, divided into quarters which I will sow at weekly intervals. More spring onions, because they were delicious and easy to grow. The Corinthing will ride again with another batch of multicoloured carrots.

Beans and courgettes won't go on the roof next year. It's just a bit too windy up there, and both plants suffered because of it. Having cleared the back of my garden, I am planning to sow both there instead.

In their place, I am instigating Project Squash. It was pointed out to me by Gardening Dad that vine plants (such as squash) might be rather good for growing along the apex of the roof. It's low-lying (good for windy days), the fruit has hard skin, and it will automatically spread away from the house. I suppose a vine variety of courgette might also have been ok for this if I'd had the foresight to plant one last year. I'm going to put it in a big old bag of compost (50 or 60 l) which should give it enough nutrients, and I could even shove a few radishes or some more mesclun in this too.

I am also planning to hang a chained basket from the nail by the window, with 1 or 2 tomato plants and some nasturtiums in. God help the tomato plants - the nasturtium plants I seeded this year continue to take over wherever I put them - but the leaves and flowers are both pretty and tasty, so will be a good companion for all the veg.

There is also some kind of sloping shelf by the chimney, which I intend to investigate. If it's stable, big and flat enough, I may try to have some more tomatoes hanging off that. I just need to make sure that they don't get blown off and fall through the roof!

Off the roof and in the garden, I am planning to grow dwarf runner beans, french beans, courgettes, chard, and possibly some more carrots in pots. This is going to require some garden netting to protect the seedlings from Team Cat, whose bowel movements still disrupt my bucolic utopia - but I'm sure with a few countermeasures agriculture will prevail.

Finally, my second sowing of chilli seeds germinated after several weeks, and I now have three healthy little (and one increasingly massive) plants. I am hoping to overwinter these indoors, and put them outside in April or so to soak up as much sun as possible (and hopefully give me lots of chillis!) We'll see.

But for now, it's time to hunker down and wait for the seasons to turn.

Vegideath

2008-07-30T13:12:00.000+01:00

Project courgette goes from bad to worse. In addition to half the leaves being scorched and one of the plants not growing fruit properly, the whole thing is now covered in powdery mildew.

Apparently an organic treatment for this is spraying baking soda, water and soap on the leaves, so I'll try that at some point soon. However, I'm not hugely hopeful of my courgette plant surviving that much longer. I fear that high winds and insufficient soil have combined to stymie this particular project. I will know next year to buy bigger growbags and try to find some way of shielding the plant from blustery days.

Spring onions and chard continue to flourish, without any obvious problems, and the tomatoes are growing noticeably larger daily.

Summary: A few things wot I have learnt part 1

2008-07-23T13:48:00.000+01:00

1. Courgette leaves grow very large. High winds make them think they can fly. Unfortunately they can't, and the leaves snap off. This is a particular problem if your courgettes are on a roof.

2. Carrots CAN survive 24hrs in waterlogged soil. However, it is recommended that you put drainage holes in your Corinthian trough in the first instance, to prevent awkward rooftop rescue missions.

3. Digging a bed is great. People like digging. Unfortunately so do your neighbour's cats, so bear that in mind.

4. Do not assume that just because you have put spring onions in a pot, that they will not get dug up. This is not the case. Put them on the roof as well.

5. Chilli seeds are not easy to germinate. Do not impulse buy them and expect them to work.

6. You cannot grow too much cut and come-again lettuce. However it is better to sow it at weekly intervals so that you've always got some.

7. Bright Lights Chard is great. Slugs and snails know this and will eat plants when small. Bright Lights Chard with slug-eaten leaves is not so appealing.

In summary:

8. Vegetables do weird things that you don't expect. This seems quite an achievement for something that is basically stuck to the ground. The clip below is an example of this, and probably also indicative of the kind of music that gets played at an Aphid Party.*

*despite being a blatant viral advert for Canadian frozen vegetables.

Abortive Courgettes, Aphid Party and Tomato Hope

2008-07-23T13:13:00.000+01:00

There's been a bit of a dearth of posts of late, simply because not much has been happening. We've eaten pretty much all the french beans now - which were very good, but not quite as many as I'd imagined - and are waiting for the second batch of cut and come again to come again. In the meantime we've been munching the Bright Lights Chard from the garden, which seems to be well in its growing season now.

