Humph's Happy Horti-cult: harvesting, preserving, mulching, leaf-gathering, bulb-dibbing, seed catalogue-surfing and hunkering down for winter

[Lexilicious]

Following on from the original March to August thread. For all - whether still gardening through the winter or planning to sweep the shed, hibernate, sharpen the tools and get started again in the spring.

Happy gardening again!

the greenhouse stinks- I just lit a sulphur candle in there, had forgotten how rank they smell . Glad I waited till evening when neighbour & baby has gone in and I don't have washing on the line.

Plan for tomorrow is to get the spuds in and another sowing of garlic - I'm aiming for succession with garlic this year. And washing out the greenhouse to remove the sulphur ( and any nasties its killed off .

Freezing - none of my albums have flower spikes yet. They'll come, don't worry.

Albums? That would be 'aliums' in auto-correct speak!

Or even 'alliums' - giving up now; been a long day and don't know what's spelt right or wrong anymore...

I was so happy getting home to my garden today. The fig was planted, my new little greenhouse was up, the swing seat put together and the sun was out.

We had purple sprouting for dinner, we have been eating it for weeks now. We put so many plants in that we can pick it when it is really small and tender. DD loves it.

None of my alliums have flower spikes yet. I think they are the thing I am most excited about seeing for the first time. All the lovely mulch makes the borders look gorgeous.

The next job to tackle is the remains of last year's wildflower meadow. All the foliage was left and there are huge nettles sprouting everywhere. It needs clearing, rotivating and re-sowing but I think that will be at least two days work. I am feeling better now so hoping I will be able to make a start this weekend. Also really looking forward to the clocks changing so I can garden in the evenings.

echt - I would love to wander round your garden. It sounds amazing.

Eek, my alliums aren't even in the ground! Have I incorrectly put them in the summer bulbs category?! Well I'll put them in next weekend, and the crocosmia too.

I tied my bean poles together this afternoon and then made cats cradles across the bottom reaches of the poles for them to grow up. What a glorious afternoon it turned out to be after a misty morning!

If I get to bed early tonight I think I'll do some dawn gardening tomorrow - need to put in more beans and rearrange the bulb pots on the deck so we can use the (ahem, rotary) washing line.

If anyone has recommendations where to get big stakes, galvanised wire and straining bolts (for my raspberries) please advise! I think that is one bit of plant care where I am not going to attempt DIY, but neither do I want to spend unnecessary amounts of money.

We sell all of those in our trading hut, Lexi, but that doesn't really help you! I think the straining bolts and wire are made by Gardman, so you could look online.

It's amazing to think that Echt is planting things like clivias which are tender houseplants here (I have one which has never flowered, boo).

::slumps on sofa::

I am pooped. I'll be back tomorrow with (I hope) more energy for horti-chat.

Very excited as the rhubarb leaves are coming out in the pots in the front patio, having survived the winter. The back garden is north facing and shady but the front porch and raised beds of the front garden are south facing. The other pots have very pretty yellow crocuses and old fashioned pansies flowering now, with a background of grey and purple sage. The clematis seems to have survived the winter!
So do you think I could plant raspberry canes in the front garden? I think I might. Do you think they would be an eyesore for the neighbours? Any advice?

You should plant raspberry canes in the front garden, I have Brussels sprouts and strawberries in my front garden and nobody's batted an eyelid

funnyperson, go for it - It's where my raspberries and gooseberries are (and honeyberries when they grow on a bit) - along in front of the south facing front window. They'll be a little bit shaded by other plants come the summer, but only at lower levels (i.e. to keep the roots a bit cool). May obscure light to our living room a bit but only in the height of summer which will be quite welcome I think.

I've found that I can get 2x 1.6m posts, 20m of galvanised wire and 8 straining bolts for a total of just under £30 at B&Q which I think is about ok, so I plan to go and get those today or tomorrow after work. That may mean my soft fruit crop won't break even this year (plants cost £30) but hopefully next year it will. As I said on another thread, I think the best price for water butts is at Tesco Direct so if you're in a hosepipe ban area, get one quick before they change the prices!

I did get to bed early but didn't do any dawn gardening this morning - child had been wailing in the middle of the night and it was damp and drizzly first thing. I'll try to do some this afternoon when I get home. When do the clocks change?

25th March Lexi. CAN'T WAIT (have a touch of S.A.D)

I finally made it to poundland. I was definitely disappointed. I had imagined shelves and shelves of gardening equipment and there was only a tiny section. But I got some good pots and seed potatoes and onion sets and one or two other bits and bobs so that was good. I was sat on my mobility scooter and really struggling to hold everything, and trying to turn it round and a woman got really pissy with me which upset me. What kind of person says something mean to someone struggling?

I have now planted lots of seeds (with the help of a friend who lugged my compost around) and they are sitting happily on my windowsill. I did courgettes, basil, borlotti beans, peas (thanks Lexi!), rosemary, thyme, cucumbers and chilli. So exciting! Will put the onions and potatoes out when I have more energy, maybe this weekend.

