Mmm.. okra

Untitled, a photo by uselessdevice on Flickr.

Not grown by me but tasty :)

mini succulent plant

Not much left in the garden now, well at least not any tomatoes. I haven't had the time or will to tidy up or plant spring bulbs yet. My purple osteospermum is the best surviving colour out in the garden.. the dahlias are over now. This baby plant is growing indoors in soil from a leaf of a bigger plant (the stem you can see is a different one though, dragon plant).

This pansy only flowered briefly but was really unusual looking, frilly and purple!


I saved some tulip, narcissus and alium bulbs from this summer - I've never tried re-planting bulbs before. I may try to see what I get rather than spend a lot on new ones this spring, perhaps try to save the dahlia tubers too, although the red ones I had this year aren't as nice as the big bold purple and white ones I had a couple of years back.

Finally, another old pic from October - showing 1 of my strawberry plants sending out runners, which I've put into another pot beside it. Sorry not very clear with the long grass around it. I must go out and rescue them into the warm before any frost.. perhaps they will have fruit next year. I think it is the bought plant rather than the from seed 1 that had the runners.

mystery berries, Sungold toms, strawbs

Speaking again of the "potato" plant (grown from a pack of dahlia tubers) carrying little green fruits. A few of the green fruits have turned into small blue berries - I wondered then if they are blueberries or blackcurrants! But after searching the web I found a page saying that these berries could still belong to a potato, since that is where the seeds are. How strange! I haven't tried to dig down and see if there are actually potatoes yet as it is right in the middle of my flower bed amongst poppies and sunflowers, but I should do at some point.

More gardening advice from the web - a branch had almost snapped off in the wind from a tomato plant with several green tomatoes on. Apparently I could have taped it up and it might have healed with time, but since I've already broken it off fully, I have pushed the branch down into a new pot of soil to see if it may grow roots and start a new plant. (As apparently this can work). Last time I threw a branch of tomatoes in the compost bin not knowing this, hope it works!


I had thought none of my sungold plants had made it, but now I can tell the difference between the larger red Gardener's Delight tomatoes and the more plentiful and flavourful yellowy-orange Sungolds so I do have both after all - in fact more Sungolds than GD's. I thought they were ripening past yellow (to red), but they stopped at orange. The smallest ones are the tastiest. I've been able to pick 5-10 at a time (only 1 or 2 GD), and there are always more green ones growing to take their place. It does make growing them worthwhile - enough to put in a salad whenever I want. It's cost a bit to buy seeds, tools and compost etc but is better value than buying a big box of cherry tomatoes and wasting most of them each time, as is normal from a supermarket. The plastic packaging is wasteful too, and they taste nicer. Also of course it is fun to grow them. :)

F1 Sarian strawberry plant - grown from seed and now complete with little baby strawberries! It is a couple of months since the Homebase Cambridge Favourite strawberry plant stopped fruiting (bought as a small plant). But now this one has nearly got to that stage. I'll be very pleased if I see ready to eat berries, after all the other seedlings didn't germinate or died.

tomatoes turning orange

I think these are the red rather than yellow ones, will let them carry on ripening..

Also, I bought a pack of 2 dahlias from Homebase (red cactus style, in 1 packet) - 1 is growing normal looking flower buds and leaves, but the other appears to actually have been a potato! It has little white flowers which have turned into green "fruits" which I believe can happen in potatoes, and maybe the tubers can look the same as dahlia tubers. Anyone know? At some point perhaps I will dig down and see if I have unexpected veg. :)

tomatoes getting bigger

taxi courgette growing

One flower of each sex:

And a baby yellow courgette growing! Hopefully it has been pollinated either by bees or by me with my cotton bud trying to transfer some male pollon onto the female flower :)

tomatoes and strawberry plants

Plant on the left is a small Cambridge Favourite "cheat" since bought as a plant (it has produced 3 edible strawberrys so far), on the right is F1 Sarian grown from seed in January, the only survivor and finally big enough to go outside!

Gardener's Delight cherry toms still making progress.

tomatoes

baby cherry tomatoes!

