Bills 2012 garden diary

[billnorfolk]

Sat 14th July 2012

Going pea picking in a while to get the last of the peas ,had 5.5lbs of shelled peas and looking like a couple of pounds left to pick all from the 4 gutters of peas ,very happy with those will do again next year.
Not so happy with me raspberries picked a few today but allot of them covered with mold ,down to the wet weather i should think.

Both types of Tomato starting to ripen taste is yummmmmmmy growing alongside Basil gives them a really rich taste.



The flowers (if that's what they are called) are starting to show on the sweetcorn so hopefully should be some corn soon.I cant believe how well they have done with the lack of sunshine.

Got a few runner beans to pick as well this weekend,just enough for a taste at the moment.

[billnorfolk]

Wednesday 25th July 2012

Phew summer has come with a vengance,but who is complaining after all the rain it is a real pleasure to see some sunshine,just means work on the garden is confined to early mornings or evenings .
Wife is busy bean picking every day now ,hopefully get a nice few frozen .
Todays

Getting tomatoes every day but not full production yet.


Tip if you find later in the year they are not ripening,hang a few banana skins near them will speed things up for you.
Cucumber plant is slowly takeing over in the greenhouse ,will cut top out this week ,not had any yet but wont be long.

Was up early clearing side of polly tunnel put in 8 rows of carrots,
7 rows of redbeet were sown last week ,you get a much longer growing season with the tunnel and can usually manage 2or3 crops per season dependant on what you grow.


Dwarf beans at the end are soon to start producing ,plenty of flours.

Put me leeks in where early cabbage and caulies were ,rake in a little blood fish and bone meal and off you go .

Flowers getting big on sweetcorn with a promise of nicer things to come yum yum

If you have never eaten sweetcorn cooked straight from the plant you have missed a real treet nothing compares .
Strawberries a few every day they are an autum one so hopeing for more in a month or so.

[billnorfolk]

Friday 27th July 2012

Sweetcorn is now nearing harvest and within the next few days if the weather holds should be picking the first cobs.


The tufts of hair like poking out is an indication the cobs are growing .


Few more hear so cobs on there way ,not much to do except keep watered and wait for the tufts to turn brown showing cobs are ripe .Nip a corn kernal if juice clear leave until juice milky and nice yellow colour corn then ready to go .

Planting in blocks helps polination better than straight rows.


It lets the wind bring the flowers together



Good polination means full cobs of corn ,i often go round and give them a shake if not windy

[Benny&Co]

Absolutely wonderful pictures Bill

Your sweetcorns look fab!

I noticed that the flowers/? on yours are a white colour and mine are a purpley colour - wonder why that is?

[billnorfolk]

Absolutely wonderful pictures Bill

Your sweetcorns look fab!

I noticed that the flowers/? on yours are a white colour and mine are a purpley colour - wonder why that is?

Pobably a different variety.Hope yours flourish as nothing beats the taste of fresh from the plant sweetcorn

[Richard]

Great looking specimens there Bill.
You're absolutely right about the pollination being so important plus of course there are male and female.
Seems as yours show that one secret of success is to plant many and as close to each other as the packet states.

I go on at least a dozen plants, are you the same Bill?

Richard

[Benny&Co]

Oooh I'd love to taste some home grown sweetcorn Bill and Richard, hopefully one day

[billnorfolk]

Richard i have 28 plants in a 6ftx8ft erea in my raised beds,I do keep them well watered once in flower.

[billnorfolk]

Oooh I'd love to taste some home grown sweetcorn Bill and Richard, hopefully one day

lf you lived closer I would gladly give you some.

[Benny&Co]

Aww bless you thank you Bill

Guess what, I'm so excited - spotted what I can only think are corn cobs growing on the sides of the stems! They've got little fuzzy white hairs, like yours

Going to take some pictures so you can see!

[Annie]

Looks like you are the sweetcorn pro Q AND A man Bill so here is one from me please. I planted 9 in a 3 x 3 block in one part of the garden and although not fruit/flowering yet they are all healthy and growing , a couple of weeks later I planted the same block in a different part and these are not doing well. My friend and I have different views on this her opinion is that the 2nd lot are too exposed to the wind as it is quite open on the smallholding but my take is that there is too much horse manure and not enough soil where the 2nd lot are planted . They do look a bit 'burned' and are withering a little so what is more likely the cause too much wind or too much manure ?
Bear in mind my location and that we are likely to be at least 3 weeks behind your lovely area as well please.