The lack of reporting about courgettes has been due to their failure to do very well. They are flowering all over the place, and the fruit's setting - but that's it. I can't seem to get the fruit to grow. It sits there, then goes dark and shrivels up, with the end rotting away. This is obviously not ideal. Having initially been concerned that it was due to the fruit not being pollinated, I've hand-pollinated the last few, and they seem to be going the same way. My current tactic is to give them about 5 times as much water as I think they need, feed them with Tomorite regularly and see what happens.

The alpine strawberry in the kitchen has been doing well - though some of the lower leaves keep turning yellow and dying. Having pulled a few of these off yesterday, I discovered the reason. The whole thing was covered in aphids, dancing around on the stems and having a fine old time. Maybe they think the strawberries are giant red glitter balls or something. Anyhow, tonight it is time for the patented rub-them-off-with-fingers-and send-down-plughole technique. My fingers spoiling the party like the axe-wielding psycho bursting into the sleepover in some 1980s schlock-horror film. Hopefully this will sort them out.

The great cat-poo problem in the garden has continued, mitigated slightly by the introduction of pepper dust. The latest addition to the fray is a "Big Cheese MegaSonic Cat Repeller", which, in addition to sounding a bit like a weapon from the 1st person shooter Doom(TM), is meant to emit super-sonic noises when it detects Mittens & co, therefore scaring the little buggers off. I like cats, so am not 100% happy with this, but perhaps it can be an interim measure until the flowerbeds are full enough not to be such an attractive "dumping ground".

On a positive note, the tomatoes are now showing the first signs of fruit. Although currently the size of a pea, this bodes well for future eating.

Food P*rn

2008-07-11T21:18:00.000+01:00

A slight change of angle today, as Harringay Roof Farm meets Ready-Steady-Cook. It's worth explaining at this point that Mr Growbag loves the modern trend towards glossy cookbooks (seemingly mostly by various people with variants on the forename Nigel). Even the ones which don't feature pictures of should-probably-be-too-old-for-me-but-I-still-would-probably-sleep-with-given-half-a-chance*,** Jewish brunettes sultrily licking cake mixture off their fingers definitely qualify as "food porn" as far as I am concerned. I could quite happily spend an entire morning looking at well shot pictures of ripe cheeses, perky vegetables and sizzling rare meat (The other member of Team Nigel seems to be almost too keen on describing the joy of sizzling rare meat, in prose that could be lifted straight from Carry on up the Kitchen - but I digress). Frequently, food porn books are how I spend my morning on Saturdays when I get up too late to loll in front of reruns of Keith Floyd on Saturday Kitchen. I therefore dedicate this edition of HRF to "Celebrity Cooks approximately called Nigel". Long may glossy photos of food make us all hungry.

As you will see from the glorious haul on the left, there are now officially "things to eat". To be fair, there has been lettuce for nearly a month now, and beans for a good week, but I took the opportunity to thin out the carrots and pluck a couple of the large spring onions (still small, but worth doing).

The carrots in particular smelt amazing. Such a strong, carrotty smell - slightly peppery even. 100 times spicier than the bland watery things that you sometimes get in supermarkets. And aren't they pretty colours?

The beans are also impressive. The purple ones are actually closer to being black, and have shiny deep emerald flesh under the outer layer. This is the colour the whole thing goes when cooked.

So. What to do with these vegetables? I decided to make them into a simple topping for some Spinach and Ricotta stuffed pasta I had in the freezer. Stage one was to chop them up, which, as you'll see, I mastered with aplomb. Please note the jaunty angle of the knife.

Next, I sloshed (I'm really getting the hang of this cookbook jargon, innit! Pukka!) a good couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a small pan, and warmed it up with a sliced clove of garlic. I then added the beans and carrots to the garlicky oil and gently sauted them for a few minutes. Gentle heat all the way for these fresh young veg. I then added the spring onions, some frozen peas and a sprig of chopped mint from the garden and continued to saute at the low heat.

When the purple beans had changed colour and, along with the carrots, had softened a little, I took the pan off the heat, salted and peppered it, and squeezed a little bit of lemon juice over. I then put a plate on the top and left it while I made some salad using the lettuce and some fresh basil and oregano, a lonely tomato from the fridge and half a thin cucumber from the corner shop.

Quickly boiled some water and chucked the pasta in. Sainsburys is my brand of choice - they have more flavour than the Morrisons ones I find. In any case, they are brilliant as they cook in 5 minutes flat.

While they were cooking, I stirred some chopped feta cheese (half a block) into the veg mix, and it melted and crumbled just a little bit. Yum.

