Learning garden veg

With the Learning garden producing so much produce at this time we are selling off surpluses in the Garden Centre.
This week we have lettuce, broad beans and some cut flowers for sale.

Sowing now

Even though the weather has taken a turn for the worse, night temperatures here have fallen to a chilly -2C, and believe you and me that feels cold to us soft southerners, and even to the point that last Monday we had a hail storm that coated the ground white for a while, there are plenty of jobs to get done in the garden.
In the learning garden we are planting out garlic and red onion sets along with sowing a nice early crop of Aquadulce broad beans.
Clearing off the dead foliage of crops like pumpkins and marrows etc that have succumbed to the ravages of cold nights has opened up great areas of bare soil just waiting to be dug over and restocked with manure ready for the next crops.

Sunny weekend

At long last we have had a sunny weekend.
Gardeners have been out in force this weekend and what is encouraging are the number of first time gardeners who want to grow fruit and veg.
We had families coming in who were encouraging their children to try and sow and grow, this is great news as the skills of gardening need to be transferred. It was a pleasure to help advise and encourage these people. Long may this last.

Disaster happens

The wet weather we have been experiencing has done its worst and we have lost one of our giant pumpkins. We do not appear to be alone. The Paton boys have lost 4 of their 6 giants.
Our remaining giant is not looking too good either, there is signs of rotting at one end. We need sunshine, urgently.

Vegetable plants update

Today we received a new supply of vegetable plants for sale in the garden centre. We now have stocks of leeks, spring onion, purple broccoli, sprouting broccoli, spinach, Chinese salad and glasshouse lettuce. All of these should be planted out now to provide a good supply of vegetables for the autumn and spring.

Eel worm attack

It looks like we have discovered the first signs of eel-worm in our Chinese radish today.
Planting out Borlotto beans that have been raised in our nursery poly-tunnels.
More courgettes and sweet corn being planted today again all raised under-cover to be in the perfect condition for planting.

Pumkins are go

We are planting out all our pumpkins and gourds today (11th June 2008) including one of our special Giant Pumpkins. Remember we have posted a fact sheet on how to grow pumpkins on our site at Fact sheets here we are giving away some of the trade secrets on how to achieve a whopper.

Clay glorious clay

What a dilemma when you clear a green field site with a plan to create an educational garden and discover that the top soil is limited to max 30cms and the sub soil is solid clay.
But we want to build a cob wall around the field - yippeee we have more clay than we are likely to need.
But how should we approach soil improvement when we want to grow some delicious vegetables this year?
I am planning well rotted manure but what about the weeds if its not been well composted