The runner beans grew to a wonderful size whilst being indoors. They got to a point where I had no choice but to pot them up into their final containers and add the supporting wigwam. They were then put outside at the end of April and sadly I think the temperature shock killed it back significantly. They were too large for me to lift in and out to acclimatise sadly. I decided to keep them outside and came back to it today to cut the dead leaves away. I am happy to say a lot of new fresh growth and developed and the plants are now fully adjusted outside. So other than a slight knock back and potentially a little later harvest, I don't need to completely regrow them from seed.
I decided to restart with the carrots *sighs*. I checked on them hoping some were starting to form by now. However they were all just leaf, I will not try again to transplant them. I have re-sowed some carrot seed straight into the container I purchased for them today. Its nice and deep and will prevent me from disturbing the taproot again. I have placed it into the mini plastic greenhouse to keep warm and boost a quicker germination (hopefully).
The mixed salad leaf has taken off the second time around and I have already harvested a small batch which we had with one of our dinners last week. Its still fairly young so it will be interesting to see how it tastes as it ages a bit more. I have some space in the trough to start planting another batch so we keep a continuos supply for the summer. Im thinking of adding some rocket as well to mix it up a bit.
The tomato plants have finally been planted into their final positions also, I think a few cold nights got to the older bottom leaves, however they are both growing well and the new top leaves are looking lovely and healthy. I will be making a cage support for them at the weekend. I did find around 5 snails sleeping in the grow bags, so I have removed them to the front garden! Caught a cheeky one munching on one the the tomato leaves and another one munching on a runner bean leaf. I spotted some flower buds forming so soon I will start feeding with the Tomorite.
The mixed bell pepper and cayenne chilli plants are all doing really well. They are all now in their final pots. The chilli plants measure around 11" & 14" and the 3 pepper plants measure 18", 17" and 16" tall. I ended up keeping 3 pepper plants as I couldn't decide out of them which 2 I preferred.
All 3 peppers have flowered, they will still be indoors until at least the end of may however so I do not think any peppers will start to grow just yet.
I have strawberries! the 3 strawberry plants I purchased from homebase flowered almost straight away and have developed into lots of varying sized strawberries. There not yet ripe, I keep checking them as I cannot wait to try one. I purchased some netting to put over some of the crops incase birds start to steal the food.
So far most of the fruit and vegetable growing is going well, other than a few set backs and the slight error, they all seem on their way to being healthy plants that will hopefully yield some nice crops.
In other gardening updates, I repotted my beautiful Salix tree as it was almost pot bound. Its now in a much larger container where it will hopefully remain for a few years. Both the olive and bay trees are doing well also, both are producing new buds and the olive has flowered. The olive tree grew back last summer to my delight after it died indoors trying to protect it from the harsh winter we had. This year i decided to keep it outside and thankfully the winter was very mild.
I currently have my large climbing rose in bloom, the mini bush rose has grown back significantly and I think I have a small bud starting to form on my small rescue rose (climber). The rescue rose however does struggle to produce fresh healthy leaves, it have grown on since last year with new growth yet its also started to slow down in one section. I am not too sure what the reason for this is, I thought it was leaf curl however it doesn't quite look the same as other incidents online. The leaf seems slightly stunted almost and shrivelled?
I decided to restart with the carrots *sighs*. I checked on them hoping some were starting to form by now. However they were all just leaf, I will not try again to transplant them. I have re-sowed some carrot seed straight into the container I purchased for them today. Its nice and deep and will prevent me from disturbing the taproot again. I have placed it into the mini plastic greenhouse to keep warm and boost a quicker germination (hopefully).
The mixed salad leaf has taken off the second time around and I have already harvested a small batch which we had with one of our dinners last week. Its still fairly young so it will be interesting to see how it tastes as it ages a bit more. I have some space in the trough to start planting another batch so we keep a continuos supply for the summer. Im thinking of adding some rocket as well to mix it up a bit.
The tomato plants have finally been planted into their final positions also, I think a few cold nights got to the older bottom leaves, however they are both growing well and the new top leaves are looking lovely and healthy. I will be making a cage support for them at the weekend. I did find around 5 snails sleeping in the grow bags, so I have removed them to the front garden! Caught a cheeky one munching on one the the tomato leaves and another one munching on a runner bean leaf. I spotted some flower buds forming so soon I will start feeding with the Tomorite.
The mixed bell pepper and cayenne chilli plants are all doing really well. They are all now in their final pots. The chilli plants measure around 11" & 14" and the 3 pepper plants measure 18", 17" and 16" tall. I ended up keeping 3 pepper plants as I couldn't decide out of them which 2 I preferred.
All 3 peppers have flowered, they will still be indoors until at least the end of may however so I do not think any peppers will start to grow just yet.
I have strawberries! the 3 strawberry plants I purchased from homebase flowered almost straight away and have developed into lots of varying sized strawberries. There not yet ripe, I keep checking them as I cannot wait to try one. I purchased some netting to put over some of the crops incase birds start to steal the food.
So far most of the fruit and vegetable growing is going well, other than a few set backs and the slight error, they all seem on their way to being healthy plants that will hopefully yield some nice crops.
In other gardening updates, I repotted my beautiful Salix tree as it was almost pot bound. Its now in a much larger container where it will hopefully remain for a few years. Both the olive and bay trees are doing well also, both are producing new buds and the olive has flowered. The olive tree grew back last summer to my delight after it died indoors trying to protect it from the harsh winter we had. This year i decided to keep it outside and thankfully the winter was very mild.
I currently have my large climbing rose in bloom, the mini bush rose has grown back significantly and I think I have a small bud starting to form on my small rescue rose (climber). The rescue rose however does struggle to produce fresh healthy leaves, it have grown on since last year with new growth yet its also started to slow down in one section. I am not too sure what the reason for this is, I thought it was leaf curl however it doesn't quite look the same as other incidents online. The leaf seems slightly stunted almost and shrivelled?