It served two with a stick of garlic bread very nicely. It was delicious, and the girlfriend loved it so much it gave her stomach ache! (OK, OK, she had stomach ache beforehand but what sort of funny story is that?) Fresh, crispy, simple, tasty.

*Girlfriend Caveat: I would, of course, only do this if we talked about it and agreed that it was ok and that you weren't going to be jealous and that you would get at least half the profits from me selling my story to the nearest scuzzy tabloid half a week later.
** ... and provided that she cooked me breakfast the next morning.

Food, glorious food (soon)

2008-07-02T10:36:00.000+01:00

It's this time of year when I start to reap the rewards of vegetable-based labour. Despite the trials and tribulations of being on a roof, in Harringay, and being looked after by an amateur gardener with no experience, there are baby veg galore. :) The beans, for one have almost doubled in size since my last post. I was mildly distressed this morning to discover that two of the "spare" bean plants, planted in the garden, have had their stems snapped. God knows how - but it's a shame as they were both in flower. Maybe Team Cat is getting revenge for the orange peel...

The courgettes - whilst still small - are coming along nicely. They appear to be squash shaped - apparently this is called "burping". Maybe they'll even out over time - however in any case I am sure they'll still taste great. It remains to be seen whether "burped" courgettes provoke a similar reaction in Mr Growbag, but I can't find any stories to confirm or deny this. I might go on a de-tattifying mission tonight and remove the dead leaves - guess the plants need all the energy they can get at this stage.

Yesterday seems to have been a good growing day for Project Spring Onion too, and hopefully it won't be long now before some of these can be pulled and eaten. They do look a bit straggly, but perhaps this is the nature of the beast. I suppose the stems might become a bit more upright as they thicken up. With all this veg about to start being harvested, I need to work on some recipes - I will attempt to post some of the (better) results on the blog for posterity.

The Tumbling Tom tomato plant is also increasingly covered in flowers. Hopefully soon these will be setting into fruit. I love cherry tomatoes, so can't wait. The back door of the house is certainly getting increasingly delicate to open, as the plant keeps growing across it!

Finally, I have to report that Girlfriend and I ate the first strawberry. Unfortunately it wasn't quite ripe enough, so was rather disappointing. Must remember to learn to be patient. I just wish it was possible to learn to be patient more quickly, damnit!

Beanis envy

2008-06-30T13:03:00.000+01:00

The beans are now not only in flower, but starting to develop tiny little french beans. It's quite amazing how it happens - the flower seems to fall off, leaving the bean behind. Well, I say bean, but the current crop are currently about the size of millipedes.

Unfortunately, I fear the seed pods in question may have been too phallic* for my camera , so the following photos appear to have been taken using "auto-censor" mode, as seen on photos of minor celebrities in minor skirts falling out of cars in all good red-top newspapers. Being in somewhat of a rush this morning, I did not have time to de-select the icon of Mary Whitehouse and take some better ones, so I also have posted a diagram. Equally unfortunately, I discovered that drawing a bean flower and bean using MS Paint is also quite difficult - see below - so this post is basically generally a bit of a write off. (* actually, in all probability, just too small, but I needed to justify the awful pun in the title somehow )

My courgette plants, despite looking tatty as hell, have yielded their first courgette up for girlfriend and me to eat. It tasted... like a courgette, funnily enough - and there are more on the way. As long as I can keep feeding it and stop the plant from dying we should be fine. Gardening Dad (GD) suggested cutting old manky leaves off, so I might give the thing a trim later on tonight. Actually, it sounds like GD is doing rather better with courgettes than I, as he apparently has grown his courgettes in a bigger bag of compost, and planted another directly into the top of a compost heap. Both good ideas; alas, neither really possible on a roof. Still, the rooftop sun appears to have put my beans ahead - GD's are apparently only just coming into flower.

After some internet research, I may have found another ally in the war of attrition against Team Cat's fecal "minelaying" - orange peel. Apparently Fatty, Scaredy, Shy and all their kind hate it. I have chopped up a couple of oranges and sprinkled the peel liberally in my flowerbeds, so hopefully Team Cat will have to find somewhere else to do their business. I'm still not ruling out Cayenne Pepper, Team Cat, so look and learn*... (*Yes, I am aware that cats cannot read a blog. I will communicate this message through the medium of hissing and morse code using a Pirates of the Caribbean waterpistol aimed at their head)

The tomato plant continues to sprawl and increase in volume. It's now got to the stage where its leaves get trapped in the back door. I was also delighted to see lots of flowerheads, so it looks like we could be in for some tasty toms in the not-so-distant future.

