Plant Progress: Week 5

This weekly round-up is normally titled 'seedling spotlight'; however it's change to 'plant progress' is extremely telling in itself.  We're 5 weeks into this year's London Vegetable Garden project and even at this early stage, we're starting to deal with some substantial plants.  These plants were planted 5 weeks ago, however I have conducted some staggered planting this year, with a second batch of vegetable seeds being sown 12 days ago on the 7th of May.

So here's a look at what's 'growing on' in the London Vegetable Garden...

The early runner beans have really established themselves now.  They are ready for planting out into the garden and worked alongside canes, which will be done this weekend, weather permitting!

Courgettes are another plant that is really starting to flourish.  These plants grow quickly and they need planting out in the ground now, in order for their roots to spread out and seek maximum nourishment from the soil to aid their growth.  You can plant these in pots too, providing you give them a hefty size and some really enriched soil.

There's nothing nicer than the taste of freshly shelled peas, which is why I'm so looking forward to these little chaps!  Due to space restrictions in the garden, I'm planning to plant these in a hessian sack (available from all good garden stores) with cane support slots built in.  I have also planted peas in my second batch of vegetable plants too, so that I can stagger the crop throughout the summer, shown below.

My tomatoes are also coming along nicely.  Some thinning out is required and then in a few weeks, these plants will be a bit bigger and ready for direct planting into a grow bag.

Radishes are very quick and easy to grow and provide a fantastic, crunchy kick to summer salads.  I planted some radish seeds 12 days ago, making use of an old wire frame for hanging flower boxes from balconies.  I lined it with plastic bags (with drainage holes) and then newspaper, before filling with compost.  Very makeshift, but it doesn't matter - plants don't mind where they grow!

This is the first year I've attempted French beans and they seem to be slower than other vegetable plants, yet coming along fine.  Below you can see a '5-weeker' and a '2-weeker', representing the plants I have grown at different times.

Here's a shot of a couple of the 'outside' (mini greenhouse) plants ready for planting out:

My wife is a very understanding women and has very kindly allowed me to take over a small part of her work studio in the top of the house and turn it into a mini greenhouse.  The skylight in the roof provides plenty of light and a great deal of warmth, which the new seedlings absolutely love:

Once again, I passionately believe that as vegetable gardeners, we learn from each other.  This blog chronicles my attempts at growing vegetables, but I'm just as interested to hear from all of you.  Please feel free to share your own gardening stories by leaving a comment on the blog, on our community-driven Facebook page or even on Twitter.

Planting Out: That Was The Plan...

Good morning dear readers and welcome to a rather damp, windy and dull London Vegetable Garden.  Today had been set aside for that seminal event in a gardener's yearly cycle – planting out!  For many of us, this occasion feels very much like sending children off to university: they're big enough to hold their own and they have to make their own way in life, but we're still worried!

Anyway, I had planned to plant out runner beans, courgettes and peas today, since those respective vegetable seedlings are now veritable plants and need more space:

However, I awoke to the following weather:

This also means that the small patch of soil I had set aside for my vegetable patch (in need of significant weeding) is damp, wet and quite frankly, very unappealing:

As I sit and write these thoughts, coffee in hand, the time is 8:51 in the morning.  So we have a lot of time left in the day (and indeed the weekend) for the sun to come out, dry the garden up a bit and for me to get weeding!

Incidentally, I am planning an upcoming blog post on planning your vegetable gardening.  Despite having a lovely little garden in which to potter, the actual 'soil space' I have to grow vegetables directly into the ground is only approximately 5' by 4'.  So, I have made a drawing plan of the garden and am going to show clever ways around lack of soil space – there should be some great tips for all you urban gardeners out there.  Watch this space!

Vegetable Gardening in Bad Spring Weather

Walking to work this morning, I genuinely considered donning some gloves.  There was a veritable chill in the air, the North Face winter jacket was zipped up to my eyeballs and the wind howled around me as I paced Manchester's busy streets.

This is a post about that age old rogue, the BRITISH WEATHER.

There's no doubt that this spring the weather has been unseasonably bad – showers, cold temperature: we even had hail yesterday morning.  But while I can seek refuge in sensible clothing and a (thankfully) overheated office, what about the London Vegetable Garden plants?

I'm currently growing several vegetable seedlings, as well as staggering the growing of further seeds.  Despite living in a roomy cottage, space remains at a premium, so while some plants have been enjoying a skylight in my wife's attic studio, I have been hardening others off outside during the day before moving them into the outside mini greenhouse.

Despite this outdoor protection, temperatures have been regularly reaching zero recently, which makes me glad that I haven't planted anything out just yet.  In the spirit of this blog, I decided to compare my indoors and outdoors plants to see whether being outdoors really has affected the young vegetable plants in any way.

I have two different comparison pictures for you here – some tomatoes and some courgettes.  The plant on the left is the outside plant, whilst the plant on the right is one that has been kept inside at all times – take a look:

As you can see, the plants on the right (indoors) are faring better than the outdoors plants.  The outdoors plants are by no means suffering from the adverse weather; yet they are equally taking a bit longer to grow than their indoor counterparts.

