My greenhouse is already full...

Along with my potato delivery was the onion sets. I'm late starting both of these I know, but I'm relatively relaxed about that as our plot is much more open than our north-facing garden and so I think they'll stand a better chance, and will hopefully catch up pretty quickly. Saying that though, we didn't have much luck with onions last year and I grew what I affectionately called miniature versions.  I've since read that onions do well where potatoes grew the previous year so that's my plan. 

I do have rather a lot of onions though, and that's ok as I'm always buying them. If they'll all fit into the space last year's potatoes had, is another matter. 

I'm starting the shallots and both red and white onions in modules in the greenhouse, which will start them growing and developing roots away from hungry birds, so when I do plant them out they'll be more established and be able to fight back. It also gives me some time to clear a space for them - there's (some) method in my madness.

shallots in the greenhouse

I put these in on Saturday shortly after they arrived and already there's sign of activity. This is good news because at the moment I have six seed trays of onions, plus the smaller one of shallots and they take up quite a bit of greenhouse space. 

Just some of the onions I'm starting off in the greenhouse

As I was planting them up though I started to run out of compost. Not wanting to use the new seed compost  I found myself digging into one of the composting Daleks. It's been a year or so since we emptied this one and it was good to see compost inside. It means we've another job for our list, to empty both of the daleks this year, that'll be good news for the allotment though.

calling in the compost big boys

I told you there were a lot of onions,  but I'm liking the uniformity and order they bring.

yes more onions

My sowing really got started last weekend 

I've also planted some herbs in pots; there's savory, coriander, tarragon, chervil, garlic chives and basil. I'm hoping to use these as decorative plants around the garden as well as in the kitchen. I've a bit of a thing for herbs, which is one of the reasons the tables at our wedding were named after herbs, and my next cat will be called Herb. MOH is fully aware of this and isn't quite sure if there will be another cat, but deep down I think he knows there will be at some point, just not yet.

Herbs are also sown and I'm hoping to use these as decorative plants in the garden as well a functional ones

The giant fuchsias are growing well, still not giants as they're in the smallest plant pot I have, but they've grown so much. Their new job is to supervise the cucumber seeds through germination.  

The giant fuchsias are coming along nicely, but don't be fooled they're still in the smallest pots I have

I'm growing two varieties this year with seeds left over from last year and a new-to-me mini version which promises to be a prolific cropper. 

I've flowers on my tiny blueberry plant which is into its second year now. I'm hopeful for some fruits this year and if I'm lucky there'll be enough for us both! 

The blueberry is doing well, it's in its second year and has grown tremendously

As well as my usual tomato farm - I always grow a lot of tomatoes - this year I've already planted some flower seeds. The seeds are a little old so I hope I have some success, as I'd love to fill the garden and pots with foxgloves, teasels, delphiniums and a statice or two.  

I've even started to sow some flowers, not sure how these will do

But along with some broad beans, borlotti beans, sunflowers and chillies it means all of a sudden my greenhouse is choc-a-block, and I'm not sure how that happened! 

I've already moved in my temporary staging in and have space for four more seed trays before I will be officially unable to move  

peering in through the window (and that's not even more onions, I've just rearranged them)
a whole seed tray of chillies - I'm hoping it's going to be hot stuff this year

But it's a great feeling.  

A suddenly very packed greenhouse, I've a feeling the next few months will be about moving seedlings about

And gives me the perfect excuse to potter around of an evening and to check for signs of growth. And I wonder what took me so long to get started this year... 

 

What are you growing this year?

The potatoes have taken over the asylum

On Saturday I answered the door to the delivery I'd been waiting for, my potatoes and onions. I'd expected them to arrive well before Easter but there'd been a delay, so I was impatiently waiting for them to arrive. You're right I could have spent that time productively preparing a space for them on the allotment, but without them actually being here the urgency didn't seem to be there. Plus while I knew what I'd ordered, I had no idea how much space they'd take up. And of course, I already have a list of jobs to do as long as my arm...

Now they're here that urgency has increased and finding a weed-free space on the plot has moved up a little on my to do list. There's still some time though as there's some chitting to be done, and thankfully that's a job that they can get on and do themselves without any intervention. Phew.

Finally my potatoes arrived on Saturday

While I was unpacking my haul, MOH asked why I'd bought seed potatoes instead of using ones from the greengrocers, which is quite a good question. And the short answer is for their success rate, these seeds are more likely to be disease-free and more likely to crop well. Potatoes from the greengrocers (or the supermarket) might grow as just as well, if they sprout (chit), but it's not guaranteed. So it's a game of percentages really.

And this year I seem to be playing a high percentage game as 4kg of seed potatoes is really rather a lot. We eat potatoes, obviously or else we wouldn't be growing them, but as each potato will yield at least several potatoes, we could be eating a lot more than we usually do this year.