The first tiny Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes have set! Maybe time to start using tomato food? I'm also wondering if I need more support than just a thin cane that the plants are tied to, but maybe that is only a worry once there are lots of tomatoes weighing it down. They seem to be holding up quite well with the pots in growbag arrangement.

courgette flowers

The "take two" courgette plant seems OK in its sunnier spot and now that it has rained a couple of times. Am wondering about hand pollinating but it looks like these flowers are only males so I can't until some females show (with mini fruits behind them).

strawberries

1 strawberry seed (F1 Sarian) germinated and got as far as a mini plant still smaller than a fist (which has taken about 4 months!) whilst only 1 other grew but then died. The one survivor is in a seed tray with its lid on to keep it moist, I will keep trying with this one. I also cheated and bought a small local variety of strawberry plant from Homebase which is outside and has a few little green strawberries on it now, under netting in case of birds or animals. Not too bad for a small plant.

veg outside

So the cherry tomatoes and courgettes have been planted out. To
matoes in a growbag (unfortunately I didn't label them very well so now not sure which are sungold, keeping a newer plant indoors in case the others all turn out to be Gardener's Delight!) and courgette in a pot. I've got upside down drinking bottles of water and a small hole in the lid to try and keep the growbag moist (and that empty pot in the middle is to water through too.) I plan to put a marigold in the middle spot (decided this late hence marigold not ready yet) - I read that you can "companion plant" these with tomatoes to discourage greenflys/pests, also that 3 plants to one growbag is probably too many. The tomato plants are each in a pot of compost/soil on top of the growbag as I've read that a growbag isn't deep enough so this way they can grow more established roots, also I can feed at the top and water at the bottom because the top roots can absorb nutrients better.

I pinched out the little shoots today between the main ones to stop the plants becoming too leafy and hopefully produce more fruit. There are a couple of yellow flowers now.




The courgette initially looked quite healthy but has now wilted a lot. I think it might be the lack of rain as we are having very dry weather in the UK at the moment. I started watering it more often but I think it was too late. Possibly the spot isn't in the sun for long enough of the day too. I didn't bother "hardening off" the plant as advised so I think I will do this with a new plant from indoors to give it a better chance, maybe the other one didn't adjust to the cold nights well. The new one has flower buds now, hopefully it will stay healthy once it is out in the pot, perhaps moved to a sunnier spot.

Rocket

Untitled, a photo by uselessdevice on Flickr.

rocket grown indoors ready to eat!

Anemone

an anenome growing in my garden, which has come back from last year. I love the purple bits in the middle :)

tomatoes

Gardener's Delight (I had more of these seeds than the Sungold)


one of the few surviving Sungold (I tried to repot/didn't water enough and they withered) showing how small the strawberries are in comparison, planted a week earlier I think.

Stawberry seedling:

our syrian hamster having a munch

tomato and rocket seeds

1 month old.. they look a little less happy than this now that I have thinned them out and repotted, but I think I needed to. The rocket are still too small to pick but smell peppery now.

healthy seedlings

3 weeks in...

(front are rocket, back are 2 types of tomato)

tomato seeds

Originally uploaded by uselessdevice

1 week old Gardener's Delight tomato seeds (the Sungold are only slightly behind these but fewer planted).

seedlings growing!

Rocket seeds after 5 days

the tiny speck of green behind that row is tomato seedlings beginning to show.

Norwegian Wood

Haruki Murakami's book has been made into a film which is coming out in March! Also, the soundtrack is by Jonny Greenwood.

Family tree

I have been interested in genealogy for several years now, though it is only the last few that I have been spending long hours researching my family tree. I have been a member of Ancestry.co.uk for a year and a half and have found a lot of stuff on there. Also on the web in general including Google News Archives.

Some of the most "distinguished" (ie well known in their time) can be the easiest to find information on, but still often the most interesting too. These are my ancestors the Mitchells and the Johnstons (Johnstons their less known relatives) in Wisconsin. Alexander Mitchell (1817-1887) was a railroad and banking magnate, also a member of Congress. His grandson Billy Mitchell was an army General described by some as "father of the US Air Force". It is quite a nice feeling to see your ancestors on Wikipedia :)

Alexander and his nephew John Johnston both arrived in the US from Scotland so I have roots there too. Scottish ancestors have been doctors, farmers and coalminers.

Of course other people in the tree interest me as much, and there is more difficulty in finding information and piecing the puzzles together from what I know making it more rewarding.

2nd set of seeds planted

It is almost February now so I thought it was about time to plant some of the tomato (Sungold and Gardener's Delight both cherry toms), rocket and flowers "Swan River, purple Splendour". Maybe a little bit early but I was impatient :) The packets said Feb. They are in a propagator tray with lid, in the windowsill. Strawberry seeds already planted, I am expecting a slower start for them.