Finally, the alpine strawberry plant has produced a monster. Its first berry is about twice the size of a normal alpine strawberry, and - judging by its colour last night - will be ripe by the end of today. Let's hope the beans are inspired by this and attempt to grow to a similarly impressive girth.* (*Yes, I am aware that beans cannot read a blog! I shall be communicating this information through a cunning system of morse watering)

Soha nincs jó idő...

2008-06-22T17:01:00.000+01:00

At what is possibly a new level of pretension for this blog, I have taken to quoting Hungarian folk-songs at you. The snippet in the title basically means "there is never any good weather". Reassuring as it is that the Magyars have the same attitude to the climate as the Brits (complain about it), I've chosen this rather tenuous link because the roof farm is feeling a little like an ongoing battle against the elements at the moment.

Having survived flooded carrots (admittedly my fault), and dry soil (sorted out by lots of watering) the next challenge for HRF seems to be the wind. Although London has only been gusting up to 17 mph, this is still apparently quite windy for courgettes with leaves the size of dinner plates, on a roof. This has led to a snapped stem (grr) and some hasty dragging things around to attempt to use the beans as a windbreak. One version of the resultant bean-windbreak is pictured. It's since been refined a little, but you get the idea.

However, the excellent news is that both beans and courgettes have flowerheads, and are on the brink of blooming. (pictures of both) So veg should not be so far off. I have given everything some plant food today, as some of the courgette leaves are yellowing, so hopefully the extra nutrition will do them good. I chopped virtually all the cut and come again lettuce, and filled a large tupperware box, and a day or so later it's already coming back. Amazing stuff. Have started off another lot in a trough so we'll get some more later on in the season.

Project spring onion is doing well both on the roof and in the garden. Project tomato is doing excellently well. I attach a photo - if you compare this to the posting of the seedlings one month ago, you can see how they've come on! The garden in general has been helped by a couple of judicious applications of slug pellets (organic, cat-safe ones - more's the pity). Suddenly things seem to not be developing as many holes, and are growing much quicker. In an attempt to stop the cat sowing "cat pellets" in my beds, I've applied a judicious sprinkling of white pepper to the soil. If this doesn't work, I have worked out the provisional escalation process as follows:

1. chili powder
2. itching powder
3. broken glass
4. razor-wire
5. landmines.

Alas, the chilis I was so excited about have refused to germinate. I have moved them to the kitchen windowsill to see if they do any better there, but am not holding out much hope. It's probably too late in the season now anyway. To cut my losses and cheer myself up, I bought a small chili plant and put it outside in the centre of a rather pleasant herb pot - so we'll see how that does. Also impulse bought some nasturtium seeds, and popped a few in various pots of stuff. It's right at the end of the recommended planting time, so they might not flower until September, but at least I get to see out summer by eating flowers.

I know you're still all very excited about the Hungarian folk song, so here are the full lyrics, and a link to a sing-along version on a children's website here. Go on, you know you want to. (There's also a version arranged for solo piano by Bartok if the synthesised, boingy accompaniment gets a bit too much for you..)

Komáromi kisleány vigyél által a Dunán
A Dunán, a Dunán, vigyél által a Dunán!

Ha átviszel a Dunán, megcsókollak a partján,
A partján, a partján, megcsókollak a partján!

Télen nagyon hideg van, nyáron nagyon meleg van
Soha nincs jó idő, mindig esik az eső!

Oh, what's it about? Approximately (and I would be delighted if any native speaking Hungarians choose to correct me): Verse 1: "Young girl from Komarom, cross over the Danube to me! the Danube, the Danube, cross over the Danube to me!" Verse 2: "If you cross over the Danube to me, on the bank I will kiss you, on the bank, on the bank, on the bank I will kiss you!" Verse 3: "In winter it's always too cold. In summer it's always too hot. There's never any good weather. It rains all the time."

Young love thwarted by inclement weather. So tragic.

You've Bean Framed

2008-06-16T12:58:00.000+01:00

I would like to make it clear from the outset that the title of this post does not mean that I am trying to regrow the late Jeremy Beadle from seed.

The mystery illness that seemed to be affecting a couple of the bean leaves doesn't seem to have dented its enthusiasm, and over the weekend I was delighted to see long, spindly shoots with flowerbuds on the top poking out of the foliage. However, the beans seem unable to temper their enthusiasm with common sense. Perhaps they have inherited this from their surrogate father (me). This has led to them flopping outwards from the growbag, despite me planting them alternately, so that they would support each other, had they only flopped inwards. Bean plant was going everywhere, and I'm not sure that resting on a warm, gritty tarmac roof is the best place for bean plant.