I have four varieties:

  • Jazzy, a salad potato which the website says has "enormous yields" - a second early.
  • Pentland Javelin, a waxy new potato which I can expect to grow more slowly than other first earlies according to the website.
  • Sarpo Mira, a late maincrop variety which has pink tinge to the skin and is a good all-rounder.
  • Belle de Fontenay, an old French salad potato from the late 1800s. And there's a lot of these already (they're the small ones in the front of the picture below)
So it was the time to get chitting my seed potatoes

Last year we grew potatoes that you can't buy in the shops and that was the plan again this year. I wasn't expecting quite so many of the Belle de Fontenay as looking back the order says 16-18 tubers. I've easily double that, in fact there's twenty plus in the photo below and I've another eggbox of the mini-barbapapas.

That's a lot of potatoes now, let alone in a few months time...

I'd been saving egg boxes but was woefully short of them, as I found out with these potatoes

Ah well, there was only one thing for it, and that was to get chitting.

the start of it and it wasn't too bad

And that's when it became clear that i) we hadn't eaten enough eggs or saved enough boxes and ii) the potatoes had taken over the asylum, and the conservatory.

And then the full extent of my potato count became clear

Now *all* I need to do is find that weed-free space, but on the plus side potatoes are great soil improvers and we could do with that on the plot. So here's to eating plenty of potatoes later in the year!

Checking out the camellias

On our recent Dorset adventures I was keen to revisit Kingston Lacy and see the garden at a different time of year. I'd hoped that the camellias would be in flower, and I wasn't disappointed. I remembered that this gate would lead me to the camellias, but first we needed to walk through the Lime Avenue which this time was lined with daffodils.

Heading through the gate into the Lime Avenue at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

The last time we were here - in 2015 - the lime trees were undergoing some work and the bushyness around the trunks were being cut back, but they were back, so it seems like many gardening jobs it's one that needs to be done, and re-done quite often.

Quite a view of the Lime Avenue at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

It was a chilly day and our wooly hats were out.

Posing with the daffodils at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

I'd remembered correctly and it wasn't long before we were in the Winter Garden and admiring the camellias.

Red camellias at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

The plants originate from China and Japan centuries before they were seen in Europe; here in the UK they were first seen in Essex in the 1730s which is quite something isn't it? And the first here were red and white blooms, and by pure coincidence I'm typing this between a red and white flowering bush.

A white camellia at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

For me camellias are the type of flower you draw as a child, with their petals emanating from the centre. Red, white and pink are typical colourings - we have one of each in our garden - but I was rather taken with this pink version at Kingston Lacy.

A dappled pink camellia at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

The other thing that strikes me about camellias is how they fade; their petals turn brown but often they stay on the bush decaying beautifully. They're definitely an outside plant though, I cut some once to have as cut flowers in the house and within a day all the petals had fallen off.

fading beauty of the camellias at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

They do eventually drop, but I think they look just as beautiful on the ground. 

decaying but still beautiful, the camellias at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

We also saw camellias - both the faded sort and the more colourful versions at Compton Acres, another of the gardens we visited in Dorset.  I'll share more about that garden another time, but if you're in Poole, it's worth a visit and it's always nice to visit an independent garden, as as nice as the National Trust gardens are, at times I think they can feel a bit formulaic and same-y.  That's not to say I don't enjoy them, but at Compton Acres it had a different vibe.

FAded but not out - a camellia at Compton Acres garden in Dorset

At Kingston Lacy I decided to look closer at some of the fallen flowers, this one was huge - easily bigger than my hand - and had a hole right through the centre where the stem would be. I tried to persuade MOH that it'd make a great adornment for his wooly hat, but he was less sure and having none of it. I've a photo of him looking none too impressed and I'll spare his blushes by not sharing it here, instead just take a look at the flower. I told you it was big...

giant camellia blooms at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

I was also struck by the different shapes of the flower, this almost triangular, or star-shaped flower just goes to demonstrate my point. It has a more delicate look to it I think and is a delicate blush pink.

An almost star-shaped camellia at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset
A bud ready to burst into flower at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

The buds of camellias remind me of peonies. All bound up tight in a ball and ready to burst; we saw that at both Kingston Lacy (above) and Compton Acres (below). They're fab aren't they - so much prettiness bound up into such a small and tightly bound sphere.

A spherical camellia bud at Compton Acres garden in Dorset

One of the camellias we saw at Compton Acres in Poole was this red one below, it stood out for its centre. It's quite different to the others we'd seen. The central section has much shorter, almost brush like petals, although I'm not sure if that's the correct name for them. It's just as pretty though isn't it?

A red camellia with an unusual centre at Compton Acres garden in Dorset

And the other thing for me about camellias is how pretty they look on the ground. I was reminded of a walk around Standen a couple of years ago, but instead of a single bloom on the ground, it was more like confetti.

fallen camellia confetti at Kingtson Lacy in Dorset

In our garden our red camellia is still flowering, it's still a little shy but I think that's mostly because it's shaded by the fatsia. At the back of the garden our newer, white camellia is also quite shy. The bush is growing and there's been a couple of flowers, but I think its best is still to come, so for me, it was great to see these camellias in full bloom while we were away.

Are your camellias still in flower, and are they as abundant as the ones we saw in Dorset?