Geranium seedlings

Last weekend i visited my local garden centre just really to have a look around for ideas than actually buy anything as by this time of the year i m mostly organised with vegetable and flower seeds so there's not a great deal i want.

I tend to sew my own seed as i find buying plants expensive.

However i did buy 2 pots of geranium seedling, 20 in each, 

all huddled together and needing to be pricked out into individual small pots. I felt at £2.99 a pot they were not a bad price for the money.

So they are now all potted up and in my porch waiting for the warmer weather to arrive.

Just thought i'd throw my Amaryllis in to show you all. 

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All Set And Ready To Go

Well I'm ready and all set to go, just waiting for the warmer weather to arrive.

Had a bit of trouble though this year with my potato seed . I have for many years now bought Desiree from my allotment society and have usually had a good crop, but on harvesting them last year i lost half the crop to blight.

Not being deterred by this i ordered Desiree again this year, but when the seed arrived all three 2.5kg  bags had a rotten potato in each bag. No way was i going to put them in my soil, so i went to my local garden centre and chose six different varieties all desease resistant.

I wonder if it was just a bad year for that variety so hopefully i will have better luck this year using different seed.  

New Year New Growth

Things are starting to happen in the vegetable plot.

In late November last year i planted some broad bean seeds and to my delight they are just starting to grow. Its amazing how they can grow in our wintry conditions.

I usually wait until the early spring to sew them, but my last crop of broad beans was such a disaster with an infestation black fly i thought I'd got nothing to loose.

I don't like to use any insecticides or pesticides on my plot so have to rely on mother nature to do her best.

The only things that benefited from the black fly were are the ants. They tried to do their best to keep them down, but the black fly got the better of them and took over the plants completely gradually suffocating the new growth to death .

Here they are the little darlings protected with wire baskets just in case the birds decided to have a feast on them.

  

Beetroot Heaven

Like a lot of my vegetables this year my beetroot is a lot to be desired .
I have never grown them so big.
Soooo big i decided to make some Sticky  Beetroot Marmalade from a recipe i found in a country magazine a friend gave me and here it is .

I usually grow beetroot because i like it pickled in vinegar,but i must say the marmalade tasted really good with cheese and biscuits. Somebody mentioned making beetroot muffins so i think i will give them a try next......xx

Know your Onoins

I was lucky enough to lift my onions last week just before the rain set in, Thank goodness! They are now safely drying off in the summerhouse ready to be tied up and hung in the cart lodge for the winter.
I grew 3 different varieties this year to see how each variety will keep as other years i stuck to one  sort and i lost half of them to rot. 
The crop has been a good size even the garlic and shallots have been good.

Red Onions

 Golden Onions

 White Onions

 French Garlic

Shallots 

My Potato crop

Well! my potato crop is finally in and safely stored in the garage where i will be supplied with organic potato's until the early spring. 

I always grow Desire' in my clay soil because over the years of growing potato's they always crop the best and keep well in storage. 

I rotate the crop every three years so as not to infect the soil, but i have dug some up with potato blight which i think is due to the heavy rain we have had recently. 

Although they do need water to grow and swell out it can be devastating if the ground is too wet for too long. 
 

Its me doing the digging, so good for keeping fit.

Hubby showing off  some of the crop, quite a good size don't you think!

No i don't mean his belly

I am very pleased with the yield this year

     This is potato blight which can be very serious if left to spread. 

My fig tree

I love fresh figs especially the ones that grow in my garden, but this year they don't seem to be fruiting as well as other years.

The small amount that have ripened though have been plump and sweet, but i had to be quick to pick them as the wasps also like them too.

However there are signs more fruit coming so i am keeping my fingers crossed that it will ripen to a good size later on in the season. 
This year the weather seems to be topsy turvy as my rhubarb didn't come to much in the spring and now late in the season its growing like mad again.

The tree is around ten years old and situated on a south facing hedge which has suited so far. That's the trouble with growing fruit and veg it all depends on the seasonal weather conditions.

One fig that the wasps didn't get

Some of the young fruits that will hopefully mature later

The site of the fig tree.