Had a bit more of a look outside (the last few times it has been dark after I get home from work, with just the security light on, so I couldn't really see). There are various shoots - I didn't label things so not sure which are which. No shoots from the pot I know was snowdrops :( though there were a 2nd lot planted in the flowerbed.

A few weeks ago an animal had been digging up some of my bulbs, suspecting it could have been a cat I've put pieces of lemon on the soil as I read that this is one of the less harmful ways of discouraging them. I haven't had a problem yet since though I'm not sure this is due to the citrus.

seeds, veg

noticed in Homebase today (I think they are new) 99p small pots with seeds, compost and domed propagator type lid for tomatoes, peppers and various herbs. Seems quite good for those with not too much space. My trays will have more space for seedlings to grow though as these were round and tall/not very wide.

Here's a random old pic of bright medley of asters, tulips etc from last summer.

Got a reduced pink chrysanthemum for indoors. My muscari (outdoor bulbs but in a pot on my windowsill) are flowering, not yet the same bulbs outside. There are various shoots but I'm not sure which are which. Wonder when and if my snowdrops will show?

Intro, gardening year 3

This blog will probably be mostly about 2 things that interest me - researching (my and others') Family Trees, and gardening. Novice gardening, as I live in a rental house and have only a small flowerbed and some pots. I don't know all the techniques or types of plants, I just muddle through and read up on the net about what I want to grow. What I buy is what I like the look of, not always very planned out and not always a success. I'm still learning what plants seem to like our garden and soil.

Year 1, my first summer with my own garden: I had success with Dahlias (big red flowers with white tips, may update with a photo when I find them) but then the next year only the dwarf dahlias from seed (started off indoors) flourished whilst the "proper" cacti ones didn't. 1 didn't grow and the other was fighting for space with plants that were doing better. Admittedly they were from the poundshop! But so was the red and white one that did so well.

Crocuses and irises didn't grow or disappointed, sad because the blue irises would've looked so nice, they grew some green but no flowers. Pansies/violas took over. My photos of them don't bring out the purples right - they look blue. Some of these and the asters survived into the next year even though I thought I'd pulled up most or all of them to make way for the new plants.

Last summer - tulips did OK, lots of different colours. Just a run of the mill mix of yellows, reds, pinks. So this year I have planted more unusual looking "Queen of the Night" dark black tulips alongside red and white stiped ones, hoping for an uncommon and striking combination.

Then I knew before the weather makes me want to get into the garden much, I would like to germinate some seeds indoors. I had reasonable success before with this (yes to marigolds, dwarf dahlias and violas, no to some sort of large pink daisy relation that I forget the proper name of). I bought some purple flower seeds that look dangerously like the daisy ones, but maybe I will have better luck this time. Purple is my favourite colour.



Some seeds/flowers I'd like take too long to see results (are biennials) and I'm not patient enough. I think it was snapdragons as an example. Ah, I don't know if this was the problem but my lupins (something I'd really like to see in my garden) bought as mini plants, barely flowered at all - the flowers dried out and died (and didn't appear in some plants at all. Now the plants have died). :(

Then an urge I didn't know I had struck me and decided I want a growbag and vegetable seeds. I looked in Homebase but seeds were quite pricey for my first attempt, so I bought some on the Internet (I will mention where later if I have good results when they grow.) Artichokes I love but these were out for the patience rule above, as it is recommended not to let them flower/fruit in the first year. Maybe one day when I have more experience. So I went for tomatoes (the obvious choice - 2 types, a red cherry one and a yellow variety, Sungold I think it was), yellow courgettes (again for the unusual factor, I'm not sure if the taste is different), strawberries (apparently very slow to start but then hopefully a spurt if they grow well) and rocket. Rocket I plan to grow indoors in a pot I expect, which I might be able to resow to keep growing and refreshing the leaves. I don't have many windowsills so I'm not sure where! The rest I will germinate in a seed tray inside and then eventually put in growbags or pots.

Note: sungold is not my pic, is how they are meant to look if they end up growing!


I don't know if I am being a bit over-enthusiastic, maybe I should try 1 at a time! This gives some chance of one working out though I feel... we will see. I haven't spent much yet, will refrain from buying tomato food etc until they get big enough, if they do. I did buy a (small, reduced) strawberry plant which died quickly, but if I try to grow a few seeds and pick the strongest plants to repot maybe I'll have better luck. I'll stagger them as well because of different recommended months to sow and lack of space indoors and out.

Currently my mint plant has all died off except 1 strong healthy sprig. I am trying to winter it inside while it could still be frosty. I like it for adding to my herbal teas.