January Planting - Claire's Allotment part 58

[consol10021991]

Hi Claire im matthew from melbourne australia.

im 20 years old and love gardening. ive sowed a variety of vegetables the past two weeks so all busy down here. just wondering if you can do a video of your flowers in full bloom like showing the plants and/ or showing them being potted up. would love to see the teasel fully grown and the seed heads as ive never heard of it.

cheers,

matthew

[clairesallotment]

@consol10021991 Hi Matthew, Sounds like you've got loads to do. Good luck with it all. I'll have to make a film of the flowers in the Summer, as they're still mainly leafy at the moment, and the flowers are just forming. I'll try and remember to do the film. Hope you have a great season.

Claire

[kokonutbaby1]

Also I'd like to know how long do u leave your plants in the greenhouse? How tall before u set them out in the garden?

[clairesallotment]

They should be about 4-6 inches long before you put them outside, no shorter otherwise they'll get lost in the soil.

[kokonutbaby1]

Hi Claire, how long does it take your leeks to sprout in your green house? I have put mine in a long container in the house and after 2 wks I still dont see anything...is that normal?

[clairesallotment]

I think it was about a month. Wait a little longer, hopefully something should appear soon. Keep them damp but not too wet, if they are a little on the dry side that's ok.

[socratesx11]

Sorry to hear about your tomatoes. Is your green house down at your allotment or in your yard?

I planted my tomatoes (a bit late) last year in homemade earth boxes. It works great. The water well keeps them well irrigated, and because the soil is in a container and thus ground level is raised, I had no problems with cutworms or the nasty hornworms.

It was healthy harvest, despite the lateness and the cold August we had here.

I'll be planting onion set starts next week.

Fun!

[clairesallotment]

I've got 1 in the garden (yard), and 1 down at the allotment, so plenty of room hopefully for the tomatoes. The summer was just too wet the last 2 years for the tomatoes outside. I want a proper hot summer.

[socratesx11]

Forgot to mention, one of my favorite tomato/pepper and even strawberry companion flower/herb --> BORAGE!

It produces wonderful tiny purplish flowers in a profusion of enthusiastic numbers. Its an annual, but it drops tons of seeds and comes back year after year. The bees and hummingbirds love them. The hummingbirds also love the flowers that my potted mints and basel plants produce. They are joy to spot from my windows throughout the warm (ooh warm, I can hardly wait) summer months.

[clairesallotment]

I forgot about Borage. It's not a widely used herb over here, must try to hunt some down.

[socratesx11]

Another great and charming vid Claire, thanks!

Here is Minnesota it has been a cold-cold winter. It's late Feb and we just got plastered with another 6" of snow. i am only just starting to dig out all the seed starting material and cleaning it.

I'm looking forward to your mushroom episode.

- John

[clairesallotment]

Has all the snow gone now? The mushrooms are still growing well. Spring is here now so we can look forward to lovely warm weather hopefully.

[clairesallotment]

Not sure about buying dried peas. Give it ago and see. I use multi purpose compost for everything. If you're growing plants in containers then mix with manure to give it a bit more body (half and half). Peas only need short stick 4ft to climb up. When they get to the top of the stick, pinch off the top to encourage bushy growth. Do the same for beans, but with longer sticks. You know when peas are ready because if you squeeze the pod gently you can feel them.

[jenRWfan]

Oh, so we don't need the fancy deep root trainer pots you see for sweetpeas? Good ! - Cold- Its Snowing...!

[clairesallotment]

Complete waste of money. Grow them in loo rolls if you want to. Wasn't the snow great, had loads of fun with the kids and a sledge. Made a 4ft snowman.

[jenRWfan]

Brill-Have just measured mine -(Kids) snowman -he's garden spade height whatever that is.Had to threaten them off when they spied the untouched snow on my small veg patch... Yep ,always got spare loo roll tubes when yer got kids! Thanks Claire

[simbirdcom]

Good idea to show us what to plant each month... Excellent !

Cann't wait until spring... but there are still things we can do now ;-)

[clairesallotment]

Loads to do. This week I've been spreading more manure and insulating my greenhouse with bubble wrap.

[theproducegarden]

great vid, thanks!

[GardenGirltv]

Great video!Thank you for sharing.

[clairesallotment]

You're welcome. Love your show too.

[cheapsunglasses0maya]

I was just thinking is it early to start seeds indoor...thanks!

[clairesallotment]

Some seeds can be planted in January. I planted my tomato seeds in Jan because they will remain in the greenhouse, if you will be growing them outside sow in March. Always check the back of the packet though.

[MysticRaven10]

Great vid! I'm itching to get started now too. I took on an extra allotment plot (with shed!) but didn't have time to dig it over before winter hit us. I'm really looking forward to growing things at home and on the plots with much enthusiasm. Great to see you back! Wishing you lots of success through 2009!

[clairesallotment]

What a bonus to have a shed as well! It's great to be back in the garden again. Have fun this year.

[Wisegeorge]

Gardening gives glorious gastronomic goodness generously. Good girls and guys garden gladly. Greedy ghouls gobble greens grubbishly. Good gosh. Go...Onward thru the Fog! Worms eat my garbage, and they will eat your garbage too, if you let them. Let the Sunshine in.

[clairesallotment]

Oh for the joy of a decent summer.

[SmushyPea]

Im happy to see that your greenhouse is still in good condition. I have the same one as you do but the wind got mine and ripped a big hole in 2 corners back in september =(

Are you sure its time to put seeds in the greenhouse in the middle of winter?

I ask because my small greenhouse had frozen water in the pot base last week and the soil was solid.

[clairesallotment]

I hope you can get another cover quickly, you should be able to. If you're worried about anything freezing in your greenhouse always cover the seedlings with some fleece as soon as it gets dark. Is the small greenhouse like a cold frame? If it is, then they are no good at this time of year as they don't keep in any heat.

[SmushyPea]

The holes are about 9-10 inches so I think a bit of duck tape will do the job. The small greenhouse is your typical 4 shelf plastic greenhouse that cost $15. I have a video of it somewhere on my video logs. (tried replying with links twice but it never worked)

[flippernipper]

Wheey !!!