So what does this mean for growing vegetables outdoors, be it in pots on the balcony, in grow bags on the patio, or indeed, out in the vegetable garden?  Well, from my amateur observations, it appears that this cold weather IS affecting plant growth – but not to the extent that it will actively damage the plants – especially if they have been hardened off.

My advice to you with this weather is as follows:

* Harden off plants by placing them outside during the day and bringing them in during the night. This gives them a chance to acclimatise to their new outdoor climate while ensuring that the young seedlings and plants aren't killed off by a sudden frost before they are hardy enough to hold their own.

* Keep warmth-loving plants like tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes inside on a warm windowsill until they are really established young plants.  This ensures that they have built up some sturdy strength for when you do plant them.

* Finally, don't panic!  If the cold weather has meant your vegetable plants are growing slowly; fear not!  We're all in the same boat and it simply means we'll have our vegetable crops a few weeks later than we would have.  And who knows – we may have a long summer to keep vegetable plants cropping well into September!

I'd really like to hear what YOU lot, my faithful readers, are experiencing with the weather.  What are YOUR seedlings and plants doing?  Do you have any tips to share with the London Vegetable Garden community?  Please feel free to add your comments below, tweet me @londonveggarden or share your tips over on Facebook.

Product Review: Miracle Gro Expand n Gro

As someone who started out as an urban gardener planting vegetables on my balcony in Hackney, I know full well that space is a premium.  In many instances, not only does the avid urban gardener have to plant their vegetables, flowers and plants in a tiny space: they also have to store their equipment there too.

For the urban gardener, compost is a particularly bulky essential; however due to the lack of natural spoil around on a high-rise balcony, very much a necessity!  Even if you own a garden, compost is a staple part of vegetable gardening, as the enriched soil aids the germination of seeds and growth of young seedlings, plants and flowers.

My friends at Miracle Gro kindly sent me a bag of their Expand 'n Gro concentrated enriched compost to use on the London Vegetable Garden and asked if I could review it for my readers, which I was more than happy to do.

The premise of this product is that it is a compact, easy to carry / store bag of compost that expands to three times its size.  Interested to see how this would work, I ventured into the garden this bank holiday and decided to give it a go!

When you open the bag, the compost is very dusty and a pale brown – it almost has a powder-like appearance and consistency and when I saw it, I wondered how on earth this would turn into compost!

The instructions say to mix in equal parts water and stir thoroughly, which I proceeded to do.  The compost takes in a lot of water (and certainly gives your arms a good workout!) but sure enough, I started to see enriched compost appear before my eyes – and it really did expand!

 I filled up my bucket less than 25% full of the dry compost product and after mixing in the water, had a bucket of compost that was a good 70% full.  It was easy to handle and supposedly feeds plants for up to an impressive six months, which is especially important to those gardening in small urban areas, since small pots often provide a vegetable plants home for its whole life. Here you can see a comparison of the compost before and after adding water:

I potted loads of seedlings using Miracle Gro's Expand 'n Gro enriched compost and made up a couple of batches for use around the garden yesterday.  However, I still have a bag full of the 'raw' compost product ready for use another day.  Its tidy zip-lock top and its compact size mean that I can store the compost bag away conveniently ready for use as and when I need it later on in the spring.

I'd highly recommend this product for urban gardeners looking for a clean, compact compost bag, but also for more experienced gardeners who want a great product in a convenient size.  This is a really great product and I'd like to thank the guys at Miracle Gro for sending me a bag to sample on the London Vegetable Garden.

Seedling Spotlight: Week 3

Hello again dear reader, and thank you for coming back to read more about my organic odyssey here on the London Vegetable Garden blog!

It has now been three weeks and a couple of days since I planted my vegetable seeds and the progress since then has not only been pleasing, but thoroughly enjoyable!  The picture below shows a selection (not all!) of my current crop of vegetable seedlings:

As you can see, different vegetable plants are at different stages of their growth and development, but all were planted at the same time three weeks ago.  So here's a quick progress report.  Just to note, these have been kept inside under a skylight window, where they have enjoyed the warmth of the sun (the few days we've had it)!


Peas

I planted my peas in my home-made newspaper plant pots, which are ridiculously easy to make, cost nothing and can be planted directly into the coil or compost, decomposing to ensure no root disturbance – read how to make your own newspaper plant pots right here.  Peas are climbers and so when these are big enough, I will be transplanting these into a sack for the patio and placing canes for them to climb up.  At the moment, they seem to be doing perfectly well in their pots!


Courgettes

I simply love growing courgettes.  There are loads of great recipes, they are high-yielding vegetables and they are really satisfying plants, with huge sprawling leaves and clumps of wonderful sleek and shiny green fruit.  These plants have grown phenomenally over the last week and I will need to separate these plants into their own pots soon.  Depending on the weather, I may just plant them into the vegetable patch directly.  Watch this space...