Opting for a rather Victorian method of tutoring my undisciplined proteges, I decided to tie them to stakes. I stuck thin canes into the growbag, making 4 triangles (2 on each long side of the growbag) which I tied together at the top. I then formed a cross of canes on top, tying those on as well. The task of deciding which bit of stem to tie to which cane was, given the rather chaotic and tangled nature of the beans, tricky. However, with some persistence, and one unpleasant incident where I snapped a side shoot off (accusations of Plant Abuse should go directly to my solicitor), the beans were lashed to the masts. I even tied a couple of the long flowershoots horizontally along the top crossed poles.

I wasn't initially convinced it looked any better, as half the leaves were the wrong way up, and there were some funny gaps. However, I'm sure that after the sunlight has made the leaves turn around etc and the plant has continued to grow it will look much better. It should also remove the problem of tender leaf touching hot growbag/tarmac (which may have been what caused the damage to the leaves last week.)

As you will also see, the courgette plants are huge. You could receive Sky with those leaves. Girlfriend and I have merrily been eating the cut and come again lettuce, but it seems more than happy to carry on growing back. Both pots of Spring Onions are also growing like mad, uninterrupted by any of the local felines. Obviously frustrated by the lack of plants to sit on or veg to dig up, these have taken to shitting in my flowerbeds. I intend to sow the ground with ground pepper in the near future. They won't like that.

Bean trauma

2008-06-12T12:35:00.000+01:00

After such a positive post yesterday, this morning it unfortunately appears that something is rotten in the state of Beanmark. A couple of the larger leaves appear to have dead patches on them. The edges of the affected leaves on one plant in particular were also droopy and wilting. Being an inexperienced roof gardener I have no idea what has caused this problem. Did the Amazonian tribesman get pissed off about being photographed and slash and burn my leaves?

My only thoughts on the cause is that the hot hot sun, interspersed with wet, wet rain may have caused parts of the leaves to become scorched/waterlogged or both. I am, however, also aware that this is a poor explanation.

Worrying indeed. I shall keep an eye on them, and hopefully the problem will go away.

Jungle boogie

2008-06-11T11:05:00.000+01:00

It rained a lot, then it was very sunny. This makes for happy vegetables - and the roof farm is becoming more Amazonian by the day. But without the snakes, or isolated tribes shooting poisonous darts. In particular I am delighted to announce that Project Spring Onion (mk2) seems to be growing well, and hasn't been sat on by anything. We ate some of the lettuce - it was very tasty in a lettuce-y kind of way, and it already seems to have grown back. Such is the joy of cut and come again.

It is my birthday today (yay!), and I was delighted to get a gardening book from my parents. I also received a card from work which contained a comment suggesting that my interest in gardening marked my entry into my "twilight years". This might have marred my delight, had the commenter not been almost twice my age. You get long twilights in summer...

The observant reader will notice that the layout of the roof farm has changed. I had to space things out more, as the courgette and french beans were growing to such an extent that they were in danger of getting tangled up together (and swamping the lettuce). The only downside is that I now have to venture further out on the roof, but I can basically stay next to the apex, so it's bound to be nice and strong. At least, I hope they're strong - I sometimes sit on mine when watering.

The chillis have not germinated as yet, but I'm holding out hope. If they don't do anything in another week or so, I might try replanting...

My (still fairly small) hanging basket tomato plants have almost doubled in size since being moved onto the sunniest wall in the garden.

NB: Having just checked inside one of the french bean plants, I may have been wrong about the Amazonian tribes (see below).

In which some Rage ensues.

2008-06-06T09:41:00.000+01:00

This morning, I discovered the reason for the holes in my bean leaves (right). It was a cute little snail, young, with perky antennae and a fragile thin shell, crawling merrily across the watering pot in the centre of my beans. I had left a beer trap (bottom right) out overnight, so perhaps it was a little drunk, and had thrown camouflage and caution to the wind. Smiling at its beauty and sweetness, I plucked it up, partly crushing its shell and threw it off the roof. Some might advocate rehousing, or another more humane approach, but when the red mist of the amateur gardener descends, unfortunately a bloodbath is inevitable.