I also had good news in that my landlady said yes to a stall out front and the council wrote to me to say I don't have to ask their permission or pay fees (basically you can sell what you like from your front garden). So I'm thinking I'm mainly going to sell seedlings, which will be so much fun, but I do want to put the odd loaf of bread out there and maybe scones or brownies once a week. Does anyone else have any ideas as to what would sell, or what you'd buy if you passed such a stall? I would love to sell cut flowers but I don't have any more space in my garden to grow them sadly. I would also love to sell different pestos (parsley, basil, watercress) but think I'd need a chiller cabinet out there which isn't practical. One day I will have a massive garden and grow lots of those and then take a stall at the farmer's market, oh yes.

aargh at all the galvanised wirelexi am thinking gentle oak tree branch windfalls and 9.99 worth of canes to start.

Well I just got two tree stakes, a pack of 8 tensioning bolts, 50m of wire and a bundle of 10 willow canes for £24 and some pence. So that's my raspberries and second bed of beans sorted!

Windowsill seedlings are doing well. The chillies, peppers and tomatoes are mostly up after three weeks but only some have their first pairs of real leaves (after the cotyledons). They're on a north facing windowsill while the courgettes, beans and broccoli that are on a south facing sill and were planted a week later already almost all have their first real pair. I wonder if the latter would sulk if I swapped them round...

I have one more north facing and two south facing windowsills, although that's counting the shed as a south facer and overnight temperatures in there might be too low for toms and peppers. More seed planting indoors tonight! I could do with a potting table in my living room really, a nice elephants' breath one would blend in perfectly with my 1970s terracotta paint and patterned pub style carpet nightmare

worsel- round here a few garden gate sellers use a cool box for storing eggs, fudge or Jams and curds. Just have a plastic coated display sheet taped to the box so people know what inside.

Thanks for reassurances on the alliums.

This year I want to grow tomatoes, is it too late to get some seeds & grow them from scratch? I'd have to just put them on a windowsill to start with until they're ready to go outside.

Very jealous about growing raspberries, they are my favourite soft fruit. We don't have any obvious space for vege or fruit but hopefully as I get more confident we can squeeze some in somewhere.

Just rushing in quickly. Fine to start tomatoes now. The secret apparently is standing a piece of tin foil behind them on the windowsill to help prevent them getting leggy. Then when potting on bury them up to their leaves. The buried bit of stem grows new roots. On the cordon varieties you can pot up the side shoots which then produce plants the same age as the parent plant.

My toms could do with going into the greenhouse as with the cucumber, aubergines and chillis things are getting a bit crowded under the light. But it's too cold out there until I get a heater going. Finally planted my Oca and have more strawberry runners in baskets sorted.

Didn't do any more seeds last night but I did put my wellies and a hoody on over my pyjamas this morning and fill in new broad bean seeds in the gaps between the plants which had survived the winter. I'm thinking I may need to mulch with a top dressing of fertiliser/compost/leaf mould to give them a bit of a boost, perhaps.

Happily, this morning I confirmed that the second of the honeyberry plants is not dead after all. The first developed leaves at the top of the inch-long stem, and the bud was there when they were delivered; the other one was just a twig and so I was worried it wouldn't grow. However it is showing a shoot down at soil level. Not sure when to plant it out though - perhaps in early summer. I hope that the same happens with my poundland gooseberries because one has growth at the top and the other looks like a twig! None of the raspberries have shown any life yet either but at least they are from a garden centre and I have the receipt. I have successfully got replacement fruit plants before.

I was really tempted in B&Q by a ceanothus on their sale rack when I went to get the stakes and wire yesterday but resisted. I need to earn back some costs first!! I don't think I have enough passing traffic to do garden gate sales of seedlings but will certainly sell over the intranet at work.

The nice oca I carefully set aside to plant this year still look completely dormant. The oca we just didn't get around to eating are sprouting madly.

I'm going to grow cacomitl Tigridia pavonia this year for the first time. The bulbs are supposed to taste somewhere between sweet potato and chestnuts.

Righto- Green house funicided,bot=y that sulphur stuff stinks. task for this afternoon, washing the glass and digging lots of compost into the beds.

The polytunnel has turned up, now to find some nice friends to help put it up.

five I'll give you some virtual help!

Wynken that's a v useful tip re: the tomatoes.

Uni, thank you, great idea! Will think of doing that if my bread and seedlings are selling.

Fab website Trouvere - is that your blog? Niche veggies!

I think it's really interesting that we have filled a winter thread in about the same amount of time as we filled the summer one last year. Just goes to show there is as much going on in the autumn and winter (well, all those exciting plans!!) as the spring/summer. Or maybe it's that we were outdoors and not posting so much in the summer. Who knows.

I will try that tinfoil trick with the toms - any tips on south/north facing sills Wynken?

No, definitely not my blog. But one of my favourites to follow.

Popping on to lend another virtual hand to five with the poly tunnel.

Also I've been watching my seeds for ages now and nothing much seems to be happening - I'm getting impatient. My sweet peas have come up nicely and the very first of my 'bucket' carrots have appeared today (haven't checked the beds to see if the outdoor ones are up yet) but nothing yet from the chillies or the peppers. I'm thinking that my house is just too cold for them to germinate. Will keep my fingers crossed though.

I am not growing tomatoes this year. Please stop talking about tomatoes or I might cave and start some seeds off (have free packet somewhere). Can't bear the misery when they all succumb to blight again so please don't let me do it. Though, I could do some seeds and then try & car boot them couldn't I?