[billnorfolk]

Looks like you are the sweetcorn pro Q AND A man Bill so here is one from me please. I planted 9 in a 3 x 3 block in one part of the garden and although not fruit/flowering yet they are all healthy and growing , a couple of weeks later I planted the same block in a different part and these are not doing well. My friend and I have different views on this her opinion is that the 2nd lot are too exposed to the wind as it is quite open on the smallholding but my take is that there is too much horse manure and not enough soil where the 2nd lot are planted . They do look a bit 'burned' and are withering a little so what is more likely the cause too much wind or too much manure ?
Bear in mind my location and that we are likely to be at least 3 weeks behind your lovely area as well please.

Blimey dont know about that Annie .The one thing i do know for sure sweetcorn do not like cold so i would be brave enough to say that if the wind is cold or cool even it could be your problem as the ones in the warmer part of your garden seem to be ok.Usually to much manure will produce soft ,lush growth with to much top and not enough root as the roots dont need to grow much to find food and moisture,hence not to rich for carrots,but after saying that sweetcorn like rich soil as look at the growth they make in a few weeks but not as rich as yours seems to be .Maybe a windbreak on the windy side may help .Good luck with them hope they are all ok,you will certainly enjoy them

[billnorfolk]

Aww bless you thank you Bill

Guess what, I'm so excited - spotted what I can only think are corn cobs growing on the sides of the stems! They've got little fuzzy white hairs, like yours

Going to take some pictures so you can see!

Cant wait to see them .Seems you have them fluffy bits thats good look for the cobs getting bigger and the fluffys going dark brownish

[billnorfolk]

Saterday 4/08/2012

Thought i would start with some flowers today ,my wife has been training sweet peas on a trellis just starting to bloom ,should look nice in a week or 2.

Looks like hopefully should get 3 cobs per plant ,will be well pleased if i do.

Looking at the flowers on the sweetcorn ,covered in blackfly not one for any chemicals have given a spray of washing up liquid so fingers crossed the hopeing wont affect the cobs to much.

Have layed onions over to help dry and have used a few very nice they were as well .

Leeks are progressing nicely,hopefully will get a bit fatter.

Picking lots of runners glad i made the frame stronger after last years fell over

In the polly tunnel have a late crop of redbeet doing nicely

Trying a few rows of late carrot on the other side that are just through

French beans at the back that are good for freezing and have taken over that end of the tunnel

The autum strawberries are starting to produce a few now ,just got to beat the slugs to them ,they didnt get these two.

We had a large willow cut down last year as casting lots of shadow on the garden ,burried a couple of branches in the chickens run to give then something to climb on.This is the result.

Here are the girls ,a few feathers missing but fit and healthy apart from that .

Lastly for them like me what like to experiment,set some parsnips in pots in the greenhouse ,once big enough set in garden without disturbing the root,looks like it may have worked ,dont want to pull yet but something there.

[billnorfolk]

Monday 6th August 2012

Picked some runners this morning for freezing ,picking every other day as dont like them to get stringy.

Had a nice bowl of French beans can leave a little longer between pickings with these ,planted them in the polly tunnel and seem to have flourished

Just cut the grass ,have to look out for these little fellows,one of my army of slug eaters ,although the size of some of them slugs this year would probably eat frogy

Think my wife was uttering Blackberries just before she went out so looks like a job for tomorrow ,as its raining now



Took a couple of pics just in case they all get washed away.

Isnt it funny how things happen in threes,wife came home,stopped raining and the sun came out,so it was out to the blackberrie bush ,and the Srawberries and the odd rasberrie.


I did enquire if she had any frozen apples from last year ,she didnt answere just smiled as she knew i was thinking of apple and blackberrie crumble ,with maybe the odd strawberrie finely sliced in it ,who knows? maybe if i am a good boy .
What was that dear?a cup of tea ,certainly my love .