One gastropod down, I noticed something else underneath the pot. Whipping the flowerpot out, poised to strike, I was slightly bemused to discover some kind of mushroom growing there. Much as I love free food as much as the next man, I'm not going to eat it, as I have no idea what it is. My early-morning brain couldn't process how to deal with a random fungus, so I went for the easy option, put the pot back on top of it and went indoors.

The gastropod genocide continued in the back garden, where I spotted a slug next to some suspicious looking holes in my not-really-growing-that-well Bright Lights Chard. I'm not quite sure what happened next, but when the red mist lifted, the slug was buried under a pile of rock salt crystals, looking distinctly unhappy. I have no memory of how it got there.

The final item of Rage was caused by a large pile of poo (cat or fox? who knows?) scarcely buried in some loose soil by the rose in the garden. Unfortunately the fox had slunk off into the undergrowth, and I didn't happen to have the Countryside Alliance with horses, dogs, (and the random kestrel they have to carry with them to get around the hunting with dogs rule. No rule about hunting with dogs and random bird.... aha!) with me, so revenge was not forthcoming. I hope the rage doesn't descend again, or the soil might start being sprinkled with chilli powder...

I appreciate that all of the above is terrible for my karma, but am quite content that whoever came back as the abovementioned snail and slug was at a similar end of the "nice" spectrum to me, so probably had it coming to them. So if any snails are reading this, be warned.

Comments

2008-06-05T09:48:00.000+01:00

I just noticed that comments on this blog were limited to Blogger users. I have now fixed this, so if anyone has anything to say about ongoing vegetable operations, it should now be possible to leave me a note!

"Well loved he garleek, oynons, and eek lekes"

2008-06-04T13:49:00.000+01:00

I've always been upset that Chaucer's vile Summoner is caricatured as liking onions, garlic and leeks to excess - perhaps because I also like onions, garlic and eek leeks to excess, but don't see myself as some unpleasant and drunken medieval bailiff. Particularly not one with a fire-red cherubim's face, covered in "whelkes" and "knobbes", of which children are afeard.

However, I have been mourning the demise of Project Spring Onion, since - after my previous post - the cats finished off the job and the pots I had planted were reduced to total carnage. I therefore decided to start again, and one trough can be seen on the picture, safely tucked up on the roof. The other pot I have replanted, and balanced on the funny concrete pillar thing that sits at the bottom of the garden, hopefully making it too high for Team Cat to rummage. Sweet revenge, in that the cats used to like sitting on the funny concrete pillar thing, and now there's a pot on it. They could try and jump at it and knock it off, but it's pretty heavy, so I reckon that two of them would be too light, and the really fat one won't be able to jump high enough, so it should be pretty safe...

Back to the roof-farm - as you can see everything is looking PDH (pretty damn healthy). I ate a lettuce leaf the other day out of curiosity, and it seems to be edible. In a few more days I shall cut a whole one. Harvest time begins...

Something has eaten most of one of the leaves of a bean plant, but I'm not sure what it is. In any case, there seems to be a spider's web underneath it now, so hopefully any further insects will get chomped. It's a bit bizarre that only one leaf appears to have been targeted, though.

I have ordered some chilli seeds, to keep things interesting, and these turned up yesterday. Hungarian Black and Cherry Hot varieties - and I intend to germinate both on my windowsill over the next few weeks. The tomato seedlings have also now been planted out in the hanging thing on the back wall, and haven't died yet. Lots of rain. Great stuff. The carrots are still draining, so rain is now my friend.

The great carrot-themed escape?

2008-05-30T15:18:00.000+01:00

The carrots have drained. What damage has been done to their roots (if any) remains to be seen. They are looking quite leafy, though. As are the beans.

Example of what happens to carrots who get flooded in their youth

2008-05-29T16:15:00.000+01:00

Tragic. So very tragic. See how the poor taproot is reduced to boogieing without any music other than the revving engines of boy-racers. If only some kind soul had grown it in properly drained soil THIS NEEDN'T HAVE HAPPENED.

I am overwhelmed with remorse.

Low Tech Carrot Rescue Solutions

2008-05-29T13:11:00.000+01:00

Ok, so in the end I didn't buy a drill, deciding that I could probably just bash a nail in and pull it out. However, this morning when I attempted to do this, the procedure was more complex than I had imagined. Firstly, the walls of the box were too springy for the nail to penetrate, nearly leading me to hit my thumb on each strike. Secondly, worried about the solidity of the roof, I didn't want to whack anything too hard. Thirdly, the waterlog situation was worse than I had anticipated, and the box squelched and sloshed water out of the top each time I hit it. In fact, the soil looked a bit like some kind of muddy Mohito - a slush of compost.

