Photo update for end of April

Monday

18° 5°

Monday

18°
5°

quince recovering in tunnel

I've taken photos of most things today to show how small they are at the end of April. I'll keep coming back with a monthly photo journal to hopefully show progress.

Sunny and warm today for the 1st time in a week of rain.

tomatoes in tunnel

squashes moved to poly tunnel today

sickly sweet corn

broad beans

kiwi berry

potatoes poking through

herbs

fruit cage

Raspberries

Rhett's spot

apple blossom

cherries

rhubarb is doing really well in year 2

Lettuce and strawberries

watercress

tiny Arum lily bulbs that arrived this morning.

Aubergines

Sunflowers

Delphiums

Cosmos

tomatoes

Calendulas

Busy Lissie and Basil

Fushias

Tomatoes

Sunflowers

Squashes

Asparagus seedlings

Petunias

late tomatoes from saved seeds, San Mariano and Cour di Bue

Asters

Dill

Germaniums

Sweet William

Broccoli seedlings

Celery seedlings

Grapevine £4 from Morrisons

Sad week

Sadly, Rhett went to the big meadow in the sky last Monday morning. I hope there's a car for him to drive up there.
On a happier note my long awaited trees from Mulu Nurseries arrived on Wed. A little crushed but they are making a recovery. They are better and more mature than I expected, the kiwi berry has flower buds and the Quince has already set fruit, ( perhaps that is why I've had to wait so long for it. It's recovering in David's poly tunnel and the kiwi is planted up against the allotment shed.
Everything seems to be developing very slowly. I think the weather has caused all the seedlings to stop growing. I've moved most of the tomatoes to the poly tunnel with some squashes and the sweetcorn. I've bought some more plug plants from Morrison's and Aldi. I shall photo a record soon and list everything at this point.
Torrential rain all day today following a week of rain, rain & more rain. Tomorrow's forecast is much better but if we get it, it will be short lived.

Sunday

7° 3°

10° 3°

It's been a really horrible day, cold, wet and miserable, so I finally attacked the garage and cleared out some space to use the potting bench. Mucking out might describe it better! I think we might have to have a shed each soon.
I've sown quite a few seeds since the weekend. French beans, green and white. Spring onion - red bulbs. More cucumbers because the first ones have all perished.
I was delighted to find more mini plug plants at Morrison's. 24 petunias & 24 asters for £2 per pack. There are loads of herbs and veg seedlings too and the quality is so good it makes it much better value than growing them from seeds yourself. I've transplanted up the petunias and asters and used the little greenhouses to sow some more seeds - borage, foxgloves and red lettuce. The big problem at the moment is getting enough light and heat. The tents are running at 50 - 60C which is not quite warm enough to germinate.
The tomatoes and squashes will need planting on soon and I'm going to try some West+ with added fertiliser and see if it gives them a boost. Then I'll take them down and grown them on in David's poly-tunnel if he's still OK with that. I need the space in the tents for the seeds which are following on.

While sun shone on yesterday I took advantage and did some weeding on the allotment. Ground elder is getting very bad around the raspberries again but clear quickly with constant hand weeding. My Ebay ordered wild garlic arrived so I picked them up from the PO and planted them right away in the damp wet corner of the allotment. The ground is quite waterlogged at the moment but will probably dry out later in the year. I hope this gives them a chance.

I think I'm going to stand a good chance of getting a crop of gooseberries this year, and all the plants I bought from Aldi / Lidl last year are coming along nicely.
I've planted out some little gem and some spring onion seedlings and covered them with wire netting to keep off the pigeons.
Peas are coming on but I'd not sowed any Mangetout until yesterday. I've put some inside the cage to be supported by the wire.

It's much colder today but dry. I've planted sunflowers in modules and sowed a few more cucumbers, I'm afraid the ones I have coming on are not going to make it, they look a bit sickly.

Saturday

9° 0°

Hot sun and cold winds are not helping with seedlings. I've found a couple of courgettes starting to look as if they are damping off. I've tried to save them by moving them back indoors.
Replanted some chilli peppers as 2 lots have not emerged, while Sam's seed have come up fine.
Yesterday planted Pinks, Lavender, Cosmos and Delphiniums

Thursday

12° 2°

British Queens - the political potato

My first attemps at growing spuds last year were mixed. The Homeguard were lovely but small, the Pink Fir Apple didn't taste great, the British Queens were excellent but didn't last long. In S Ireland they are called Dublin Queens as all things called 'British' may leave a bad taste....
I've been looking for some more BQ seed this year but the only ones I could find were some soft and sprouted ones in B&M Bargains. When the sun came out this afternoon I decided to go and plant the British Queens I bought yesterday. They are decidedly dodgy, but only time will tell if they were worth the time and space.
As I arrived at the allotment showers returned but only for a minute or two. I got the potatoes planted in a few minutes as Terry had done all the hard work prepping the last ridge. I transplanted some spinach from their modules and planted a Loganberry that I also bought in Wilkinson's. The problem with buying plants so late (Easter) is that only the weak ones are left. Note to self for next year!
The good news is that a grapevine that I bought there last year, and I though had died, is showing signs of new buds. I shall keep an eye on it now and see what happens. The fruit cage may not be warm enough for it and I may need to devise some sort of protection for it until it establishes. I would be happy just to get immature bunches of grapes to make Verjus with. That would save me the price of the plant alone.
Back home I sorted my seed collection. How did I get so many? I'll have to keep sowing every day to use just a fraction of them.
Finally I put in some more Basil seed (Pot and Lemon)

Tuesday

11° 2°

Easter Monday

Weather for Warrington, UK

48°F | °C

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Mostly Cloudy

Wind: S at 14 mph

Humidity: 93%

A fair bit of rain today, but that's Bank Holidays for you. Went to Wilkinson's and bought some flower seeds which I shall come back to as I sow them.