Tomatoes

I love everything about growing tomatoes – the range of varieties, the colours, the sweet taste of a tomato plucked fresh from the plant – and nothing can beat the warm smell of tomato plants in season; I love it!  I have a couple of tomato varieties growing: a large, suculent beef variety, as well as the colourful 'Tigrella' stripey variety that I grew on my allotment in 2010.  We can see here a couple of dominant plants, which I will look to transplant soon, thus giving the smaller plants more room and chance to grow themselves.


Cucumbers

Like tomatoes, cucumbers are a warmth-loving plant.  As you can see, I have four seedlings here, but they have not progressed from this size much over the past week.  From previous experience, I find cucumbers slow starters that suddenly thrive when there is warm weather and lots of space.  I will keep you updated!

Runner Bean

Runner beans are simply a classic of vegetable gardening.  The thing I love about runner beans is how hardy they are.  Once they're in the soil and established up against some canes, they thrive and provide so many vegetables throughout the summer – wonderful.  Interestingly, many people find runner beans bland and boring – but when I crop my runner beans, I'm taking on a small quest to find out some fantastic runner bean recipes.  Keep your eyes on the blog!


French Bean

This is my first year growing French beans, so this is all a learning experience for me!  People often claim that vegetable gardening is never as pretty as flower gardening, but I disagree.  If you look at the wonderful forms and shapes of this seedling, it's easy to appreciate the diverse range of vegetable plants that hold interest for the gardener as they grow and change all summer long.

So, there we have it dear readers – a run down on what's happening with my vegetable seedlings at the moment.  I have some gardening jobs to do today, (since it's a bank holiday and it is not raining!) which involves preparing and weeding my vegetable patch, as well as looking at the flowers I have planted from seed.  As always, I will share my progress with you, dear reader, right here on the London Vegetable Garden blog.

Vegetable gardening is a passion and I believe that the best way to learn is through having a go, as well as sharing your experiences with other people.  I have learned so much from readers of the London Vegetable Garden and love hearing all your advice and tips!  The London Vegetable Garden community is what makes this blog tick – feel free to add your comments to this post, chat with me on Twitter @londonveggarden or come and join us on Facebook, where I'd love you to upload your own vegetable pictures, share your advice and chat with 400 other avid vegetable gardening fans.  Callum :-)

Sheds: a gardener's castle...

If an Englishman’s home is his castle, what does this make his shed? In the battleground of domesticity, the humble shed can provide a welcome retreat for the English gardener, allowing men and women alike the opportunity to seek solace in the garden.

In recent years, sheds have evolved from their humble ‘roots’ (can’t beat a good gardening pun...) to grand log cabins that really are a home from home!

The last week’s biblical weather shows just how unpredictable the English weather can be, so the shed or log cabin really is an essential asset to any discerning gardener.

In my simple shed, I have a small potting table next to the window that looks out over the garden. Making the most of space is important and I have my seeds neatly arranged on the table, whilst tools are hung from pegs on the walls and along the roof.

However, as well as being a practical place to garden, pot and grow, sheds and log cabins can be a wonderful place to relax, get some peace and quiet and catch-up on those gardening magazines. Log cabins are very spacious and allow you to create a multi-purpose space where you can get down to serious gardening, as well as relaxing with a good gardening book or even just a cup of tea.

One day, when I have made my millions, I plan to purchase a lovely old country house with huge grounds and create my own allotment, with a vast log cabin from which to oversee my agricultural empire. In the meantime, I’ll make do with my much-loved shed, which allows me to garden, relax and drink tea in comfort.

If you’re looking for a botanical bolt-hole, Argos sell DIY log cabins from their site – take a look at some of the great range they have on offer and start planning your garden getaway today!

Seedlings: The Game is Afoot!

As regular followers will be aware, I enjoyed a thoroughly marvellous week back in my native East Sussex last week, which meant that all of the seeds I had planted were left on the cool kitchen floor for nine days!

I had watered the pots well before I went and left them in a cool place away from direct sunlight in order to ensure that they wouldn't bake and dry out in my absence.  Not knowing what I would return to find, I was delighted to arrive back home in the Peak District and find courgette, cucumber, French bean and tomato seedlings all pushing their way through the soil.

 

As any vegetable gardener will know, planting from seed and starting out for the year is an exciting time.  As soon as those first seedlings start to show through the soil, the gardener truly knows that the game is afoot and a summer full of vegetable gardening is upon us.

I particularly like the way that this courgette plant has sprouted and is still adorning the seed pod it grew from!

As we move into the coming weeks, it's time to watch these seedlings progress and develop into sturdy plants that we can then think about hardening off and then placing outside.

How are your seedlings going?  Still waiting for shoots to appear, or are you enjoying a garden full of sturdy vegetable plants already?  Come and share your experiences, photos and comments with the London Vegetable Garden community on Facebook by clicking here, or why not follow us on Twitter, @londonveggarden - we look forward to seeing you there!