Miraculously the carrots still look quite cheery (though god knows what's happened to their roots - which, as all the gardening sites I have looked at point out - is the whole point of carrots.) Hopefully as this trauma is so early in their development they'll turn out really well. I tried to find a human analogue for this, but kept on coming back to Britney Spears/Michael Jackson and thinking "oh dear".

Eventually, I located the points of thin plastic on the underside I was meant to pierce before filling the bucket with compost, and managed to bash them in with a nail. To do this, I had to balance the whole Corinthing on the apex of the roof, and try to do this upside-down. As each hole was punctured, a stream of water started trickling out, which was quite satisfying.

When I left for work, it was still going, but there was still surface water on the top of the trough. Hopefully when I next check, things will be back to normal, soil might look like soil again, and the carrots will be able to carry on growing into well-balanced vegetables that won't fall out of cars with no pants on or dangle their children off balconies...

Fat Cats and Drowning Carrots

2008-05-28T16:09:00.000+01:00

I think that I must be one of the only people in London who is delighted that it rained so much over the bank holiday weekend. Partly due to the fact I was in Riga, where it was very sunny.

Upon my return, I was pleased to note that my roof-farm is fast becoming a truly urban jungle of rapidly growing and healthy looking greenery - helped by the vast amount of rain. However, I am in mourning for the demise of Project Spring Onion. These were planted (with naive optimism) in pots in the back garden. However, the local cats (fatty, scaredy and shy) seem to have decided that digging up the pot at regular intervals is A Fun Thing to Do. Therefore, spring onions are valiantly trying to grow at 45 degree angles, upside-down, prone on top of the soil, or 3 inches underground, all with limited success. I intend to keep the project going as an exercise in proving that Nature's Bounty can overcome adversity, but I fear that this is just a manifestation of my British desire to support the underdog. Of course, if I had an underdog, I might not have had this feline-related problem in the first place. Batch 2, if I can be bothered, will be on the roof.

Some emergency flood control might also be necessary to prevent Project Carrots becoming Project Plastic Corinthian (sic) Bathtub. With yet more naive optimism, I omitted to drill any drainage holes in the plastic container for the carrots, and, following this weekend's downpour, there is a small pond in one corner of the unit. I shall go and buy a hand-drill tonight and remedy this. "Potatoes drown after 24 hours in waterlogged soil", commented my girlfriend cheerily this morning.* Let's hope carrots are more resilient.

* I like to think this is what young trendy urban couples talk about nowadays, and that it's not a sign of becoming Irreparably Boring People (with what is possibly a third and final helping of naive optimism.)

Lapsang Souchong

2008-05-22T16:26:00.000+01:00

On a rather massive tangent - having just had my first cup for several years, one thing I will not be growing is Lapsang Souchong tea, even if it does taste of garden centres/woodchips/turpentine. Yuk.

Ah-my Greenhouse?

2008-05-22T13:27:00.000+01:00

Much like certain darlings of the indie music scene, every time I see them, my seedlings seem to be shooting up. Do they need to go to greenhouse? No, no, no. Having overdosed on beautiful sunshine and loving watering, my little plants are thriving.

The courgettes (top) have just managed to generate their first "proper" leaves. Interesting how the big flat ones that came through first look totally different - I imagine them being like some kind of first-stage solar panel on a satellite (though I would never tell anyone this for fear of being branded a sci-fi geek). The new leaves have frilly edges, so it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Lettuce (middle) is coming on apace, and might even be ready to chow down on in a month or so, if it continues growing at this sort of speed. It definitely is starting to look like a recognisable salad vegetable. Soon, the days of spending £1.99 on a small plastic bag of salad that goes off really quickly will be behind me. :)

The subject of the final panel of this agricultural triptych (bottom) is currently on my windowsill in the kitchen. These are the newly-germinated seedlings for my "Tumbling Tom" tomatoes. These are not going on the roof, but I have acquired a hanging basket for a wall in the back garden, so will be plonked in there once they're big enough. I may have started the whole tomato process off a little late, but we'll see how they do.

Vague and poor scuzzy indie music star/agricultural jokes I have failed to use in this post include beehives, "Peat" Docherty, Libertbeans and the word "soiled".

Why I fear no snails

2008-05-22T13:25:00.000+01:00

I know this may be tempting fate, but seriously. I'd love to see the little buggers try it...

Here be seedlings!

2008-05-16T15:23:00.000+01:00

Well, 2 weeks in, and everything's ticking along nicely. The eagle eyed may spot some tiny carrots in the Corinthian trough; the beans are all looking small but perky; the courgettes are growing leaves # 3&4 and the lettuce is starting to look like lettuce. Joy!

Setting up - just under 2 weeks ago

2008-05-16T13:42:00.000+01:00

After such an auspicious and soggy start to this project, I'm going to bore this blog's readership (probably consisting of opportunistic pigeons and/or catburglars) with details of how I've got my little plot set up.

Kit:

3 growbags (£1.75 each from Homebase, or £1 from Wilko)
1 "Corinthian style black plastic tub" - around £4 from Wilko (oh yes, those ancients loved their plastic).
Around £4-worth of compost
Seeds - Dwarf French Beans in Purple and Green, Mixed Leaf lettuce, and Courgettes from my dad; Rainbow F1 Carrots from Homebase (£1.75).

Also, not on the roof, but part of my "extended Harringay agriculture project" (pots in the garden), some Bright Lights Swiss Chard (£1.50 a packet) and some impulse-bought spring onions (£1.50) in tubs.

As you can see from the beautiful diagram above, the roof-farm is set up within lunging distance of the window (meaning I can water it without leaving the house), and angled (so the water runs down the natural slope off the roof, and doesn't sit around soaking into my hall.)

I planted following the packet instructions - and you can see how I cut the plastic on the top of the bags on the diagram - lettuce seed (fiddly) scattered thinly in two rows, then covered over with a light sprinkling of compost. Courgettes, two seeds 1/2inch deep in each big square (thin plants down to one once something's germinated). French beans, two per position, 1/2 inch deep (thin plants as courgettes). Carrot seed (also fiddly) scattered thinly in two rows, covered with light compost.

To help watering, I cut a X in the middle of the courgette bag, and inserted a plastic flowerpot (with holes in the bottom). I can then fill this with water to water the roots directly. I also put two of these pots in the French Bean bag.

I was pretty good about watering every day (we were having a heatwave), and it was only a week or so until everything had started to sprout. Very exciting. Beans particularly are amazing. They sort of stick a shoot into the soil then catapult the initial leaves into the air!

One of the freakish cats that inhabit our garden (1. Very Fat, 2. Very Shy and 3. Very Scared) decided to dig around in the spring onion pot, but these somehow also managed to germinate, as did the chard.

First steps towards Bucolic Utopia - 2 weeks ago

2008-05-15T14:46:00.000+01:00

It seemed like such a good idea - I thought, as the growbags flopped out of my arms for the third time like a pair of giant muddy salmon. You've got a south-facing flat roof with convenient access window and there's a Homebase on the way home. Jump off the Tube a stop early, grab a couple of growbags, jump back on a bus, then it's only a couple of stops to the end of the road...

The reason why I was now soaked, tired, miserable and salmon-wrestling was entirely due to my failure to factor a few minor things in.

1. It was raining - chucking it down, in fact.
2. 90 litres of soil weighs quite a lot.
3. Plastic gets slippery when it rains.
4. London buses are full in rush hour.
5. I had a stinking cold.

I stopped by the traffic-light coloured stews and spinning doners of one of the many kebab shops to consider my options....

I successfully grew some tomatoes in a pot a couple of years ago, so was keen to try some more grow-your-own action this year. Having moved to a lovely new flat with my girlfriend, I noticed the potential of my flat, south-facing roof and consulted with my greener-fingered-than-I father. As a result, I decided to grow Courgettes, green and purple French Beans and mixed Lettuce. In a fit of Homebase-enthusiasm, I had also bought some mixed carrot seeds (Rainbow F1 Hybrid) which claimed to be yellow, orange and white. But in order for any of this to work, I needed growbags. And, not being a driver, I needed to move them from shop to home using a combination of slog and the 29 bus. But the buses seemed to all be full, so I'd started slogging up the road to try and find a stop that had fewer people. But the stops up the road had no shelter. So I was soaked, and so were the bags.

Eventually a sufficiently empty bus arrived; I flopped my growbags onto the bus, trying to stop my glasses sliding off my nose in the torrents of run-off from my soaked hair. A couple of bus stops (and a bag-carrying mission of mercy by my girlfriend) later on, I was gratefully in a warm shower, with two growbags heaped on a bin-bag at the top of the stairs.

I wonder if I'm going to be better at gardening than logistics? - I found myself thinking...